Illamasqua Precision Brow Gel Review + Brow Tutorial

I have been through numerous of Liz Earle's Eyebrow Pencils (review here) now so I decided to try something a bit different.  The Illamasqua Precision Brow Gel has been around for a while but only recently have they added a wider colour range.  Strike was the original which is for brunettes; they have now added Glimpse for redheads; Awe for blondes and Stare for dark brown/black hair.  I went for Strike as although my hair is light brown with blonde through it I prefer my brows to be darker.

Louise Loves #11

H&M Necklace

I bought this necklace a couple of weeks ago from H&M for £7.99.  Now, I am the sort of person who wear the same 2 costume necklaces on rotation so I thought I would mix it up a bit and get some new ones.  I am on the look out for longer ones as the ones I usually wear are short chunky pieces.  I got a lovely one from Topshop but it broke the day I got it so I took it back and didn't bother getting a new one.  This H&M one caught my eye because it looks much fancier than it is.  You can't see in the photo but chains are actually beads which are multi-facetted which makes them really sparkle in certain lights.  I love that I can just wear a plain top and throw this on and it looks like I've made more of an effort!

Gosh Nougat Crisp Lip Liner & Make up Revolution The One Lipstick

I wanted to find a product which would give me the sort of nude/brown 90s style lips that are all over the place at the moment but I have quite strongly coloured lips so I wasn't sure if it would suit me.  I found this combination in Superdrug for a total of about £5 so I could try it out without spending too much money!  The liner is really nice, it's a softer version of the colour of my lips and it applies easily.  The lipstick is a semi-matte nude and works well on top of the liner in the middle to lighten my lips slightly.  I will do a separate post on this with photos of them together on my lips.  I also got another lipstick which is more nude and true matte but I haven't tried this properly yet as I loved the first one I tried so much! 

Illamasqua Precision Brow Gel

I've had this for a while now but I'm going to be honest, it scared me a bit!  I was really excited when it first arrived in the post but when I tried it out I realised you can't just paint it on as you would with a pencil or eyeshadow, so I took to youtube and found some gel brow tutorials and now I am loving it!  I am going to do a post soon to show you how I use it, what tools and other products I use it with.

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Liz Earle Brow Pencil in Dark

Since using up my Une brow pencil I was determined to find one I would be happier with, I just found it too soft and I would need to sharpen it really often.  The soft nib makes it a lot harder to create a defined shape and makes it more smudgy!

I decided to go for the Liz Earle brow pencil in Dark as I really wanted to try out something from their make up range.  I looked up some reviews and they seemed pretty positive so I went for it.  Liz Earle were doing free delivery when you buy any item of make up at that time which was really lucky - I probably would have just waited until I was in a John Lewis otherwise, I'm so cheap!

The pencil cost £11 and it also comes in Light.  I went for Dark which matched my hair nicely, but I think they would do well to expand their colour range, to include red tones for example.

I have used it for just over a week now and I really like it.  It is quite hard, but not too hard - it allows you to create sharp lines easily, but also to fill in bigger areas quickly.

Eyebrows before - only wearing Soap & Glory Glow Job

Eyebrows after - make up completed

As you can see in the second picture I fill them in quite a lot!  I love filling in my brows and it really annoys me when people don't haha, it honestly makes such a difference!  This pencil allows me to do this quickly and accurately as I am always in a rush in the morning.

I would definitely repurchase this, and I recommend it to anyone looking to try out a new one.  The only thing I would say is that if you're not sure about the colour then go to a counter and try it out as it is quite expensive if you're not sure it'll suit.

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EOTN: Smokey Eye with a Vampy Lip

I was having one of those days where I just felt ugly, I think everyone has those every so often!  I decided to do some nice make up to make myself feel better, and here's how it turned out.  I didn't even go anywhere after it (okay that's a lie, my dad made me go to Morrisons with him, how embarrassing haha!) I just went back to studying!

Photo from Instagram

I used some of the products I got from Liz in our swap; the eyeshadow quad and the Hard Candy blusher.  I'm really not very good at doing smokey eyes at all for some reason, I can't make it very dark or it just gets messy, I think it's maybe just that I don't suit very dark eyes in the first place.

• Primed the lids with Urban Decay Primer Potion.
• Used the silvery colour all over the lid.
• Then the brown in the outer third.
• Next I applied the darkest 'black' (it's not a very true black!) in the crease and blended it out.
• Then using the shimmery white I highlighted under the brow and in the inner corner.
• For underneath the eyes I brought the white out from the inner corner, then brown then the black in the outer corner meeting with the same colour on the top lid.
• I then lined my eyes with a black gel liner and tight-lined with a black eyeliner pencil.
• Finally I applied Benefit They're Real mascara to top and bottom lashes.

On my lips I am wearing Avon Ultra Colour Rich 24k Gold in Golden Wine (not CF), and on my skin I have Illamasqua Skinbase foundation in shade 2 and Illamasqua under-eye concealer in UC115.

I used the blusher from this set

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Wedding Make Up!

I posted this on Tumblr a few days before my friend's wedding when I was trying to decide what to do with my makeup so I thought I'd put it on here too for anyone interested :)

Trying out make up for the wedding!  For some reason I totally forgot about my lips so I've just cropped them out... whoops, I'll worry about them later!  Also I am getting my eyebrows waxed tomorrow, cannot wait! They're actually driving me crazy so just try not to look at them...

• I didn't use a primer but I will use UDPP on the day as it is going to need to last!
• Painterly Paint Pot by Mac over the lid.
• I then used a mixture of Sin and Virgin from the Naked palette over the lid.
• Then using the two purpley colours from a limited edition Mac mineralize eyeshadow in Eccentricity, I applied these to the outer corner but unfortunately they ended up looking quite muddy and didn't appear very pigmented - probably my manky brushes...
• So I then used my Sugarpill eyeshadow in Poison Plum which is really nice and strong, to go over this in the outer corner and into the crease.
• I also brought this underneath the eye, and went over it with Last Call from the Urban Decay Ammo palette, to darken it as the red pigments in the purple made me look slightly ill!
• I also tightlined using Avon Glimmerstick in Black.

Here it goes slightly odd because I used different eyeliner on each eye:

• On the right eye (pictured) I used blue gel eyeliner in Indigo from Coastal Scents and used Avon Supershock pencil in Golden Fawn on my waterline.
• On the left I used Mac Fluidline in Blacktrack and Avon Supershock in Blackberry on my waterline.
• Lastly I applied Bourjois Volume Fast & Perfect Mascara.

So now I just need to decide on eyeliner colours, how big to make the wing, lipstick and blusher!

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Day 9. Your Nine Step Daily Makeup Routine

I'm going to be honest... I am terrible with routines!  So, hmmm, this will be interesting!  Okay so let's assume that this is a day where I have enough time to do my make up - minimally - but properly i.e. not on the train!

Rinse face (I don't cleanse in the morning... or at night - BAD!)

Apply Origins VitaZing Moisturizer and leave for 5/10 minutes.

Foundation: Avon Cream-to-Powder foundation in Ivory - I don't love this product but I did a big clear out so this is the only foundation I have left, it is nearly finished so I'll be getting a new one soon.  Hopefully Illamasqua Skin Base!

Concealer: MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW20 under my eyes.

Blusher: At the moment I am just trying to use up and old Covergirl one (not cruelty free) to get rid of it!

I then fill in my holey eyebrows using No7 Beautiful Brows Pencil in Blonde.

Lastly I apply my Bourjois Volume Fast & Perfect mascara. 

 
but if I've got time... I like to put some liquid eyeliner on, I'm using MAC Penultimate Liner in Black, but NYX also do a really good felt tip one too.

Powder!  I am trying to use MAC Blot powder as I smashed it so it's just in a wee tub now all loose and I'm trying to finish it!

Yasss I think I managed to fudge 9 steps there!  Proud!

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Day 4. Four Makeup Products You Can’t Live Without

Bourjois Volume Fast & Perfect:

I've mentioned it before in Day 1, so I'll just say again, I use this every day and I love it!

E.L.F. Eyebrow Kit:

Any eyebrow product really because I got chicken pox a few years ago and being a teenager I was completely aware and just scratched them all... So now I am covered in scars!  I have one in my eyebrow so there is a hole and I always need to fill it in.  For everyday I just tend to use a pencil (mentioned in day 2) but as I don't like that one, for nights out etc. I use the E.L.F. eyebrow kit which is a pigmented cream and a powder.

Oilatum Natural Repair:

This was recommended by the pixiwoo girls and everyone went crazy trying to get their hands on some!  It is sold in Boots and it was sold out for ages but now it has settled down and is quite easy to get hold of!  It's a really nice moisturiser but because I have combination skin verging on oily, I don't use it every day - I have my Vitazing for that at the moment - I mostly use it if I'm giving myself a facial or after a shower before an important day/night make up wise!  Unfortunately I don't know if this is cruelty free or not, since it is a less common brand it is harder to find out about.  I'll try to find out before I repurchase and will post the results on here!

Mac Studio Finish Concealer:

I'm very lucky in that I don't get too many spots, but I really need concealer for under my eyes, I have such dark circles!  I've been using this one - Studio Finish in NW20 - for a while now and it is quite good.  I wasn't going to repurchase it, but now I can't because of Estée Lauder testing on animals anyway!  Not sure what one to get next, maybe Nars?  Any recommendations are welcome!

P.S. I had to use my top in the background of the last 3 photos because I was in my room and I usually just do it against my duvet but my cat sleeps on my bed and it was soooo hairy and disgusting that I just couldn't do it... haha!  But I think it looks quite good actually!

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Day 2. Two Makeup Products You Would Not Recommend

NYX Glitter Cream Palette:

My auntie brought me this palette back from when they went to Florida. I've just never been able to find a use for it, there is no way to stop it creasing because of the formula, even if you apply it over an eyeshadow or base, it just melts that eyeshadow and makes it crease too! Also although there looks like there is a lot of glitter in them, some of them are quite sparse when applied. I'm not sure why I'm keeping them, they are just so sparkly I don't want to bin them! Maybe one day I will find a use for them!

No. 7 Eyebrow Pencil:

I bought this after my Une pencil ran out as my friend had got it and said it was quite good. However the actual product in it is quite hard (it actually hurts my head 'cos I need to press it so hard to apply it!) and instead of being 'blonde' as it says, it is more of a gingery colour instead of being ashy as you would expect. I am going to try and use it up, grudgingly! One thing I do like about it is the wee brush on the end! Cost £8.


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