Eindhoven make up city?

I just went back from Eindhoven in the Netherlands with my boyfriend. We decided to go there because I really wanted to go to an Inglot store. Little did I know that Inglot Netherlands just went bankrupt. Of course neither Inglot or the Piazza (the mall where the store is located) decided to update that info.I spent literally two weeks anticipating this and making plans for my would have been awesome 20 eyeshadow palette. We went in the madness the weekend before "Sinterklaas" for absolutely nothing!

Like this is not disturbing enough...

 For those of you not familiar with the concept, yes it's white people painted in black. And it's even more disturbing in person. Somehow this is not seen as racism in the Netherlands.

I still tried to make the best of my day, after all I dragged my boyfriend all the way over there, it took us one hour just to find a paid parking that wasn't full. I ended up shopping around in de bijenkorf. The one in Eindhoven is especially nice. They have a lot of skin care brands dr. Hauschka, Ren, Kiehs among others. They also have a lot of make up brand. None of which are impossible to find in Belgium. They also have two ici paris and one Douglas (I didn't go in because there were those creepy white people painted in black in front of the store).

Here's a couple of pictures I took in de Bijenkorf (sorry for the quality I forgot my memory card)

And it all ended in an Irish pub...

The verdict?
Eindhoven is a nice shopping city, but I wouldn't say it's worth the detour striclty for makeup. I would recommand Bruxelles over that because they have a full Bobbi Brown make up store, a make up for ever store and many others. I think the next makeup "Pilgrimage" will be in June 2014 at Imats London! And I want to thank my boyfriend to be so patient and bringing me there and fight through the parking madness.

Sephora Canada Haul

I'm happy to report that my lovely mother is coming to visit me around New Year's. I took the occasion to use order some goodies not available in Belgium that she will bring with her. I will review them once I have a chance to test everything somewhere in January.

Here's what I bought:

Bare Minerals ready 8.0 Power Neutrals

The bare minerals eyeshadows are available in Sephora France, but only a limited amount of shades are available. This particular palette is not available. I chose it because it's a great compact neutral palette and it contains mostly satin and matte shades. It also isn't too warm which I love.

 

Buxom full on lip cream in Pink lady

Buxom is a brand of Bare Minerals exclusive to Sephora and unforntunately not available on Sephora France. I love their lip glosses. The cream version is the only version without glitter, which makes it more appropriate for work. This shade is nice light transparent cool toned pink.

 

Buxom full bodied lipstick in hooligan

I heard great things about those lipsticks and I just had to try them.  I took a nice work appropriate shade described as a mauve plum.

Hello Kitty 3 piece brush set

Isn't that cute? I just couldn't resist! Sephora is getting rid of the hello kitty brand and those were discounted.The reviews are also quite good!

Sephora collection pro foundation brush #47

With my dry skin kabuki and buffing brushes are a big no no as they create micro exfoliation. I have yet to find a flat foundation brush I really like. The reviews on this are really good, so fingers crossed!

Product battle: MAC select cover-up vs Make up for ever lift concealer

Make up for ever and MAC are two companies that started up for make up artists and made their way into the greater public's heart. They also bought have a similar type of market. Today I decided to compare two of the lesser knows face products from both companies, both of which are light coverage liquid concealer and see which one performs the best.

First contestant Make up for ever lift concealer

Price: This concealer costs around 20 euros for 15ml making it 1,33 euro per ml.
Texture: liquid and creamy
Shade range: available in 5 shades

Here's a swatch on the color 1 described as pink beige

Second contestant MAC select cover up

Price: This concealer costs around 18 euros for 10ml making it 1,80 euro per ml.
Texture: liquid and a bit runnier than the lift concealer
Shade range: available in 17 shades!

Here's a swatch of the shade nw20

And now the performance...

Both concealer were easy to apply and to blend, they didn't settle in my fine lines and wore for the whole day.

Here's my eye and the lift concealer

And with the select cover up concealer

And now with mac on the left and Make up for ever on  the right

And the winner is... MAC select cover up!


With its better coverage, its similar wear and its much better color range MAC is a clear winner on that one. I even ask my boyfriend which eye was the best and he was actually able to see the difference.

Kudos to make up for ever for the generous amount of product and the brightening capacity of the concealer, but without corrector it just doesn't cover enough on its own.

Mini review: MAC paint in bare canvas

Mac Paints are a creamy eyeshadow in a tube form. I think they use to come in more shades, but now they are only available in five shades. I chose the shade bare canvas which is a cream color with a very faint shimmer. I chose this over the paint pots because cream products in a pot form always end up drying.

The packaging on this is far from being perfect though, the top is hard to screw on and the first time you use it the product keeps spitting out.

Here's the texture of the paint.

I like to use it all over my eyes as a shadow base. It covers better than most eye primer and a bit less than most cream shadows, so I find it to be the best compromise to really bring out pale shadow colors.

smoothed all over

 

As you can see it's hard to detect so it's a great match for my skin tone as a base.

In short, despise the tricky packaging, this is a great product to use to even out my eyelid and make my pale eyeshadows really stand out. It's also easier to find in Belgium than Urban Decay. I will repurchase one I run out.

Review MAC frost eyeshadows in Phloof!, nocturnelle and satin taupe.

I didn't want to review too much of MAC products because I feel every beauty junkie out there knows already a lot about it. But I think that most finishes in MAC eyeshadows are really a must have and the color range is really great. I will review my (limited) stash based on the finish. I do not own eyeshadow in all the finishes, because MAC -like most brands- have there god and not so good finishes. Today I will start with my eyeshadows in the Frost finish.

Phloof!

That eyeshadow really belongs in the frost category because it is super frosty and definitely the frostiest eyeshadow I own! Unlike a lot of pale eyeshadow, the pigmentation is great and it applies quite opaque. When you put it on this looks like a nice pink-beige. It's not that easy to blend, but it stays put and doesn't fallout. It's a great inner corner highlight and a good lid shade for fair and light skin.

Nocturnelle

I had this one in a christmas palette but it is part of the permanent collection. It's a pretty reddish purple with a frost finish. This one is not overly frosty i'd say it's more like a pearl. This one is heavily buildable and blendable. It's a must for purple lovers!

S

Satin Taupe

This is the most famous eyeshadow from mac. It's a pearly taupe color with a mauve reflection. It can be used as a stand alone eyeshadow, on the crease or on the lid depending on your skin tone and preferences. It's always nice to own eyeshadows you can wear by themselves. This is easy to blend and the staying power is great. No fallout on that one either.

You can see it here how frosty phloof! is compared to satin taupe

Phloof on inner 2/3, nocturnelle on outer 1/3 and satin taupe on the crease.

The frost eyeshadows are among my favorite from mac. They look also very good when you mix them up with matte shades. Unlike certain other finish from mac those are pigmented, blendable and they stay on like a rock. I would really recommend them!

Heavy under eye darkness? Stop concealing, start correcting!

A lot of women are self conscious about their under eye circle. It's a common "problem".

If you have heavy undereye circle, using a concealer one shade paler that your foundation - as recommended most of the time - will only aggravate the problem. In makeup lighter shades highlight and bring forward. You may need to correct first, than foundation and then a tiny bit of brightening concealer.

How to choose the right corrector shade 

• Go for a shade slightly darker then your skin tone. You can't truly cover something if you go with a too light shade! 
• If you have bluish under circles you can go for a pink or apricot shade like bobbi brown corrector in the bisque shades. 
• If you have hyper pigmentation go for peach shades like the peach shades from Bobbi brown line of corrector or Eve pearl salmon concealer. 

If you don't have serious circles

•   Then you can just use liquid concealer on top of your foundation. Choosing one that is slightly pink will cover the blueness you may have. Slightly yellow concealer do a great job of brightening.

Ok now Enough talking and let's put two correctors in action.

Corrector number one: Benefit erase paste in medium

Like most benefit products, the range is quite limited. I got this one in a kit, but because it is apricot and darker than my skin it is great as an under eye corrector. The regular size of this comes with a little spatula to scoop the product out. You really need very little of this. I strongly recommend blending it with your fingers, it really has a paste consistency the warmth of the fingers applies it easily and sparingly.

The picture on the left is my bare eye and on the right with the corrector

Corrector number 2 cinema secret corrector series in 605-61

 Cinema secret is a professional brand intended for make up artists. The corrector series comes in different shades for different concerns. This is the palest shade for under eye concealing. The middle shades is the one used by the most people and is peach instead of apricot like this one. Because I don't have severe under eye darkness I went for this one. This is extremely pigmented! You have to apply very little. It's also quite cheap  because of that. Much cheaper than brands like bobbi brown and eve pearl. You can get this at camera ready cosmetics online.

Here's the before after picture.

As you can see both correctors do a very similar job. If you use the right shade and buy a good quality corrector you can truly erase under eye darkness. Remember to use very little or it will crease in your fine lines.

Here's the full result with foundation, eye make up and a smidge of brightening concealer (with cinema secret)

 
 And you do you conceal or correct? 

Color correcting primer overview and blue primer review

As promised here's an overview of different color correcting primers and three brand suggestions for each shades.

Green primer

I already reviewed this on Saturday, but it is meant to conceal redness since they cancel each other and are the opposite on the color wheel.

Yellow primer

Yellow primers got famous last year when Kim Kardashian posted a picture of her slathered in it. It  can brighten medium dark skin and also slightly neutralize strong red undertones.

Pink primer

Pink corrects dullness and sallowness on ladies with yellow undertone.

Lilac primer

Purple is the opposite color than yellow on the colour wheel and those primers are meant to correct sallowness.

Apricot primer

This shade is to even out skin discoloration and sun spots.

Caramel primer

This is the equivalent of the pink primer but for darker skin tones. It combats dullness and ashiness.

And finally a blue primer review 

Blue primers are probably the hardest shade to find in non professional brands. It is a bit more popular apparently in South East Asia.  It is meant to add radiance, reduce minor imperfection and give a porcelain effect to fair skin. I wasn't sure if I would like it so I bought mine from the professional brand Kryolan which is considerably cheaper than the MUFE version. I like the effect better than green primer on my face it think it even outs my skin quite nicely. The color is exactly like it appears on the picture above.It is heavily fragranced, if you are sensitive to it I would steer clear. The texture is also thick and not "sillicony".

It is also available in yellow, lilac, green and white (for theater).

Here's as always my face before.

 Now with the primer smoothed on my face after serum

It does brighten the face and help conceal a bi of my redness, enough for it to be covered by the foundation after.

Now with one layer of foundation and a bit of peachy pink blush

As much as I like the smashbox primer texture I must say this primer is much more effective and much cheaper! I also like the porcelain effect I get with the blue primer, and less risk of going overboard and looking like an alien. I also didn't need to add any yellow corrector and almost everything was covered. Like with most primer, do not apply heavy moisturizer first, and always smooth it, to not rub.

I hope this was helpful, I will post around Wednesday a post on under eye correcting. Stay tuned!

Concealing redness with primer and corrector + review

For next's week posts, I thought about dedicating most of my posts on color correcting ad concealer, so if you are interested stay tuned!

For today, I will do a demo and a mini review on two products: smashbox photo finish color correcting primer in adjust (green) and Clinique redness solution targeted corrector.

The bare face

 This picture doesn't look so bad, but trust me my skin is very red, especially on shampoo day  like today. I only put a bit of serum on my face to avoid caking my face too much.

The primer 

Smashbox color correcting primers come in three shade: adjust (green) to counteract redness, balance (purple) to counteract sallowness and blend (apricot) to even out discoloration and unevenness.

This primer comes in a 30 ml bottle and I payed it around 48$ CAN, so it's definitely a luxury item. It has the same silicone silkiness as the original photo finish.

Here's my face with the primer on

As you can see it did a good job at reducing the redness. It's not perfect but if it was too pigmented I would end up with a green face.

The corrector 

The corrector I used is Clinique redness solution targeted concealer. This is a creamy stick intended to use all over or on targeted area. The texture is quite creamy. I wouldn't recommend using this everywhere, but it's good on larger red spots like rosacea.

Here's my face after the primer and concealer

As you can see most of the redness is gone but it can look a bit caky, but after a while it melts and the skin and you can't detect it anymore.

My skin is now ready for foundation and I can now afford to wear a bit of blush.

Voilà

In short...
Use a redness correcting primer if you redness is apparent in most of your face. Use a corrector for targeted spot and on blemishes (but I would use a dryer corrector on blemishes like the mac studio finish in the NC shades. I don't like using a green corrector because you can always see it through, I think that yellow does a better job.

You can also use a yellow primer to correct redness (MAC makes one) or a blue primer to give a porcelain effect. I will review a blue primer on Monday and talk about other correcting primer shades for different skin tones.