The Wedding Guest Tutorial #1

In every culture, summer seems to be that time of year when you'll get all your wedding invitations. Sometimes it's hard to figure out what makeup is suitable for a wedding guest, you don't want to look too made up but at the same time you want to look glamorous. Being asian I have gone for a traditional asian attire for this post, and created a simple makeup look to match. 

I tried to keep the makeup simple but glamorous, so I used three shades of browns from the Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette. The key is to make sure you have one shimmer, one matte and one lighter matte to blend everything together. This is the best way to create a easy smokey eye. Of course you can use more colours to create depth but in this instance I was in a massive rush and so needed to keep things short and sweet. 
I really felt like playing up the pinks in my Sari, its always good to pick colours from your outfit and try and create a element of it this in your makeup hence the pink lips. I've used MAC Supreme Sheen Lipstick in Zen Rose. It's vibrant, but because of its sheerness it doesn't seem so dressed up. Adding lashes really made the whole look stand out, but it's not something that you'll need. The best way to keep things looking polish yet understated is to keep your skin looking as natural as possible. In order to achieve this I used Makeup Forever Face and Body foundation for a sheer finish and only used powder in the t-zone of the face.
So, three tips to help you create your own wedding guest makeup:
1. When doing an eye based makeup, try to keep it to 3 shades of the same colour one matte, one shimmer and one lighter shade.
2. Keep the skin looking as natural as possible
3. Try and incorporate some element of colour in your makeup that matches your clothes

I've really enjoyed writing this talk through tutorial for you, hope it helps. Now that it's wedding season I can't wait to try out lots of colourful outfits and styles. I would love to see what you guys are wearing as wedding guests so comment below! See you guys soon 

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My Thoughts...Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation

I'm always cautious about trying out new foundations having suffered from a breakout almost every time I have decided to change face products. When I say I have tried them all, I really have. From MAC to Chanel to Giorgio Armani I have yet to find a foundation that I can really call my holy grail.  For the better part of a year, I was using Makeup Forever HD Foundation and I must say if there is a foundation that has come close to being a holy grail it has to be this one. It photographs perfectly and the coverage is great because you can wear it light when you want and build it up for full coverage. However, after months of wearing the same thing I wanted to venture out hence my new purchase from Illamasqua. Illamasqua describe their Skin Base Foundation as 'inspired by the cult Asian market. Asian market Beauty Balm creams. Skin Base Foundation is a brand new, refined formula unlike anything on the UK market.'  When speaking to the beauty assistant on the shopfloor I found out that this product is filled with vitamins that are meant to help the skin look rejuvenated and young. Now I'm a sucker for any form of makeup that claims to help your skin, so this for me was a major selling point. Suffice to say I was very eager to try this product having read mad reviews about how great it looks.  Lets start with the good stuff. I like how simple the packaging is. It is a small travel friendly plastic bottle that is squeezable allowing for a hygienic and waste free use. This product looks amazing on the skin, and was actually a perfect shade match for me. I quite liked the consistency of the formula, it glided on to the skin well, was buildable and sat on my skin quite nicely. I also really liked the finish of this foundation, it made my skin look really natural. The coverage was amazing, after one layer of foundation my skin looked flawless. I'm sure you can tell by now that I was initially quite impressed with this stuff!

Here is a picture of me wearing the foundation on a night out, and this is without flash  (mind the messy room!)

Here a picture with flash on the same night

A more natural makeup look when I was out on dinner. I love how undetectable it looks. 

And now for the negatives. This foundation as amazing as it looks initially, does not last long at all. Without powdering this foundation lasts about 2 hours and with powdering lasts at max 4 but even then it starts to oxidise and look uneven. I found this a huge disappointment, because I fell in love with how it looked on my skin after application. I also feel for the £32 I spent, I did not really get all that much more than others I have tried. Illamasqua claim that this foundation is HD ready, however I did struggle slightly with photography. Initially using this product I did suffer from some white flashback on my face, but I played around with MAC studio fix plus and bronzers to fix this. However the biggest con of this foundation is that it broke me out. Bare in mind my skin is extremely sensitive to foundations so i'm not entirely surprised, I was disappointed though. After about three weeks of using this foundation I started to get small bumps around the centre of my face. I have to say, had I not broken out from this product I would be a lot more optimistic and inviting about it. There are many positives for this foundation,  it does look amazing on the skin and I do like the idea of how it incorporate vitamins and minerals into its formula. Suffice to say I will be returning back to my handy Makeup Forever HD Foundation, but I do recommend to anyone looking for something light and natural for summer to give this one a go. I would love to hear your thoughts on this product so comment below and let me know! Illamasqua Skin Base is available in 25 shades and is priced at £32 available at most department stores and online.  Disclaimer - My skin is prone to breakouts and highly sensitive, what does not work for me may work brilliantly for you, so please read this review with an open mind!

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How to Do Pigments the Right Way.

Out of everything, I have to say pigments are one of the hardest things to work with. Not only do they seem to fall out everywhere on your face, but precision is something that seems near to impossible when using them. There's a trick to it though, something I've only recently discovered. Most pigments need some sort of mixing agent/glue to stop the specs of pigment from falling everywhere. The perfect product for this is MAC Studio Fix Plus. Its probably the best 14 pounds I spent. It's the most multi-use makeup product out there. The trick is to take some of the pigment on your eyeshadow brush and spritz the spray on the brush from afar. This will act a glue for the pigments to stick to. Then apply the eyeshadow by packing the colour onto the lid to create an intensified look. You'd be surprised how many different tones of colour get lost in your pigment when you don't use this step. Since discovering this method I've played around with some of my pigments and I came up with this super glamorous look using jewel tones.

Products Used: Face MAC Studio Fix Fluid - NC35 and NC45  MAC Studio Finish Concealer - NC40 MAC Lustre Drops - Pink Rebel Bourjois Poudre de Delice - 53 Sleek Blusher - Rose Gold MAC Mineralise Skinfinish - Soft and Gentle Eyes Urban Decay Primer Potion MAC Cream Colour Base - Quite Natural Urban Decay Smoked Palette - Backdoor and Blackout MAC Fabulousness Warm Eye Palette - Sketch Collection 2000 Liquid Eye Liner - Black Urban Decay 24/7 Liner - Blackout MAC Zoom Fast Black Mascara Rimmel London Eyebrow Pencil - Brown MAC Pigment - Green Olive Lips Rimmel London Lip Liner - Spice MAC Lipstick - Please Me I know it seems like a lot of products, but when doing your makeup determining whether it looks cakey or not is not dependant on how many products you use, more the method with you use them. My advice when doing your makeup is, if its not broken don't fix it. If you have nice skin, embrace it, use a light foundation that highlights your skin and does not cover it. Those of you who have problematic skin, there will be some areas of your skin that are better than others and try allow your skin to show through in these areas. Remember, if your skin looks natural, no matter how dramatic your makeup is it will never look cakey. Hope that helps you guys!

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