Gosh this post's title is a mouthful! These days I try and specify the products used in a look seeing as I've kind of already used the colours to describe a look plenty of times before lol.

Anyway, as the title suggests, this look uses a combination of the new Spring Fever collection from Motives Cosmetics and the new additions to the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani collection - the Blush Palette and 24/7 lip liners and lipstick.


Products used
Eyes: 
• UDPP - Eden
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade - Chocolate
• Motives Cosmetics Pressed Eyeshadows: Temperature Rising (crease, blended up and outer corner of eyelid), Tension (inner corner & browbone), Sizzle and Hot! Hot! Hot! (inner eyelid), Summer Glow and Summer Fling (middle and end of eyelid),  Steamy Night (lighthanded on outer corner/crease)
• Motives Gem Sparkles Eye Glitter - Citrine
• Rimmel ScandalEyes pencils - Nude
• Inglot AMC Gel Eyeliner - 77
• NYC Liquid Eyeliner 
• Ardell Demi Wispie lashes (120)
 
Face:
• NARS foundation - Stromboli
• Motives Cosmetics Liquid Correction Concealer - Light
• Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Blush Palette - Lo-Fi as contour, Easy as blush
• Motives Sculpt and Shape - contour shade only
• theBalm - Mary Lou Manizer  
  
Lips: 
• Urban Decay Gwen Stefani 24/7 Glide On Lip Pencils - Ex-Girlfriend, 714 and Rock Steady

FFF: Motives Smokey Black with Purple Makeup Look

It seems like inconsistency is the theme with my blogging schedule these days, and it's mainly because by the time I get time to "myself" at the end of the day I just want to curl up with my electric blanket and sleep!

So let's just say I can't promise anything regular for the time being, but will post at whatever opportunity I get =)

I got round to doing a smokey black makeup look using matte colours with a hint of purple on the bottom lashline, and wore my Desio Lenses in Forest Green to jazz the look up a bit, but will play around with more looks to find my favourite look with these lenses.. let me know if you have any suggestions.

Products used:
Eyes:
• UDPP - Eden
• ABH Dipbrow Pomade - Ebony
• Motives eyeshadows in Onyx, Cappuccino, Chocolight, Vanilla, Whipped Cream, Aphrodite & Fantasy (swatches here)
• NYX Two Timer eyeliner on top waterline and eyeliner
• NYX Wonder Pencil in 1/Light on lower waterline
• Eldora lashes: H151
• L'oreal Miss Manga mascara
• Lenses: Desio Lens in Forest Green
Face:
• Illamasqua Skinbase foundation in SB10
• Motives Sculpt Series in Fire
• Motives Liquid Correction Concealer in Light
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit - Fawn, Java, Havana for contour, Banana and Sand for highlight
• Motives Blush in Lust
Lips: 
• Lansinoh as balm
• Peggy Sage lip liner in Bois De Rose

Do let me know if you have any particular requests, feel free to email me or comment below <3

                    

FFF: Motives Brown-Copper Smokey Makeup Look - Pictorial!

[picture heavy post!]

Hello my lovelies! Hope you all had lovely holidays and had a nice break.

Mine was busy (of course) with makeup bookings for weddings, so unfortunately I haven't had time to review products or write full blog posts but I have gotten round to doing a makeup look for this week so I hope you enjoy!

Products used:
Eyes:
> UDPP - Eden
> NYX JEP - Black Bean
> Motives Pressed Eyeshadows in Cappuccino, Chocolight, Onyx and Whipped Cream
> Motives Photo Finish Powder in Neutral Medium
> Anastasia Beverly Hills Beauty Genius
> MAC pigment in Copper Sparkle  
> UD 24/7 Shadow Pencil - Demolition  
> Inglot AMC eyeliner gel - 77 (black)

> Daniel Sandler Jumbo Jet Mascara
> Motives Color Perfection Quad in Medium

> Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow Pomade - Ebony
> Eylure Girls Aloud lashes - Kimberley
Face: 

> Motives Color Perfection Quad in Medium
> Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit - Fawn, Java, Havana for contour, Banana and Sand for highlight

> Motives blush in So Peachy

Lips: > Motives Lip Pencil in Naked
> Motives Rich Formula Lipsticks in Natural and Red Coral
> Motives for La La Mineral Lipstick in Naughty

I started by filling in the brows with the my new favourite brow product: Anastasia Dip Brow Pomade in Ebony.
I then primed the eye with Eden PP and patting Whipped Cream eyeshadow to the brow bone with a flat brush. 

With a fluffy blending brush, I then applied Cappuccino lightly to the crease followed by Neutral Medium Photo Finish powder above this, blending to the brow bone highlight.

NYX JEP in Black Bean was then applied to the eyelid only, then gently patted with a flat brush to blend.

Using the same flat brush, Chocolight was patted over this and blended upwards into Cappuccino in the crease. 

I alternated between Cappuccino, Neutral Medium powder and Chocolight, taking the blending higher until I was happy:

I then added MAC Copper Sparkle with my finger tip to the middle of the eye using the Anastasia Beverly Hills Beauty Genius.

I went back with the flat brush and added more Chocolight to either side of the pigment patting to blend slightly but not too much.

I then outlined the top liner with an angled brush and Inglot Gel liner creating an extended wing at the outer corner of the eye (not forgetting the inner top eye).
I followed this wing from the bottom outer corner leaving a gap in between. 

UD 24/7 eye pencil in Demolition was used to line the bottom waterline whilst a pointy brush was used to smoke out the bottom lash line winged liner with more Chocolight eyeshadow. You can add Onyx eyeshadow to the crease with a fluffy brush and Whipped Cream eyeshadow to the inner corner too to highlight if desired).

The gap between the top and bottom double winged liner was then filled with another angled liner brush and Anastasia Beauty Genius with MAC Copper Sparkle.
The under eye was concealed and mascara to coat top and bottom lashes.

Finally Eylure Kimberley lashes were applied to finish off the eye makeup:

I created a collage with the main steps so that it's easier to follow too:

For the rest of the face, I used the Motives Color Perfection Quad in Medium and contoured and highlighted following the Dress Your Face contouring guide using the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit; I used Fawn, Java, Havana for contouring, graduating from light to dark, then Banana and Sand for highlighting.
Motives blush in So Peachy was used on the apples of the cheeks followed by the lip pencil in Naked with Rich Formula lipstick in Natural for the first lip combination:

I then used Motives Rich Formula lipstick in Red Coral:

Finally, I thought I'd up the drama with a dark lip too, using Motives for La La Mineral Lipstick in Naughty:

I realise now that the last couple looks have been with a smokey base; this was unintentional but I clearly seem to be loving smokey eyes at the mo so I hope you don't mind!

Would you wear this makeup look? Which lip colour do you prefer with the eye makeup?
 

Sunday Swatches: Motives Cosmetics Eyeshadows

Following my last two makeup look posts using Motives cosmetics, I thought I'd post my first instalment of swatches so you guys can see for yourself the quality of the brand.

I received a 46 eyeshadow palette which is not available to buy (yet), but each shadow is available individually. 

eyeshadows with flash

eyeshadows without flash

Below are the swatches line by line starting with the golds (all without primer):

Packaging: The palette is fairly heavy and durable with a clear glass front; nice and handy for a makeup artist or professional who wants to see all the single eyeshadow colours in one go. The glass door snaps shut magnetically and each shadow is in a metal pan which slots into the hole slots in the palette. These hole slots have little magnets inside to hold them in so you don't need to worry about them slipping out, unless you need to replace (or check the eyeshadow name) in which case there is a hole to fit a finger through and simply push out the shadow.

Colour & Pigmentation: As you can see from the above swatches, the pigmentation is generally high in quality. The least pigmented shades were the more matte shades and some glittery shades, where I had to swatch twice to get the best colour. The most pigmented and creamy eyeshadow was Sweet Plum which glided on beautifully and is a gorgeous colour.

Texture: The shimmery shadows are generally creamy in texture; though the matte shades aren't as creamy, they are by no means chalky.
 
Longevity: The shadows hold fairly well without primer, but they don't stain like cheaper shadows do so you know they're good quality. A good primer would hold them for ages!
 
Price: At £12 each they're around the same price as a good quality brand like MAC and Urban Decay and in honesty I'm rarely impressed by eyeshadows these days as nothing compares to my Urban Decay shadows. However! I like that these shadows have good colour payoff and the fact that this palette is so easily accessible, so I think I will be using them a lot more either for me or for clients!

FrootiFactor: Overall I'd give the palette a 5/5 because it's perfect for a makeup artist; the eyeshadows themselves would get a 4-5 (5 for the shimmery shades, 4 for the matte ones), so I'll say 4.5 overall:

And there you have it! Motives cosmetics are available to buy at their online website which is slightly limited compared to the US site due to UK mineral cosmetics restrictions, but most of the products are available here too.
Do let me know if you have any other swatch requests from the brand and if I have the product I'd be more than happy to provide the swatch.

Have you heard of Motives or tried any of their products?