Religion Rising

Yesterday, me and Berto went for a nice walk in the crisp, cold weather here in Dublin. A little secret walk in the suburbs of the city was just what we needed to get some fresh air and out of the house for a while. Sometimes it's nice to get out of the city and the hustle and bustle of the Christmas rush and appreciate your secret surroundings. A perfect afternoon.

Yes! We are home. We surprised our families and arrived on their doorsteps to everyone's astonishment. Trying to adjust back to Irish weather, not sure I'm ready to commit.

So as you know, I am heading away, and on my adventure I could not got without some vital tools of my trade. Today I got around to cleaning ALL of my makeup brushes, personal and professional. It took a little while, but a couple of hundred brushes later and some definite wrinkle-finger syndrome, I am done!!

Here in Ireland, we've gone from a really nice summer into a bitter cold September like the click of a finger, so we never really got a chance to say goodbye to our rare hot summer. With fashion, beauty and makeup we're not fully ready to jump into our big cozy winter coats just yet.

The past six months I have had the privelege of working in one of the trendiest shoe shops in Dublin, Buffalo. For my last day, the beautiful girls I worked with allowed me to choose any pair of shoes I wanted as a goodbye gift. I know!! A girls dream come true!! Say hello to my new little beauties, the TBA Tresspass boots in Burgundy Leather.

This summer has been a bit all over the place here in Ireland. Rain to start off with! No surprise there, and then into a scorching heat wave, and then greeted with tropical storms, we don't no weather to pack our RayBans or our brollies into that all in one handbag!!

Right now, I'm obsessed with winged eyeliner! Blended into a smokey, dramatic eye or paired with a bare lid and a colour pop on the lip, I'm hooked!

Today I managed to master the concept of the fishtail braid, and it has to be said, it looks a lot more complicated than it actually is! As a first attempt, I don't think I did too bad!

Get the look:

Don't get me wrong, I've always been a fan of a bright matte pink lip.....just never on me! I looked at people on the street absolutely rocking the Barbie pout, and I was jealous!

Coming into this summer it's all about accessorising with pops of colour. Turquoise is making a huge comeback this season and how better to wear this trend than with this full finger armour ring from H&M. I'm in love!!

I kind of did this look a bit backwards. I would usually do the eyes first so if there is any fall out, it can be easily wiped away without effecting your foundation, but due to this look having very natural colours on the eyes, I decided to do the face first.

The face:

I started by using the F55 small duo fibre foundation brush from Sigma and Revlon Photoready Airbrush Mousse Makeup in the colour Shell to the cheekbones, forehead, chin and underneath the eyes. I then used the same foundation in the colour Natural Beige on the rest of the face as this shade matches with the tone of my neck. This means any areas of the face covered with the shade Shell are naturally highlighted giving the face a more airbrushed look.
Using the same brush, I stippled a small amount of MAC NW15 Studio Finish Concealer underneath the eye area, around the nose and a small amount through the cheeks just to add a bit more coverage as these areas can tend to get a bit red throughout the day.
To set the foundation and to mattify the skin I used Inglot AMC Powder in the number 55 all over the face and contoured the forehead, nose, lip and cheekbones with Inglot Pressed Powder in the number 31 and a Sigma F35 tapered brush.
I applied a mixture of MAC Pinkswoon and MAC Fleur Power blusher to the apples of the cheeks using a Sigma F15 duo fibre blush brush to give the cheeks a more rounded appearance.

The eyes:

You want to achieve the 'no makeup' makeup look with the shadows on the eyes. Similar to contouring you want to create seamless shadows and highlights, so blending is key.

I firstly filled in the brows using an Inglot 17TL brow brush and Inglot 329 chocolate matte brown eyeshadow. I paid extra attention to the arch and extension of the tail and used very little product on the inside of the brow. This makes the brow appear more natural. To achieve a clean, sharp brow I carved out the underneath of the brow line using a flat concealer brush and Studio Finish Concealer in NW15. This colour is a few shades lighter than my skin tone so it will act as a natural highlight to the brow bone.

Using my ring finger, I applied MAC Painterly Paintpot and blended it from the lash line into the concealer underneath the brow. This will act as a base/primer to the eyeshadow and brighten the lid, yet still giving coverage to any blue undertones on the lid.

Using a large fluffy brush, I used an Inglot 4SS blender brush, and I applied Inglot 352 matte pale pink eyeshadow on the full eyelid. Using the same brush (because it's tapered) I applied a shade 2-3 shades darker than the lid colour to create a shadow effect and give definition to the crease. I used Inglot 357, a wam matte neutral tone to do this.

I used my favourite liner, Inglot 77 black gel liner, to create the classic 50's flick eyeliner look, making sure it was a thin line on the inside, getting thicker at the outside corner of the eye and extended out into a tapered flick towards the tail of the brow.

Lashes:

I removed the Inglot 16N lashes from the box carefully from the outside corner of the lash using a tweezers. I was extra careful doing this a I didn't want to distort the shape of the lash because this would effect how the lash sits on your eye making them unwearable. I then took some Inglot 22S long individual lashes and I attached these to the lashband of the 16N lashes at the outside corner using clear DUO Glue. I did this about a third of the way into the lash from the outside to achieve that winged, cat-eye lash look. I used the same clear DUO Glue to apply the lashes to the eye. Once set, I went over the lash band with the gel liner again.
I then applied Inglot False Lash Mascara and I wiggled the product through my own natural lashes. This application technique will weave your natural lashes into the false ones so the two sets of lashes appear as one and sit on top of each other comfortably.

The Lips:

I firstly applied a small amount of MAC Diva matte lipstick to the lips, not going too close to the natural outline of the lip. I then used Kryolan lip liner in the colour 910 to line the lip on the very outside of the natural lip line to give the appearance of a fuller lip. This is personal preference if you want your lips to appear fuller or not.

Thre ya have it guys!! Try it out yourselves

J xxx

Before I began this look, I firstly applied my oilatum moisturiser and let it sink into the skin for the duration of the eye application to allow it to work its magic!

Using an Inglot 4SS brush, I buffed MAC Prolongwear Concealer all over the lid from the lash line to the brow in the colour NW20 to act as an eye primer as this concealer does not crease.
Using an Inglot 17TL brow brush and MAC Fluidline in Dipdown, I carved my brow from the bottom of the arch and then downwards to extend the tail. I then cleaned off that same brush in a tissue and used it with MAC Cork eyeshadow to lightly fill in the inside corner of the brow to achieve an ombré effect. Using a Sigma F70 flat concealer brush, I then carved the underneath of the brow with MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW15 to achieve a clean, sharp look and to act as a highlight to the brow bone.
I applied MAC Painterly Paint Pot to the lid from the lash line up to the crease using the same F70 concealer brush to intensify the colour of the eyeshadows. Then, using an Inglot 9S flat eyeshadow brush, I pressed 373 Inglot matte white eyeshadow all over the lid up to the crease, packing on the colour to intensify the brightness.
Using the same 9S brush, I dipped the tip of the brush into MAC Cork eyeshadow that we used earlier and I pushed this colour into the crease above the white, the whole way across the eye. I then used an Inglot 6SS brush to buff out this colour and extend it upwards. I then used a mixture of 329 Inglot matte chocolate brown and MAC Brun eyeshadow, a dark cool brown, in the crease using an Inglot 10S small blender brush to define the crease. I also brought this combination of colours underneath the bottom lash line the full way across the eye.
I lined the lid using Inglot 77 Gel Liner extending the line outwards from the corner of the eye into a thick flick and along the upper and lower waterline. Again using the 10S blender brush I defined the outside corner and outer corner of the crease with a matte black, Inglot 63 eyeshadow. Don't be afraid to go over the liner a little.
I then applied some false lashes. I used Eyelure 202 lashes for this look and applied them with clear DUO Glue, available worldwide. I then applied Inglot False Lash Mascara to my own natural lashes to weave them through the false ones making it look more natural.

On to the face:
My skin feels nice and hydrated now so I can go straight in with my foundation. I dampened my Beauty Blender first and used this with my MAC W10 full coverage foundation and applied the product to the centre of the nose, the middle of the forehead, under the eyes and onto the cheekbones. I used the Beauty Blender to stipple this product right into the skin so there is no residue of any oils on the surface of the face.
I then used MAC NW35 full coverage foundation and the same sponge and applied it to the rest of the face making sure the two colours are blended seamlessly.
Again , using the Beauty Blender, I stippled Maybelline Fit Me concealer in the colour 15 underneath my eyes to brighten the area.
To set all the liquids on the face, I used Inglot AMC Powder in 55 and used my Sigma F25 to apply this to the whole face.
To contour I used my Sigma F35 and Inglots No.30 Pressed Powder underneath the cheekbones, around the hairline, down the side of the nose and underneath the bottom lip to give the illusion that these areas are more hollow. Use this product sparingly as it is very dark and highly pigmented so only a little is needed.
To add a bit of colour to the cheeks I applied Fleur Power Blusher from MAC using a Sigma F15 duo fibre blush brush. This I applied along the cheekbone to achieve the illusion of a natural lift to the face, especially for mature skins.

I lined the lips with Inglot 58 lip liner, focusing slightly on the outer edge of the natural lip line to achieve a fuller lip. I filled in the lips with MAC RubyWoo matte lipstick.


And there ya have it guys. All the steps you need to channel your inner Monroe! xxx