Hi guys!
Wow, I am really catching up on my blogging these days…hadn’t planned it that way, but it just keeps flowing. Must be all the stories that kind of piled up in the last 2-3 months and needed to be told 🙂
I am back to my beloved Concrete Minerals. Yes, I know! Your ears, well eyes in this case, probably hurt of listening/reading to me blab about this company. I love them! Whatyagotta do :P?! Plus, I guarantee, it’s worth staying with me till the end of the post 😉
So, a few months ago, I ordered their beauty bloggers set…”what is this?”, you may inquire. Well, for those of us who blog, Concrete Minerals has a special offer. You can choose 4 of their shades (mineral or pro mattes line) at a reduced price to review on your blog. I believe the price for the bloggers set is still 15$ (fyi, each of their shades individually retails at 7-8$) and you can find more information on how to purchase it by clicking here.
As some you may know, I already own some of their products, both from the mineral and pro matte lines. The 4 shades I chose for the bloggers set are all from their mineral loose eyeshadows line.
Let me show you:
Somehow, I always gravitate towards greens, blues and purples. It is no surprise therefore that you see both purple (Wanderlust) and blue (Saint) here. I had already been contemplating getting a nice white shadow (Frost), but the pink goodness (Sweet Catrina) came out of nowhere. I think CM had a very cute description of Sweet Catrina and I was hooked by it 🙂 I am that easy!
Swatches (done over Art Deco e/s base):
Frost is a sparkly white…very frosty indeed. It makes a wonderful, universal highlighter. Not much more to say here.
Sweet Catrina is oh so sweet. It’s like a light brick red-pink with silver sparkles. To me, it looks like a very neutral, but still adorable pink..ish colour, which would be flattering for everyday looks on pretty much everyone.
I have a makeup look coming in the end of the post featuring both Frost and Sweet Catrina.
Wanderulst is simply gorgeous. It is a dark, rich, vibrant purple with GREEN sparkles..Is that not just the most awesome combo EVER!?!?! I am in love with this shade…smokey eye, darkening of the outer V, on top of you liner…anything is possible in Wanderlust-land. I will show you a makeup look, plus a small tip, with this shadow in a bit.
Saint is a beautiful navy blue with a very strong purple sheen to it. It is a Sin not to own it! 😛
All of these are, as usual with CM, of great quality: apply easily, blend well and last for ever over a primer.
I wanted to show you how they really look when used in makeup looks, so I played around with them today.
The first look is definitely daytime in-appropriate…dark and smokey with loads of glitter. But I wanted to share a small tip with you, and thought a look like this one is a great example.
The thing with Wanderlust (and pretty much all loose eyeshadows with pretty sparkles in them) is that once you apply the eyeshadow the gorgeous green glitter flies away quite quickly, and you are left with the matte base. Don’t get me wrong…that is still gorgeous, but I want my green bling-bling, please! So…some months ago I found a way around that…
There are all sort of glitter glues and what-nots out there that you could use…but I happened to have the Essence colour arts eye base, which is readily available all over Europe and costs almost nothing.
(photo taken from Internet…my tube is covered with glitter, so deemed not presentable to the public eye ;))
It has tacky texture, white colour, but dries transparent. I bought it with the idea to use it as base for my loose eyeshadows and pigments. I used it with that purpose only once…The problem is that once it dries, it really, really,really dries…there is no way you can blend a shadow applied over this base. So, I stashed it in my drawer and forgot about it…
Until I got into glitters…I didn’t feel like spending money on a special glitter glue, so I figured maybe I could cheat…by using the Essence colour arts eye base as a glitter glue. Well, for that purpose, this baby is amazing!
But wait! There is more…Feeling sad that I loose all the pretty sparkles of my loose e/s, one day it hit me that I could try the Essence base to solve that problem too. And I sure did!
What I do is, apply everything, as I’d normally do, blend everything well, and in the very end, I put a bit of the Essence base…very tiny bit, on top of the original colour (in this case Wanderlust) with my finger. I wait until it’s slightly tacky and has turned transparent, and then pat the original colour again on top of it. That seals the sprakles, no way they will move from there. Don’t worry if the wetness of the base spoils a bit the colour on the lid…you will cover it with more anyway.
I hope that made sense…
For this look I used:
- Art Deco e/s base
- NYX JEP Cottage Cheese (thin layer)
- Concrete Minerals loose e/s Wanderlust
- Concrete Minerals loose e/s Frost
- Concrete Minerals loose e/s Detox
- Nivea e/s
- MUG e/s Beaches and Cream
- Inglot get liner #77 (black)
- Inglot gel liner #76 (white)
- LA Splash Pineapple Coral glitter
- LA Splash Royalty Glitter
- Eye Candy false lashes
The next look is just my regular style daytime-suitable makeup featuring Frost and Sweet Catrina:
What I used:
- Art Deco e/s base
- NYX JEP Milk
- Concrete Minerals loose e/s Frost
- Concrete Minerals loose e/s Sweet Catrina
- Concrete Minerals loose e/s Jezbel
- Nivea e/s
- MUG e/s Beaches and Cream
- Urban Decay 24/7 glide-on pencil Rockstar
- Inglot gel liner #77
- Sugarpill Stella
- Max Factor False Lash Effect mascara
And here is where I will conclude this very long post 🙂 Which eyeshadow is your favourite? Which ones would you pick for your bloggers set (to see all the shades CM offers, click here?
See you soon!
XOXO
longlivemakeup 