makeup

If you have short or curled lashes, look out for mascaras that have a plastic brush. These seem to work best for lengthening and gripping shorter lashes without leaving an imprint on your lid, a nightmare if you’ve already done your eye shadow or liner. Fibrous bristle brushes are great for loading volume onto your lashes. So if you are happy with the length but want them to look fluttery and full, this kind of brush is your best option. Below are my picks of the best high-street mascaras across the board. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help gi...

The other day, I was tidying up my everyday makeup draw, which tends to throw up over my chest of drawers throughout the week, and I noticed something. Fenty Beauty has my makeup bag in a chokehold. And it’s not just my makeup. My skincare and bodycare have all had the Fenty treatment in my beauty routine. From the Fenty Skin Butta Drop Whipped Oil Body Cream that envelops winter-ravaged skin to the event-ready Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation, I am a huge fan of Rihanna’s product ranges. If I’m ranking her three ranges, it’s got to be as follows: Fenty Beauty is number one (reasons coming below), Fenty Skin bodycare, and then the skincare. The makeup is so good I think I could easily replace all of my everyday products with Fenty and be happy. The onl...

I love trying new beauty products. What a surprise, right? But after nearly a decade testing pretty much every new launch, I do sometimes get a bit disillusioned by newness. When you receive information about a “never before seen” product range every week, you truly wonder how much newness could possibly exist under the sun, but every now and again, I’m wowed by a delivery enough to rave about it to anyone who’ll listen. This year, there are already a few launches that have caught my eye across the beauty spectrum, from bodycare to makeup, and the price spectrum, too. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process....

I think foundation finish is one of the biggest points of difference that I have with my fellow beauty editors. It’s common amongst my peers to prefer a dewy, radiant finish for their base, if they even choose to wear one at all. It suits them, it just doesn’t tend to work for me thanks to my highly oily T-zone. No matter what my skincare routine is, or the time of year, or if I’m having an eczema flare-up, within a few hours of doing my makeup, I will always need to powder. So knowing this, a dewy foundation has never made sense for me as it increases the oily look that I’m blessed with. That’s why I prefer matte texture foundations. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Ge...

While some makeup artists recommend applying concealer before your foundation to get a full-coverage, long-lasting finish, when it comes to Phillips’ iconic fresh-faced looks, any step that risks over-application should be avoided at all costs. “I prefer applying concealer after foundation to ensure I am focusing only on the areas that need the extra coverage,” she reveals. “I apply it with a brush and blend it out with a sponge, setting with a light dusting of powder.” When it comes to areas of concern, like dark circles, she advises using a colour corrector rather than packing on concealer. “Using a colour corrector under a full-coverage concealer will help to minimise the appearance of dark circles and brighten the under eyes are the same time,” Phillips reveals. Similarly, when it come...

Going back to my ongoing need for bronzed, glowy skin, it’s also worth knowing that I massively “overapply” my bronzer. While I know that experts would call it overapplication, I think it’s just right. Makeup artists talk about lightly dusting bronzer onto the high points of your face, where the sun would naturally hit, but my approach is much more “swirl the brush around and rub it all over.”  Okay, I might be exaggerating a little bit, but I do apply far more than is recommended. Using a big, fluffy brush, I use a matte powder and dust it heavy-handedly into my hairline, down to my temple, under my cheekbones and along my jawline. Oh, and across my nose, too. Basically, the only places on my face not touched with bronzer are the apples of my cheeks. And I’m not entirely sure why I l...

If I could only wear one type of makeup product for the rest of my life, it would be mascara. It’s the first product I ever used, and it’s truly the one makeup item I’m most fanatical about. (I have a healthy collection of at least 50.)   That said, it’s truly a trick to find a mascara that can successfully curl and lift my long, stick-straight lashes. I love and appreciate the natural length I was born with, but with that blessing comes the curse of profoundly droop-prone fringe. So although I also love mascaras touting length, volume, and definition, my main concern is always curl. And, unfortunately, most mascaras I’ve tried over the years (even before I was a beauty editor) fall disastrously flat. There is some serious strategy when it comes to d...

Listen, I know most of us have been in throw-on-and-go mode for the past few years, and that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. Although some might miss getting dolled up on the daily, I know there’s a select few of us who are actually living our best lives wearing little to no makeup every day—sue us. Doing a full face all the time can be exhausting, so it’s actually nice to know that there are brands out there who keep us minimalists top of mind. Dare I say, minimalist makeup might be full-on trending this year, and it’s a movement I’m happy to embrace. If you find yourself nodding in agreement and would like to keep it clean and simple these days, find all the best makeup brands any true minimalist needs in their arsenal...

“I’ll put it out there: I really don’t like foundation. Not because I don’t like the way it makes me look but because I hate the way it feels on my skin. I almost always wear skin tints over foundations, and because this stuff promised to be a blend of the two, I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. “First of all, can I just say that I really love the packaging? The fact it’s totally recyclable is brilliant because I hate having to chuck pump foundations in the general rubbish bin. The little spatula is also brilliant for scooping foundation out of the bottle. Second, I’m a huge fan of the natural, fresh scent—it really brings a sense of zen to my morning routine. “I tried shade Medium 1W, which was a little dark for me, but that’s how I like it. The formula and finish are both good...

Is there anything more satisfying than finding your nude lipstick? As a Black woman, this journey has not been smooth sailing, there has been ashiness and some rather horrible mishaps that should never be made public. Alas, I have made it and the quest to find my nude lipstick has come to an end and I can confirm, it’s a good place to be.  A nude lipstick is what the little black dress is to your wardrobe—it’s a staple, a classic and always the right choice. The trick in picking a nude that works for you is ‘that we choose a shade that’s subtle but at the same time harmonises the skin’’ says Sasha Ghodstinat, Code8 Global Makeup Artist. Find a shade that works with your undertones—as a rule of thumb if you’re on the warmer end of the spectrum opt for a warm toned nud...

If you’ve ever wanted to know what’s really inside the makeup bags of the most stylish women in the industry, you’re in luck. We’ve created a new column—Inside My Makeup Bag—to uncover the beauty products our fashion friends genuinely keep in their daily rotations and how much their stashes actually cost. I’ll be delving inside their bags on your behalf and totting up every item in there, from the most expensive to the cheapest. Not only will you be left with an incredible shopping list, but you’ll get a realistic price tag to boot.   Melissa Holdbrook-Akposoe is the mastermind behind Melissa’s Wardrobe, sharing the latest snippets of her life as a celebrity fashion stylist, beauty expert and interior designer. As well as the recent ...

However, when I was sat in a makeup chair a few months ago, complaining to the makeup artist that I simply can’t find a way to get makeup to work for me in the winter, something occurred to me. My problem with winter makeup all boils down to one very crucial thing: it limits my glow. And that’s when the makeup artist suggested I swap out some of my usual winter favourites for balm formulas.  While I have used some balm makeup products (such as blusher) before and loved them thanks to their skin-like finish, I hadn’t thought to ever look into what other products were out there. You see, makeup balms are not only dewy and glow-boosting but they also melt into the skin and deliver ample nourishment, leaving skin looking naturally radiant and healthy. After hooking out every sin...