Triple liner challenge and the magic potion “Duraline” from Inglot (part 3 of “How Alice totally found Wonderland”)

Posted on December 2, 2013 by mari

Hi guys!

This is going to be the last part of my Inglot review series (believe me, if it were up to me, I’d have many more…I’d review every product from that brand. But, as it happens, I haven’t won the jackpot yet…yet ;))

The Duraline mixing medium was the last thing I had on my wish list before leaving the Inglot store (as hard as that was haha). I had been eyeing it for a while, because I do have quite some pigments and loose eyeshadows that I would like to use wet, and even though water works fine in some instances, it still has its limitations. Plus, I was really curious to try an actual mixing medium 🙂

It looks like this:

You get 9 ml in a compact glass bottle with a dropper, which is very convenient. I think I will use it for a very long time, as you need really the smallest amount…practically hardly one drop, to mix with your product of choice. The price of this was around €9, so quite economical, if you think about it.

Duraline is very versatile. Just use it, whenever you want to make your own custom-made colourful eyeliner, or to intensify the effect of your pressed or loose eyeshadows, or to bring back to life your beloved, but dried out, gel liner.

I, of course, couldn’t wait to try it out in practice. I used it to turn two of my favourite Sleek pigments into liquid liners. I had used those previously with water, and wanted to compare…So, water vs Duraline: is there a difference???

There is, guys! With water, I don’t get this beautiful homogenous consistency. Instead, it remains a bit more flaky. Duraline really turned my pigments into liquid liners!!! I used my thin liner brush to apply them, and it was so easy and so incredibly pleasant!

I created this look with blues and a pop of Vintage gold:

What I used for this look:

Essence I love stage e/s base
NYX JEP Milk
Concrete Minerals loose mineral e/s White Rabbit
Concrete Minerals loose mineral e/s Daydream
Inglot rainbow e/s R127 (mid and dark blue)
MUG e/s Beaches and Cream
Maybelline Master Precise eyeliner pen
Sleek eye dust Hypnotic
Sleek eye dust Vintage
Max Factor black kohl pencil
Max Factor Wild Mega Volume volumising mascara

Also, maybe you noticed, but I also used some Concrete Minerals e/s for this look. I will have a separate review and swatches of those soon! Stay tuned, because they’re worth checking out! I am really loving them so far!!!

What do you think about this look, and the Duraline mixing medium?

Easy daytime makeup looks, with colour!!! Chapter 1

Posted on September 23, 2013 by mari

Hello makeup buddies!

I heard from a couple of people already that they would really like to see some more wearable, daytime-appropriate looks. I will therefore do a series of posts in the hope that each of you will find something in here that you would like to wear in your daily life.

Spoiler alert! => I will be using colours 🙂 You can find plenty of ideas for neutral makeup online, so I will skip that line overall. What I will attempt, is to show you as many ways as I can think of, to wear colourful makeup that’s not too heavy.

To start with, wearing colours is something I cannot convince you to do, you are the one that must feel comfortable with it. My plea is to not be afraid to at least try 🙂

My Monday suggestions are:

1. Gold-pink look

You can totally skip the liner for this look, or just do pencil, gel liner or e/s instead of a liquid liner. Personally, I hate liquid liner, but I had to practice using it…

What you need for this look:

Essence I love stage e/s base
MUG e/s Gold Digger (or any other gold e/s of your liking)
MUG e/s Cosmopolitan (dupe of MAC’s Expensive Pink) – this can be any pink-coraly e/s that you have in you collection
MUG Frappe (a mid-tone brown to warm up the crease lightly
dark brown liner (if you want, feel free to wing a liner), or no liner at all
your favourite mascara

Just apply the gold and the coral-pink on the moving lid, blend the two well in the middle where they meet, add some mid-brown or darker brown to warm up the crease and blend it up towards the brow. You can put a bit of the gold and the pink-coral on the lower lash line too, if you want…finally, add mascara and that’s it! You can do this with a bunch of other colours too, as long as you keep it light. For instance: light green with champagne, yellow with orange, light purple with shimmery white or champagne…The possibilities are endless!

Off to look number two =>

2. Neutral with a pop of colour on the lower lash line:

This is also a very easy look with multiple possibilities for variation.

You need:

Essence I love stage e/s base
Sleek Ultra Mattes Darks palette (basically a skin colour e/s and a brown e/s from any source that you have available)
MUG Appletini (just a nice light green colour)
Sleek Snapshots palette, where the lilac colour comes from. You can just use your light purple, lilac e/s
your favourite mascara

To achieve this look, apply the skin colour e/s on the moving lid. Then add the brown colour to the outer V and crease. Blend everything well together. Afterwards, apply the green e/s on half of the lower lash line and the purple/lilac on the other half. Add mascara, and you are good to go!

Again the colours you put on the lower lash line, is the part where you can go wild..just pick a colour (or colours) depending on your clothes, accessories, shoes..or your mood that day, and play with it!

I have no idea whether this is helpful, so please let me know in the comments section what else you’d like to see and what you think of these looks..would you wear them?

In any case, more daytime looks will follow this week…

XXX

Sleek i-Divine Snapshots palette: review and looks

Posted on September 11, 2013 by mari

Welcome back!

So, after a considerable amount of hesitation, deliberation, procrastination, and even more hesitation, I made up my mind about….which Sleek i-Divine palette I would like to obtain. Ha! And you thought I was about to reveal what I’d like to become when I grow up. (30 doesn’t count as a grown up yet, right?! Yes, I thought so…I am so glad we agree! :P)

I know, I know, Sleek i-Divine palettes are not exactly expensive (€9,90) so I didn’t really have to make such a fuss of the whole “which one do I want most!???”, but then again, when one is confronted with so much choice it somehow becomes more difficult to pick, instead of the other way around. Go figure!

Anyhow, I am now the proud owner of the Sleek i-Divine Snapshots palette :). Looking back at all the looks I have posted so far, it won’t come to you as a surprise that this palette is quite bright and colourful. I love colours, sue me! There were a few others I liked as well, such as the V2 ultra matte darks – a classic…A friend of mine has it, and I have played with it (Ciao Manu!!! Un bacio grande!!!).

Snapshots is a really cheerful palette and I am very satisfied with the pigmentation and overall quality of the e/s. As always with Sleek, the e/s are a bit on the powdery side, but that does not bother me. Just flick the brush to get rid of the extra product and you are good to go. I had been looking for a lilac shimmery e/s for a while, and this palette had it, so I think in the end that was the reason I got Snapshots.

I will not swatch all the e/s because many have done it already and you can easily find this info online, maybe even on the Sleek website itself (they sometimes even have swatches of all the e/s on different skin tones..very cool!). I will now proceed to show you my new looks.

The first one is called “Summer gives way to autumn”: