MAC Tartan Tale

Och Aye!

Check out MAC's new 'Tartan Tale' collection. It includes eye, lip and face kits plus brush sets and individual tartan eyeshadows.

Stunning packaging and innovative technology allowing the tartan design to run all the way through the eye shadow pan (not just the top layer). Not only that, but all £20 of the retail price of the Viva Glam gift bag (£20) goes directly to the MAC Aids fund.

Products will be Limited Edition, out November.

Sian's Balmoral Wedding

Here are a few shots from Sian Campbell's wedding at the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh. It was a real treat to do Sian's make-up as I had also done the wedding make-up for her sister, Laura and her bridesmaid, Gail a few years ago. Needless to say it was a lovely gossipy girly morning catching up on everyone's news.

For her bridal make-up, Sian wanted a glamorous look with soft, smokey grey eyes and perfect skin.

For her eyes I used Stila 'shore' with Bobbi Brown 'steel' worked into the lashline, outer corner and socket. Graphite gel liner defined her top lashline and Urban Decay 'gunmetal' was used to create softness under the eye. Some lash inserts were added to create a subtle lift.

Sian has beautiful skin which was enhanced using Bobbi Brown 'skin foundation' and Chanel bronzer. Illamasqua 'hussy' blush was added to give her a healthy flush of colour. A light application of Bobbi Brown 'sandwash pink' lipstick finished her look off. She looked absolutely beautiful as these photo's by Parris Photography show.

LOOKLOOK Photo Booth

This is just TOO cool.

LOOKLOOK was set up in April 2010 after a friend of fashion photographer Darran Barton had attended a wedding in New York and said the photo booth was the main attraction of the evening.

It is the first company in Scotland to offer a fully, high end digital photo booth service. LOOKLOOK hire their photo booths, which feature professional studio lighting designed by Darran himself, out for weddings and events. A 'booth butler' will supervise the booth and help guests capture their shots for the duration of the hire.

It's also possible to get 2 copies of every photo so the bride and groom have a keepsake guestbook of their evening. Another possibility (albeit for the brave) is projection of each photo to a wall for everyone to see.

LOOKLOOK hire starts from £650 which includes 4hr hire, 100 instant prints, hire of 'booth butler', web gallery and a disc with all high-res images. There is currently a 15% discount for all events in July and August 2010.

The booths have already enjoyed bookings at Glasgow's recent 'GLAM in the city' and Edinburgh's 'TASTE' festival.

http://www.looklook.co.uk/

Make-up Alley Website

This is a website that I have used for year's that I wanted to share with you. Time and time again it has saved me wasting money on products that are not up to the mark. Whenever a new product catches my eye, I'll quickly check it's rating on here before I part with my cash. Most premium and high street brands are listed and, on the whole, I tend to agree with most of the reviews. If something takes your fancy (or not) as the case may be, you can leave your own review to let others know your thoughts. Check it out next time you see something you are thinking of splashing out on.

www.makeupalley.com

60's Inspired Bridal Look

After receiving these last week, I wanted to share a few shots of the lovely Leah Dow who got married in February this year. I have done Leah's make-up several times for various occasions so we had a good idea on what worked well on her. Leah's has fantastic skin, it's practically poreless, so many foundations would look great. For her big day she wanted 'flawless skin with great coverage' so we settled on Laura Mercier's 'silk creme' foundation.

On Leah's eyes I used MAC 'shale' and 'sketch' shadows to really bring out the green in her eyes. They were then lined top and bottom with Urban Decay rockstar 24-7 pencil. Strip lashes were used to add intensity to the lashline. MAC 'pink swoon' blush gave a beautiful flush to the cheeks and lips were kept simple with 'juicy rose glow' by L'Oreal. The overall look worked really well with the 60's inspired hair. I just loved the simple ribbon detail fixed with a gorgeous brooch. So simple but very effective.

Photography was by Absolutely Fabulous.

Twice as Nice

Paula McDonough who got married back in December 2009 forwarded on some beautiful images to me this week, courtesy of Scott at Premier Photography (http://www.premierphotography.co.uk/).

As an identical twin, Paula was concerned about her make-up as she wanted to look quite different from her sister Caroline. Both girls wanted natural looks so the obvious choice of going smoky with one and dark/bright lips on the other was not an option. We agreed that the use of shadow colour and application of lashes would be used to create difference.

Soft light shadow was used on Paula's eyes, defined with gel liner and topped off with a full set of lashes. For Caroline a darker shadow was used but we kept her lashes natural. The end result was both girls looking fresh but still quite different.

It's now Caroline's turn to get married this year. Looking forward to seeing them both again and working out more make-up idea's.

Best Eyeshadow Primers

Now that we're heading into summer, keeping eyeshadow in place all day can be tricky. A lot of people complain that their shadow disappears by lunchtime, particularly in the crease line. In most cases this problem can be resolved by adding an eyeshadow primer before applying any shadow. In addition to holding shadow in place, a good primer will also help the colour stay true all day and bring out the colour pigment.

Here are a few of my favourites..

Urban Decay Primer Potion (purple bottle)

A cult classic. It's completely clear so you can add any colour on top. Ideal for people who like to change their eyeshadow colour on a regular basis. A variant of this primer has now launched, named 'sin' (gold bottle). Although I haven't tried this yet I'm sure it will also be great and ideal good for those who like to wear gold toned colours. £11.50 (Boots)

MAC Paint in 'stilife'

This is my 'go to' primer when I'm using warm toned colours. It's a light champagne shade which adds a gorgeous shimmery champagne sheen to the eye. It's very pretty to use on it's own but comes into it's own when shadow is applied on top. £13

MAC Paint Pot in 'painterly'

When I'm looking to create a sophisticated matte eye, this is the primer I use. Goes on super smooth and is a perfect base to most matte colours. £13