MakeUp For Ever liquid Aqua liners, more swatches :)

Seeing as things are slowly getting back to normal, and I have my IMAT's hauls to blog about I thought I'd throw together a quick entry with the swatches of the Liquid Aqua liners I picked up on Saturday ( sigh, so much makeup in one room... heaven ) My original review on them can be found here... my opinion hasn't changed in the slightest :) 

This time I picked these up at the Makeup for ever stall at IMAT's in Sydney.

STATS -
Size - 1.7 gm
Price - $26.95 AUD as opposed to $23 USD in Sephora stores in the US
Range - I believe there's 15 colours all inventively numbered instead of named.... I kinda like names, and there's no number 2 in the range (odd)

anyway straight onto the pictures and swatches,

 the 3 I picked up were No's, 3 (shimmery olive green), 5 ( bright aqua blue ), and 8 ( bright true purple)

No 3

No. 5

No. 8

( sorry that one's a bit fuzzy :( )

Swatches -

left to right 8, 5 and 3.  I think no. 3 is the most wearable of the these, but the other two are just soooo pretty!

and lastly my baby-girl decided she had to be part of the swatching fun and wanted one of each on her hand too :)

LOVE IT ... she's a MakeUp master already!

Happy Snaps from Sydney Imats 2011

Yesterday I posted the pictures from my Imat's haul, so I thought today I might just throw together something with all my happy snaps from the day.  As I didn't get to stay until all the models from the student competition were finished I only managed to grab shots of a couple of the finished models on my way out the door, so lets see them .....

The Inglot cosmetics stand before it got super busy!

Mac Stall, I didn't even venture over to look at the selection or prices, the crowds around it made it impossible to navigate and to be honest I don't really think MAC would've been doing anything special price wise. I figure I can get MAC online from the US cheap enough to not be that interested in the stand.

Illamasqua, prices were really cheap compared to their normal prices but their stock levels and colour selection on the day was pretty damn tragic :(





MakeUp for Ever, prices were similar to their US prices, but it was really nice to see the products in person, unfortunately they were painfully slow to buy from & Napoleon which was another one I didn't even look at TBH their products have never really interested me, and I have no idea why!

Crown brushes, they were at last years Imat's as well, they had huge amounts of stock of their brushes, kit, palettes, trolleys etc, and just up the closest corner to the camera you can see the Rae Morris books being sold.

Some pictures of the student comp and special effects works in progress.

A couple of pics of one of two of the finished  Student Competition Models.

Sigh, so sad It's all over for another year, IMAT's is really just the best fun and a great stress reliever.  What brands are on my radar for next year???? I'm thinking it might be time to start researching Ben Nye, as they look pretty awesome!

Sydney IMAT's spending spree

Sadly this years Sydney IMAT's is over and done with.... I wish I could have spent the whole day there yesterday catching up with makeup addicts from all over the country who congregated on Darling harbour for the day yesterday and today. Dramas with childminding meant I really had to race down, catch up with the girls and race back home as quickly as possible and I wasn't able to indulge in post IMAT's dinner and drinkies as I expected to, but never fear I'm already thinking ahead to next year, perhaps getting the 2 day pass for me and my Baby Girl who will be almost 5 by then and right in her element.

Never-the-less I still had a ball, I mostly missed seeing all the entries in the student comp but I did manage to snap some pictures of IMAT's and a couple of the student models, so sometime in the next couple of days I'll do a post with all those pics.

For now though I'll just pop some piccy's of my IMAT's haul, when I get time I'll go through each purchase in detail but for now it's just pictures and quick prices and brands for each.

Starting out withe the most boring, some shampoo and conditioner I picked up from the local chemist on the way home to use whilst in QLD next week.  The brand is Pure therapy the minis were $6.95 and Large sizes are $14.95. 

As usual these are all Sodium Lauryl Sulphate free, seeing as I keratin straighten my hair that's all I will use.  I've never used this particular brand before but might as well give it a try






A couple of different brush cleaners, I've never used anything but weekly deep cleans on my brushes and figured it might be time to try a spray on cleaner for everyday use,  the pink bottle was from the Designer Makeup tools stall and was $10 and the green refill bottle was $8 from Scotty's makeup supplies.

Illamasqua goodies, my Skin Base foundations were 3 for $55, awesome deal, and the volume mascara was just $10, they had awesome prices on the day, but unfortunately the colour selection and stock levels just plain sucked!

Coastal Scents 28 Neutral palette these were $30 each or 2 for $50 with any palette combo, sadly I didn't need any of the others and I easily could have bought it online for less, but I had the cash and it seemed stupid not to use that instead of credit when I got home.  the colours do look fabulous though.

Obsessive Compulsive cosmetics lip tars in Femme, Narcissus, conquest and stalker, these also came from Scotty's makeup supplies and they had stacks @$14 each ( in every colour incl the new ones ), I'm yet to suss out if they have any online store, but it would be great if they do as their stall had so much stuff with great variety.

Another one from Scotty's makeup supplies stall, it's simply a magnetized palette so i can stick my favourite colours in for travelling, the magnet seems very strong and it came with the empty pans to press into, this baby was $20

The 2 Rae Morris books Express makeup and The Ultimate makeup guide, both were $40 and probably much less online, if you look around, but Meh.... whatever.  Rae Morris was there signing them, but seeing as it was later in the day and due to the babysitter situation I just didn't have the time to line up and wait.  It would've been nice though... maybe next year I'll take them and get them signed then.... SSSSHHH don't tell LOL


Make up forever Aqua liners from the Makeup Forever stand, these were $26.95 and considering hubby paid $28 USD earlier this year at Sephora in the US for the others I have that's not too bad a deal when you take into account there's no shipping costs on the ones at IMAT's.

And the Piece-De- Resistance, the main reason I was at IMAT's dead on opening time, is the makeup storage kits, these babies were $110 for the big one and $70 for the smaller one from the Showface cosmetics stall... and I have to say I'M IN LOOOVEEE... the wine red coloured crocodile skin had me at Hello! 

 All in all I think I did a great job shopping up a storm and the hardest bit was getting it all back home on the train and lightly drizzling rain afterwards.  God it's hard work spending money on makeup related stuff NOT!

 

Models Prefer Professional range - Ultra Lipgloss Pencils

Morning Beauties

Continuing on with my stash of Models Prefer Professional range products Here is the Ultra Lipgloss Pencils

STATS
Price - I believe I paid approx $9.95 AUD
Size - 2.8gms per pencil
Avail at - Priceline stores nationally
Made in - China
Shades - I believe theres' 5 or 6, the 4 shades I own are Kiss and makeup ( pale pink with gold shimmers ) , Perfectly polished ( neutral pinky brown), Drama queen (hot fuschia pink), and Dare to wear ( bright high impact red).
Favourite shade - Dare to wear ( high impact red ) lasts on my lips for ages and ages and OMG Hubba Hubba what a colour!

Kiss and Makeup

Perfectly Polished

Drama Queen

Dare to wear

Swatches

left to right - Dare to wear, Drama Queen, Perfectly Polished and Kiss and makeup

Let me just say I am totally in love with these, the colours are gorgeous kind of a mix between true lipsticks and lip glosses, so they aren't sheer with almost no colour in fact they have a stack of pigmentation and look more like lipsticks but with the super high sheen of a gloss. They basically look like fat or chubby lip liner pencils but have a high gloss sheen more like a lip gloss, the only one that's not quite as high sheen is Dare to wear which is the high impact red but that works in its favour as it last much longer on than it would if it was high gloss.

I love the fact that I can just toss these in my bag and go, they apply easily, the pencil part of them is quite soft so there is no pulling or tugging on your lips while applying, and at $9.95 they really are a bargain, you can often pick them up cheaper if you wait for Priceline sales and may even score another 20% or so off that at times.

Love, love, love these and although I haven't yet tried them I'm guessing they are something like Clinique's Chubby sticks, so are these are well worth a look at :)

Has anyone tried Clinique's chubby sticks? Do these look like a similar product?

Models Prefer Professional range - Mineral foundation

Hi guys :)

I know it's been a looooong time since I've done a blog entry, but unfortunately I've had some stuff going on that needed sorting out first, before I could turn my attention back to blogging and my makeup addiction full time and I've been working on some other stuff that I'm super excited to show you guys really soon :D

I thought I'd start back to it with a few piccy's and reviews of the newish Models Prefer Professional range that's been popping up in Priceline stores all over Australia.

Starting off with the Mineral foundation,  unfortunately try as hard as I can I haven't been able to come up with a website that links to the range that includes photo's, ingredients, sizes or prices, so for this I'm going to have to just go off my memory and the info included on the products themselves.

Lets just quickly run through size, price point and ingredients first
Weight - 12 gms HUGE!
Price - a bit hazy as I've had it for a while but I believe it was around $14-$16 AUD, next time i"m at Priceline I'll check on that one.
Available at - Priceline stores nationally
Ingredients -  mica, silica, magnesium oxide, poly methyl methacrylate, titanium dioxide, magnesium sterate, dimethicone, alumina, phenoxyethanol, calcium oxide, methylparaben, ethylparaben, butylparaben, propeylparaben, isobutlyparaben, iron oxides. ( so it contains a few parabens, so anyone concerned about them may want to give this one a miss )
Made in - peoples republic of china
Swatch - medium 02

The Loose Mineral foundation comes in a HUGE pot which contains 12gm  of product. It feels lovely and soft and creamy despite being a powder product.  The pot itself is no frills, simple and clean looking with the ingredients listed on the base, along with the weight and colour shade.  The pot is a flip top lid with a mirror on the inside of the lid, now at first I was all OH WOW that's cool, but after using it just the once discovered just how impractical this design is.  Anyone who has used mineral foundations knows that the way to use them is to pierce the holes in the sifter sticker, turn the pot upside down and tap the required amount into the lid, dab your brush in the lid then off you go applying to your face.  The design of this pot is just impossible to use that way, when you tip the pot over and tap the product into the lid it goes all over the mirror.... hmmm makes me wonder why they put it there, clearly no-one in the design team tried to use it! plus the fact that you cant just lift the lid off leaving the lid upside down on the counter ready to be used is kinda frustrating, as the flip lid means you are left with the powder on the mirror, the base pot up in the air still attached to the lid, it's really damn annoying!

The pot open

 The impractical way of using the product means you end up with this -

Frustrating much!!!!

On the plus side the coverage isn't super heavy but with the use of concealer or colour correctors it gives a really nice finish that has a soft subtle sheen, it lasts all day easily and doesn't cake up or look powdery on my skin.  The colour medium 02 is just prefect for my skin tone and blends really well, however I do believe that there may only be 3 or 4 shades in the range, but for the price it would be a snap to buy a lighter and a darker one and custom blend them to your own particular skin tone.  Also being the not so full coverage it means it does a great job on giving a flawless look without caking if you are using say a sheer-ish liquid foundation first and then brushing the mineral powder over the top.

Basically for the price and taking into account that the ingredients are pretty good ( despite the parabens ) for a mass produced, cheap price point mineral powder, the positives to it overcome the small packaging issues, which can be easily resolved by simply removing the sifter, popping a small amount of foundation into another lid then applying it.  This really is a great mineral foundation at a great price.

Has anyone else tried this one yet and did you have the same issues with the packaging?