I’m still reasonably new to this blogging malarchy – it’s not even The Beauty Foodie’s first birthday yet! Today I was kinda chuffed to get my first ever tag by not one, but two fellow bloggers: The lovely Christel from Makeupper and from Sarah at Lily Mint Blog. Two great blogs to check out!

The Seven Deadly Sins of Makeup

1. Greed: What is your most expensive beauty item?

I’m honestly not copying Christel, it’s just we are into the same stuff. Mine is also my MAC eyeshadow collection. There’s around 18 of ’em and I’m feeling ill at the thought that most of these cost NZ$38 each. I’m not a makeup artist, I don’t do this for a crust, albeit I take the occasional client through word of mouth. This is just a super expensive hobby that gets a little out of hand sometimes. Thank goodness Hubby doesn’t read this blog. Gulp, I hope Mum doesn’t… I’m feeling ill. The good news is: There’s no MAC eyeshadows on my wish list at the moment, but if there was, I’d be buying these out of the USA via the Mac website and using You Shop to get ’em to NZ. I’ve smartened up! Why are they so good? They are colour pay-off is intense, they wear well and MAC’s range of eyeshadow colours is unrivaled by any other cosmetic brand – except, perhaps, Inglot (see the answer to number 3!).

2. Wrath: What item do you have a love/hate relationship with?

Gel/Liquid eyeliner. I’m pretty rubbish at putting it on and on the odd occasion I take a makeup client and they specifically ask for a cat eye/winged out eyeliner… A little bit of me dies inside. I don’t particularly cock it up: I should back myself a little more! I’m just so pedantic it takes me forever to get it perfect. Part of the problem is that I’m getting old and my upper eyelids are starting to get a bit wrinkly and it’s getting harder and harder to get a perfectly straight line! I’ve worked out that if I pull my eyelid taut and then apply the liner it’s easier: I’ve just got to suck up that the dragging causes premature aging (it’s too bloody late, I figure). So why wear it? It looks fabulous, makes my eyelashes look thicker and fuller than they really are and, besides, I reckon I’ve only got a small window of opportunity left before I’m definitely too old to pull the gel/liquid look off!

3. Gluttony: Which brand of makeup takes up most of your collection?

That’s easy. MAC! When I first discovered makeup I watched a plethora of You Tube videos and read a tonne of makeup tutorials that featured mainly MAC, so I got hooked on wanting to recreate the same look. MAC is fabulous, don’t get me wrong, but for us Kiwis, it’s pretty pricey. I reckon there’s more affordable brands out there that are just as good. I hasten to add that, if the makeup brand Inglot was readily available in NZ, or they shipped to NZ, my answer to this question would be very different. If you are lucky enough to live within easy distance of an Inglot store and have been meaning to check it out: Get your skates on. Their eyeshadows, blush, lipsticks and makeup brushes are the best of any brand I own. Their offerings rival MAC and they are a fraction of the price. I have seriously considered a long weekend in Melbourne just to do a massive makeup haul! Here’s a quick look at my Inglot eyeshadow palette. It’s a beautiful thing.

4. Sloth: What product do you neglect the most due to laziness?

This was the hardest question: Most days I wear a full face and go the whole hog. I have little patience for lipgloss. I feel like that is the lamest answer ever!!

5. Pride: What product gives you the most confidence?

That’s easy: Eyelash curler. I’m lucky I’ve got very long and reasonably thick eyelashes. I’m not so lucky that they hang straight down, like a cow’s eyelashes. If my eyelash aren’t curled you can’t even tell I’ve got any. Check out the photo of me looking spectacularly grumpy – it’s pretty obvious which eye has curled eyelashes! Big difference, right? Some other things that are really important when it comes to this kind of thing are eyelash lift and tint – they’re not to be forgotten when establishing a beauty regimen. I got my first eyelash curler when I was 13 years on a holiday in England. I’ve pretty much curled my eyelashes every day since: Including the three years when I lived in a tent in Europe (That’s a whole different blogpost!) The best eyelash curler known to man is the Shu Uemura brand – and believe me, I’ve tried hundreds of curlers over the years. I got my Shu Uemura eyelash curler in Singapore last year, but you can get them online. Strawberry Net often have them. They are the best $30 you’ll ever spend on a beauty item.

6. Lust: Which item is at the top of your beauty list?

I have beauty wish lists everywhere. There’s one on my iPad, on my iPhone and, quietly, there’s one in my work notebook… Every now and then I find myself drifting off to a happy land filled with eyeshadows and blush and I think “ooh, I would like to get _____” and I jot it down before I forget. Unfortunately it’s rather like the Magic Porridge Pot, i.e. the list always overflows. Top of the list though is some makeup brushes from Sigma – I’ve been poking around on their website for hours looking at their collections and this is the set that jumps out. One day.

7 Envy: Which makeup product/look is great on others but not on you?

MAC’s Woodwinked eyeshadow. This would be one of my favourite ever eyeshadows. It’s an intense gold/bronze colour that, when blended out, has an almost duo-chrome effect to it. It’s incredibly beautiful: On everyone except me. On my pale skin, which has a slight yellow undertone, it looks positively orange and I look ill! I pull it out fairly regularly though and use it on my friends or the odd makeover client I might have and it’s it’s breathtakingly beautiful. Just a lick of black eyeliner and you are good to go. I also like this with paired with a teal green eyeliner: A fresh summery look. If you’ve got blue eyes: This is a Must Have. But Woodwinked on me? Yeah nah.

Beauty tags – Fun! I enjoyed that and I hope you did too! Who do I tag? Sadia you are it! http://stylinspire.com/