Favourite highlight eyeshadows / pigments

So I'm on a bit of a roll with the swatching and after doing the blush swatches I thought I would go ahead and do some eyeshadow and pigment swatches.  Now for me light coloured eyeshadows really get me excited.  I love to put them all over the lid for an everyday look.  Here are some of the ones I own.  I'll talk a bit more about my favourites after I list the colours...

From left to right -

1. NYX Ultra Pearl Mania Pigment - Nude
2. Stila eyeshadow - Starlight
3. MAC pigment - Naked
4. MAC eyeshadow - Retrospeck
5. MAC eyeshadow - Naked Lunch
6. MAC eyeshadow - Dazzlelight
7. Urban Decay eyeshadow - Virgin
8. Urban Decay eyeshadow - Sin
9. Urban Decay eyeshadow - Sidecar

Now I know I shouldn't really have put side car in there but I just love that eyeshadow so I wanted to put it in.  It is glittery but it's just gorgeous.  Do skip on it though if you aren't into shimmer.

The one that is definitely disappointing is the MAC pigment.  It is gorgeous but not very pigmented.  It does give a gorgeous iridescence though.  It would probably work really well over another eyeshadow.  But like you can see in the photo it hardly shows up.

Overall the Urban Decay eyeshadows have the best pigmentation, extremely creamy.  They're just gorgeous. 

For a price point the NYX pigment is very surprising, quite nice but a lil difficult to use with its packaging.  

My favourite colours thought are Naked lunch and Dazzlelight from MAC.  Dazzlelight is simply gorgeous, a very frosty light pink highlight, but for a frosty colour its very wearable.  Naked lunch is also pinky but much warmer.  Naked lunch is like my natural skin colour but shimmery.  Dazzlelight is more on the cool side, but I tend to prefer cooler colours rather than warm colours.  Virgin is also a really gorgoues highlight and inner corner tear duct colour.

Stila is also very surprising in terms of pigmentation and colour.  It makes a really nice highlight.

You can also use any of these eyeshadows and cheek highlighters.

Hope you enjoyed this and hopefully it was helpful to someone!

Blush swatches

I've been searching on the net for swatches lately for things like concealer, foundation etc and I just thought that it might be really helpful for others like me if I posted swatches of some of the things I own! So just to start off with, since I have quite a few blushes I thought that I would do swatches of them.  I hope this is helpful to someone!  I might talk about my favourite ones also.

From left to right:

1. Smashbox (the blush side) - Baked cheek due on On the town
2. NYX Rouge Cream blush - Rose Petal
3. NYX Rouge Cream blush - Glow
4. M.A.C - Well Dressed
5. Smashbox - Famous
6. NYX - Pinky
7. Clinique - Bashful Plum
8. E.l.f - Fuchsia Fusion
9. Sleek - Rose Gold
10. Sleek - Pomegranate.

The only ones I really don't like unfortunately are M.A.C well dressed, but only because it hardly shows up on my skin tone.  I'm not all that tanned, medium tan in the summer and quite pale in the winter.  I will still keep this blush but perhaps only use in the winter time.  It's a bit like Dandelion from Benefit which I haven't swatched yet.  Its really gorgeous but hardly shows up even if you are a little bit tanned.  (If you're wondering I'm about a NW25 in M.A.C)

The cream blushes from NYX are awesome for their pigmentation, although they do take a little bit of work to blend them nicely.  I want to eventually get some MAC ones to compare.

My favourite smashbox blush has to be famous, it really warms up your face and looks just gorgeous.

The sleek blushes are also really really nice because they are so smooth and apply so nicely to the cheek. 

If you are going for a natural flush, clinique bashful plum is great as is NYX - Rose Petal.  But I think my favourite of this bunch is Fuchsia Fusion.  It does have a lil bit of sparkle but I always feel really pretty when I wear it :)

So I hope that's helpful for all of you.  If you're wondering where I get my products from please have a look at this post.

Some favourite makeup looks

Just wanted to post some looks that I found online that I really like.  They are all a bit similar haha. oh well.  I want to try them out :D


Dior:

Givenchy:

YSL:

Guerlain:

Nars:

M.A.C:

Tell me which is your fav :-)

My new lip combos

I'm a big fan of lipsticks and lipgloss.  No matter where I am going, they are a must have in my handbag.
I just thought I would do a quick post about the new lipsticks and lipglosses I've been combining lately.


I like to have a few pale lipglosses in my collection, just to tone down some of the very bright coloured lipsticks I have to make them more wearable for everyday.


Right now I'm wearing MAC fleshpot with Smashbox's lip enhancing gloss in sand.  I love it., its a neutral lip but its sheer.  I make it sheer by not piling on the lipstick., I kind of tap it on to get a thin layer rather than it being really opaque.  Then I layer the gloss on top and it gives a light glossy look, but also neutralises the colour of my very pigmented lips.. Just love it!

MAC fleshpot

Smashbox lip enhancing gloss in sand

Sometimes I use MAC lip erase to neutralise my lip colour, but MAC's fleshpot kind of does the same thing but with a slightly pink undertone.  Its a little bit more pretty as well with a satin finish.


Anyway that's my post for today! Hope its helpful to someone.


xo
Kirst

Work ball & makeup consult with MAC

Well., it was my first time going to the MAC counter to get my makeup done., and I LOVED it. Was quite nervous as I went there with absolutely NO makeup on. Plus the fact I don't have the most perfect skin. I am a long sufferer of acne since my teenage years. However I braved the shiny Smith & Caughy building to meet my makeup appointment.

I got to sit right in the corner which was a relief. No one wants to sit right where everyone is walking past and can gork at you while you're having your makeup done. It's more like that when you get your makeup done at the Bobby Brown counter. I have nothing against Bobby Brown, I think their makeup is gorgeous, its just their counter is not as private as the MAC one. (I am speaking only about the Smith & Caughy building on Queen St).

Since my makeup was for a formal evening event I thought I'd go hardout with the makeup. Why the hell not. It was a little more out there than I would have done myself, but the MAC makeup artist did an awesome job. I love the colours she used on me. It was a dark blue, but it was a mineralised eyeshadow which gave off a lovely iridescent appearance. Not sparkly but had a slight shimmer. It's gorgeous. Obviously I took that home with me with the $90 I put down as a deposit.

The foundation that they used on me was really nice too. Very moisturising which is what I love because I suffer from very dry skin even though I get pimples. So it was great. The foundation left my skin feeling dewy and didn't budge either.

I also had fake lashes put on. Which were awesome by the way but were soooo expensive! they were like $45 or something crazy. I probably wouldn't do that if I went again. Just too expensive. They were awesome though.

With the rest of my deposit I also bought the select cover concealer in NW25. I now use this concealer everyday. Its pretty good at concealer my under eye area and also blemishes.

Overall I found the experience to be alot of fun. Its definately worth it if you want to try out some MAC makeup and are not sure where to start or what to buy. I would definately do it if you are going to an event of somesort so that the makeup application is not wasted. Its something I think every girl should have the chance to do at least once!

And here is a pic of me in my outfit! Hope you like.

And here's a pic of the makeup. Please excuse my eyebrows! I forgot to shape them before hand. FAIL. I guess that's something you can learn from me!

Hope this is helpful to someone! :-)

My Favourite lip products (everyday use)

Since I have extremely pigmented lips, I tend to go for lighter shades of pink on the lips to try and neutralise the colour a bit. But I have been liking the look of deeper shades of pink this winter... Not sure why but I do.


Anyway my favourite lip products that I carry around with me most days are:

(1) Lucas Pawpaw Ointment
- use this for any redness, cuts , scrapes and just an all round great lip balm for your lips too! Its a very versatile product and its fairly cheap. I think its about $9 - $12 for the smaller tube at any health store. I have a tub of it at home, and I carry the tube around in my handbag.

(2) M.A.C Lip erase lip balm in Dim
This product is a bit tricky to apply but I do love it. It gets rid of the colour on your lips like a concealer so the true colour of your lip balm or lipstick shows through. Its a lil bit drying though so I have to put the Lucas ointment on before hand and dry it off with a tissue. I bought this from ebay as I don't think you can buy it here in NZ.

(3) Smashbox lipstick in candle
This is a shimmery lipstick which is fairly nude. Its a little bit darker than what I would normally wear but I still like it. And I think its quite nice for winter. I usually use a gloss over this. I bought this from GracieLou here in NZ. She has really cheap branded stuff and she ships super fast. She's one of my favourite makeup suppliers. I really love smashbox packaging, its kind of a soft , matte packaging which is really different from alot of other makeup brands which tend to go for shiny packaging.

Photo from GracieLou.co.nz

(4) M.A.C Lipstick in creamcup (creamsheen finish)

This may just be my most favourite lipstick colour. I also have a few other mac lipsticks, but this one just looks sooo lovely on the lips. Its not too dark, not too light its just soo pretty and especially great as an everyday lipstick. It looks quite dark, but when you put it on, it gives the perfect pink pout :-) I just love it!

(5) Smashbox Lip Enhancing gloss in Cactus Flower

I'm generally a sucker for very pale sheer pink lipglosses but this lipgloss is a little bit more pigmented. Its a very natural looking lipgloss and looks so nice on. Its also great for everyday.

(6) Smashbox Lip Enhancing gloss in Expose

Yes another smashbox lipgloss! I love the smell of this lipgloss, and the smashbox lipglosses are all very good quality. They give a very natural shimmer and aren't sticky which can be annoying with some cheaper lipglosses. I love the colour of this , its kind of a corally peach colour (corally a word? lol ).

(7) Zovirax

I've included this here because this is a must have product in my handbag. I suffer from the occasional coldsore and this has often been a lifesaver. It can stop coldsores all together if I catch it in time, and if not it will make sure that my coldsore doesn't grow to a monstorous size! So I always carry this with me as well. I am yet to try the compede patches, heard they were quite good but they are a bit expensive. But for now I'm working on finishing my zovirax. I've moved onto the pump version now, the tube tends to bend and break over time which is reaaaally annoying.

Anyway hopefully this is helpful or interesting to someone! Till next post xo