Avoiding Flashback!

Recently the UK press have been having a field day over a photo of Angelina Jolie at The Normal Heart premier with a white substance on her face and neck.

This is the photo

The press have been commenting about how her makeup artist should be sacked for not blending correctly and that Brad was mean for not telling her she had white powder on her face … neither of which are accurate.

The powder that was used is likely to be a HD (silica based) powder, these are amazing and flawless in natural light and with HD cameras but flash photography will cause a white appearance.

I’ve been caught out by this myself …

Yep, I learnt the hard way about HD powders under flash photography!

To the naked eye, these powders create a flawless appearance. They are usually very finely milled and so are perfect for setting concealer in problematic areas. Just don’t use them if you’re going to be photographed with a flash!

Whilst HD (silica based) powders will cause this extreme white effect, it isn’t the only makeup that can problems under a flash. Foundations with high levels of SPF, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide or with ‘light reflecting’ qualities can also cause flashback, it won’t be as intense as the photos above but it will cause a bright appearance to your face in pictures.

Some excellent foundations which don’t cause flashback

Illamasqua Skin Base – Full Coverage
M.A.C Face and Body – Build-able coverage
Chanel Perfection Lumier – Full Coverage
Rimmel Lasting Finish 25hr – medium coverage

I hope you’ve found that helpful in assisting to avoid white face photo syndrome!

Kisses
Alyssa xx

Urban Decay Electric Pressed Pigment Palette

Well, they’ve done it again.

Urban Decay bash it out of the park on a regular basis with their palettes and this is no exception.

The Electric palette is everything I wanted it to be and more. The colours are the bright, vibrant, smooth formula that you would expect from Urban Decay but with an added Jooosh that I wasn’t expecting.

I’ve swatched the colours below for you to see, the top row is with no primer, 2nd row on Urban Decay Primer Potion and the bottom row has been put over the NYX jumbo pencil in Milk. I photographed with and without flash to give you the best representation possible.

I was brought this as a gift from a very good friend yesterday and have spent all morning playing with it and creating looks on face charts.

Due to the very nature of the fact that they are pressed pigments, you can expect fallout from this palette. I combat this by using a sticky base, packing the colour rather than sweeping it and completing my eye makeup before my base to allow any fallout to be removed.

That said, the formula is incredibly soft which makes blending them very easy and the colours all compliment each other very well.

I currently have this look on my face

Created using Slowburn, Savage, Jilted and Urban. I’m also wearing 24/7 liquid liner in Perversion on my lid and 24/7 Zero in my waterline and under eye.

I love this colourful look and will be creating many more with this palette. At £38 for 10 eyeshadows and a double ended brush, I think this is a must have for any makeup lover!!

You can buy yours here! where for a limited time you get a 10% discount!!

How are you wearing yours?

Kisses
Alyssa xx

Golden Eyes

 

The products that I used to create this look are as follows ..

Base

MAC Studio Sculpt SPF 15 in NC15

MAC Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder

MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC15

Benefit Thrrrob blusher (Discontinued *sob*)

Eyes

Maybelline 24hr Colour Tattoo in 05 Eternal Gold

Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Half Baked (Gold)

Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Twice Baked (Dark Brown)

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil in Zero

Benefit ‘They’re Real’ Mascara

Ardell Duralash Individual Eyelash Extensions in Flare

Lips

MAC Lip Pencil in Cherry

MAC Lipstick in Lady Danger

Hope that you find this helpful!

With Love

Alyssa xx

Make me beautiful …

I’m sure that pretty much every woman has ‘go to’ beauty buys, the items that you just can’t live without. When I got to thinking about mine, I realised that I actually have quite a few products that I buy on a fairly regular basis.

I wear makeup every single day, as I have naturally dry and sensitive skin this means that I have to use a really intense moisturising product. Fortunately, Clinique have provided the perfect solution in Moisture Surge

I cannot rave about this product enough. It is a really lightweight gel (it also comes in a spray for holiday – LOVE IT!) that it soaks perfectly into your skin. I apply this every morning underneath my foundation and every evening before I go to bed to keep my face silky soft.

I know that for a lot of girls ‘less is more’ when it comes to foundation but I like a full coverage. I was a huge fan of Clinique’s Repair Wear foundation until they discontinued my shade (Alabaster) recently. I will admit to having a mini-breakdown when they first announced that they were discontinuing the colour. However, since then I have discovered that I am a big fan of Estee Lauder’s Double Wear Foundation

I use shade 1C1 Shell as I am a very pale skinned girl. This foundation is more expensive than my previous one at nearly £25 a bottle, the texture of it means that I need to use a lot less to get the full coverage that I like.

I also set my foundation with powder (I did say that I like a full coverage) and have recently stumbled upon Benefit’s “Hello Flawless” Concealer/Powder and I LOVE it.

‘Champagne’ is the colour that best suits my skin tone in this product. I love the versatility of this powder. It comes with both a brush for lighter coverage and a sponge for a full coverage effect. A definite winner in my book!

One of my pet hates is bad eyeliner, I prefer the softer line of a pencil eyeliner as I find a liquid can be too harsh but had difficulty finding a product that didn’t just smudge off during the day. That was until I discovered Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner. These are, in my opinion, the best eyeliner on the market at the moment.

Look at all the fabulous colours!! I have this collection and I use it all the time, the pencils are soft and do literally ‘Glide-On’ Urban Decay got the name spot on! They smudge well to create smokey eyes and also stay on the water line … I think I’ve raved about these enough now. Just buy them, you won’t be disappointed!

Being naturally fair-haired, I cannot leave the house without Mascara. Without lashings of the black stuff on my stumpy little eyelashes my eyes look like ‘pissholes in the snow’ which is really not very attractive! My weapon of choice to rectify this is Lancome’s Hypnose Mascara

This is a thick mascara which comes on a heavily bristled brush and creates a really full dramatic effect on the eye. When I go ‘out, out’ I always wear false eyelashes but for day-to-day wear this Mascara is a winner.

Last but not least, I cannot live without Carmex. In my opinion it is the best lip moisturiser on the market. My preference is for the cherry variety and I prefer the tubes to the pots as I have false nails which get stuck in the pots.

I love that it smells so strong that people tell me  I smell of cherries when they come and speak to me.

So, that’s it, you now know the beauty products that I just can’t live without!

You can buy all of the products that I have  mentioned at www.boots.com apart from the Urban Decay pencils which you can buy here http://www.urbandecay.co.uk/

I hope that you found it helpful, if you have any questions then please post a comment and I will get back to you

Love and Kisses

Lyss xx