Life as a blogger these days can be pretty amazing. Everyday I wake up and after the nursery run, I check my emails which is actually my favourite thing to do as you never know what could land in your inbox; info on new products, events, sponsored posts, offers etc, to name a few.

When I received an email for an event with Nip + Fab x Mario Dedivanovic (Kim Kardashian's makeup artist/artist to the stars "makeupbymario") I felt a familiar buzz of excitement in my stomach knowing full well this would be an exclusive event I had to attend.
Mario's makeup literally sets trends in the makeup world; he recently released a palette with Kim Kardashian's makeup line KKW and did a blue eyeshadow look on Kim which sparked a whole load of blue eyed looks on social media/the internet, so to say he's an iconic makeup artist is an understatement.
I've been lucky enough now to see Mario twice through blogging events, the first one being with L'Oreal (in this blog post) and now with Nip + Fab for their first year makeup anniversary/birthday, where we saw a demonstration by Mario using the new SS18 products.
Read on to see how he used the products and of course my take on it too!

FF: Ariana Grande No Tears Left To Cry makeup look

I'm back with another makeup look taken from my instagram, but worthy of writing up on the blog due to it being hugely popular on my IG!
This look is a recreation of Ariana Grande's makeup in her latest video after she's been in hiding for months. There's a few looks in her No Tears Left To Cry video including a smoked out extended wing eyeliner look, but I chose to recreate the glitter underliner look with matte lips and the full on glitzy eyes and lips look. It was created by none other than Mario Dedivanovic (Makeup By Mario) and when I saw the full on sparkly look I was obsessed and knew I had to try and recreate it.
Read on to see the products used in these too looks!

FFF: Countessa Recreation

Hello my lovelies! 

First of all, I'd like to apologise for the lack of posts; this has to be the longest I've gone without blogging, the last time I posted was in August and now it's almost November.. terrible.
It's been a hectic time and I've been wanting to blog but by the end of the day I'm so shattered I just want to switch off and watch a film or even better, sleep!
I've tried to do mini posts on Instagram so do follow me there too for more frequent updates. 

In the time I haven't blogged, I've been lucky enough to try out the new Illamasqua releases which I will be posting about in a separate post.
This particular blog post is a makeup look post where I tried to recreate the Illamasqua "Countessa" look.. I did it while the little one was having a nap so only got to do half my face but I've merged it with the original face chart for comparison below.. Let me know your thoughts!

Products used:
• UDPP - Eden
• Illamasqua Brow Gel in Strike
• Illamasqua Semblance palette
• Urban Decay Naked Basics palette
• Illamasqua Daemon eyeshadow
• NYX Two Timer eyeliner
• Eldora lashes: H151
• Daniel Sandler Jumbo Jet Mascara
• Illamasqua Skinbase foundation in SB10
• Skinbase Lift in Medium 1
• Skinbase Mixer in White
• Illamasqua sculpting duo: Nefertiti
• MAC Lipliner - Nightmoth
• Illamasqua lipsticks- Pristine & Maneater

And my face with the face chart for comparison (I used the brighten tool to make my skin even paler):

Eyes

1) Prime the eyelids with UDPP Eden and fill in brows with Illamasqua Brow Gel in Strike (I used it quite heavily to achieve darker brows).
2) With a blending brush I added Daemon eyeshadow to just above the crease blending upwards and downwards. 
3) I then added Dizzy (a pale pink from the new Semblance palette) above the inner corner of the eye and W.O.S on the eyelid from the Naked Basics palette as well as Venus for highlighting the inner corner and browbone and Naked2 to blend out the red eyeshadow.
4) I added a little depth to the crease using Obsidian matte black eyeshadow (Semblance palette) and used it a tiny bit heavier on the bottom outer corner and lashline. I added Daemon to the middle bottom lashline and blended softly.
5) For the eyeliner I used the NYX Two Timer eyeliner- the felt side for the top liner detail and the kohl side to tightline the inner eye. I added a tiny beauty spot under the eye after concealing with this same eyeliner.
6) I coated the lashes with Daniel Sandler Jumbo Jet mascara followed by Eldora False Lashes in H151 (absolute fave).

Face & Lips

1) I concealed under the eyes using the Illamasqua Skinbase Lift in Medium 1 and used Illamasqua Skinbase foundation in SB10 all over the face, mixing it with the White Skinbase Mixer for a paler look.
2) I then lightly contoured the face using the Illamasqua Sculpting Duo, but only lightly using Nefertiti in the hollows of the cheeks.
3) For the lips I used MAC Nightmoth lipliner followed by Illamasqua Pristine lipstick directly on the top lip. Maneater lipstick was used directly on the middle of the bottom lip, followed by Pristine, but using a lip brush to line the lips neatly. I feathered out the Pristine lipstick using another brush to create an ombre effect into Maneater lipstick.

And there you have it; it was a bit of a rushed job but I'm just happy I got to get round to recreating the look! 

Illamasqua are holding a Halloween Special Beauty school drop in this Sunday 26th October if you'd like to learn some makeup techniques, check out the times and locations here.

Would you wear this look? Let me know if you have any specific blog post requests and I'll see what I can do <3