MAC-Mineral Skinfinish Natural

I think that there are already enough reviews about these powders, but I wanted to write one for a specific reason.

This should help all the people out there who have really dry skin and normally have to stay away from powders in general.
When you have dry skin, then powder can sometimes cause patchy areas on your skin. This is not looking nice and definitely this is far away from the glowy skin we are all trying to reach for.

Sometimes I hear people say: “Why do you want to use powder, you are not going to have any shine on your face?!” Well, probably that’s true. Normally (as long as I’m not sweating) I won’t have shiny parts, but preventing this is not the only purpose of powder. Powder is also used to sat your foundation, to make it last longer.
AND I know that some people (and I’m also talking about men), do not want to use liquid foundation for several reasons, but they still want to have something to put on their skin!

If you are struggling with powder because of your dry skin, then please try a mineralized powder! You don’t have to use this MAC version (e.g. the Laura Mercier one is also great).
Powders based on minerals are working regardless which skintype you have, but it’s especially great for the dryer ones.

Let me say one important thing: This powder is not giving you high coverage. However it is able to make your skin look nice! If you have very problematic skin, you probably won’t feel satisfied by just using this powder, but it will make your skin look better.
I for one, will still have the redness on my cheeks showing through (that’s why I use my foundation underneath), but my skin is somehow looking very even! I don’t know exactly how this works, but it gives me this healthy look…

I’ve heard a couple of times, that the mineralized powders by MAC are not really mineral based. The minerals included would represent just a little portion of the powder, but I can’t check if that is true!

I can say that this is the powder I’ve been using for a couple of month and I really like the quality of it.

Thumbs up for minerals ;o)

KATY PERRY INSPIRED- Everyday Makeup II

As I've promissed I would show the picture that inspired me to do my latest Makeup-Tutorial right here on my Blog.

Here it is...

I think Katy Perry is always looking gorgeous, but her looks are not easy to wear, unless you are a celebrity and perform at the VMAs. This look really is one of her neutral looks, yet still somehow special.

The key to this look obviously is the lip colour, which is looking amazing. I couldn't find any color that was exacly looking like Katys lipstick, but I think Jade Maybelline-Fresh Peach (which is the color I used) is a close version.

If you haven't seen this video, you just have to click HERE!


NOTE:
I don't own the copyright of the picture.

Want soft & kissable lips? Bobbi Brown can help you!

I’m talking (writing) about the by far best lipbalm I’ve used (trust me I’ve tried lots) and it’s by far the most expensive.
It cost € 19,- and probably I wouldn’t even have thought about trying this, when I would have noticed the price earlier.
I met my lovely lip moisturizer, during a makeup session at my favored Beauty-Store.
I had really badly dry lips by that time, but I wanted a look with reddish lips.
Since red lips are not looking attractive in combination with chappy lips, my makeup girl put something on my lips. I decided it probably was regular Vaseline.
My makeup was done and my lips looked perfect!
On the next day my lips were still looking & feeling super moisturized, even though I brushed my teeth; washed my face and so on…
I know that Vaseline is doing a good job on my lips, but it’s not that good.
Therefore I’ve been to the Beauty-Store again and asked my makeup girl what she used.

Here you can see what she gave me…

From this day on, I’ve used this constantly each morning.
Within 3 month I just used a tiny amount, I guess you can tell that it’s still nearly full.
As much as I really love this, I have to mention one negativity.
It smells like roses and everything fragranced is a risk for people with sensitive lips/skin.
I haven’t had any problems, but the potential breakout is given.

As far as I know Bobbi Brown does not offer different colors and even though if it looks slightly rosish it goes on neutral.

The consistency is very thick, I figured out, that it’s the best to use the warmth of my fingers to apply it evenly.

That’s it for now and I wish you a lot of “smoothed lips”-days.

I've uploaded another tutorial based on a Halloween-Look to my YouTube Channel.

This time it's a fantasy inspired look: A Fairy!!!

And here you have a little sneek peek of my flowery fairy:

As promised in the video I'm giving you a list of the products I've used:

NYX

JUMBO EYE PENCIL in Milk

FALSE LASHES called Breeze

ARTDECO

MINERAL KAJAL LINER no.98

EYESHADOWS no. 046, 034, 527, 059, 038

JADE MAYBELLINE

LIQUID LINE DEFINER in Black

MOISTURE EXTREME LIPSTICK in Satin Sunrise

BOBBI BROWN

SHIMMERR BLUSH in Candy Sugar

CLINIQUE

LASH DOUBLING MASCARA in Black

Let's invite some Fairy-Spirit to our lifes...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

My Makeup & Beauty Books

I was actually going to film my third tutorial for Halloween inspired looks, but I have sore throat like never before and therefore it’s almost impossible for me to speak today. But I’m not going to have a lazy day, instead of filming I’m going to write this post and it’s going to be about make-up books, I have bought over the past years.

I know that a lot of women are thinking about buying those books, because they want some key informations, which are normally reserved to the make-up artists. Especially when you are very new to make-up, these books can be of great help!
I hope that I can help you at least a little bit, by giving you an idea of the content of the make-up related books on my bookshelf.

Let’s start with the first book I’ve bought: SCOTT BARNES-ABOUT FACE

I’m a bit disappointed when it comes to this book, yet I really like it! I’m disappointed because of the overall amazing reviews, which have built to high expectations with me. However I really like it on the other hand.
If I would have to describe the content of this book with just one sentence it would be this one: “It’s all about contouring!”
Creating an entire book based on that is a little too much in my opinion. You will see the same thing over and over, just on different women of different age and skin.
Don’t get me wrong. I think that being able to understand & use contouring can do wonders to a face, but I think it would have been enough to give 3-5 examples to describe contouring. You are not really going to learn anything new after the first 15 pages, in my opinion.
But what you can learn is great and easy to understand. The pictures included in this book are awesome.
If you are pretty new to make-up and you want to learn the basics for a nice look, then I would not recommend to decide for this one. I’m not even sure if this is what I would recommend to a person with solid skills. I think this book is just helpful, if you want to create perfect makeup for photos and so on. If you just want to improve your daily make-up routine this is not the right thing for you.
But if you are really into make-up and want to get to know how the make-up, you can see on the red carpet is done, then you should have a look. And even though if I’m not a make-up artist, I think that this would be useful for those who work in that branch.
But I have to make one thing clear, I really do like this book. I love to do the make-up of friends/family members and to show them what kind of transformation is possible, with the help of the right techniques, which you can learn by following the steps shown in this book, is amazing.

Let’s have a look inside…

I think this is truly the most amazing before and after look!

And here you can see a few of the steps needed to create those beautiful results...

There is one thing that really confuses me, each attendant who gets done the make-up, is giving an interview based on their private life. I don’t know what the idea behind that is. Truly you should relate to those women and think by reading something about their personal situation, that this also could be you. To be honest, no one is doing something so time consuming, before they go to work, bring the kids to school or keep the house clean! But that’s just my opinion. The quality of the shown content is great, but maybe just useful for a few women.

The second book I’ve got was this one: SEPHORA-THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO MAKEUP, SKIN AND HAIR

Besides the fact that it seems to be a little unorganized, I have nothing bad to say about this book. You will get information on little secrets, instructions to certain looks, healthy living advices, skincare tips and so much more! Sure it’s a little self-advertisingly with all the mentioned products and beauty tools, but this is also helpful. There is also included a huge brush guide and I know that this is something often requested. What I found really interesting was the look inside the “beauty-bag” of a make-up artist. Normally I’m not such a curious person, but getting this inside view is something always mystical to me.
This book is nice if you want to get to know something about everything beauty related. The product informations in my opinion are helpful, if you like to get to know in general, what the huge range of beauty products is offering, cause this can be overwhelming sometimes and you just don’t know where to start!

Let me show you what’s inside…

My favorite book is this one: BOBBI BROWN-MAKEUP MANUAL

This book is meant to be “For Everyone from Beginner to Pro”. I can totally support that! A lot of looks are shown and I love the fact, that Bobbi Brown always tried to use the fewest products possible. You will find everything starting with a teen look up to a bridal makeup. In addition this book helps you to find the right foundation, determine your skintype, get healthy skin…
If you are a makeup-artist you can see what you need to have with you in your kit and how to get into the business.
There is nothing negative I could mention and I can’t imagine how someone would not love this book.

Here you have an example…

The last book I’m going to introduce today is: LINDA MASON-EYE CANDY

This book shows 55 makeup looks. BUT you need to have some sense of artistry in your veins to like these looks or better say the style of photography.

Let me show you what I mean…

I’m sure this is not described as a typical beautiful makeup. I don’t think that there are a lot of wearable daily-looks included either, but I think this book can be an inspiration and is really meant to be art.

Of course there are so much more beauty/makeup related books on the market and I’m probably getting to call some of them my own in the future, but maybe you have found a book that seems to be worth it to have a closer look on.

I hope you enjoy browsing through the books…

NOTE: I don't own the copyright of the content of the photos, the copyright belongs to the authors and makeup artists!

Halloween-Tutorial: Alexis "The Beast" Carrington

I’ve uploaded a new Video to my YouTube-Channel and this is the very first of my planned “Halloween”-Tutorials. I don’t know how many additional Tutorials I’m able to create, because of a constant lack of time. I hope there are going to be at least 2 more “Halloween”-Looks, since I have a couple of nice ideas made up in my mind…

Since I’m a huge fan of old “soap-operas” I wanted to do a Halloween-Tutorial inspired by one of the television legends and my pick was Alexis Carrington from Dynasty. You know the good old “Beast”, that basically every soap opera somehow includes to their cast, but in my opinion there was never a “Beast” as good as Alexis.
Even though no one really likes the mean and teasing characters, they always have their fans and are still unforgotten.

Make-up wise this Tutorial is showing the typical 80’s look. I would like to describe it as “TOO MUCH OF EVERYTHING” and definitely not wearable anymore for everyday, but fun to wear for special occasion like a Costume-Party and Halloween.

Here you have the pictures I used as an inspirational help…




And here you have the sneak peek of the video, showing you how to do the “Alexis-look”… (if you want to see the entire video, please visit my YouTube-Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/PreciousLilies?feature=mhum )

As I have promised in the video I’m giving you the list of products used for this look and a little summary of its purpose:

EYES:
• Artdeco-Eyeshadows:
o No 46 (for highlighting underneath the eyebrows + inner half of lid + tear duck)
o No 287 (all over the lid + crease + lower lash line)
o No 288 (upper & lower lash line)
o No 503 (thin line on upper & lower lash line)
• Artdeco-Mineral Kajal Liner no 98 (waterline)
• Clinique-Cream Shaper For Eyes no 1/black (upper & lower lash line)
• Clinique-Lash Doubling Mascara no 1/black (upper & lower lashes)

LIPS:
• Jade Maybelline-Moisturizing Lip Liner no 54/bordeaux (contour of lips)
• Esprit-Moisture Color Lipstick no 208/bohemian pink (all over lip color)
• Esprit- Moisture Color Lipstick no 200/cute rose (centre of lips)

BLUSH:
• Bobbi Brown-Bronzing Powder no 1/golden light (first blush color + contouring)
• Bobbi Brown-Blush in no 10/blushed (top blush color)


That’s it for now…have fun with this look…:)

NOTE: I do not own the copy right of the picture from Joan Collins.

For those "Nighttime-Nailpainters"...

I think a lot of girls will feel related to me, when I’m saying: “I like to paint my nails right before I go to bed or (even worth) 5 min before I have to leave the house!”
If you can’t understand this situation, let me explain: It’s not that I forget to paint my nails, during the day. My planned time management, just always gets destroyed by random things and then those less important things are waiting at the end of the long “to-do list”. Therefore I regularly get into situations, where I do not have enough time to do my nails…but I will try to organize my time schedule a little better ;)

Till I have reached the perfect “Nail-Painting-Behavior”, I’m sticking to a super time saving method with the help of this little assistant!

This is the “P2-Quick Dry Spray” and by knowing the name, you will immediately get the idea of its purpose.

Dry nails in 1 minute and I’m talking about really dry. Dry in such a way, that you can do all the work you have to do!
Let me mention something additionally positive. Not only that it smells completely neutral like “fresh air” it also neutralizes the typical (potential) nailpolish smell.

Since I don’t know how those sprays work, I was a little worried that they contain some really harsh ingredients, which could actually irritate the skin, but I haven’t noticed anything like this (nor with one of the other sprays I’ve tried before).

Now to the practical part, with the help of a self-made instruction:

1. Paint your nails with some nice color.
2. Remove the cap of the spray-bottle (of course).
3. Locate the spray-bottle in a distance of 10 cm to your nails.
4. Spray once for each nail (oriented to the centre of the nail).
5. Wait one minute and you are good to go.
6. If you have to apply a second coat of nailpolish, now would be the time to do so. In this case start again with position no 1.

Let me know if this was helpful, but I think (when you are as nailpolish addicted like I am) you’ll love it!

I wish you happy colorful nailpainting :)

CLINIQUE - 3 Step Skincare System (skin type 1)

I know that this is a skincare line, which is very famous. However I haven’t found many reviews about it, but I think it’s worth it to write one.
This is the very first “product” I’ve bought in general from Clinique and the first after a very long time of “make-up abstinence”, too!

First of all, let me tell you how I got into loving this skincare system…
Due to my allergies and bad health condition I had to stay away from all those beautylishes things. I was forced to only use “prescription-cremes” for over a year and after that phase I had certain options to try from the pharmacy, by advice of my dermatologist. Long story short: Non of them worked!
Different problems occurred, with all the different pharmacy-brands. E.g.: They didn’t provide the needed moisture for my neurodermatitis affected skin; they invited my allergies to show up; they caused blackheads & pimples and so on…
I was more or less hopeless to find something that would be right for me & could handle my problems.
One day (I think it as in InSTyle-Magazine) there was an advertise of the skincare system by Clinique and I’ve noticed that you can find one version for each skin type. Some research on their homepage showed me that they are offering ONLY fragrance free & allergy tested products.
I have to admit, that this sounded pretty good to me, but I was still skeptical.
In my local beauty department store, they offered me the option to try the skincare system and if I will notice anything displeasing I could return it. That was making me think: “Just give it a try, it can’t get any worse!”
I’ve used the skincare system for about one week, when I noticed that my skin is not in a good condition. It just didn’t look clean, because of some new spots (which weren’t looking like my normal allergy spots). I was about to take the stuff back to the beauty store, but the beauty-lady told me that this is a common reaction. Since I haven’t used anything to nourish my skin for a couple of month by that time, there were basically a lot of dirtyish things stored in the depth of my skin. The soap and the cleanser just worked on getting rid of all the dirt and deliver it to the surface, where it can be removed while washing my face. I followed her advice and continued using the skincare products.
Surprisingly after another week, my skin looked amazingly flawless. The only thing that stuck to me was the redness on my cheeks, but this is something that I’ve always had and probably will always have.
Flawless means in my case: No pimples, no blackheads, even & soft & healthy looking skin and no feeling of dryness. AND ready to leave the house, with no foundation on.
Doesn’t that sound nice? Yes, it does!

Therefore I will continue with the three individual products of this skincare system, which I’m using for over a year right now…

As mentioned before I have very dry skin, therefore I’m using the products for skin type 1, which means very dry - dry skin! In addition my skin is hyper sensitive. And this is not just related to breakouts. It’s also sensitive in a way, that I cannot use a peeling. This is too harsh for my skin and I will have a reddish head afterwards. Therefore I’m happy, that Clinique offers the option of products, which are made for dry skin AND sensitive skin as well.

Liquid Facial Soap/ Clarifying Lotion/ Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion

Liquid Facial Soap (extra mild/type 1): You can also get a cake of this soap, instead of the fluid version. And you do not need to go for the “extra mild” formulation, if you are not dealing with sensitive skin. What could be weird at the beginning is the fact, that the soap will not build nice foamy bubbles (Somehow this is what I expect soap is doing).

Clarifying Lotion (mild/type 1):
This product is made for exfoliation and it works like a peeling on a very gentle way. Again you can chose between the “normal” version for very dry – dry skin and a mild version. Honestly I think that the normal formulation for skin type 1, gives you a more refreshing feeling on your skin. And somehow the “extra mild” version smells more intense, which shouldn’t be the case, when thinking about using this for very sensitive skin. But the effectiveness is the same, in my opinion. There is one noticeable difference: The mild version has a thicker consistency and you have to shake it before usage.

Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion (type 1):
I can’t think of words, which would express how much I love this cream. Even if this wouldn’t be part of the skincare system, I would still use this lotion. I haven’t found any other moisturizer doing such great things to dry skin!
If you have dry skin, then you will know how unpleasing the feeling of tight skin is. And probably you will know how unattractive flakey skin can look, especially with some foundation on top. This lotion gives you so soft and moistured skin.

Now I will introduce you to my daily skincare routine…

Step 1: I’m damping my face and neck with tepid water.
Step 2: I’m rubbing two pumps of the liquid facial soap between my wet hands.
Step 3: I’m massaging the soap in circular motions into my skin for about 30 sec.
Step 4: I’m cleaning my face with tepid water, till the soap has been removed (this can take a little while).
Step 5: I’m going to towel my face and neck.
Step 6: I’m using a cotton pad and damp it with the clarifying lotion.
Step 7: I run all over my face and neck with the cotton pad.
Step 8: I wait till my skin is dry.
Step 9: I use three pumps of the lotion and rub it between my hands till a white creaminess shows up. I found out that it goes on to the skin much nicer, once the lotion has been warmed up. Step 10: I massage the lotion into my skin. The rest of the remaining cream is meant to be used on the eye area.

You have to follow this routine two times each day. And there’s the rub: You have to show discipline, while using this skincare system. It will not work, when you are just using it here and there. If you are a little lazy skincare wise and use your products just when needed, you will probably not like this skin care routine. Even if it just means 5 min in the morning and evening in addition, it can become pretty annoying!
But once you have seen, what your skin can look like, you will love going through this routine and it will become something so ordinary like brushing your teeth.

I hope this is giving you a good overview on what you have to know, when you have thought about trying this for your skin.
Of course you can have this skincare system for combination and oily/acne prone skin as well. But I tried to avoid going into detail about these offerings, because I haven’t made any experiences with them.

Let me know what you prefer skincare related or what you think about these products…

Let’s come to an end and let me wish you a happy skin-pampering day 