Mattify Cosmetics Review

Mattify Cosmetics are a cruelty free 95% vegan company. They have 3 products which are not vegan and one of them is their highlighter which will be featured in this post, Their products are mainly designed for those with oily skin and are mostly powder based. They offer a variety of products for the face, eyes and lips and they were generous enough to let me pick 4 products from their website. I received these products about a week ago and I have been trying them out over the past week so I would be able to give and honest opinion on all 4 products.

First off I want to mention the packaging of all products in general. They come in little clear circular containers with a screw on/off lid, I love the packaging because it is simple and I can clearly see what is in the container when I have it stored with the rest of my make up I don't have to open it up too see what it is. They also have a little sticker on the bottom with their logo and the name/shade of the product which is simple and practical. Now onto the products.

1. Mattify Original Transparent powder.
This powder comes in 3 different options, They have Mattify original which is the one I got, this is aimed at people with combination skin and retails at $7.99 ,Mattify ULTRA which is aimed at people with very oily skin and retails at $12.99 and lastly, Mattify sensitive which is aimed at people with sensitive skin and retails at $10.99. I absolutely love this powder I use it to set my under eye concealer. It gives my under eyes a flawless finish and keeps my concealer on all day. The picture below is the powder just applied and at the end of the day, there isn't any major difference in the 2 pictures. I would 100% recommend this powder it is amazing quality and great value.

[caption id="attachment_417" align="alignnone" width="300"] On the left my make up was just applied.
On the right is my make up 7hours later.[/caption]

2. Mattify Long Lasting Blush in Harmony.
This blush is the perfect natural flush of pink for fair complexions, It has made its way into my all time favourite blushes. It gives my skin a natural healthy wash of colour. On the Mattify website they have 3 blushes all designed for different skin tones, Harmony is for fair complexions, Strawberry Wine is for cool skin tones and Terra Cotta is for warm skin tones. These blushes retail at $2.50 which is amazing value for the quality of this blush.


3. Mattify Highlighter.
This product is a beautiful pinky highlighter, It has tiny bits of silver glitter which give the skin a beautiful glow. I apply this product to the tops of my cheekbones, my chin and my nose. The only thing I would recommend is for them to maybe have one or two more shades of highlighter just because this one is on the pinky side and not everybody likes pink toned highlighters but other than that it is a beautiful product. This product retails at $7.99 which is a very reasonable price you can also buy a bronzer and a highlighter for $14. Below are some swatches of this product.



4. Long Lasting Eye shadow in Summer Storm.
These eye shadows come in a variety of colours from different collections, This particular colour is from the Rich Jewels Collection. This eye shadow is extremely pigmented it is a stone grey shade with little bits of silver glitter. I am going to do an eye tutorial using this eyeshadow maybe a going out look or something like that because this colour is so pretty. All of their eyeshadows retail at $4.99, they also have little bags with 4 eye shadows for $14.99. Below are some swatches of this product.



I will leave the link to the Mattify! Cosmetics website below. I just want to say a massive thank you to Mattify for sending me these amazing products I really enjoyed trying and testing them out , I hope you all liked this and as always thanks for reading :).

Mattify Cosmetics Website - http://www.mattifycosmetics.com/

Rita Ora at the Brits 2014

There is always amazing style at the Brits and this year did not disappoint, For me Rita Ora stood out from her canary yellow dress with emerald jewels to her stunning make up. Rita's make up artist chose to go with a subtle green and gold smokey eye I was really inspired by this and decided to try and re create it myself I think this look would be gorgeous if you are going out on St.Patricks day which is only around the corner. Here is my take on her look.

1. First I started with foundation powder and concealer. Rita's make up artist used the Mac pigments emerald green and old gold . When using pigments there can be a lot of fallout so i would advise starting off with the eyes and leave the foundation last. I am using normal eyeshadows and one pigment.





2. I didn't use a primer on my eyes because I am starting off with a Maybelline colour tattoo in Eternal Gold . These are cream eyeshadows so there is no need for a primer. I took this colour on the real techniques domed shadow brush and placed it on the inner third of my eye.




3. I then took a pigment from 17 in Good as Gold. These pigments are really inexpensive and extremely easy to work with. I placed this over the cream eyeshadow I just used to set it in place I sprayed my brush with Mac fix + to intensify the colour of the pigment.




4. I then took a beautiful emerald green colour called Lucky Charms from the Too Faced Insurance Policy Palette. I sprayed my brush with some fix+ again and placed this colour on the remaining two thirds of my eye.





5. For that deep smokey effect Rita has I am using a deep green shade with little bits of gold shimmer from a palette by Miss Cop I purchased this palette in TK Maxx last Christmas. I take this colour on a small fluffy brush and blend it into my outer V, I really want this colour to stand out so once I blended this into my outer V I took a clean fluffy brush and blended everything together.




6. For my eyeliner I mixed black and the deep green I just used and added this to my waterline and tight line I blended this underneath my bottom lashes also to intensify the smokey ness of this look. Rita's make up artist did not use any eyeliner on her lid so I didn't use any either. Lastly I highlighted my brow bone using Venus from the Naked Basics palette by Urban Decay and added Benefit They're Real.




7. Rita's make up artist did not use any blusher she just went for a natural highlighted look so I used the shimmer brick by 17 on my cheekbones, forehead, nose and chin. I also contoured a little bit for some definition.




8. For the lips Rita's make up artist went for a nude matte lip she used the Hourglass Femme Nude Lip Stylo in Nude No. 1. In this look I used Myth by Mac and I created a matte look by setting it with Select Sheer Pressed Powder by Mac in NW15. I then softened up the edges by using a nude lip liner. Of course this step is optional.






9. I sprayed some Mac Fix+ on my face and the look is complete . I really like how this look came out it is not identical to Rita's but it's my take on the look. I think this look would be something different to wear for St.Patricks day.




As always thanks for reading and I hope you liked this look :)

My Top 5 Palettes

To continue my Top 5 "series" I am going to share my Top 5 go to palettes. All of these I use almost every time I do my make up.

1.Naked 2 palette by Urban Decay
I have already posted an in depth review on this palette so I am not going to go into too much detail but this is my favourite palette of all time and I would highly recommend investing In it. my favourite shades are Chopper , Foxy , Suspect , YDK and Snakebite.




2.Naked Basics by Urban Decay
This palette is mainly a matte palette it consists of 6 shades, 4 matte and 2 shimmer. The shades in this palette are Venus which is a champagne shimmer , Foxy which is a yellow-y cream matte , W.O.S which is a light nude matte , Naked 2 which is a medium taupe matte , Faint which is a warm matte brown and Crave which is a deep black with tiny bits of shimmer. This palette retails at €29.00 not as expensive as the rest of the Naked palettes but still not the cheapest. This palette can be used for your eyebrows as well , Faint is a universal eyebrow shade. If you love matte eyeshadows or even want to try them out I would recommend this palette.




3.Sleek Vintage Romance Palette (141)
I purchased this palette back in November I apologise if you cannot get it in stores because I'm pretty sure it was a limited edition collection. This palette has 12 eyeshadows they are Pretty in Paris which is a silver with a metallic finish , Meet in Madrid which is a gold with yellow and orange undertones and a frosted finish , Court in Cannes which is a medium warmed toned brown with a golden sheen and a frosted finish , Lust in LA which Is a warm chocolate brown with reddish undertones and a frosted finish , Romance in Rome which Is a cool dark purple with a frosted finish , Propose in Prague which Is a warm dark brown with reddish orange undertones and a matte finish , A Vow in Venice which is a medium berry tone with a frosted finish , Honeymoon in Hollywood which is a deep berry-wine with a silver sparkle and a satin finish , Bliss in Barcelona which is a violet purple with a frosted finish , Forever in Florence which is a dark Burgundy with red undertones and a silver sparkle , and Love in London which is a black with silver sparkle.



4. Blush Palette
I purchased this palette from a shopping app called wish. This palette has 10 Blushes from bright pinks to light oranges. This palette was $8.00 which is about €5.80 I think this is a steal for 10 blushes. The only problem I had with this was the way it came to me I received it and one of the blushes was completely smashed all over the rest I was so disappointed but the website has amazing customer service and refunded me my money within 2 days , they also gave me an option for a new one but because it was only one that was smashed I didn't see much point. I absolutely love this palette I use it regularly I like to mix some of the colours together to get the perfect blush shade.




5. Stilla Custom Quad /palette
I created this palette myself , I purchased the 4 eyeshadows and the compact separate in Cara Pharmacy, They were having a big sale at the time and each cost me €1.00.In total this palette cost me €5.00 which is unbelievable for a Stilla product. This palette contains 4 eyeshadows which are Kalahoo which is a light matte brown , Viola which is a grey - purply shimmer , Nanda Devi which is a chocolate matte brown and Makalu which is a matte black. The eyeshadow pans they come in are really big they are bigger then the Mac pans you can buy , I would recommend all of these eyeshadows they are brilliant quality.





I hope you all found this helpful and as always thank you for reading :)

My Top 5 Blushes

Blush can be a difficult thing to get right, There are so many shades and brands of blushes out there that it is often hard to find what you are looking for. These blushes are the ones I use most frequently over the past few years I hope this will help you out :)

1. Sleek Blush in Rose Gold (926)
I purchased this blush while in Liverpool last November, I had wanted to try Sleek products for a while and when I finally got the chance I went a tad crazy, This blush was one of my favourite purchases. This blush is such a unique rose gold shade (hence the name), It is also flattering on almost all skin types. I read somewhere that this is similar to Nars blush in Orgasm but of course the Sleek blush is a lot cheaper. For the price and quality of this blush I think it is a complete bargain at 5.50Euro



2. Bella Bamba by Benefit
I bought this blush last summer on the plane home from Alicante in a set which had a few other benefit goodies. I had wanted to try more benefit blushes after I bought dandelion. This blush is a beautiful peachy-pink colour, compared to the sleek blush it is a bit more peach than pink. This blush retails at 34Euro here in Ireland, It isn't the cheapest blush but it is well worth it and I can tell it is going to last a lot longer than I had expected.



3. Mac Sheer tone blush in Pinch O' Peach
I don't own many Mac blushes but this one is the first high end blush I bought when I started getting into make up, I purchased this Mac blush in new York almost 3 years ago and it only wasted towards the start of last year. As the name suggests it is a pink blush with a bit of peach in it, it is also a sheer tone blush which means it is easy to work with and very difficult to over-use. It retails at 23Euro here in Ireland, Again not the cheapest but it is well worth the price.



4. Catrice Defining Duo Blush in 020 Peach Sorbet
As you can probably tell already I am a fan of peach blushes , This colour is not as pink and the others above, it is the perfect peachy-gold blush for summer it is also quite sheer which means overuse is nearly impossible. This blush retails at 3.99Euro here in Ireland which is a bargain for the quality of this blush.



5. Elf Contouring Blush and Bronzer duo in St. Lucia
Last but by no means least is the Blush and bronzer Duo from Elf (Eyes Lips Face) Cosmetics. This Duo is identical to the Nars Duo in Orgasm/Laguna. I purchased this blush online a few years ago, I don't use this blush everyday but I love it during the summer it is an orange-peach but it is not as shimmery as the others. You can get this duo online for $3 which is 2.20Euro a complete steal for the quality and you also get a bronzer.



I will link the products I have mention below I hope this helped you out, Thanks for reading :)

Sleek Rose Gold blush - http://www.sleekmakeup.com/blush-rose-gold
Bella Bamba by Benefit - https://www.carapharmacy.com/p/benefit_bella_bamba
Mac Pinch O' Peach - http://www.brownthomas.com/blusher/powder-blush/invt/77x1832xm220
Elf St. Lucia - http://www.eyeslipsface.com/studio/face/blush/contouring_blush_and_bronzing_powder