FOTD - Fyrinnae

I've been trying to work my way through the shadows in my last Fyrinnae order and I've reached the more colourful options now. My workplace is is quite relaxed and rainbow eyes are fine, but I'm not always in the mood for bright shadow application first thing in the morning.

Today I applied Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place cream shadow in Blue Velvet to the outer third of my eyelid and blended it into the centre to fade. I then tapped a small amount of Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy on top. Once it had gone tacky, I swept Arcane Magic shadow in Faerie Glamour across the lid and drew it under the lower lashline. I then blended Atomic Afterglow shadow into the crease and inner corner to soften the edges of the Faerie Glamour. I love Atomic Afterglow and have ordered the full size in my second Fyrinnae order. It's a lovely silvery taupey shade with a hint of cool green that seems to blend well with any shade or creates a shimmering neutral eye when used alone.

You can see in the pics that the Estee Lauder Blue Velvet helps intensify and draw out the blue in the Faerie Glamour, which is more violet in appearance towards the inner corner where there was no coloured base. Like all the Arcane Magics,  Faerie Glamour changes dependent upon which light it's seen in, with artificial light having the greatest impact.

The rest of the face was half a pump of Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation, ELF Complexion Perfection powder, Urban Decay Sweetie blush and Fyrinnae Pink Guitar Lip Lustre. It took about ten minutes to do and thanks to the Pixie Epoxy - truly a wonder product - the eyes lasted well all day with no creasing or flaking.

Apparently, my second Fyrinnae order has shipped so I'm waiting with baited breath for some more Arcanes and Lip Lustres. The pricing on the site has been rejigged recently, but it means the sizes are slightly bigger, which is particularly good for the Arcanes (for an extra few cents, the smallest size is now 1/4tsp where it was previously 1/8tsp).

I really recommend Fyrinnae. They clearly post the waiting time for shipments on the home page, but I've never had to wait for the full period. The quality of the products I've tried so far is amazing and there are fun and funky shades alongside more muted naturals. I've never been a fan of loose shadows as I find them too messy but the Pixie Epoxy really helps combat that issue. Also, as a fan of Urban Fantasy I like owning products with names like 'Elven Dagger', 'Warrior-Mage' and 'Druid Werewolf', as if I'm touched by magic as well as make-up.

FOTD - more Fyrinnae

Two more of my Fyrinnae shadow samples today. I really cannot get over how easy to work with the Pixie Epoxy makes these. It feels like I'm using one of those magic colouring books where a wet brush reveals the colours of a picture. A fluffy brush dipped in loose, glittery powder eyeshadow should lead to a big old mess, but the precision and ease of blending is phenomenal.

Anyway, here's today's face (click for a closer look):

On top of a base of UDPP and Pixie Epoxy, I applied Equality shadow on the lids - a very sparkly and iridescent platinum shade - and then used Avian Shapeshifter Arcane Magic in the crease, outer corner and blended slightly above the socket. This was one of the smoothest eyeshadows I have ever used in my life and it really did go on like a dream. It looks like a sort of terracotta shade in the pot but once applied and seen in different lights, it ranges from burnished copper to rosy brick and everything in between. I am still loving Fyrinnae very much.

Foundation and concealer were both Bourjois Healthy Mix, lightly dusted with ELF Complexion Perfection. MyFace blush in Holiday and lips were Dior Addict Lip Glow. Once again, the shadows lasted very well all day, thanks to the magic of Pixie Epoxy.

FOTD - Suqqu, Daniel Sandler, Julie Hewett, Bourjois

Even if I get up 5 minutes earlier than usual in the morning, I never seem to have time to click a few photos of my FOTD lately. I finally managed it on Friday for the first time in ages.  

I was rushing to get ready for work and was a little flustered, which hopefully explains my dishevelled mop. I decided to use my Suqqu EX-02 Sukashizumi palette on Friday, but wanted to try a slightly different look from the last one I featured using that palette.

I really like the shimmery taupe shade in the palette, so decided to make it more of a feature this time. As before, the shadows blended beautifully, even on top of a base of Urban Decay Primer Potion, which normally hampers smooth blending slightly for me. I was pleased with the finished look, which only took a few minutes. I love the pale lilac shade for highlighting, it's such a brightening colour.

The photo washes the colours out slightly, but it was a nice, office-friendly look. On the rest of the face I used Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation and concealer, Daniel Sandler Watercolour in Truth as a blusher, Suqqu Noble Nuance face powder and lips were Julie Hewett Camelia balm in Rose. The Daniel Sandler Watercolour is a new acquisition and I really like it. The shade is a very pale peach which is recommended for helping to camouflage high colour in the cheeks. I will do a full review on it once I've used it a few more times.

I tried to capture the full look in natural light, but as you can see I managed to skew the shot slightly thanks to the slatted blinds in my lounge. Oh well, I suppose it adds a bit of atmosphere, or a great impression of cack-handedness, dependent upon your opinion.

Ruddy hell!

*long, and very picture heavy post*

As I've mentioned before, I have naturally ruddy cheeks. I am also getting more broken veins in my cheeks as I get older. I'm generally happy with my skin, it's usually clear apart from the occasional hormonal outbreak but I'm currently trying out some new skincare that seems to be helping (I'll post on that once I've been following it for a month). My mum has lovely skin and my nan did too, so I know genetics plays a big part. I do make an effort to look after my skin though and have been cleansing, moisturising and using a minumum of SPF 15 daily since I was about 14.

Anyway, back to the ruddiness. this is what my cheek looks like without any make-up:

I thought I would review and show you how several of my favourite foundations deal with that...

FOTD - Suqqu, Bourjois, Julie Hewett

Just a quick post to show a face of the day from a couple of days ago. I've been on the back foot all week and keep forgetting to take photos in the morning so I rushed to get this after work, before the light went completely.

After falling completely in love with my first ever Suqqu purchases I decided to drop by the counter to look at the other two eye quads in the Spring range. I decided to get EX03 Koukon, a mixture of warm browns in matte and shimmer shades.

I used Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation and concealer, set with E.L.F. Complexion Perfection powder. Blush was MyFace blusher in Holiday (my favourite blush) and lips were Julie Hewett Gem Noir lipstick, which is a lovely soft and sheer raspberry. I've just received some more Julie Hewett products so I'll aim to do a post on them soon.

Considering I took these pics at the end of the day when the whole lot had been on for 12 hours, I think the make-up lasted really well. I don't know what's going on with the simpering expression though. I tried to avoid my normal grumpy 'in repose' face, but I think this might be even worse. I can definitely see a touch of the Mr Bean about it.

FOTD - Suqqu

Today was going to be a make-up free day. I was feeling a bit off colour and did not have to leave the house, so I planned to spend the day reclining languidly on my sofa, gorging on Gilmore Girls DVDs. It seems my husband had a similar plan, though in his case it was recordings of Match of the Day and Football Focus he wanted to watch.

I retreated upstairs to watch DVDs in the bedroom. Within an hour the urge to play with my new make-up was too strong - it called to me from its new home by my dressing table. The light was good and I was itching to see if my Suqqu Noble Nuance face powder would look as good when I used it as it did when the MUA demonstrated it for me.