My 10 favourite MAC eyeshadow colours

When I started writing this blog, I listed ten of my favourite make-up and beauty products.  At the time, I promised to list my favourite MAC eyeshadows.  At last, I have honoured my word and dusted off my keyboard.

I present my top ten favourite MAC shadows, and my favourite ways to use them...

10: FILAMENT - lustre - "Platinum silver"

Cerubic, glitter-packed and innocent.

Perfect for: risking-up natural looks without adding sex appeal

Pair it with: resinous perfume and soft lashes - play up the angelic look with a devilish scent.

9: ROMPING - frost - MAC description unknown 

(A C-shock limited edition resurrected in the Hello Kitty Too Dolly quad.  I wasn't going to include any limited editions, but I use this too regularly to skip it!)

Perfect pink with lilac sparkles - cute and sweet!

Perfect for: injecting some pink into blander outfits.  Remember to avoid matching your eyeshadow to your outfit outside of fancy dress and fashion shoots!

Pair it with: cream waterline eyeliner to tone down eye redness.  Red eyes are exaggerated by pink eyeshadows.

8: NEHRU - matte - "Muted bluish-black"

Wearable black-tone; like a black hole.

Perfect for: smokey eyes, blending out the edges of eyeliner.

Pair it with: hyper-strength glitter-tastic lipgloss, like Urban Decay Stardust in "Andromeda".

7: TILT - frost - "Violet w/blue-green pearl" 

The perfect peacocking for blue-eyed (or grey-eyed!) beauties.

Perfect for: adding an extra dimension to brown looks (my favourite), or to accent blue eyes - just blend, blend, blend.

Pair it with: soft pink lips, stained with Benefit Posie Tint.

6: SATIN TAUPE "Taupe with a silver shimmer"

Copper-toned gold with a subtle glow.

Perfect for: brown smokey eye looks, socket colours and glitzing up day-time looks.

Pair it with: deep, sexy plum shadows to equip yourself with a 'fuck me now' glance.

5: BITTER - velvet - "Vivid green with a shimmer"

Jaundiced, putting the creepy into creepy cute.

Perfect for: sallow goth looks without resorting to black.

Pair it with: a good concealer - I rate NARS - you need to even out any redness to carry this colour off!

4: BEAUTY MARKED - velvet - "Black-red w/sparkle pearl"

Gothic, burlesque and glamour.  Delicious glitter.

Perfect for: dressy smokey eye looks and all-over-lid for gothic looks.

Pair it with: thick, smudged eyeliner å la Taylor Momsen.

3: OMEGA - matte - "Soft muted beige-taupe"

Subtle, soft earthy beige - one I've bought twice!

Perfect for: everything.  This is my perfect base-shade and I nearly always use it before building up with other colours.  I'm usually prefer drawing attention to my eyes rather than my lips (I have a scar on my lip that I hate!) and this is quite dark for a base colour but it's perfect for me and what I like.

Pair it with: white waterlined eyes for a bright-eyed glow.

2: YOGURT - matte - "Soft pale pink"

So good I've bought it twice!

Perfect for: base tones and vintage cutesy looks.

Pair it with: graphic shimmer eyeliner.  Mix up the styles, but remember to blend out something between the two, like MAC "Phloof!" eyeshadow.

AND THE WINNER IS...

1: WOODWINKED -veluxe pearl - "Warm antique gold"

True gold, true glamour.

Perfect for: highlight - light cheekbone highlights are awesome with this.  Tap it on, then blush-brush it off. A little goes a LONG way!  Same for a cupids-bow highlight with nude lips.

Pair it with: bronzed skin for a beautiful glow.  So much fun to play with!

And they're not MAC, but I can't live without them...
Urban Decay Stardust eyeshadow in "Diamond Dog".
Barry M fine glitter dust and Dazzle Dust in 98 and 24.
Urban Decay Naked2 palette, in it's entirety, but in particular, YDK, Suspect and Snakebite.

It's been a while, but I still love you.

xoxo

Product images from the MAC website.

All other images my own.

20 Sweet Lolita-style make up tips

SKIN
Sweet-Lolita make-up can almost look doll-like when done perfectly and although 'Porcelain' is often used to describe a doll-like pallor, to me it's more about the smooth, radiant skin;

• Start as you mean to go on; a good moisturiser will give your make-up a soft canvas to sit on, and will help your skin in the long run.
• You can use foundation if your skin needs it, but Eyeko 3-in-1 cream makes a fantastic moisturising base that you can cover everywhere with; skin, neck and eyelids as a primer.
• Finishing powders (a bit like bronzers) carry a lot of colour and a touch of light-reflecting glitter and can make your skin look radiant with a quick brush-over.  I recommend MAC 'Soft & Gentle' to everyone, no matter their skin tone as it's a warm gold that suits most.
• A touch of warm pink or peach blush under your cheekbones can give a really cute effect but it is something that's needed sparingly.

EYES
For me, the impact of sweet-Lolita make-up lies within a fresh look and BIG innocent eyes.  Try a few of these hints along with a cute set of contact lenses;

• Lemon-Aid by Benefit disguises any redness and evens out the tone of your eyes before any other eye make-up is applied.
• There's a split opinion of whether a hard or soft liner-line suits sweet Lolita the most but I think it really depends on the person.  Try different styles to see which you prefer before prescribing to a definitive make-up guide or tutorial.
• It's tempting to pile on eyeliner to emphasise your eyes but it can make your lids looks heavier than they are.  Line carefully and finely and bring the lower-line out a little, almost Gyaru style, to get the big-eyed effect.  
• A slightly wider liner-line over where your pupil falls can make eyes appear larger.
• A white liner on your water-line can make eyes look wider and brighter.  If you can find one in a soft yellow-toned cream, it can help to tone down any redness in the whites of your eyes.
• If you want to make your eyes seem wider and more innocent, change your mascara for a shade darker.
• False eyelashes are FANTASTIC for an OTT Sweet Lolita look and a more subtle set can really set off a more casual look.  If you can get hold of them, Dolly Wink are a great brand to try but some sets from Eylure and even a couple in the Paris Hilton range by Elegant Touch look fantastic on western eyes; just familiarise yourself with the Japanese eyelash brand 'styles' and then try and buy similar.  I've even found some good ones in Poundland!

LIPS
It's most common to underplay the lips in the sweeter styles of Lolita and a neat application of skin-toned lipstick or even just a balm is often enough to tie the look together;

• Full lips are youthful and cute, but not everyone is blessed with them.  Using a nude lip-liner, you can draw your lip to just OUTSIDE your natural lip-line and then fill as normal with a pale lipstick. 
• Dark lipsticks make lips look narrower and more mature so avoid those!  
• Dab a little gloss in the centre of your top and bottom lips to reflect light, emphasising them.  
• You can pull light to your top lip by highlighting your cupids bow with a little cream highlighter.
• A nude lipstick with a pink 'jelly' gloss over the top can look really cute but you must take a few moments to line your lips with a little concealer to top the nude lipstick from feathering onto your skin as it can make the skin around your lips look a little... odd.
• If all else fails, bring out the Too Faced Lip Injection.

EVERYTHING ELSE...

• Gems, stickers, diamantes; they're cute but look best when used sparingly for everyday looks.
• Glitter can be used to highlight your favourite parts of your face but again, it's best used sparingly.  I like to use Barry M 'dd27; Gold Iridescent' at the corners of my eyes and lightly at the top of my cheekbones.

(and finally)

• At the end of the day, WASH IT OFF!  Keeping your skin make-up free overnight will help your skin stay beautiful ♥

10 beauty items I can't live without

I've noticed a few of these floating in blogs and all over YouTube so I thought I would do my own.

Eyeko Fat Balm in Mint. Use amabassador code E239 with purchase to get some free stuff. I remember Eyeko Bubblegum perfume pens from when I was 12 so when I saw these guys were still in business, I bought nearly everything they make to try them all out. The packaging is brilliant, but the products aren't that bad either. A little plasticy but it's all so cheap! This is my favorite of their 'Fat Balms' and it's saved my lips from office air-con on so many occasions, it's not even funny.

MAC Studio Fix compact. I use this every day, either over the top of Eyeko cream (see further down the list!) for a perfect complexion, or on it's own to even out my blotchy coloring. I would have probably painted my face pink with oil paints by now if I had never discovered this.

Eyeko cream - the pink one, not the tinted one. It says it's a 3 in 1 cream - eye cream, highlighter and moisturiser - but I usually just use it all over my face as a base for Studio Fix, or on my eyes as an eyeshadow primer. The best things about it are the golden shimmer held in it's creamy yumminess, the plastic Barbie scent of it, and the fact it's only £5.