real Techniques brush bargains

Hello guys,

I thought I would share a bargain I found today.  I popped into Boots and saw that they had an offer on makeup, eyelashes, beauty accessories etc and it included Real Techniques brushes!

The offer is buy one get 2nd half price, Boots buy 1 get 2nd half price offer, Boots real Techniques,  so here is what I picked up today;

Core Collection £21.99, Starter Set £21.99, Expert Face brush £9.99 and Setting brush £8.99.

The total before the discounts were applied was £62.96 and after discount was £47.46!  BUT I just happened to have a gift card, which was given to me for my birthday a few months ago, that I had wanted to purchase some real Techniques brushes with, however at the time the store I had gone into  didn't have much stock, so I bided my time and boy has it paid off, because with the further reduction of my gift card, this lovely haul only cost me £12.46! and I get an amazing belated birthday treat :-)

Needless to say I'm one happy bunny.  I already had a set of the Core Collection and their Blush brush, which I really enjoy how they perform and get comments from models and clients how much they like the feel of them, now I get to keep a set just for me!

I also spotted real Techniques brushes in Superdrugs today, I didn't know they were a stockist too, I didn't notice if they are running an offer in there for these brushes but they did have an offer of "Cosmetics 3for2 mix and match", I picked up a few very inexpensive items, which I might share with you in another post, as some items are for me and some are for my kit.

I now know and have seen many makeup artists and their kits and every single one has had some real Techniques brushes in their kits and for good reason, they perform well, feel so good on the skin, wash up a treat and are very affordable.


If you are after some real Techniques brushes, I strongly advise you to hurry out and get them whilst Boots has this fab offer on, what a lovely Christmas treat for yourself or any makeup lovers you know.


Diane x

I'm now a Makeup Artist!

Hi everyone,

Sorry I've been gone so long.  At the end of the summer I graduated from the Academy of Freelance Makeup ("AOFM") as a Makeup Artist and Hair Session Stylist.

Since then I have been very busy working to build my portfolio and get my career off the ground.

If you would like to see what I'm up to in my new career you can now go to my newly set up Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DianeHamiltonMua.  There will be behind the scenes shots of working at London Fashion Week and recent shoots, as well as sharing what else I've been doing lately.

If you enjoy my Facebook page and want to keep up-to-date with my news, please feel free to click the lovely Like button.

I've got plenty to share with you here and on my Facebook page and am looking forward to it.

Thank you so much for all the lovely support and encouragement you've given me.

All the very best,
Diane x

Shu Uemura Chocolat Donna Collection - Mint and Vanilla Palette

Hello everyone,

It's been awhile - again!  How are you?  Do hope you've been having a lovely summer.  I had a birthday recently and was extremely thrilled to receive the Shu Uemura Mint and Vanilla palette from their recently released Chocolat Donna collection: http://www.shuuemura.co.uk/collections/chocolat-donna.aspx

The utterly gorgeous limited edition palettes are inspired by luxury chocolates, they contain 6 pre-set mini eyeshadow shades, the cases themselves are so luxurious and refillable.  I'm over the moon with my palette.  It's so lovely I didn't want to swatch it!  but I had to get over that, it's taken me a week but the urge to play and blog was strong!  Will be using this palette today that's a guarantee.

Beautiful Case which you can reuse when these shadows are finished

L-R: Micro Glittery Golden Vanilla and Mint,  Matte Vanilla, Pearl Mocha Golden Accents, Milk Chocolate,  Rich Cacao

Six shades but 7 swatches, why? the one in the middle is the pearl mocha without the golden overlay mixed in, to the immediate right of it, is my 1st swatch of this shade taken with the golden overlay, as you can see the overlay is only on the surface level which is why I did two swatches.

This is how you remove the tray,  just gently pull out, clicks back into place, it's not going to open on it's own.

How it looks completely removed and you just slide the shadows off at the end to refill with whatever gorgeous Shu Uemura shade you decide to replace it with.

Have to say they are beautiful shades and so smooth and blendable, my favourite is the pearl mocha, it's a beautiful subtle colour on me and like a golden taupe, I love it and did I say smooth, the consistency is sublime.

Great versatile palette which has 3 matte shades, vanilla all over lid colour or eyebrow highlight, the Milk Chocolate lid or crease colour (does have a gold accent but on surface only) and Rich Cacao for defining.

Pearl Mocha (golden accent) lid and highlight.  I experimented with the micro glitter shades overlaying them on top of the other shades, I like the Gold on top of the Rich Cacao and the Mint on the Milk Chocolate, they both look lovely over the Pearl Mocha but I really love it just as it is.

There are two other palettes in the collection, Raspberry and Mocha (I'm currently coveting) and Orange and Pistachio.  There are also more than 20 blushes and 44 new lipsticks, some Chocolat lashes and a limited edition foundation case, here is the link to the collection again: http://www.shuuemura.co.uk/collections/chocolat-donna.aspx

I'm a lucky girl, what a beautiful, luxurious and incredibly generous gift, perfect for my 40th birthday!

I don't think these palettes will hang around for long on the site.  I'm so pleased I will be able to continue to use my gorgeous case long after I've used these shades.

Diane x

Astalift Jelly Aquarysta on Sale

Lovely Debenhams in the UK are currently having a sale with Duty Free prices! Included in this promotion is the the skincare beauty item of the moment the beauty world is buzzing about, the Astalift Jelly Aquarysta, Rejuvenating Concentrate from Fujifilm, yes I meant to say that :-)

You can purchase the 40g Jar for £57.50 (instead of £69), but wait just a minute, you can also buy the 15g jar for £17.50 (instead of £21) Debenhams Astalift Jelly 15g, which means you can buy 3 x 15g = 45g for £52.50.

So for £5 less you can get 5g more - rock on!  Even better, using smaller jars, will mean the product and all it's expensive ingredients will have less exposure to the air over the time that you are using it, which will help keep them stable and potent for longer.

To read more about it, here is a link to where I first heard about it from Lisa Eldridge; http://www.lisaeldridge.com/blog/24330/lisa-loves-photo-tech-meets-anti-aging/.

Here is the blurb on this product which is an excerpt from Debenhams website:

An innovative patented, intense beauty rejuvenating concentrate that contains ceramides that perfectly match ceremides in the skin, multi types of collagen and Astaxanthin. Ideal for anyone who is concerned about premature ageing, dehydrated, dry skin and those who wish to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. The nano ceramide delivers long-lasting moisture for a dry skin. Skin will immediately appear smoother, with luminosity increased. The various types of collegen will promote cell regeneration and retain water. Skin's resilience and elasticity will be recovered and younger looking skin will be revealed. Astaxanthin will counteract free radical damage preventing further damage to collagen and elastin, the cause of lines, wrinkles and sagging; resulting in facial features looking restored. Lastly, Astaxanthin is the highly effective anti-oxidant, 1,000 times greater than CoQ10, which prevents free-radical damage.


Of course I ordered, how could I not!?!  I have to try this much touted "hero" product and I'm looking forward to it.  Will you be joining me?


Diane

Body Painting - AOFM Advanced Makeup Course - Day 2

Day 2 was a creative day learning some basic body painting techniques.  Our tutor had amazing skills and has won several prestigious competitions around the world to prove it.  She made it look so easy but trust me it isn't.

I thought I'd taken pictures of my work but I only have one, in my defence I really wasn't feeling very well, lame excuse I know, shame I think I did a decent job of a swinging chain (which was something that the tutor had demonstrated for us, she also did a design on an eye and a shirt with a collar on someone else).

We were given free range to do whatever we fancied so I also decided to have a crack at creating a shirt cuff and button.

It's a very interesting medium with the products, brushes and most importantly the various brush techniques and the results you can achieve with them, trying to put in shade, light, illusion of texture and movement, I'm sure we just covered the tip of the iceberg.

It's very much an art form I feel and I have new appreciation of the skills, patience and artistic talent it takes to do this and do it well.

Diane x

AOFM Advanced Makeup Course - Day 1: Period Makeup

So today is the start of the advanced section of the AOFM Freelance Professional Hair and Makeup certificate course I am attending.

Half our class has gone as they were on the Foundation course only and we gained two new students, a smaller class but thankfully even numbers so we all still have a partner.

Fun day learning about 1920s to 1980s makeup.  Our tutor was Lina Dahlbeck, I really warmed to Lina, impossible not to she has such a lovely, fun and friendly nature.  We were given lots of useful and interesting information about the industry and tips.

The demo for today was a 1960s Twiggy look, Lina decided to do this look as it is still very much requested (or versions of it) today, which is why I decided to have a go at creating this look too.

We were also showed how to block out eyebrows if we wanted to do a 1920s/1930s look, I was very tempted as really wanted to have a go at the technique but Twiggy was a calling :-)

Here is the look I created on Laura, hope you like it.

I wish I had false eyelashes to play with, would have loved to amp up the look with top and bottom lashes, but alas had to stick with trying to draw on bottom lashes with gel liner, fyi liquid liner and a firm fine pointed tip brush is best, neither of those I had to hand, I know I could improve on this but still for a first try I'm happy.

Another very fun and informative day :-)

Diane x

AOFM - Day 6 - Makeup for Photography - B&W

Hello folks,

Day 6 of my AOFM Freelance Professional Hair and Makeup Certificate course was the last day of the Foundation level part of the course.

We spent the morning learning the fundamentals of makeup and lighting for photography and in particular focusing on makeup for black and white photography. We then watched a demo as usual then after lunch it was our time to experiment. 

Just for a bit of fun, can you guess which colours I used to create the contrasts?  More pics below but don't cheat and scroll there just yet.

I had fun as always working with Li, as you can see he really is a good sport.  

I was definitely experimenting with colours and textures, (as you will see clearly below...) to check the level of contrast, if any, they would achieve in black and white photography.

Our tutor today was the very talented Valentina Creti, a lovely lady and she gave us such an interesting and informative class.  It's wonderful to watch the tutors at work and to receive their guidance, they really do have an amazing eye for detail, very inspiring and I really enjoyed the whole day.

Each day we get a different makeup brand to work with, we had one of my favourites today, Make Up For Ever and I used their HD foundation, HD concealer and eyeshadows on Li.

The tutors on the day liked my choices of colour gradients and I was complimented on my blending by one and told that I can definitely blend by another, music to my ears, I can't you how lovely it is to have such support.

OK I guess it's time to show you the colour photos....

Gotta love that electric blue gel liner, which incidentally was from Inglot and really stays put!  I wasn't sure it would show up in the black and white photos but it does indeed show up as a black liner.

Did you guess the colours?

I am so happy to have the opportunity to work with Oriental features.

A thoroughly enjoyable, interesting and informative class.

Diane x