That’s me off to Oz, flogstars. At time of scheduled publication, Chloe and I will be kicking back in the business lounge at the Glasgow International Airport, supping down free cocktails and eating all the free cheese and chocolate like the high-rollers we are.
See you again in January. Maybe I’ll flog while I’m away, maybe I won’t.
Don’t miss me too much 🙂
A very good tune for the beginner air-drummer. Enjoy! And seriously, don’t you forget about me.
xX
…which is why 3/4 of the storage space in my room is full of crazy crap like this.
take me seriously
Opening packages and parcels is always exciting, especially when you don’t know what’s in them. So imagine my surprise last week when not one, but two yellow wigs arrived.
The orange lipstick I’m wearing is So Chaud by MAC with a bit of their eyeshadow in Honeylust in the centre of my bottom lip. Did you guys know they still do the package recycling incentive, so if you return 6 MAC makeup empties of any kind to them, they’ll give you a free lippy (but not from the Viva Glam range, as that’s sold to raise cash for the MAC AIDS fund).
Anyway. Gotta go rack my brains to see if I can remember why I would have thought I needed two yellow wigs. I really do have fantastic ideas when I’m pissed, why don’t I write them down? Oh yeah, because “amazing shelf bum” written on a gin-soaked receipt still leaves me completely in the dark.
Have you ever been all dressed up for a night out, bit o’ skin on show, done up to the nines, feeling fab… only to find Facebook peppered with photos like THIS the next day?
Oh no, the dreaded GHOST FACE! And all because of a sneaky, cheeky little ingredient that’s found in almost all skin makeup; titanium dioxide. Sounds evil and poisonous, but in fact titanium dioxide is one of the most effective absorbers/refractors of skin damaging UVA/UVB rays from the sun. As most makeup, moisturiser and face powders have a Sun Protection Factor in them these days, it’s almost certainly on your face right now as you read this.
Titanium dioxide also happens to be the most commonly used white pigment in the world, because it’s the whitest thing there is.
It’s in everything. Milk. Paper. Toothpaste. Ink. The lines around the edge of the tennis court. Sunscreen. And like I said, almost certainly in your foundation; definitely if it’s got an SPF in it.
And it’s how you can end up with the white-face-brown-body effect; the bright light of the flash is picked up and reflected by it, potentially leading to this:
You have to go looking for them, but there are foundations that don’t contain an SPF and/or titanium dioxide. For foundation for flash photography, Revlon Colourstay and L’Oreal True Match are decent ‘high street/drug store’ ones, or Make Up Forever (a bit pricier). MAC Face & Body foundation is one that’s recommended by a lot of makeup artists for use in flash photography. For anyone wishing to recreate my natural sun-kissed glow, I used Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse in Cocoa.
It also depends a bit on your skin type; while an oily finish will make skin look shiny ergo paler under flash, one that’s too matte can be ashy and ageing. But in the interests of avoiding the ghost-face thing, look for a matte rather than shimmery finish.
If you’re just working with what you’ve already got, have a look at the ingredients in your foundation; titanium dioxide is usually listed as one of the last ingredients. So if you know that it’s there, and you know you’re going to be flash-photographed, you can do something about it.
It’s not just fake tan that can give the unwanted contrast; even if you’re just naturally olive skinned and wearing makeup that looks like a perfect match in the mirror, the flash can still pick it up. To give an even all-over colour in flash photographs, just mix a bit of your foundation into a body lotion (or use a moisturiser with SPF) and apply liberally all over your chest/shoulders/neck/arms/wherever there’s bare skin near your face.
If you use any kind of setting/finishing powder over your foundation, this can be a culprit too! An even WORSE culprit, in fact, as powders don’t often label themselves as SPF, but usually they do have titanium dioxide in them. So you’ve really got to go looking to see if it’s there. I’m still searching for the perfect powder but I think MAC Blot Powder is pretty damn close – and it comes in a lot of shades so you can get the perfect match. And hopefully avoid this:
More on the perils of finishing powders here.
So now you know!
Oh god this had better wash off…
blending is the secret
Guess who’s got an interview on Wednesday at the Clydebank College for a place on the HND Makeup Artistry course?
Glasses by Primark
Lady Danger lipstick by MAC
To begin, take 1 x sister who wants fancy feature eye makeup for a night at the pub.
Chloe has very good skin, the lucky so-and-so, however I did still feel the need to use some colour-correcting concealer under her eyes, which can look quite blue. (Agi calls under-eye bags ‘douche bags’, fun fact for today).
Using a mini Benefit Realness of Concealness kit, I put the lemon-yellow concealer under Chloe’s eyes from the inside corner, down alongside her nose and back up under the eye again, kind of in a triangle if that makes more sense. Boots green primer was buffed along her t-zone to correct redness, and Garnier BB cream in Light was used just under the cheekbones as it’s slightly darker than the light MAC tinted moisturiser I used sparingly over the whole face.
lemon, lime, PURDY!
And now time for the budgerigar-inspired green and yellow smokey eye…
Using MAC Paintpot in Pharaoh, MAC eyeshadows in Wondergrass and Eyepopping and MAC Pigment in Chartreuse, it’s a standard smokey eye … but green! Woooo. The Paintpot creme eyeshadow goes on first to give the powder shadow something to stick to, intensifying its colour.
The darker powder shadow is in the outer corner of the eye and underneath, and the lighter shadow blended out from the inner corner with the glitter pigment applied on top. The pigment is messy (or maybe it’s just me), so I press it on carefully so it doesn’t go EVERYWHERE.
and now for the finishing touches, with MAC Hi-light powder (this is a limited edition one that I bought in Australia about 100 years ago, from the Dame Edna range – check the catseye specs on the front). I used two types of blush, because two types of a good thing at the same time is the secret to success.
The two blushes are a MAC matte peachy-apricoty powder blush in Goddess, and a dirt-cheap-but-one-of-my-faves Miss Sporty brand blush (from Superdrug for about a quid, from memory) that’s a very pale and just-sparkly-enough pink.
Eyebrows filled in with Maybelline eyebrow pencil in Dark Blonde, which is one of the best eyebrow pencils I’ve ever used – waxy, sticks to the hair not the skin, grooms perfectly. And it’s the right price. Wink.
To finish, a bit of black eyeliner on the waterline and under the lashes (Chloe’s favourite part of getting her makeup done – NOT – but she is getting much much better at it). The best eyeliner I’ve used cost me 50p from Primark. The colour is INTENSE, it’s really soft and goes on like a dream, and lasts and lasts and lasts. They have it in brown occasionally as well, and when I come across it, I stock up. Recommended. The mascara is Maybelline Colossal Volume in black.
Isn’t she pretty?
digital imologue 