Angel Face

MAC MSF in Soft & Gentle, MAC Creamy Bisque and Boots No7 blush in Honey

 I like to call this my 'daily Angel' makeover. What it is essentially is a beautifully fresh 'nude' look which focuses on radiant skin and sparkling eyes (note, I say eyes and not eyeshadow.... ). This is not about colour or drama, it's about letting your natural ethereal quality shine through even when you're feeling less than heavenly :)

What you'll need for your Angel face!

The key to this look is fresh looking skin. I like to mix a little Armani Fluid Sheer No2 (a light highlighting liquid) into my Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua (review coming soon!) or use my Erborian BB cream with some Fluid Sheer applied on cheekbones. Don't pick anything too heavy on coverage or on shimmer. You want a light veil of cover just to even out the skintone. If you have a foundation which has a 'glowy' effect,  you may want to skip mixing in a liquid highlighter, adding only afterwards if needed.

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua and Armani Fluid Sheer No 2

Add your powder/liquid highlighter on cheekbones, browbone, down the centre of the nose, just above the cupid's bow, and a little on the forehead (skip this if you are oily skinned).

Add a neutral, pale terracotta blush. Something not too pink. I use Boots No7 powder blush in Honey. Build up gradually, you don't want much colour but just enough to give warmth.

No7 Blush (Honey)

 Conceal under the eyes and do the rest of your blemish concealing (if necessary).

For Angel eyes

For the eyes, apply your primer. I've been using Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin which is a champagne shimmer, but any primer will do. Then take a champagne/flesh-toned powder highlighter and sweep this over the eyelid. Add a pale cream/white shimmer eyeshadow (I'm using MAC Creamy Bisque) to the inner corners to brighten even more.
Add a bronze/gold brown shimmer pencil to the waterline (I use MAC Teddy but MAC Powersurge would be even better), top and bottom and very softly smudge a little into the bottom lashline.

Keep brows natural, brush them through or fill them in a little if want.

Curl lashes and apply a lengthening mascara for clean, long fluttery lashes. I've been using Hypnose Doll Eyes.

For the lips just massage in a little lip balm and then, using your finger again, massage in a little rose shimmer lip colour so that it becomes the most natural of angelic lip stains. A more nude colour also works beautifully, like Collection 2000 Cream Puff lip cream in Angel Delight (very appropriate). I've also been using Laura Mercier 'Courtesane'.

Courtesane (top) & Angel Delight swatches

 So, so easy. So, so pretty. So, so flattering and youthful. This will make your eyes sparkle and will knock years off.

As a bonus it looks great in the harsh autumn/winter daylight because there is no colour as such yet the eyes are defined enough for daytime.

My favourite 'je ne sais quoi' look for cold, gloomy days.

What's your favourite winter face?

NOTD - Boots 17 Fast Finish in Revenge

Brace yourselves.... this is a scorcher. This is magnificent. This is serious lacquer love.

Revenge is a brand new polish, I didn't even bother to remove the 'Just In!' label. In the bottle it looks seriously pretty aubergine/burgundy hybrid flecked with pink micro-shimmer so it made it into my polish collection. I have nothing remotely like it.

Things didn't start out well. It promises to be a one coater, but it isn't unless you use one very thick coat. I used a thin coat which had the worst streaking I've ever seen in a polish. It looked hideous. I stayed strong and applied a thicker second coat and the magic was revealed.

Boots 17 Fast Finish in Revenge

This colour has such a complexity to it. In artificial light it just shimmers with pink and champagne glints and becomes a softer, pinkier aubergine. In daylight the greyish undertones come through and the colour deepens to a deep, mauve purple.

Boots 17 in Revenge (daylight)

So to recap, this is two coats with Essie Good to Go topcoat. Even without the topcoat this dried so fast... possibly one of the fastest drying polishes I've tried, so work fast or it will start to gunk up on the nail.

I don't have Chanel Paradoxal but I've tried it before and I find that this is very similar. Not a complete dupe but not far off. In fact I prefer this a million times over the Chanel.

Boots 17 Fast Finish polish is £2.99 and currently on 3 for 2 at Boots.

Fly, my pretties, fly, go get your Revenge!