The NARS Domination Cheek Palette

Long time no post! If you follow me on Instagram then you may know that I'm currently in America and I did have a few posts ready to go but travels have just got in the way! Anyway read on for some blush-tastic fun.

I'm sure a lot of you out there will agree with me that when it comes to blush, NARS seriously knows their stuff. They're pigmented as all..everything, they apply beautifully and come in a range of shades both shimmer and matte. Each time NARS has launched a cheek palette in Australia they have sold out ridiculously quickly or just haven't even made their way to our counters so I've always missed out. Until now. One glorious day, @beautylocale welcomed a very exciting new Instagram follower- the beautiful people at @narsissist. There were squeals, an excited morning dance and a message offering a thank you gift for being such a devoted fan. Well I'm hardly going to say no am I?!

I was kindly sent the Domination Cheek palette which just made my day. The palette contains two blushes, a highlight and the forever cult- Laguna bronzer which was actually my first ever high end makeup purchase! Their two cult classics- Laguna and Orgasm blush are the larger of the four in the palette but they're the two I think I would get most use from anyway. I'd always steered away from shimmery blushes thinking they would just draw attention to any uneven texture on my skin but from a deluxe sample size of Orgasm in the Beautyloop box before last, all that has changed. I've found myself reaching for it very regularly and love the way it looks especially now the weather is warming up.

I haven't properly cracked this open for use but I did do a quick swatch for this post. No surprise the colours are gorgeous, quality is most definitely there and I have not one bad word to say about it.

Devotee, Orgasm, Mistinguette & Laguna

Source

Ps. Any Orange Is The New Black fans out there will 100% understand this picture but I just couldn't think of any better way to sum up my feelings towards this palette.

New in | NARS Audacious Lipsticks

You know you have beautiful friends in your life when an after work Mecca swatch session becomes a mental note for future birthday gifts. This was the case for me when one of my work pals turned up with that familiar eggplant shade of shopping bag and handed me makeup heaven from MeccaCosmetica. Inside contained the new Nars Audacious lipsticks. Two of them in fact. You can imagine the internal silent squeals at my desk. They happened. Anyway she knows how grateful I am and all the feels so let's crack on with the beauty.. crack..?

Barbara & Fanny

Nars' most recent launch of their Audacious lipsticks and liners created quite a kerfuffle in the beautysphere I must say. I'm not sure if it was because they got a total revamp in packaging, stamping the lot or if a new Nars launch is just that exciting. I think it may be a little of column A and a little of column B. The range was launched with 30 shades each named with a womans' name so added excitement points if one of them is yours! There's nudes, oranges, reds, pinks, vampy, they've launched them all so there's something for everyone.

On an Instagram trawl I'd spotted the shade Fanny but we all know that sometimes in photos colours can look a little off, especially for lipsticks and blushes. Not in this case; I flipped over almost every lipstick I thought was close in colour until I found her- Fanny; a beautiful deep raspberry shade I would say but not too wintery, it's definitely wearable in all months.

Barbara

The second shade she chose was Barbara-a beautiful brown toned nude, right up my alley! Apparently she wanted to get my Anita which we'd both admired in store but was told that Anita was a popular gal and sold out. Doesn't bother me, Barbara is a beautiful lady! I was worried it was going to be too nude on my pale skin but no issues whatsoever, it's perfect.

L- Fanny, R- Barbara

These lipsticks glide on, feel super comfortable on the lips and are easy to reapply. They retail for $44 each from MeccaCosmetica.

The Wedding Face

Last week one of my beautiful friends, Michelle was attending a wedding and asked me to do her face for her. Of course I was more than happy to and she was also kind enough to let me photograph before and after and now she may be making future appearances on this blog
Her dress was a coral, lilac print and she wanted a purple toned eye to complement both her dress and lovely green eyes. For a Summer wedding I thought a nice soft purple eye would be appropriate and a few quick tweaks later on could take the look into the evening.

I started with Benefit's Porefessional Primer around the nose and a bit down the T-zone and prepped her eyes using Urban Decay's Original Primer Potion. As a base I used Maybelline 24hr Eye Tattoo in Barely Branded seeing as these things last for hours and hours. For the most part of the eyes I used a L'Oreal trio in 405- Stay Ultra Violet, Tease from the Naked 2 palette through the crease, Bootycall as a brow highlight and a touch of this iridescent LA splash glitter on the inner third of the lid for an extra touch of glitz and glamour! A small cat eye using Maybelline gel liner, a few lashings of Jordana's Best Lash Extreme and finally L'Oreal infallible eyeshadow in Purple Obsession smudged into the bottom lash line.

Brows were done using Wet n Wild Brow kit, some subtle bronzing around the edges of the face with MAC Matte bronzing powder and Nars Amour blush on the cheeks for a gorgeous pink glow.

As Michelle is slightly more pale than I am, I used her own foundation which was Napoleon Perdis Advanced Mineral Makeup liquid foundation and set her whole face using the Camera Finish powder.

A spritz of Urban Decay 'Chill' setting spray and voila! She was ready.

All of the brushes used were either Real Techniques, Sigma or Bdellium. I know this is a very brief rundown but I wanted to share this anyway. Maybe in the future I'll do a more step by step but usually I just wing it and make it up as I go along!