Hello!
When you watch any make-up or beauty vloggers or bloggers, they have these gorgeous big eyes and they you can see all the detail of the five different eyeshadow colours they’ve used and the glitter and the delicate little eyeliner flick.
If I try to recreate this on my eyes, it looks okay when I’m applying it with my eyes closed then as soon as I open them, it’s all hidden because I have really hooded eyes. Whilst I do love watching lots of make up tutorials, I don’t tend to follow them because it wouldn’t work with my eyes anyway.
So I feel like I’m slowly starting to get the hang of making the most of the eye shape I have so I thought I’d share. The main thing I learnt is that taking photos of your own eyes is actually really difficult and that my ‘good eye’ (the one that has a less intense prescription in my glasses) is more hooded then my ‘bad eye’ – the things you learn ey!
Look 1: Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Pen eyeliner and L’Oreal False Last X Fibre mascara – for the simpler, in more of a rush days! If I struggle to make my eyeshadow visible I’m not going to try too hard on lazy days – sometimes I’ll try and do a cat eye flick but a lot of the time I don’t have the time or inclination to try and get it right. Often I won’t even use eyeliner, but mascara is a good way to lift and open up the eyes too. Though, this L’Oreal eyeliner that I spent £10.99 on wasn’t worth the money – it doesn’t replicate false eyelashes and the ‘fibre’ thing is a lie – I don’t even know which of the two steps is meant to have the fibres. Wouldn’t recommend it!
Look 2: Gold eyeshadow and mascara – I love gold and brown tones when I’m doing eyeshadow and a slight step up from the ‘basic’ look 1, is look 2 (more of an alternative than a step 1). A fairly light gold, shimmery toned eyeshadow from a Sleek palette so old that I don’t think they make it anymore and I’ve hit pan on most of the colours while some remain completely untouched. Paired with mascara I think this combination really lightens up your eyes and makes them falsely look a little bit bigger.
Also I thought taking a photo with my glasses on would be a good idea. It wasn’t because the reflection of the window is definitely not helping anyone.
Look 3: The Full Shebang – two eyeshadow colours that I didn’t blend very well, eyeliner and mascara, nice one. I used a much lighter gold shade for the base of my lid and a darker, almost burgundy mahogany colour that I tried to apply to the crease and blend out but this did not happen. However, if I put more effort in (which clearly I didn’t feel the need to do to take these photos today) then this look can really work for hooded eyes as it gives the perception of depth and makes you feel a little bit more like an accomplished make up… person.
I tried okay.
At the end of the day – whatever face shape or features you have and however you apply make up or don’t apply make up, you look great. You do you – beauty gurus aren’t everything.
Thank you for reading,
Sophie xx
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When I’m applying make-up, I start with foundation – I use the Rimmel London Match Perfection because I find it’s quite thin but buildable. It’s really nice to apply and it smells really good too, which is always a bonus when you’re half asleep and trying to paint your face a little bit. The only reason I wear foundation is to cover some of the redness in my cheeks and I find it fulfils that purpose and could function for heavier coverage too.
But sometimes I need another concealer, for the really bad eye-bag days. This one is a little bit heavier and I find that it’s good for covering blemishes as well as under eye bags and it’s just good for the days when you need a little bit more support. Like a good push up bra y’know.
One thing I very recently acquired and I’m just starting to get the hang of is contouring – I picked up this ‘contour kit’ (if you could call it that) from Maybelline and so far I’m impressed with it. As someone who knows very little about make-up and contouring, I feel like it’s a good way to learn to start using it and to start learning more about the structure of the face, from a more technical approach to make-up I guess.
In terms of face make-up, the last product I use is a powder that I’ve used so much that the name and brand has rubbed completely off the lid. It’s nothing particularly special as far as I’m aware – I know my sister has a transparent powder whilst mine is a very light coloured powder but it makes my face less shiny and sets my skin make-up without using a setting spray as such.
Next step is my brows – I fill them in as accurately as I can by using a combination of the light brown and the blonde shades I just fill them in. I don’t pluck, shape or dye my brows because I’m not capable of getting it right or affording to go to a salon to get them done professionally. But I like filling them in because I’ve got very light brows and they need some colour in them just to be able to see them.
My next step is applying my lip colour – these Super Stay 24 Colour stains from Maybelline are my go to. Caramel Creme is my favourite nude colour but they’re such a solid, lasting colour. I usually apply the colour before doing my eye make-up and then apply the setting balm to make it shiny and keep the colour set for the rest of the day. These colours really don’t come off at all and I can’t wait for more colours to be released in this line.
My eye make-up is what I take most pride in but then, in terms of people who are actually good at make-up, I’m still not very good. First, I apply a base coat of a pretty neutral colour (usually the one third from the left on the top row), then putting the lightest shimmer shade on the inner corner of my eye and a darker colour to try and give my eye some definition and try to be better than what I actually am. This is a Revolution pallet and whilst it’s a little pigmented, I adore it.
My favourite eyeliner is this liquid liner from Revlon – it gives a really solid black colour and I find the shape of the pen makes for a really good wing too. I’ve got a few other eyeliners in my make-up bag and I often switch between a few – if I’m lining my lower lash line I’ll use a pencil I’ve got and a gel liner for when I’m feeling adventurous. Eyeliner is always my favourite but there are often days that I don’t bother with it because I know I can’t do it well – those are the tired days!
After eyeliner, I often use two mascaras – one to prep my lashes and one to really sculpt them. The first is the Wonder’Full mascara from Rimmel and to shape I use the 24 hour Super Curler, also from Rimmel. I couldn’t praise this mascara any higher – as someone who doesn’t have particularly long lashes, this eyeliner makes it look like I’m wearing false lashes all the time. It makes me feel powerful, like I could actually kill a man. Like, metaphorically, but cool.
So many spare lip products! More super stay colours – the top one is Caramel Kiss, the one that is too close to nude and you can’t actually tell I’m wearing it. The bottom colour is a bright red I’ve forgotten the name of, but I save it for a night out and I really, really love it. It’s a bit more difficult to apply because it’s a darker colour but I still love it.
Next is Tanya Burr’s lip gloss thing – I don’t really like this one but I don’t have anywhere else to put it really. The colour is a little bit too bright and it really doesn’t stay on the lips very well, as well as feeling sticky and uncomfortable. I’m not even subscribed to Tanya Burr as a YouTuber so I’m not even sure why I bought it to be honest.
This one is quite a recent investment – it’s called the Vivid Matt Liquid from Maybelline but I found that the colour isn’t as strong as it is in the bottle. I’m yet to try and test it properly but I wore it to work and it wasn’t as dark as I wanted it to be. But I am going to try and layer it a bit more as I think it could be buildable.
This is my favourite lip colour outside of the super stay ones – the only proper lip stick I own and it’s a proper dark red. It needs topping up fairly regularly to maintain it’s colour but it goes on really nicely and it’s super comfortable to wear. I always hope to find this colour in the super stay design so I can wear it more often.
These used to be my favourite lip pencil applicant things before I got the super stay ones – these pencils aren’t particularly strong in colour but they last really well, they’re super easy to apply and reapply and writing this post has reminded me of how much I loved these – definitely going to be making these more of a regular!
This eyeliner is a felt tip, I love the shape of the pen and it’s really accurate in terms of doing both lash liner and wings, but the colour fades fast and it looks like a pen running out of ink. I often use the liquid liner to top up the colour once I’ve drawn the shape with this pen. It’s a nice little, fairly cheap, high street brand.
This is the pencil I use to line my lower lash line – I don’t often do it because I generally just find it accentuating the bags under my eyes a few hours later but I love that it’s not something that you have to sharpen, you just wind it up and buy a new one when it runs out. I’ve actually been using these pens for years – I really do love them!
This last liner was my go to before my current favourite. It’s a gel, angled liner that, again, is good for drawing wings. I go through phases with eyeliner and I’m sure I’ll find a place for it again soon, but for now you can see how well loved it was from the eyeshadow distributed all over the rubber tip!
The last product in my make-up bag is an old mascara – it’s a sports, waterproof one again from Rimmel and like the Wonder’full one with Argan oil, it’s good for prepping the lashes for a stronger mascara. I should probably throw it away, because I’ve had it for a while but it’s always been a good mascara that I do go back to.
sophie counts clouds 