Friday Favourites

MAC eyeshadow in Quarry

This lovely shade had been tucked away in my makeup collection for a while now in favour of browns and bronzes. But rediscovering purple-y shades and getting back into powders led me back to this. It's a matte mink-y plum with brown undertones (MAC calls it a a soft muted plum brown). Quarry is a gentle approach to purple makeup - it's a wearable, neutral shade thanks its brown base. MAC shadows are some of the best, and Quarry doesn't disappoint - its fine-milled texture blends so well that it can be applied and blended with fingertips. I think this is a shade that will suit everyone, whatever skin tone or eye colour. The purple tones look beautiful against brown, green and hazel eyes and the brown will complement blue eyes. It's neither too warm, cool, bright or bright - it's just a nice neutral, although a neutral that's a little more interesting than the usual brown thanks to its purple-y tones.

Find Quarry in the burgundy x 9 palette, as a refill to build your own custom palette, or as a single shade.

£13 (single shade) from MAC stores and concessions

Maybelline Master Smoky liner in smoky black

This chunky black eyeliner always finds its way into my makeup routine. It's a dense, sooty, charcoal-black that makes eyes instantly more transfixing. I use it often to cheat thicker lashes - because its such a rich, proper black, a little sqqiggle of it makes a big difference. What this is designed for is a full-on, arse-kickingly brilliant smoky eye. That rich pigment helps it not fade away to a disappointing washed-out grey as soon as it's smudged. The smudger on the other end is adequate, but no match for a liner brush like Urban Decay's Good Karma liner brush, which does a much better job. It has good staying power, but the downside to all that smokiness is that it doesn't 'fix' itself to the lids, so be mindful of migration if you're not using a primer underneath. However, if you ever find your eyeliner won't get smoky enough, try this.  
£5.99 from Boots and Superdrug

Topshop metallic nail polish

I find Topshop's nail polish can be a little watery at times, but their metallic shades are really amazing. They have the perfect thick-but-not-too-thick texture, they're fast-drying, they have no streakiness, and they're all absolutely beautiful shades. Sadly, like their clothes, their shades don't stck around for long and can rarely be found six months later. Fortunately they do usually have a shade or two available - currently there's Heart of Gold, a shimmering cool gold that's part of the limited edition '5 Years of Beauty' colection, and Alchemy, a chromatic two-toned violet gold that, well, it will look like unicorn sneezed on your nails (which is very high praise indeed.) 

All metallic shades £6 from Topshop 


Happy Friday!

Thanks for reading x