Dior Diorskin Nude Foundation

I've always found the best foundation for wearing in hot and humid weather is Dior's Diorskin Nude Foundation. It comes in a decent sized bottle costing £32.00. The packaging is great too because it's hardwearing and comes with a pump, meaning you only take out what you need.

The foundation comes in a range of different colours for all different skin tones. The shade I got is 010 which is the palest one they do. It's not super pale or too dark that it looks orange. I always like to add a bit of bronzer if I want to look darker.

The formula is a liquid one, I always prefer liquids to creams or powders, they blend so much easier into my skin. When applying it, it has this really nice sort of texture that feels so light and hydrating. Applying this foundation is like a dream. One application gives a light coverage, although it is definitely buildable for people like me who like a full coverage.

Now for the best bit about this product. For summer this is my must have product, especially if you go to hot and humid countries. I've worn this foundation in Florida and Greece and it has always stayed on all day, no melting at all. I've found other foundations such as MAC and Illamasqua do not last as long as this one does in that sort of weather. 

With this product, my skin feels healthy and has a nice glow to it when wearing it. My favourite way to apply it is with a brush. Sponge or fingers don't work as well with this foundation, or so I found.

I still had to powder through the day when wearing this product but not continuously as I have had to do with other foundations. 

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MAC Hi Def Cyan Pigment

The thing I love about MAC's Playland Collection is the really bright colours. I've always liked MAC's Pigments especially the really bright colours from their pro line. One of the pigments released for Playland includes a pro colour called Hi Def Cyan.

This colour can usually only be bought at the MAC pro store or online. For Playland, this colour has temporarily arrived at non pro stores and at counters. Hi Def Cyan is a really bright cyan blue. For those of you unfamiliar with Pigment, its basically a pot of loose colour that can be used in many different ways - eyeshadow, face colour etc, you can use this anywhere.

Anywhere apart from the lips for Hi Def Cyan. On the packaging was a warning that said not suitable for the lip area. I've heard about this on some of the pro colours, apparently the colour isn't colour safe for the lips.

I didn't use this on the lips or the cheeks, only the eyes. I basically used it as an eyeshadow and it came out really well. Pigment can be really messy, especially if you knock it over. The best way to use it is to scoop a small amount into the lid and use it from there, that way you don't get any mess on the floor.

From there I just used my eyeshadow brush as normal and applied the colour to my eyes. Pigment is really pigmented so I didn't need to use a lot to get really bright colour. Blending was easy too and once it was on it was on, no creasing.

Pigment is £17.00 and for that you get a good amount of product. Pigments last a very long time even if you have good use out of them. In stores and counters this colour is limited edition, but permanent in the pro store, so if you cant get hold of it at a store near you, order from the pro line.

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MAC Kelly Yum Yum Lipstick

From MAC's Kelly Osbourne collection I decided to get one of the lipsticks. I love bright pinks so got Kelly Yum Yum. When I first saw it I thought it was just like Candy Yum Yum but then compared the two. Candy Yum Yum is slightly different. MAC describe Kelly Yum Yum as a bright blue pink with a satin finish. Candy Yum Yum is a neon pink with a matte finish.

The first thing you notice about Kelly's lipstick is the packaging, its a really nice lilac colour with Kelly's signature on it. I just love MAC's limited edition packaging. Because it is limited edition this one was £16.50 instead of MAC's usual price of £15.00.

Kelly Yum Yum has a really nice smooth texture to it which is great when putting on lips, there was plenty of pigment in it which meant I didn't have to apply much to get the colour to show up. Although it was a satin finish it stayed on my lips for quite some time, I only had to reapply it once through the day and then I didn't have to reapply a lot.

The lipstick was a lovely bright pink, one of my favourite colours to wear on my lips.

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MAC Peaches And Cream Blusher

The new MAC Sharon And Kelly Osbourne collection is now available so I decided to pick up a blusher from the collection. I went into the MAC store in Cardiff to get this as it had sold out online. The blusher is from Sharon's collection and is called Peaches And Cream.

First thing I noticed about this collection is the packaging. It's all limited edition red or lilac with either Sharon or Kelly's signature on it. The packaging of this one is bright red and has a nice glossy feel to it.

Peaches And Cream is a midtone peach/midtone rose powder blush. It was £23.00, a bit more than regular priced MAC blushers. I'm guessing it's more because it's limited edition. 

The pigment in this blusher is really good and to get the colour showing up on my cheeks didn't take long. It had a nice texture to it and didn't feel chalky or powdery when applying it. This is one of those blushers that you don't have to press your brush into to get the colour to show up, I found it was good to gently pat the brush into the colour. It also gave my cheeks a really nice pink glow which looked fab. The colour stayed on all day too and didn't need reapplying. 

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NARS Masterclass June 2014, John Lewis

On Thursday 5th June I went to the NARS Masterclass in John Lewis, Cardiff. I always look forward to these events especially when there is new products released. Tickets were £50 and could be redeemed on anything at NARS.

When I got to John Lewis we were all taken up to the restaurant where the event would be held. Free champagne was given to everyone taking part in the masterclass. There was also orange juice for people who didn't want to drink.

There were a couple of separate tables with brushes, various products and most importantly the NARS laptop. For those of you who haven't seen these before, the NARS laptop is this amazing product that opens like a laptop but has all NARS products in it like blusher and eyeshadow. They had these in the event before but seemed to have modified the colours around.

NARS Laptop

The lead makeup artist of the day was Anna. She was fab and demonstrated a smoky eye look on the model and gave tips along the way. After she had created the look, two sides of the room were split into two groups. One half did eyes first while the other half did face first. 

I always like doing eyes first so I was glad I was on the side of the room that was doing eyes. We all had a makeup artist each on hand to help with anything we needed.

So it was now time to play with the laptop and create whatever look you wanted. As I love bright colours I was happy when I noticed that Mad Mad World had been added.

We had full access to the majority of NARS products - brushes, eyeliners, eyeshadows and more. I was really enjoying playing with all the colours and in no time I was creating the look I wanted.

At the end of the masterclass we were all given a face chart on what products we used and we were then taken back to the shop to buy any items we wanted.

Here is the look I created. 

And the products I used were

Eyes
NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base
Eyeshadow Duo - Mad Mad World 
Eyeshadow Duo - Pandora
Larger Than Life Long Wear Eyeliner - Abbey Road 
Eye Paint - Solomon Islands
Larger Than Life Lengthening Mascara

Lips
Satin Lip Pencil - Yu
Larger Than Life Lipgloss - Couer Sucre

Face
Radiant Cream Compact Foundation - Deauville
Radiant Creamy Concealer - Custard
Matte Multiple - Laos
Matte Multiple - Altai
Light Reflecting Setting Powder


As I have a lot of NARS products I only decided to get two products on the day which were,  the 42 Blending Brush and the Pore Refining Primer. 

The gift that came with the ticket was amazing. I got a full sized Jungle Red lipstick, mini sizes of Deep Throat Blusher, Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, Primer, Larger Than Life Long Wear Eyeliner, Tinted Moisturiser, Optimal Brightening Concentrate and Makeup Remover.

Free gifts 

I also took photos of two of the latest NARS collections

Summer Collection

Contour Blush

I enjoyed this event as much as the last one. I really enjoyed having fun with all the products and creating the look I wanted.

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