Soph Lou's: beauty

PS...Matte Lip Swatches & Review

Friday, October 21, 2016

THE BEAUTY LOVER TAG

Sunday, April 24, 2016

This weekend has been a really busy productive one, I've painted the stairs, painted the bathroom tiles, stripped the bathroom carpet, sanded and painted the bathroom floor AND found time for illustrating and catching up with the laundry! So when i finally sat down half hour ago i saw that id been tagged by the lovely Millie to do this tag!! Thank you for tagging me Millie 😊😘

1. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANYONE IN THE WORLD DO YOUR MAKEUP WHO WOULD IT BE?

- I would love either the Pixiwoo sisters or Kandee Johnson! I've been watching both their channels since the beginning and they to me really are the OG beauty guru's AND they are qualified makeup artists as well as being awesome humans.

2. WHAT'S YOUR MAKEUP TOP TIP?

- Your better to go with a foundation that's too light than too dark if you can't find an ideal match as you can always darken a foundation with a liquid or powder bronzer. It would be much harder to lighten a darker foundation!

3. WHAT SKINCARE ITEM COULD YOU NOT LIVE WITHOUT?

- Face masks as i do love a nice face mask whilst I'm in the bath or....daily moisturiser as I can't apply foundation without it. My skin's too dry without a it and I find it helps my makeup last all day.

4. WHAT ARE YOU WORST AT WHEN IT COMES TO APPLYING MAKEUP?

- I'd have to agree with Millie on this one, it would have to be contouring! I try and I think it looks OK but it could look much better of i practised it more regularly.

5. WHAT'S YOUR BIGGEST PET PEEVE ABOUT MAKEUP?

- It would have to be a non blended jaw line!! Eeecckkk ain't nobody got time for a dodgy tide line around their jaw, either blend that sh*t or bronze your neck so it matches your face!

6. WHAT'S YOUR GUILTY PLEASURE PRODUCT?

- My guilty pleasure product would probs be a dark lip! I love a plum or dark brown lip for the autumn winter months!! I'm not sure if that's considered a guilty pleasure but I love it.

7. WHAT'S YOUR UNDERDOG PRODUCT?

- My underdog product would have to be my makeup revolution baked highlighters! They are very similar to Mac mineralize skin finish and are total dupes for the benefit highlighter!

8. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE MAKEUP PRODUCT OF 2016?

- Well I've not really bought too many new makeup bits so far this year...how are we already at the end of April 😕😦 But it would HAVE to be the Benefit Real Cheeky Party set that I got for Christmas, i use it everyday for blush, highlight, eye liner and mascara and its so compact. I adore the they're real push up mascara mini which is also in the set and will for sure be purchasing the full size one it's run out.

Thanks again Millie for tagging me and I hope you've all enjoyed reading this post!! I tag my good friend Stephanie Eva!!! Check out Millie and Stephanies Blogs and let them know I sent you hehe.

beauty

OLE HENRIKSEN 3 LITTLE WONDERS SKINCARE

Saturday, December 05, 2015

This time of year my skin starts to get so dry and flaky which is so annoying. I was sent this fab little set by Ole Henrikson called the 3 little wonders mini collection which is supposed to be used for 7 days to transform your skin! I review a lot of skincare so I didn't think my skin would be 'transformed' but it literally has never looked better since using these products! I hadn't heard of Ole Henriksen before I received this set so I researched it straight away and it has rave reviews online but it doesn't come cheap!

More about Ole Henriksen

''Danish born Ole Henriksen developed his retail line expanding on his successful spa business which has been servicing the LA skin care scene for 3 decades, with clients such as Renee Zellweger, Jessica Alba, Kylie Minogue & Hugh Jackman.

Ole Henriksen products are designed to be simple, effective and safe for all skin types. Nature's most active extracts are infused into every Ole Henriksen formulation, impacting skin's renewing powers in a most positive manner, and finding a solution for those with difficult skin conditions, or for those who just want to treat their skin to nature's helping hand!

This mini set is available on Escentual.com and is £18 for just the mini sets so more of a high end budget than drug store but I certainly think the products are worth that for a trial run as my skin hasnt felt this fantastic in ages! Its so clear and glowing and its definitely brightened and evened out my skin tone significantly in only one week.

The gift set includes:

truth serum collagen booster 9.76ml: the vitamin C rich serum boosts collagen production and restores radiance back to the complexion.This product smells amazing for a start which I love as it makes application so much more luxurious with such a sweet citrus scent. It sinks into my skin really quickly and doesn't leave my skin feeling tacky at all. Its a really fresh product to use after cleansing!

Invigorating Night Treatment 7g: the overnight resurfacing gel dramatically improves the texture of your skin, helping to reduce the appearance of dark spots and smooth fine lines and wrinkles. This stuff is so nice! It feels like such a nice consistency when your applying it to your skin and after around 5 minutes you can feel it tightening your skin and under eye area which I love as I've been getting so little sleep lately that my under eyes need that little extra boost.

sheer transformation 7g: an everyday oil-free moisturiser that works to improve the skin’s tone and texture whilst helping to reduce the appearance of dark spots. This light moisturiser is perfect for my skin and for under my makeup. I apply this after the serum in the mornings and as its oil free it feels amazing as a base for my foundation.

After using these products for around 2 weeks now I couldn't even say I had Normal/Dry skin type at the moment as its more on the hydrated/normal type which is lovely going into Winter without my usual dry skin around my nose and forehead.

Its so annoying that I LOVE these products as they are expensive to repurchase the full size but I think I may have to treat myself at Christmas to them as they have impressed me that much!!

Have you tried any Ole Henriksen Products? Let me know in the comments below...

beauty

SUGAR SKULL GLAM HALLOWEEN PICTORIAL

Sunday, November 01, 2015

As Halloween weekend comes to an end for another year, I wanted to share with you a quick and easy half face glam sugar skull makeup tutorial. I actually made this last year but ran out of time to upload it. I'll keep the steps as brief as possible as this post is super pic heavy and Halloween will be over before you've finished reading the post! I hope you enjoy this pictorial and I also hope you've had a fantastic Halloween!

STEP 1 - Apply white cream makeup to one side of your face and set with white face powder.

Step 2 - Using a large fluffy powder brush, start contouring your cheek bones, jaw and temples of the face. I used Beauty UK posh palette no4 Galaxy for this.

Step 3 - take a pencil brush and some black eye-shadow and outline your cheekbone down to your jaw bone.

Step 4 - Then using a small fluffy shadow brush, blend out the same line to add dimension and a 3D effect to the cheekbone.

Step 5 - Apply a Plum eyeshadow all over and around the eyelid to create a deep purple smokey eye.

Step 6 - Using a black eye shadow, create a large black circle around the purple smokey eye and in the whole socket of the eye.

Step 7 - Then using a black eye liner, liquid or pencil, create a scallop shape border around the black eye socket.

Step 8 - Using a small detailer brush, fill the scallop border in with a purple eyeshadow.

Step 9 - Create a half love heart shape on half of your nose as shown above and fill in with black eyeshdow.

Step 10 - With the black eye liner create a swirly line from the corner of your mouth and up towards your temple. Add swirls off of this line for a more feminine pretty look.

Step 11 - Start by drawing a wide V shape on the one half of your forehead and then draw a centre line in the V. Then between these 3 lines draw curved lines to create a spider web effect. Also connect the web and nose with a straight black line and draw a smaller half heart on your chin.

Step 12 - Use the same plum shadow you used for your smokey eye and add shadows to the spider web lines and swirly lines around your face.

Step 13 - Apply a black lipstick or eye-shadow to the outer corner of your lips on the skull side then apply a plum lipstick to the centre of half of your lips to create an ombre plum lip.

Step 14 - Add lines to top and bottom lips using a black eyeliner also add to the outer part of the mouth to create a stitched mouth effect.

Step 15 - Apply your favourite foundation on the clean side of your face and create a dark plum smokey eye.

Step 16 - Conceal any blemishes and under eye darkness with your favourite concealer, to create a flawless complexion.

Step 17 - Apply blush, highlight, brows and bronzer then finish the look with the same plum lipstick on the other half of your lips.

Step 18 - style your hair in loose waves, add a faux flower hair clip then Pose!

I really enjoyed making this pictorial and hope you like my Glam Sugar Skull Halloween makeup!

You can check out my other Halloween makeup tutorials on my YouTube here and be sure to like and subscribe please!

beauty

MAKEUP REVOLUTION UNICORNS UNITE LIPSTICK COLLECTION

Saturday, October 24, 2015

beauty

GALAXY SKULL HALLOWEEN TUTORIAL | VIDEO

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

beauty

Autumn Makeup Routine | Classic Red Lip

Thursday, October 15, 2015

I haven't posted a makeup routine post in ages and with it now being my favourite season Autumn, I always love switching up my makeup products. As some of you may know if you watch my YouTube channel, I got a new foundation for my Birthday, the L'Oreal infallible 24 stay foundation and I'm obsessed with it! It's the nicest full coverage yet still radiant and glowing foundation I've tried from the drugstore in years!! You can watch my What I Got For My Birthday Video here.

It's got such a nice consistency to it and the coverage is amazing for a drugstore affordable foundation! The shade is 125 natural rose and its perfect, it matches my skin tone really well! I can warm it up with a bronzer for when I have a little bit of fake tan on and it just looks flawless! I've had so many compliments on my makeup since I switched to this everyday foundation and i highly recommend it!

For my birthday I also purchased the Makeup Revolution Baked Highlighter in the shade peach lights and its incredible! I only use it on the top of my cheek bones and under my brow and its such a pretty shade. Not too pink, yellow or white which is in my opinion hard to find in a drugstore Highlighter. And I've even heard its a dupe for one of the benefit highlighters.

Another products I got for my birthday and love is the Ultra Brow Arch & Shape from Makeup Revolution. The shade is medium and its the best colour match to my eyebrows I've found as its not too red toned it top ashy. And its not too dark as I don't really like strong brows on myself.

And lastly Beauty UK are back with a bang with their brand new Lips Matter Velvet Matte Lip creams. I'm wearing the shade Bond,Mrs Bond* and its a stunning deep red shade which looks timeless and classic! These matte lip creams stay on for hours and I just love how to feel on my lips, they are so comfortable to wear!

I hope you are all having a great week and I look forward to creating more autumnal makeup looks this fall!

*This post contains some products sent for consideration of review.

beauty

BEAUTY UK LIPS MATTER VELVET MATTE LIP CREAM NEW RELEASE!

Monday, October 12, 2015

You all know by now that my favourite lip products are Matte! So when the lovely Ilya from Beauty UK emailed me last week and told me all about their exciting new products, I nearly burst with excitement! I have been after an affordable matte lip cream for AGES and these are just incredible! I received these this morning so you know I must be excited for them to launch Friday if I'm already writing a review!

The two shades I received are no.1 Bond, Mrs Bond and Curious Coral. They are such nice shades and I'm so pleased with the formula. They don't disappoint at all and they are stunningly Matte. They glide on the lips but aren't sticky or hard to work with, They dry really quickly and look perfect. The description velvet matte lip creams is the perfect description as I've never used such a creamy yet smooth and velvety formula. Most lip creams I've used before like the Makeup Revolution ones go on quite wet and take a few minutes to dry, these are ideal as they dry really quickly but not too soon that its hard to apply!

I love the doe foot applicator is really nice to use and makes applying these much easier as it distributes the right amount of product and is the perfect shade for my lips! Its a great size and doesn't clump up at all or have lots of excess product on. The staying power of these is also amazing! I have had these on since the moment they arrived this morning and its now just gone 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I've eaten breakfast and lunch with them on my lips and had a cup of tea and they are still intact. I say 'they are' as I did apply the Coral one first and then an hour later applied the Bond, Mrs Bond over the top just to try out the shades.There is a tiny bit of wear on the inside of my bottom lip but this is only slight and probably from where I have drank throughout the day, which is totally expected.

The Lips Matter Lip creams are so pigmented, These pictures were taken after 2 swipes across my hand and the colour pay off is incredible! I could have only swiped them once each but I wanted a larger swatch area. My fiance has even commented on how opaque they look on my hand and my lips. The top image is with flash and the bottom without my camera flash on. They are total ME shades and I LOVE them! I cant wait to purchase some more of these for Autumn!

From Left to right -

There are 8 shades in the new Beauty UK Lips Matter range and they are all so stunning! There is a shade for everyone and any occasion and I'm hoping that they add to this range with a few more vampy shades or a few nude/browns. They are available from the Beauty UK website and Amazon from Friday 16th October and are only £3.99 each so I'll soon be collecting them all!

They also smell so lush with a blueberry scent to them which is so fruity and sweet. I love all things blueberry to this is a total hit with me. I also adore the packaging, its modern yet clearly sticking to the matte theme with a matte black lid!!

Which shades will you be picking up first?

*This post contains PR samples sent for consideration of review. All opinions are 100% my own and honest!