I have decided to go on a little shopping trip to London…for of course…MAKE-UP! Armed with my M.A.C Pro Card I am going to stock up on cosmetics for my kit.

With this in mind I had to try and resist the lure of the Duty Free Cosmetics in the Airport. They make it sooo hard. Wrapping everything up in handy miniatures and travel compacts.

I particularly liked this try me kit from Smashbox. It includes some of my favourite products from Smashbox. The Photo Finish Primer, is brilliant for making your skin silky smooth and ready for your foundation. It also includes loads of their cream liners, which I like to use as a liner of course, but if I am going for a really dramatic look, I use it as an eyeshadow. Other products included in the kit are: photo op under eye brightener, brow tech, double-ended eyeliner&brow brush, lip enhancing gloss and an instructional DVD.

Anyway I managed to avoid the temptation and save the spondulas for London Baby! So we will wait and see what bounty I come back with teheehee!

I thought that I would just do a quick run through of a “Natural Day Make-Up”. Now for some people it is probably a bit much, as a make-up artist it would be the bare minimum that you would be expected to apply. I have even got a video of me applying it all, this is my first go at doing a youtube tutorial so go easy on me hehe! As with everything I’m sure it will get better with time. Well here’s hoping anyway.

So I start the video by applying my concealer which is Bobby Brown Creamy Concealer Kit in Ivory. If I am doing a day make-up I would usually apply the concealer first.

Concealing Kit

The reason for this is because I would tend to not want to apply to heavy a coverage of foundation so I would need to ensure that all the coverage of my dark under eye circles is coming from my concealer. If I am doing a night time or more dramatic look I would tend to put my concealer on after my foundation, because very often I wont need to use that much because of the thicker coverage/consistency of the foundation.

Then I apply my foundation using the MAC187 Brush:

MAC 187 Brush

I mix Estee Lauder Double Wear in Bone, with Rimmel Recover Foundation in Classic Beige. I darken or lighten the mixture up depending on my tan. In the depths of winter sometimes I have to resort to just using the Estee Lauder Foundation because I am so pale. That’s when I know I need to book a holiday B)

Once I have a flawless canvas then I like to apply my eye shadow I have used colours out of a deluxe eye shadow palette that I got from Estee Lauder a while ago as part of a gift with purchase. I used 39 Vanilla as a base, 53 Ginger Drop all over the eye socket and into the crease, then I used 66 Bronze Cube for definition and shading.

Then I used Logona Organic Black Eye Pencil on the bottom inner eyelid, for definition. If you have small eyes I would leave this step out or perhaps even line the eye with a white or skin colour pencil to widen and brighten.

I then used the Turbolash Mascara from Estee Lauder on my top and bottom lashes. This is a pretty good mascara, the brush is a good size for me, I really like the formula and it doesn’t go clumpy…oh and did I mention it vibrates??!! I have to laugh at the reaction that I get from that…alot of inuendos of double usage…good for travelling light haha.

I applied Blusher concentrating the colour on the apples of my cheeks and then blending out. If you aren’t sure where your “apple’s” are just have a grin and they will pop out. The blusher is Nars Super Orgasm. Do you ever get the feeling that Sex sells?? Between the mascara and the blusher you’d be havin a grand ‘ol time it seems haha.

Then I applied a slick of Estee lauder Pure Colour Crystal Gloss in Candy

And last and certainly not least I used a MAC brow kit powder on my eyebrows. I remember years ago that I hated pencilling in or defining my brows, I just thought it looked weird, but now I have gotten over my fear because it was drilled into me that it really helps to finish the look. I have to agree, it really helps to frame the face and give everything a polished look.

So now that you have read what I put on my face, you can watch the video of me putting it all on.

Enjoy xx

So I naively thought that Hong Kong was a culture shock, boy I wasn’t ready for the crazy quirky land that is Vietnam!! The minute a stepped foot outside the airport in Hanoi, I was mobbed by blood thirsty taxi/mini-bus/bus drivers vying for my business. Eventually after much to-ing and fro-ing and procrastination I got a mini-bus to Hanoi for a pre-arranged fare of $2.

The trip was like something out of the wacky races…beeping, weaving, breaking, speeding through all the traffic, past rice paddies and a huge truck crash(which was a little disconcerting seeing as I didn’t have much faith in our own driver).

Eventually arrived in Hanoi in one piece. I wanted to be dropped off at the Old Quarter near the lake, they off course dropped me way out, conveniently outside a hotel which I am assuming is their friends hotel. Then there was some arguing about the fare, they tried to charge me 300,000 dong which is around $18. Luckily I was a bit weary when I got into the bus so I took all my money and hid it in other compartments and just put $2 into my wallet, so when he demanded more

Temple of Literature The scholars of Hanoi used to come here.

money, I just told him that was all that I had and that was what we had agreed. After much arguing and smiling on my side, he eventually walked off in a huff with me calling after him that I hope he had a nice day…

I tried to get my bearings so went to a nearby green area to gather my thoughts and figure out where they had dropped me. As I was walking I had people shouting at me trying to get me to buy their postcards, fruit, get a lift, you name it they were selling it. Eventually I bought some post cards from a woman just so that she could give me some directions, not particularly enamoured with the Vietnamese culture so far! Turns out I was so far away from where I wanted to be that I wasn’t even on my lonely planet map. I had to walk for about a mile or two in the scorching heat with a 16kg backpack crossing roads with millions of Mopeds following no traffic laws heading straight for me, hoping and praying they would stop. Makes things more interesting, taking your life into your hands everytime you

Motorbike! You ain’t nothing in Vietnam without a Moped/Motorbike/Scooter.

cross the road. I eventually found a hostel run by two Ozzie guys called Hanoi Backpackers and booked myself in for the night for a sweet rate of $7.50 a night.

After the experience of the day I decided to just relax in the safety and comfort of the hostel…would leave venturing out into Hanoi for another day.

Made some friends in the hostel and for the next couple of days spent my time seeing the sights that Hanoi has to offer, including mouth watering fruit shakes, bowls of poh (noodle soup), honey sambos and an apple-like fruit/veg that I never got the name of. Also went along to watch some of the friends that I had made eat snake…it was an awesome experience. You go in and they pick out a live snake, they remove the still beating heart and offer it as a shot for the more brave of us…in our case it was an Ozzie called Brad. Then the others that were partaking got to have a shot of the snake’s blood followed by the bile….yummy!!! We were brought around the back to a hidden gem of a place, it was a beautiful dining area

Basket Case These poor ladies walk around all day with really heavy baskets, how do they do it! Some of their legs bend out of shape from years of carrying heavy loads.

made of bamboo, hovering over an inlet of water, this was a nice natural surprise as we were in the middle of the urban jungle. I have to say the spread that the guys received was well worth the $15 they paid for the snake. There was about five different courses all served in unique ways: Deep Fried Minced Snake, Steamed Snake, Snake Skin, Sauteed Snake and Snake Bones with Vegetables, nothing goes to waste.

I really began to embrace the craziness of the city and love the vibrancy that it brings. One of the highlights of the trips was sitting at the lake chatting to three Vietnamese girls to help improve their English and giving them a bit of a history lesson on Ireland in the process, was really good to get an insiders view of Hanoi and the culture. Hanoi got off to a bad start with me, but given a little time and culture re-adjusting I really enjoyed my time here.

Finally arrived in Hong Kong today, feels like I have been waiting an eternity for this trip. It is like nothing I have seen before, a melting pot of cultures, walking around I was on sensory overload! Seems like old and new are haphazardly crammed into any available space. There are trendy bars beside tenement housing, old fashioned nail bars over classy restaurants.

I am staying in a really trendy part of town where all the “Filths (failed in London Try Hong Kong)” live. To get there you have to travel up the escalator….not a bad way to get up the hill! Daily traffic exceeds 55,000 people, its a brilliant way of moving lots of people fast!

Did some touristy stuff like get the Star Ferry to Kowloon and walk Hong Kong’s equivalent of the Hollywood Boulevard, go up to the peak of Hong Kong on the Peak Tram, Kowloon Park and Ocean Park.

One of the nights I went to a Szechuan Chinese restaurant, this is definitely one of the best things that I did in Hong Kong, it has completely revolutionized my opinion of Chinese food, gone is the bland MSG infused crap we get at

home and in with a tasty, well seasoned, flavour full delight. Szechuan cuisine often contains food preserved through pickling, salting, drying and smoking, and is generally spicy. Most dishes include the Sichuan peppercorn a numbing fruity spice. There are three varying degrees of spicyness, generally you start with the coolest finishing with the hottest dish. We had broccoli, sweet potato, aubergines, vegetarian dumplings and my favourite, a mixed veg with shredded crackers lettuce wrap, yummy! My friend Fabian who I was sharing the meal with got the restaurant’s special, which was obviously VERY spicy as he was absolutely sweating buckets! It was a wonderful experience, really authentic Chinese and something that I more than likely wouldn’t have had unless I was staying with someone from Hong Kong.

After the wonderful meal I finished the perfect day with a visit to the “Take Out Comedy Club” which was absolutely brilliant. One of the couchsurfing community performs there every Saturday. There was about ten different acts with really different styles of comedy, some I thoroughly enjoyed. It was all based around experiences with Hong Kong and after being there for a couple of days I really felt like I could relate

to it! Just there are so many funny idiosyncrasies that occur when east meets west in such a obscure and mental way… Went for some drinks afterwards with some of the performers so it was good fun.

Also went to Ocean Park, this is a theme park that is favoured by the Hong Kongers, wheareas Disneyland has been somewhat shunned. It was a great idea to go on a Monday as we(myself and a girl called Edel from Cork I met randomly at the peak tram) didn’t have to queue for any of the rides. Some of them were just pure adrenaline rushes, never been on the one that drops you from a crazy height at break neck speeds before….I nearly shat myself!!!

Luckily I was able to get my Vietnam Visa in one day, so would be leaving Hong Kong as planned. Left the next morning at 9am.

I am just recently back from a tour around part of the world. I kept a blog on www.travelblog.org which I thought I might share here, so I shall copy the excerpts over. I really wanted to write a book about my experience especially the make-up side of things and call it “Making-up my way around the world”..but somehow with all the exploration and excitement I forgot about it! Hopefully one day I will get around to it as I haven’t quite finished travelling yet. Perhaps someone out there would like to sponsor me?? I could even do a documentary style TV series spin off if you like

This is a girl that I met up in a mountainous region in Sapa, Vietnam. She was suffering from Alopecia and her eyebrows had all but disappeared. She decided to pencil them in so she wouldn’t look different to the other girls in her village. I thought she was gorgeous, but she said she hated her freckles and she wanted light skin like mine. She had gotten the sun damage from picking rice in the fields. I always find it fascinating that Caucasians spend their time trying to be darker with fake tan, bronzers etc and Asian people try and make themselves lighter with brightening creams! I guess its a case of you want what you can’t have. Oh and while in Chang Mai, Thailand I even saw nipple pinkening cream! Bizarro!

Pencilling in Eyebrows in Sapa

While in Australia, I had the opportunity to meet an Aboriginal Elder. I bit of a sign of the times, he had a nice round belly and was playing his didgeridoo to dance music rigged up to car batteries. I guess you have to make a living somehow! Love the body painting though.
Anyway that was a far as I got on the book, pretty pathetic really I know, but I promise there will be more in the future. In the meantime I am going to put up the other blogs from my travels.

Enjoy xx

Stare

I just have to say that I am in love…with a new make-up range…Illamasqua. I was drooling over all the beautiful make-ups on the website, I love the drama, beauty and glamour! I love the intensity of colour and the luscious themes. I love the unbridled creativity and use of theatre. I love the fact that beauty and art are explored and the make-up is exciting and creative. According to their website they take their roots from the dark and illicit 1920s club scene.  The brand is manufactured by Kryolan, a company that I know well. I have been using their body painting colours for years which I love. Kryolan has been in the cosmetics industry since 1945 and their attention to quality can be assured. I have been reading tons of reviews online and that is one of the biggest points that I have noted, that the quality of the product is supreme. Designed to be colour-intense, colour-true and long lasting. I haven’t yet had the chance to test it for myself as I was travelling for the last year and a half. I am heading up to Dublin next week where there is a store in BT2 on Grafton Street. Rest assured, I will be like a kid in a candy store and I shall come back and give my own review. Apparently there is a huge palette with which to express yourself, whoever you are and whatever look you want to achieve….so I reckon I could be a lot poorer after the experience hehe!

There has been LOADS of buzz about this make-up range on the internet, in such a small space of time (It’s only been around in the last year) it has garnered a bit of a cult following! Here’s just a few samples of what are being said:

http://www.scrangie.com/2009/05/illamasqua-makeup-for-your-alter-ego.html

 Illamaqua Nail Varnish – Spartan  “ The polishes are thick and opaque. I did two coats of all of them. The formula is extremely smooth and easy to apply. It’s comparable to Rescue Beauty Lounge’s formula, which is pretty much the gold standard for me. The polish dries quickly and wears well. I had no bubbling and after two days of wear had almost no sign of tipwear (that second shot of Rampage- the indoor lighting one- that was taken after two days of wear)…The brushes are good, I did not encounter any wayward bristles or application problems with them. The bottles are really pretty- they’re a solid bottle that’s not going to get knocked over easily and they’re a little bit Gothic in design. Beautiful to look at. I especially love the logo and the shape of the cap:”

 Excerpt from scrangie.com

  http://beaut.ie/blog/?p=10692
 

 “…this is makeup for glamazons and anyone who wants to explore their alter-ego. Beside the pale pink BE
counter, we get perspex, mirrors and shiny black and cream Corian, sculpted into flutes and swirls inspired by the vibe of 1930s Berlin. This is high drama, high fashion stuff. A bit naughty, a lot OTT. Is it glam? Oh, you betcha. Those swanky counters are topped with a multitude of eye-popping colours for nails, eyes, cheeks and lips, but it’s not just about shocking shades. 

Given the goth/burlesque/counter culture vibe of the brand, foundation shades start at white. No joke – you can quite literally walk away with a Sudocrem-esque base, but that’s not to say other skin colours are ignored, because they’re well catered for. I got a perfect match for my milk bottle complexion, and I reckon this brand will become a go-to for anyone who falls between the cracks of other brands’ foundation offerings.”

  

  Excerpt from Beaut.ie

What I like about Illamasqua is that they encourage individuality and are all about bringing out your own unique beauty. That’s what I felt was the problem with a lot of other cosmetics houses, that they tended to just replicate the same look/face on everybody, essentially making everyone walk around like clones.  There is this whole idea of the alter ego which I love, something a little more intense and nightimey(if that’s a word) in all of  us. They also seem to be a very conscientious company, not only do they support the charity S.O.P.H.I.E but they also do not test any of their products on animals. I was surprised to learn when I worked for Esteé Lauder that the majority of companies still do this! Shocking really in this day and age…

Another way that they are different is that they provide consultations rather than ‘make overs’. Their make-up artists spend time getting to know individuals, helping them explore their alter ego and create the look they want to achieve. This is self-expression at its most creative, allowing women and men who dare to be different to create a look that can be achieved confidently at home and flaunted at night. Oh and in case you forget what you talked about at in the consultation, they even record it onto a DVD that you can take home and reference any time you need to. That is such a great idea, can’t believe that no one thought of that before.

I also found while researching the company that the majority of their artists are extremely experienced. They not only have experience in the fashion industry, but alot of them have artistic backgrounds in design, dancing, theatre, television and a whole lot more. It is good to see a company that values having creative and talented make-up artists instead of sales people, trying to puch product down your throat. The Creative Director of the company, Alex Box, is certainly one such talented person.

Alex Box

She studied fine art in the Chelsea College of Art and this has influenced her career that followed. She has worked with a vast array of people and companies, with a large list of names under her belt: Peter Jensen, Stella McCartney, McQ,  Biba, Anne Valerie Hash, Gareth Pugh, Karl Lagerfeld, Richard Burbridge, Miles Aldridge, David Sims, Paolo Roversi, Warren Du Preez , Fashion Rocks, Nick Thornton Jones, Vogue Italy, Vogue France, Vogue Japan, Vogue China, British Vogue, Numero, W, Dazed&Confused, 10 and i-D.

She is seen as one of the most influential make-up artists of our time and has even been compared to the great Pat McGrath http://www.myspace.com/patmcgrathmakeup. Pat McGrath has been synominous with gorgeous fantastical make-up designs that stretch our imagination. She is also THE name in Make-Up Artistry around the world.

I am really excited to see what sort of heights Illamasqua will achieve. Hopefully they will be a refreshing change from M.A.C Cosmetics who I feel have the monopoly on the industry at the moment. They seem to do all the fashion shows, sponsor the make-up for all the new designers coming out of NCAD, they sponsor the Irish Film and Television awards, countless photoshoots, I saw that they sponsored a BAFTA education video given by Christine Blundel another amazing Make-Up Artist in the Film and Television Industry. They have even started doing the make-up for Cirque Du Soliel I read somewhere. Don’t get me wrong, I like M.A.C but there is definitely room for some healthy competition and I think that Illamasqua has the artistic flair and design edge that is needed. They certainly have their finger on the pulse of popular culture with myspace, youtube, facebook and twitter accounts already. I’m really liking their youtube videos and looking forward to many more. Unfortunately I am somewhat addicted to youtube Make-Up Video Channels!!

 I will be sure to make another post when I have gotten my Illamasqua “haul” and post some pictures of my Alter Ego hehe.

 Laters xx