BTS: Vintage Floral shoot

So recently I got in the studio with a great team and we decided to do a floral shoot.

I'm also an amateur florist and love fresh flowers. So when the photographer asked me to style the shoot, I was super-happy!

By the way, we used fresh flowers like Heliconias and Gingers. The models couldn't believe they were fresh flowers becauseof how they looked and felt!

I'm going to give a shout out to some Maybelline eyeshadows which worked great without any primer, smooth and blendable. I grabbed some MAC, Nixie and MUFE eyeshadows and lipsticks. It's great to have a kit that one can rely on.

Check out the full spread, now on Bella Naija, "Vintage Floral".

Still more fashion work

I don't like me right now...I'm working on a job that takes most of my time and I would like to take this opportunity to say a shout-out to all those wives and mothers who work 9-5, face Lagos traffic and run home to cook and care for their families. YOU ARE AMAZING. I could slap someone at the end of each day, I'm so tired. Kai! Dear future-Nory, you BETTER be rich enough that the most worrying thing in my life is getting videoed while I beat my sister's hubby in an elevator.

Too soon? okay, okay, no more jokes on Solange...

I shot this a while back with uber-talented photog Emmanuel Oyeleke ( Hi Emmanuel! I miss you "waves").

That was a tough shoot for me (no, makeup work is rarely shits, giggles and glitter #DoseOfReality, kids) because the weather was soooo hot. I hope you guys like it though.

In hindsight, I feel (and I think you will agree with me) that products such as Laura Mercier oil-free primer under the foundation will help it hold on stronger to your face, wipe with Witch Hazel as a toner before (to reduce oil). Also eyeshadow will not crease if you go with Too Faced shadow primer under it (that primer is stronger than concrete mehnnn) and a super-duper waterproof eyeliner like Milani waterproof, Make Up For Ever Aqua Black or Bobbi Brown Gel liner.

So, take care till we are freeeee!!!

Christmas Makeover special

Hello, and merry, merry christmas.

Happy holidays, seasons greetings, spare a thought for the cow, goats and chickens that are not going to see the New Year. I decided to grab a willing model and plaster her face. Meet Kachy:

Face prep: Embroylisse Lait-creme concentrate, Vichy Thermale Purete, The Body Shop Vitamin E toner, Aquaphor

Brands used: Black Opal cream stick foundation, Estee Lauder Sugar Honey lipstick, MAC blush, NYX lipgloss, Bobbi Brown eyeshadows, Face Atelier eyepencil, Maybelline Colossal Volume mascara, Nixie cream blush.

Sorry for the poor picture quality. I do hope you like this, and feel free to rock this for the holidays.

Merry Christmas.

Makeover Special

Dear blog readers, the universe attacked  me and I had some very weird accidents. But I'll live, thankfully.
I grabbed my sister-in-law and decided to give her a quickie. I meant quick makeover, perverts.

Face prep: Vichy Thermale Cleansing water, Dickinsons Witch Hazel,    Laura Mercier oil free foundation primer, Aquaphor, The Body Shop Vitamin E eye cream.

Face: Make Up For Ever HD foundation, Milani secret cover concealer, Zaron pressed powder
Eyes: Nouba eyeshadows,  MAC eyeshadow in All that Glitters and Estee Lauder eyeshadow in Russet,MAC eyepencil in Smoulder, Maybelline Collosal Volume mascara, Davis eyepencil
Cheeks: La Femme blush palette
Lips: Eversheen pencil and Milani lipstick in Bellatini.

It's a very wearable look which will fit any skintone.

Till next time!

Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's MAYBELLINE

Hey guys. Light, Love and Sunshine is here again (had some issues, let me warn you, do NOT watch an eclipse in a bowl of water and run down steps in heels. You WILL regret both those actions).

Drugstore retail giant, Maybelline, has come officially to Nigeria! Woohoo, because they are makers of one of the world's most iconic mascaras, Maybelline Great Lash mascara. Maybelline sponsored the just-concluded Lagos Fashion and Design Week 2013, and yours truly worked backstage with the team, and it was great.

The company also kindly shared goodies with the team, so I got to do some brand catch-up:

I played with it first thing next morning (hey, forgive my makeup mistakes, I was 3/4 asleep) and here's how it came out:

 I used the Color Tattoo cream eyeliners on my eyes, Colossal Volume mascara on my lashes, Color Sensational lipsticks in Red and Neon Red on my lips, Eyebrow pencil in dark brown and Pressed Powder in Mocha to contour subtly.

Their Color Tattoo creamliners are PHENOMENAL. I mean, if those liners were a dude, they would be a tall, dark-skinned looker who went to an ivy league university abroad and has a great job in Nigeria and has no commitment issues and thinks you're beautiful after you've woken up from sleeping in a room with no AC. Yup, that good. The Color Tattoo liners last a full 24-hours, models would come back the next day and still have them on, I had to use some cleanser to take it off and they are soooo smooth to apply.

The Color sensational lipsticks are a creamy dream, first swipe give you see-through glossy colour, second swipe full-on power.

Their mascaras, well, you probably own one already, because y'all are Divas.

Check out the line, go shopping and have a Maybelline day!

Will the Real Slim Shady please stand up (Part 2)

Hey Chicas, how are you?

So, we've kinda established the fact that it's pretty hard to figure out what's real and what's fake. However, all hope is not lost (dramatic music should be played whilst reading this blog post btw). I put heads together with a lot of clever people and we came up with some guidelines, titled:

HOW NOT TO BUY FAKE MAKEUP

Step 1: Check the price. We are Nigerians, ladies and gentlemen,  we love money. So if we buy something to sell, we want to make a profit. If a pressed powder costs N2,500 to import into the country, there's no way an average Nigerian will sell it for N900 in the market. For the price to be that MUCH lower that actual sale price, it's either of 2 things: the powder is defective/expired, or it's fake. No matter how much the seller bought it on sale or wholesale, shipping and overheads MUST be added to the price, abi?

Step 2: Check how your product looks like. Take a look at the picture below, the upper one is real MAC (lip-pencil in Currant) and the lower one is fake MAC (no name, has a number).

Original products usually have embossed or engraved lettering on them (the logo is either raised on the surface or scratched in, either way you can FEEL it when you touch it), fake products usually just have the name of the product written on it, (and the lettering on the fake will be peeling). No company will wake up and change its logo. Even the package of the Iman I posted, the original had a computer bar on the back of the pack, the fake had nothing on it. If the logo looks different, walk away.

Step 3: Check the name. MAC names its products: Lady Danger, Ruby Woo, Woodwinked, Raizin. So if you see a product with a MAC logo and no name, it's probably fake. Same with Sleek, all their collections have names, a quick Google search will tell you if what you have in your hand was made by the company, if you can't find it online, it doesn't exist.

These are your best steps in avoiding fakes. In my next and final post on this subject, I'll talk about the feel of fake products and places I trust to shop. So keep reading and feel free to share this post with your friends.

Till next time!

Shine Shine Bobo

Yes, I'm baccccckkk!
How y'all doing? Did you miss me? Probably not. Neither did my mother.
So! We were gonna discuss eyeshadows, innit? Eyeshadows come in 3 different textures, matte, sheen and frost.Let's take a closer look at sheen and frost finishes, shall we?

A selection of my golden-toned eyeshadows. From clockwise: Too Faced e/s, Paula Dorf, Nouba, Bobbi Brown, Nouba again, Urban Decay, MAC, Yaby, Ushas, Stila palette and one last Urban Decay.
I swatched a few out of these, just to show the difference in texture.

In general,  if you have mature skin, or you want to wear gold in a soft manner that doesn't scream lots of makeup, go for the brands I listed as sheen (sh), as they're prettier and more forgiving. But if you want eyes that pop from a mile away or it's nighttime and you're out to play, go for the heavier golds listed as frosts (all the ones to the right. See how they look like bling. I did a shoot on these and there's an article with a how-to. Will let you know once it's out.
By the way, you can buy almost all these eyeshadows in Nigeria, that Stila palette (which is original), is on sale for N 1,000. And I know MAC has lots like Goldmine and more, so check out their stores.

Till later.