Makeup Geek Week - A whole week of eye looks

All Makeup Geek shadows

Makeup Geek Week is officially over.  I thought I'd share with you all of the eye looks from the week.  I didn't do anything particularly fancy, all of it is wearable (for me).  There's a good mix of neutral and colourful looks, some with liner, some without.

All shadows are Makeup Geek.  Of course.

Keep reading for photos of each look with a description of the products used.

Makeup Geek Week - Foiled Shadows Part 2

Makeup Geek foiled eye shadows

I reviewed the first set of ten Makeup Geek Foiled eye shadows here.  They've gotten a lot of use and I really recommend them.  When I saw that a new set of ten were coming out I jumped on them immediately.  Where as the first set contained mainly neutrals, this lot feature a few brights mixed in with some beautiful pastels.  

Foiled shadows are pressed shadows that mimic the effect of applying a pigment wet (foiling).  These ones feel super creamy but are a powder.  These ones look super metallic and are very opaque with one swipe but can be built up to greater effect.  Because they are oilier than a normal shadow they can crease but a good primer and careful placement prevents that.

Read on for swatches and descriptions.

Makeup Geek Week - playing with Z Palettes

Makeup Geek plus Z Palettes

This is a bit of an impromptu post.  It's a case of not having much time for photos today so what would be quick to photograph.  I thought it might be interesting to a few of you to see how I have organised my Makeup Geek shadows.  I have a fair few of these lovelies so the best way to store them is in large palettes where you can see everything.  I had already used Z Palettes before and the Makeup Geek store sells them so it was a no-brainer.

I initially had my collection in one palette, then split neutrals and brights between two, before needing a third for the foiled shadows.

Read on to see my palettes in more detail.

Makeup Geek Week - Pigments

Makeup Geek pigments

Makeup Geek are one of my favourite brands ever.  Marlena, a makeup enthusiast and Youtuber, crated the brand because she wanted to see amazing quality products that were affordable, and she really has achieved that!  Despite us UKers having to pay a bit more for shipping, and sometimes a customs fee, the products are still worth it and you get a lot more bang-for-your-buck than you would from, say, MAC.  There seems to be a lot lined up for Makeup Geek in the next few months so I thought now would be a perfect time to showcase the brand.  All this week will be Makeup Geek Week on my blog, and I'll be wearing all Makeup Geek eye shadows (follow on Instagram to see).

To start things off I'm going to show you the 5 pigments that I have from Makeup Geek.  Read on to see more!

Look of the day - Purple Galore

Purple galore makeup

Sooooo I just watched a video where the lady recommended not wearing everything purple on your face.  Well, I did it and I'm probably going to do it again.  Purple is one of my favourite makeup colours so earlier this week I wanted to do a monochrome look with it.  I really liked the outcome and am considering doing a monochrome series with a whole host of colours but I'm not sure...would anyone actually want to see a whole look centred around yellow or green etc?

As I was using mainly cool-toned purples I thought I'd warm my face up with some fake freckles, not sure if you can tell above?  There'll be a close-up below.  I do naturally have some faint freckles but they never come out very dark anymore as I don't get much sun exposure ever.  I'm not sure how natural these ones look but I like them, despite my husband telling me it looks like a tub of cocoa powder exploded on me.

Read on for a product run-down and more photos.

Shaving part of my eyebrows

This post won't be for everyone, or at least the look isn't.  Maybe you're just curious as to why I've done this.  I've been wanting to shave off the tail of my brows for maybe a year so that I can change the shape.  I didn't do it earlier as I was starting work early in the morning and I thought if I was in a rush it might be problematic.  I've left the early mornings behind me so I thought, yes, it is time!

I wanted to shave my eyebrows off completely when I was 14-17 but like with all things, I was too scared. I was worried I would permanently damage my hair in some way and I think I was already concious that there might be photos to haunt me all my life.  Same with black hair, I longed for it but never risked it.  While the desire for black hair is gone, sometimes I'm still tempted to shave all of my brows off so I have complete freedom but I don't think I'll ever do it, partially because I'm too lazy.

Anyway, read on for before and after photos and how I shave the ends of my brows.

My MAC lipstick collection

MAC lipstick collection

I thought I'd show you my ten MAC lipsticks today; it's not a large collection at all but I feel like it's a beauty blogger rite of passage that I just have to do at some point.  About four or five years ago I thought MAC were the bee's knees.  I've become a bit disillusioned since then, largely because of the almost-impossible-to-buy limited edition collections which sell out in a heartbeat.  When it comes to their lipsticks they do have an impressive range of colours and finishes, though there are lots of cheaper dupes for many of the shades out there.

I haven't used lipliner for any of these swatches.  I'm starting with the LE shades that are no longer available.

Whole face with one brand: Maybelline

Whole face with Maybelline

Maybelline is probably my favourite highstreet brand.  While their range isn't fantastic across the board, they do have plenty of stand-out products with the Color Tattoos possibly being the best and most-reached for in my collection.  I'm coming to the end of brands I'm able to do a whole look with, possibly just MAC and Benefit left to do, but I thought it would be great to do a more budget-friendly one...if I added up the price of all today's items it wouldn't be quite so bad as the others.

Without further ado, let me show you what I used.

What difference does blush make?

What difference does blush make?

Blush/blusher (I slip between the two, sorry), is really important as it brings a life-like look to your skin. Blush is often the last thing I apply and it just makes my skin look instantly more natural. The higher coverage your foundation is, the more important blush becomes.  One of my pet peeves is people wearing heavy foundation but nothing else, it makes you look a bit like a mannequin.  

Affordable makeup storage ideas

Affordable makeup storage ideas

I've been meaning to do a post on makeup storage for months, so here it is.  For those with a big collection that you've been working on for years, this post probably won't contain anything useful as you'll have already worked out what can work.  I thought this might be interesting for beginners who are looking for cheap storage ideas, as the acrylic storage that is super popular right now is quite expensive (though I recommend checking out the bathroom section of TK Maxx for some affordable options).

Firstly are these little jars from Tiger, which are intended for storing spices and the like. At £1 each you can't go wrong and they have a few different colours (lid) available.  I use one to store all of my lips brushes and one to store my Wayne Goss and Hakuhodo eye brushes.  In the past I've also used them for storing a few cotton buds in.