Beauty by a Sparrow

Gotta love a good contour!

Until next time,

Tweet tweet xx

actual footage of yours truly in summer

SKINCARE

Now you long-time sparrows will notice a couple of old favourites in this photo, and some newbies. My faithful Cetaphil SPF 50+ Daily Moisturiser took a back seat during Autumn/Winter this year, but as the mercury creeps up and the days grow longer, I'll definitely be reaching for my 50+. I'm going to attempt to NOT get sunburnt this summer, and whilst I know the likelihood of that succeeding is low, I'm hoping with a little help from some wonderful SPF+ friends I can make it!

Speaking of SPF, my current moisturising duo tick that little box too. The two Clinique jars with green lids are from the Youth Surge range, designed for dry/combination skin. Whilst my skin has behaved fairly well these last few months, exposure to artificial air and heating has dried it out something shocking. I picked these babies out of Mumma Sparrow's stash (sorry Mum) and I've found them to be really effective. The day cream contains SPF 15+, perfect for overcast, wintry days, and the night cream is buttery and feels luxurious on the skin. I don't know if I'll repurchase this duo in future, simply because there are so many products I'm wanting to try and experiment with. I think around this time next year though, if my skin is again feeling damaged and dried out, I'll definitely come back to them. 

The Garnier Gentle Cleansing Milk has also become a fast friend of my poor, dried out skin. I often use this as my 'second step' following a trusty Johnson's make-up wipe. Whilst wipes aren't the best thing in the world for your skin, I find they remove a majority of that 'top layer' make-up that usually comes off quite easily. The Cleansing Milk, with cotton pads, is great for getting rid of the stuff you maybe can't see. I also find it really gentle to use on the eye area, and very effective at removing waterproof/eye make-up. Whilst the idea is that you can leave your skin after using the milk (as it's also a moisturiser on its own), I'll often follow this with my Swisse Cream Cleanser, because as nourishing and luxurious as the milk is, it can feel a little heavy if I leave it on my face. 

Lately when I feel like I need a good, deep cleanse, or I want to do something a little more relaxing and ritualistic at the end of the day, I've been turning to the Eve Lom cleanser. THIS STUFF IS AMAZING. Eve Lom is a facialist, honing her craft in L.A., and created the balm for clients who wanted the same effective cleanse and treatment at home, between facial appointments. The balm is a cleanser, an exfoliant (when used with the accompanying muslin cloth), and a moisturiser, if you choose. For starters it smells incredible, so right off the bat you receive aroma therapeutic benefits. Following the instructions included with the pack, I found it easy to give myself a facial massage, which felt incredible. Even more exciting, it removes make-up so, so easily and quickly, including eye make-up. Unlike the Garnier milk, the balm doesn't feel heavy on the face. Out of habit I'll still rinse after cleansing, but I could leave the balm and just not moisturise, if I wanted to. A really, really beautiful product that I highly recommend for anyone looking for a more pampering, relaxing way to effectively cleanse x

Last but not least, primers! Yay! I recently re-purchased the Hourglass Mineral Veil Primer, with SPF 15+ and I've fallen in love with it all over again. It feels like silk on the skin, and causes make-up to become water resistant, something that I know I'll really appreciate when those sticky, hot summer days come around. I've also been using the Too Faced Shadow Insurance eye make-up primer, and again, it feels so silky and wonderful on my eyelids, as well as preventing my shadows from creasing or fading. and evens out skin tones as well. 

COLOUR

First things first (I'm the realest), I know there's a lot of Nars happening in the above image. After having such amazing success with Sheer Glow, however, I felt I should give a few more products a try, and it's been terrible because now I love them and I'm never going to be able to NOT have them in my kit because I love them infinite amounts!

Above I've included my Soft Velvet Loose powder in Eden, the Eye shadow Duo in Portobello, and the Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Mysterious Red (swatches below). I find the powder perfectly compliments my Sheer Glow shade, Mont Blanc, as well as perfectly setting my T-zone for a full day's wear; it mattifyes without adding pigment, which is so wonderful because I adore my colour match. 

The Portobello duo contains a mushroom-like brown, and an almost-nude taupe shade, which are wonderful for creating a basic day look, but can be blended and smoked out for something a little more intense when going out. 

Finally, the Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Mysterious Red has toppled my favourite red lipstick of all time (Bombshell by Sportsgirl). It creates the perfect red lip, every time, without fail, and is long-wearing without flaking. An incredible red, and something I'd recommend to anyone wanting to attempt a red lip, but feeling unsure. 

Now my Mecca Cosmetica To Save Face should technically be in with my skincare, but the amount of time, care and thought put into the Mecca Cosmetica range means I'll count it in with my colour. Containing SPF 30+, I find this moisturiser a happy medium between my Clinique Youth Surge, and my Cetaphil 50+. Whilst it provides a higher level of protection than Clinique, it feels less sunscreen-like, and far less heavy than my Cetaphil. Also, as I use this as a base under my primer and foundation, I feel like it counts as make-up... sort of... not really... but I think we agree it looks good in the photo...? Hehe

 Two new picks from Stila have made their way into my collection, the CC Cream and the Convertible Colour in Gerbra. 

The CC cream is colour correcting, as well as providing hydration and brightening effects to the skin. It does come out of the tube green, but quickly adjusts to your skin tone, providing a more natural colour-match, with a radiant finish. A new go-to for days off, this stuff is foolproof, and definitely worth a try if you're looking for something user friendly!

The Convertible Colours have long been a Stila fave and staple for many the beauty junkie, and for good reason, In that little compact is your lip and cheek colour, and they're super blendable, so it's easy to achieve a hint of colour, or a full-blown natural glow. My chosen shade, Gerbra, is what Nina wears in Offspring (for any of you fellow fans out there!). Again, so user-friendly and foolproof it's not funny, this convertible cream is perfect for day-off chill, and work-day madness! 

Now, as promised... swatches!

NARS Portobello - L is the nude/taupe, R is the mushroom brown

Stila CC Cream - goes on green, blends and adapts effortlessly to the skin! Easy as!

To the right - Gerbra, so beautiful and peachy!

NARS Mysterious Red - mysterious because it's a mystery why this doesn't have its own cult following, seriously guys, GET ON IT

That's all for now my little birds, stay tuned for how NOT to contour and strobe! 

Until next time,

Tweet tweet xx

Seriously how pretty is she?!!

If you don't have a friend like Kristyn in your life then I feel very sorry for you. This gorgeous girl and I met through work and we've been buds ever since, and aside from my lovely PT, she's my go-to for fitness and health. She's actually a sponsored athlete for Protein King, because that's how awesome this girl is!

So naturally, when you have an amazingly exquisite gal pal with all that fitness and health knowledge, you want to pick her brain, and luckily enough Kristyn let me do just that! I honestly believe that when you feel good on the inside, it'll show on the outside, and Kristyn is a beautiful example of that. 

Without further ado, here we GO!

Kristyn is bae <3

Sparrow: What is your pre-workout skin routine? (Make-up off, make-up on? Moisturizer or bare face?)

Yeah like that!

And finally, this little sparrow HAD to ask:
Do you even lift bro?

To which the ever-lovely and brilliant Kristyn replied;

Much love and thanks to Kristyn for letting me bombard her with questions! Check out her articles and videos at http://www.proteinking.com.au
See more of her gorgeous face, fitness advice and fitspo on Instagram!

Until next time my little birds,

Tweet tweet xx

L-R: Clinique Anti-Blemish Solution, bareMinerals BARESKIN, L'Oreal Tru Match, Revlon Colour Stay

Right off the bat, none of these foundations are the right colour for me. I'm painfully aware of how freakin' pale I am (which will become that touch more obvious over the next few paragraphs), however most foundation samples you receive come in the warm neutral/beige variety, so there's no room for being fussy. So whilst colour is irrelevant, the main thing I'm looking at in these samples are three factors 

FORMULA 
Is the liquid sticky? Creamy? Bubbly? Watery? Weird?

FEEL
How does it go on? Smooth, easy like paint? Sticky and claggy like glue? Patchy? Greasy? Dry?

FINISH
Once it's all on, buffed, smoothed, set, how does it actually look on? Colour aside, of course haha!

First up was bareMinerals Bareskin foundation, a sample from the wonderful Mecca Maxima.

The description reads
"bareSkin liquid mineral foundation has a built in brightening serum packed with Vitamin C so that skin looks luminous at all times. This foundation creates a seamless natural effect with adjustable coverage, so that the perfect amount can be applied. Lightweight in texture, this hypoallergenic foundation it formulated without oil, silicone, parabens or fragrance so it is suited to all skin types. Beautiful bright natural foundation is only one step away."

I opened the packet and immediately realised how off the colour was, for me. 

There appeared to be enough in the sample for one full face of make-up. I used my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush , however BareMinerals released a patented brush specifically for this formula which you can see here. Now whether using their brush would have had a different effect, I'm not entirely sure, but from my experience I found one or two big issues. 

FORMULA
The foundation was bubbly and seemed a tad watery; I was worried it'd dribble off the foil and onto my lap. The idea of the brush is that you directly pour the liquid foundation into the bowl-part of the brush, so that would explain its consistency. 

FEEL
Ooh. Ooh that was nice. Like brushing silk all over your face! So, so soft, so smooth, gorgeous texture, lovely to buff on. 

FINISH
DEWY. SO, SO DEWY. 

You can see how shiny this foundation is on my nose and chin alone. Look at that sheen! I'm not entirely sure why youthful make-up is associated with dewy, wet finishes. In my experience, if young skin is dewy or shiny, it's about to break out HARD. I figured that using a powder (my Rimmel of course) would counter-act the dewy-ness, but I was wrong. 

You can see above that the sheen has died down a little, but it's still quite shiny around the mouth and chin, and along my cheekbones. I couldn't quite believe how bad the colour match was - sometimes neutral/beige colours can be negotiated with to suit my face, however, this shade was all kinds of wrong. The foundation also felt weighty on my face - no where near as heavy as my longwear foundations, but I COULD feel it, and that says enough in itself. I quickly took this foundation off immediately after application, and beneath I could see my skin beginning to grow red. I didn't pay that much attention, simply because my skin is sensitive and reacts to new products the same way some two year olds react to green vegetables. 

Overall, whilst the foundation felt nice going on, it didn't look nice overall, and I already know how my skin reacts to dewy formulations - pimples, pimples, pimples. Oh, and pimples. 

A solid 6/10, but alas, no winner here!

I'll keep you all posted as I go through my other samples these next few weeks 

Until next time,

Tweet tweet x

P. S. I'm now taking requests! Fed up with foundation? Sick of skin care? Had enough of hair? Comment and let me know what you'd like me to look at, try, review and share on the blog! xx