MAC

Pocket Smokey Eye: MAC Mineralize Quad in Fog & Mist

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I will admit to having had some serious boredom this past Bank Holiday Sunday. The weather was changeable in the extreme, I’d been out and back, I was avoiding doing some work, and so I whipped this little baby out.
MAC MINERALIZE QUAD
Why not spend a rainy, dull Bank Holiday Sunday working on my smokey eye technique?

It didn’t take much work a’tall, thanks to MAC‘s little quad of Fog & Mist goodness. I have been so reluctant to try to do The Smokey Eye on my own — seriously, even after all this time working a beauty journo, even after many professionally applied make up sessions — that I decided to risk it for a biscuit, and give this a go.

Those days are over. This is such an easy-to-use, quality product, that even a scaredy cat like me managed it.

The easy-to-use part comes in as regards texture and pigment: the colour is perfect and has just the correct amount of heft — and yet despite that heft, it is eminently buildable, and it glides on every part of your eye area gently but firmly. Further, as opposed to less-excellent brands whose powder either doesn’t adhere properly to the brush, much less the eyelid, it stays where you put it.

This looks like somebody else did it, if I do say so myself.
MAC QUAD sparkle

MAC QUAD pop
Some mist all over the eye, some fog in the crease, some really foggy fog under the eye, as well as some black liner on the inside lower lid, which I haven’t done since… a long time.

MAC QUAD lo light
Above, in less direct light. Even mistier and foggier! I know that quads really aren’t anything new — I’m sure I bought my first Chanel quad in art college — but having the colours all cheek-by-jowl in such a clever little compact just makes it feel even more portable. I just think this would be terrific for taking on a holiday because it’s small yet versatile. Not so terrific as you need to bring brushes along too — has anyone got a travel-sized brush set of good quality? I would very much like to know.

It lasted for the rest of that dull, rainy Bank Holiday Sunday.

Also! I swear, this increased the size of my limbal ring, which means: even more sexiness!

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€22.50

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What’s that mascara, you ask?

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Yippy! More Lippy for 2014: Glosses, Mainly

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MAC mineralise Vibrant Vibe
MAC Mineralize Glass Lip Gloss in Vibrant Vibe, €22 This absolutely luxurious, lightweight, highly pigmented stuff. I want many, many more of these, and have my eye on Lovingly Yours and Wake Up! as well… and there’s a baby pink one that looks cute as a button.

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Rimmel Rumour Has It
RIMMEL LONDON Colour Rush Long Lasting Intense Colour Balm in Rumour Has It, €7.99 Honestly, Rimmel are playing a blinder with these balms. They feel light, look intensely pigmented, and stain the lips juuuuust a tiny bit so that you don’t need to keep reapplying. I consider this to be a good thing.

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Catrice made to stay Megan Fuchsia
CATRICE COSMETICS Made To Stay Smoothing Lip Polish in Megan Fuchsia, €5.49 I googled that a couple of times just to make sure that was the name, which it is, and which I find a bit awk, TBH. Not awk: the bluey-red that I love so much, and pretty good staying power. Awk: the applicator has no give, and will have to break it in. Until such time, I have to go really easy on the curves or else I look like I’ve had wonky collagen!

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KARDASHIAN in the nude
KARDASHIAN BEAUTY Au Naturel Lip Kit in In The Nude, €18.99 Okay, this is my third go-to nude. Whatever! Can’t have too many go-to nude lip things! I used the thin liner part of the kit, so I must have really wanted matte. There’s a nude gloss that accompanies it, just in case I change my mind and want a bit of shine. It’s win/win!

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Pür lip gloss stick in Fling|Adventure
PÜR MINERALS Lip Gloss Stick in Fling|Adventure, €22 I do like this tone quite a lot; I find the texture of this to be a bit plastic, and the price a bit much, considering the rest of the category. I do like it, though — just not head-over-heels.

Below: because this is such a crazy way to take a picture, and because it shows the taupe-ness of it to greater effect:
PUR 2
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And then I was going to on about how excellent I have found GIORGIO ARMANI’s 505 to be, and couldn’t remember the full name, and also got annoyed as usual about Il Maestro’s numbering system, and googled it, and found myself.
OOPS ARMANI
I FOUND MYSELF. Google knows everything, including enough to remind me that I did in fact talk about Lip Maestro Intense Velvet Colour {€28.50} before.

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Brow Round Up Over at The Herald

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My Tried & Tested Column seems to be making a regular appearance these days over at herald.ie, which is great news for those who’d like a quick blast of info as regards a weekly category of beauty and skincare products!

This week: brow enhancing make up. See here, m’dears!

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If you’d like to mooch around the archives over there, best to search ‘Sue Conley’…

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Okay, Okay, I Absolutely Have a Problem When It Comes to Lip Cosmetics

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ALL THE LIPPYs
Okay???! I get it. A normal human female probably wouldn’t have — oh, God, must I count them? — eighteen varieties of cosmetics-for-the-lips, on the go, right? This is not counting the ones that are lurking in pockets and rolling around in my handbags. Gah.

But, but, but — okay. Since I routinely take two of these along with me on a given day, because the whole day could change and require a different hue or texture, then it’s like there’s really nine. Nine lip combinations.

{…}

I don’t buy that either. Although I will argue that giving yourself the option to change up during the day makes total sense. Like, the Pür Minerals or the No7 — or the Benefit Ultra Plush Lip Gloss? Theses are perfect for sitting-at-the-desk wear, but you might like to give your look a wee pop in the evening, with the Smashbox Limitless Lip Stain, or the Clinique Chubby. Or that Essence red, in between the Chubby and the Pür? It is the perfect summer red I’ve yet to come across.

So, you know, options.

Nevertheless, I felt a cull was in order:

FEWER LIPPYsOnly because I need to make room for more…

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Sorry, they just look so ronrey.

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Lip Balms That I Have {And Have Loved}

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I’ve been upfront about my lip balm affection before, but the balms featured in that post? Gone, daddy, gone. There was also the one about the boots, which when I scrolled down to it, I was like Wha’? and then it made sense.

And then my pal Karen over at Lovely Girlie Bits posted about her sincere affection for the balm of lips, and gave us o’er here an auld mention. So, go have a look at alllll the balms that I had hanging about, under my desk, in a box.

I’m not ashamed! Because — because I actually need lip balms in my life!

When I was a child, my lips were so dry that I used to lick them all the time; this happened mostly in the winter, so I’d go out into the freezing cold {because I had to walk miles to school in the snow}{not really} and then they would get all chapped — so I would lick them some more, etc, etc. It was painful, and also not very lovely to look at. Poor wee Susan!

So, you see, my inner child is behind all this. I am healing my inner child. And by ‘all this’, I mean not only the thirteen lip treatments underneath my desk in the box, but also:

BALM on the desk

The three on the top of my desk…

BALM by the couch

The two that sit by my couch…

And most importantly…

BALM sue's bees

The one with my name on it!

I’ve enjoyed Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm in the past, and I find this particular potion, made from vitamin E and peppermint, to be especially ameliorative. Plus: tingly! In fact: I’ve got a wee tin of this by my bed, and it is my go-to good-night lip balm.

So I am happy to celebrate the 21st birthday of this balm, which sells one tube every two seconds, somewhere in the world.

Happily, at this festive time, there is even more good news: Burt’s Bees lip gloss wands are coming soon!

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Next: what balm suits which mood!

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Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm is available in all good health stores, and retails for €3.95

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Brows and Lashes: I Can Haz Cut ‘n’ Paste?

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Yeesh, sorry if my followers are getting update notices — saw some typos I needed to fix, or else I wouldn’t be able to sleep this night!

It may just be that I am addicted to Photo Booth, but I wanted to update with the latest installment of HD Brows: simply put, the treatment/technique is fab, and I got mine refurbed last Thursday. That one is the bottom image, and I wish I was adept enough at P-shop to put those brows over those eyes {top} because the top brows are definitely furry, and blurry around the edges.

At one stage last week, I finally tried L’Oréal’s Superliner Gel Intenza(€14.99), of which I went on record as being to afraid to try — but I did it, and it is pretty fab. I found that if you didn’t get it right the first time round, it meant serious do-over, down to having to use eye make up removal product to clean the slate. as ever, my right eye was a doddle, and my my left eye, a debacle. It is kind of tacky on the finish, and it dries quickly, so I don’t know, maybe practice on the back of your hand?

The main problem I have with liner on the top edge of the lid is that I have almost no eyelid to speak of, so it just looks like I fecked a dark bit of whatever on my entire eyelid; so rather than getting something all eye-opening and dramatic, my lid merely looks dark. And then you skip right to the part between my lid line and the brow, which is called… What is that called? The upper lid? I can’t even think — does it have a name?

I think I am having a senior moment.

Also in use was a sample from MAC’s newest eye shadow, Extra Dimension Eyeshadow in Warm Thunder (€20.50). It received compliments, and lasted like nobody’s business. I found it as sticky to put on as the liner, but both lasted as long as I needed it to — that is, until I got home — so my advice would be to go lightly with this stuff, but go with authority and confidence.

What I Put on My Face Yesterday

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Just make up-wise; skin care is a whole ‘nother post.

>POREfessional by Benefit. It is the biz. I think it is made of feathers and velvet, it’s so soft.

>That Perfection Lumiere foundation from Chanel {more on that later}

>Umm… I knew I should have done this as I was doing it, if you know what I mean, because I forget what — oh, of course! My last year’s LE of MAC Beauty Powder, in Passionflower.

>More MAC: a few swipes of Penultimate on the brows because the dye is dying, oh nooooo. The pen is dying as well! Ach!

>The Blush Horizon de Chanel, and more on that anon as well.

>That Karaja black eyeliner that I adore. It is harder to use now it’s getting shorter, just because my eye thinks I am trying to poke it out.

>I’ve been very pleased with the new technology that has made liquid eyeliner easier to apply. Ir maybe practice does make perfect. Anyway, I love L’Oréal’s Super Liner Luminizer for Blue Eyes. It lasted through my very long yesterday, and that applicator is top class.

>Benefit High Brow Glow, which I always look at and go, ‘Eh?’ and then I just stroke some in the arch of my brow and go ‘Oh!’ the pearlescent sparkle really does make a difference.

>Yesterday it was… yet another Benefit product! Mascara: They’re Real! The result is amazeballs, but one must get as much on in the first coat, because it dries hard, and it’s difficult to get another coat on. You know what I mean? It kind of sets in stone? Which is grand — if you get the first coat correct.

>The Clarins Gloss Prodige in Papaya. I think this has magic in it? because it feels light like a gloss but looks like a shiny, shiny lipstick. Me likey.

That took me longer to write than it did to actually do. Ten minutes, tops? Maybe fifteen? That’s just regular-day-face, as shown. I’m going to be playing with false eyelashes over the long bank holiday/Paddy’s day weekend… something tells me that’s going to screw up the curve…

Sisterhood of the Travelling Products: The Winnowing

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Hmmm. Is this really any improvement a’tall?

Three lip things — there’s the Lush Latte yoke that didn’t make the last photo; one foundation {although I expect the Eau Thermale Avéne compact I’m reviewing will slip itself into a coat pocket}; one hair thing, one brow thing… a new thing {upper left} that came in the fabbbb Kiehl’s gift box that my sister-in-law gifted…

I don’t know, I guess this is a good edit.

The long shiny rectangular yokie is Clinique’s Black Honey Colour Surge Eyeshadow Quad, must share my opinion on that officially. Hint: it is excellent. The product, that is, although my opinion is excellent, too.

Well, I think I did do an okay job:

Yeah, fine. Oh, and I googled the Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Recovery Mask {bottom left} and they’ve redesigned the packaging. Yup, I knew it was old, but…