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Mami și Zâna

Tag Archives: highlighter

NARS Highlighting Blush Powder in Albatross – review

07 Tuesday Jul 2015

Posted by Mami și Zâna in beauty, makeup

≈ 175 Comments

Tags

#narsissist, Albatross, blush, highlighter, Highlighting Blush Powder, NARS, NARS Highlighting Blush Powder Albatross, review, swatches

F*** that little Mouse,

Cuz I’m an Albatraoz!…

AronChupa*

[ Pardon the nasty language lovelies, but this tune starts playing inside my head every time I see the NARS Highlighting Blush Powder in Albatross. Plus it’s such an amazing working out beat, don’t you think?! ]

Now, check out this highlighters reviewing spree I’ve been lately!? I did Tom Ford, BECCA Cosmetics, Kevyn Aucoin and now this amazing NARS number here… Isn’t it gorgeous!?

image

NARS Albatross is marketed as a highlighting blusher, but if you think “traditional “blushers ( like most of NARS blushers that in a single swipe pack on a lot of colour on your cheeks, for instance! ), please hold it right there!

Albatross is rather a highlighter than a blusher! More of an extra-step in your makeup routine, meant to add +glow to your face if you’re into that kind of look. Therefore I don’t think it should be considered or used by itself as a blusher only!

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No room for disappointments with this one though!… Because it is a highlighting powder with such a gorgeous golden sheen – the perfect balance between an almost translucent white base and the most glorious gold shimmers! When applied, the powder reveals cool-toned white undertones sprinkled with the most finely milled shimmers, that create such a beautiful radiance to the skin, instantly brightening your whole makeup!

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The powder is so finely milled that it feels so soft and feathery on the skin! It’s a real pleasure to apply and it blends flawlessly into your makeup! It doesn’t sit on top of your cream products and it doesn’t make them look heavy!

In fact I’ve used it several times on top of my favourite cream highlighter the Kevyn Aucoin Candelight to set it and, I kid you not, this combination lasted me all day! Plus the final result was mind blowing – it created nothing but a lightweight, “luminous glow”**.

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[ Don’t be put off by the glitters you see in the swatches above as Albatross transfers as such a natural colour on the cheeks! ]

Albatross is part of the Highlighting Blush series, NARS designed to help illuminate your complexion rather than to add colour.

Beside Albatross you also have:

– Miss Liberty – a “soft shimmering peach”**

– New Order – a “sheer highlighter with golden shimmer”** and purple undertones

– Satellite of Love – a “sparkling gold sand”**

Great product and so many options, right? What do you think about it lovelies?

See you soon, beautiful!

xx, Annie

 

 

 

 

 

INTERESTING FACT:

– *AronChupa – I’m an Albatraoz

  • **description taken from NARS EU website, where these shades are also available for purchase!

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Summer Essentials: KEVYN AUCOIN the Creamy Glow Duo

25 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by Mami și Zâna in beauty, makeup

≈ 95 Comments

Tags

BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector, Charlotte Tilbury, Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow, comparisons, contour, highlighter, Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Palette, incandescent light, Kevyn Aucoin, Moonstone, review, swatches

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With the Season of the Highlighters in its full force, there’s nothing more chic than a double-duty, dainty, beauty to-go essential product! This is the Kevyn Aucoin Creamy Glow Duo, a beautiful little compact containing the cult favourite, powerful pair of the Candlelight highlighter and the Sculpting powder in shade #4 Medium, both in cream form this time!

image image image

#4 Medium is made with brown, grey and red pigments that create the look of a natural medium shade shadow, excellent to use on medium and fair skin tones like mine! Now I have a bit of a tan on and it works just fine as well!

It looks like this medium earthy brown with a subtle grey in it, but dark enough when layered ( as you can see in the swatches below! ), an ashy brown that translates more of a subtle shadow. It blends so well and its almost impossible to go wrong with because it gives such a natural look! And doesn’t lean orange no matter how much you apply, as the shade Sculpt from my Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow tends to do!

Candelight, the highlighting shade is an absolutely glorious champagne colour with a luminous golden sheen to it given by such finely milled particles of shimmer, that don’t translate as obvious on the cheeks but this gorgeous pearl shimmer without being sparkly or glittery. Just that angelic/hallo effect/glow-from-within look everybody’s talking about!

It’s pretty similar but a tiny bit more golden than my other all-time favourite highlighter the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Incandescent Light – which is a powder, less obvious and golden than the Highlight shade from the Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow, and the most similar with a recent discovery of mine in terms of highlighters – the BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector in Moonstone.

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Now a few words on the formulation!

This is one of the most amazing cream formulas I have ever tried! Rubbed for a couple of seconds between your fingers, it transforms into this thin, velvety-soft, extraordinary emollient consistency that is so easy to apply on bare skin, on foundations and even over powder! It won’t cause any slipping and sliding or accentuate imperfections!

I used my fingers most of the times and I loved the final result! But with a small, synthetic, stippling brush it works just as well…

Why have I underlined the word “small”?! Well because this duo comes in the smallest pans I saw a contour or a highlight product to come in! You might have troubles using your regular size/usual contour and highlight brush, but with a bit of an effort you can make that one work as well! 

And trust my words, that’s a lot of pay off from that little extra-effort you put in as these two are absolutely worth every penny you pay for them!

And like all things Kevyn Aucoin I mostly saw online, as this is the first item I have ever tried but definitely not the last!, the decadent garnet packaging gives away the air of an incredibly glamorous makeup item, making makeup application an absolute pleasure!

Have you tried anything from Kevyn Aucoin, lovelies? What’s your favourite product?

See you soon, beautiful!

xx, Annie

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The Season of the Highlighters: the BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed – Moonstone and the powerful trio of the BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector – Spotlight

11 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by Mami și Zâna in beauty, makeup

≈ 91 Comments

Tags

BECCA, BECCA Cosmetics, BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector, Chanpagne Gold, highlighter, Moonstone, Opal, Pearl, review, swatches

image

I don’t know about you, but for me Summer is THE season when I love to wear highlighters the most!

I do wear them all year round but in the colder months I use more subtle ones like the Hourglass Incandescent Light, but when the sun is bright and luckily I get a bit of a tan I reach more for golden, luminous highlighters to pair perfectly with that.

BECCA Cosmetics is known for having some of the most gorgeous highlighters and today I’ll be talking about Moonstone, the Shimmering Skin Perfector in Pressed form and a Spotlight trio of cream highlighters in Pearl, Champagne Gold and Opal.

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The BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Moonstone is, as its name suggests, a pressed powder version of the cult favorite liquid Shimmering Skin Perfector™. It’s enriched with ultra-fine pigment pearls that adjust to skin’s natural undertones for a truly unique glow.

Unlike the traditional pressed powder method which simply mixes and compresses dry ingredients, this unique process blends pigments with proprietary liquid binders, resulting in unparalleled, creamy application with balanced color dispersion.

Moonstone is a pale gold creamy powder luminizer, incredibly finely-milled and silky soft on the skin. I have fair skin and I love an “intense” highlighter, but paired with a bit of tan on, this looks absolutely fabulous – the perfect natural, unique glow without looking exaggerate… IF applied with a light hand, of course!

You only need a tiny bit and I’ve discovered that it works best applied with a fan brush ( a small one for more precision ) or with a really fluffy brush and blended very well!

For comparison, I have it swatched next to the Charlotte Tilbury Highlight shade from the Filmstar Bronze & Glow Palette and my absolute favourite natural highlighter the Hourglass Incandescent Light, the LE shade out exclusively with the Ambient Lighting Powder Palette.

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As you can see, compared to the Charlotte Tilbury Highlight, Moonstone looks paler and more luminous, but definitely more obvious than Incandescent Light.

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I looove this Becca Spotlights Kit of the Shimmering Skin Perfectors! They are in fact a mini-version of the original cult favourite  Shimmering Skin Perfector™, a mini-collection containing 3 shades:

  • Pearl – a gorgeous frosty white highlighter, my favourite of the three
  • Opal – a pink champagne shade
  • Champagne Gold –  a champagne colour with true yellow-gold undertones, as its name suggests.

While Pearl and Opal are permanent shades in the Shimmering Skin Perfector™ range, Champagne Gold is an exclusive to this Kit, but it is still available in powder form, here!

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These minis are provided with a doe-foot applicator, which makes application so much easier and they’re excellent products to travel with. I like to wear it around the eyes ( brow arch, inner corner ), cheekbones, down the bridge of the nose and Cupid’s bow, but I also like them mixed with my foundation for an overall healthy glowing, fresh look.

[ This product was an Exclusive to SpaceNK ( unfortunately Out of Stock! ) & Online Only ]

These are also my first BECCA Cosmetics buys! What else should I get? Any recommendations?

See you soon, beautiful!

xx, Annie

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10 most common MAKEUP MISTAKES

14 Thursday May 2015

Posted by Mami și Zâna in beauty, makeup

≈ 155 Comments

Tags

10 common Makeup Mistakes, beauty blender/sponge applicator, concealer, contour, eyebrows, highlighter, lashes, lips, powder

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Today I am in the mood for a different blog post, a more rambly one!

So relax, grab a cup of tea and some macaroons and enjoy today’s 10 most common MAKEUP MISTAKES article!

First of all, a little disclaimer… I’m not a makeup artist and most of these mistakes were “thoroughly tested” by myself as well… Nobody’s perfect! But we can always improve ourselves, right? 

But if any of the things I consider “mistakes” work wonders for you, by all means do whatever works best for you! To each their own! After all makeup is such a versatile and personal field… Nothing is set in stone!

This being said, let’s move on to the “lovely”… 

MAKEUP MISTAKE #1: YOU DON’T WET YOUR BEAUTY BLENDER/SPONGE APPLICATOR BEFORE USING IT

Sponge applicators are a common thing in the beauty world for quite a while now! They’re no longer one of the well kept secrets of professional makeup artists! The beauty community seems to love them… But everybody is using them wrong!

You HAVE TO USE your beauty sponge WET when you apply your makeup, beauties!

With a wet sponge the application is the closest to flawless and the liquid already absorbed by the sponge will prevent it from taking in all the product you’re using. So you won’t feel like you’re wasting your foundation anymore.

The whole purpose of a makeup blender is to help your foundation, concealer/whatever makeup product you’re applying with it, mimic a natural layer of skin with a makeup application. By using it dry you’ll only limit the surface the sponge is touching your face with – because when wet, a beauty sponge will almost double its size, which saves you time! Without any moisture in the sponge the application will be patchy, your foundation will look heavy, everything won’t be buffed into your skin as it should and you won’t have that fresh, natural, I’m-not-wearing-makeup look.

MAKEUP MISTAKE #2: CONCEALER BEFORE FOUNDATION

Why don’t you just apply foundation first and when you did that take a step back, look into the mirror and see if you still need more coverage!? If you do, then use your trusty concealer… But please, use it only where you need it! Pinpoint concealing, Lisa Eldrige… Does that ring a bell anyone!? 

Point is: why cake up your face with countless layers of products you often don’t even need!? Try to hide your imperfections by using thin layers of products only where you need it, and most important IF you really need it!

Also keep in mind that is no such thing as flawless skin! What you call imperfections make yourself look like… well, yourself?!

Related to that here is

MAKEUP MISTAKE #3: SLAPPING ON TOO MUCH CONCEALER

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– the Kardashian way of doing your makeup that is! I bet you know what I’m talking about! If you’re doing your makeup like this on a daily basis, you should know that this is a technique used mostly by drags, who let’s get serious, do have a lot to hide! NO OFFENSE there anyone! 

I really find that with this technique you’re wasting product, cake your face, because everybody will definitely notice that you have too much going on under your eyes, and it’s so likely to get the opposite effect by looking even more tired and walk around all day with a “lovely”, accentuated pair of bags and dark circles!

[ I definitely agree on the bag thing, but only if they’re Chanel! ]

Again, use concealer where and if you need it! And remember, a little goes a long way!

Maybe this is MAKEUP MISTAKE #4: USING TOO MUCH PRODUCT

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– too much product would only cake up your face, make you look unnatural and probably somewhere in the middle of the day your makeup will crease and slide all-over… So yeah! Use only the amount of makeup to serve your needs! And apply it by building it up in thin layers!

And here since we’re talking about the “Kardashian makeup”…

MAKEUP MISTAKE #5: OVER-CONTOURING YOUR FACE

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… on a daily basis. Unless you’re shooting a pictorial or you’re filming something I don’t see why you should use a heavy contour. Especially if your face is already harmoniously sculpted… Why ruin Nature’s work of art by taking a contour product in a striking colour, from the hollows of your cheeks all the way down to the corners of your mouth?! And most of all, why draw a harsh line without even blending it out and make it look as natural as possible?

[ I plan on doing a whole post on natural contouring soon. What do you think? Would you be interested in reading that? ]

MAKEUP MISTAKE #6: OVER-REACTING WITH POWDER

imageimageimage– Say hi to Casper the Friendly Ghost 😂😂😂

Everybody is preaching how setting your makeup with a good powder – mandatory a matte one – is. But why even do that when our skin is naturally dewy anyway?! Why slap a powder all-over your face to make it unnaturally matte… and here comes the silly part – then to come again with another product, the highlighter, to bring that glow back in!?

Do powder, by all means! And especially if you’re having oily skin, but do that by dusting it strategically, in the places you know tend to get oilier during the day: t-zone, chin, forehead…

[ *hint*hint* Hourglass does a glorious one! ]

MAKEUP MISTAKE #7: EXAGGERATED HIGHLIGHTING

I love my highlighters, but I do think that they are the trickiest makeup products to use… Ever! You must be careful how much you apply and where you apply it, unless you don’t want to look like a disco ball in action!

If you have large pores on your face, or visible scarring avoid very pigmented highlighters with lots of shine to them! Go for a highlighting/finishing powder instead, it has the right amount of “light” and applied only in the high points of your cheeks, bridge of the nose, cupid bow will make you look naturally amazing… It won’t accentuate any of your flaws!

MAKEUP MISTAKE #8: CURLING YOUR LASHES AFTER APPLYING YOUR MASCARA

NEVER EVER do that because you’re so highly at risk of pulling your poor and innocent lashes off and end up with some “glorious” bald patches… Is this the only way you know to make your lashes stay curled and flare out!? I definitely don’t believe you! DO invest in a good eyelash curler and a waterproof mascara, and read the how-to in a post I already wrote, here.

MAKEUP MISTAKE #9: DRAWING “THE PERFECT” EYEBROW

imageimageimage– Holy Brow! Whatcha doin’ gal?! 🙀😅*faints*

I die when I see all-over the Internet those specific types of brows done again, with a technique borrowed from the drag makeup. A VERY defined brow, that takes 5 minutes to realise, usually in a darker colour that it should be, “seasoned”  with concealer and highlighter, and with a shape that draws so much attention that you don’t even see the if there’s even other makeup on that face or not ( unfortunately there is, and usually as obvious as it can be I’m afraid! )…

That won’t be a winner in my books! And I mean NEVER!

MAKEUP MISTAKE #10: NOT USING A LIP SCRUB AND A MOISTURISER BEFORE APPLYING YOUR LIPSTICK

This is a common mistake and I already talked about it in this previous blog post: Red Lips, Dark Lips – DO’s and DON’Ts. So make sure you click on the link to read why to stop doing Mistake #10 and what you should do instead!

So here you have 10 Makeup Mistakes I could think of right now, my lovelies!

Is it just me who thinks of these as mistakes or you’re on the same page as me?  

Oh, and is there something else that you consider a MAKEUP MISTAKE and I didn’t mentioned it here? Please let me know! 

Also let me know if you like these chatty posts and if I should do them more often! Your feedback is most welcomed and deeply appreciated!

As always thanks for reading and…

See you soon, beautiful!

xx, Annie

*The photographic material used in this post does not belong to annies beauty…, was found on Pinterest.

 

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The glorious CHARLOTTE TILBURY Filmstar Bronze & Glow Face Sculpt & Highlight

27 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by Mami și Zâna in beauty, makeup

≈ 103 Comments

Tags

bronzer, Charlotte Tilbury, Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow Face Sculpt & Highlight, highlighter, review, swatches

The second Charlotte Tilbury makeup post in a row? Yes, please!

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I’ve been testing a lot of Charlotte Tilbury makeup goodies lately: the MATTE Revolution lipsticks ( Sexy Sienna, Amazing Grace ), the Colour-Coded eyeshadow palettes ( The Sophisticate, The Dolce Vita, The Uptown Girl ), some of the blushes ( First Love and Love Glow ), and a few other items on which I will upload reviews pretty soon. I was beyond pleased with everything I’ve tried this far and I really think that in terms of luxury makeup, the Charlotte Tilbury really lives up to her claims and it’s definitely a good investment!

So it was only normal to get the Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow Face Sculpt & Highlight, one of her most hyped products along with the Lip Cheat lip liner in Pillow Talk ( another one I adore and I’ve used every day since I got it! ).

This is a gorgeous product! Inside AND outside!

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Just take a look at this beyond amazing packaging! I really am familiar with the iconic rose gold Charlotte Tilbury packaging, but the attention to details on this one is absolutely glorious! Just… No! I’m not saying anything else! Just look at it!…

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And when you open it, that’s when the magic starts to work!

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The Highlighter is a pale, champagne beige, a soft golden, ethereal colour which will give you the most natural and angelic glow to you face. It blends effortlessly into the most beautiful luminous satin finish.

I’ve heard mixed reviews on this one though! Some said Charlotte Tilbury should’ve released them separately because the highlighter isn’t as great as the bronzer, because it really accentuate pores and imperfections! That never happen to me, not even once!

It’s such a different highlighter from all the highlighting products I have in my makeup collection and one of my most practicals, up there with my all-time favourite Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Palette. And that’s mainly because of the excellent bronzing powder that accompanies it…

The Sculpt/Bronzer is a light to medium tan, a soft and smooth warm bronzing colour with the most subtle warm undertones and the most beautiful satin finish. It will never turn orange ( my main concern! ) on you no matter how much you apply. The powder is so soft and it blends into your base like a dream.

I’m not the biggest fan of shimmery bronzing products but the soft shimmer particles you see in the pan barely translate on your skin.

I wouldn’t recommend it for those with medium to dark skin though, because I think that it’s simply too light of a colour for such skin types to show on!

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Both the Bronzer and the Highlighter come in the same packaging but cleverly divided so that they can be used without making any mess! They work so well together and you can never go wrong with any of it! So I think this would be such an excellent travel companion. In fact, it will definitely come with me in my upcoming Milan trip!

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To make everything look even more natural and flawless, they way Charlotte Tilbury said her products were created for, I use her Powder & Sculpt Brush, a tapered brush made of natural goat hairs, encased in a rose gold barrel and night crimson handle. It is not the softest brush you’ll ever try ( if you’d ask me I would have preferred it a tad softer ), but maybe because of that reason its relatively stiff hairs manage to pick up and distribute the right amount of product to serve your needs! It applies and blends your bronzer flawlessly, making the often times tricky contouring game such an easy step in my everyday makeup routine! The tapered tip is somewhat more loose which allows an effortless and uniform blending for both bronzer and highlight!

Bottom line: I absolutely love the Charoltte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow for all the reasons above and I couldn’t recommend it enough!

See you soon, beautiful!

Lots of xx,

Annie

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Mami și Zâna

Mami și Zâna

... life with a Fairy A new beginning... And so the magical adventure begins! xx, Annie

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