Blush Crush - IMAN COSMETICS’ Luxury Blushing Powder: Sable

IMAN COSMETICS’ Luxury Blushing Powder in Sable has been an obsession of mine since checking out a YouTube video on blue eye shadow. Seeing the makeup artist use it as a contour on the eye to help blend out the shadow had me drooling; the richness of the models skin tone and the gorgeousness of the blue against the reddish - brown had me intrigued. Thankfully the beauty gods were smiling on me, and a quick hunt around my local Black hair &beauty suppliers had this blush securely in my possession- result. 

I’m not a massive fan of sparkly blush and so the matt finish really appealed. Playing around with the blush I have come to love it as a contour / non sparkly bronzer / eye colour. This blush has lasted on my skin during the warm summer months and I couldn’t resist taking a swatch of it on my cheeks in the natural light. 

I love the fact that that I have gotten so much use out of this one item and it has re-ignited my 'soft-daytime' look. As a lady of colour, I love the fact that this line has produced such as cracking product!

Have you got a favourite multitasking item?

Sun-Proof Skin: Products I'm Loving

My 'Sun-Proof' heroes

London has been blessed with some lovely sunshine recently and I thought I'd share with you how I 'Sun- Proof' my skin. 

I should begin by stating that I have eczema and years of sufferation visits to the Dermatologist have taught me to always wear protection no matter the weather (skin cancer is a real threat to Black people!).

Skin Care: Moisturisers:

Olay's Essentials Complete Care has been my default face moisturiser for a good number of years as I find it provides a good balance all year round. During the changes in seasons I find that my face often becomes dry and add Elizabeth Arden's Perpetual Moisture Crème (Crème Hydratante Continue) underneath as this rich crème provides the necessary moisture my face so desperately craves. Warning: this product is extremely moisturising, to avoid overloading my skin I usually put it on in the mornings to afford me a defence against my office's air-conditioning.
Seriously, I love this product and am dreading having to search for a replacement as they appear to have discontinued it :(.

I began using IMAN Cosmetics Time Control when I ran out of  my Olay and needed a moisturiser with SPF (15) in it. I was pleasantly surprised with this cream as I found that it helped to keep my oily T-Zone under control, longer. On the days where I wear full makeup I now make a point of using this, paying particular attention to my T-Zone. 
Both Oilatum creams provided to be a life saver for me in the middle of February, I was experiencing the first bout of hay fever and had rubbed the skin around my eyes to irritation; the cream helped sooth my skin and the Natural Repair has been used by me on my eyelids to help combat some of the damage.

The Witch facial wash is in this post as I found that using it in the mornings, coupled with either the IMAN Time Control or Olay Essential made a significant impact on the amount of oil I produced. I make a point of including it in my morning regime when I wear make up. 

Makeup: 

The standing ovation for my 'Sun-Proof' face has got to be given to IMAN Cosmetics pressed powder in Earth Dark.
OH MY GOSH!!!!!!! This powder rocks!!!!!!  
In addition to stepping up the flawlessness of my face a good five notches, this bad boy helps take away the extra oil my T-Zone produces throughout the day and even sets my under eye concealer in place. As the weather heats up I try hard to keep it simple and spot treat my face with concealer, lightly dusting this powder over my face if I'm going to add blusher.  

What products do you use during warm weather and how do you 'Sun-Proof' your face?

*Post contains press sample(s)

The eye's have it- Eyebrow Pencils

Now if eyes are the windows to your soul, I believe that eyebrows deserve equal billing with lashes as the curtains to that window. 

I love a good brow.

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Living in London I am fortunate to be surrounded by women (and increasingly men) who think so too and am pleased to see the increase in the number of beauticians who offer a wax, pluck or my favourite, thread - increase.

The art of Threading was introduced to me by a very good friend of mine and I thank God she was kind enough to share this vital grooming process with me. Since this blessed day I haven’t looked back and regularly try to get my girls shaped. On the days that I have a makeup free face I am happy that my brows are giving me the little oomph to my look.

A good brow tech is worth their weight in saffron and the search for one akin to finding a four leaf clover. Some of the few beauty disasters I have had the misfortune to suffer have been through unknowingly using a ‘bad’ brow tech: someone who wasn’t skilled enough to create / maintain a shape suited to my face.  These episodes have precipitated my use of eyebrow pencils to correct my ever thinned brow tail or to plug gaps left by a doggy tech.

The true colour of my hair often leaves me in a pickle as I have really dark, jet black hair during the winter and the sun bleaches my hair slightly in summer, so finding a colour can be tricky. Despite the recent trend for thicker brows and the influx of the ‘scouse brow' south of the border, I have no desire to rock a thick black brow on my face and so have narrowed down my pencils to the following three. 

MILANI

MILANI Easybrow (Dark Brown)

Retractable pencil that can create a thick line so needs a light hand. The spoolie is quite thick and dense and so I like to use this when my brow is in that iccky growing out faze.

MUA Eyebrow Pencil

MUA Eyebrow (Brunette)
Surpised at the colour that the pencil provide due to it's name but is quite a decent pencil when sharpened. Provides a finer line than the MILANI so I tend to reach for this a lot more to fill in gaps, particularly with freshly threaded brows. 

Surprise contender

Sorry there isn't a close up but photographing wasn't easy

IMAN Perfect Eyebrow Pencil (Blackest Brown)

For the last two weeks I have been playing around with IMAN's Perfect Eyebrow Pencil in the colour Blackest Brown.  After sharpening I found that the colour blends well with my natural colour when worked in with the attached brush.

Examples of Scouse Brows:

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Keeping it real: This post contains a product that was part of a gift from a makeup company. This in no way affected my write up and I would like to assure you that no payment was provided for it's inclusion in the above post.