Inner-corner highlights

I remember the first time I inner-corner highlighted...it was a sparkling moment (hehe). Ok so why bother adding that highlight into the inner corner you ask? Well it helps your whole face look a little brighter, your eyes look bigger and it somehow pulls together the whole eyeshadow look. Of course you don’t always want a shimmery colour in your inner corner, but I think when makeup is neutral and matte, you need a bit of suttin suttin to liven it all up! Especially in the winter time when lighting is gloomy, weather is cold and everything just feels a bit blurgh.

This paired with a nude liner in the waterline will transform your sleepy eyes into bright, sparkling beauties. I’m going to run you through a few of my favourites with links so you can check them out yourselves.

Apologies for the lack of photos in this post, it’s just that frustrating time of the year where photos don’t look right.

MUA Eye Shadow - Shade 1 Pearl: Starting off with the cheapest, this beautifully buttery soft eyeshadow is a stunning bright cross between gold, yellow and pearl. A little of this added into the inner corner and just under the start of the lower-lashline adds light and detracts attention from any under-eye baggage that might be going on! Also with a heft 2g of the stuff for only a quid you won’t be running out any time soon, or will you be denting the purse.

CK Eyeshadow - Tangelo | Link:  Another very budget-friendly option is one of my favourite single eyeshadows of all time, the shade Tangelo. It’s a little less pigmented and less golden than Pearl and so I opt for this on work days or when I’ve not made much of an effort with my makeup, but I just want a little brightening in the eye area. I also love using this all over the lid, which makes its convenient to swish into the inner-corner while I’m at it too. yay 2-in-1

Rimmel Scandaleyes Eye Shadow Stick - 002 Bulletproof Beige | Link: The best way to describe the colour of this is as a ‘light copper’. Light enough to use in the inner-corner anyways! I love the fact that it’s super creamy and the chunkiness of the pencil makes it easy to dab on to the inner-corners where I need it! I normally use this as a base for when I am doing party makeup and need it to last, however it works great alone too as a much more subtle brightener.

The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer | Link: Could a highlighter post ever be complete without this beauty? Of course not! When you want a killer cheek highlight, this is the gal for you, and she works equally well in the inner-corner too. The most creamy, buttery, highly pigmented powder you will ever find in your life, with a golden/pearl like undertone. This one is ONLY an inner-corner highlight for special occasions, because it’s a little too gorgeous to be rocking at uni!

Stila Eyeshadow - Kitten | Link: If Mary-Lou is a little too golden for you, opt for Kitten when you want a intensely pigmented highlighter shade for your inner-corner! Bloggers have raved about this shade and it’s a real beauty - a mix of pink and silver. Personally my favourite shimmery shade from the In the light palette is Bubbly and it would look gorgeous on deeper complexions.

What are your favourite shades to add some sparkle to the inner-corner?

Thank-you for reading ♥

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Inner-corner highlights

I remember the first time I inner-corner highlighted...it was a sparkling moment (hehe). Ok so why bother adding that highlight into the inner corner you ask? Well it helps your whole face look a little brighter, your eyes look bigger and it somehow pulls together the whole eyeshadow look. Of course you don’t always want a shimmery colour in your inner corner, but I think when makeup is neutral and matte, you need a bit of suttin suttin to liven it all up! Especially in the winter time when lighting is gloomy, weather is cold and everything just feels a bit blurgh.

Contouring 3 ways | 2. The Light/Natural Contour

Hello ladies! Today I am going to be sharing the second part of 3 in my little contouring series. Please remember I am not an MUA, Pro or specially training. I’m simply a makeup lover who has trialled and error-ed her way through YouTube tutorials and a bunch of bronzers, and now I want to share my tips and methods.

2. Light and Natural Contouring

When I first started writing this up I thought about how I lightly contour and I was sure I would only be writing about cream products, but I have two methods, one that should perhaps have been in the first post (quick contouring) but anyhoo.

I like to lightly contour is when I’m going for a minimal makeup look or I just want to bronze up my skin and achieve a very natural look. I’m always amazed by how realist contouring with creams can appear and I enjoy that effortless makeup look too. I was always a little unsure about cream products, perhaps because I didn’t know the best way to apply them but I’m pleased to say I love me some cream bronzer!

How:

• I like using my fingers, the E.L.F angled contour brush or the E.L.F small stippling brush 
• I dab on the cream bronzer along my cheekbones, the temples of my forehead and a little along my jawline. Don’t be worried if it looks too harsh against your skintone because cream products blend in a lot easier than powder and with the right brush or sponge you can blend it to the exact intensity you’d prefer.
• I then take a larger stippling brush (the e.l.f one) and blend out the cream bronzer to my hearts content! Sometime I will blend the cream bronzer in a wider area around my cheek giving it that sunkissed look and then go in again with a second layer of the cream product, concentrating it on where a shadow would fall (the hollows of the cheekbones) and adding a bit more of a sculpt to this still very natural looking contour.

The best thing about using a cream rather than a powder is how natural the warmth on the face looks. Powders can look very harsh and obvious, but a cream product blended in well with a duo-fibre brush or a damp sponge gives a stunning warmth to the face, and if you use a darker shade that leans to the cooler spectrum, it can add definition perfectly.

 

I USE AND RECOMMEND:

• Bourjois Bronzing Primer (£9.99): Firstly I should comment on the texture of this, it’s like a moose and quite funny to swatch because when you put your finger in the pot all the product wobbles haha. Colour wise one layer is a little too light for me, but two layers is the perfect soft contour as it dries to a medium subtle warm brown tone. Like I stated earlier I like to apply this with my fingers first in my cheekbone area and then go over my cheekbones with the E.L.F Angled Contour Brush which is the PERFECT size to trace out and define cheekbones!

The texture of this and the beautiful colour still makes the whole effect look very natural but it does make a lot of difference. I especially love using this product when I’m using a lighter base like my bourjois CC cream. This would be great for fair to light/medium skintones . I’d recommend google image searching this as you’ll be able to see how people use it add that natural warmth.

 

• E.L.F Contouring Blush & Bronzing Cream - St. Lucia (£3.95) : I ADORE this cream duo! The contour shade is quite dark when first applied but it dries to a slightly darker shade than the Bourjois bronzing primer. This one would be great for NC35+ but as I said it really can be blended in duo to its consistency. I love how it adds a wonderfully healthy warmth to the face as well as subtly contouring, and again I always use this with the E.L.F Angled Contour Bronzer to apply this as it is darker then the above and so needs a little more precision. I also love the blush with this, they compliment each other perfectly and I’d highly recommend anyone with a medium/olive skintone to pick this up next time they have an awesome sale, for less than £2 this is a total steal ^_^

The Second Way:

So the above is the main way I achieve a natural contour, however sometimes when I’m feeling very lazy or I’m in a rush but I want a little bit of definition I grab my Real Techniques Powder Brush and apply the Calvin Klein Bronzer in Sun Bathe  (available HERE) which does have some shimmer but remember dusted lightly or the Rimmel Bronzing Compact Powder Medium Matte. Both of these are darker bronzers and I firstly dust one layer all over the cheekbones, jawline, forehead and a little on my nose. This gives that warmth and healthy appearance. I then concentrate the second sweep directly along the cheekbones which adds a little definition without a precise line along the cheek.

Those are my way to create a ‘natural contour’ if those two words can even be in a sentence at the same time! These ways are perfect for girls who want a very subtle but still pulled together look, who dislike that Kim K obvious structure and would rather have some warmth but not completely lose the definition! The cream method isn’t the quickest at first but once you get used to it, the process becomes effortless and the darker bronzer is a lazy girl’s best-friend! Tip: Stay far AWAY from orange-toned bronzers when using this method, ain’t nobody wanting to look like a cheese puff ._.

 

Stay tuned for my final contouring post - the full on contour coming soon! And if you missed my guide to how I contour quickly/day-to-day have a read right here. I hope this was somewhat helpful!

Thanks for reading!

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Contouring 3 ways | 2. The Light/Natural Contour

Hello ladies! Today I am going to be sharing the second part of 3 in my little contouring series. Please remember I am not an MUA, Pro or specially training. I’m simply a makeup lover who has trialled and error-ed her way through YouTube tutorials and a bunch of bronzers, and now I want to share my tips and methods.

My five minute summer face

After my last slightly rant post, I thought I’d post something a little lighter!

So recently, as the heat has been turned up in England, and also throughout Ramadan I’ve not really been in the mood to sit and take my time with my makeup. I want something quick, light and fresh looking!

I always do my concealer routine for dark under-eye circle (you can read that here), after applying my base, the Bourjois 123 perfect CC Cream with my fingers. I have been LOVING this base, it gives medium coverage and really does colour correct any redness I have, which reduces the amount of concealer I use. However my skin still looks like skin, just less flawed.

I then go in with my Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Pomade in either Chocolate or Dark Brown, depending on if I want a stronger brow, or a softer one.

Then I take my big RT Powder brush and using the ‘three motion’ and use the Rimmel Bronzing Compact Powder in Medium Matte which is fantastic for warming up the face, especially as the CC cream in shade 33 is a TAD light for me in the summer time. I love how this bronzer is slightly more red toned, which works well for medium tones especially, and it adds so much warmth to the face!

My favourite blusher lately has been the Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso y’know the one you hear American YouTubers rave on about? I couldn’t resist picking this up and I fully understand the hype! Not only is it stunning, but it adds a gorgeously healthy flush of colour to the cheeks, that almost makes you look lit from within!

 On the eyes I keep it simple and add a wash of Calvin Klein E/S in Tangelo which I have reviewed here. My absolute favourite single shadow, it brightens up the whole eye area and is not too dark to use as an inner-corner highlight too! Finally I quickly line my eyes with Collection Fast Stroke Eyeliner in brown. I love the brush, and for less than £4 this is honestly worth so much more!

I know it seems like a lot, but with practise I can do this all in around 5 mins, and its been such an easy look to go for on work days! I hope that was helpful for some of you ^_^ 

What do you turn to on busy days?

Thanks for reading!

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My five minute summer face

Review | Calvin Klein Tempting Glance Intense Eyeshadows–Tangelo and Vanilla Cream

Hello beauties! I want to talk today about this eye shadow range by Calvin Klein, I first got ‘tangelo’ in a gift set with the bronzers mentioned in my previous favourites, and I loved it so much I picked up ‘vanilla cream’ from Fragrance direct. Now generally I am a palette kinda girl, mainly Sleek because they are boss with drugstore everything in all honesty, but I love my customisable fashionista ones and a few others…you get my drift. I find palettes are more versatile, travel friendly and better value for money. BUT when trying Tangelo, I was so impressed with how soft the shadow is, the pigmentation and the fact that I started using it every single day, the temptation to add another one to my stash became too much.

Lets talk about the packaging – summed up in one word, it is functional. Just clear plastic in a rectangular shape. They’re easy to store away (circular pots can be a right pain sometimes!). If I had paid more for these I’d expect them to be a little more prettier to the eye, but they do the job and make it easy to select the right shade, so little complaints from me :)

There is a huge range of colours available from Fragrance direct but of course as always the issue is the lack of online swatches available, so picking up vanilla cream I expected something slightly different and ended up getting quite a generic colour (something you DEFO want to avoid with single shadows, they’re only good if you get colours not similar to ones in palettes you already own y’know?)

Tangelo (on the left) is a beautiful neutral/orange colour with a slight sparkle about it. It looks ever so pretty all over the lid with just a little eyeliner and some mascara, some how it really add a little something to the eyes. It looks pretty average above, so I will definitely post some instagram photos later this week, but essentially it’s a perfect day/night shade. It blends beautifully and lasts all day. These are available from Fragrance direct (link) for £1.99. It says the RRP price is £13.50 and i'm guessing this is because CK used to do high end makeup? Either way it's fantastic quality, their bronzers are my favourite - so i'm not complaining! I’m not going to start collecting these, but they truly are beautiful single shadows and with 2.6g (that’s more product than you get with a bourjois blush!) they’re more than worth it. However I wouldn’t recommend vanilla cream, simply because the swatches speak for themselves! its probably the most generic shade I've come across unfortunately.

So to sum off:

Pros: –

• soft blendable texture
• lovely pigmentation
• large amount of product in the pan
• Tangelo looks stunning on any occasion ^.^

Cons:

• ONLINE SWATCHES ARE DISMAL

Have you tried any of the Calvin Klein range??

Review | Calvin Klein Tempting Glance Intense Eyeshadows–Tangelo and Vanilla Cream