Illamasqua helping me out with ma Work face…

Hello!! Welcome to 2015… it’s not really saying Happy New Year so no complaining please!! I am currently sitting under a duvet looking a bit like death warmed up.. having a bad day…. in the middle of winter!! I do have warm brownie so that’s a silver lining. So, my face is in no fit state to model make up and you will just have to make do with some recycled selfies!! However there is a reason to this, over the festive period I popped my Illamasqua cherry and bought a few delicious bits and pieces.

This week was a busy one, right back into wedding season with 3 wedding trials.

Work face numero uno… “Lips and Lashes”

Illamsqua brow precision gel

Illamasqua vintage mettalic cream eyeshadow

MAC eyeshadows Emabark

Courdoroy&Carbon

Illamasqua gel liner

Ardell Demi Whispies

Illamasqua Matte Veil

Illamasqua Skin base 2

MAC Prolongwear concelear NW15

MAC Studio Fix Powder NW15

IIlamasqua Blush duo in shade Ambition

Illamasqua creme shimmer in Gleam

MAC Currant&Cranberry lipliners

Work face Numero dos…

Illamasqua Precision brow gel

MAC embark (through tail)

Urban decay Naked 2 palette

Foxy, Respect, Snake bite&Blackout

MAC Texture&Embark

MAC Feline Pencil&Barry M Liquid liner

Bourjois Healthy Balance Foundation shade 01

Chanel Bronze universelle

Illamasqua creme shimmer in Gleam

Sleek Contouring Kit in shade light

MAC Warm Soul

Chanel Lipgloss in 141

Work face numero tres…

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in soft brown

Anastasia Beverly Hills Chocolate Pomade

Chanel Grenate waterproof liner blended

Make up Revolution Colour Chaos Palette

Needed to&Me three

MAC Texture

Barry M liquid liner

Ardell Demi Whispies

Illamasqua Matte Veil

MAC BB creme compact in light

MAC Prolongwear concealer in NW15

Illamasqua Blush duo Katie&Ambition

MAC Cremesheen glass in Pagoda

The few bits and bobs that I purchased were a limited edition eyes and brows set. The brow gel is a gorgeous lightweight formula that gives easy blending through the brows. Illamasqua cream eye shadow in Vintage Metallic, packed full of sparkle and a soft mid tone brown. Great for eye shadow base! The liner was a little disappointing as I wanted it to be a little more pigmented… however! Silver lining,it would be great for people that don’t want to strong a liner and could be easily blended and buffed out. Illamasqua Blush Duo in shades Katie and Ambition. “Katie” is an ice pink matte shade that gives a beautiful flush of cold pink cheeks! “Ambition” is a rich rose shade with a shimmer of gold flecks through it for a healthy glow. I was also a lucky chicken an recieved a few samples of Matte veil, Hydra Veil and the legend which is Skinbase. I visited the Carnaby St boutique and have to say recieved the best ever service!! Top marks for Illamasqua!!

I have a few more Blogs up my sleeve… So hold on… bear with me! This year is shaping up to be the biggest one yet for StephM.Artistry so if there are blog gaps please forgive.. But as always thanks for reading and I can’t wait to keep you guys looped in my busy crazy year ahead!!

Ciao for now! x

Strike a pose…

Hello hello!!

I had a lovely customer tell me today that they read my blog all the time… So I thought I better write a new one!

To save you some pennies I thought I would tell you more about what I’d been up to rather than what I’ve been buying. I recently had the pleasure of working on such a fun shoot with such a great team. On the camera we had the ace Daniel MacAvoy, working the camera we had the gorgeous Iona MacGowan and giving us the props of the day was the amazingly talented Lorna Kenny from Sakura florist. A florist you say…..

CHECKS THE UBER AWESOME HEADPIECES!!

I had such fun with this. The theme of the shoot was spring. And when I think spring I think fresh, pink, flowers all things bright and beautiful. For the shoot we had 2 make up changes.

For this look I wanted really dewy skin. So to get that real shine I actually used a very fine layer of bepanthan (yup) on the high points of the face, brows, cheeks and bridge of the nose. I then used Chanel vitalumiere in shade 10 and 30 building up the lighter colour to dark from the centre of the face and outwards. When I think of fresh skin I think freckles… And I hate to tell you freckle haters out there that freckles are in!! But unfortunately Iona didn’t have many natural ones so theeeeeeeese are drawn on!! I used Soap and Glory Archery and MAC eyeshadow Wedge and went freckle daft! Obviously if you try and create a look like this… I wouldn’t recommend using bepanthan. But getting fresh skin isn’t difficult. Tips are using all cream products as powders can be clawing on the skin. MAC mineralise highlighters are great though if you prefer a powder. And I love a spray of Urban Decay All nighter spray for that fix and dewy finish.

And here’s a sneak peak at the edited version of Look number two. I was so influenced by the colours of the headpiece. I wanted a really strong contour and the skin to look like cream. For this I used YSL le teint touché éclat and MAC. Studio fix to get a really flawless finish. I used sleek contour kit and Sleek fire palette on the cheeks.

And no shoot is complete with a bit of “behind the scenes”…

Fantastic shot from Daniel! Such a great team and such a great shoot… The images are great but you’ll just have to wait a little longer for the rest of them!

As always thanks for reading, I heard a little story from a bride this weekend that let’s me know the word of StephM.Artistry is spreading and I really am so overwhelmed by it all. I love what I do and that knowing it’s not just all in my head is very satisfying!! Ha!! So thank you.

TTFN… Ta ta for now! x

Let’s colour!!!

Hello all! Skirting out on my blogging duties again I’m afraid! But I suppose it just means that each time I do it means a much bigger, fatter blog as an apology!

And today’s is no exception! We’ve gone through the soft pastels of spring and now summer’s trend has explosions of colour all over your face!! The market is absolutely full of new and bright products from the top to toe, so whether you like your colour a little more understated on your nails or bold on your eyes and lips there’s something out there for everyone!

If you do like something a little more on the delicate side, try painting your nails with a bright jazzy colour. Painting your nails can be such an expressive way of having a bit of colour or even clashing with what you are wearing without it being as obvious. And good old Barry M is here to help! They’ve taken out a new range of “gelly” nail polishes. Designed to give you a gel polish high shine finish and colour. And with a massive 27 shades you’ll be spoiled for choice! Personal favourites are number 18 a hot orange and 15 a deep teale!

And if you’re felling a bit bolder here’s a recent discovery of mine…

Daniel Sandler’s watercolour blushers. I purchased a couple in more wearable colours (Chic and Mayfair) and they are just gorgeous. Really pigmented and easily buffed into the skin they give the cheeks a radiant glow rather than some powdery blushers. These bright beauties “Acid” and “Trip” look radioactive but are actually a little bit more delicate in and on the flesh.

Most summer collections will usually have the odd pink and turquoise and I find are so samie! This years collections have certainly gone a little bit more radio active too. 2 of my favourite on counter collections have to be YSL les blues lumiere and Chanel Reflets d’ete de Chanel. (Biased I know!)

These collections have just blown me away between the eye palette from YSL which is packed full of cool, rich blues and hot oranges (which by the way are just the most amazing clashing colour combination.. Promise! You won’t look like an Irn-Bru can!)

And Chanel’s nail and lip combination…. There moto for the collection is “mix.match.mismatch” and I can see why! Those with slight OCD would want to match…

Sweet lilac and Hello… It does as it says on the tin! a sugary lilac combination.
Tutti fruitti and Sexy… A jazzy coral .
Pink tonic and Happy… A vibrant hot pink.
Mirabella amd sunny… A blood red orange.

Or those of you who like to mix it up…

Or if you’re like me and can’t choose… I be wearing it ALL!!!

And last, brightest but certainly not least you have the holy explosion of radioactive colour which is the urban decay electric palette!!

This palette has taken the market and every MUA by storm! It’s chock full of 10 vibrant velvety shades that have massive pay off! My Instagram feed is full of make up enthusiast using this palette and I don’t think I’ve seen the same combination twice.

One of my favourite beauty bloggers did a tutorial actually using this palette and a few other things on this blog which I have linked as it’s useful to see. Colour is so hot (pardon the pun) right now and it’s so worth playing around and finding what you are comfortable with. I have always said there are no rights and wrongs when it comes to make up as it should be fun. However there are how to’s and not to’s so that’s why watching tutorials can keep you in check when it comes to colour. More coco cabana than coco the clown!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sls_8FLq4iU

So have a watch of the tutorial… Sorry it’s not my own… We have workmen in at the moment so it’s not the most ideal background noise! But the gorgeous Sam from Pixiwoo will take more than good care of you. However I did dable in the colour department as it’s not usually my thing… And I must say I could be converted! As always thanks for reading! Happy spending. Always let me know if you do purchase anything I’ve mentioned, I love knowing its useful!

Ciao for now! x