My latest go to makeup look

I love simple makeup, nothing too time consuming for my every day look. This post is about a look I have been favoring recently. Let me know what you think of it.

The products that I use for this look are -

The Hourglass Illusion Skin Tint ($55 for 1 oz) in Nude. I was given quite a few foil samples of this foundation. When I saw the name, I thought it would be a light base with barely any coverage (think a BB cream if you will) but boy was I surprised. It's a gorgeous full coverage foundation which can be blended out if you need to. The color Nude is a tad light for me, so I applied the base using my fingers and then blended it out with my Real Techniques Buffing Brush. It blended out so well, still giving me plenty of coverage but now playing nice with my actual skin color. The foil sample is 1 ml and I think I will get about 5 uses out of it!! You really need the tiniest amount. This might be similar to Kevyn Aucoin's Skin Sensual Enhancer, which is packed with pigment so you only need the smallest amount. Once I finish a few of my foundations (which might take a few months), I am DEFINITELY going to buy this product.

Stila Convertible Color in Lillium ($25 for 0.15 oz) is a blush I bought through Hautelook, it looked like a lovely mauve light pink shade on the screen but it doesn't show up really well on my NC42 skintone. I love the emolient consistency of it though. I use it on my cheeks as a cream blush using my fingers but I also use it under my eyes as a corrector! I know it sounds strange but this helps correct my dark circles which are abundant right now.

The Balm's Time Balm ($18 for 7.5 g) in shade Medium/Dark is another Hautelook purchase. This concealer is over a year old and I want to finish it. I have made a good dent in it but I need to keep going, so I am using it as my face and under eye concealer. I think these thicker concealers are perfect for blemishes or scars on the face but do crease something nasty under my eyes. However, when I use the Stila Convertible Color in Lillium under my eyes before applying this concealer, there is no creasing and the concealer stays put for 4-5 hours, which is average for me. Score!!

Benefit's Dandelion face powder ($28 for 0.25 oz) is a gorgeous pink blush if you have fair skin, however for my skin tone, it works as a beautiful brightening face powder. I use the ELF Kabuki brush ($6) to apply it all over my face.

I then go in with my Stila Pigment in Finale (discontinued), which has been my go to blush for months now and such a great find for $4 at a Nordstrom Rack! I use Real Techniques Duo Fiber Face Brush from their Nic's Picks set ($29.99) and apply this over the top of my cream blush. The result is a blush color that stays put and lasts all day.

My favorite cream highlighter ever is a discontinued product from Clinique in Pink Sugar (discontinued). I think it is meant to be a blush but for me it works as a perfect soft pinky highlight. I use my fingers to dot this on top of my cheek bones, on my cupids bow and down the bridge of nose.

The Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder ($9.58 for 16.5 g) is a great color for me as a bronzer. I apply it lightly to the outside of my face and to hide my double chin. 

Now for the eyes. This is really simple. I use the IT Cosmetics Universal Eyebrow Pencil to fill in my brows and then use the Anastasia Clear Brow Gel ($22) to seal them in place. I smudge two layers of the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze ($6.99) all over my eyelids. I use the Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder as my crease color and blend out the crease. I then use my Lancome Le Crayon Khol Smoky Eyeliner in Black Ebony ($26) to tightline and smudge a little as my eye liner and then I apply lashings of my Bobbi Brown Smokey Eye mascara ($28).

Finally, I use any of the NYX Butter Glosses, today I used Strawberry Parfait on my lips.

Voila, that's my entire face done. It might seem like a lot of steps but it takes me 15 mins from start to finish.

FOTD - Green with envy!!

It's time for a Face Of The Day post! Today's look is all about adding some wonderful colour rather than go the ever popular neutral route. I have brown eyes and the colours that suit me with my skin tone, are purples, greens and corals. I find it difficult to pull of blue for an all over eyeshadow colour and I think that's mainly due to my skin tone rather than my eye colour. If you have brown eyes, which colours do you love to use? I'd love some inspiration!

FOTD#1 - Fresh faced spring look

I am going to show you my favourite makeup look these days, which is more fresh faced than my winter makeup, even though Chicago winter is fighting to keep going here and it's nowhere near spring-like weather.

Awkward mugshot

In this post I am just going to list the products and how I used them. Lots of photos coming up!

I am not going to review the products that I am using however, I will be happy to do in depth reviews in future posts, just comment on this post and let me know.

I can do more tutorial-esque posts in the future too, just let me know in the comments box. I might even be willing to film a tutorial video!

All the products I used

Baublebar haul!!

Baublebar were having a little flash sale a couple of weeks ago so naturally I had to buy something :) I have taken detailed pictures of everything that I bought and what was included as this is my first Baublebar purchase and I am so impressed, will definitely be buying more stuff from them again.

Face of the week

Excuse my hair, I tried to curl it.. and it's fair to say it wasn't a huge success although I do have a nice burn on my index finger to show for it.

It's been a while since I plastered akward pictures of myself in a blog post so I thought it was about time I did a post about my usual makeup. I have made a pact to rotate the makeup I use on a weekly basis so this 'face of the week' post might turn into a regular series. So far the pact is coming along nicely.

The Look - Amp up the Nude

I find the easiest way to cheer myself up is to paint my nails! I love trying new combinations and then telling you all about the good ones :)

So here is another NOTD. This time it's using my favourite nudes and then piling on the glitter :) I can't believe I used to hate glitter on my nails but my tastes have done an about turn.

In the sun

So wihtout further ado, let me introduce the nude that I am wearing, it's by BIBA which used to be an amazing presitigious makeup and fashion brand in London and then it vanished only to be revived by House of Fraser in 2011. I fell in love with the elegant packaging and the quality of the products and bought a few of their offerings. But it seems House of Fraser is no longer manufacturing the Biba makeup and only concentrating on the fashion side of the brand, so that's terribly sad. The nude I have was part of a 3 polish set and it doesn't have a name. It's a lovely warm toned nude which works well with my skin tone, you can of course use any nude shade that you fancy for this look.

I chose Paris from Julep as the glitter of choice for this look. Usually I'm not a fan of chunky glitter polish but on nude or understated nail colours, it looks fabulous.

So voila, there we have it, a nude look with quite a bit of cheer.

In natural light

The Look - NOTD with Inglot 118

I promised  one of my regular readers that I would suggest a few autumnal shades that would look great on deeper skin tones. So every day this week, I will posting a different autumnal nail look that will suit most skin tones. This one is using the Inglot Nail Enamel in 118. I have never used Inglot nail polishes before but I could not pass this one up as it was a bargain at $4.50 in their sale.

It's a lovely deep burgandy colour with very slight shimmer that is not noticable on the nails. I do find that the Inglot nail polishes have a very thin consistency so you will need 3 coats and they can be streaky. However the colour is absolutely gorgeous and will look AMAZING on deeper skin tones.

The Look - NOTD Jungle and Only Gold For Me

Time for a new nail look me thinks. I love trying to keep my nails seasonal as the rest of my makeup doesn't really follow the season trends (I wear what I like, and trends be damned).

So in search of more autumnal colours at my local CVS, I stopped in my tracks when I spotted the shade Jungle by Revlon in their Colorstay Longwear Nail Enamel line. It looks wonderful in the bottle, the perfect mossy dark green.

I bought it and the minute I got home, proceeded to paint my nails with it. But I was a little disappointed. On it's own the colour looked really flat, so to add a little bit of interest, I dug out my lovely sparkly top coat from OPI for Sephora - Only Gold For Me ($4.50). Voila, we have my new nail look which looks festive and great for autumn.

Revlon Colorstay Longwear Nail Enamel - Jungle

All the products I used

Multi-use is in-glot

I have mentioned that Inglot currently has a huge sale on their US website where they are selling their discontinued items or items which will be re-launched with new packaging for a huge discount. Since I am a bargainista and cannot resist a good bargain, I decided to place an order and I included one of their liquid blushes called Inglot AMC Face Blush in shade 84 ($7.00 for 15 ml).

The Look - Sephora by OPI S-age is just a number

A bit of a quick post today. I rarely change my makeup according to seasons but I do make more of an effort with my nails.

Fall / Autumn colours for the nails are usually thought to be berry, deep red colours, but I decided to try something different. I am wearing a green metallic almost holographic shade from the Sephora by OPI range, it's called S-age is just a number. I think this is quite clearly a fall/autumn shade with a twist. Do you guys agree?

Oh and by the way,  this range has been discontinued as Sephora have launched a new nail polish range called Formula X by Sephora, so if you fancy any of their shades, get them quick before they are gone.

The Look - NOTD with Wet n Wild Megalast in Undercover

If you know me at all, you know my love for a good bargain. Well I caved and am ashamed to say broke my spending ban, this Wet n Wild Megalast nail colour in Undercover was only 75c (I think these are $1.99 usually) in my local CVS!!!

I loved the colour, which is a lovely peachy pink that is great year round but what surprised me the most was the quality of this nail polish. The brush is flat and wide which I love, because I can coat my entire nail with minimal strokes. I adore the smooth application that comes from a medium thick consistency and the pigmentation is so strong that I think I could get opaque colour with just one coat.

So to summarise my gushing love for the Undercover shade of the Wet n Wild Megalast polishes, all I can say is if you see it, buy it!!

The Look - Fresh face FOTD

It's been a long time since I did my last FOTD, so I thought I'd show you how I look on a Sunday with barely there makeup. I have been loving my simplied Summer makeup routine which involves no foundation or tinted moisturiser!!

Just to let you know the bumps you will see under my eyes are milia - these are formed when keratin (a substance produced by the skin) becomes entrapped beneath the outer layer of the skin, forming a tiny cyst. I have inherited them (my nan has them too) and they are incredibly annoying especially when I am taking pictures of my face for the blog. So I apologise if they bother any of you, but unfortunately there is not much I can do to get rid of them. I have tried getting a physician to lance them off but it just made them worse :(

The Look - NOTD #2

Thought I'd post a post about nails today since I finally got some colour on mine after a week of nail detox! So good to see them looking normal and colourful again. I am wearing Sephora by OPI shade - Read My Palm, which is a lovely jade green which actually works with my skin tone, I think this is the closest to mint that I can wear. Sephora has a current offer going where all Sephora OPI nail polishes are $4.50!!

The Look - NOTD - Pragmatic Purple

I received a box of goodies to review courtesy of Influenster and this amazing nail polish was in the box. I was so so taken with the colour as it's unlike any I own that I decided to immediately try it on.

The Look - A wearable pink eyeshadow look

I love Wet n Wild eyeshadows, they are buttery, affordable and last all day. I saw one of their palettes called Spoiled Brat ($2.99) at my grocery store and just had to get it. It has this incredibly vibrant pink eyeshadow for the eyelid, the crease colour is a black with multicoloured sparkles and the browbone colour is a soft silver.

I just want to mention too that you don't have to go out and buy any of the products that I have mentioned in my blog. You can use any of the eyeshadows that exist in your collection or buy similar shades from brands that are available in your country. This look is just meant to give you an idea on how you could wear a pink eyeshadow.

The Look - FOTD

So this is a look that I sported today, it was a work day but I wanted something to jazz up my Monday and get rid of the Monday blues. I only used drugstore make up for this look. Oh and I'm sorry about the lighting, this were taken by me in my closet while pointing the camera at my mirror (see the last pic!). I will get my husband to take any future pictures of me until I master the timer on my camera. :)

Eyes - Maybelline color tattoo cream eyeshadow in Audacious Asphalt topped with a little bit of a generic silver eyeshadow (also available in India for Rs.350 here)

Lips - Maybelline color sensational vivids lipstick in Vibrant Mandarin

Face - Revlon Nearly Naked foundation in Warm Beige, no concealer

Blush - Revlon cream blush in Rosy Glow