NOTD ~ Pink Underground

I haven't posted a NOTD in a while but I wanted to show you all this beautiful summery colour I received from a friend. She didn't need it anymore so I snatched it. The colour is Pink Underground by China Glaze. It is a beautiful pink with blue and fuchsia shimmer that shows in natural light.

En ole pitkään aikaan postannut kynsikuvia, mutta nyt oli pakko näyttää teille tämä upea kesäinen väri minkä sain kaverilta. Hän ei enää sitä halunnut, joten minä sitten kaappasin sen itselleni. Kyseessä on China Glazen Pink Underground. Kaunis vaaleanpunainen, jossa on luonnonvalossa sinistä ja fuksiaa shimmeriä.

I tend to use a lot of nudes and pinks in summer. What is your favourite summer nail polish?

Cheek Week - What Blush Suits Your Skintone

This post is going to be only in English due to the length of the post, if you want this in Finnish I can translate it and put it up next week.

First I have to say there is no right blush shade out there, it is mostly down to personal preferences. There is no wrong or right in makeup (even if someone might think so). I'm only talking about this post what in general suits what skintone the best.

Skintones are divided mostly on upper level to just three tones - light/fair, medium and dark. That is quite narrow and all of these have different undertones and skintones in them. For example most of the world's population falls under medium skintone. Even in light/fair skintone - to which I belong - there are a lot of different variety in there - freckles, pink undertones etc.

Easiest to remember is that the darker your skin is the darker or brighter the blush needs to be. Light-skinned need to pick up the lightest shades or least pigmented ones.

Also if you're in doubt check what your cheeks look like after a good workout - is the blush pinkish or more coral or even red.
On myself I've noticed that in summer since I don't tan my face gets a bit red (yeah, I tend to slightly burn it even through high SPF) and then I can easily get away with red blush (lightly added). So choosing a blush really depends on what works with YOUR skintone and your face.

But let's go into different skintones - from lightest to darkest.

Fair/light skin

Fair-skinned people should lean towards lighter, dewier and sheer formulas. You don't want to take dark plum blush and apply a harsh line to your cheeks (unless it's intended). Gel or cream blushes are a good choice since they can be applied lightly and they leave a nice finish to the skin that blends the colour better to your own skintone.
Colour-wise best choices are light corals, pinks and peaches or apricot (which is tad bit more orange than peach and a tiny bit darker).

Medium skin

As I said before this is the category to which most of the world's population belongs to. Good colours for people with medium skintone are those that suit the fair ones but the colour should be a bit darker or brighter. Mauves and roses look beautifully natural on medium skin. Also instead of peach or apricot go for amber colour - which is between yellow and orange in colour wheel. These colours make you look more awake and freshen up your skin.

Dark skin

People with dark skin can get away with really bright and dark colours. Don't be afraid to play around a bit. Instead of amber go for actual orange, and choose fuchsia instead of pink. Stay away from too muted or pale colours since they can wash you out.
If you have ebony dark skin you can get away with really rusty and deep reds, plums and bright oranges.

After all of this, keep in mind your own undertone. There are good articles online on how to know your undertone. If you have cool undertone stay with cooler shades like pinks and roses. If you have warm undertone stay on the peach and orange colours.

Then there is always the question - should cheeks and lips match. Of course not but keep in mind that not all colours still look good together. I've had to change lip colour after using certain blush since it would clash too badly and make my makeup look like it's all over the place.

If you want me to do a post about how to wear (placement) a blush just comment below.

What are your favourite blushes? (please mention your skintone also so people reading this can try the blush if they're the same tone).

Cheek Week - Illamasqua creams Hollow, Dixie and Lies

Illamasqua had a 50% sale for few hours some time ago and I decided to finally order some cream blushers. I ended up buying cream pigment in Hollow and cream blushers in Dixie and Lies.

Illamasqualla oli 50% alennusmyynti parin tunnin ajan muutama viikko sitten ja päätin lopulta tilata muutaman voidemaisen poskipunan. Lopulta päädyin voidepigmenttiin Hollow ja voideposkipuniin Dixie ja Lies.

Hollow is a toffee colour which is a cooler colour than toffee would make it feel.

Hollow on toffeen värinen, mutta hieman ehkä kylmempi sävy kuin mitä toffeesta ajattelee.

Dixie is a warm coral with a touch of pink in it. Also due to being a cream blush it has dewy finish.

Dixie on lämmin koralli, jossa on hieman vaaleanpunaistakin. Koska se on voidemainen väri, niin se jättää iholle hieman "kostean" jäljen (mikä dewy on suomeksi meikeistä puhuttaessa?).

Lies is a pearly cool pink and it is a gorgeous highlight.

Lies on helmiäinen vaalea pinkki ja se on upea korostusväri.

All of the colours are really pigmented so be careful! Hollow is also waterproof (like all Illamasqua cream pigments). They can be easily blended with finger or with brushes (just make sure you use synthetic brushes which are easier to clean).

Kaikki värit ovat todella pigmenttisiä, joten ole varovainen! Hollow on myös vedenkestävä (kuten kaikki Illamasquan voidemaiset pigmentit). Niitä on helppo häivyttää ja levittää sekä sormilla, että siveltimillä (muistathan käyttää synteettisiä siveltimiä, ne on helpompi puhdistaa).

I actually put way too much Dixie to my cheeks but you can easily tone it down with foundation brush or blotting it off like lipstick.

Laitoin Dixietä aivan liikaa ensin, mutta sen saa helposti vaalennettua kun menee yli joko meikkivoidesiveltimellä tai "blottaa" kuten huulipunaa.

What are your Illamasqua must-haves? / Mitkä on sun mielestä Illamasquan parhaimmat tuotteet?

P.S. Please answer to poll on the right hand side.

Cheek Week - Sleek Face Contour Kit in Light

This is another second-hand cheek product I have (got from a fellow blogger). Sleek Face Contour Kits come in Light, Medium and Dark.

Tämä on taas yksi second-hand löytö (saatu toiselta bloggaajalta). Sleek Face Contour Kitejä saa väreissä Light, Medium ja Dark.

Photo from Sleekmakeup.com

In all FCKs you get bronzer and highlighter. Bronzer side is warm brown but not orange-y so it's better for contouring than most bronzers. On my skintone you can get really harsh stripes to your cheek with bronzer side if not careful. But it's good to know you can build it up. Highlighter in Light is sort of champagne-like colour. It's really nice and glowy, not chunky glitter. It gives a nice sheen that lasts a long time. Both colours are really easy to blend and look great.

Kaikissa FCK:ssä tulee mukana tummempi väri (ei suoranainen aurinkopuuteri) sekä highlighter. Tummempi puoli on lämpimän ruskea, mutta ei oranssinen, joten se käy paremmin varjostuksiin kuin osa aurinkopuutereista. Minun iholleni tällä saa helposti todella paksut tummat raidat, jos ei ole varovainen. Mutta tätä siis voi myös kerrostaa, jos haluaa tummempaa väriä. Korostusväri tässä Light-versiossa on hieman shampanjanvärinen. Se on todella nätti ja kiiltävä olematta glitterinen. Se antaa kauniin kiillon, joka kestää pitkään. Molemmat värit levittyvät helposti ja näyttävät hyviltä.

I've used both colours with a heavier hand than normally so that they would photograph well. As you can see the highlighter is a really nice highlighter, almost gives a wet look to the cheeks.

Olen käyttänyt molempia värejä hieman rankemmalla otteella, jotta saisin ne kuvattua hyvin. Kuten näette, niin korostusväri on kaunis ja antaa hieman märän kiillon poskille.

Price is 7,99€ from Sleekmakeup.com

Giveaway winner!

Thank you everyone who participated!

I have withdrawn - well I let random.org do it for me - a number. And that number tells who won the giveaway. The number is...

And 7th reply to the post was left by Karoliina Kalma! Congratulations girl!

And check out her amazing blog Bones and Lilies.

Also check out the poll on the right side of the site. I'm thinking about doing one of those three posts for final Cheek Week post but which one you think it should be.