no make-up

Nope, this is not a make-up tutorial as I know almost nothing on the subject… I do however want to share with you some amazing newly discovered make-up products as I feel that a bit of a review is always nice. As always, I am doing this review with only praise in mind as I hate the negative energy I get after writing a bad review. On that note… these are the best products I found this autumn! Naturally they are not all newly launched products as I am not a beauty blogger, but they are my most recent finds as I had to overhaul my make-up bag.

I always like to buy new stuff at the beginning of the season as I feel that both my skin colour and my texture tend to go through some changes – and I do not want to even start on the changes my skin went through during this pregnancy! This post comes after a long period of hits and misses in the make-up department simply because my skin is chaotic these days and finding something that works well with it is rather hard. Most of these products here were tried for at least two weeks just to be sure that they work well with my skin and, to be honest, not being the make-up expert that some people are, it always takes me a while to learn how to apply each one depending on the texture.

Here are this autumn’s heroes:

Giorgio Armani Maestro Fusion Make-up in shade 5.5
Giorgio Armani Liquid Sheer in shade 2
Chanel Eclat Lumiere in shade 20
Dior Diorblush Light & Contour in shade 002
Benefit They’re Real Mascara in Black
Chanel Rouge Allure Ink in shade 140 Amoureaux
My besties – BeautyBlender The Original and the Micro

How I apply them:

First, I would like to clear the air on one thing: I do not use any primer! Yes, I know that is a make-up felony, but I just hate the way most (or at leat the ones I’ve tried) of them feel on my skin. Therefore I just apply my foundation on bare moisturised skin. This Giorgio Armani fluid foundation was a bit tricky at first given that it has a very runny texture and it wasn’t tricky from a skin application point to view but rather because it took me a while to figure out how to get it onto my skin. In my opinion, the best way to go about it is to put small drops of the products on your fingers and pat it in key areas of the face. While I do love my BeutyBlender, this foundation works best for my skin when I apply it wth my fingers – no, a brush did not work as well either!

Then it is off to correcting whatever spots and dark areas I have on my face (mostly dark under-eyes). For this I use the Chanel Eclat Lumiere. I have used this product for a few years now and I love the way it seamlessly blend with any foundation. Yes, I know, it is about time to try the YSL Touche Eclat, but somehow I always end up buying this one.I just brush the product in the areas that I feel I need some extra coverage and pat it with my BeautyBlender Micro.

Now for a bit of contour. I must confess that mastering this step took me quite a while…And I always needed up looking like I had dark spots, but with the new Dior stick this has become quite easy. No, I am not yet a ‘strobing specialist’ and honestly I have no idea what that is. For this step I just put on my ‘war lines’ – as D calls them – and blend them really well with my BeautyBlender.

A bit of highlighting is always much needed after the contour step and I do not use the lighter part of my Dior stick simply because I feel that it contains a bit of glitter as opposed to the pearly texture that captures the light perfectly that I found in Giorgio Armani’s Fluid Sheer. I have tried applying this miracle worker both underneath my foundation as well as mixing it into the foundation, but I feel that it looks best when applied in key ares over the foundation. So I apply it on my upper cheekbones, my upper eyelids and on top of my upper lip.

What’s left? A generous layer of jet black mascara. I am currently using They’re Real from Benefit and I have to say that I am quite happy with it. I confess that it is not as good as the G by Guerlain but hey, it is less than half the price and it does the job nicely!

As for the newest favourite in my make-up bag, the Chanel Rouge Allure Ink, I only have great things to say! First of all, I am that annoying person that only wears nudes or very light pinks and hates matte lipsticks. I bought this because a good friend that actually nows make-up secrets at a way more advanced level than me recommended it and naturally I bought the lighter shade available (which is darker than what I normally wear). I love everything about it! Yes, even the colour as I feel it perfectly mimics my natural lip colour! The texture is to die for, you do not really feel like you are wearing a matte lip as your lips do not get dehydrated for one minute and it lasts for about 5-6 hours which is amazing! I seriously think this is the best beauty product of this autumn and I feel that it is rather hard to be topped by anyone else when it comes to matte lipsticks.

That’s it! That is my autumn no-make-up make-up routine! I hope it has been helpful, not from a make-up point of view necessarily, but rather from a review standpoint. Keep in mind that these are all products that work very well for my pregnant skin, but I have a feeling they are great for any skin. Again, I would like to add that all the products here are bought by me, so this is not a promotional post!

Strike two at writing this beauty post – hopefully there will be no more glitches from WordPress and YES, I am writing this on the Notepad first just to be sure that it will not get deleted again. I just hate doing things twice!

Anyway… Today’s post, as the title suggests is all about getting those perfectly shaped eyebrows, and not having to re-do them every single morning, like I had to for almost a decade of my life. In order to get you accommodated with the subject I have to tell you first about my life with my natural eyebrows. First of all, I was born with bushy wild eyebrows (yes, no sign of that in my recent years), but was unlucky enough to reach my critical age (adolescence) in the 90s when thing eyebrows were the thing. Naturally, being 13 and quite stupid, I over-plucked them – NEVER EVER DO THAT – and some of the hairs did not grow back, most of the hairs actually. As opposed to most other female body parts that don’t necessarily need hair but where hair grows like you give it fertiliser every day, the important hair of the brows is very stubborn when it comes to growing back. This left me with no other choice than to pencil and powder my eyebrows until 2013 when it came to me: I should get them tattooed (semi-permanent make-up). Since back then I was younger, stupider and had fewer financial resources (I was actually lacking in the brain cells department rather than financial come to think of it), I looked online for the cheapest option available and booked it right away. Yes this was two or three months before our wedding day. I figured that I will just tell the lady doing them what I wanted and give her points every step of the way because in my head I knew better than anybody what was aesthetically correct. I have to say that a diploma in Architecture gave me that confidence, but to be honest, that has nothing to do with human aesthetics. My confidence combined with the fact that the lady doing my eyebrows was not the most talented in the world left me with having to put on more make-up every morning than before. Please keep in mind that when it comes to someone tattooing your face, there is absolutely no way of you actually seeing live what she/he is doing and therefore you have no control of the result. I did not take this into consideration then and I did not do my research where her talent was concerned.

These were my ‘before’ – brows (aka my wedding brows – first tattoo)

A year later, still not at my wisest, but getting there, I discovered THE LASH ROOM. I think this is the first place that actually had the wonderful technique of micro-blading in Romania, if I am wrong than this is definitely the best place where you can get your eyebrows micro-bladed – just take a look at their portfolio as opposed to others. Why did I say that I wasn’t at my wisest? Because I still had this fixed idea in my mind that I knew best and did not let the very talented Cristina Delcaru to do her job properly, still wanting thinner brows than she suggested. They did turn out a lot better than my first attempt at getting my brows done and in my head, back then they were perfect and I was hooked on the place. I tend to be the type of person that is very loyal to beauty places if they make me feel good and safe.

First attempt at THE LASH ROOM – freshly done

First attempt at THE LASH ROOM – healed

Fast forward to another year later when I wanted to refresh my brows again, here I was back at THE LASH ROOM. By now, both me and Cristina realised that the first time I had them tattooed it was with permanent ink because a) it just won’t fade and b) it changed into a horrible carrot hue. Because I was a bit older, I was also a bit wiser and allowed Cristina to make them a bit thicker, but not as much as she would’ve liked for them to frame my face properly. Needless to say that I left the place walking on clouds and I just kept staring in the mirror in awe, the entire drive back home. I was simply in love with my thicker, more natural brows! Did I mention that each time Cristina custom made my brow colour just to make sure it perfectly matched both my hair colour as well as my skin tone. Yes they do that at THE LASH ROOM, you do not have to chose just between brown, black or red, the possibilities are endless!

Second time at THE LASH ROOM

And here we are… Two and a half weeks ago I needed to have them re-done because I got to the point where I feel the wisest – might be hormonal. Yes, I re-pigmented my brown in my fifth month of pregnancy and it is totally safe as THE LASH ROOM uses bio-organic fruit inks that are more natural that most of the moisturisers I use these days. As opposed to the last few times, this time it did hurt a bit, but nothing to get my heart-rate up or anything. Why I considered myself to be at my wisest? Because right form the start I told Cristina that she should do what she felt framed my face best and I only wanted to see the end result – I trusted her 100% which I rarely ever do, and I am so glad I did! My brows turned our perfectly, even better that what I remember my natural brows to be, actually a lot better than that! The shade is perfect, the thickness is perfect and overall way they look is absolutely amazing! I seriously recommend this place and Cristina, but I am sure that all the girls working there are extremely talented.

About the procedure:

First of all, your brow designer will do a mock-up of how the brows will turn out and, from my experience, they are extremely patient and considerate with your opinion as they really put your happiness first. After the shape is settled the designer will start mixing a custom colour just for you. She will then start tattooing and this can be done here in multiple ways depending on your skin: either micro-blading, powdered or plain tattooing or a mixture between the three. The first two times Cristina decided on micro-blading for me, but the last time she decided to use the tattooing machine because I do have a bit of scar tissue on my right brow (adolescence zit) and the horrible reddish hue from my first attempt is still visible and this technique is supposed to be better for these issues. After the first lines are drawn, she applies a bit of local anaesthetic and normally from this point onward you just have to sit back and relax for about an hour. Afterwards, you’ll end up with the perfect eyebrows! The aftercare is quite easy but it will take about two weeks during which time, as opposed to a normal tattoo that needs to be washed daily, you are not allowed to get this one in contact with anything apart from the cream you will receive before leaving the place. This makes make-up not really an option therefore you have to plan this procedure ahead. As I said, you have to apply the cream twice per day which will make you look a bit weird (see the healing photos attached). On top of everything, be prepared to have very dark eyebrows for those two weeks until the heal. This is no problem whatsoever if you are a brunette but it can be one if you have lighter coloured hair. Two weeks later you will guaranteed looked a lot better than before!

Before the third procedure at THE LASH ROOM

Right after the procedure

During the healing process

The healing cream

A bit about Cristina:
She is one of the nicest people I’ve met and despite her immense talent, she is very down-to-earth. The thing that shocked me most the second time I saw her is that she perfectly remembered both me and what she used on my brows the first time. This is extremely rare as she must’ve done hundreds of eyebrows during that year, but apparently she has amazing memory when it comes to her work. Despite not being in agreement with me the first two time (where brows are concerned) she still gave me her best and I left the place every time feeling amazing! I am sure that all the girls working there are very talented, but I fell very lucky to have met her and have my eyebrows done by her.

Healed result

About THE LASH ROOM:
This place is amazing, it make you feel right at home. I am very sorry that D couldn’t join me during my procedure as I would’ve liked to have more photos of both the procedure itself as well as the interior of the place, but you can find a few photos online. The staff always made my feel welcome and everything appears to be in pristine and hygienic condition therefore you feel relaxed right from the beginning. They also offer various lash treatments, that I tried at some point. That service is amazing as well, but unfortunately I am the type of person that need to throughly rub her eyes every time I take my make-up off and therefore I could not have a full set of eyelashes and feel comfortable. But those of you that can live without rubbing your eyes, should know that this is an amazing service that should be tried at least once.
As you can see from the ‘after’ photos, Cristina’s works needs no more praising and you should really trust her from the first moment as she will do what is absolutely best for your face!
L.