Day 2 of #SBBC: Favourite Eyeshadow Palette

So I had decided to write about my ten pan Inglot palette mainly because I use it everyday for my eyebrows and the black for smokey eyes but I then realised I would only use another one or two of the remaining eight maybe once a week. So I start looking through my other palettes and then decided to write about my Urban Decay Naked Basic palette that I carry with me all the time because it holds the necessities, but then it hit me my 120 palette is hands down my favourite.

It's part of my everyday makeup routine that I have become so custom with it I almost forget I even use it. It's been mentioned many times here on the blog and where I got it so I will not go into to much details, but for the newbies of #SBBC it was a bargain for less then €7 on eBay about 2 years ago now. 

As you can see I have hit pan on quite a few and completely used up every last dust of colour in a few. I have taken it on shoots and used it on many area of the face not just the body. It's been through the mill and has been dropped countless times, it's how I lost the electric blue colour that has hit pan, but the outside casing is still in one piece and not even a scratch on it.

Some of the colours still remain untouched to this day as I have yet to think of a new eye look to use them in, as I can be a one trick pony when I find a new eye look I like ( at the moment I am loving the red/cranberry at top right on the left side). 

It's hard to imagine ever getting to the end of this palette and I will probably repurchase it before it happens just so I can have some of my favourite colours back. If your looking for a all rounder palette or you are just starting out using makeup and want to experiment then I certainly recommend the 120 palette.

What's your favourite eyeshadow palette?   

My 10 pan blush palette and why I paid too much!

In my early days I touched on this subject slightly on my 120 eyeshadow palette here. 18 months on and I am revisiting the subject again but this time with my 10 pan blush palette. You see these palettes again are mass manufactured again in the same company as the eyeshadow palettes. They are then sold on to different companies for what is known as "Private Labelling".

Now I could go into all this for you and explains the ins and outs of it all, but another fellow Irish Blogger Annette did a fabulous post on this in the last month and I would only be reiterating on what she said. So if you would like to know what "Private Labelling" is then check out her blog post.

http://annettibus.blogspot.ie/2013/06/private-label-beauty-brands-what-is.html

If you follow my Youtube channel you will know I bought this palette from the Crown Brush stand for £15. I knew I could get it for cheaper but I had shoots coming up and had no time to wait for delivery off Ebay. (Asian Ebay purchases can take anywhere from 7 days to 9 weeks to deliver.)

In terms of prices I have seen for these palettes I was not drastically ripped off and ended up only paying in region of €13 more just for convenience.

Now before I go into the prices I just want to say I love the palette. It hosts a great range of colors and has great pigmentation which you can see from the swatches. It has mattes and shimmers and from pinks to corals. I have already had a lot of use from it and see me getting plenty more from it

 Top row l-r

Bottom row l-r

Companies and their pricing

*prices do not include companies p&p

Fuschia Makeup (Ireland)

Blusher Palette €10

Vanity Makeup ( not to be confused with VanityX Makeup)

I could not find the exact pricing on the blusher palette but they do a deal for two palettes for 
€50 and I also saw that they charge a ridiculous €35 for 120 palette.

Blank Canvas Cosmetics (Ireland/International)

They have the 10 palette included in a 32 eyeshadow palette stacked on top of each other. It does look different but it is still private labelling. The double stack palette is priced at €13.49

Crown Brush (International)

10 Blush Palette €18.74

Costal Scents (International)

10 Blush Palette  €21.95

Bh Cosmetics (International) 

10 Blush Palette  €19.68

There are also sellers on Facebook and similar selling these from anywhere from  €10- €45. 

* All prices were correct as of 25/07/13

If you would like to purchase this palette and have time to wait I would highly suggest Ebay. There  are hundreds of sellers of this on ebay at the moment and the cheapest I found the palette for was €4.85 with free p&p.

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/10-Colours-Blusher-Makeup-Blush-Powder-Palette-Portable-Concealer-Facial-Pigment-/321012616600?pt=UK_Health_Beauty_Make_Up_Cosmetics_Blusher_PP&hash=item4abdd7cd98 

Its a mighty big difference in price.

I have never been a big fan of companies who private label and tend to avoid these companies all together when buying makeup. Bar one of the companies I have mentioned above I have never blogged about them and more in likely never will.

Do you know of any other companies selling these palettes?

Were you aware of private labelling?

If not how do you feel about it now? 

Studding it up! DIY Studs

Getting a bit creative lately and picked up a bag of 100 silver studs on Ebay for 1 euro!! They did take 5 weeks to arrive but the buyer refunded me my money because they took so long and once they arrived I just repaid her. I was heading to a PR event yesterday at the gorgeous Morgan Hotel in Temple Bar, and felt that  my boots just needed a bit of doing up.

My boots are two years old and are on their way out, can not really complain I bought them in the children's section in Penneys/Primark for 14 euro. Bit of a bargain if I say so myself. So quickly before I popped out the door I quickly threw a few studs into the boots.

Not the straightest of studding but the great thing is the studs are easily removed and placed again. I am now thinking of what else to stud in my wardrobe.

Ebay Seller: http://stores.ebay.ie/dresslink

Link to Studs: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/360529872925?var=630070192787&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_9358wt_1139

Speaking of Ebay I have three dresses for sale my Lipsy dress was only worn twice and Topshop dress once and the blue one still have tags attached. Feel free to make me an offer.

Lipsy dress: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/321126248052?

ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1203

Topshop Dress: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/321126252729?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1203

Stradvarius Dress: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/321126257073?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1203

Face of the Night: Purple Smoke

Another work makeup face. I try to keep it all about the eyes in work as going for a strong lip is no use as it gets so busy I never get to top up the lippy. So smokey eyes and nude lips work best. These two photos are from Friday and Saturday I did the same look just switched up the lip color on either night.

Face: L'Oreal True Match in D1

Powder: Maybelline Fit Me in 125

Blush: Sephora Blush Orange Punchy

Contour: Inglot Pressed Powder in 17

Eyeliner: Maybelline Gel Liner in Black

Eye shadow: Matte Purple from ebay 120 palette/ Inglot Matte in 359 and 378

Eyebrows: Inglot Matte 348

Lips: Elf Party Pink and Essence clear gel gloss/ Elf Nearly Nude and Essence Clear Gel Gloss

Eyelashes: Perfect Lady Two week Semi Permanent Lashes

New Eyebrows! Mini tutorial

Here is a picture from March and as you can see my eyebrows have never even been a bit related let alone sisters! I finally got sick of looking at these monstrosities and attacked them with the tweezers. This could have gone totally wrong but luckily it did not and now I have brows I am proud of and have received  many compliments about them.

As you can see I got rid of most of the bulkiness at the front of the eyebrow, keeping the inside to arch the same width and then thinning out from the arch to the end of eyebrow.

I first lightly draw the shape I want my brows to be using Inglot Brow gel 571 using a slanted eyebrow brush.

I then fill in the whole brow with the gel.

Using a matte brown from my 120 palette I fill in the brows keeping to the shape I created.

Finished brows! These are my day brows would you like a post on my night brows?

Products used:

Matte brown from 120 palette nearly gone so have invested in a brown from NYX which should be here next week.

Inglot brow gel 571

Slanted eyebrow brush from LA Makeup

Gel and powder can clog up brush so giving the brush a little clean everyday is recommended

A Little Something For Halloween! Black Widow Inspired!

This is a very quick and simple look I did the other day while I was playing with some makeup, its not perfect some of the details need tiding up but taught it was worth showing if some of you still need ideas for this All Hallows Eve!

Everything I used will be in your makeup bag already so no need to head out and buy new makeup and anything you may not have i.e purple lipstick just improvise with a different color, a red lip will look good here also.

Products used:

Face: Elf Flawless Finish Foundation in Porcelain

Essence Fix and Matte Powder in Translucent 

Contour: MUA Pressed Powder in Shade 4

Highlight: MAC Pigment in Vanilla

Eyes: Sleek pigment in Livid Lilac (light purple)

Sleek Pigment in Fantasy

Inglot Black Gel liner( also used for web and spider)

Lashes from Ebay

Lips:Liner MUA Eyeliner Pencil in Black

Inglot Lipstick in  Shade 282

Essence Clear Gloss

Hope your all having a great weekend!

Giveaway Update!!

There is just over one month left to enter the giveaway!! A few more goodies have been popped into the bag and there is still more to be added!!

The bag now includes a basic eye set from Royal & Langnickel, matte top coat nail polish from E.L.F, 10 pairs of eyelashes, Bling nail stickers from Penneys/Primark and 120 eyeshadow palette.

Above are close ups of the two new products. 

Ways to enter:
You must be subscribed to the blog through google friend connect. Its on the right side of this page.

For extra entries
•Add my makeup page on facebook as a friend!

•Follow me on twitter here and tweet
@MeganRoseMUA is hosting a makeup and beauty giveaway on her blog checked it out http://alittlebitofmakeupandbeauty.blogspot.com/
I must be tagged in the tweet and must include the link to the blog or entry will be void!

Each of these will give you one extra entry!

Comment below this post on how many entry's you have.

T&Cs are still the same and can be seen here.

*Disclaimer* All prizes have been purchased by me and no company has sponsored me so far to host this giveaway!

Hygiene In The World of Makeup!

When I was in college hygiene was drilled into me and know I'm completely obsessed with it. In my opinion every makeup artist should be! Since starting in this business I have heard some horror stories and seen some also, it was not so long ago a fellow makeup artist commented on Facebook how she had seen another MUA cleaning their brushes with Hand Sanitizer! This sparked outrage between us all and really highlighted to me how some artists have forgotten their basics of their qualifications.

As MUA we take most people's prime possession into our hands, their face. We are committed to provide them with our best service possible in the most hygienic way. If it ever came out that you had caused an ailment to your customer because of unhygienic practices your name would be ruined in the business. So why do some MUA continue to put their career at risk. My only answer can be laziness!

So any MUA's who have lost their hygienic skills or any of my fellow normal readers who want to know what to expect from MUA's continue reading.

1. Hand Sanitizer: Before you start any makeover hands should be sanitised in front of a customer. I personally sanitise up part of my arm as my arm my accidentally rub off a customer. These can be bought in all pharmacy's, supermarkets and even pound shops now and retail for a small bottle around €3. So there's no excuse not too have one. Oh do not use this to clean your brushes it's called Hand Sanitizer for a reason!

2. For products like lipsticks eyeliners concealers etc do not double dip! Scoop the product out on place on the back on a sanitised hand or on a mixing palette. Never place your brush in the product! You can get these in all art and craft stores or from Royal and Langnickel.

3. Mascara wands!!! If you do not use them you have no right to call yourself a makeup artist! From working on counters I have seen so many girls come over and try a mascara with the mascaras own wand I have even seen fellow colleges let them do it! Once they their finished I've thrown the mascara in the bin. There's no way I would put any customer at the risk of an eye infection! Use mascara wands never double dip and if your client happens to use the wand on them selves throw out the mascara, it's cheaper to buy one then all the lost revenue you will have! You can buy these from any pro shop but the cheapest place to buy is eBay. Click here for mascara wands!

4. Clean brushes! After every job I have be it a shoot or a client I come home and deep cleanse my brushes using baby shampoo and baby oil. Check out my blog post here! I have a multitude of brushes and have never had a job where I've used all of them and need more but if I did I always have a bottle of surgical spirits in my kit and can easily disinfect any of my brushes right there and then. Baby shampoo,oil and surgical spirits are widely available and will cost you less then €10.

5.Eyelashes! Never ever use the same eyelashes again, on shoots I have witnessed MUA's removing eyelashes from models and placing them back in their box and back in their kit. My only hope is the threw them out when they got home. This is the same as mascara , putting a clients eye at risk of any ailment is a serious no no, so once eyelashes are used let the model/client keep them or throw them away and buy more. I have already done a blog post on cheap lashes here!

6. Sprays to clean your powder products. I know some makeup artist mix their own spray but if you do not how to do this buy Beauty So Clean Spray. It will disinfect all your powder shadows and blushes etc and stop any nasty bacteria building up.

So fellow MUA's remember your training and how you promised to provide customers with your best service! Hygiene should be at the top at that service.

A Little Hiccup!

One of the main things about been a blogger is honesty. And when things go wrong we admit it. I promised to take you on this hair journey with me and after having a hiccup I backed out of it yesterday in hope I could fix it and not have to tell you about it. Even if I had of fixed it I probably would be still telling you about this because as mammy's would say honesty is the best policy!

After my first bleaching that had some slight miscommunication problems ,most of my roots came out perfect and my ends of my hair came out pretty ginger! Not a good look! I bleached again to get rid of some roots that was missed and to try lift this brassyness. Again roots all perfect now but I was still gingery as you can see.

Luckily enough my hair was still in amazing condition even after stripping and two bleachings. I was told by professionals that my purple toner that I was putting in my hair anyway would hopefully cancel out my brassy bits , something to do with the color wheel and them been opposite sides. So I tried this, my roots are exactly the silver purple ombre I was looking for (so the hunt is kind of over) but the brassy bits are now more of a strawberry blonde as you can see.


















After a few hours of wallowing in my self pity, I came to the conclusion that it can be fixed and I will fix it. So in honor of my multicoloured hair I decided to do a tropical burst color tutorial for you today.

1. Apply foundation and concealer as normal and set with powder.

2. Apply a peachy blusher to cheeks, I used an eyeshadow but Benefit coralista will do.
3. Draw a cut crease using a purple eyeliner I used the purple shimmer eyeliner from elf. Using a similar color eyeshadow, blend the crease upwards to create the shape you want.
4. On the lid in the inner corner half apply a yellowish gold, I used one from my 120 palette.
5. On the outer half of the lid apply a strong orange, again from my 120 palette and blend with yellow in middle. The orange must follow the shape of the purple.
6. For a highlight I used Vanilla Ice from frontcover under the brow and blended with the purple.
7. Using a black gel liner create a flick and line the lower water line.
8. Apply mascara to upper and lower lashes. Fill in eyebrows with a dark brown or color that suits your hair.
9. For lips I just used a tiny bit of concealer and added gloss.

A Beautiful Color of ....Erm Ginger!

So this is stripped hair, not a look you want to be walking out of the house with! This is not my natural color before you even think it, when you strip your hair your removing the color build up from years of dyeing your hair. Why it goes ginger I am not to sure.

So to strip your hair use one full sachet of Efassor mixed with 60ml of 30vol creme peroxide. Mix well and apply to hair. Apply to the darker bits first. Do not apply to roots or any hair regrowth as it will not remove this color and can be damaging to new hair.

*Disclaimer* I am literally blogging about what I am doing and I am not telling you that you should do this. Stripping hair is very harsh and can cause damage to hair , avoid doing so if you have brittle or damaged hair. Please if you want to strip your hair talk to a professional first.

So anyway onto the makeup, not so much an everyday wearable look. Really I was just kind of making fun of my gingerish and playing with colors.

1.Apply foundation and concealer as normal and set with powder
2. Contour the cheek bones and apply a light pink blush on balls of cheeks apply highlighter over this.
3. Apply a eyeshadow similar to skin tone all over lid and under lash line.
4. Apply light brown into the socket line and blend upwards, using a pencil brush apply a dark brown over this and blend upwards.
5. On the lip apply a red/orange copper color, I used one from my 120 palette but M.A.C 'coppering' would work also. Blend the edges of the copper into the dark brown.
6. Apply a small amount of Barry M pigment 44 to centre of lid and blend to add some dimension.
7. Using a black gel liner to create flick apply a thin line in inside corner and gradually getting thicker as you move to outside corner. Line upper and lower waterline with black also Apply mascara to upper and lower lashes.
8. Using pencil brush apply a shimmery gold to under the lashline and in the inside corner of eye.
9. Line lips with a bronze lip liner( I used one from Avon called bronzer which also has a lipgloss and lipstick attached to it. Fill in the outer edges of lips also and blend with clean lip brush. Using the Barry M pigment 44 mixed with clear gloss I applied this all over lip.

The Hunt for a Silver Purple Ombre!

I am a women on a mission, late last night when I have nothing better to do but think I decided I was bored with my hair. When I was in school I had this feeling nearly every two weeks and changed my hair to every color imaginable. Even green, which happen by accident. I have been very good last few years and over last 4 years I have only gone from brown to purplish. So I decided I was allowed give into my cravings for change.

The first thing that came to mind was a Viva Adonis post where one of their friends died their tips of their hair purple, though it suited her I have a bob cut and knew I would just ridiculous if I did it to mine. But she mentioned a purple ombre so I went in search of what an ombre was. I fell in love instantly with a silver purple ombre and that was it I had to have it.

At the moment I'm dark brown with a purple tone off it I use XXLLive in Cyber. So getting this to literally white hair would be a challenge and a bloody expensive one in the hairdressers. I am pretty good with hair and so is my mam I also have a few family members who are hairdressers if I need some help. I also did a lot of research online and watched countless hours of YouTube videos on girls who did this as well. So today I popped into Sally Salon Services in Wexford and picked up everything I need for this mission.

I got Efassor a hair colorant remover/stripper, 30 vol Creme Peroxide , Blue Bleach Powder , Purple Haze Paintbox and Blue Frosting Silver Shampoo. I got the Aussie 3minute miracle deep treatment in Sam McCauley Chemist. As after and during the mission my hair will need some TLC! All these came to just under 40 euro but bear in mind I did get trade discount in Sallys.

I am hoping this will take about 4 days to complete and I will be taking you on this journey also. Everyday I will be posting a look of the day to match my hair and details on what I did.

So how to achieve this look
1. I applied foundation and concealer as normal. ( Revlon Color Stay in Ivory and Maybelline 24hr concealer)
2. Set with Rimmel Clear Complexion Powder in Transparent.
3. Filled in brows with dark brown Eye shadow.
4. Contoured using Inglot AMC Powder in 17
5. I patted Vanilla Ice from Front Cover all over lid up to crease.
6. Using a soft lilac eyeshadow from my 120 palette from Ebay, using a pencil brush I applied this to the crease and blended.
7. Using the soft lilac I created the winged out eye shadow with the pencil brush.
8. Using a dark purple( cadbury purple) I applied this over the lilac and blended.
9. Using the pencil brush again I applied the purple under my lower lash line 3/4 of the way in .
10. Apply mascara to upper or lower lashes.
11. Mix the cadbury purple eyeshadow with clear gloss and apply to lips.

Fake eyelashes!!!

Just a quick post today!! Fake eyelashes some of you will love them , some will hate them and some of you will just be fed up with trying to get them on!! If your like me you will love them, weather you only wear them on special occasions or everyday you have to admit sometimes they can be a bit pricey for only wearing them once. Yes you can take good care of them and reuse them but I tend to take mine off and I either lose them or put them in my purse ( do not ask!) and they get ruined anyway. Frankly I do not mind because I have well over a hundred pairs and they only cost me less then 20 euro. I was frankly sick of paying 7 euro upwards for lashes, I have ones from Makeup Forever that I paid 20 euro for and  I have yet to wear them , so I went in search for cheaper ones. And I found them here Ebay, you get 60 pairs of lashes in 6 styles for approx 7.02 they can take up to 3 weeks to arrive but they're worth the wait for that price. There's no p&p fee so makes it even better!! These are everyday natural looking lashes but some of them have nice designs that open up your eye.

If your looking for more dramatic lashes Ebay do them also but you will pay more for them. You can also get individual lashes in all lenghts and sizes. Oh before I forget the glue in with these are crap and I have no idea what the sticks are for, so stick with duo glue! Just remember when shopping on ebay be careful only use top rated sellers and always use paypal!!

120 Eyeshadow Pallette - Do not get ripped off!

Most have you have probably seen these palettes before, they can vary in colors. I have one very similar to this and the truth is I could never live without it. It has all the mattes I could ever need and has some great colors that I would have never used before if I had not bought one. Its a palette I always have in my kit and I feel lost when I forget it.


So how much did I pay for mine, well I would have got it at the beauty show for €25 but I passed on it, I could buy the smaller 88 version from coastal scents for €15, I could get it from them sellers on Facebook who try to pass them off as real M.A.C for a ridiculous €45 upwards. I paid only €9 on Ebay and that included my p&p. Now I have heard what people say about the eye shadows from china and they contain this and that, but girls all these palettes come from the one place and are all made from the same ingredients. Ive had mine for six months and use it everyday, I have never had a problem with them and have used them on my clients and they have never had any reactions to them.


These are all manufactured in China and sold on to retailers or company's who print their own logo on them and sell them for a higher price. Their also sold to these fake dealers who are costing the cosmetics industries millions of $/£/€ a year. They are printed with the fake M.A.C logo and sold to these alleged  real M.A.C sellers on Facebook.

M.A.C never have and never will produce a palette like this, M.A.C never have and never will sell on Facebook. But I will come back to this on another blog post as its a much bigger issue then this palette.


Anyway this palette is great and you will not regret buying it, but do not pay for a logo!