New Age Fun with a Vintage Feel: Mary Kay's 'Hello Sunshine' Collection

Oh how I adore Summer make-up. The variety of colours open to us this season is endless,  and vary magnificently from trend to trend.

I absolutely love it when a brand takes a current fashion trend and uses it as inspiration for a make-up collection, and Mary Kay Cosmetics have done just that.

Honing in on the vintage mania that has taken over the fashion industry for a good few years now,  Mary Kay’s Limited Edition ‘Hello Sunshine’ collection is new age fun with a vintage feel. Oh, and how kitsch is the packaging? 

Springy Eye Duo

When I first opened these and saw the colours, I really wasn’t sure what to think, but the moment I swept my finger across them I couldn’t wait to try them out. They really are springy, and lay slap bang in between a powder and a cream eyeshadow. They’re incredibly lightweight and smooth to use, and require hardly any blending whatsoever. The colour is quite translucent, with a slight shimmer, so that the colours on the skin are subtle, but obviously the colour is buildable. I like to put the browner shades just under the bottom lash line, and either the blue or the yellow on my eyelid, all the way up to the brow, and team it with a thin line of eyeliner for a 60s Summer look.

*Wearing Spring Eye Duo in Summer Sunset with Carefree Coral Lip Colour*

*Wearing Springy Eye Duo in Stonewashed with Retro Rose Lip Colour*

Creamy Lip Colour

These are the answer to my red lip prayers. Being olive skinned, yet not very tanned, I find it quite hard to find a classic red lip colour that doesn’t completely wash me out, but the colour palette of this entire collection is quite warm so it suits me perfectly. These lipsticks are incredibly smooth and moisturising, and have a matte finish with a slight shimmer that lasts for ages. Carefree Coral is a pinky red  whilst Retro Rose is on the browner side.

*Wearing Lip Gel in Cherry Twist*

Lip Gel

For a classic vintage red without the matte finish, this product is perfect. A bit of sheen with some colour adds volume to your lips, so for a juicy, voluptuous look, without the grease of your average lip gloss, I highly recommend this product. My only gripe would be that you need more than one application to build up a decent amount of colour, but once you’ve achieved that, it lasts for quite some time. 

Mary Kay were also kin enough to send me samples of their Lash Love Mascara, True Dimensions Lipstick in Citrus Flirt and Facial Highlighting Pen in Shade 3, all of which are featured in all of these pictures, except the lipstick, which is only in the above picture. 

Steph x x x

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Get a Fresh Faced Look with Clinique

Ever since doing the Cheek Pop review, I've become a massive fan of Clinique products, and couldn't wait for the opportunity to do another one. Clinique were kind enough to send me three samples for a fresh faced 'awake' look which I was so excited to try out.

 Natural make-up looks are perfect for Summer. No one wants a cake face in boiling hot weather. There's nothing worse than your make-up slipping half-way down your face. 

Now I have quite an extensive make-up routine, so when I realised I had to create a fresh-faced natural look with just these three products, I wasn't sure if it would work. 

The first of the products was the SuperPrimer which colour corrects dullness in deeper skins. It actually took me a while to get used to this, because it's texture is very different to other primers that I've used. It's nowhere near as wet, and dries instantly once upon the skin, whereas others leave a dewy, moisturised feel.  It's also tan in colour, which surprised me. But the more I used it, the more I realised that both the texture and colour work to benefit your skin and the finished look. The dryness creates the perfect matte base for you to apply foundation too, so that it doesn't cling to any particular area, whilst the tan colour helps to gently even out your skin tone, whilst adding just a slight bit of colour to your face.

I have quite dry skin, and when my skin was at its worst, I found this primer a little too dry, but to fix this I used a thick moisturiser, left it to dry thoroughly, and then applied the primer. Problem Solved.

Next is the Airbrush Concealer. I fell in love with this instantly. So easy to use, and with the primer it creates brilliant coverage with no need for added foundation. It's so light on the skin, and reflects light, which hides any dark areas (this baby is absolute magic for dark circles under the eyes). It also works as a highlighter, particularly in the corner of the eye and just below the eyebrow.  I now take this absolutely everywhere with me. It's perfect for when you want a quick touch up, without having to heave out the foundations and brushes etc.
My only complaint would be that you can't see how much you've used, so you can't see when it's running out, and considering how much I love it, that's something I'm going to need to know.

With your skin sorted, the last thing to focus on is your eyes. No matter how fresh your face looks, if your eyes look tired it will ruin the whole look. This is where this bad boy steps in. Clinique's High Impact Mascara adds length and volume to an extent where it opens up your eyes, creating a wide-eyed effect, whilst at the same time separating them to make your lashes look as natural as possible. Nobody likes a clumpy mascara. 

So here's the complete look:

All in all, I am so happy with these products. It's actually changed my make-up routine completely, because in testing these product I've become so used to a light layer of make-up that I don't want to go back. The days are getting hotter, and we're all going to be looking for an answer to our melting make-up problems. I think Clinique have it! 

Steph x x x

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Hello Cheeky

Afternoon all!!!

Did you have a good Easter? How many Easter Eggs have you managed to devour? (I'm currently on my fourth, but that doesn't include all the cream eggs) 

Now before I have a chocolate induced spot outbreak, I'm currently enjoying trying out a sample of the Cheek Pop that the lovely people at Clinique sent me. 

LOOK HOW CUTE IT IS. I love the packaging, so much so that even though it's slowly decaying in my make-up bag, I still insist on keeping it. And the daisy pattern that the blush is set in makes me feel summery every time I open it, even though with each use it's slowly fading away, which makes me sad (so many feels). 

I'm really loving some of the summer shades for make-up that are out at the moment, and the Cheek Pop is such a perfect addition to your summer make-up collection. 

Now this blush is only available in four shades, which has received mixed opinions looking at customer reviews, but I really like the small selection. 

The four available shades are:

Ginger Pop 

Peach Pop

Berry Pop

Plum Pop

The first two are the two warmest shades, whilst the Berry and Plum Pops have a bluer, cooler hue. Each of these shades are vibrant yet natural in tone, and despite the small selection, there is a shade for every skin tone. All you have to do is break down the shades into a scale of dark warm-light warm- dark cool - light cool. Then you just need to figure out if you have a dark or cool skin tone and whether you prefer a dark or light blush. I feel when there are so many shades to choose from, that's when things start to get confusing. For me, I have quite an olive skin tone, and I usually wear quite warm, bronze coloured blushes, but I decided to step out of my comfort zone and go for a warm light blush: the Peach Pop. 

I am so happy with this choice. I was honestly worried it would be too light for me, but it works so well, and actually brightens up my face. For a casual day look, I go for the hue on the far left on the swatch above. It's so subtle, but there's just enough colour present to highlight your cheeks. For an evening look, if I want my eyes to be the statement area then I'll opt for the hue in the middle, however if my eyes are quite bare, then I'll brighten up the blush. 

What I really love about this blush is that even though it's technically a compact powder blush, it's really buttery and soft to the touch, and  applies and sits on the skin like a cream blush. This creamy texture means that it can be applied and blended into the skin very easily with the fingers, which I actually prefer with this particular blush over using a brush. 

Have you tried this product yet? If you have I'd love to hear your thoughts. Also I' love to hear your thoughts on this post. I definitely want to do more like it, and I was wondering whether to put up a picture of me wearing the blush, but thought the swatch showed it better. Let me know what you think, any feedback is welcome : D 

Steph

x x x 

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