My Makeup Bag

Today I'd really like to share with you my every day makeup essentials. These are my basic items which are always in my makeup bag. I love to experiment with different makeup products, but I always have them few items which I always go back to.

Here's whats there:

Primer: Prep + Prime Skin Base

Foundation: Studio Fix Fluid NW20

Powder: Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium Plus

Bronzer: Mineralize Skinfinish in Give me sun!

Blusher:  Warm Soul Mineralize Blush

Eyes: Paint pot in Painterly

Eyeliner: Blacktrack Fluid line & Engraved Powerpoint Eye Pencil. 

Mascara: False Lashes Extreme Black

Eyebrows: Spiked Eyebrow Pencil

Lipgloss: Ample Pink Plushglass.

All products by MAC

Skin

I always use a primer underneath my foundation mainly because it keeps my foundation on a lot longer than if I just apply the foundation straight on to bare skin. I have tried a few primers but find the Skin Base by MAC to be the most effective. It calms and smooths the skin and reduces redness (which I find means less foundation is needed) It also blots away excess oil, and gives a smooth base to apply your foundation on top.  

I tend to have a lot of trouble with my skin because it doesn't fit in to one category.  Its sometimes dry, sometimes oily and I get break outs every so often. 

I still haven't found the perfect foundation for me (and believe me, I've tried them all!)

The Studio Fix fluid seems to be the best that I've tried so far. 

It is a matte finish full coverage foundation which exactly what I love about it. 

A little bit goes a long way with this foundation so you don't end up looking 'Caked' in makeup (as long as you use the right amount, if you put a lot on its going to look like a lot, obviously?)

The matte finish is great as it prevents your skin from looking oily or greasy throughout the day. I find this foundation gives me the coverage I want without having to use a concealer. Although if I have a few spots I use a small amount of Studio Finish Concealer to give that extra bit of coverage. 

The powder I use is Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium Plus. I absolutely love this powder. It sets the foundation and gives that extra bit of coverage which helps your skin to look just that extra bit more flawless. It doesn't stick to any dry patches but also eliminates shine which is great for people like me with combination skin. 

Cheeks

The bronzer I normally use is Mineralize Skin Finish in Give Me Sun! As in the winter my skin is very fair I do need to be careful with this one. This powder is very pigmented so a little bit on the brush is all that's needed. I love this bronzer for the summer months as it gives a lovely glow and is the perfect colour to use when you have a tan!

My favorite blusher is also part of the Mineralize range and is called Warm Soul. It is a lovely Brown/Peachy shade with a slight shimmer. I use this just on the apples of the cheeks to add a colour and glow.

I normally use a cream colour base as a highlighter on my cheek bones and my favorite colour to use is hush. It has a slight pinky tone to it and a lovely pearlized finish which reflects the light beautifully.

Eyes

I always use a paint pot on my eyelids even if in not wearing any eyeshadow. The Paint pots are smudge and crease proof and prevent oily eyelids! If you wear an eyeliner like me these help to keep that in place too. I usually use the colour Painterly as it is the closest to my skin colour so looks very natural. These do come in several  different shades to suit everyone. 

The eyeliner I use is Blacktrack Fluidline. Its a gel based liner which means it glides on effortlessly  I use this eyeliner on my top lash line only.  I normally use my 210 precise liner brush to get a really sharp flick! 

I use Engraved Powerpoint eyeliner on my bottom lashline. I normally just draw it as close to my lashes as possible (not actually in the waterline, this can make your eyes look smaller and will also wear off quicker) and then just smudge it in with a brush.

My favorite mascara at the moment is False Lash Extreme black. It is a great lengthening mascara, but what I love about it the most is the brush. The brush is narrow at the tip and gets thicker towards the base, this defines each lash making your lashes look lovely and thick.

Eyebrows

I must admit, I do use several different products on my eyebrows depending on how I'm feeling. I sometimes use Mystery eyeshadow with a small angled brush. Or I use Dipdown fluid line mixed with a tiny bit on concealer to lighten it slightly. But my 'go to' eyebrow product has to be Spiked eyebrow pencil. This is the easiest, quickest and most convenient way to do your eyebrows. It is a twist up pencil so no need for sharpening, it has a really precise point so you can get a really sharp brow which I love, or you can get a softer looking brow by lightly drawing in the missing hairs. The only downside to this product is you can't tell when its about to run out, so I always carry a spare just in case! 

Lips

My all time favorite lipgloss is Ample Pink Plushglass! It is the perfect everyday pink. It doesn't have a sparkle in , just a simple gloss. The thing I love about it the most is its a Plushglass, this has a lip plumping technology in it that gives you fuller looking lips. I have fairly small lips so this is a perfect solution for me! 

Hope you found this post helpful, I would love to see what your everyday makeup essentials are!

Photoshoot with Rajesh Taylor

I would like to share with you guys a few shots from a recent photoshoot I did.

I was recently lucky enough to collaborate with a great photographer, Rajesh Taylor. The shoot was in a nice little studio around Canary Wharf. 

Rajesh wanted a beautiful natural look for the hair and makeup on the models. He was shooting with natural light, so it was all fingers crossed that the sun would show its face.  (which luckily it did, kind of!)

The first model was Cody Cataluffi. You can take a look at her portfolio here.

I used 'Naked Lunch' & 'Satin Taupe' eyeshadows by MAC on her for a soft and natural look. 

On her skin I used studio fix fluid, (this covers everything and looks great on camera)

And on her lips 'Cherish' lipstick. This colour completed her complexion and enhanced her natural lip colour.

For her hair I used my trusty heated rollers. They are great for a quick hair style, only take about 15-20 mins to create a beautiful loose bouncy curl.

Hair and Makeup in progress! 

Beautiful head shots of Cody! I love these. 

The second model was Jacqueline Osorio. Check her out here.

Again we kept the makeup simple and natural. 

I used 'Woodwinked' eyeshadow with 'Espresso' and 'Carbon' to darken the socket line.

On her lips I used 'Stripdown' Lipliner and 'Fanfare' Lipstick. All by MAC.

 

Jacqueline before the shoot. 

A small selection of the stunning shots of Jacqueline. 

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It was a pleasure to work with Rajesh. He is very professional but relaxed at the same time. Amazing communication before hand, he really went out of his way to make sure everything went smoothly! Aside from that, he is a brilliant photographer, he definitely knows his stuff!! I am so pleased with the shots that Rajesh has produced, and I look forward to hopefully working with him again soon! 

Please all check out Rajesh's work here: www.RajeshTaylor.com

Also like his Facebook page! 

Glam Crystals

I discovered these glitter liners after watching Pixiewoo's YouTube Tutorial on Leona Lewis makeup that she wore on her XFactor performance a little while back. (Watch the tutorial here )

Pixiewoo found the actual products Leona's makeup artist had used on her for the show, which included these glitter liners. 

They are from Collection 2000, and they are called 'Glam Crystals'! I just had to try them out, if they're good enough for Leona they're good enough for us ay? 

So anyway I went down to Superdrug to get my hands on these. They are just £2.99 and they really are great! Get them here

I bought 4 colours to try, 

Glitz 1 (Silver) 

Dancing Queen (Pink) 

Funk (Gold)

and

 Le Freak (Blue)

What I really like about these is that they are so easy to use, you can apply them straight to your eyelid lid from the wand, with no mess. Loose glitter pigments always end up everywhere no matter what you do, where as these are a lot simpler.

They do take a while to dry, so a little bit of sitting around with your eyes closed is involved, but in my opinion, its totally worth it! 

My absolute favorite is Glitz 1 (This happens to be the one used on Leona)

It is so pigmented, only one layer of glitter is needed for a opaque finish. 

So here is my version:

How I achieved this:

1. Apply Paint Pot in Painterly all over the lid

2. Using  217 blending brush, start by blending Wedge eye shadow in to the socket line. 

3. Build this up by adding a darker brown in to create more definition (I used Espresso)

4. Smudge the darker shadow on lower lash line and add Smolder eye kohl to waterline. 

5. Take your Glam crystal eyeliner in Glitz 1 and slowly and gently apply over lid. Making sure not to go past your crease. I found it easier to do this looking down, this way you wont smudge the glitter by blinking.

6. Make sure you wait a few seconds before adding another layer if necessary. (I only did one layer)

7. Using Blacktrack Fluid line and 210 liner brush, create your liner. (Refer to earlier post if you need a hand with that)

8. Lastly apply your mascara or false lashes. 

(All other products by MAC. Glam Crystal liner by Collection 2000)

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My second fave is Dancing Queen

This one I did need to build up, but after a couple of coats the finish was just how I wanted! 

So here's how I created this one:

1. Apply Paint pot in Painterly over lid.

2. Using Blacktrack liner, draw a line in your crease. Blend this upwards. 

3. Use Shadowy Lady eye shadow  continue to blend out the socket line. (It should gently fade out to the brow bone. I used Stars and Rockets eye shadow to blend this out.)

4. Take your Dancing Queen glitter liner and gently paint this over your eyelid. Do one coat, wait a minute or so for it to dry, and then repeat. 

5. Use your Blacktrack Fluidline again to create the liner. The flick of the liner should meet the flick in the cut crease. 

6. Take the liner to the bottom lash line as well and smudge in.

7. Apply Mascara or Lashes. 

(All other products used are by MAC. Dancing Queen Liner by Collection 2000)

The Gold Glitter (Funk) didn't have quite the same effect for me. It was hard to build up, I think you would definitely need to have a gold shadow underneath because without that too much skin shows through.

I haven't got around to creating a look for the blue one (Le Freak) yet. Its not a colour I would usually wear. I think I will need to experiment a little bit with that one! . Any ideas would be appreciated!

Battle of the Brushes

Okay, so as a loyal MAC girl, I was a little apprehensive to try the RealTechniques brushes that I have heard so much about. But for such a reasonable price it seemed crazy not to give them a go.

 I firstly bought the core collection set, which I absolutely love! (Amazing value at just £14.66 at the moment on Amazon Get them here!) I will do a review on this set very soon!

But the brush I am going to review today is the Stippling brush. 

This was the main brush that I was really curious to try, as it was very similar in style to my trusty MAC 130 stipple brush!

I thought I would test it out and let you guys know what I think if it and how it compares to my MAC one.

Price

RealTechniques: £11.99

You can buy this brush from here!

MAC: £29

Get this one from here!

Bristles

RealTechniques: Synthetic

MAC: Mixture of natural and synthetic

RealTechniques

Pros

Very reasonable and affordable price.

Available in most boots stores and several online company's such as amazon.

Eye catching pink handle

Has a flat base so can stand up

Good size brush head to apply foundation quickly and easily

Brush head size also makes this brush very easy to blend all areas of face (even under eyes) with ease. 

Cons

I did unfortunately find the bristles on the brush quite coarse.
  When applying foundation I felt the bristles prickling against my skin which wasn't the most comfortable experience.

I also found this brush a bit of a challenge to clean, the white bristles take a couple of goes to get sparkling clean again. Although on the plus side, the synthetic bristles do dry very quickly. 

MAC 130

Pros

Very soft bristles. Comfortable and pleasing to use.

This is a very durable and sturdy brush. It will last you years if looked after!

Applies foundation flawlessly with little effort, the brush does all the blending for you so no need for arm ache when trying to get a streak free flawless skin!

Bristles are dense enough to buff foundation all over the skin but flexible enough for an even application. 

This brush is very easy to wash and dry. A pea size of shampoo gets all product out quickly and the bristles dry within a few minutes. 

Can be used with cream, liquid or powder products, making it an extremely versatile brush. 

Cons

Is quite pricey so may not be affordable for all budgets.

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MAC #130 Stipple Brush

Price 3.5/5

Bristle 5/5

Application 5/5

Versatility 4/5

Overall 4.5/5

RealTechniques Stipple Brush

Price 5/5

Bristles 3/5

Application 3.5/5

Versatility 3.5/5

Overall 3.5/5

Okay, so the realTechniques brush hasn't won me over completely. Although it is a great alternative to the MAC 130 brush, the quality of the brush just isn't the same! 

Hope you found this review helpful, I would love to hear what you thought of these brushes? Or if you have a different favourite? 

The perfect flick.

So, here we go. My first makeup post.

Starting simple, classic flicked liner. So simple to do once you get the hang of it. But it certainly takes a bit of practice.

Here's a really simplified step by step of how I do my own liner.

The products I used were: MAC Blacktrack Fluid line & MAC Liner Brush #210

Let me know how you get on or if you have any other tricks that you have found useful!

Follow Me!

While I become accustomed to the blogging world, please feel free to follow/like my other pages! 

I have newly set up Facebook, Twitter & Instagram pages which you can find at the following: 

Facebook.com/ MakeupByKerryLC

Twitter: @MakeupByKerry_

Instagram: @Makeup_ByKerry

Please like or follow, your support is really appreciated! 

Thank you 

Welcome to my blog!

Hello everyone,

Firstly thank you for visiting my blog. I am very new to this so please be patient. 

I have decided to start my own blog to share my views,tips and opinions on what I love the most, MAKEUP. 

My name is Kerry, and I am a makeup artist from London working for MAC cosmetics. 

I love my job and all things makeup and beauty, I hope you will find my posts interesting/helpful!

Speak soon,