Dance Mini - The Face Edition

Continuing on the current theme, I thought I would show you some of the face products I used on the dancers for the Dance Mini shoot. 

There are four products I stuck to over the weekend. Using a range of colours and mixes, I found shades and weights to suit each of the talent at each of the varied locations. 

First, I'll talk about the powder and concealer. 

Using the Maybelline Mineral Power concealer, I coloured the dark circles of sleepless nights, and minor blemishes. Using different colours and weights I worked on a range of people. The consistency is creamy, it brushes on well and has light, buildable coverage. 

Secondly, I used the Rimmel Stay Matte powder in 001, translucent. I was able to use this on most of the dancers. It truly is an amazing product. Being a dance shoot, I needed to use my fair share of this to keep people looking cool, calm and collected. Smooth and finely milled, I find that this doesn't create a cakey look and blends easily into the skin, giving an almost airbrushed finish. 

For foundations, I worked with two products, somehow again from Rimmel and Maybelline.

For the men and some of the girls, I chose to use a BB cream over a foundation, or I mixed the two together to create the right shade and consistency. 

The BB cream I chose was the Maybelling Dream Pure BB Cream. This comes in two options, for oily skin and normal to dry skin and a reasonable colour range (although for me, it doesn't go quite light enough, and at the other end of the spectrum, doesn't suit dark skin). I find that the colour is not too orange - something I have found in many BB creams in the past. The consistency is similar to a tinted moisturiser, with a slightly heavier colour payoff. It blends into the skin like magic.

For foundation, I used the Rimmel Stay Matte foundation in again, a range of colours. This is a pretty heavy foundation, and not one I would recommend for dry skin. But as the shoot was dance themed, the talent were sweating, so anything to keep them looking as healthy and matte for as long as possible was great by me. If the dancer had dry skin, I mixed it with the BB cream and it added some moisture back to the consistency. For more on this foundation, see my march favourites.

Dance Mini - Lipstick Edition

A sneaky little post about the lip products I chose for the Dance Mini shoot.

The car was orange. I'll say that again, the car was orange. The idea for the shoot (especially for day two) was that the main colours would be black and white, with accents of orange. So naturally, I leant towards the orange lipsticks.

First on my list (and top left) is the Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in 910, Shocking Coral. 

Although not the most orange of the lot, it is the smoothest and most moisturising of the lot. This lipstick seems to suit most skin tones (and I have to say that it's definitely my lipstick of the moment).

Secondly, and centre, there is the Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in 210, Coral in Gold. This has reigned supreme in my favourites for a very long time. I've been wearing it for years, and so when I had the chance to use the same colour on a film shoot I took the opportunity as soon as I could! The colour is beautiful, orange with lovely gold shimmer. The lipstick lasts for hours, something I can't say for the Maybelline one above. 

Lastly in our line of lipsticks, is the MAC Lustre in Jest. A bit of a deeper colour, with some brown tones and again, the gold highlights. Although this one doesn't really suit me, it is perfect for darker skin tones. The quality is beautiful, and it should be for the going price.

Lastly, an honourable mention goes to the Dior Kiss lipgloss in 245. This is the old packaging, but I believe it is still the same product. The sheen is stunning, but it does feel a little sticky on the lips. 

I used my holy grail product, the Lucas Paw Paw ointment to keep everybody's lips healthy and fresh for the three days. 

Home made zucchini bread

At first, when I found this recipe, I was a little sceptical.

Sweet zucchini bread? Sounds odd. But I had a problem on my hands, in the form of a giant zucchini that I had to work out what to do with it all.

See the issue? 

So far, I've made four meals (including this bread) out of the one zucchini, and I think I may have enough for one more. But I'm quickly running out of ideas.

Anyway, enough about the mega zucchini. 

This bread is delicious, best served with a little ricotta or avocado spread on top, or as I have been mostly eating it, a good amount of butter. 

I found this recipe online: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/zucchini_bread/ 

but as I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand, I adapted it to suit my pantry. 

Ingredients:

2 Eggs, beaten

1 1/3 cup raw sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla

3 cups fresh grated zucchini

2/3 cup melted olive oil spread

4 teaspoons baking powder

Large pinch of salt

3 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup sultanas

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius

2. In a large bowl, add the sugar, eggs, vanilla, olive oil spread and zucchini. Give it all a good mix. 

3. Add the walnuts and sultanas.

4. Mix the baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon and flour together and then add, a little at a time, to the mixture.

5. Add the mixture to a well oiled pan. I used two pans as it is what I had on hand, and froze the second loaf once it had cooled. Bake for 60 minutes, but check at 50. Use a metal skewer to test if the bread is ready. If the skewer comes out clean, its done. 

6. Turn off the oven and leave the bread in to brown.

7. Turn out onto wire racks to cool, spread with your choice of deliciousness and enjoy!

So simple, uses one bowl and a couple of measuring devices and tastes great.  

DanceMini

Evening everyone.

Just thought I'd give you all a good update on my work over the last weekend. 

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be called by the guys at Tooth and Claw (I'll link their website below) about work as a make up artist for a shoot with Mini Cooper and VICE magazine. Of course, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands and dove straight in!

On Friday the 9th, I grabbed my suitcase full of supplies and made my way down to the Melbourne Pavillion to join the talent and crew. From there, the weekend started rolling. It felt great to be back on set working with some exceptionally talented people, both dancers and crew. 

Over the three days, at three locations, I did makeup and some basic styling for some incredible people. 

The makeup was fairly natural, and I tried to keep it true to each of the dancers personal style and dance type. We had five different styles of dance (at one point all happening at the same time), and so keeping the talent looking like themselves was very important. 

The hours were long, and the time passed both quickly and slowly depending on what was happening in the space. 

There's more to come during the week when I highlight what products I used, how I packed my kit and other bits and bobs to do with the shoot. 

The video should be up by the end of the month, and so I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, the last video I shot with Tooth and Claw is on their website, here;

http://toothandclaw.com.au/

Have a good look around on their website, their stuff is always incredible. 

My current favourite nail polishes

These two nail polishes are glorious. To begin with, they have the cutest names of any nail polishes I have ever heard - Absolutely Shore (left) and Bikini so Teeny (right). The names alone make me smile.

Absolutely Shore is the palest seafoam green colour that ever did happen. When I first bought the product, I really hated it. I put it away in a drawer for a while and ignored it, until one day I decided to give it another go. 

(Apologies for my funny hands, this is what I'm talking about!) 

This time round, I've been a little more patient with it, and have forgiven its initial streaky-ness by adding a few more layers. The colour itself begins sheer, and I can imagine it would look great on a white base, but it is super buildable. I have around 3-4 layers on and it is now a solid colour. Lovely. 

Somehow, it manages to make my sausage like pink fingers look longer, fresher and more elegant. I feel like I have hands when I wear it, which sounds silly, but my hands are one of my features that I fear. 

Bikini so Teeny is a dark pastel. Its similar to a lavender in colour, but with a little more grey added. The colour only needs around two layers to become true. Again, the colour surprises me by pulling the focus of the red tips of my fingers to the nails themselves. 

Review: Natio Acne Clear Spots

I thought I might just do a little review on a current favourite of mine, the Natio Acne Clear Spots. 

I have been using this for around 4 months now.

Usually, I have a bit of a love hate relationship with spot treatments. As someone who isnt prone to many pimples (lucky, I know), I tend to freak out a little when I get one and reach for the nearest pimple treatment handy. 

In the past, I have used the clearasil spot treatment, and found that there isnt much of an effect. So when I picked this product up, I wasn't too hopeful. It sure caught me by surprise!

The application is simple, just squeeze a little out of the tube onto your clean fingers and dot onto the spots where you need it. A little goes a long way, so be careful only to take a little at a time. 

I tend to apply in the mornings after my moisturiser but before my makeup, and at nights at the end of my makeup routine. Sometimes, for particularly bad spots, I also add a little Lucas Paw Paw ointment on top of the spot and treatment, and by morning it has soaked into the skin leaving a fresh moisturised area around the blemish.

Usually, the size of the spot has at least halved by the next day. The first few times that I used this, the spot disappeared overnight. For more stubborn spots, it might take a couple of days. 

I am so excited about this product! I have a couple of spots now, so I might just pop off to add some of this miracle to my face. 

Brush Cleaning - Step by step

I am about to do another shoot with Tooth and Claw Productions, and so needed to give my brushes a good deep clean before using them over the weekend. 

This photo is of just a few of my favourites. 

You will need:

- Olive Oil.

- Detergent. Try to opt for one that isn't too harsh, and is made of fairly natural ingredients. Today I used the Green Action Peppermint Dishwashing Liquid, whic is phosphate free and smells divine. 

- Warm water

- Paper towels. Choose a softer super absorbent towel. I only had cheap crunchy ones today, and the result was that I had to use more to make it work. 

- One large plate or a few small ones. 

1. I always begin by setting up my area. Brush cleaning can take a little while, so I tend to put on a youtube video (I love the Essie Button Vlogs) and clean off my table. 

In three separate bowls, I add a small amount of Olive Oil, Detergent and warm water. 

I line the bowls up in the order that I have listed them, and place my plate with two paper towels layered on it after the water. 

2. Now that the space is set up, I begin.

First, dip your brush in the olive oil. I like to swirl it around on the side of the bowl, it keeps your hands clean. Once I have done this I lightly wipe the brush on a spare piece of paper towel and then clean the swirled edge of the bowl with the same towel. 

3. Next, swirl your brush in the detergent in much the same way as you did with the olive oil. Repeat the steps with the paper towel and move onto step four. 

4. Lastly, swish your brush around in the warm water. I find that you will need to change the water in the bowl fairly often throughout the cleaning process. If you like, you can run the brush under warm water instead. Try not to use hot water as it can melt the glue in the shaft of the brush and you'll find that the brushes will begin to lose hairs. Place the brush on the plate with the paper towels to dry.

Tip: Try to dry your brushes tilting or hanging down. I don't have a way to hang my brushes without crushing the bristles, so I lay them down using the lip of the plate to tilt the bristles down. If the brushes are dried flat or with the bristles up, the glue may become unsettled and the brushes just wont last as long.

I try to clean my brushes before and after each shoot, and do a basic clean of my most used brushes once a week. If you'd like to know how I do a basic clean, let me know and I'll do a post.