How To:- Set Undereye Concealer

I really wasn't planning on doing this post and did have something else planned for today but after seeing someone on the train with heavily caked under-eyes yesterday, I got struck with the lightening bolt of inspiration and decided to pull this post together.

I love how Youtube has inspired a lot of people to dabble in makeup; which FYI I think is amazing, but a common problem seems to be that a whole lot of people only follow the steps halfway through or don't understand why certain products used rather than others and end up making major mistakes like setting your undereye concealer with Compact face powder instead of a translucent powder. Not every powder is the same!!!!

As I've recently bought a new transclucent powder from Daniel Sandler for £7 and FYI loving how finely milled it is compared to my Ben Nye Powder in Sienna. I thought a tutorial was in order.

Tools

• Daniel Sandler On The Loose Powder in No.10
• Select Coverup Concealer in NW40
• Real Techniques Pointed Foundation Brush
• Cosmopolitan Makeup Sponge

I hope you like this tutorial and as always let me know if there is anything you want me to do a tutorial on, I promise I don't bite.



Also, you may have already noticed, but it is that time of the year again.... It is the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards!  This is my first time of signing up for these awards so I would be REALLY, REALLY grateful if you could take five minutes to nominate Epiphannie A in the Established Beauty Blog category. I have been loving sharing my zany self all over the beauty blogosphere for the past two years and it would mean the world to me to be nominated for this at least once

Thank you in advance!

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How To: Correct & Conceal Dark Skin

As someone who has a permanent discolouration on their side of their nose from wearing glasses from a young age, I have found that the oddly shaped purple mark on the side of my nose always peeks through my favourite foundations which can be very irritating. A recent trick I have learnt (and use when I'm not in a rush) is how to conceal this mark and prevent it from showing up through the day.

I'm going to be showing you how I colour correct and conceal dark spots and burns on my skin; which is a MAC foundation shade of NW45 (for reference), and also my mum's skin; which is an Illamasqua Skin Base Shade of No.17, as she is about one/two shades darker and has a lot more colour pigmentation; freckles, burns etc, going on than I do.

To colour correct dark skin, I find that an orange concealer works best. Pigmented orange correctors can correct, conceal and brighten dark discolourations on darker skin, so it's perfect if you happen to have a few straighten burns on your forehead (like I do), scars or dark under-eye circles.  To do this tutorial I have used Black Up Concealer Palette in 03 which costs £23, and is actually quite good for it's price. The only other conceal/correct palette I know about is MAC Pro Conceal & Correct Palette in Dark which is £35 but comes with 2 extra concealer shades.

If you want to skip the palettes and opt for something smaller, then I recommend using Illamasqua's lipstick in Flare . It's a bright Orange lipstick that is pigmented enough to do the job and is pocket sized for on-the-go touch ups

I really hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If there is anything you would love me to do a tutorial on, please leave a comment and let me know.

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The One About MAC Haul The Week Before The Flight

I must be the only person in existence who decides to go shopping in MAC the week before an international flight, honestly WHO DOES THAT???

MAC Cosmetics is actually cheaper in the states (and FYI I'm actually in the states right now) but my “I want it NOW” nature defied my rationality and I had to make a stop to the MAC store the minute my payslip hit my bank account.

I would like to say first off that I am aware I’m on a spending ban (although cheating on it) so I didn’t go as crazy as I normally do. I steered clear of the lipsticks and bought items, which I felt were essential to my daily beauty routine.

As I don’t have any major makeup problems, I actually don’t wear any foundation, blush, contour, concealer etc. during the week, preferring to rock a lipstick/gloss with groomed brows. My eyebrows are a non-negotiable part of my beauty routine. I could swear off wearing any makeup for months on end but if my eyebrows aren’t allowed to come along for the journey . . . there will be a show of aggressive behaviour. *I’m just saying*

I decided to get MAC Fluidline in Dipdown as an alternative to my eyebrow pencil as I need travel appropriate brows that won’t need touching during the day and won’t mysteriously vanish after a nap on my flight. Dipdown is a warm brown matte gel liner that will suit anyone with brunette or dark hair as it will match your natural brow shade without making it look too dark. It is almost impossible to get dipdown on the UK MAC Website so a trip to your local counter might be in store (unless you have Lady Luck and some lucky charms on your side that is)

I normally use my Eco Tools Bamboo Angled Liner brush for gel-liner brows and while this does the job very well, I find that I don’t have as much control as I normally have with my MAC brow liner so I decided to get the MAC 208 Angled Brow Brush which is almost half the size of the Eco Tools brush which I hope will mean that I have more control and precision when doing my brows.

Last is some new concealer. I normally use NW45 or NW40 in MAC Studio Finish Concealer but I wanted to go for something in the middle that would be a little more subtle than NW40 as it can look very “striking” and I find that I normally have to wear foundation just add some subtleness.  I got NC50 which is literally half a shade lighter than my skintone and as this is still a new shade for me, I can’t really let you know right now if it was the right colour choice for me but give me about two weeks and I might just do a comparison post between the 3 shades.

I actually am still kicking myself that I bought MAC products whenI was so close to going stateside but in all fairness I want to explore cosmetics that I can’t really get easier in the UK, I wonder if I will even bother going to the MAC store in the end.

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Highlighting And Contouring Goss Makeup Artist Style

If you know your Youtube Make up Guru's then you HAVE to know about Goss Makeup Artist. He is absolutely Phenomenonal!!

Through immense stalking his Youtube Channel, he has taught me so many of hints and tips that I have are easily adapted into anyone's makeup routine. I swear he is truly a Social Media God-send.

One of my favourite Youtube videos of his, is his How to Highlight and Contour Your Face Video in which he uses cream foundations to create a natural looking highlight and contour without having to reach for a powder once. I think what he did was absolutely fabulous especially as when he is piling it onto his model's face, you get a lil nervous think 'Holy S**t! What is he doing to that poor ladies face??!' but in true Goss Fashion, he knows what he is doing and she comes out looking great.

With my face, I have really high cheekbones so I have a natural under the cheek contour, which is probably why I don't own any bronzers and make do with my Sleek Contour Kit but highlighting is really a problem for me as no matter what I seem to do, I can not get it right!!! Either I'm drawing too much attention to my forehead (which I really hate) or my cheeks would be beaming like the yellow track light but the rest of my face looked dull . . . grey paint drying on the walls dull!!!!

I used the lighter concealer to frame my eyebrows,  highlight my nose, t-zone, above my cheeks and above my jawline while using the darker concealer underneath my cheekbone, my jawline and to frame my nose.

Although I didn't use as dark a concealer as I was instructed to in his video, the effects were . . . AMAZING!!!!! I'm definitely going to invest in a darker cream concealer just so I can try this technique again and see how it comes out.

Light Concealer: MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW40

Dark Concealer:- Darkest Shade on E.L.F Complete Coverage Concealer

Foundation:- Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in No. 16

What do you think?? Willing to adopt the Goss Style of Highlighting and Contouring??

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