All posts tagged: contour

NYX Blush - Taupe

NYX Powder Blush in Taupe

A long overdue review, mostly because I had to revisit this blush again before I realized how great it is. That, my friends, is one of the perils of setting up a beauty blog without knowing much about it. But anyway. The NYX Powder Blush in Taupe is a much talked-about product in the beauty world for a reason. Because most bronzers are too warm or golden to be used as a “proper” contour shade, this near-grey blush has been high up in the ranks of the too-few products that can mimic an actual shadow. The “correct” contour shade relies heavily on the preference of the wearer, but if you’re someone who wants to lay off the orange, this one’s for you! It’s been mentioned a million times, and that’s because it works. It’s a great way to try out this shade, too, because NYX is cheaper than most of the grey contour powders or blushes out on the market. The packaging is very un-glamorous and nondescript, but when a product works, you hardly notice …

Face Off: NARS Ita Kabuki Brush vs. Illamasqua Blush Up Brush

This fun post was brought to you by a NARS SA that gave me the wrong thing (as I previously mentioned here). I was going to buy the NARS Yachiyo brush because it applied blush really beautifully, but the SA gave me this flat brush called the NARS Ita Kabuki brush, which became really famez after YT gurus kept using it as a contour brush. I already had a similar flat brush, the Illamasqua Blush-Up Brush, so I was a bit miffed by this mistake, but I also wanted to see if this was as good as everyone thought it was. I don’t really contour much, so I didn’t have much use for this, but IDK. I have a weird relationship with stuff, I guess. Here’s what they look like, structurally. The Ita brush is comprised of a rubbery matte plank that forks into two planks that sandwich the bristles (the ferrule is black). The Blush Up brush is a bit fan-like but super dense with a shiny black ferrule and handle. Comparing the bristles, …

Adventures in Contouring: Illamasqua Cream Foundation

I could never get contouring right. I have been blessed with a really round face, so usually a contour just looks out of place. I stopped myself from buying bronzers when I reached 3 (though I only ever use one for contour attempts), but when I saw this Illamasqua Cream Foundation in a darker shade on sale for £5 from £23, I thought it was worth giving it a try. It comes in a pinched-square standard Illamasqua packaging. I actually looked for the technical term for this… and it turns out it’s just a square… in hyperbolic, non-Euclidian geometry… … so never mind. It’s just a ‘pinched square’ as far as I’m concerned. Anyway, it comes with a full-sized mirror and a sponge that I don’t use because I don’t intend to use it on my face. I got the shade 320, which is just a couple of notches darker than my original skin color. It’s actually a pretty great contour color. I like how the cream foundation stays put. Product Description: “Create a base …