Almay Intense i-color - Bold Nudes Collection for Hazel Eyes

I was fortunate enough to receive some of the Almay Intense i-color collection from Beautyheaven as part of their trial team a few weeks ago.

The products above are listed as follows:

1) Volumizing Mascara in Midnight
2) Defining Liner in Teal
3) Liquid Shadow + Color Primer for Hazel Eyes
4) Powder Shadow Trio for Hazel Eyes

The Almay Intense i-color range has been designed so that the colours complement your natural eye colour and make eyes appear brighter and more defined. I can't say that I hold too much truth in this concept as I didn't really notice my eyes appearing to look much different when I used this range as opposed to when I use other different colours.

(Almay Intense i-color Volumizing Mascara in Midnight)

The Volumizing Mascara was the most disappointing product in the range to me. Although it worked well when I was actually able to apply it properly (which was rarely), the brush is seriously made for someone with eyes the size of a giraffe because it did not matter what angle I used I just could not apply it to my eyes without getting it on my eyelid or in my eyeball. Frankly, this mascara wand now terrifies me and could be marketed as a great self-torture product.

(Look at the size of that freaking brush!)

(Almay Intense i-color Liquid Shadow + Color Primer for Hazel Eyes)

The Liquid Shadow + Color Primer was a product that really surprised me. I usually steer clear of liquid shadows as they never really work very well on my hooded eyelids and normally crease terribly after a couple of hours. This one however lasted the entire day on me and made a really pretty and simple subtle smokey eye when applied as a sweep all over the lid and then blended out at the edges. You have to work pretty quickly though before the shadow sets if you wish to blend it out as once it sets it does not budge at all! I even found that my regular eye makeup remover sometimes struggled to get this off becuase of how well its staying power is.

The Powder Shadows are nice enough to wear but are not very pigmented so need to be built up to the desired colour that you want. They are lovely and soft to apply and blend well to me without much fallout at all. The Hazel Eyes trio comes with a pale coral shade which is supposed to be applied all over the lid, a dark navy blue shade which is to be blended into the crease and a shimmery cream shade that is to highlight the brow bone.

I wasn't a big fan of all three colours used together but I did love using the coral and the cream and the blue and the cream together instead.

The standout product to me was the Defining Liner in Teal. This is an eye liner that I could live in. It's so buttery soft to apply, does not pull at the delicate skin around the eye even the slightest and lasts for hours without transferring to the top of my lid. It's also such a gorgeous shade that I just love to wear with a pale shadow as a base and nothing else.

(Left to Right: Powder Shadow Trio for Hazel Eyes, Liquid Shadow + Color Primer for Hazel Eyes, Defining Liner in Teal)

Here is a very simple eye look I created, and managed to remember to photgraph, one day while I was wearing the Cream highlighting shade all over my lid with the Navy shade blended into the crease and outer corner. I am also wearing the Volumizing Mascara in these photos:

 

Has anyone else tried this range before?

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

Michelle xx



A Pop Of Colour For Summer

I don't know about everyone else, but I really don't like wearing much makeup during the summer months because the heat just makes it unpleasant in general to have too much going on on my face.

This year I decided to be a bit more adventurous than normal and have branched out into wearing a lot of different coloured eyeliners instead of eyeshadow and I have to say that it's so much more convenient for this time of year.

My regular makeup face these past few weeks has pretty much been just some tinted moisturiser or some pressed powder over my normal moisturiser, a tiny bit of blush or bronzer on my cheeks plus some bronzer applied lightly onto my eyelids as a neutral shadow base with a small amount of highlighter on my cheeks and on top of the bronzer eyeshadow. Then I just apply some good mascara and some coloured eyeliner depending on what mood I'm in that day and finish off with a pretty gloss or very thin layer of lipstick. This look literally takes me 5 minutes to do and still looks like I actually made some sort of effort.

Here are my favourite coloured eyeliners right now that have been getting a lot of love lately:

 

From Top to Bottom: Savvy by DB Automatic Eyeliner in Gold, Mirenesse Inside Out 24Hr Eye Kohl in Isis, Mirenesse Tight Liner in Foxfur Brown, Bourjois Smoky Eyeliner in Dark Purple, Almay Intense I-Colour Liner in Teal, Avon Glimmersticks Eyeliners in Bronze and Zaphir Blue

 

(Swatched Left to Right in same order as listed above)



Each one of these has made it to my favourite pile mainly due to being a pretty colour as well as the fact that they don't smudge on my hooded eyelids too much by the end of the day which is a huge problem I have with a lot of brands of eyeliner.

I've also found that wearing a coloured eyeliner rather than having my whole eyelid coloured means I can get away with a much bigger variety of lip colours and I can take the look from a gloss during the day to a bolder look by using a brighter lipstick at night.

I'd love to know what everyone else does to shake-up their routine now and then? Do you have a favourite coloured eyeliner that you'd love to share?

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Michelle xx

October Addictions

I surprisingly had quite a few products that I reached for often during the month of October. Due to being so stressed and strapped for time I had a tendency to use pratically the same products every day which is unusual for me as I have a tendency to get bored when I do that.

Here is what I loved using during the month of October:

I was mainly sporting a more neutral 'no-fuss' face during October and the above items were all awesome products that didn't require much effort to use.

1) Eyeshadows - B Collection by Bloom in Sahara Desert and Almay Intense i-colour in Trio for Greens. The Bloom eyeshadow is a no brainer soft coppery brown that is excellent as an all over the lid colour on it's own but also looks great with a little green or purple added into the crease from the Almay palette on days when I could be bothered making a little more effort.

2) Mascara - Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes. I love the way this mascara make my lashes look a mile long but I don't love the black smudges that end up underneath my eyes at the end of the day after using it.

3) Eyeliner - Models Prefer Kohl Pencil in Matte Black. Such a simple eyeliner pencil but it works wonders. It goes on so smooth and easily with no pulling at all and doesn't budge all day or night. Another quality product from this great brand.

4) Primer - Dr Lewinn's Skin Perfect Anti-ageing Primer. I will be posting my review of this soon but needless to say I love it and use it every day. Thank you Beauty Heaven for allowing me to trial such an awesome product!

5) Foundation - Maybelline Fit Me Foundation. The main reason I love this foundation is because it suits my skin tone perfectly which means I can be a bit quicker with my application of it and don't have to be pedantic about blending it in within an inch of its life. It gives me good coverage as well without being too thick and stays in place all day.

6) Face - Napoleon Ultimate Contour Palette. I've reviewed this palette here and it hasn't left my bathroom vanity for over a month now. Totally in love with this product and how quick and easy it makes contouring and highlighting my face.

7) Concealer - Mirenesse Icon Sealer. I have grown to love using this as my undereye concealer as it covers my dark circles excellently and doesn't end up sinking into my fine lines as the day progresses. It's the perfect shade for my skin tone as well so takes minimal effort to blend in. Anything that saves me time in the mornings is a big plus for me!

8) Lips - MOR Lip Nectar in Lychee Flower and ELF Lip Shine in Candlelight. I have been a definite gloss girl during October as it's easier to maintain with minimal effort. The MOR lip nectar is one of the best lip glosses I have ever used and I am in love with the subtle pink flush it gives my lips and the way it seems to stay on for hours. The ELF gloss was a very happy surprise that I got in one of the monthly beauty packs and is such a great nude that goes with anything. It also stays on for a surprisingly long time too.

So that's my list of favourites for the past month. Nothing too exciting but they were products that definitely made the month a lot easier for me.

If you've done a favourites post I'd love to know about it!

Michelle xx

Dear Gel Eyeliner, Where Have You Been All My Life?

Ok, I know the gel eyeliner is probably something that most of you have known about and probably used for a very long time, but, for poor little old sheltered me this is quite a recent discovery that I found when perusing through some other blogs one day a couple of months ago.

At first I was like "Gel eyeliner??? Geez, Louise! I can barely handle using a pencil eyeliner and heaven forbid I even try to pick up a liquid liner, imagine the mess I could make with a gel liner?"

Anyway, the last time I was at Priceline they were having a half price on all Physicians Formula products and one of the first things that caught my eye was their Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Gel Cream Liner pots. They just looked so cute and so cheap at half price and so worth grabbing just to see the mess I could make with them......

There were three pots in the packet. A gorgeous dark plum, an intense black and a chocolate brown. See photo below for swatches:

Personally, I love the plum shade and have been using it quite a lot lately with a pinky/purple eyeshadow look.

I am actually blown away at how easy this product is to use. It only took me one go at practising to get the application almost near perfect. They came with a small applicator brush which just makes it so easy to create a clean, crisp line on the lid. It's definitely not something that I would use when in a hurry though as it's a makeup look that I still need to take my time at applying until I'm a bit more confident and skillful at it.

The gel itself is super pigmented and has unbelievable staying power. I have hooded eyelids so am normally rubbing most normal eyeliners off the top of my eyelid after a few hours where it ultimately transfers to but I haven't seen these budge at all yet, even after a 14 hour day, the liner stayed perfectly put. I'm not sure if this is the case with most other gel liners or whether this is just a really good formula but to me it's something that is a godsend to us hooded eyelid sufferers around the world.

So, that's officially another makeup product fear conquered sucessfully. What do we think should be next? Who knows, maybe I'll try and tackle that mysterious product that goes by the name of 'Bronzer' next.........

Is anyone else a fan of the gel eyeliner too?