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.

MUA Blusher: Shade 3

Continuing on my MUA posts (credit where it's due, this brand is killing it at the moment), their blushers have previously been ignored by me as I found them a bit scary - they all seem to be bright pink.

MUA Blush: Shade 3

Shade 3 however is a nice deeper, blue based shade and isn't at all ashy on. It complements the warm undertones of my skin and I have been wearing this shade whilst rocking a pared down lip.

A matt blush, it's subtle enough for work environments and stayed on my oily skin without having to reapply or put a cream blush underneath *two thumbs up*

Would love for a bit more variety in the blusher range, but as the lines keep on expanding in this brand I'm sure the makeup bods at MUA have this in hand.

Excellent value at £1!!!!!!!!!

MUA: Make Up Academy Professional Eye Palette Heaven & Earth

Make Up Academy Professional Eye Palette Heaven & Earth

This palette from Superdrug's MUA (Make Up Academy) Professional line has fast become one of my go-to palettes as it contains a decent set of nude shades. 

There are six palettes in total; each contains twelve shades and at £4 each, this palette provides excellent vaule for money! 

MUA Heaven  Earth (lightly swatched)

Some of the shades are hit and miss on my skin tone but will serve anyone NW/ NC 47 and lighter well. To counter this I recommend that you use a primer and a base to help boost the colours, UDPP and NYX's Jumbo Pens have served me well. That said, MUA haven't compromised on the pigmentation of the shades despite being in a smaller pan. I note that the pan is gaining in popularity and so staying true to this blog's mission statement I have taken the liberty of posting some swatches for your perusal. 

Make Up Academy Eye Palette Heaven & Earth close up

One minor issue it the case the palette comes in, I have chipped a lot of nail polish on this sucker. If anyone from MUA / Superdrug is reading please could you resolve this. 

Love and peace to you all, 

BML xx

MUA Professional 3 in1 Extreme Contour Liner

MUA 3 in 1 Angled Contour Liner 

 I know, I know another MUA post but I can't help it. You see, over the last 20 plus years of my existence I have come to realise that in life expensive doesn't always = good.

MUA Angled Liner Box (back)

So, MUA has a professional line and they recently launched a new addition - 3 in1 Extreme Contour Liners. The 3 refers to the number of looks they feel you can create with the liners; the fact that the liner has an angled edge is a plus, they can be used as a shadow, base for eye colour and to line.
I am featuring two of the liners as I like these colours best and have used them the most. The pigmentation is fair and I like the fact that I can smudge them out on my lid for an extra dramatic effect.

Fresh Mint (Shade 3) = Shinny Teal colour. I usually use this in my waterline and to 'pop'  my purple shadows. Will definitely be used more in summer!

Smoked Plum (Shade 6)= Deep Plum colour. As I have to be very conservative a work (I usually go in sans makeup) I have been trying to sneak in a bit of glamour to my face and wear to line my eyes with my MaxFactor volume and length mascara. At a meeting two weeks ago I caught a client looking at what I'd done, she came up to me after to check out the major 'eye porn' (I love this phrase) I'd been giving and we happily spent the next 10 minutes nattering about makeup, so it gets a thumbs up from me.

Let me know what you think, I'm always on the look out for a good liner so drop me a line.

MUA Angled Liner

MUA Swatches

MUA Eye Shadows 11 & 19

Continuing in my MUA tribute I wanted to provide a quick mention to their eye shadows. As a darker skinned (NW50) lady it can be extremely hard for me to find a shade that I can use to blend out my colours or act as a transitional colour for me as I naturally have panda eyes.

MUA = MakeUp Academy, Superdrg's own brand make up line.



MUA Shade 19 - Matt a dark brown powder is my go-to shade for blending out colours or acting as a transitional colour.

MUA Shade 11 - Pear is a shimmery light Brown colour used to brighten the inner corners of my eyes or act as a highlight under a freshly threaded brow.

Again I find a big amount of the appeal of these shadows is their price. At £1 there aren't many complaints. I tend to always use a primer with my face due to sensitivity and find that my Urban Decay primer or my favourite Bare Escentual's Brightening face primer makes it hard for me to comment on their longevity; I certainly don't notice any fading as they are extremely pigmented.


As you can see from the swatch Shade 19 is an almost mach for my skin but appears almost like a slate on the camera (sorry) and Shade 11 shows up in all of its shimmery glory.

Love & Peace

BLKMimiLDN
 xx

MUA Lipstick Shade no 2

In 2010 Superdrug introduced their MUA range with little fanfare; regular shoppers noticed a small little plinth appear randomly in stores with a sign saying everything was £1. Those curious among us started to play with the products on display thinking that the lipsticks, eyeliners, powders and blushes were from a company that had gone bust and Superdrug had picked up the stock dirt cheap and was trying to get rid of it. I recall my surprise to come back and find that not only had this mystery brand grown in display size, but new lines had been added and the brand was owned by Superdrug. Gradually new items started to cost more £2 for lipglosses on par with NYX's Mega Shine; a Professional line appeared containing of all thins Primer, mascara and the now infamous palette that are getting a lot of air time on YouTube.

So today I wanted to take a step back and pay a homarge of sorts to the first item I ever purchased from the MUA line, thier Lipstick in Shade 2. Oh how I loved thee. I wore this practically every time I wore make in the Summer of 2010. I was stopped so many times by women (and one guy) of all ethnicites to ask what I was wearing, and had to guard my hangbag agnaist my friends wandering hands as it was out of stock when they tried to purchase it too.

Pros: 

• The price - come on, £1.
• Very pigmented and thus Women of Colour frendly!
• Excellent on-trend colour range, 12 in total.
• Moisturising - my lips are very dry so I'm always struggling, never had a problem with this product.
• Avialibaliy- this range is carried in all of the Superdrug's I frequent in London; they can also be purchased on line at http://www.superdrug.com/

Not so thrilling

• They can migrate so I tend to use my MAC Prep + Prime  for lips and a good lipliner to tame this bad boy and keep in place.
• Due to the high pigmentation some colours may stain your lips.
• Display stand tends to get neglected by staff so be prepared to missing tubes - please sort this out Superdrug on all of your displays!

Love & Peace

BLKMimiLDN
xx