BIG OL' HIGH END FOUNDATION REVIEW

I have obtained a rather large number of high end foundations in the last few months. This works quite well for me as, like many of you I'm sure, I love testing out new foundations. There's something immensely satisfying about the search for the perfect foundation. Finding the one foundation to rule them all, the one foundation to find them, the one foundation to bring them all and in the darkness bind them... yeah, that foundation. So anyways, I've tried out a lot of foundations and I wanted to give you a summary of my thoughts.

6 TO TRY

Sometimes I wear makeup. Wut? Get over it. Kiddiinnng. As per usual I've been dabbling in a mix or new makeup gems and old reliables. And it struck me the other day that I haven't done a 5 to try type post in ages, if ever. So I went to pick out five gems that I think everyone should own in their collection, and naturally I had to pick six.  

10 BRILLIANT MAKEUP TUTORIALS TO WATCH

Recently I wrote a post on 10 Must See Beauty Videos. False. Bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica. Today I realized that that post wasn't actually recent at all. It was written almost a year ago. So it's time for an update! A lot has changed in a year. I hardly recognize myself. Somewhere along the line I became a person that watches Desi Perkins and NikkieTotorials. For some time I was very reluctant to admit this change in myself...to myself... seeing as I don't generally enjoy heavy makeup. However, I cannot deny that these ladies have such incredible, high level artistry skills that it's a pleasure to watch them. Of course I still love my usual English/Aussie crowd so we'll be getting a bit of both in today's mix. Onward with the 10 picks.

10 TIPS FOR CONTOURING LIKE A PRO

A post on how to contour? How original. I know that just about everybody and their dog has done a post on how to contour now and it might seem like I couldn't possibly have anything new to add. But friends, I'm going to try! In the past year I've learned some cool tricks and tips about how to contour like a boss. There are a lot of interesting little things you can do to really alter the shape of your face. So without further adieu, fingers crossed you find something useful here.

TOP 5 BLEMISH CONCEALERS

If there's one thing I'm good at, it's concealing with a spotty face. I've dealt with breakouts on and off since high school (though I'm lucky that my skin is in much better condition these days) and, although it's been frustrating, the silver lining is that I've had loads of first hand experience testing out different techniques for covering blemishes, as well as testing out different concealers. After trying out a butt ton, I'm happy to say that I've found a clear top five.

THE ONE MINUTE SMOKEY EYE

I do a lot of smokey eyes at work. I love doing it, but what I constantly hear from clients is that “the smokey eye” is too challenging of a look from them to achieve on their own. It's completely understandable because when you look at the artistry being produced on Instagram, it's intimidating as heck. I'm super intimidated and I do this stuff every day. But a smokey eye doesn't have to be a challenge. It doesn't have to be twenty different shadows and ten different blending brushes (don't get me wrong, I love that stuff too). It can be as simple as two products and one brush. That's what I'm going to show you guys today – a super simple one minute smokey eye.

COULD IT BE LOVE? THE GREATEST FOUNDATION BRUSH

IMATS came to Vancouver a few weeks ago. Seeing as I have next to no makeup (crowd throws vegetables at my head), I felt I should pick up some more. I'm full of good jokes. I circled around the convention and when I saw the line for Morphe I decided I wanted no part in the madness (think 3 hour waits). Instead I headed over to Royal & Langnickel where I felt far more at home with the common folk.

JULY FAVOURITES

Blimey-o-riley it feels like ages since I've done a monthly favourites. I've been incredibly lucky to try out a lot of products since starting at Sephora. It makes it difficult to pick what I've enjoyed the most. But this month there were some exceptional stand outs that I'm pumped (yeah PUMPED, let's have some brewskis and lift some weights PUMPED) to share with you guys.

WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THIS LIPSTICK?

Okily dokily, so I picked up the Sephora Collection Colour Lip Last Lipstick in Blooming Rose a few weeks ago and it straight up blew my mind. It is cray cray good. And I don't use the term cray cray lightly... because it's disgusting. Every time I wear this bad boy I get people asking me what's on my lips and lemme tell you why.

NARS VELVET MATTE SKIN TINT

A few months ago the NARS Velvet Matte Skin Tint launched. I've seen some mixed reviews on this guy, but for the most part people seem to be giving it a thumbs up. I've tried it out on loads of clients at Sephora so I've got a good idea of the look of the initial application, however I wanted to see how it lasted throughout the day. You can imagine I was pleased when I received this in gratis so I could give it a proper go. So what's the foundation like? What's the good and what's the bad? Here we go.

GIVEAWAY: BECCA JACLYN HILL CHAMPAGNE FACE PALETTE

It's no secret that the past few months... well, almost year... have been a bit of a struggle in terms of finding the time for blogging. It's a bummer because I still very much love the whole blogging shebang. I love writing, I love makeup artistry, I love photography and I love the supportive community that is you guys. To thank you scrumptious petals for sticking with me through the chaos, I wanted to do a giveaway. And nothing says giveaway like the Jaclyn Hill Champagne Face Palette (except for maybe a brand new car, but I'm no Oprah).

CURRENT LIP FAVIES

Ah lipstick. What would I do without you? I ask thee, how doth one spice up their life without the help of a lipstick? The Spice Girls might know, but I'm lost without a peppy red, or a blindingly obnoxious pink. Try taking up Salsa classes instead you say. I don't think so. I'd much rather keep throwing money at Sephora. Onto what I've been wearing lately... allow me to take you on a tour and segue out of this bizarre and disastrous intro.

MY MOST BELOVED COLOURPOP SHADOWS

Colourpop Super Shock Shadows have been a mother flippin' revelation in my life. I remember the first time I ordered a batch. I took them out of their sassy little box and swatched them on my arm. Then I immediately soiled myself. These mofos are the most pigmented shadows you'll ever work with. But that's not even the best part. The best part is that they're phenomenal for oily eyelids. If you have those kind of lids that turn every shadow into a few measly lines even with a primer, then these will be your saviour. Once they set, they're indestructible. I've done a few orders of their shadows now and I fancied showing you my favies. Here they are all layed out.

THE WORST HIGH END MAKEUP

Most of the time I only talk about products that I have the warm and fuzzies for. There are loads of amazing high end bits that I now can't picture being without. However, there are most definitely some duds lurking in the shelves at Sephora. They're there, just waiting for you to pick them up and take them home, thinking you'll be happy together. But you won't. You'll never be happy together because they're liars. They're the type of products that sit on the couch all day watching soap operas and ordering you to make them more nachos. They don't care about you at all. Well, I think it's time talk about these products and reveal their true colours. So please, join me in a good old fashioned bitch fest. Was that over the top? It got weird with the nachos didn't it?

A GLOWY NO MAKEUP MAKEUP LOOK

A little while ago Urban Decay was doing a competition to create an “I woke up like this” strobing look. I looked through the competition's photos and, let me tell you, some people were waking up with a bum ton of makeup on. Slept in your full face did ya? What are you, Britt from The Bachelor? Zinnnng. I kid, I kid. Anyways I wanted to do something closer to a no makeup makeup look (but still very glowy) and I was pretty happy with how it turned out, so I thought I'd share the look with you.

THE CONCEALER RUNDOWN

After a short interlude, we return to our regular programming. I.e. back to the rundown series. We've covered bronzers and highlighters. So what's next, you ask? Pretend like you asked. Concealers! I'm bizarrely a total concealer nutcase. They are one of my all time favorite makeup products because I truly believe a good concealer can massively raise your confidence level. I've tried a fair few in my many wise and humble years, so please allow me to have a chat. Then you shun me.

SEPHORA GRATIS HAUL: APRIL & MAY

I won't bore you with a rambling intro today. Psyche. Imma bore the crap out of you. This morning I woke up and took my first breath as a conscious human on May 20th. I wondered to myself if it would be another sunny day. You see my blinds were shut, prohibiting me from knowing what to expect. I closed my eyes again, seeing as I was a bit sleepy, but then opened them again because I knew I really ought to get up...

Yeah, okay that's enough of that. Hey, here's some shit that I got given from work!

THE HIGHLIGHTER RUNDOWN

I've been meaning to make a mini-series for a while now. I thought it might be nice to pick a category of product – eyeliners, highlighters, foundations, etc – and give you a rundown of my experience with each one. I already covered bronzers in the last post and today we're moving onto highlighters. I hope you guys like this idea and if there's any category you're especially interested in hearing about, please let me know!

THE BRONZER RUNDOWN

You know when you look at your makeup stash and you think sweet Jesus how did I end up with so many bronzers? No? Probably just me. I'll check myself into rehab after I'm done typing this up. Bronzer is a staple product for me. I wear it almost every day and the days that I don't I usually regret it when I catch the ghost staring back at me in the mirror. Because it's such a staple product, I find myself dabbling in new bronzers quite often, trying to find the perfect one. After rifling through my drawers I've discovered that I've accumulated over a dozen. Yikers. I decided now would be a good time to give you a rundown of each one before things get any more out of hand.

APRIL FAVOURITES

Summertime has arrived in Vancouver. I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden I'm getting a tan and I can't bear to wear pants. Well, to be fair, I never like wearing pants. With the change in temperature comes a change in my makeup tastes. I'm lovin' the bronzed skin and sheer formulas for the lips, and that's exactly what you'll see in my very late April Favourites today.