Top 3 Powder Highlighters: Bronze, Pink and White

When the colder seasons start to come around, I go highlighter mad. In the summer the heat and love of dewy/glowy foundations means highlighters aren't all that essential to give your skin a glowing quality.  In the fall and winter however the more matte and heavier foundations can make the skin look a little dull so I break out the highlighters to help perk the skin up. 

Today, I wanted to share my top 3 highlighters for the autumn and winter.  I have chosen something more golden toned, something pink and something white based. 

 Fashionista "Bronzer" in Barcelona

I hate when people label highlighters as bronzers, because this is far to light to be used as a bronzer, and far to shimmery too. Barcelona is a lovely golden highlight that is great for enhancing that fading summer tan or for people with a more yellow toned skin.  It looks great applied lightly for the more pale skin tones, and a heavier hand can make it work for darker tones. 

You can pick it up here for £1.65, instead of the £4  it would be in selected Superdrug.

MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter 

I reach for this highlighter when I want something more obvious. It's not the most subtle highlighting powders, and it really does look like you have something on but it still looks gorgeous. The pink tone really suit my cool skin tone and the super shimmery finish is great for super strong impact when you want more dramatic makeup. 

You can pick it up here for £3 or in selected Superdrug stores. 

MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Lightscapade 

This creamy/ivory toned highlight is my everyday pick because it suits my pale skin tone, gives a glow to the skin but doesn't look really obvious or dramatic. In the pan it looks like an ivory powder with swirls of pastal colours running through the base. On the skin it blends perfectly into my foundation/base leaving my cheekbones popping just a little bit more  than normal. 

You can pick this up here or at your local MAC store or counter for £22

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MAC Eyeshadow Finishes Explained

 MAC offer a range of finishes in there eyeshadows, some are very self-explanatory but some don’t really let you know what they are going to look like. So, if you want to know the difference between velvet and frost, read on! 

Frost 

frosted, light reflective shadows  

Frost shadow have really fine glitter running through them that helps them create a gorgeous shiny effect on the skin. I've found that these shades are generally less pigmented that other but they can be built up. 

Examples include: Phloof and Romp

Lustre 

Shimmery and Pearlised

These shadows have an ultra fine shimmer running through them. When applied they offer a shimmery effect on the skin, but because of the effect I would say to avoid these on days at the office but they are beautiful and have a nice light reflective formulation. 

Examples include:  Retrospeck and Swimming

Matte

No Shimmer. No Glitter.

These shadows are high intensity colours that have no shine, sheen, shimmer or glitter. There are a variety of colours, some intense and some sheer to buildable in intensity. They can be hard to correct if you do anything wrong with them, but they do contrast well with shimmers to create a nice look for any occasion.

Examples include: Carbon and Yogurt

Matte Squared 

Silky Matte Shadows

These are very similar to matte shadows, but the formulation is slightly more silky and intense on the lid. They are free from shine, shimmer and glitter and glide on to the lid. They are blendable and last ages on the lid too.

Examples include:  Blanc Type and Fig1

Satin

Nearly Matte with subtle sheen  

These shadows are a great way to get something with a subtle sheen alongside colour intensity. They are often pigmented, free of chunky glitter and shimmer and long lasting. They are great for everyday wear, but not as dull as matte shades can be on the eye. 

Examples include:  Brule and Brun

Veluxe 

Finely Milled Matte Shadow

These shadows are great for matte lovers without messy fall out or anything like that. They are really finely milled powders that are soft and smooth. 

 Examples Include: Kid and Brown Down

Veluxe Pearl

Veluxe Shadows with a Pearly Sheen 

 Veluxe Pearl shadows are basically the finely milled formula of the regular Veluxe shadows but with a nice sheen running through them. 

Examples include: Twinks and All That Glitters

 Velvet

 Highly Pigmented with a soft finish 

 These shadows are like the Velvet fabric, in shadow form. The colours can be slightly more muted than a matte or satin finish but the soft texture makes up for it. 

Examples include: Smut and Trax

MAC Lustre Glass in Sinnamon

MAC Lustreglass Lipgloss in Sinnamon, 4.8g. £14 link

The MAC Lustreglass lip glosses are just one of the lip gloss offerings from the popular company. These glosses are meant to create a high shine look with an ornamental pearlized finish. Also, the shades have a duo-chrome effect to them. 

I picked up the shade Sinnamon when I was on a huge "nude brown" kick. I know many people think brown/dark nude lipsticks are for the more mature people out there, but I adore them and my collection continues to grow.



Sinnamon is descirbed as a "spicy, icy taupe beige" by MAC, but it's quite a but darker than I would imagine "beige" to be. For me I would tend to classify this colour as a tan/nude with a gorgeous shimmery finish. It does have some other colours running through it when it hits different lights but they are all very complimentary of the main tan colour. 

I found this gloss to be quite long wearing, for a lip gloss at the very least. It doesn't battle food or drink but it lasts well through me talking my little head off. It is a little sticky (what gloss isn't) but it's not to horrific. I think the regular lip glasses and dazzle glasses have a bit more a sticky texture, so don't judge these based on those. 



I love that this has a brush rather than a sponge tip applicator like many other glosses. I find that the sponge tip applicators end up wearing away so you are left with sharp plastic at the tip, and I also find that the sponge tip applicator ,when you swipe it on over lipstick, takes some of the pigment off, leaving me with patchy lips. The brush here doesn't do that. I think it might be because it holds more product within it, but it puts on the prefect amount of gloss in just one swipe and it leaves my lipstick in place as well. 

For your £14.00 you get 4.6 grams of product. It's not much. In all honestly, this is what puts me off picking up more of these glosses. For £14, I kind of want some more product. You get a comparable amount in the L'Oreal Glam Shine gloss and they are half the price. There are also similar shade available in the Glam Shine range, so I might try more of those before spending a big ol' £14 on one more of these.

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MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Lightscapde

MAC Mineralize Skin Finishes are a cult product in the beauty world. Whether it's people loving the MSF natural for setting foundation, or people adoring the MSF's for highlighting I honestly believe that everyone has at the very least heard of the beauties. 



When I decided to invest in one of the MSF products, I opted for Lightscapde. From what I'd seen it was a great highlight for the paler skin and was slightly more subtle that the raved about Soft and Gentle. 



The Mineralize Skin Finish in Lightscapade is sold as a soft candlelit beige with multidimensional shimmer in the form of a velvet soft powder with a high metallic frost finish. In the pan it looks like a creamy/ivory shimmer base with pastel colours running through the baked powder.



It comes off beautifully on the skin and can be applied subtly or built up to a more dramatic finish. I've used it with just about every brush I have from the ELF Studio Stippling Brush to the Real Techniques Contour brush. I've found that it lasts all day on the tops of my cheeks or wherever I place it but it does being to fade after 6 or so hours wear. 

Not only is this a brilliant cheek highlight but it works great as a highlight on the eye and as a great all over lid colour.To build up a more high shine finish I have used this with a wet brush and patted it all over the lid. It stayed in place amazingly well, and the foiled effect finish was gorgeous.  

Overall, I would highly recommend this for those pale girls out there. For people with a deeper skin tone, I would say try Soft and Gentle  or maybe even Gold Deposit. If the formula of those, matches this beaut then they will be fab for anyone. 
 

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MAC Pro-Longwear Blush in Stay Pretty

MAC Pro-Longwear Blush in Stay Pretty is a light yet bright blue toned pink that feels lightweight on the skin while providing extreme colour, no fading and 8 hour wear. The formula is an ultra -fine and silky powder that can be blended to a flawless, natural finish or layered for a brighter, dramatic look. 



First, the colour is perfect for me. I can use it subtly, or build it up if I want to make my cheeks a feature. The blue tone to the pink suit my skin tone, and the light yet bright quality of the colour ensures that it pops on my cheeks. It's easily buildable but if you find you've gone over the top you can blend it out with a clean blush to bring it down again. 



The formula is brilliant. It lasts all day on my skin (though regular MAC blushes do too) with little fading and when I apply the product, it blends easily over the cheeks. It doesn't cake up my foundation or leave my skin looking like the pores are the size of the grand canyon.  



The packaging is quintessentially MAC. It's the same as the regular collection blushes and is a black pan with a clear window showing the colour of the product. It's not the more secure or the most luxurious, but it's more secure than some and the simplicity appeals to me over something very garish. 

Overall, I highly recommend the Pro-Longwear blushes to anyone who loves a blush that can be both subtle and bold. I recommend this colour, Stay Pretty if you want a pink that is really going to pop. 

You can pick up the MAC Pro-Longwear Blush in Stay Pretty from MAC counter, store and online here for £19 .

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The Hunger Games | Katniss Everdeen and Effie Trinket Make Up Looks

If you have ever noticed anything about The Hunger Games phenomenon, you must have seen the fabulous makeup on some of the characters. The eccentric looks that the people of The Capitol wear are just bright, pretty insane but beautiful. The makeup on the people from the Districts like Katniss Everdeen, The Girl on Fire is just as beautiful but slightly more wearble. 

MAC products are the commonly used by makeup artists because of the brilliant range of colours and products they offer and the brand was popular with the makeup artists on the set of the hunger games. 

Effie Trinket, who wears amazingly pale skin, blue lips and pink eyes in the movie, wore MAC Full Coverage foundation in NW10 to achieve the pale skin, and MAC blush in Pink Swoon helped add a little life back into her face.  On her lips she wore an OCC Lip Tar in Butch which is a light blue colour. Here eyes are a combination of many colours but a main focus in the look shown above is a MAC pigment in the shade Full Force Violet. 

I wouldn't suggest wearing this out in the street, you might get a few weird looks but for fancy dress parties you can try and pull off the Effie Trinket look just as well as Elizabeth Banks does in the movie. Just don't forget the funky hair and clothes to alongside your pale face. 

Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence is a 'commoner' in the movie and opts for less eccentric looks, even when being the centre of attention on Capitol TV. The Girl on Fire makeup was created with a simple mix of neutral MAC eyeshadows like Smut, All That Glitters and Free on the eyes, while using MAC Blot powder on the skin to create a matte appearance in all the right places.  

The Studio Finish concealer was another popular product used in the movie. The shades varied from Actor to Actor but the creamy concealer was used on the face of the actors to concealer any blemishes on the skin that the camera didn't want to see.

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MAC Lipstick Finishes Explained

 
 
I've heard quite a few people asking about the differences in MAC lipstick finishes, and I have to admit that when I started off in makeup, before blogging, I had no idea what half of the finishes meant and what the actual finish was. So, I decided to do a little guide here on blog to explain the range of finishes that MAC offer. 

I hope this can help some people, and if you want to see something similar to this again don't forget to leave a lovely comment. 

Amplified

Soft, creamy and really pigmented. 

This finish is probably my favourite of them all. They are soft, creamy lipsticks that offer amazing pigmentation. They have a nice sheen on the lips whilst offering full coverage. They are long lasting as well. 

Examples include: 
Blankety (You can read about this in my notable nudes post here) 

  Cremesheen

Creamy with a soft shine.

 The name says it all with this finish. These lipsticks generally leave the lips with a beauiful sheen, and the forumla is generally really creamy. The colour pay off, at least from the ones that I have tried, is good and they offer a nice coverage on the lips. 

Examples include: 
Cross Wires (You can read out this lovely lippy on Makeup Monologues here)

Frost 

Reasonably pigmented with a frosty shimmer   

While these are the most pigmented range that MAC offer they have a reasonable colour pay off and leave a frosted shimmer effect on the lips. They are slightly less drying that other formulations also. 

Examples include: 
Angel (Shona from Fresh Beauty has a great review of this read it here)

Glaze  

Sheer and glossy 

These are sheer yet glossy lipsticks that offer a subtle look that is great for everyday and work wear. The glossy formulation means they aren't the most long wearing but they still offer a few hours wear before fading. 

Examples include: 
Hue (you can read about this fabulous lipstick on Rachel Does Beauty here)

Lustre

 Sheer with a wet look effect

These lipsticks are very similar to Glaze lipsticks in the fact that they are sheer in colour and give a glossy (or wet-look) to the lips. They don't last the longest time, but they aren't drying on the lips. 

Example include: 
Freckletone (You can read all about this beaut here)

  Matte 

No shimmer or shine, just colour

The colour pay off with this lipsticks is amazing, but they are drying on the lips. They are great for lasting power, but if you have dry or chapped lips you need to prepare them well before attempting to wear these. Invest in a good lip scrub an and balm and you should be fine. 

Example include: 
Please Me (EtcLlyMrs blogged about this beauty here! I'll have a review soon too)

Satin

Demi-matte. Nearly matte, with a slight shine.

  These lipsticks are well pigmented, and nearly matte. They formula doesn't leave a totally matte finish which means that are slightly less drying and they have a very slight sheen when applied. 

Examples include:  
Pink Nouveau  (read all about this here)