Really Bright and Colorful Matte Makeup using MAC Pro and Illamasqua

Hello glam dolls!!

Omigosh I'm still loving my new haircut. My hairdresser is amazing. I was going for a kind of 80's metal mixed with Joan Jett mixed with that emo cut but more feminine. It resembles a haircut that I used to have, which was also done by Jason. Since then, my hair has changed and is thinner than it used to be. Yikes! It was already thin to begin with! So we couldn't do as short layers nor a bang because of my crazy cow licks. I don't mind not having a bang because I can part my hair numerous ways. I can part it near the middle or I can part it on the side and have a swooping side bang. Honestly I can do my hair in so many different ways now. I'm going to do a post soon on how I style my hair and really showing off the new hair. I'll also have before and after pics. You'll get a glimpse of the hair today though. Please let me know what you think! I'm really loving it. I'm so happy I can actually do something with it now other than a bun! I do love buns though. All my pictures for this post are going to be cropped around my hair instead of my face so you can actually see the haircut. Hope you like it!

So moving on, today I'm doing a makeup look using the new MAC Pro and Illamasqua products I bought the other day. I have to say that I really like how the look turned out. I had never used these products before so I wasn't really sure how it would turn out. It's so bright and colorful, it's almost neon. Bright green eyes with a bright pink lip. Yum! I used 2 MAC Pro shades for the eyes, Kelly and Bottle Green and also Phloof! which isn't pro. You can only buy pro products at a pro store or online. And for Illamasqua I used almost all the products I bought, the lipstick and blush. I didn't use the lipgloss though I almost used it. I thought that by keeping the eyes and lips matte that they would stand out more. I'll show you a swatch of the lipgloss along with the rest of the stuff so you can see it.


Really Bright and Colorful Matte Makeup using MAC Pro and Illamasqua

So the first step is to apply eyeshadow primer, like Too Faced Shadow Insurance. Next take a medium shadow brush (Sephora PRO Medium Shadow Brush) and apply MAC Pro Kelly onto your lid and leave the outer lid empty. Then take a blending brush (MAC 217) and MAC Pro Bottle Green and apply it to your crease. You want to go in about 2/3 of your eye. Blend it outward and up to give it a lifting effect. Then take it down from the farthest point and bring it down to your outer lid. Usually I do a defined line but today I'm leaving it blended out. Now take MAC Phloof! with a different blending brush (Sephora PRO Crease Brush) and apply it as a highlight as well as blending out MAC Pro Bottle Green. I also like to bring Phloof! down toward my inner eyes. After that I like to go over Kelly and Bottle Green to get rid of any fallout and to intensify the color. I also like to go over Bottle Green and blend it into Phloof! I like to do my foundation and face routine before I line my bottom lid. So when you're ready, take Kelly with an angled liner brush (Sephora PRO Angled Liner Brush) and line the bottom lid with it. Leave the outer corner blank. I like to connect the top and bottom lids with Kelly in the inner corner. Next take Bottle Green with the same brush and line the outer corner of your lid. Blend it into the crease color. I also like to apply the shadow onto my waterline as I'm doing this. Take MAC Powerpoint Eye Pencil in Engraved and tightline your top lid. Take a mascara, like MAC Zoomlash in Zoomblack, and apply it to your top lashes. Bottom lashes are optional. The last step is to fill in your brows. I use Benefit Brow Zings. The eyes are done so let's move on to the rest of the face!

Prep your face by applying a face primer, like Too Faced Primed and Poreless. Conceal your undereye circles with a concealer like MAC Select Cover-Up Concealer using a concealer brush (Sephora PRO Concealer Brush). Then take your favorite full coverage foundation, like MUFE HD Foundation, and apply it using a stippling brush (Sephora PRO Stippling Brush) or the brush / method of your choice. Next, using your fingers, apply MAC Studio Finish Concealer onto problem areas, such as blemishes and redness, or wherever you need to cover something that your foundation hasn't. Next take your favorite loose setting powder, like MUFE HD Powder, and a kabuki brush (MUFE HD Kabuki Brush) and apply it to your face using dabbing motions, never wiping or you will wipe off your foundation and concealer! Next take a matte bronzer for contouring, like Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless, and contour your face by applying it to the perimeter of the face, suck in your cheeks as a guide to applying it under the cheek, on the temples, chin, neck, and down the sides of the nose using a contouring brush (I use a Sephora Collection Powder Brush and I pinch the bristles with my hand to make a line so it's easier to contour). Next take a blush brush (Too Faced Powder Pouf) and Illamasqua's Powder Blush in Nymph and apply it to the cheeks and blend it outward and into the bronzer. With a clean brush I like to buff it towards the nose so it diffuses any lines and looks more natural. Now take Benefit High Beam and apply it to the tops of your cheekbones, chin, and cupid's bow. Dab it in using your fingers. Never rub it in or you will rub off everything. The last step is to take Illamasqua's Lipstick in Plunge and apply it to your lips. It is a bit drying because it is a matte lipstick. If you want a bit of gloss you can apply Illamasqua's Sheer Lipgloss in Electrify. I'm leaving it matte though. I tried the lipgloss on top of the lipstick after I took the photos for the blog and it looks great with the lipgloss. It doesn't alter the color much and it gives you that glossy lip. It smells and tastes like Too Faced's Lip Injection Extreme. At least it doesn't burn my lips like that stuff did!! I will leave a swatch of the lipstick and lipgloss by themselves and also of the gloss on top of the lipstick so you can see. So that's the finished look and I hope you enjoyed!

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
MAC Pro Eyeshadow in Kelly
MAC Pro Eyeshadow in Bottle Green
MAC Eyeshadow in Phloof!
MAC Powerpoint Eye Pencil in Engraved
MAC Zoomlash in Zoomblack

Brows

Benefit Brow Zings in Light

Face:

Too Faced Primed and Poreless
MAC Select Cover-Up Concealer in NW20
MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW20
MUFE HD Foundation in 110
MUFE HD Powder
Benefit High Beam
Illamasqua Powder Blush in Nymph
Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless

Lips:

Illamasqua Lipstick in Plunge
and you can put this lipgloss on if you want some shine:
Illamasqua Lipgloss in Electrify

Products Used:

MAC Eyeshadows are 14.50$CAD each as a palette refill
MAC Eyeshadow in Phloof!
MAC Pro Eyeshadow in Kelly
MAC Pro Eyeshadow in Bottle Green

MAC Powerpoint Eye Pencil in Engraved - 19$CAD

MAC Zoomlash in Zoomblack - 19$CAD

Benefit Brow Zings in Light

Benefit Brow Zings in Light - 36$CAD

Benefit High Beam - 32$CAD

Illamasqua Powder Blush in Nymph

Illamasqua Powder Blush in Nymph - 26$CAD

Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless

Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless - 38$CAD

Illamasqua Lipstick in Plunge - 24$CAD

Illamasqua Lipgloss in Electrify - 22$CAD

From left to right:
MAC Eyeshadow in Phloof!
MAC Pro Eyeshadow in Kelly
MAC Pro Eyeshadow in Bottle Green
MAC Powerpoint Eye Pencil in Engraved
Benefit High Beam
Illamasqua Powder Blush in Nymph
Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless
Illamasqua Lipstick in Plunge
Illamasqua Lipgloss in Electrify
Illamasqua Lipstick in Plunge and Lipgloss in Electrify

Thanks for reading and I hope you liked today's post! I thought this bright look was loads of fun. It's bright and happy, which is great for summer. It's also different, so you'll stand out in a good way. It's also easy to do. I have to say that MAC's Pro Eyeshadows are nicely pigmented and go on the eye beautifully. Illamasqua's products were also a pleasure to put on. The blush was super pigmented that I barely needed to touch it to put loads of color on. The MAC Pro shadows are such beautiful unique shades that you can't find in their permanent collection. I really liked Kelly and Bottle Green, I thought they were such beautiful greens. I was also impressed with the color of Illamasqua's products.

I'd love to hear your opinion on a couple things. Which is your favorite MAC Pro Eyeshadow and why? And what are your favorite Illamasqua products? And fav blush, lipstick and lipgloss? I'm going to try more of their products as time goes on now that we've got an Illamasqua counter. And the last thing I'm dying to know is if you liked my new haircut!! Because I really really love it!

I'll be doing a post soon on my new haircut and it'll have a ton of pictures, various ways of styling the new 'do, and my favorite styling products. So it'll be a pretty interesting post all about hair!

Thanks for reading and if you haven't already, you can see my Shopping Haul #4 - MAC PRO and Illamasqua to see the rest of the stuff I bought.

Steph xo.

Shopping Haul #4 - MAC PRO and Illamasqua

Hey glamarama girls

As I mentioned in my most recent post, I went to the MAC PRO Store and I had a freaking blast. I usually don't go to the Pro store because there isn't really much else to see in the area. I usually go to the boutique downtown because there's a bunch of stores that I like. But I really wanted to check out the Pro stuff, so I went. We're lucky we have a Pro store in my city. In Canada, we only have 3 Pro stores. They're in Vancouver, Toronto, and good old Montreal. And there aren't that many Pro stores in the world to begin with.

After all the MAC stuff is the Illamasqua stuff. Yay makeup!

MAC PRO Haul

I really wanted to pick up some Pro eyeshadows because they are really unique. They don't resemble anything that is in the permanent collection. They really are their own color. I saw a lot of shades that interested me. The MUA was really nice and he made me a swatch card of the shades I didn't buy. That way I'll know for next time which ones I want. I got 6 eyeshadows in all. The only non-Pro one I got was Brun. My neutral palette was missing one eyeshadow and I didn't have anything quite as dark as this so I felt it was necessary. All the rest are Pro colors. In the greens I got Kelly and Bottle Green. Kelly is such a beautiful color. It's matte and bold and omg love. Bottle Green is also matte and it's a darker green. I honestly can't wait to do a look with Kelly. The rest of my shadows are purples. I got Cobalt, Indian Ink, and Naval. Cobalt is a bright purple/blue and it looks beautiful. Indian Ink is a darker purple and reminds me of a permanent shade but I can't remember the name. Naval is a dark navy/purple color. Most, if not all, are matte shades. I really wanted to get colors that weren't similar to anything I already had in my palette and I totally succeeded in my mission. You really have to see the colors to understand how beautiful and unique they are.

The only other thing I got was a new double palette and one insert for 15 eyeshadows. I only got one insert because I'm not sure what I want to do with the other side. I'm not sure if I'll get even more eyeshadows or if I'll do blushes. Time will tell.

I also got some other Pro shadows swatched onto a paper so I can figure out what I'd like to purchase later. I'll show those too so you can see how pretty the shades are.

There were a few things that I forgot about that I really wanted to see. There's an eyeshadow called Vellum that's supposed to be a really beautiful white kinda color that reflects. Everyone goes bananas over this shade. I wouldn't have minded seeing more colors. They were phasing out one of the yellow shadows (I forget which one) which sucks because it was a really nice color. There's also a powder blush called Azalea that's Pro that looks beautiful online but I forgot to check out. I also swatched a lipsticked called Pink Pearl Pop and it's a really nice pink color. I have a swatch of it at the bottom. I'm going to have to try it on next time I'm at MAC. And finally, the Chromagraphic Pencils were pretty awesome. They came in a range of fun bright and bold colors. They went on the skin really well. I'm getting really into Pearlglide Liners since I bought Black Swan and I really like some of the color ones they have.

Okay so I'll stop rambling on and I'll show you the frikkin shadows already :P  Just have to say that it was hard to find good lighting to take these pics. I kept feeling like the light was distorting the true colors. And please let me know if you want me to swatch these!!!


All eyeshadows were 14.50$CAD for a pro palette refill, meaning they come like that, only in the pan.

MAC PRO Eyeshadows in:
Cobalt
Naval
Indian Ink

MAC PRO Eyeshadows in:
Kelly
Bottle Green

MAC Eyeshadow in:
Brun

These are my 2 Double Palettes. Right now I have 3 eyeshadow inserts in total and I'm not sure what I'm doing with the side I have left. If I feel like there aren't any more eyeshadows I want or need I might do a blush palette. I also have a quad in addition to this, which I call my Smokey Quad because it has all my shadows I use for a black smokey eye. If you want to know the names of the eyeshadows I have, please let me know. If you want a favorites list or a recommendation for a beginner palette and other stuff like that, do let me know!!

The MUA at the Pro store was really nice and he swatched the rest of the Pro Eyeshadows that I found. Unfortunately, they didn't have all of them and we couldn't find more. Sad face because I really wanted to see Vellum. Out of these I would like to eventually get Aqua, Biogreen and maybe Groundbrown. I would definitely like to see all the other Pro colors that I didn't get to see!

This is the lipstick that I thought was quite nice. I'm going to try it on next time I'm at MAC. Wasn't in the mood to try stuff on today. You can't really see the gloss behind the tape, the tape kind of makes it look matte. The name of this lipstick is Pink Pearl Pop if you're wondering and I believe it is not a Pro shade, meaning you can get it at a counter or stand alone store.

So I hope you enjoyed seeing the Pro Eyeshadows I got at MAC PRO. I had a lot of fun swatching all of them and swatching colors that were similar just to see how they look or relate to one another. I encourage you all to go to a Pro store and to ask the MUA to show you specifically Pro Only products so that way you can see everything and you won't miss anything either. Don't be shy!

And I'm curious to know what your favorite MAC PRO Eyeshadow is. So please let me know. And I also want to see your makeup looks using Pro colors. All the colors don't have to be pro, just one at the very least. I also want to know if you wanted me to say which shades I have in my palettes, or what my favorites are, or whatever else. If you want that, let me know.

Illamasqua Haul

And now it's Illamasqua time!! I mentioned previously that we have just just gotten an Illamasqua counter at the downtown The Bay store. They don't have an actual counter yet, because of construction it's not ready, so they have a tiny section right now. I can't wait for their grand opening on August 8 to see their full product line. I came back with my mom to buy a few things. I swatched quite a few things and their products seem to be consistently good quality with amazing pigmentation. I couldn't tell you for sure, because I don't own very much. I bought a blush, a lipstick, and a lipgloss. And it's funny because they're all the same color. Well not the same same, but close enough. I really have a think for pinks. Their packaging is really cute. The products come in shiny black cardboard boxes and most products have a cut-out so you can see the color of the product. The products themselves are in black containers, and I'll describe each product individually.

The lipstick I got is called Plunge and it's a blue toned light pink. It's matte. I think just about all of Illamasqua's lipsticks are matte shades. I've heard they're a bit drying, but let's be honest, ALL matte shades are drying. It's a beautiful color and it looks even better on the skin. It's very vibrant and stands out. Illamasqua is known for their rich colors and they're all about doing night time colors, so they have crazy lipstick colors like black, purple, etc. If you want a glossy lip, just add lipgloss like I did. The lipstick case is a sleep black box bullet. All their cases are boxes but with rounded in sides. The lipstick has slightly rounded in sides and one side has their name in white. The shade name is written at the bottom. When you open it it's your standard twist up lipstick.

The lipgloss I got is a Sheer Lipgloss in Electrify. It's similar to Plunge but it's a bit warmer. The "sheer" label scared me a bit at first but after I tried it I saw that it wasn't super sheer, which I was scared it would be. It has a color when it goes on. It isn't like NARS Turkish Delight which is an extremely pale pink color that looks really natural and light. Electrify has a nice pink color to it when it's applied. It has a brush applicator. The packaging is almost exactly the same as a NARS Lipgloss. It has a clear tube so you can see the color of the gloss and the top is black and says Illamasqua on one side. The name of the shade and the type (sheer or intense) is written on the side, so you can actually read it.

The last product I bought was a Powder Blush in Nymph. Again, this is a pale pink color that kind of reminds me of NARS Desire blush. I always look at that blush when I go shopping. Whether they're actually alike is a whole different story. The blush is so pigmented, oh em gee!!! You barely have to swipe your finger across and you get so much color. It goes on nicely as well. This is a matte shade if you were wondering and the pan is square. It doesn't contain as much as I thought it would, it comes in with only 4.5g / 0.15oz. The packaging is nice, it's in a black box and the edges are curved in. There's a plastic square in the middle, again edges curved in, so it shows you the blush color without you having to open it. That's a good idea. To open it you just lift the edge and it snaps shut. The shade is written in the back.

I really can't wait to use my new products. They will definitely be featured in an upcoming makeup look. My mom also bought the same thing as me though not in the same shades. Meaning she also bought a lipstick, a lipgloss, and a blush. She's more of a dark dusty pink and mauvey person. Peaches also look nice on her. We don't have the same tastes at all.

She bought a lipstick in Test, which looks like a dark rosey with brown color. It looked nice on her. It isn't a color she usually goes for (headstrong mauve woman right here) but it really looked good. It's also a matte shade. She wanted a glossy finish so she looked at lipglosses that could potentially pair up with it and the nicest one was a Sheer Lipgloss in Intimacy. Again, it's a dusty rose with brown. Out of all the lipglosses, this one looked the best with the lipstick and it was very nice on its own. I really like how it looked on her. She also got a Powder Blush, this one is called Naked Rose. It's a slightly lighter color than the lipstick and lipgloss. It's a dusty rose and there's no brown in this. She tried it on at the store and I really liked how it looked. It's hard for her to find a good blush color and she really liked this.

So here are the pictures of the stuff that we both bought. The pinks are mine obviously and the darker roses are hers. The prices weren't too bad either.

Illamasqua Lipstick in Plunge - 24$CAD

Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in Electrify - 22$CAD

Illamasqua Powder Blush in Nymph - 26$CAD

Illamasqua Powder Blush in Nymph - 26$CAD

Illamasqua Lipstick in Test - 24$CAD

Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in Intimacy - 22$CAD

Illamasqua Powder Blush in Naked Rose - 26$CAD

Illamasqua Powder Blush in Naked Rose - 26$CAD

I hope you enjoyed reading about the Illamasqua stuff that we bought. If you're not familiar with their products, I really do urge you to check them out. Their products are high quality and have lots of pigmentation. They also offer very unique colors. Just because they show themselves as a night time brand doesn't mean that they don't have anything appropriate for day wear. Like come on, look at what I just bought. They have a lot of nice intense lip colors, eyeshadow palettes, blush and bronzer duo, etc. If you already shop there, tell me what your favorite product is and what your favorite shades of lipstick, lipgloss, and blush are. Thanks for reading! And if you want swatches of anything, let me know!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my MAC PRO and Illamasqua hauls! I'll be using these products in upcoming looks so don't miss out and keep in touch!

My next post is going to be a makeup look using both my new MAC PRO products and my new Illamasqua products so keep checking back! It has a bright color theme, almost neon, it looks amazingly hot.

If you want to "Like" my page on Facebook and keep up with all my updates and news, you can "Like" the gigantic box right below, or get on facebook and find Steph Stud Makeup. If you're on twitter you can follow me, @stephstudenny and if you want to request anything there use the hashtag #stephstudrequests so I can find it easily. Thanks for all the support and I'll see you soon with a makeup look using my new Pro shades!!!

Steph xo.