4 Shades of Autumn - My go to lipstick shades for autumn

I love autumn for fashion and beauty because I prefer the colours and textures that I can play around with during this season. My favourite way to add a bit of autumn/winter to my look without buying a whole new wardrobe is with lipstick. Here are four of my favourite shades that I have been wearing a lot recently:

Shard by Illamasqua
Vesuvio by Nars
Rebel by Mac
Crimson by Bobbi Brown

The following pictures feature me wearing the lipsticks named respectively.

I really enjoy wearing these colours because they easily make a statement without a lot of effort. The pop of colour also brightens your complexion up and makes your skin look better. You'll notice that Shard by Illamasqua is very matte compared to the others but I like it because I find the blue undertone flatters a rich skin tone. Vesuvio by Nars is a great clean red which is a must for autumn. Rebel by Mac is a great has a very blue undertone and tends to stain the lips so don't go for this if you don't want your lips to be tinted even after you've removed your make up! Lastly, Crimson by Bobbi Brown is a gorgeous bordeaux red that is great for evening glamour.

In the pictures I created the rest of the look using the following products:

Nars Sheer Glow foundation
Mac Select Moisturecover concealer
Illamasqua brow powder in Gaze
Illamasqua Precision Gel Liner in Infinity
Kiko Ultra Tech Mascara
Bobbi Brown bronzer in Bali Brown

Which colour is your favourite? What lipsticks feature in your favourites list?

Just love

Rina xoxo

Berry Beautiful Test Shoot

In February this year I collaborated on a test shoot with photographer Nicole Jopek and model Lanie Wilson from Boss Model Management. The look was quite editorial and I wanted to make the most of Lanie's amazing bone structure so I opted for a bold, berry lip, kept the cheeks strong and left the eyes subtle. When doing beauty looks I love clean looking make up, sharp lines and flawless skin. The kind of make up that people look at and think 'I could wear that'.

This look is timeless and really easy to wear in the day by not going as strong on the cheeks and adding a bit of clear or brown mascara to the lashes. Or add a flick of black gel liner and and build up your lashes with black, volumising mascara and you have a great look for a night out.

I created this look using the following key products:

Mac Face and Body foundation
Illamasqua Translucent Loose Powder
Nars Blusher in Ninotchka
Laura Mercier Matte Radiance Baked Powder in 01 Highlight
Mac lipstick in Media


Just love

Rina xoxo

http://www.maccosmetics.co.uk/
http://www.illamasqua.com/
http://www.narscosmetics.co.uk/
http://www.lauramercier.com/store/

Illamasqua Matte Veil Review

So I've taken a bit of time before gathering my thoughts on this one by actually trialling it for a couple of weeks. I'm a big fan of Illamasqua products and when I first tried Hydra Veil I thought it was an amazing, innovative product. It hydrates skin, smooths out texture and gives foundation a great base and last. What I really loved the most about Hydra Veil is that it worked on pretty much all skin types and has since become a staple in my freelance kit.

So when I heard about Matte Veil, I was instantly sold. With my normal to oily skin gradually getting more and more shiny as the weather gets somewhat warmer, I didn't want, I needed this product!

As the title suggests, this primer is designed to mattify skin and reduce shine. The first thing I noticed is that it smells a lot like Palmer's Cocoa Butter! It's texture is less jelly-like than Hydra Veil and more like custard. Unlike Hydra Veil, it doesn't set in the jar either. Instead it keeps like a lotion in the pot.

There are a lot of things I like about Matte Veil; It feels instantly hydrating, it doesn't leave the skin dry or tight like some mattifying primers do, it's easily absorbed, helps foundation glide and blend onto the skin and with it, make up sits better and lasts longer. I also like the fact that it doesn't make skin look lacklustre after applying this product.

Unfortunately I just didn't find that it kept my skin matte for very long. I do have quite an oily T-zone and even when I wear powder based foundations I still seem to have a shine on by midday, and this product didn't do much to improve that. I trialed it for 2 weeks using more of it, then less. I tried applying it with a brush and then another time with my fingers. I even tried it with different foundations including Mac Studio Fix Fluid which is normally very matte but I still didn't feel that it kept my base shine-free for long enough.

It might just be my skin type but I was a little bit disappointed as Hydra Veil worked so well for me. However, as I never write off any product I will still keep it in my kit for it's use as a great pre-foundation prep product.

Have you tried Matte Veil? Did it work for you?

Just love

Rina xoxo

Skincare shoot for Stylelux

In July I got involved in a project that was commissioned by a Danish health and beauty company called Stylelux. My friend and photographer, Emily Bailey called me in to do make up for an editorial style beauty shoot for one of their face masks. Which was black!

So with close up beauty photography in mind, we needed a great model with excellent skin. Emily I have have worked together on shoots lots of times before and what I love about collaborating with her is the fact that we both gel our ideas effortlessly and come out with some wonderful images. It truly is a collaboration when I work with Emily so there was no doubt that it was the right choice when we invited friend, model and muse Pippa Perkins to be the face of our shoot.

Before we cracked on with the face mask I wanted to get a few beauty shots in given my love of natural looking make up. Pippa's look is perfect for beauty photography and I really wanted to create a soft, sensual beauty look with natural looking contours and highlights.

I created this look by keeping the skin looking fresh and dewy with MAC Face & Body foundation. This is one of my favourite formulas for natural, beauty photography as it photographs really well and doesn't look like the model is wearing make up at all. When a model already has great skin, I don't see the need to put on heavy coverage foundation. I like to let the model's features speak for themselves. And as Pippa already has great skin, I didn't cover it up too much.

I simply used a touch of Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Uber Beige to contour her fantastic cheekbones but sticking to a cream formula, it kept the texture of the skin nice and supple rather than powdery and matte. And then for highlighting which was my main focus for this look, I used MAC Strobe Cream on the top of her cheekbones, down the bridge of her nose and on her cupid's bow and I punched the highlighter out even more by going over this with an almost white coloured, shimmer eyeshadow by The Body Shop in Moonstone.
I finished off the look with Shiseido Shimmering Cream Eye Colour in shade WT901 on the eyes and Bobbi Brown High Shimmer Lipgloss in Star on the lips.

The final images are stunning. I loved the lighting that Emily used as they make Pippa look really dreamy, soft and romantic. These are definitely some of my favourite beauty images to date.

I then had to switch the look up for a more editorial look. The face mask was a black gel texture so with Emily's monochromatic theme in mind I started by completely blanking out Pippa's face. I wanted full coverage so I built up over what base Pippa already had on using Illamasqua Rich Liquid foundation in white covering the lips as well. I slicked her hair back into a tight, clean ponytail and for a it of variation on some of the images I used Kryolan cream pigment in an orange tone on the eyes. These are some of my favourite edits from the shoot.

 



Just love

Rina xoxo

All photography by Emily Bailey click here for her facebook page.
Model - Pippa Perkins
Images commissioned for Stylelux.co.uk

My Favourite Foundation Brushes

'Your make up is only as good as your brushes' or so the saying goes. But when it comes to foundation it's definitely important to use the right tools. The right brush not only makes sure that your make up looks good but it can also save you time and prevent you from overusing or wasting your foundation.

I have used many foundation brushes and as a make up artist I'm obsessed with adding to my collection but as of late I have settled on a couple of new favourites.

I've noticed that recently foundation brushes have moved away from the flat paddle brushes that used to be the trusted applicator for all mediums of foundation. These are still great and I love my Bobbi Brown foundation brush below, I have 3 in my kit. These brushes are great for application. Unlike sponges, flat paddle foundation brushes were synthetic and so didn't soak up liquid foundations, saving us from wasting our favourite foundation formulas.

Then there was the stippling brush. The MAC small duo fibre brush was a favourite for a lot of beauty junkies including myself. I did buy this brush for the purpose of applying foundation but I found that with liquid formulas, the tips on the brush sometimes just moved the formula round in circles on my skin. I didn't ever feel like it blended the product very well and often went over my face with another brush or my hands. It is, however, great for applying loose powder products and for blending powder blush.

Brushes are always improving though and a lot of companies are able to produce good quality brushes with synthetic fibres. Synthetic brushes have always been a must for liquid and cream products and for a while it seemed that synthetic brushes were always flat so not great for getting around the contours of the face. But now I've noticed that synthetic brushes are being produced for the use of all products which means we now have access to a variety of shapes and sizes of brushes for applying foundation.

Currently my favourite brushes are the Illamasqua Highlighter Brush and the Bobbi Brown Full Coverage Brush.

The Illamasqua Highlighter Brush although designed for it's namesake is also perfect for blending liquid foundation onto the skin. Small in size and shaped into a dome, this brush gets product around areas like the nose and mouth evenly. It's also my absolute favourite for applying cream blush as I feel like it practically blends the product for me. No harsh lines or blotches of extreme colour when I use this for cream blush.

The Bobbi Brown Full Coverage Brush is an absolute dream for applying and blending liquid foundation. When I first used this brush for foundation I thought 'where have you been all my life!' Of course it's made from synthetic fibres but it feels like velvet. It's great not only for applying foundation but it blends make up onto the skin flawlessly and with minimum effort. For those of you who aren't so great at blending, this brush does all the hard work for you! You just pick up a small amount of product and buff it onto the skin. You'll even find that you will probably use less product as the brush clings on to hardly any of the foundation meaning that what goes onto the brush, goes onto the face. Minimum product is wasted and so your foundation goes further. And best of all it's quick. It blends as you go along so you don't have to keep going over and over your face until the product blends away.

So there you have it, my current favourite foundation brushes. And I say current as make up companies are always bringing out new and wonderful brushes so no doubt I'll have a new list of favourites eventually. I hope so anyway :)

Have you used any of these brushes? Let me know what you think of them and what your favourite foundation brushes are.

Just love

Rina xoxo