Swatches | Make Up By Katy

The Benefit of a Creaseless Cream.

August 15, 2010 By Katy Messer 2 Comments

Hi Girls
I’m a bit late to the game on this one. I know of a few beauty bloggers who have been talking these up for quite a while now, so, better late than never. And I now have 9 in my collection. Yeah, I don’t do things by halves
I’ve been using these in my kit as opposed to on myself, but that is purely because I don’t really do eyeshadow all that much and prefer to stick to a think smoky line. However, in my freelance work, I’m a bit more experimental!
These little pots of gorgeousness are exactly as described in the name. Creams that don’t crease. Genius. I compare them to the Laura Mercier Metallic Creams in their staying power, the finish is a little less metallic, maybe more wearable.
The full range is apparently 12 shades, a few of them limited edition. These are some of the most versatile, wearable and durable cream shadows I’ve worked with and one of the reasons I think it’s such a shame that Benefit as a company have the (deserved) reputation it does*. Their ethos of shoving their ‘fake-it’s’ down your throat as quickly and forcefully as possible means that people often don’t stay at the counters long enough to really get the chance to play and fall in love with the products.
*I want to add that I don’t blame the sales assistants, they are only following the very strict guidelines set for them by the company. The target driven pressure these ‘benebabes’ are under is immense. Uch.
So, here are the pictures and swatches. My photography AS level has not helped me one bit in capturing the sheen without glare, but having looked at Temptalia’s swatches, it seems she struggled too, so I don’t feel so bad!

r.s.v.p

Flatter Me

Busy Signal

Swatches 1

Swatches with no flash, L_R r.s.v.p, Flatter Me, Busy Signal.

I use Flatter Me a lot as an all over lid base colour before layering other colours on top. Busy signal is a brand new one that I’ve not had a chance to use yet.

Gossip

Skinny Jeans

Strut

L-R Gossip, Skinny Jeans, Strut.

Gossip comes up a lot more lilac on the eye but has a beautiful matte finish and offers a great base for other matte powder shadows to lay on. Strut has been my most used of all the shades. I have layed this down as a base for many smoky eyes and the end result is a really intense colour. On a lighter eye it can also be used as a liner in the style of a Gel Ink.

Stiletto

Get Figgy

Towne Car

L-R Stiletto, Get Figgy, Towne Car

Both Stiletto and Get Figgy and are both new to me so I’ve not used them yet but I expect I’m going to love Get Figgy through the crease very softly with possibly Skinny Jeans on the lid. I’ve used Towne Car as a liner mostly, it’s a good soft black/grey. Lovely.

These retail at £14 and are great value. Look out for them when you’re next in store. If the sales assistant is being pushy and aggressive, just be firm but polite. They’re only doing their job, sad but true.

Keep your eye out for some of the shoot posts I have coming up in the next few weeks, you’ll see the colours in use!

Until next time,

Filed Under: Benefit, Eyeshadow, Review, Swatches Tagged With: Benefit, Eyeshadow, Review, Swatches

EOTD, No7 and Yaby Swatches and Reviews

April 18, 2010 By Katy Messer 8 Comments

Hi Girls,

I want to show you a look I created today on myself that I’ve been thinking about for a bit.
This is combined of products that I bought myself.

Firstly, I had a Boots £5 off voucher that was due to expire so I hot-footed it to ~~mecca~~ my local store and set about playing. I knew almost instantly when I saw this that we would get along nicely. And I wasn’t wrong!

I’m talking about this-

I’ve shown in swatched both opaque (top) and then sheered out (bottom). The texture is lovely. I’m more used to using a cream so the mousse texture was a different sensation for me. I started off sheering it onto my lid with my finger but then switched to a small synthetic brush to build up the density.

The look I was going for today was, believe it or not, a bruise inspired palette. I love the colours that appear when I’ve clanged my knee!

I used 3 Yaby colours alongside it. These eyeshadows are incredible. I have 4 and if I had the money, I’d replace my entire kit with them. They’re that good. Super pigmented and delicious colours!(I also have 12 of their blushers, but that’s another post entirely!!)

From L_R ES410 (lady orchid)/ ES155 (blank)/ ES361 (just peachy)

They photograph differently to how they swatch.

Lady Orchid is a beautiful warm, rich plum shade and Just Peachy is actually a bright but sheer yellow toned peach.

Thisis a montage of the steps I used from start to finish.

Step by step;

Smooth the No7 mousse over the eyelid ( I always keep the inner corner lighter, I have close set eyes)
Sweep Yaby 361 (the peach shade) through the crease from where the Mousse stops. Blend outwards and upwards and also along the bottom lashes. Smudge quite low underneath.
Place Yaby 155 under the brow as a highlighter, keep it very localised and don’t bring too far down onto the browbone. Press onto the inner corner of the eye, top and bottom.
Press the Yaby 361 on top of the white on the inner corner to create a bright white peach. Use this combination on the inneer rim, only above the highlight.
Use the Yaby 410 on the outer corners and along the lid to intensify the No7 mousse. Sweep under bottom lashes keeping it tight enough that the peach shade still shows beneath it. Press it onto the inner rim until it meets the white.

To really push this up to the next level, bring some black kohl into the mix. Yaby also do a fantabulous black shadow. I got mine from The Make-up Artist Boutique and if you’re a pro they give a 20% discount. It’s where I get all my OCC from too. Super quick delivery and great selection.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this, I look forward to your comments!

Yours, as ever

Filed Under: EOTD, Eyeshadow, No7, Review, smoky eye, Swatches, Yaby

George @ Asda. A FOTD, swatches and Reviews.

April 18, 2010 By Katy Messer 6 Comments

Hi Girls

I have been in touch with the PR team at Asda about their George make-up line. For those who follow my blog regularly, you’ll already know of my fascination with the make-up range! I’ve written about it in a few posts before. I wrote to them expressing my views on the range and they got back to me with an interesting request! They’d like my input in adding some new colours to the range. Product developement is something I’ve had involvement in before so I am happy to put forward my suggestions. First of all, I have to give the current products a good thorough review first!

These following products were sent to me for review purposes by the Asda team.
I’ve put a look together using the following products (alongside my own products);

Shimmering Brush-on Powder in no.1 Angel
Blush no.3 Cheeky
Velvet Eyeshadows in no.22 Jellybean, no.23 Stardust and no.24 Asteroid.
Full on Lip Glaze in 06 Vanilla Glaze

Here is the finished look.

Let me take you through each product individually. Starting with the Shimmering Brush-on Powder;

This is a take on Bobbi Brown’s Shimmer Brick and is one of their recent additions to the range. I think it comes in 3 shades, this being the ‘peachy’ shade and the others being ‘browny’ and ‘pinky’. I like the texture, it feels soft, and powdery and velvety. Imagine 5 flumps lined up in a pallette. It reflects alot of gold on the skin. I used it after my bronzer along the high points of my cheekbones, followed by blusher on the apples. My only problem with this is the layout of the shades. I would have much prefered it if the brown (middle) shade was at the bottom. I’m very fair and when I use these graduating palettes, I tend to steer my brush away from the darker shades until the summer. I couldn’t with this, my brush swept right over it and hence, I felt the shimmer was a ted too ‘muddy’ for me at this time of year.

I love the packaging though. Asda, please re-package your blushers and eyeshadows like this!!!

This retails at £4.50…..!!

The eyeshadows are what really got me started with this range. I had already bought a few of the amazing value Quads and some of the singles for my mum. This eye was created using 3 colours. Not 3 shades I’d usually put together but for the sake of creativity, I went forth and mixed. Waddya think?

I used Asteroid on the lid, Stardust through my crease and Jellybean on my outer corner and under bottom lashes. I also pressed it into my waterline which is very naughty as it’s sparkly so don’t tell anyone!!!

These shadows are fantastic value. They’re probably not suitable for the super sensitive eye, the first 2 ingredients are Talc and Mica! I have eyes of steel however and have never had any issues. The pigment in all are good, especially in the lilac, Jellybean. It has more of a magenta undertone than a blue. I’d like to see a matte shade extension to be used as contour shades. The whole range is shimmery.

My gripe? The packaging is very flimsy. The press button that opens and locks the compact is prone to sticking. The plastic window pops out. The 2 I bought my mum broke before I even got them home.

If they can be repackaged into the same design at the Shimmer Powder, aces!

The blusher range, if I recall, consists of 3 shades. Again, ‘pinky’ ‘browny’ and ‘peachy’. I was sent the Pink shade. The initial appearance of it is that it’s a shimmery finish, however, when it’s on it’s quite Matte. It does have big chunks of glitter in it though. They never seem to transfer to my face but are there nonetheless. Not sure why? It gives a nice, sheer finish and it’s staying power is ok. I’d again like to see a matte range and a texture closer to that of the eyeshadows.

The final product I used was one of their Full on Lip Glazes in a clear shade.

This has a wicked shine! Full on wet-look and I’ll be using this in my kit. It is however the STICKIEST lip gloss I’ve ever used. Full on clearly refers to the tack-level. It’s one of those glosses that, if I had long hair, would attract every loose strand. I fear that if I wore this, I would start to get other peoples ponytails stuck to my face. It is that much of a hair magnet!!! Taste wise, it’s got that sweet scent that so many lip glosses have these days. Not that nice but not disgusting.

I also have some more nail varnishes and some glittery eyeliners to swatch. That’ll have to be next time. I’m all swatched out!

Yours, covered in make-up

Filed Under: Asda, Blusher, Eyeshadow, Review, shimmer, Swatches

No7 Primers – Pictures and Reviews (and a chance to nab one for yourselves!)

April 13, 2010 By Katy Messer 4 Comments

Hi Girls,

Continuing on in the No7 theme I have here 2 coloured primers sent to me by the PR company for my perusal. Now, I’m starting to worry about sounding like a moany old know-it-all but I’m not a fan of tinted primers. In the sense of the colour correction aspect. I have seen first hand the carnage that can be created when green is used to correct redness on the skin.

Years ago a very good friend of mine suffered from rosacea on her cheeks. She still does. Back then she would desperately try and counteract the redness with a green liquid. I’m trying hard to recall the exact brand and I have a funny feeling it may have even been a No7 product. Maybe No17?? Either way, it didn’t work. Back then I was a wannabe make-up artist and would regularly practice my ‘skills’ on her. She was a willing guinea-pig and kudos to her, she sat through hours and I mean HOURS of my faffing and preening. One thing I could never get to grips with was the green-ness.

Even then (and I’m talking 16-17 years ago!) I realised that in order to cover the green residue left behing by the corrector, the foundation would have to be pretty intense. These correctors are just not suitable to be left uncovered. In those days foundations just didn’t have the technology that they do now. In order to give adequate coverage a heavy base would have to be used (think Max Factor Pan Stick) which gave a theatrical appearance, even with a light hand. The alternative was a sheer base that shone through with green.

I have my own theories as to the best way to cover redness on the cheeks, I will dedicate a whole post to this and I may even draft in my lovely friend to demo.

Let’s get to the products shall we?

First lets go with the Green.

The tube is a reasonably generous 40ml for £10.25. This won’t give you the same benefits as other primers. It’s solely there to correct colour imperfections, the ingredients aren’t designed to increase longevity.

The amount that I squeezed out onto my hand was under 1 centimetre, the close up shot is a bit deceiving!

I want to show you how intense this is and how careful you’d need to be to ensure you don’t end up looking like Grotbags.

I could have carried on spreading this half way up my arm. Oh and this lovely lady, is Grotbags (for those too young to remember the awesomeness of the Pink Windmill)

Maybe she had high colouring?

The Lilac shade isn’t as lurid.

This isn’t as concentrated as the Green and spreads much more effectively.

This shade is supposed to liven up a sallow complexion which I can see that it could do. Unfortunately these are both so rich in ingredients such as Olive Oil and Cocoa seed butter, my oily, spot prone skin would have a fit if I used them.

I’d really like to get an idea of how these work on someone. If anyone would like to volunteer to give one of them a go in exchange for a guest review, please leave a comment below explaining your skin-tyoe and which one you would like to try and I’ll pick one for each primer at the end of the week.

The only request is that you be a follower of my blog (existing or new, I don’t mind)

I hope you’ve found this mini review helpful!

Yours, in anticipation

Filed Under: Colour Corrector, high colouring, No7, primers, Review, Swatches

MyFace Swatches – Blingtone Eyeshadows with a Giveaway included!

March 19, 2010 By Katy Messer 20 Comments

Hi Girls,

Here I’m going to take you through some MyFace items I was recently sent from their PR company.

I’ve already talked through the mascara and eye pencil I was sent, I posted a quick review of it here.

These eyeshadows, when they first fell out the foil packed bag, awakened my inner girly girl. They are insanely sparkly. Hence being named Bling-tones I expect!

Now, I have to be honest, eyeshadows with sparkles in aren’t usually the first thing I grab for myself, I’m a big fan of Shimmer and Metallic finishes which are slightly different. However, I’m in the position that I can take two standpoints when reviewing products. That of a consumer and also of a make-up artist.

I haven’t tried these on my eyes yet. I’m going to wait for an evening so as not to ‘waste’ the sparkle on Asda, the Post Office and hoovering.

These are the first 2. They look very different in the pans but if you look at the swatches, they’re not that dis similar on. I’d use either of these as a lid highlight, either on the centre to add dimension to a flat lid or as a corner highlight. Never under the brow, unless I find a time machine and land in a nightclub in 1983.

These 2 are slightly more wearable shades, unfortunately Morococo arrived shattered. I squidged in into place though.

Now, is it me, or are these much sheerer than expected?

Especially considering I swiped these on with my fingers?

Compare them to these below which are seemingly much more saturated with pigment.

Um, hello! How pigmented are you?!

So, to sum up. The lighter shades are best suited as washes, the darker shades work well pressed on. I’d like to see someone elses take on these shades, so I’m going to give away 3 shades and let someone else get creative and enjoy them.

The 3 shades are; Diamonds and Pearls, Sp”ice”y and Crystalline Green.

To enter yourself into the Giveaway, simply leave a comment and add your e-mail address. I do ask that you are a subscriber to my blog to enter. I will randomly pick from the entries and let the winner know by e-mail.

Shall we give it a week?

Meet you back here next Friday?

Lovely, I look forward to it

Yours, in anticipation

Filed Under: Bling-tones, Eyes, Eyeshadow, Giveaway, MyFace, Review, shimmer, Sparkle, Swatches

Colour Swatches

February 14, 2010 By Katy Messer 2 Comments

Hi Girls,

I promised recently to post some colour swatches when I had better daylight. Now today wasn’t the brightest day but by half hanging out the window, I managed to take some slightly decent shots of the new eyeshadows I bought the other day. Take a look at this post to familiarise yourself with the haul…

I have already used a few of these in my tutorial but I want to show the saturation of colour and texture that these lovely gems give.

First up, from my Boots haul, 2 Bourjois eyeshadows and a Prestige Pencil.

With Flash

In Daylight

From Left-Right; Bourjois Shimmering E/S in Beige Metallique, Bourjois Ombre Stretch in Violette Profond, Prestige Total Intensity Eyeliner in Powerful Purple.

Next up are the 3 quads I picked up from Asda. Bargain at £2.50 and more pigment than I ever dreamed a supermarket shadow would give.

These were all swatched in daylight and with my fingers. I think the 2nd quad shown, ‘Outer Space’ is my least favourite but I can still appreciate the colours and shades. I think I might let this one go as a present. I actually wore Autumn Leaves (the 1st Quad) for work the other day. Fellow MUA’s commented on it, no-one would’ve guessed it wasn’t high end. The 3rd Quad, Mermaid, has some gorgeous sheen.

That’s all for now folks, if you’d like to see these in an Eye of the Day, let me know in the comments.

Yours,

Katy xx

Filed Under: Asda, Bourjois, Eyeshadow, Prestige, Swatches