Beauty Archives - Page 30 of 35

Katie Beauty

Blown away by Bare Minerals

Hello Lovelies,

Have you ever loved everything from a certain brand and then they’ve brought something new out and you’ve hated it?
That’s what I was worried about with the Bare Minerals READY range. A new line of pressed powders, blushes and eyeshadows.

I was very dubious of whether they would live up to the high standard of the Bare Minerals loose products as I am a big fan and of course their skincare is exceptionally good as well. It could have gone either way really, couldn’t it? I have been hesitant to order any of the Ready line until I could get to a counter and have a play.

Now don’t let me mislead you, this post isn’t all doom and gloom. Last night I finally got to have a closer inspection of the READY line and OH.MY.WORD. I cannot begin to explain how pigmented and buttery soft the eyeshadow quads I tried were. Even the white, which is quite often a hard colour to pull off, pigmentation wise, was just gorgeous and bold.

My favourite has to be the The Soundtrack 4.0 eyeshadow quad and The Top Shelf 2.0 eyeshadow duo. The colours, depth, finish and quality just truly blew me away. It was love at first swipe!

The Soundtrack 4.0 quad

Priced at £29 for the quad and £19 for the duo, which is a LOT more than I was expecting but now that I have seen the quality for myself, I can say the eyeshadows are worth every penny. A little will go a very long way so they will be long lasting.

For convenience, as I travel a lot, I never take any Bare Minerals loose products away with me but now I can, from the Ready range!

I must admit though, I found the blushes to be a little bit underwhelming, but that’s probably more down to my own personal preference of liking bold blushes that you need a light hand for, rather than building a subtle colour up. 6 and 2 three’s really I dare say!

Keep your eyes peeled for some colour swatches coming soon of the eyeshadows!

Have you tried the new Ready range? Do you prefer loose or pressed products?

Katie Beauty

Spotlight On….. Sarah from F.A.C.E Make Up Artistry

Hello Lovelies,

If you cast your minds back a wee while, you’ll remember my MAC make over gift from my Father in Law. You can read the post HERE in case you can’t remember.

Today, I have a special treat for you!

The amazing Sarah has agreed to be my first special guest in my new weekly ‘Spotlight on….’ feature! How exciting!

Sarah is a gorgeous, pink tressed, freelance make up artist based in Newcastle that I met through her work with the M.A.C counter in Fenwicks. She’s the one smiley friendly face I always looked for on the counter when I visit as I can be assured she’ll be honest and not just force that purple blusher and pink eyeshadow on me just because it’s ‘in’ this month. Ladies, we’ve all had that experience, haven’t we!

Sarah is also the mastermind behind http://facemakeupartistry.com/ so don’t forget to swing by and check the site out or head on over to facebook and give her a LIKE – https://www.facebook.com/f.a.c.emakeupartistry?fref=ts

As it’s the first Spotlight on….. I will explain a little more about it. Each week, I will be showcasing some of my favourite bloggers and industry insiders. If you’d like to take part, feel free to get in touch using the Contact form up there ^

So, on with the show!

You can read more, under the cut!

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Katie Beauty

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain #7

Hello Lovelies,

What a little stunner I have for you today! YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain in shade 7, a browny pink shade that is very much ‘my lips but better’

First of all, this is my first dip in to the waters of YSL lip products and I am suitably impressed, nay blown away.

With some trepidation I tried these. I really wanted to like them but with a lot of stains they revert back to a deep pinky red base by the end of the day which I do not like as it overly emphasises my deeply pigmented lips which makes it harder to cover. With the Glossy Stain, the colour remains ‘true’ to the end. Huge bonus in my book.

The packaging is just as luxe as you’d expect from a YSL product and I don’t feel the £22.50 price tag is overly expensive when you consider the price of a MAC lipglass or lipstick really. Yes, it costs more, but in the grand scheme of things not THAT much more. Does that make sense? I appreciate the price is probably not to everyones liking but I think this stain is well worth it.

You can apply this in a few different ways.. One coat gives a subtle wash of colour with a slight sheen to it, 2 coats brings out the pigmentation for a colour pop with increased gloss then a 3rd coat gives you maximum coloured pouty goodness. With each additional coat you aren’t left with extra stickyness or that gross overloaded feeling you can get with lipsticks and glosses (regardless of their price).

You don’t feel like you are wearing any product at all and when you purse your lips, you can’t feel the product. It’s got enough moisture in it for me personally not to be reaching for the lip balm every half an hour. It’s a very comfortable, non drying product.

Application wise, it goes on well with the applicator wand in an almost creamy formula. Very easy to work with, doesn’t feather and the point of the applicator tip makes it easy to do your cupids bow on touch ups during the day.

I will warn you though, it smells funny. Like a chemically, almost winey smell. You can’t smell it once it is on, but in the tube and on application it is quite strongly scented. If you are a bit iffy with scented products I really would recommend you giving it a sniff test first prior to purchase so that you are prepared. It’s not an unpleasant smell… just a strong one.

I find from 2 coats at 7am, I can get through until 1pm with out needing to touch up or add any more gloss / balm. That’s sitting at my desk constantly drinking water or eating fruit. I do a light touch up at 1pm and then that lasts me right through until I take my make up off.

With 18 colours to choose from, there’s a colour to suit everyone.

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stains are available from Boots priced £22.50.

Have you tried the YSL Glossy Stains or any other YSL lip products? I think I have developed a new obsession… which lip product should I try next from YSL?

Katie Beauty

MAC Viva Glam Nicki

Hello Lovelies,

I tried to buy this when it first came out after posting about the promo images HERE but after forgetting about it, I struggled to find anywhere with it in stock so gave up.

You’ve probably already seen a million reviwes of this but recently, a tube of this came in to my possession and what a happy little Katie I am!

Viva Glam Nicki is a bold, punchy satin pink which works really well on my skin tone without looking too OTT. Due to their fantastic pigmentation, the colour pay off doesn’t change between one swipe or several as you don’t really need to build up the colour for better pay off.

My current favourite way to wear this is to apply and then layer it over with MUA’s Shade 4 to increase its intensity rather than a clear or matching gloss as I find the combination to be very flattering. It also means once the base layer has set, top ups throughout the day can be done with MUA without affecting the colour of Viva Glam.

Even though my love of MAC is waning of late, I still absolutely love their selection of lipsticks and find that they are perfectly pigmented and of a high quality.

Katie Beauty

Origins Drink It Up

Lately I’ve been suffering terribly with a problematic skin flare up. It has been very sensitised and dry to the point that it flakes and peels. I don’t know what has triggered this but I have been trying to find new ways to manage the problem – particularly Origins Drink It Up.

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