FOTD using UNE Foundation and Sleek Jewels palette and NOTD 1/9/2010

It feels like England is clinging on to Summer now with a little burst of sunshine, even though technically it's September, we're now officially Autumn. This time of year usually means finding transitional makeup, makeup that's suitable for both seasons. For me, that usally means finding rich, plummy, golden colours, at least for my eyeshadow. A palette I find perfect for those rich, beautiful colours is the Jewels palette by Sleek, so I dug that one out and will show you a quick FOTD.I used the champagne gold colour all over the lid, it's a perfect wash colour, and probably one of only two colours I can use all over the lid. Then for the crease I picked out the plum/purple shade, and used the silver on the inner corner. Still a pretty neutral look, but the purple livens it up a little. Sleek is fantastic for their pigmented eyeshadows, they look so multi-dimensional once applied, so much depth to the colour. The only problem is finding a palette with an entire range of colours that I can wear. I wish they would bring out a neutrals palette, like the Urban Decay Naked palette, it would be pretty near perfection in a £5 palette. Close up of the eyes - I used Sleek Jewels, No. 7 Amazing Eyes eyeliner, (I found another liquid liner that actually compares to my HG Loreal Superliner!) it was given to me by my Mum since she couldn't apply it, and it's surprisngly very good, and I'd say pretty fool-proof too, if you're a shaky-hand-eyeliner-applier as I am.

Other products I used

EYES: Bourjois 1001 Lashes mascara, topped with Rimmel Volume Flash the Max mascara; Eyeshadows primed with TFSI;

FACE: Une Skin Glow Foundation in G06 (Love this, review to come soon); Rimmel Clarifying Powder, MAC Refined Golden bronzer.

LIPS: Maybelline Colour Sensational Lipstick in Rose Pearl.

And not to leave my nails out, since I really love this colour, I painted them in Barry M's Racing Green, which is truly a gorgeous colour in it's own right, it reminds me of old Jaguars, not just the colour but the finish aswell. I decided to turn it matte out of curiousity, and it turned out pretty good. It's a slightly irridescent colour, and you can still see the other dimensions to this colour, just in matte form. I'm going to be sporting this a lot through Autumn I think. I prefer dark colours for my nails so I'm not going to miss the summer pastel shades too much.

What are your favourite colours for autumn?

FOTD 16th April 2010 using NARS Sheer Matte Foundation

Here's some pictures of the makeup I wore today, as I haven't done one of these in an age. Below is with flash...
and in natural light...
I kept my eyes pretty neutral using MAC's All That Glitters on the lid, Wedge and Tempting in the crease, Woodwinked in the outer corner. I lined with Loreal's Superliner in Carbon Black, and used Rimmel Glam Eyes Mascara on my lashes.

I kept the eyes simple since I wanted to do a statement lip as shown in the trout pout below.

I'm wearing MAC's Pink Nouveau which is a hot barbie-esque pink. In real life it's pretty dramatic but I realise in the photographs it's not that bold.

On my cheeks I wore my favourite bronzer MAC's Refined Golden, it's a beautiful shade that came out with the Style Warriors collection but I believe is part of their permanent collection anyway. It's a gorgeous shade, not too false looking, very suitable if you have yellowish tones to your skin. I'm definetely a fan of bronzers in general so I'm happy that my winter skin has gone and I'm back to my "natural" shade. I don't deliberately tan my skin but I only have to catch a glimpse of the sun and I tan. I think everyone has a shade they're meant to be.

I am wearing NARS Sheer Matte foundation in these photos which I'm pretty happy with. I will post a review of this foundation soon as I've only read people's opinions of the Sheer Glow.

FOTD

This was actually face of the day a couple of days ago. It was super hot today, so fotd quickly melted! Hopefully you can see the Patina eyeshadow on the lid here. The finish of MAC frost eyeshadows is quite subtle, but pretty, and I love the irridescent effect. I'm wearing Patina on the lid, Tempting in the crease, Hush as a highlight, and the darker shade from the Nars duo; Paris in the outer corner, Refined Golden as a bronzer and the lips are au naturel.

MAC Style Warriors Collection

The Style Warriors Collection was released here in the UK on Thursday, so I was happy to finally get my hands on a few coveted items. I was really looking forward to this collection, there were some key pieces I decided I really wanted to have in my own collection. I also think this is a really of-the-minute, relevant collection. I know a lot of people have been put off by the packaging, I have to agree it does look slightly tacky, but the novelty of it is kind of the appeal, the animal print is very cute, and I think the tribal print on the front is very symbolic and I'll explain why.

I was reading through a Time magazine supplement, Style and Design, and it made many references to Africa and Western fashion. On the catwalk, influences from Africa have been cropping up more and more, from tribal prints to layered bangles. Designers are working closely with artisans in East Africa, using their craftmanship to produce fashionable items such as jewellery and bags. So why this change in fashion, is it just a trend?

What happens in the world, and in the economy especially, has always had a direct link on what happens in the fashion world. So in a climate where we're spending less, and (hopefully) saving more, being careful with our resources and what we do spend our money on, an important issue has been raised: how can we turn fashion into something more sustainable?

Big fashion labels are tapping into the idea that fashion is no longer just about the glamour and bling, but something that can help others and improve a global situation. Fashion is a business, but it's not only those in the Western world that are able to profit from it. By working with African artisans, items can be produced that are still rarefied and by involving communities directly, businesses can be formed, and the wealth of their success can be enjoyed.

I think this is a much better way to help build the developing world, not just to give aid donations, but create something more permanent. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I immediately thought of this when I saw the collection. I hope that MAC were paying homage to this change, one of the reasons it's a favourite brand of mine is the fact it concerns itself with the AIDS cause. If you're interested in reading a couple of the articles here's some links:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1882059_1882224_1882015,00.html

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1882050,00.html


The collection also coincides with ARISE African fashion week 12th-20th June which you can read about here:
http://www.psfk.com/2009/05/upcoming-africa-fashion-week.html


And now, onto what I bought:

I got 3 things, and what I bought was unexpected, I really liked the look of the lip products from the website pictures and originally I thought I would buy them, but in real life they were really not my colours at all. For dark skin tones they would look amazing though. Seeing the bronzers and eyeshadows in "real-life" though, I could really appreciate how beautiful the colours were.

The first thing I picked out was this nail lacquer in Peaceable.

This is probably one of the least popular nail varnishes from the collection, it doesn't exactly catch your eye, especially next to the other two which are a very bright purple colour, and a bronzey golden colour, but it appealed to me because I don't own enough neutral shades. I love that I can just paint this on my nails and not have to work my outfit and makeup around it for the next couple of days.This is after one coat of the varnish, and what I liked about it was that if I wanted just a sheer, slight shine to my nails, this would do the trick, it was a little streaky, but I could get away with it.After two coats, this is the finished result, and this is enough to finish my nails. Excuse the messy cuticles, I'm really not great at painting nails, I tend to just aim for covering my nails, this usually includes my cuticles too unfortunately and then I rely on washing my hands afterwards to remove the excess. Lazy I know, but us shaky handed girls have to make do.

This is the outer packaging for the eyeshadow.

I picked Bright Future, which I describe as "New York can yellow" very vibrant, and for lighter skin tones, probably a bit off putting. I'm quite a firm believer that with eyeshadow, any colour can work for any skin tone, so I suppose I bought this as a little bit of a challenge to myself, how could I make it work for me. I don't own a yellow eyeshadow so it was something new and fun to try. Tempting was also released with this collection, I already own this from the permanent collection, but if I didn't I think I would have bought it as well. Along with Bright Future, I've managed to create quite a different (for me) look that's unusual but wearable.

Finally, the bronzing powder, this is in Refined Golden, very gorgeous golden brown, with gold sparkles in. The other bronzer didn't have any golden sparkles in and was a little darker. I know shimmery blushes and bronzers aren't everybody's taste, but I personally love them, and this one doesn't over do it all. The gold particles are very visible, but on the skin they're really subtle.

So there's the finished look with Bright Future and Tempting eyeshadow and Refined Golden under the cheeks and temples. Please feel free to leave comments or email, I'm always interested to hear what other people think.