Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow All Over Radiance Creme

This was the beginning the end in terms of my failure to stick to my spending ban.  In my defense I'm going to pass the blame on to somebody else, and that somebody is Anna, who mentioned that this was on sale on BeautyBay.  I was forced to pause the video and make my purchase in a frantic dash (it appears to be becoming a bit of a habit) before I resumed watching her wonderful video! 

To be perfectly honest I don't know why it has taken me so long to get my hands on this wonderful product, it has been on my list of products I've lusted over for years and years (that's a slight exaggeration but you get my drift!).  Having said that, highlighter is one of the products that I tend to neglect, highlighter and prime.  I think the reason for this is a fear of 'the glitter-ball face' crossed with 'the so much grease you could fry an egg face' - yes, I'm phobic of shine, and looking back over my makeup history, it has been a good five or six years since I gave up the shine and shimmer in favour of matte products. As I'm a week away from the grand old age of 23 I thought it was time I faced up to this particular fear and embrace the subtle and lovely shine (cue Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow All Over Radiance Creme).  The word dewy appeals to me, having said that it is frightfully close to the word wet - not a look I look I wish to sport! And wet is something I think I look scarily close to sometimes when I use Benefit High Beam (and I just hate the way it applies - it just looks like a smear *vile word* that smudges all my foundation!).

Hmm, I got a little sidetracked...back to this wonderful product! 

It is available in two shades, Ice Gold and Rose Gold; I chose Ice Gold basically because Tanya Burr and Anna and the like use it, and I'm on a quest to look like them!! I would like to get the warmer toned Rose Gold too but all in good time hey! 

July Favourites!

I know that everyone says this but I really cannot believe that we are in August already! July has been incredibly busy for me and it seems to have flown by but I can't believe how much I have crammed into one month; I've completed the prestigious Pixiwoo Makeup Course, I've had several interviews and landed myself places at two colleges in Brighton, and I've spent a week caring for my granny! 

Anyway, enough about how I've filled my month, and more about my favourites! 

I've got to start with a non beauty favourite really, which is my Moleskine Diary! I love it! And considering how crazy this month has been I don't know where I would be without it! 

Clarins Color Quench Lip Balm see my full review here

This has been my lip gloss of choice this month, and I've found this to be the only gloss I've reached for so it's got to be a winner! I adore the scent, and miraculously it isn't sticky at all so you barely know you're wearing it other than the delicious smell!

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua

I'm yet to do a full review of this foundation but I promise there will be one soon. 

This has been the only thing I've been using if I've wanted to wear a foundation, it's lightweight but gives a lovely buildable coverage and it feels like you're applying silk to your skin!

Real Techniques Buffing Brush

I've been using this to apply my Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua and I find it helps it to glide on like a dream.  I've also been using this on the days when I've favoured just a bit of concealer (I couldn't handle a full face of makeup in the heat!) and I've simply buffed the concealer in with this to give some coverage where I need it (which realistically is in quite a lot of places!)

Benefit Hoola 

This has been my favourite bronzing powder for the past two years so it's only fair it gets a mention! It really is the perfect bronzer; it's matte, it doesn't make me look orange, it is a great contour colour as well as for creating an all over sun-kissed glow - can you tell I love it?! 

Estee Lauder Peach Nuance

Just like Hoola, this has been a firm favourite for what seems like an eternity and I really don't know what I'd do without it, it's the perfect peach in my humble opinion and it adds a natural summery flush to the cheeks all year round! 

Avene Thermal Water Spray

Yes I am probably an idiot for paying £6 for water in a can but to be perfectly honest I don't care! In the hot weather (which I have LOVED) this has been my saviour - I've just been spritzing this on my face (legs, arms, chest, feet...you get the drift) to instantly refresh myself and try to prevent myself from melting! 

Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr in On and On Bronze

I've been wearing pretty low key makeup for most of the month (my skin needed it after the pasting it took on the makeup course) and I've been loving just smudging a bit of this onto my lids to give a hint of something with minimal effort! 

Garnier Intensive 7 Days Hydrating Lotion
For my full review click here
I love this moisturiser, and it has been particularly amazing in the hot weather because it cools your skin as it glides on, and it feels slightly like a gel rather than a lotion at times, which is great because it doesn't feel at all heavy or sticky on the skin (nothing worse on a hot night!).  After a day in the sun you can really feel this sinking in to leave you lusciously moisturised still in the morning! A summer time delight! 

And now, for another non beauty favourite - I give you the one and only Percy Pig
On his first taste of a Percy Pig my rather intoxicated cousin described them as such 

"the texture!  It's incredible, easy going yet resistant!" 

 

Do you have any favourites that I ought to check out? Please let me know if you do! 


And I'd love to hear from you on twitter @martinalice22
and my instagram is alicemagints - I really want to try to post more photos on there!!




xxx

Stars N' Rockets

The weather has been so foul recently, and all my friends are away, so I decided to spend my time practicing dramatic makeup - because who doesn't need this type of look to eat dinner and watch tv with their parents!?!

Naked Palette. Big Love.

In my manic rampage of beauty counters this week I purchased the Urban Decay Naked Palette.  I can't have spent longer than 30 seconds at the counter, I probably spend longer choosing a bunch of bananas (in fact I definitely spend longer choosing bananas because it's tricky to get the perfect bunch, but that's another story!). 

Other than on nights out (which are pretty rare these days) I'm quite unadventurous as far as my eye make up goes, usually I slick on some eyeliner (L'Oreal Super Liner in Carbon Gloss) and some mascara and I'm good to go but I really want to change this and I thought the Naked palette would be the perfect way to do this.  It provides a good range of neutrals (mostly shimmery ones but there are a couple of matte colours) and they are all there for you to choose from which I like as I hate rooting around in my make up bag because I always forget I have certain colours. 

Virgin is a really delicate slightly peachy vanilla.  These shadows are so finely milled that it feels like applying silk. This shade gives a subtle sheen as I think it makes for a beautiful highlight, base colour or works amazingly in the tear duct to really brighten the eyes.

Sin is a rich shimmery rose gold.  It's just a beautiful colour!! Worn alone I think this is the perfect subtle summer shimmer!  

Naked (sorry my fat finger is covering the name), is a simple matte base colour, it can be used to create a lovely base for other colours or to soften the insensity of other more vibrant colours (Stars N Rockets for example).

Sidecar is a warm toned pinky gold, and it's just beautiful.  End of. I've used this over the inner half of my eyes in the images at the bottom of this post. 

Buck is a warm tan colour, a soft brown if you will, and can be used to add definition in the crease for a sophisticated simply day look or to add definition and depth to basically any other shadow! 

Half Baked.  What a colour! This is just a beautiful gold with a slightly bronze tone running through it! Applied to the tear duct, this colour will just make your eyes look incredible! 

Smog is, as the name suggests, a bit of a dirty goldy with a bit of a rusty edge to it. Like the other true shimmers in this palette it is just so finely milled and highly pigmented, and the colour pay off is so full and luxurious.

Darkhorse has a really subdued shimmer to it that is only picked up in certain lights and it creates a pretty good seductive smouldering look (get my trying to be sexy!)

Toasted is a shimmery pinky brown.  I love it.  This is used in the middle of my eye in the look at the bottom of this post. 

Hustle is a purply brown, and is the third colour I used on my eyes in the photos featured at the end of this post! 

Creep is a deep grey shot through with silver glitter.  The colour can be used boldly to create the intense colour shown in the swatch above, or it can be blended right out to give quite a sheer coverage, and therefore it's really versatile. 

And last but not least, Gunmetal is a gorgeous pewter shimmer.

The photos below are of my first ever time using my Naked palette, and I'm pleased as punch! I used Tanya Burr's tutorial  which you can view here as my instruction, and obviously mine is nowhere near Tanya's (mainly because I screwed up my eyeliner big time) but I'm hoping with practice it'll improve! 

Products - Eyes

Urban Decay Primer Potion (comes with the palette) all over the lid

Using a 217 apply Sidecar to the inner half, right into the inner corner

On a 239 pack Toasted onto the centre section of the lid

On the other side of the 239 combine Toasted and Hustle and draw that out from the lash line to create the wing, then pack more Hustle in the outer corner to create depth

Then using the leftover product on the 239 draw the shadow under the eye.

Use a 217 or another fluffy brush to blend all the colours and soften the edges

I used Sin as a brow highlight

I then used L'Oreal Gel Intenza to line the water line, my upper lash line and to create a wing

Finally lashings of L'Oreal Telescopic mascara adds great definition

On my brows - No. 7 Perfect Brows pencil in Black

Products - Face

Benefit Erase Paste in Medium

Mac Pro Longwear in NW20 and NC25

Mac Studio Sculpt in NW25

Mac Magically Cool Liquid Powder in Truth & Light

Nars bronzer in Laguna

Mac blush in Plum Foolery

Benefit Highbeam to highlight

Lips

Clarins Joli Rouge Brilliant Perfect Shine lipstick in 06 Fig

If you have made it to the end of this blog post then thank you so much, and congratulations, it's a bit of a mammoth post!! 

The Urban Decay Naked palette is available here or at a zillion other places either on-line or at Urban Decay counters in Debenhams etc

What are your feelings on the Naked palette? What are your favourite looks to create using it? 

If you'd like me to provide links to the other products just ask in the comments and I will willingly do so :) 

As always the beautiful back drop to my product shots is by Gabrielle Vary, she makes incredible luxury knit-ware items which are available here. 

xxx

I ruddy well won something!!

I'm not what one would call one of life's winners, don't get me wrong, I've achieved and I've achieved highly, but I haven't won - sports day, definitely not my thing, raffle prizes also allude me, as do lucky dips and competitions. But my luck has changed, and okay I have won the item that holds the least monetary value of anything I've ever entered but I don't care, I did a squeal of excitement both when I found out and when my prize was delivered today!! I also know that other people won as well but I simply do not care!! 

Look at how beautifully they were wrapped - it felt too nice to open...

...But I did... and now all my Real Techniques brushes have their own special home, which, for someone like me who likes everything in it's rightful place, is perfect. 

Thank you Real Techniques! 

Click here for my review of the Stippling Brush! More reviews coming soon! 

xxx

Real Techniques Stippling Brush

It was love at first stroke with this brush I'd say.  In fact, I think it was love at first sight because I think I knew I'd love it before I even got it.  I love watching Nic and Sam's YouTube videos and last year I got a bit obsessed with everything Pixiwoo and Real Techniques and I just knew I needed some of the brushes in my life!  I asked for this for Christmas and it was an absolute delight to see it there in my stocking on Christmas morning, and even more of a delight to feel it's beautifully soft caress (yes, I appreciate that talking this way about a brush might be a bit wrong, but trust me, if you've experienced it you'll know it's oh so true)! To be perfectly honest the rest is history really, and for the past four and a bit months this has been the only brush i've used to apply my foundation and I love it.  It claims to give an airbrushed finish, and I really didn't think it was possible because I've never really been wowed by a foundation brush in the past as I find they leave marks or seem to drag the product around, but this stippling brush really does just buff the product onto the skin leaving a flawless finish that looks really natural.  

I recently bought the Buffing Brush and I'm yet to try it.  I've heard such great things about it but I just don't know how anything can be better than the Stippling Brush, I'm almost scared to try it!! I don't want my love affair to end! 

I have quite a few other Real Techniques brushes (that's a bit of an understatement) but I'm yet to give them all a proper trial so I will have to wait a bit before I declare my love for them (although the Blush Brush is definitely a firm favourite as well - seperate post to come).

So far I've used this brush with Mac Pro Longwear, Max Factor Lasting Performance, Bourjois 123 Perfect and Lancome Teint Miracle and it has applied all of them like a dream.  I did however get a sample of Estee Lauder Double Wear Light and for some reason it seemed to be quite hard to apply with this brush, I felt like I was having to drag it around my face and use a fair amount of product, I don't know why this was, if it was the brush or the foundation or me?! 

I also love that the larger Real Techniques brushes can stand up on their own, because you don't want to have to lay your brushes down on unhygienic surfaces. 

These brushes are 100% cruelty-free which is also a massive positive, and because the bristles are synthetic it means that they can be used with a massive range of products, from creams to liquids and mineral products so the stippling brush could also be used to apply a cream or powder blush or bronzer...the wonders never cease! 

Can you tell I'm a bit of a fan?

Have you experienced the joy of this brush? Which is your favourite foundation brush?

x