Impressing With My Powders and Pigments

By the miracle of scheduled posting I'm here when in reality I am probably lying on a sun lounger oh bliss! Anyways don't worry I've written a few posts to keep you amused whilst I'm away, starting with this one. A little while ago I decided to go ahead and try and press my loose powder shadows and blushers. I think I got the bug after my little attempt at pressing MAC pigments, I have loads and loads of powder shadows, pigments and blushers and to be honest I wasn't using them, loose powders just seemed a bit fiddly and too time consuming for everyday use so pressing them seemed to be the answer. Obviously it isn't as simple to press mineral shadows as it is to press MAC pigments, with MAC you just need a bit of alcohol however with mineral shadows and dazzle dusts you need a bit of filler, normally silicone alongside the alcohol, so I followed this tutorial from the lovely Lipglossiping use the same products as she does here. Generally I found it to be pretty successful but I learnt a few lessons along the way - first of all mattes are nearly impossibly to press, I found the more shimmer the better the result, I also learnt patience wait until they are dry before attempting to touch or press them otherwise disaster will strike. Another tip I would pass on is to be careful when adding the liquids a few times my mixture was way to wet I had to add more pigment to make it usable, and lastly be careful with them twice I dropped unpressed shadows and blushers on the floor and twice I dropped the pan when mixture was wet big mistake! I might be just a klutz but it you want to try it take care. I bought the alcohol and biosilk from ebay and the pans and palettes from Stars Make Up Haven who are great and usually include a freebie often one of their shadow singles :) On to the part you've all been waiting for pics of my handiwork - first of all blushers I've included some swatches for you so you can see how pigmented they are even after pressing, and I've made my pics a bit bigger than normal too x

Top Row From L-R - id Bare Minerals - Promise, Avon Mineral Blusher - Blushed, id Bare Minerals - Frisky and id Bare Minerals - Confidence

Bottom Row - First Light Minerals - Mistral

Pretty huh - bit of a colour theme developing there tho lots of peaches and corals :) OK eyeshadows - this palette isn't full yet but I still have a few to press and I'll probably need another palette to finish them all off but here it is at the moment, again with swatches :)

1st Row L-R - ELF -Natural, ELF - Earthy, ELF - Girly, id Bare Minerals - Poise, Space, ELF - Partier, id Bare Minerals - Motivate

2nd Row - id Bare Minerals - Pure Joy, ELF - Earthy, id Bare Minerals - Delight, Collection 2000 - Hazy Daze 20, id Bare Minerals - Bravo, Barry M Dazzle Dust - 91 Silvery Black, and Barry M Dazzle Dust - 51 Mushroom

3rd Row - id Bare Minerals - Purist, FirstLight Minerals - Bali Sunset, Collection 2000 -Stonewash, Space, First Light Minerals - Cornish Copper, Space, Collistar Lurex Pearl 2

4th Row - NYX Loose Pearl - 19 Mink Pearl, id Bare Minerals - Strength, Barry M Dazzle Dust - 3 Pink Gold, Boots Natural Collection -?, NYX Loose Pearl - 20 Mocha Pearl, Barry M Dazzle Dust - 101 Buff, and Barry M Dazzle Dust - 29 Yellow Gold

I hope you enjoy these pretty splashes of colour. Any questions on anything please let me know xx



Barry M and ELF Haul x

OK my last haul for a little while now - first of all ELF they have had a few pretty good discount codes around lately - I used a one earlier in the week for 20% off and picked up a few things, a luscious liquid lip colour in Perfect Pink, an all over color stick in Spotlight and some brush shampoo


I also picked a couple of bits from the mineral line including the mineral foundation in Fair. I already have the light one which is a bit yellow toned so hopefully this one will be better, and I also got my favourite Sheer Mineral Booster

I had to place a little order with Barry M this week - my local stores had loads of stuff out of stock :( I only ordered 2 bits for me including one of the new trio eye shadows in Lavender Lullaby and a Dazzle Dust in the new shade 101 Buff which is probably a little more gold than I would have liked

If you would like any swatches or reviews please let me know xx

QVC, and Cocktail Cosmetics Hauling

I had such a crappy weekend and really needed cheering up so I placed a few little orders :)
First of all I placed an order with cocktail cosmetics. They already had a couple of bits from the MAC Holiday Collections so I got Phiff Dazzleglass

It looks a gorgeous peach / nude with loads of glitter but like a lot of Dazzleglasses it isn't that pigmented all you really get is the glitter


I also picked up a few NYX bits - a lipgloss in 24 Cafe Latte

and an eyeshadow single in 104 Star



I also picked a Barry M Dazzle Dust in 91 Black Silver



and in much need of serious pampering I also ordered some gorgeous Elemis bath and body products from QVC - and relax.....

Beauty Goodies - Shopping Trip Part 2

Hey I'm back I felt pretty awful last night so I decided to do this today - so sorry for any delay :) I am going to divide it in to what I picked up in each shop
to make it easier ;)

Primark

All the beauty items in my local Primark were half price so I picked up a few bits to try

Blend and Stretch Eyeshadow - Lightening 9079



These are supposedly long lasting a bit like the Bourjois ones - I haven't tried it yet but its a lovely silver / grey which is surprisingly pigmented



Trust Dust Mineral Eyeshadow - Lily 9120
A loose mineral eyeshadow in a dipstick like applicator in a shimmery silver / white



Superdrug

Barry M Lipgloss Wand in LGW2 - Toffee
Yummy is all I can say


Barry M Dazzle Dusts


DD27 Gold Iridescent


DD8 Silver Iridescent


DD44 Bronze


GOSH Soft N Shine Lip Balm- 30 Barbie
This looks so strong in the tube but its actually a really sheer pink




Sleek Chaos Palette



ME ME ME Shimmy Shimmers - Gold Shimmer
Exactly like Bobbi Brown Shimmerbricks - love these x



Collection 2000 Hot Looks Nail Polish - 12 Minx


GOSH Nail Lacquer 550 Purple Heart
This pic in no way does this justice an iridescent dark purple with green shot through it amazing


This post is getting a bit long and pic heavy now so I am going to do another post later to finish off my haul - Boots, Body Shop and Victoria Jackson to come x

A Few Barry M Swatches

Just a couple of Barry M swatches for the lovely Lydia from Alice In A New Wonderland

Left - DD29 Yellow Gold - Right - DD3 Pink / Gold



DD29 is a very yellow gold, and sorry but you can't really see how pretty DD3 is here - it looks very pink here but irl it has a gorgeous gold shimmer to it