Day 2... where did you learn how to do make-up? Typical make-up look...

Okay, so technically I missed out on two days. In my defense though, I had a show to go to on Friday and was too tired for make-up yesterday as I didn't get home until 3am the night before! A rare occurence for me to be happy to skip doing my face!

Admittedly, I'm pretty knackered today. We've got a poorly 6 year old who has been sick all night and then again this morning but I had to do the school run anyway with the 4 year old so here we are.

Day 2's question is "Where did you learn how to do make-up?"

Growing up, my Mum always wore make-up. No matter where she was going, she had her warpaint on before leaving the house. I remember watching her as a kid in the mirror and seeing what she was doing. It was fascinating for me seeing anyone's transformation when it came to make-up and she always stuck to the same look the whole time since as far back as I remember. It was always a fairly natural look with the eye make-up and either brown toned lipstick or gloss. Recently, I've managed to lure her out of her comfort zone and she's worn different lip colour but that's pretty much as far as I can push her by the looks of things.

When I started wearing make-up to school as a teen, I pretty much followed the same routine, although back then, my eyeliner game was pretty rough so I always skipped it. Different coloured lipsticks creeped in over time and eventually eye shadow. The best piece of advice I ever received from her was probably to blend into my neck and stop going overboard with the bronzer. Looking back at photos of me as a teen, I feel mortified (although was hideously offended at the time) seeing the obvious tide marks and the bright orange cheeks. I was a hot mess.

Over time, I managed to improve my skills thankfully. When I discovered YouTube tutorials as an adult, I was already competent at doing my make-up but it was great to see different styles and how to execute them. Particularly with eye make-up as that's my "thing".

I have to thank her for the inspiration growing up, to be honest. Without that introduction to make-up, who knows if I'd have as much interest in it as an adult? My guess is probably yes but who knows. I could still be sitting here an adult looking like I've been tangoed with lines all around my chin. Thank you mother!!

So for the photo challenge, day 2 is "typical make-up look". Well, I don't really have a typical make-up look as I like to try something new every day but I do have a failsafe for any time I'm in a rush and I need to throw on something reliable. So here goes. Basically foundation routine is all the same but instead of some bright eye make-up, it's a natural lid with eyeliner. No matter what I have on my face, I cannot skip the eyeliner!! Coupled with a red lip, it's something that'll fit any occasion and is easy enough just to whack on.

I've used the Urban Decay Vice4 palette. 'Framed' all over the lid, a small amount of 'Bitter' in the crease, a small amount of 'Deadbeat' smudged under the eyes and 'Bones' for the highlight. At the moment eyeliner-wise, I'm using B is for Beautiful gel eyeliner. It seemed awesome at first but I'm starting to wonder if I'd ever buy it again. It seems to dry up pretty quickly even though the lid is screwed tightly shut after every time I use it. Never a good thing. And for the red lip, I either reach for Jeffree Star's Mistletoe or LA Splash's Lip Couture in Poison Apple. Both are liquid matte lipsticks and don't have a tendency to rub off or bleed if I can't find my lipliner (which always seems to disappear). Links below for all products used.

This takes roughly 15-20 minuted depending on what eyeliner I use. This one is particularly hard to work with as it's drying up faster than it should (!) so it takes a bit of fiddling about with to get it just right.

It's something that suits everyday wear but can also work if going out in the evening so it's pretty versatile so a good failsafe!



Nivea for Men Post Shave Balm £5.29
B Flawless Complete Coverage Foundation £5.49 (usually £9.99) I use the colour Rose Ivory which is currently not in stock on the website but can be found instore.
MUA Matte Perfect Loose Powder £3
NYX Powder Blush (Silky Rose) £5.98
MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder £3.00 (Opalescent Amber)
Urban Decay Vice4 Palette £43
B is for Beautiful B. Precise Gel Eyeliner (currently £3.49)
Freedom Pro Brow Pomade (Ebony Brown) £5

The only thing I can't include on the list is the Jeffree Star liquid lipstick in Mistletoe. Unfortunately, it was part of the limited edition collection that was released around Christmas time. If you search about online, there might be some online stores that still have some stock but it was pretty popular, so there might be a chance that's it's unavailable. They do a similar colour called Unicorn Blood which is similar colourwise but the Mistletoe is more glittery. Alas, it's out of stock on the Cocktail Cosmetics site which is usually where I get my JS lipsticks from but they're always replenishing their stock so keep an eye out. Link to site below.

Cocktail Cosmetics

x M x

Big steps, Freedom London eyebrow pomade review and MUA Liquid Lipstick review...

Well hello, it's been a while...!

A little life update and review seems right about now seeing as how it's been a little too long since I posted last. From then until now I took a massive step in my life. I applied for college. It's pretty scary if I'm being totally honest. My anxiety has held me back for such a long time that now the kids are both going to be at school, I really need to push myself into it before I waste my whole life procrastinating and talking myself out of things that are going to make me happy.

The application was sent a few weeks ago so I probably still have a while to wait before they get to the interview process but I'm making an effort to try and stay positive. Looking at it from the perspective of "Hey, if I do this right now, in 3 years time I could be working as a qualified MUA." has kept me from running away. Keep your eye on the prize and all that jazz.

Onto the review. Took a little trip to Superdrug at the weekend to see what I could find and stumbled across Freedom London's eyebrow pomade (£5). My eyebrows are the bane of my existence, I've tried powders, gels and pencils but they never seem to look how I want them. Due to over plucking and waxing as a teen, my eyebrows don't really have much shape to them and they've become really difficult to grow in so finding the right product to suit me has been a bit of a challenge.

I looked into pomade a while back when I was contemplating buying the AHB Dipbrow pomade but I figured I didn't want to overspend when there was a chance that it might not work for me so coming across the cheaper version felt like fate. When researching the pomade before, it was recommended that you use a stiffer angled brush to apply it because of the texture but I decided to go for a softer one as I've had no success with a stiff one (oo-er lol) in the past. I picked up a cheap smokey eye Superdrug own-brand brush (£2.99) to try it out.

I have quite dark hair and usually go for a darker brow so I picked up the ebony shade. Use a tester in store if possible because when you open the pots, it looks deceptively lighter than it does when you actually dip your brush in. The pomade is nice and smooth and picks up onto the brush nicely, only use a dab at first. I lined underneath and above the brow and filled in the middle just with the angled end of the brush, I didn't need a spoolie or anything to even it out or brush over the brows but if you have quite unruly thick eyebrows, you might need to give them a brush through before and after applying. It's very pigmented so don't put too much on the brush when first applying because it'll look far darker than what you're trying to achieve. It was really easy to work with as it was so smooth and went on like a dream. I think I've finally found my perfect eyebrow product and I highly recommend it to anyone. The pots are 2.5g but for the amount you need to do both eyebrows, it's definitely going to last a long while. It comes in 11 shades (I think) so whether you're really light or really dark, you'll find something to suit your colour. And it's a definite bargain at £5.

While I was browsing, I picked up an MUA Luxe metallic liquid lipstick (£3 in Superdrug, £4 on MUA Store) in the shade Lustre. Recently, I've gone off a satin or glossy lip so it was the first time I hadn't picked up anything matte. But the shimmer was really eye catching so I thought it was worth a try. It comes with a doe foot applicator so easy to apply (for me anyway, I hate applying liquid lipstick with a brush). They're highly pigmented and very shimmery and you can build up the colour from sheer to more opaque. It smells lovely which was the first thing I noticed when I opened the tube, which I know isn't really that important but I've had some rather unpleasant smelling lipsticks in the past which I find a bit offputting. With regards to wear and tear, as it's non-matte and more of a gloss than a lipstick, it does come off a little while eating or drinking but it's not *that* bad. I timed the length of time between re-application (not including food or drink) and it lasted for a good 3 hours before I felt the need to apply it again and even at that it didn't fully come off. It's nice and smooth and doesn't dry your lips out at all and the colour didn't bleed out so I didn't feel the need to use a lipliner with it. Definitely worth the £3 and I'll be investing in some of the other shades. I'm not 100% sure how many shades there are in total but there are currently 9 live on the Superdrug site but only 4 on the MUA Store.

All in all, I'm going to give the Freedom eyebrow pomade a 5/5 and the MUA Luxe Metallic liquid lipsticks a 4/5, only missing out on the 5 because of the fact I felt it was more of a gloss than a liquid lipstick.

(Links for the eyebrow pomade, liquid lipstick and brush are right down the very bottom.)

Also, I just had to include this photo as my youngest decided he wanted to join in when I was getting ready and take a few photos <3

Hopefully, next time I can come back with some good news about college! <3

Much love!

- x M x

Products used:

Maybelline Dream Satin foundation (using up the last of it as I've stopped buying Maybelline sadly).
MUA Loose Powder in Translucent
NYX Powder Blush in Silky Rose
MUA Highlighter in Amber
Urban Decay eyeshadow primer
Urban Decay Vice 4 palette
Maybelline satin liquid liner (again using up the last of it)
Rimmel Supercurler mascara
Freedom London eyebrow pomade in Ebony
MUA Luxe Liquid Lipstick in Lustre

MUA Metallic Liquid Lipstick - Lustre
Freedom Pro Brow Pomade - Ebony
Superdrug Smokey Eye Brush