makeup Archives - Life: A Birds Eye View

Galifornication

Samantha — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 06:18:48 +0000

The Faded Brow, painstakingly applied with delicate feathery strokes, hair by pencilled-in hair; cut-crease eyeshadow so razor-sharp it’s as though the angles have been carefully measured out with a protractor (well, we’ve had no other use for such an instrument since high school); the ruler-straight application of Nike-swoosh eyeliner; plumpy, pouty lips….

photo credit: The insanely talented MUA An Knook, Instagram @makeupbyan

With the attention lavished on the other features on our perfectly-painted faces, you’d be forgiven for thinking that cheeks are out, since blush gets a bum deal – it’s the least-featured feature on those endless YouTube beauty tutorials.

Of course, the eyes are the windows to our souls, and a fleeky flick is one of my favourite makeup magic-tricks…but blusher is one beauty weapon in my arsenal that I’ll never go without. Now this may be because I’m a typical English Rose – well, that’s the romantic description of a pale and pasty complexion the same shade as the bland magnolia paint on the walls of my house (if I stand naked against them I’m completely camouflaged – which makes for some fun games of hide-and-seek at my place).

To me, a quick swipe over the cheekbones with a pretty peachy blush is the finishing touch that brings my whole face to life – taking me from drab to fab in seconds. In Victorian times, women would pinch their cheeks, bite their lips and dab the juice of berries or beetroot onto their skin in order to give that flush of youth and vigour, that just-rolled-in-the-hay glow.
Thankfully, makeup has moved on and we can now get on with eating our lunch rather than rubbing it all over our faces, but we still want to achieve that fresh-from-fornicating flush, don’t we girls?
Well, you’re in luck. Can I get a hearty round of applause for….

Benefit’s Galifornia blush.

From the cutesy artwork on the packaging to the delicately fragranced peach-pink powder and oh-so-pretty golden layer on top, this blusher is the bomb. At first I was dubious, having been seriously underwhelmed by another of Benefit’s blushers: Dandelion. It was too pale, too powdery and the pigment was too weak for my already-pallid complexion. But this was a freebie (thanks, Quidco!) and I’m a sucker for pretty packaging, so….

This product is Dandelion’s older, sassier sister: stronger, cooler and more self-assured. She glides on like a dream and will stay put until you physically remove her (a bit like me at parties). The fragrant vanilla-and-grapefruit scented cocktail is alluring – noticable every time you apply it, but subtle, and adds to the pleasure of using the product. Scented makeup is a thing: my Bourjois chocolate-scented bronzer, shaped like a bar of Cadbury’s with its little domed segments, is also a firm favourite. All the sugary goodness without larding up my lady lumps – sweet!

Okay, so the golden top layer is just an overspray and doesn’t run all the way through the product, which was a little disappointing, but the intensity of the pigment and radiance-boosting effect is so good that we’ll let Benefit off for the bare-faced cheekiness of that misleading characteristic.
Does the blusher deliver the sun-kissed sexiness of a Californian surfer-gal? Yep! Does the packaging, depicting a hippy-dippy all-American Coachella-style beauty reflect the product inside? Yes siree!

Are you left with the innocent radiance of a voluptuous young milkmaid? Tick. This blush will deliver the poshest of post-coital glows with the minimum of effort – which, let’s face it girls, is a whole lot less hassle than the real deal

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off for a spot of Galifornication…

Galifornia dreamin’

Products from Amazon.co.uk

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Sam x

Fancy reading my back-story before you go any further? You can find my other blogs at:

www.costaricachica1.blogspot.com
www.samgoessolo.blogspot.com
www.mummymission.blogspot.com
www.worldwidewalsh.blogspot.com

Follow me:

Twitter: @SamanthaWalsh76 (Life:ABird’sEyeView)
Facebook: @lifeabirdseyeview
Instagram: @lifeabirdseyeview

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Send Me Nudes

Samantha — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 15:46:00 +0000

Lads, before you start skimming this article hoping for flashes of flesh or requests for dick pics, let me be clear: it’s about nude makeup. Not actual nudes. I just used that title because it’s catchy. Soz and all that.Due to the surge in popularity of ‘dating’ apps such as Tinder, asking a new ‘match’ to “send nudes” is dropped in as casually as asking what they do for a living – and almost as quickly. The exchange usually goes something like:Him: Hey, you’re fit.
You: You’re cute too. So, tell me about yourself: what do you do for a living…?
Him: I’m in IT. Send me nudes!When I signed up to Tinder (in 2013, before I met Andy the following year) I was not only bombarded with unsolicited nudes, and requests for nudes, I was also sent plenty of pictures of other women in their underwear…or completely nude. Not by the women in the pictures themselves – I had my settings firmly set to ‘women looking for men’ – but by the guys they were sending them to, as if this was somehow proof that “all the other women are doing it.” Sometimes guys would even say, “I’m not sure whether to date you…or her (female nude pops up on my phone). Who should I choose?” as if trying to start some kind of competition between us. One glance at the picture of the posing woman staring seductively into the camera tells me she’s a man-eater; if she were a plant she’d be a Penis Fly Trap. Oh I certainly hope so. I’m happy to let her ‘win’ this one and swiftly delete the dastardly dude.So girls, beware that when they guys say “send me nudes, I swear I’ll never show anyone,” he’s telling porkies – not only will he show his mates, he’ll also show everyone else he can think of…

Rouge Edition Velvet – great creamy texture, velvet matte finish

Anyway, I digress. Back to the nude makeup. To me, the words ‘nude’ and ‘makeup’ had never featured in the same sentence until recently. Why would they? To me the term ‘nude makeup’ is an oxymoron: if you can’t even see it, how is it making you look better? What’s the point of shelling out a load of dosh and then taking an age to painstakingly apply a ton of products you can’t even see? Sounds like a case of The Emperor’s New Clothes to me.

No, if I’m going to spend an arm and a leg on the latest beauty innovations and formulations I want to emerge from the bathroom in the morning looking catwalk-ready and as glamorous as Marilyn Monroe. Nude doesn’t come into the equation: I want endless raven lashes, lips dripping brick-red gloss and skin like the finest porcelain. Or I did until now.

But recently I decided to give nude another chance, albeit my interpretation of nude. Rather than so little makeup that I still look anaemic, my naturally blonde features barely discernable on the blank sheet of A4 that is my morning face, I opted for visible makeup, but in hues of peach and muted browns that looked vaguely natural rather than naked.

eyeshadow palette in 02 OVER ROSE, lip pencil in 01NUDE WAVE,
velvet matte lip cream in 10 DON’T PINK OF IT

“I prefer women to look natural” proclaim men everywhere – until the aforementioned women have the bare-faced cheek to leave the house without a scrap of slap. Because there’s natural…and then there’s rough as a badger’s backside; rarely does a woman look as good as Gigi Hadid does without makeup. (That’s not dissing the sisterhood girls – it’s just the brutal and blatant truth).

Because we all look like Gigi without makeup…NOT!

The fellas then quickly back-track with a tactful “You look beautiful either way…but I do love it when you’re all glammed up,” baulking in horror at the sight of thread veins, sparse brows and piggy eyes. He’s hardly Tom Hardy himself, let’s face it, but nevertheless everyone heaves a sigh of relief when the giant makeup bag comes out once more…

So here’s my version of nude: still made up to within an inch of my life, but in a softer palette of shades. No red lippy or flicky felt-tip liner, yet enough colour and definition that I won’t be mistaken for Casper the friendly ghost on my morning commute. The pigment is good, the quality decent and the best part is the price: Bourjois 3 for 2 at Boots meant I got all 3 items for around £15 (there are often offers on at either Boots or Superdrug – there’s one at Superdrug now). So if my love-affair with the nudes turns out to be as short-lived as most of my Tinder matches, I won’t be left broke and broken-hearted…

lanky birds: I’ve got an affinity with flamingos
jumper from Oasis

Products from Amazon.co.uk

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Sam x

Fancy reading my back-story before you go any further? You can find my other blogs at:

www.costaricachica1.blogspot.com
www.samgoessolo.blogspot.com
www.mummymission.blogspot.com
www.worldwidewalsh.blogspot.com

Follow me:

Twitter: @SamanthaWalsh76 (Life:ABird’sEyeView)
Facebook: @lifeabirdseyeview
Instagram: @lifeabirdseyeview

The post Send Me Nudes appeared first on Life: A Birds Eye View.

Born Lippy: My Guide To Getting The Sparkliest Lips In Town!

Samantha — Sat, 04 Mar 2017 21:49:00 +0000

Sparkles Lips: add some glitz to your lips

They say you should never wear glitter over the age of 40…or is it 30? Whatever! I say to hell with them and their rules – whoever ‘they’ are anyway! ‘They’ are probably the hoity toity, buttoned-up Fun Police – the conservative rule-followers who also disapprove of holidaying in Ibiza (so common!) and clubbing at any age after graduation. Well ‘they’ can just push their horn-rimmed specs back up their aquiline noses, quit quoting endless dos and don’ts from the play-it-safe rulebook and go back to finishing the Guardian crossword – ’cause we ain’t listenin’!

I’ve never been particularly fond of being told what to do, so I’m not about to start now. I’ve always had plenty to say for myself – too much, perhaps. My mouth does have a tendancy to run away with me: I was born lippy. But I’m an upstanding member of society and have never been in trouble with the law, so if the only crimes I’m committing are those against growing old gracefully then I think a mere caution is ample punishment, don’t you Officer?

Sparkles Lips in Holographic Pink

Yes, glitter sits in your wrinkles and shimmer shows up your crow’s feet, but does anyone really care? I’d far rather see someone out having fun, eyes crinkling, head thrown back and giggling uncontrollably with a bit of glitter settling into her laughter lines than a perfectly stylish yet stony-faced ice maiden.

There’s a time and a place for everything of course – the glittery lips I’m demoing in the clip below are not geared towards the school run (the dried glitter has the texture of sand so will probably remove several layers of little Johnny’s delicate peachy skin as you kiss him goodbye on the cheek at the gates) or zipping round Sainsburys (people will assume you’ve pulled an all-nighter and not slept yet), but on a big night out or a summertime festival they are perfect: fun, frivolous and – in my humble opinion – 40 year old-friendly.

I know I have major crow’s feet around my eyes and in a few years will resemble a big blonde shar-pei, but having a strong sense of humour is what’s got me through life thus far, so I wear the resulting laughter lines with pride. And besides, I’d rather crinkly eyes from smiling than deep frown lines and a furrowed brow.

So tear up the rule book (and that boring Boden catalogue whilst you’re at it), whack on the tunes to get you in the mood and get out the glitter pots, girls! It’s time to shine bright like a diamond and join the glitterati. Let’s sparkle, shimmer and shimmy our way through life while we still can (if we listen to the nagging naysayers it won’t be long before the ol’ knees give way and we won’t have the option anyway, eh?).

If being covered in a fine layer of fairy dust makes you happy then go right ahead, I say. I’m sure even the most fastidious of fashion rule-followers would agree: the best accessory you can wear – whatever your age – is a smile. So you may as well make it a sparkly one…

Now you’ve got your glitzy lippy sorted, why not try glitter eyes too? Crank up this old club classic and get yourself in the mood to party….have fun!

Products from Amazon.co.uk

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Sam x

Fancy reading my back-story before you go any further? You can find my other blogs at:

www.costaricachica1.blogspot.com
www.samgoessolo.blogspot.com
www.mummymission.blogspot.com
www.worldwidewalsh.blogspot.com

Follow me:

Twitter: @SamanthaWalsh76 (Life:ABird’sEyeView)
Facebook: @lifeabirdseyeview
Instagram: @lifeabirdseyeview

The post Born Lippy: My Guide To Getting The Sparkliest Lips In Town! appeared first on Life: A Birds Eye View.

Double Wear: The Ace of Base

Samantha — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 09:29:00 +0000

Double duty beauty: Double Wear Stay-In-Place Makeup SPF10

Let’s keep this short and sweet girls. When it comes to foundation, Estée Lauder’s Double Wear is the daddy. End of. That’s all you need to know. Some women play their beauty cards close to their chest, for fear of revealing their other hand to other females; protecting their coveted secrets from ‘rivals’. Not me. I’m the generous croupier: dishing ’em out left, right and centre. No poker faces round here; I want you to have the ace of base.

The only reason I’ve never mentioned this product on my blog before now is because I thought it was obvious; I assumed you all knew. It’s the cosmetic industry’s worst-kept secret – a long-standing staple, along with Lancome Hypnôse mascara, MAC Spice Lip Pencil and YSL Touche Éclat: timeless classics that you just don’t mess with. They are the Don, all the others mere footsoldiers; you’d be ill-advised to question their authority. These guys are to make-up what Mary Berry is to cakes.

I can’t believe I’m even having to mention this now, if I’m honest. This is basic stuff ladies – like GHDs for hair or Colgate for teeth. Any MUA (that’s makeup artist by the way ) worth her salt will have this product by the bucketload in her kit.

I don’t mean to patronise you – teaching you to use Double Wear is like sending your granny on an egg-sucking course. Or so I thought. But recently I’ve come across several strange creatures masquerading as females who seem to have got to middle age without acquiring this common knowledge. Sure they look like women, they sound like women, but when they ask me which foundation I use and I tell them “Double Wear, obvs” (with a subtle glance to the heavens) and they simply look at me blankly, I swear they must be aliens that have just landed from Mars.

I may be a basic bitch, but I know my base. I’ve been in a committed relationship with Double Wear for at least 15 years now, save for a short-lived but passionate dalliance with Touche Éclat Le Teint Foundation, for which I’ve been forgiven and we shan’t discuss further. It was fun while it lasted, but it just couldn’t go the distance. Obviously there were others in the past, but nothing compares to my darling DW – this is the real deal.

So what makes Double Wear so impressive? Well this stuff glides on like a dream and stays put for eternity. Just like building a house, the rest of your makeup won’t stay put unless you get the foundation right first. I’ve been known to go to work, straight on to a night out and rock up at the after party at 8am, make-up fresh as a daisy – all thanks to this badboy. You can attend a sweaty rave, a damp festival in a field or have a cheeky roll in the hay should the occasion arise (or all 3 if you’re lucky) and still this stuff ain’t budgin’. I’ve trekked Machu Picchu, through Brazilian rainforests – even endured the 100% humidity of summertime Bangkok and it STILL did the business.

So with SPF10, oil-free formula, and more staying power than the Dulux emulsion on your kitchen walls, surely it’s a similar consistency too? Amazingly, no. That’s the beauty of it. Before you nip down to Homebase to invest in overalls, a paint tray and non-drip roller to apply it, listen up: you only need a small amount – 10p sized blob max – dotted onto forehead, nose, cheeks and chin and then blended with fingertips for a flawless coverage. A 30ml bottle costs £31 and lasts me around 6 months. Don’t bother with sponges or a foundation brush, you’ll just waste product. If you look out for the Gift Time promos (like this one currently on at Debenhams) you’ll get a load of goodies thrown in free with the purchase of 2 items, one to be your foundation. Alternatively, sign up to Lauder’s mailing list – there are tons of offers on online, often with a lower spend threshold.

You’d think with coverage and staying power this good (the claim is 15 hours, I say easily 24+ on a big weekender), that removing it would be like scrubbing graffiti off a wall, but no. A squirt of Garnier Micellar Water (don’t even bother asking me what that is – have you been living under a rock?) on a cotton pad and you’re ready to hop into bed. Which is just as well; the only time I’m willing to be without my Double Wear is under cover of darkness and in the presence of a compassionate fella who understands the witchcraft that is good makeup.

So if you’re one of those unfortunate middle-agers still living in the Middle Ages, get with the programme, get down to Debenhams and get that Double Wear on your boat race.

On the double.

Ready for her close-up: my shade of choice is 02 Pale Almond

NB: This is not a sponsored post, nor am I affiliated with any of the brands mentioned above. I simply love the products. However, if you choose to buy through my Amazon Affiliates account by clicking below I will receive a small commission which helps cover the running costs of my blog. Thanks!

Products from Amazon.co.uk

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To follow my Facebook thread on this topic and see what my friends are saying about this click here

Sam x

Fancy reading my back-story before you go any further? You can find my other blogs at:

www.costaricachica1.blogspot.com
www.samgoessolo.blogspot.com
www.mummymission.blogspot.com
www.worldwidewalsh.blogspot.com

Follow me:

Twitter: @SamanthaWalsh76 (Life:ABird’sEyeView)
Facebook: @lifeabirdseyeview
Instagram: @lifeabirdseyeview

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