Burnt Sunset Step by Step with Makeup Geek

So originally this was meant to be a bright, cheerful sunset... then I added too much of a colour, thought I had ruined it, but it actually turned out ok... does this happen to anyone else?? lol. But I went ahead with a step by step anyway just for the sake of it. If I left out the black to begin with it would have probably turned out a whole lot brighter.

I used all Makeup Geek eye shadows...here is the review & swatches for them!
Read on if you want to see how I did this. Also another pic heavy warning!

 Apply your primer and a white base all over and underneath. I used Nyx JEP Milk.

 Apply Razzleberry to the lid with a flat shader brush. Don't worry for now about it looking messy, that'll get fixed up as you go along ;)

  Then with a deluxe crease brush apply Mandarine to the crease blending into the lid colour.

Above that blend Chickadee, going into the inner corner a little bit.

 Repeat steps 2-4 again until you have reached your desired intensity. Blend Chickadee with Vanilla Bean if you need to soften the edges

 Blend Razzleberry + Mandarine onto the lower lashline.

 Using a pointed crease brush apply Corrupt into the outer v. I also highlighted with Shimma Shimma on the browbone & inner corner.

Blend the outer v but not so much to lose the definition. Apply your desired eyeliner, going in as far as you like. I used a cream eyeliner duo from Smashbox.

 Finish the wing & extend it as long as you like, drawing it back onto the outer of the waterliner.

Fill in your eyebrows if you haven't done so already & apply your favourite mascara or falsies. Ignore my lack of eyelashes lol.

I then thought the black was off and slowly blended it into the crease a bit too much, so I applied Burlesque over the top. This gave it that "burnt" effect. It also brought out Chickadee a lot more too. Yayy.

More Pictures~~

Face: As of this moment I am trying to use up a whooole lot of really old products so my foundation & concealer is different from normal. I have pretty much only been wearing this cream blush by Rimmel & blush by BYS. I have also been using a contouring powder from Nude by Nature and highlighting pearls by BYS.

Top L-R: Razzleberry, Manderine, Chickadee

Bottom L-R: Corrupt, Vanilla Bean, Shimma Shimma. Not pictured: Burlesque.

 Man my camera really pulled the brightness out of the colours! To be honest the pans don't look that bright IRL, and chickadee is a bit more orangey.

Eyeliner: Smashbox cream duo. Bourjois Curling mascara. Brows: ELF Eyebrow kit in Medium.

The lipstick is also something I have been trying to use up & its by Mirenesse I don't actually mind it with this look.

Thanks for looking and TIA for any comments <3 <3

Makeup Geek Eyeshadow Swatches + Review!

 So a few weeks ago I was contacted by someone from Makeup Geek (MUG) asking if I wanted to try some eye shadows for a review. Of course I said yes!! I had already bought 3 eye shadows myself and was planning to buy more soon anyway.

Let me start with the service.... Shipping was fast and they were quick to reply. Although there was a mishap with shipping; they accidentally sent me 6 of the wrong colours, so I messaged them to let them know & they said I could keep them as it wasn't my mistake. I would have felt happy to return them though especially if it was somebody's order!

 Please read on for the review & swatches.

What the pans come in, Picture from the Makeup Geek Website.

Disclaimer: I did not pay for these eyeshadows (except for the 3 mentioned) and all thoughts & opinions are 100% my own. I want to apologize with the inconsistency with the lighting in the photos! Some of the lighting has been enhanced but the colours have not.

 I am happy that I selected a range of different colours but I realized I should have chosen more mattes too. But the eye shadows I accidentally received ended up having a few mattes. I am really happy with the colours I have, but yet there are still so many more gorgeous colours I long for.

MUG shadows are really are pigmented.. although the shimmer/ glitter shadows go on a lot more smoothly than the matte ones, but  I could not complain with any of the shadows I received.

The eye shadow pans come in cute little cardboard slips but after a while taking them out and putting them back in gets annoying. (I still have yet to order a Z palette!). They are also meant to be the same size as a MAC pan so if you have spare MAC palettes you have no problem with storage.Or if you wish they are available in compacts.

Ok so on to the swatches.... all eye shadows are swatched by themselves so clearly they will turn out even more pigmented with a primer & base underneath. But you can see how pigmented some truly are! Please click the pics to see them bigger. All top pictures are no flash & bottom are with flash (when there are 2 lol)

Neutrals:

 L-R: Moondust; A beautiful shimmery gray taupe colour.

Cinderella;  A pretty satiny light pink/ tan colour great for all over the lid for any neutral look.

Glamorous; Metallic bronzey gold. These swatches don't do it justice. So pigmented!

Vanilla Bean; (Bought myself) A nude matte colour (as you can barely see it on my skin tone lol) that's great as a transition colour or as a matte highlight. Needs a few swipes to get it to show up.

Shimma Shimma; A gorgeous shimmery light highlighting colour. Just glides on perfectly.

Gray Spectrum:

L-R Mercury;  a beautiful shimmery silver that goes on so smoothly.

Stealth; a matte gray, you definitely need to pack this on for good payoff.

Galaxy; Quite a bit darker than Stealth (although it doesn't look like it in the pan) & shimmery. Goes on smoothly.

Corrupt; A highly pigmented matte black with a hint of a sparkle (as described on their website but its so true).

Purples:

 Purples:

:

L-R Wisteria; matte light lavender, a gorgeous colour although the colour payoff is not the best

Purple Rain; matte dark purple, a pretty true purple but with bad payoff, that can blend into a gray if not careful.

Burlesque; A stunning metallic-y, shimmery burgundy shade

Sensuous; (purchased msyself) I loovee this beautiful, shimmery purple, even though you have to be careful to not blend away the sparkles, but sadly it faded away even with a primer.

Greens & Blue:

 I hate that my camera didn't pick up the true colours of these!

 L-R Shimmermint; A gorgeous shimmery minty green colour

Poison Ivy; in my pan pics it pulls more brown but this is a nice satiny olive colour.

Envy; looks more gray in the pan, but this is such a sexy, mossy green with a metallic finish.

Mermaid; (bought myself) My fave of all, this metallic blue glides on, the pigmentation is lovely and the colour is TDF.

Sea mist; a highly pigmented emerald green that kinda pulls off turquoise-y too with a lovely shimmer.

Reds & Orange

L-R Chickadee; A matte orange-y yellow colour, which is super pigmented.

Mandarine; A beautiful bright orange with flecks of gold, which is highly pigmented. I haven't had a problem with the glitter fall-out.

Razzleberry; goes hand in hand with Mandarine, a stunning bright raspberry pink with gold glitter, be careful this isn't a true red but it's stunning none-the-less.

Once again I apologize that the swatches did not come out the best, but as I said these were swatched on their own with no primer underneath.

Here are some links to looks I've done already, I'll keep adding more as I post them.
Using Shimmermint, Stealth
Neutral with Moondust, Burlesque
Silver Smokey with Mercury, Galaxy, Sensuous
Overall

Packaging:The pans themselves are great if you want to put them all in a big palette together or compacts are good if you prefer to keep a few in your bag. 5/5
 Pigmentation: Apart from a few mattes, the pigmentation of these are beautiful 4/5
Cost: Very affordable, pans are $5.99 & compacts are only $7.99, Shipping is worldwide & affordable. 5/5

I totally recommend these eye shadows to you, for half the price of a MAC eye shadow with just as good quality, these will definitely be an investment to your collection.

You can go here to get your hands on these! There are 56 colours to choose from.

 I also believe I may have other similar colours from different brands, if you wish I will swatch them side by side for comparison.

Thanks for looking & I hope this review was helpful to you!

Shimmermint Eyes + Nyx Stick Blush Review

Muted greens are oh-so pretty for spring. Although it's past that now, especially that I'm in winter. I suppose that's where the grays come in handy, haha. I don't believe in restricting certain looks for certain times of the year, especially mostly everything is opposite to me and I get inspired by summer looks when it's winter, mmkay!! :P

Saturation enhanced to show the colours better.

15 Concealer palette
Revlon Photoready in Shell
Bourjois Healthy Mix Undereye concealer
Palladio Rice Powder in Translucent

I used all Makeup Geek eye shadows
Lid & Lower Lashline: Shimmer mint with a hint of Poison Ivy
Crease: Stealth
Outer V: A hint of Galaxy
Maybelline Master Precise eyeliner

Cheeks: Nyx Stick Blush in Tulip
Lips: Australis Colour Inject l/s in Samba

Nyx Stick Blush Review

*not my pic*

 This is a beautiful blush that is great for just a hint or a lot of colour, depending on how much you apply. I bough mine in the colour Tulip from cherryculture.com for $6.

To apply I like to use my index & middle finger to apply to the apples of the cheeks & then blend out with the Sigma 84 Angled Kabuki brush to really blend into the skin. It also looks lovely on the lips as I thought to try out later haha.

This blush looks great by itself but to make it last even longer I'd advise to dust either translucent powder or a similar blush colour over the top.

The first 2 pics are not long after I applied it with a tiny bit of translucent powder over the top, but you can see in the last pic after wearing it all day it has not worn off.
These were released for their spring collection and although it is now winter for me I get a spring feeling from these.
Picture from the Nyx website, I don't think the colours are as accurate as to what I've seen of different swatches.
Although I've only tried one I definitely want to buy more so I would recommend these for a beautiful natural glow.

P.S I've just added this look to the MUG Idea Gallery
http://www.makeupgeek.com/idea-gallery/look/shimmermint/
So please click here to "love" it . Thanks!

6 Different ways to curl your hair

I just came across this video and wanted to share- It's so cool that you can get so many different types of curls with the same tool! Also I think the guy is pretty funny, hehe.
What's your fave way to curl your hair, and what do you like to use?
xx

Red Lips for MS Day

 Last week in a magazine I saw an add that said to wear red lipstick for MS (Multiple sclerosis) so I had a reason to wear red lips at work(although I wear them when I feel like it), & nobody knew that was why. I teamed it with neutral eyes using Makeup Geek eye shadows. Hope you like!

 If I may say so myself, I think this is the best lip lining I've done in a while. Although up close it does not look as good.

Face products are all random since I'm trying to use up older products to get rid of them.
However blush is firstly a cream by Rimmel followed by Candyfloss by BYS.

Eyes: (All Makeup Geek): Moondust on the lid, Burlesque in the crease & lower lash line, Shimma Shimma as a highlight.
Eyeliner: Smashbox cream duo (used a bit of the black & brown)
I just know I have used some other eyeshadows but for the love of me I cannot think what! I can tell there is something different in the outer v.

Lips: Random red lipliner
Nyx soft matte lip cream in Amsterdam
Maybelline Are You Red-dy L/S over the top for BAM in-yo-face lips ;)

Oh and my current *at the time of writing* mani... O.P.I Koala Berry with pink glitter (random polish) for the accent nail which I am still obsessed with!

xxx

Exotic Fish Makeup Look

 I was inspired by one of the girls on a makeup board, whose makeup reminded me of an exotic fish, hence the title lol, so I took those colours and had a play. I did this 2 times, one was a play around that took me 5 minutes on a Sunday night and the other was a more wearable version.

 This was the play around one, as you can see it's not perfect, especially the lower lash line. I do love the brows though and intend to wear them coloured out one time haha.

 This is how I wore it out. I toned down the lower lashline & the colours in the crease to make it more wearable & of course had my normal eyebrow colour lol but it was still a lot of fun to wear.

Nyx JEP in Milk
All colours from the 120 palette, except the black is from the Sleek Bad Girl Palette
BYS Gel eyeliner
Nyx White pearl as a highlight.

Blush: Nyx glow cream, topped with Revlon Hushed Blush in A Floral Affair
Lipstick: Elizabeth Arden (I cannot find it to retrieve the name, sorry!!)

Next time I will add another colour into the waterline because it looks a bit bare to me. It would also look great with Falsies.

Please go here to "love" this on Makeupgeek.com

Thanks for looking, I hope you like it!!
xx