Friday, 27 March 2015

Five for Friday: KIt Wish list 3 - Skincare





This week's five for Friday is based on skincare items I want to add to my kit.

Skincare and good skin prep is essential to amazing looking makeup and helping it last longer. There will be some cult classics and some newer products to the market in this post.

I'm going to start with the cult classics and the first one is Embryolisse Lait Crème Concentrate which can be used as a moisturiser, primer and makeup remover. It is available from multiple places including Guru Makeup Emporium for £19.95 for 75ml here or £12.95 for 30ml here, it is also available from Boots here.
 
The next cult item on my list that I want to add to my skincare portion of my kit is the Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream, it can be used to help cracked, dry, sore lips, elbows, knees basically anywhere on the body where you need to reduce irritation and make dry areas look smooth, some models use it on their eyelashes and eyebrows to tame them. It is available from Boots here for £26.
 
The next two skincare items are by Charlotte Tilbury, first is her Magic Cream which is pricy at £70 for 50ml but I've tried it and now want it in my kit to give my clients a luxurious mini facial massage with this cream that does what it says, it gives your skin a perfect base for makeup application for all skin types. It is available from the Charlotte Tilbury Website here or from Selfridges online here or in selected Selfridges stores in England.
The next product from Charlotte Tilbury I want to add to my kit is the Goddess Clay Mask, which I would use first to start the skincare prep, it is designed to tighten pores, clear imperfections but still leave you skin glowing and moisturised. It is £45 for a 75ml tube. It is available from the Charlotte Tilbury website here or from Selfridges here.
 
 CHARLOTTE TILBURY Goddess skin clay mask
 
 
The final product for this week for skincare is the Mint Julips lip scrub from Lush, I want to add it to my kit for clients with dry flaky lips so lipstick application is better, I already have a potent lip balm in my kit but sometimes it isn't enough to get perfect lips for lipstick application especially if I use a matte lipstick on them. This is a bargain at only £5.50 and Lush don't test on animals either, it is available here online or at your local Lush store.
 

 
Thank you for reading this week's five for Friday, I hope to see you here next week and I'm sorry I didn't do one last week, if you've got any product suggestions that you think I should add to my kit just email me at nataliebolandmua@hotmail.com.
 
 

 
 


Saturday, 14 March 2015

Review: RCMA VK#11 Foundation/Cocealer Palette


RCMA stands for the Research Council of Makeup Artists, it was formed in 1963 and the president and director of the council Vincent J-R Kehoe developed this line of products.

The product I am reviewing from them today is the RCMA 18 Color Process Foundation VK#11 palette, it is available from love makeup in the UK here for £55.

 

It has 18 foundation colours from porcelain which was used for the young queen in Star Wars to Shinto 8 which is the darkest in this palette, it also contains some colours that are designed for olive skin tones, these can also all be mixed to get a perfect match for your client.

 
Another good thing about this foundation/concealer is that it contains nearly 50% pigment whereas your standard foundation from boots or your local department store will roughly contain between 18-23% and then even theatrical brands only in the 35-40% pigment range. This means you have to use less to get the coverage you need.

I use this product as a concealer, foundation and even down to a tinted moisturiser on clients depending on the coverage they need, most of the time I start it out as a tinted moisturiser mixed with my Kiehls Ultra Facial cream applying that to the skin with a dry kabuki style brush or a beauty blender sprayed with Urban Decay's all nighter setting spray and this is usually enough to cover most imperfections and even out the skin tones. The if they have problem areas then I will use it pure on a fluffy synthetic brush to really buff it into the skin where it is needed, allowing the skin to look like skin but perfected.



It is also suitable for people with really sensitive skin or those who are vegan as it is made with castor seed oil, carnauba wax, candililla waxes as its base so it means it contains no animal extracts, perfumes, mineral or lanolin oils.

 It will also need less touch-ups throughout the day that traditional makeup too because of the higher percentage of pigment in the product which means their is less temperature sensitive materials (in this case the waxes listed above) than other makeup brands.

Here in this  below picture I have used Shinto 8 and used it straight so 50% pigment, then added the same amount of moisturiser to create a 25% pigment base, then used double the amount of moisturiser to the  amount of foundation to create a 12.5% pigment base.

  
I love this foundation for clients as it means I can adjust the coverage as I need without needing to carry lots of bottles of foundation around which would weigh my kit down and I can match just about everybody that sits down in front of me and match the foundation intensity where they need to create a natural looking face but everything that they want covering is covered without having to carry around loads of different products.

If you are starting out in makeup artistry especially bridal/beauty/print makeup I would highly recommended you adding this to your kit, as it allows so much flexibility and is affordable at the same time.

many thanks for reading,

Natalie

xx



Friday, 13 March 2015

Five for Friday - Kit Wish list 2


This week my five products on my kit wish list are all to do with airbrushing, with the products mainly coming from Temptu.

I want to buy from Temptu as most of the artists I've talked to online and in person have recommended their products especially the S/B and Dura ranges.

I want to start buying the S/B range of airbrush products for my kit first, S/B stands for Silicone Based which is perfect for bridal makeup artistry because it is a long lasting formula withstanding tears and sweat but still provides a natural, soft focus, dewy and youthful finish that is suitable for all skin types. Temptu state that their silicone based airbrush formula is the best in the market and I've heard the same from many independent artists from around the globe.

To start airbrushing I will need a compressor and gun, again I have been researching different companies and IWATA have been the one that people have liked the best, as they have been making them for many uses not just for the cosmetic industry for years. They also come with a 5 year warranty which makes you feel at ease.

I would want the IWATA Silver jet compressor which is available here for £119.99 because it is suitable for mobile or occasional use up to around 4 times a day. It isn't that expensive for a airbrush but if I realised I was airbrushing more then I would upgrade to a higher performance airbrush.

silverjet compressor from Iwata
I would also need and airbrush and one of the ones that is recommended to go with this machine is the IWATS revolution BR which is available here for £99.99. It is suitable for makeup application which is what I need, I would get a 2nd and maybe a third, one as a backup and one for if I started to use the Temptu Dura range which is alcohol based, so for each formulation I would have a different brush to reduce the risk of them clogging up.



 



 
 
The main purpose of airbrushing is to create a flawless base so therefore the first piece of makeup I would need for my airbrush kit would be foundations and I would choose the Temptu S/B range, you can get a starter pack of 12 1/4 fluid ounce bottles of the foundation from here for £61.25 and then as you start to run out buy the full 1 fluid once bottles here for £21.05, this not only makes sure you only buy the full sized bottles of the colours you use most often but the 1/4 fluid oz. would be refilled to keep your kit compact.

 
 
I would then also get the 8 piece blush and highlight starter pack here for £42.11, or the single full size bottles of blush are available here and the highlighters are here both retailing at £21.05 to give a fresh dewy look and a natural blush for brides.
 
The finally for my last product in my 5 that I would need is the adjusters to correct and change colours if I had a client who's skin tone didn't match any of my premixed foundations or to create a new blush colour. These are available here for £38.28 and the full sized bottles are available here for £21.05. 

 
www.impet2us.co.uk/ is the cheapest place in the UK without a pro discount to get Temptu makeup from, I will hopefully be buying a airbrush system at IMATS in July, hopefully with a discount as all this without any discount would come to £361.62!
 
Thank you for reading this weeks Five for Friday.
 
Natalie
 
xx
 

Friday, 6 March 2015

Five for Friday- Kit wish list.

Hi sorry I've not been around much in the last month as I've been busy with bridal trials and weddings but every Friday I'm going to bring you 5 products that I want to add to my kit soon.

I might not purchase them straight away or ever but it makes me think about what I need to add to my kit and will help me create a list of products I need for the craziness that is IMATS.

This weeks five for Friday is focused around the brand RCMA, which stands for the Research Coucil of Makeup Artists and it was founded in 1962.

I already have one of their foundation palettes that I LOVE in the Shinto with 18 colours in it. I bought mine from love makeup based in UK from here. Even though the formula for the foundation is over 40 years old it is still HD compatible meaning that it will look beautiful on film and camera, for any brides or people looking to make sure they look their best on a special occasion or night out.

Because I love this foundation palette I want to try some more products from RCMA in my kit, I would like to get the following:

RCMA Colour Process Foundation VK 10 Palette

The KO 18 Colour Palette to match my Shinto one, which costs £55, it again can be bought here from Love Makeup in the UK.

RCMA Contour & Highlight Palette
The Contour and Highlight palette which is £25 and is available from Love Makeup again here.

RCMA Pure Pearl Over PowderRCMA Warm Gold Over Powder

The warm gold and pearl over powders by RCMA to give a glow to the skin as a finishing powder as they are gorgeous on the skin as they are so finely milled. They are £15 each and the pearl is available here and the warm gold is available here from Love Makeup, they are also available from Screenface which has both an online store and a physical store in central London.

Image result for no color powder rcma

The famous No Color Powder, that can literally be used on the lightest to the darkest skintones without changing the colour of the product underneath whilst setting the product. It is available from Love Makeup here or Screenface here from £10.95 for the smaller bottle.


Image result for thinner rcma

  
My last choice from RCMA is the foundation thinner that can be used to turn the cream foundation into a liquid one with just a few drops without changing the colour, it is available from Love Makeup here or Screenface here for £12.95.
 
I would cost me about £135 to add these to my kit without any pro discounts or waiting until IMATS in July to see what discount they have on them.
 
Thanks for reading,
 
Natalie
 
xxx