Because I felt like doing a makeup post

Bored on a bank holiday sunday (which I'm not going out for because I have a long shift tomorrow that I have to be up early for), I found myself experimenting with makeup while listening to old songs by basshunter (this was after a few glasses of wine, I should probably point out). I don't do many makeup blogposts so I thought I'd put together a kindof everyday look, including foundation and everything, which I never normally wear. I think I'll stick to just eye makeup on a daily basis though because all that blending and buffing takes way too much time and effort.

There are supposedly assigned makeup brushes for different things but I say just use what you find works best. For example, instead of using a 'foundation' brush, I applied the Rimmel Wake me up foundation in shade 200 Soft beige using the real techniques buffing brush. I just think it's better for blending than a flat foundation brush and it spreads the product more evenly so you don't get it caked anywhere. Then I moved onto contouring, which is great for making your face look a bit slimmer and more defined. You should apply the dark colour in a number 3 shape round the sides of your face, running round your temples, along your cheekbones and round your jawline and then also down the sides of your nose. Apply the lighter colour up your forehead in between your eyebrows and down the centre of your nose, along with in your cupids bow (above your lips) and just under your bottom lip. You should also create triangles underneath your eyes and stretching up towards your temples using the light shade. I used the Seventeen Define and conquer contour kit for this, along with the Rimmel Stay matte concealer, which I used solely for the highlighted area under my eyes (I blended it out with a sponge). For the dark shade, I used the Ecotools slanted contour brush and for the light shade I used the Real techniques contour brush. I thought I'd show it you before and after blending to show you its importance! Also note that I have natural eyebrows in these photos, which aren't as albino-like as my friends think because we've had no sunshine to lighten them yet.

Then sick of the natural look, I moved onto my eyebrows. Although I normally use a pencil, I fancied a change and so I filled them in using an angled Real Techniques brush and the shade Espresso from my Lorac palette. When filling in your brows, you should run along the shape of the underneath first and then go along the top and then fill in the middle. I also added blusher in the shade 15 Soft apricot by No7 using a blusher brush, very very lightly with as little product as possible on the brush because a mega rosy clown-like look is not what you should aim for. Just smile and then lightly dab the blush onto the apples of your cheeks.

I went with natural eye makeup using my Naked palette because I was planning a statement lip and you shouldn't do statement lips AND statement eyes. I used Virgin as my base and then added Naked through my crease and along my lower lash line before adding eyeliner. I prefer felt tip liners because I think they give you the most precision. Always start with the line and go from your inner corners and work outwards. When you come to do the flick, you should tilt your head back slightly so that the line you've just drawn doesn't smudge onto your eyelids, and then look straight ahead and draw a line that extends the curve of the bottom of your eye. This would probably be easier to explain in a video but I'm determined I'm not starting a YouTube channel because I just don't have the time (and I don't like my voice on videos). You can choose the size of your flick, and when you've drawn the line as high as you want to go, join it with the rest of your eyeliner and then fill in the gap. I then added mascara to finish the eyes (Rimmel day to night and Benefit roller lash because one mascara is just not enough).

I wanted to try a nude ombre lip because I see Sarah Ashcroft wearing them a lot and I just love them. I went with my two favourite nudes (which both have a matte finish so they work well together); Taupe and Velvet teddy, both by MAC as you can tell from the photo. I used a lip brush (from the body shop) to line my lips with Taupe and then filled them in with Velvet teddy. I needed a really light shade for the highlight in the centre and since I didn't have a lighter lipstick, I improvised and used my concealer. I applied it only in the very centre and then blended the whole lot together using my finger and my lip brush. Okay so although it started as an every day makeup look, it might take too long for every day. Well I guess that depends how much time you're willing to spend on your makeup.