FOTD :: Amber Lights

Aloha Bloggerinos,

There are two reasons I tend not to do very many FOTD's, even though I love reading/seeing all of yours.

The First- I don't tend to do a 'fully made up' face very often nowadays because I'm usually rushing. Rushing to make bottles, rushing to sort Baby Glitter out, rushing to get in the car, RUSHING! Even in this one, I had forgotten to do my eyebrows- grr!

The Second- My camera is shoddier than a snail playing tennis, so it is pretty hard to capture a good sharp image. Also, I never quite know how to pose without looking like a goon!

That being said, here I am with a FOTD for you all today! Hahaha!

I recently bought a few more MAC pressed shadows to go in my 15 Pro Palette (someone help me, I have an obsession) and one of them was Amber Lights. The MAC Website describe this colour as a 'peachy brown with shimmer' but I would say that's totally wrong. It is a vibrant copper with reddy gold undertones and I LOVE IT. I seriously do not know how I lived without this shade in my life. Why did nobody force me to buy this years ago??

On my eyes I have gone for Amber Lights on the lid and then Antiqued in the crease, all the way across. I have applied a little black eyeliner (L'oreal Carbon Gloss in Black), mascara (lordy knows, I'm not too loyal) and that was it. It's a really simplepimple look and I've been doing it most days. I like to think it looks like it took more time and skill than it really did ;)

For the face I have used MAC Studio Sculpt in NW15, 2True Bronzer to contour and MeMeMe Moonbeam dupe to highlight.

Quick, simple, perfect for those who live their lives in a constant rush!

I have been sporting this lip colour a lot recently. It is Sleek's 'Candy Cane' lipstick (review to come soon), with a light layer of a coral gloss ontop. Its so fresh and summery, it makes me smile just to see it :)

Little story for you here- After I'd done my FOTD, I popped downstairs to the kitchen to make up Baby Glitter's bottles. I looked down the garden and there was Mindycat hurtling towards the house, pleased as punch, with a dead bird hanging from her jaw!! I knew the lounge window was open and that she would jump through to give me my 'gift' so I turned and tried to race her to the window to close it. What a mistaka to make-a! As I ran, I slipped on her kitty blanket and fell face first onto the tiled kitchen floor and just lay their, sprawled out thinking "Woah, this hurts!!". Fortunately, the bird remained outside. Dead, but at least outside.

On that cheery note....

Toodlepip!

xx

Lou's Reviews- Warm Toned Highlighters

Aloha Bloggerinos,

Sorry my posts have been a bit 'bleaugh' of late, I have been feeling a bit under the weather mentally and physically and lacking in sparkle. Today it's Monday and I am determined to shake this fug and pull myself together!! Hurrah!

So, to give us all a bit of sunshine, here are my current 'go-to' highlighters that frankly, I don't think I could live without!

The first is MAC Iridescent Powder in "Belightful" which retails at £17.00 for 8g of product. I first bought this little beauty in December 2008 and this is my second compact, so I think it has reasonable lasting power.

It is a powder highlighter than can also be used as a bronzer. It is a warm toned bronze with incredibly finely toned flecks of gold. The MAC website says that the gold flecks are actually "jet milled mica" particles, which would go to explain why the quality is oh-so-lovely!

I apply this powder either with my MAC Duofibre (I suspect it is a fake- bloomin' eBay!) or a dense kabuki brush. I have tried other brushes and have found the denser the better- they seem to pick up the mica better.  This highlighter stays on all day and is beyond versatile. I use it as a bronzer over foundation, as a highlighter if I have my 2True bonzer on underneath as it is darker (see my review on 2True HERE), on my collar bones and decolletage to add some shimmer, on my shoulders to look sunkissed and I have even wizzed a bit in a line down the centre of my legs to make my (fake) tan look a bit my snazzy.

As always with MAC packaging it is smooth and sophisticated and this compact comes complete with a mirror which is rather handy indeed.

I will definitely be repurchasing this, it is my favourite and my benchmark.

My second favourite is a newbie to my collection and it is the MeMeMe Beat The Blue Sunbeam, which retails for £4.50 (I think, I have given the receipt to the Messy Fairy, just like everything else I want to keep hold of! gr). It is VERY similar to the famed Benefit MoonBeam but for a fraction of the £16-£17 price tag.

I apply this with the little nail varnish-eqsue brush and then pat (with my fingers) onto the apples of my cheeks and a teensiest bit on the bridge of my nose to carry the gold through. It is a thick milky gold liquid, slightly thicker than that of Benefit High Beam (a cool toned pinky highlighter). Whilst it is gold and sheeny, it's not quite sparkly so I have been using this for the office with confidence that my face doesn't look like a disco ball.

I suppose the only fault, and I'm clutching at straws here, would be that it could get a bit messy and cacky round the bottle opening if you weren't careful, or if you dropped it on tiles it could smash because it's glass. Although saying that, I like glass packaging, everything nowadays seems to be plastic so glass has a certain quality to it that I relish.

When this runs out I think I would repurchase as a more toned down alternative to my MAC Belightful, and when my Benefit Highbeam runs out, I will probably buy the MeMeMe version instead.

Just for a brucey bonus extra, here is a picture of MeMeMe and Benefit side by side. You can see the difference between the warm and cool tones. I prefer warm tones because they make me look a bit more alive and perk up tired or dull skin.

Have you tried any of these? What did you think?

Don't forget to enter my Nifty Nail Contest below, so far, only one person has guessed the right answer!! (Will you all work it out now? hehe)

Toodlepip!

xx