My favourites

Warm Burgundy Eyeshadow Tutorial ft MAC Sketch

SAMSUNG CSCI was conscious that I haven’t blogged a step-by-step eyeshadow tutorial for a while now. When I was expressing my love for MAC’s Sketch eyeshadow in my July Favourites blog post I had a lightbulb moment: I should do an eyeshadow tutorial featuring my beloved Sketch! Sorted.

What’s so special about Sketch, you might ask? Firstly it’s a beautiful plum/burgundy shade which suits all eye colours.  On blue eyes it makes baby blues ‘pop’; Sketch compliments brown eyes nicely and as for green eyed gals, it makes green eyes look, well, intensely green. It’s just gorgeous.  I also find Sketch really versatile: You can wear it on it’s own, all over the eyelid blended out really well, or you an pair it with purples/golds/pinks/browns. It really is a gem of an eyeshadow! (more…)

My Favourite Things – July

Before I forget… You know how I was really grumpy in that blog post about that Schwarzkoph shampoo and conditioner that made my hair look like Worzel Gummidge’s? That story had a semi-happy ending: The conditioner is very effective as a shaving cream to shave my legs. All is not lost.

Now I’ve remembered that, lets get into this month’s beauty foodie favourites. (more…)

Shampoo and Conditioners: Supermarket vs Salon – A pricey experiment!

Scharzkoph's offering left, Dove in the centre, my beloved L'oreal Vitamino on the right.
Scharzkoph’s offering left, Dove in the centre, my beloved L’oreal Vitamino on the right.

Ordinarily, I’m a hair snob and I nearly always buy salon shampoo and conditioner. However, every now and then I get sucked in by a snazzy looking marketing campaign, or unexpected bills roll in and my beloved L’oreal Vitamino is temporarily out of my price range. In this situation, Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to New World I go.

In the past few months I’ve tried two supermarket shampoos and conditioners: Dove’s Colour Radiance Range and, more recently, I road tested Schwarzkopf Essence Ultime Diamond Color range following an awesome PR and marketing campaign. Marketing campaigns can be incredibly powerful in influencing the consumer to purchase a particular product – using an SEO agency, like Victorious, could help businesses further their online presence especially when it comes to how they rank on search engine results. How did I go? Let’s just say one range came up trumps and is a definite repurchase, the other one had me muttering vile swear words as I tried to untangle newly formed dreadlocks that left me looking like Worzel Gummidge. (more…)

My Favourite Things – June

You know the drill! Here’s what was spinning my beauty foodie wheels in June!

VO5 Give me texture rervi

VO5 Give Me Texture – My hair is quite fine, super soft and when it’s freshly washed it’s so silky, flat and unmanageable my hair slides straight out of pony tail. It’s a hard life. My hair dresser used a texturizing powder on me recently that I wish I’d bought, so in between hairdressers appointments I thought I’d try this cheap version. It works a bit like dry shampoo, but instead of spraying the product onto the roots you sprinkle the powder on and rub it in with your fingertips. The result is volumised hair that has loads of ‘oomph’, texture, life and, in my case, hair that will behave itself in a pony tail/messy bun/whatever-style-takes-my-fancy. I find the roots of my hair feel quite ‘gritty’, almost dirty, when I sprinkle the product on, but that’s good: That’s what gives it texture and grip. All in all, the product does what it says it will, it smells great and it’s $7 from the supermarket. Score. Incidentally I also bought the VO5 Smoothly Does It, Tame and Shine spray. Sadly, that gets my thumbs down as it doesn’t tame my fly-aways like it said it would. (more…)

Five Minute Face – When going out au naturel isn’t an option

5 min makeupOne of the design faults of my personality type is that I seriously under estimate how long things are going to take. I am frequently running late and I totally stress myself out and it’s entirely self inflicted! Aggh.  Here’s a classic example:  At 10.00am on Sunday morning I organised to meet my Mum for coffee at 11.00am. “Tonnes of time” I thought. Then, nek minnit (Kiwi speak for next minute, FYI), it’s 10.40am, I am still in my PJs, I haven’t washed my face let alone whacked a face on.  Believe it or not, I’m not adverse to going out in public with no makeup on: I do it often. But, on this particular day, I looked haggard, tired and my eyelids were unusually puffy. Heading to our local cafe au naturel , frankly, wasn’t an option. So, first I invested approximately four minutes in face washing/prepping (skipping this isn’t negotiable) then I pulled out my five minute makeup face.  Here’s what I did.

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My Favourite Things – May

You know the drill – right? Here’s the beauty foodie finds that have been floating my boat this month.  Another eclectic round up… Did you expect anything less?

Elf Shine Eraser Blotting Sheets

Elf Shine Eraser Blotting SheetsElf oil blotting sheetsI get a super shiny face during the day and really detest having to re-powder my face to take the shine away. Then I discovered Elf’s blotting sheets! These are little pieces of oil absorbent paper which you press onto the shiny parts of your face to soak up excess oil and remove shine. Check out my dedicated product review photo, mid demonstration.  Despite having read bad reviews on this particular product, I thought for NZ$3 I’d live on the edge and give them a whirl. I’m glad I did: I reckon they are fab! Check out my demo photos. Bonus marks for not smudging my makeup either. These are a must have in my handbag: Top marks. Price: $3 from Kmart. (PS I’ve heard that Starbucks napkins make fabulous blotting sheets… Anyone tried these?! I’m nervous mentioning that… I’ve got visions of Starbucks experiencing a surge in popularity next week, followed by a sudden and unexplained mass exodus of their serviettes… (more…)

Seven Deadly Sins of Makeup – Beauty Tag

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?

MAC makeupI’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!). (more…)

Art Deco Makeup – Hit or Miss?

Art Deco makeup review nz

Have you heard of German cosmetics brand Art Deco? I’m not surprised if you haven’t, this has to be one of the most underrated makeup brands outside of Europe! So please, let me enlighten you: Art Deco is the cosmetics market leader in Germany and a best seller in Europe. Having lived in Germany and other parts of Europe, Art Deco is a brand I loved and used a lot of ‘back in the day’.  So, as you can imagine, I was jumping for joy when Farmers announced they’d be stocking Art Deco at some stores in NZ last year. Their range is comprehensive, there’s a mineral makeup collection, foundations, eyeliners, blush… Look, you name it, they’ve got it. My favourites are the colourful array of sixty-something eyeshadows which you can purchase individually, or make up your own little cosmetics palette: Blinkin’ genius.

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