Month: December 2014

New: Wayne Goss’ The Collection and the Holiday Brush

~ tirurit ~ 2 Comments
IMG_0885
Wayne Goss brushes in their packaging

 

To see you in the middle of the night
You can never get enough
Enough of this stuff
It’s Friday
I’m in love

Yes, I am in love today, as the song by The Cure says, as I’ve had a couple days to play with my Wayne Goss brushes and they must be one of the best purchases I’ve ever made! I’m even going to go as far as confessing to doing my face more than once in a day just so I could use them again.

Why have I bought so many low and medium quality brushes? Why have I wasted so much money instead of simply buying the quality brushes I’ve always longed for for starters? Who knows, but not I’ve seen the error of my ways.

So, once I breathed deeply and knew that I was really going to do this, the little devil on my shoulder said “Why buy only the Holiday Brush when you’ve always wanted The Collection? And look! They are offering free shipping!”. So yeah, I caved and took the plunge. Now I am the enraptured owner of these nine gorgeous brushes that feel like a dream and perform effortlessly.

Continue reading →

Disapointments: Make Up Store Egg sponge

~ tirurit ~ Leave a comment
IMG_0617
MUS Egg sponge

After the launch of the Beauty Blender Micro Mini (17€ for two sponges), the sponge designed to reach all corners and blend flawlessly your concealer, I decided to give the similar Make Up Store Egg sponge (8€) a try.

As you can see  in the picture below, it is not as small as the Micro Mini. Where the Micro Mini is barely half the lenght of a dry Beauty Blender, the Egg sponge is almost as long but quite thinner. It is a black sponge with the MUS’s logo in white and two pointed ends, which I thought would be very useful.

Continue reading →

New: Schwarzkopf Osis+ Refresh dust

~ tirurit ~ 2 Comments
IMG_0647
Schwarzkopf Osis+ Refresh dust

 

This is my first foray into the world of dry shampoos. Congratulations to me!

After hearing many positive things about various dry shampoos I decided to head to my local store and buy one of them for myself.

The lovely lady at the counter recommended the Schwarzkopf Osis+ Refresh dust both for its perfomance and for its price-volume ratio. So off I was with my new purchase.

I must say that lately my hair has been acting off and it has become greasier, becoming limp and lifeless on my second day. I was having flashbacks from my teenage days and about to panic, so the addition of this dry shampoo has been a big relief.

Simply spray some product onto your roots from a distance, wait a couple minutes and brush your hair. Not only will it be fresher looking, but this dry shampoo also gives some texture and volume to your hair so you might end feeling like a 70s diva. I know I do!

All that said, be careful and do not spray too much product or otherwise you will look as if you are going grey!

All in all, I am not sure how other dry shampoos perform, but I am very happy to this addition to my repertoire.

Inspiration from the blogosphere: this week’s edition

~ tirurit ~ Leave a comment

Inspiration

First of all, I must clarify that I am no makeup aplication genius. All that I know I have learnt from either makeup videos or from nice MUAs who have helped me.

Consequently, there are still some areas (quite a few in fact) where I struggle.

If only I were better at eyeliner I could copy this look by Makeup Withdrawal. It is absolutely gorgeous. I really like the effect created by layering a contrasting eyeshadow on a thick eyeliner.

I also really liked her magenta/blue duochrome look. To me it looks fantastic and I would love to find similar shades so I could replicate it. I would have to hope though that I had one of my “nice blending days” or otherwise it would look disastrous!

What about you? Any inspiring posts that make you want to improve some skills?

PS: I found her while browsing for information on brushes, so if you enjoy them you might want to check her brush posts as well 😉

Shopping the stash

~ tirurit ~ Leave a comment
IMG_0434
Z-Palette with my small colour eyeshadows

As I have said previously, I have been going through my make up to discard those products that I do not use and find them a new home.

Another strategy in consolidating my stash is to depot and place the products in free-form palettes.

In my case, I have been depoting anything and everything and I have been then placing them in Z-palettes. This not only helps when organizing your belongings but it also helps to know what you already own. In my case, for some strange reason I feel drawn to blue eyeshadows despite that I do not wear it that often!

The palette featured in this post contains my small sized coloured eyeshadows, which contains mainly MAC eyeshadows (both permanent and limited edition) and 4 Make Up Store Cybershadows.

The Cybershadows have a metallic finish and are exactly the same size as a mac eyeshadow and contain 2g of product. This eyeshadows cost 12€, but you can find the discontinued ones for 8.40€ each.

Continue reading →

How to: clean make up brushes

~ tirurit ~ Leave a comment
IMG_0592
MAC Brush cleanser and MUS Brush cleansing soap

Makeup brushes are a weakness of mine. So nice, and fluffy and soft and they can help you so so much with makeup application…

It all started when I was a teenager and needed to do my face for dancing performances. One day I wandered into The Body Shop (which was the revolutionary store during my teens) and went home with a few of their brushes (including a sponge applicator, which started my longlife hate of sponge applicators!).

Since then, many years have passed and I have branched onto different brands. I have also become more demanding and I am slowly adding more high-end brushes.

Originally I had no clue on how to properly take care of my utensils, but in this area I have also learnt some tips.

Continue reading →

New: Kiko Daring game collection, Long lasting Eyeshadow

~ tirurit ~ Leave a comment
IMG_0729
Kiko Color-Up Long Lasting Eyeshadows

For some time now I have been deeply in love with cream shadows and stick shadows. In the case of cream shadows, I really love MAC’s Paint Pots and Maybelline’s Colour Tattoos, while in the case of stick shadows I have been enjoying playing with Kiko’s Long Lasting Eyeshadows.

So you can imagine my joy when I went to check out Kiko’s Daring Game collection a few weeks ago and saw these gorgeous Color-Up Long Lasting Eyeshadows! So pretty!

Continue reading →

Staples: Make Up Store Brush cleansing soap

~ tirurit ~ Leave a comment
IMG_0572
Make Up Store Brush cleansing soap

Let me introduce you to the Make Up Store Brush cleansing soap, a gentle soap that will clean deeply your brushes and not damage the hair.

In fact, I am so happy with this soap that this is the second soap that I have bought. The soap contains 120 g and costs 16€, and in my case lasted over a year. The soap comes inside a plastic box, which I think is a wonderful idea as it is the perfect way of storing it between uses.

IMG_0577
Make Up Store Brush cleansing soap

The soap is formulated with common cleansing agents and several oils and conditioning agents. It does contain parfum, but it is a very clean smell and not overpowering. What I think is important is that it does not contain alcohol, which is a drying agent.

Continue reading →

Behind the scenes

~ tirurit ~ Leave a comment

Outtakes 1 1

Allow me to introduce you to my dog. Let’s call him His Majesty, Ruler of the House; Spoilt for short.

Well, Spoilt kind of shares my fascination with cosmetics. I say kind of because he is not interested in wearing them at all, but he is interested in how they smell and even how they taste!

I have been known to go outside to the garden wearing a face mask and being forced to dust off my ninja skills just to try to evade his attempts to lick whatever nice smelling thing I have plastered on my face.

Outtakes 1 2

In the case of this photographies, he was drawn by MAC’s lipsticks’ signature vanilla scent. Let me tell you, it was not easy to take pictures while fearing your beloved lipsticks would end as puppy chow!

New: Make Up Store Microshadows

~ tirurit ~ Leave a comment
MUS 1 1
Make Up Store Boheme, Watt and Fade

Make Up Store is a Swedish brand that has been expanding their presence to many countries around the world.

I am lucky enough to have a store where I live and I frequently pop by: they release small collections every month which are always worth checking out and my store has always products that are being discontinued on sale, which is always a temptation.

MUS 1 3
Make Up Store Boheme, Watt and Fade

In the case of these 3 eyeshadows, Boheme is a medium plum while Watt is a deep purple with blue and pink shimmer and Fade is an original medium blue. Keep in mind that the pans of these eyeshadows are quite big as each one contains 3.5g! I am not sure if I will ever be able to finish one of these.

Continue reading →