Marc Jacobs Beauty Style Eye-Con Reveal

The Sephora US order that I blogged about last week (here) arrived in a record 4 days which helped the soften the blow of the duty & tax charges that I paid. The item within the order that I was most excited about was the Marc Jacobs Beauty Style Eye-Con (or eye shadow palette) in 'The Tease'.  A very sleekly packaged palette holding 7 beautiful eye-shadows in a range of luxurious purple and mauves. In fact, I am so in awe of it that I can't even bring myself to use it yet. Here are some images, in all its unblemished glory ....

The palette is housed in a jet black fabric pouch. Unfortunately the press-stud which closes the pouch came away in my hand as I opened it. Moving on, once I got to the actual palette I was highly impressed. It is glossy and beautiful, the colours are very wearable and there are some neutral blending shades included too. 

Yes, that is the actual applicator supplied ... ridiculous ...

If purple shades are not your thing, there are 3 other options to choose from, the most versatile being 'The Lolita' which has all your nude/day time options covered. My only gripe (aside from the aforementioned press-stud issue) is the tiny foam applicator they include. I feel that this cheapens the product, and can't imagine anyone actually using it to apply their eye shadow.

You can purchase the Eye-Con palettes exclusively through Sephora here. They cost $58 USD or £37.39 (plus duty & tax). For more details on Sephora and their UK shipping options you can go here. 

New work - Paddington Test Shoot

A few weeks ago I worked on a photo-shoot with fashion design and photography students from Falmouth University who had travelled to London for London Fashion Week.  The location was the streets around Paddington station. I love the back drop, so typical of London and so different from Sydney. Here are some images from the shoot.

Photography by Katy Thomas

Sephora and UK Shipping

When I found out the Sephora USA site was now shipping to the UK I literally ran to my computer to see what I could buy. You think i'm joking but I assure you I am not. On my last trip to New York, over the course of 4 days I made about 6 trips to Sephora and came away with multiple items on each visit - such is my love for the place, and for the US prices.

Sadly as I clicked away on the site, my excitement slowly dissipated. There are a lot of brands that do not ship to the UK, including Hourglass, Laura Mercier, Kate Somerville, NARS and any nail polishes. The other annoying thing is it doesn't alert you to the fact that it can't be shipped to your location until you hit the check-out screen. On the plus side Clinique does ship as does Marc Jacobs Beauty. I wanted to pop a few Clinique products in my bag to see how the prices compare once you add in the taxes.

I have been lusting over the All About Shadow palette by Clinique. It retails for £32 here and the online Sephora price is £22.82. I also did a price comparison on the Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey which retails for £17 in the UK, the online Sephora price being £9.51.

Marc Jacobs Beauty is still not available to purchase in the UK, so buying this online is obviously a big bonus.

Sephora are charging a £10 flat rate shipping fee if you spend over £75. The important thing to note is that they still apply duty and tax to your order at the check-out. I was charged an additional £20.97 for my order on top of the shipping fee, making it an additional £30.97 all in (ouch). You can see the breakdown below.

It's a shame but not a surprise that this was too good to be true. I am still really excited to receive my order but I won't be placing future orders unless it is for something truly exceptional that you can't buy in the UK.

New Budget Buy - Garnier Miracle Skin Cream

I have been dying to get my hands on this ever since I saw it reviewed a few weeks back on the British Beauty Blogger's site (link here). I am a massive fan of Garnier's Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream which I rate more highly than most of the more expensive BB options out there. It is my fail safe no makeup product and i'm never without it. This new product is more skin care based. It claims to be anti-ageing, anti-wrinkles, anti-age spots and to improve visible skin quality. The last time I tried a 'blurring' product similar to this it was Nanoblur by Indeed Labs and I wasn't very impressed. Crossing my fingers for a better result this time, here is what I thought.

It comes out of the tube white and then by way of its self-adjusting micro-pigments, it magically transforms into your skin tone. It certainly matched to my skin tone well but I guess I do have pretty average white girl skin, so i'd love to see how this goes on a darker skin tone. 

The coverage is much more 'no makeup' than I am used to. I was expecting the coverage of the BB cream, of which it is not. I am comfortable wearing this to the gym or on a lazy Sunday morning but that is about it. Like Nanobur, it takes a little more blending in to the skin than a BB cream, but unlike Nanoblur it does actually absorb after a few seconds. I found that I needed to have a good double check that there were no visible patches showing once I had applied it.

It really does smooth out the look of the skin. I mean, realistically it is not going to remove your wrinkles, but blurring is a good way to describe the visual affect it has. The longer it stays on the better it looks. It is one of those products that you don't see the effects of immediately, but a few minutes after applying it to my hand, I can certainly see which hand has it on and which doesn't. I have also been using it underneath my makeup as a pre-base and it works quite well as long as you give it a couple of minutes to sink in before applying your foundation. 

In a rare moment of frugality I didn't purchase the matching eye cream and I am now regretting that. I think around my eye area would definitely benefit from some blurring, so I will be picking this up next time i'm in Boots. If you are in the UK, this costs £12.99 here and the matching eye cream is also £12.99 here. 

Like any new product launched, i'm afraid it is not yet available in Australia. I am waiting on the Garnier PR people to let me know when you can expect to see it launched there.

Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate

Until I did my makeup training I had no idea what 'highlighting and contouring' meant, but after purchasing the famous Kevyn Aucoin book 'Making Faces' and familiarising myself with it, I was amazed at the difference it could make. Simply put in the words of the master Kevyn, 'Dark colours shade and make areas recede, for instance the hollows of the cheek, temples, under the chin, sides of the nose. Light colours highlight and make things come forward - the apples of the cheek, under the eye, the brow bone and middle of the chin.'

I prefer to work with creamy textures on the face as I find them easiest to blend and I had been searching for a creamy format contouring kit for a long time. Enter Tom Ford's Shade and Illuminate. Like anything Tom Ford the packaging and the attached price tag is expensive, however the product is lovely and easy to use. The contour shade is realistic and certainly gives a more convincing shadow than a powdered bronzer would do.

Although my brother would beg to differ, I don't have anything too irregular on my face to correct so when I contour my own face I mainly focus on the hollows of my cheeks to make my cheekbones more prominent. I then add the highlight to the tops of my cheekbones and to my brow bone. 

Before  - no sculpting of cheeks

After - having contoured and highlighted around my cheekbones

Before

After - it is not so obvious when you are not face on

I've done my best with some before/after shots above. I am no photography expert and this was my first attempt using my new light and tripod!

So when would you use this? Obviously it is not something I would bother with on a daily basis, but if I know i'm getting my photo taken or if I have a big night out, that is when I would add in this extra step.

Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate is sold at Selfridges (here) for £55.00. It comes in two shades - intensity one which is for white/caucasian skin tones, and intensity two for darker skin tones.  If you would like any details of what other products I have used above please don't hesitate to ask in the contact box below.

Monthly Favourites - February

I am posting this a little bit early this month and I do hope you will forgive me. I am been very busy working on some really exciting test shoots to expand my portfolio. While these shoots are brilliant experience for me, they have meant that my blog has been a little bit neglected. I will get back on track in the coming weeks and have just invested in a fancy new tripod and light which means I will no longer have to bribe my husband to take pictures of me. So stay tuned for a few more tutorial type posts in the coming weeks. 

Makeup Forever Foundation Brush #100 - I tend to use Makeup Forever's HD foundation a lot when I am working and I recently invested in one of their brushes. It has a round tip which is different from your usual flat foundation brush. I find the round tip helps to 'push' the foundation in to the skin giving it a more flawless finish.

Revlon Matte Balm in Striking - I wrote a full review of these (which you can read here). While the matte texture has taken a bit of getting used to, i'm loving this punchy colour at the moment. There is something quite uplifting about applying a vibrant lip colour when the sky is so grey. I can't wait to see which colours they release next.

Bellápierre Eye-shadow Trio​ - I picked up this eye-shadow set featuring the colours Champagne, Earth and Cocoa at my local TK Maxx for about £15 in November. It also came with 2 brushes and a makeup base. Like anything by Bellápierre, the pigments are strong so you only need to use a tiny bit of product to get an amazing effect. They are really pretty for day time looks and I am now stalking my local TK Maxx to see if they have any more.

Clinique Moisture Surge Gel Creme - I have been slathering this on every night in Winter and my skin has escaped any major dryness. I love how it feels as if it is creating a barrier on your skin yet at the same time it is very light-weight.  Well played Clinique ... well played indeed.