HUDA BEAUTY VS FENTY BEAUTY - SONIAXFYZA REVIEW

It's been a while beauties! My blog writing days are back, so many of you told me how much you missed us blogging so I thought why not come back with the ultimate review?!

Foundation is one of the biggest makeup struggle for us all! Being a apart of the beauty industry my sister and I are constantly trying brands. Some have broken us out, made our skin dry patchy - that's the life of a beauty blogger!

Last year beauty guru Huda released 30 foundation shades! Catering to all skin & undertones. Rihanna also released foundations that have a wide shade range. Both these brands have constantly been compared. I tried both myself for a few months an decided to give my review as a professional make-up artist and a consumer.

I have sensitive combination skin so Fenty was my first option below is my experience with Fenty Beauty foundation

First time blending the pro filtr foundation i was amazed at how smooth it was and how well it matched me, it felt like velvet and I didn't even have to set it! As my skin started to get used to this product I noticed it wasn't working the same when I traveled. It oxidizes (changes color), sticks to dry patches, becomes flakey and makes fine lines more prominent. It came to realisation that this foundation is catered for oily skin only. when people would tell me they were wearing Fenty I noticed it didn't have that "radiant from within" look, after a few hours it makes me look dry and tired. Blending cream contour always felt like a race because I have to blend it so quick otherwise it doesn't blend.

Packaging: pretty and slender, not travel friendly, because it's long it tends to knock over. glass could break on a hard floor.

Huda Beauty Faux Filter foundation experience below

Sonia loves full coverage and encouraged me to try this, knowing I loved a natural finish I was surprised that she advised me to try it. Her skin looked amazing so I was sold on trying it. First pump scared me a little because of how thick it was! I used a gel based primer and one pump only of the HB foundation, the strong scent hit me but I ignored it and applied it with a flat brush and went to blend it with a damp beauty blender. My skin looked radiant, fresh almost doll like! I loved how it didn't dry so quick, it gave me time to blend in my cream contour and concealer with it. I had control over how much coverage I wanted & how I wanted the finish to be. The loose powder stuck to the foundation nicely and after I sprayed setting spray, I loved the finish look! I had it on for the whole day and at night so many people were complimenting my skin, it stayed looking fresh!

The primer broke me out into a cheek rash so I was scared to use it again.

Packaging: bulky, travel friendly, not keen on pumps.

Both foundations are great in their own way but Huda Beauty wins for us both! created by a woman with knowledge and experience in the beauty industry.

- Fyza

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NOSE CONTOURING: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

I feel as if even the people that don't follow me on Instagram but just read my blog will really enjoy this one (don't look so guilty ;)). It's that one blog post that I spill ALL. My pet peeve is when I see obvious nose contour! As a perfectionist, harsh contour really irks me. I don't know if people know that they are doing it or are intentionally going for the drag queen contour? not that there's anything wrong with drag queen makeup, If you like it then that's ok. Each to their own.

If that's the look you're not going for then read on! I'm going to explain my knowledge on nose contouring as much as I can and I will include diagrams to show you. Many of you reading this have either a bulbous nose, hook, slight hook, drooping tip, wide bridge, crooked from the front, long, short...which ever shape you have there is ways to make it less prominent. I'm not a surgeon so I won't promise perfect results...just enough for it to look smaller? defined? Yes.

Some of you, like my sister Sonia might be blessed with a perfect sloped nose and others may have decided to choose to go under the knife and try rhinoplasty which is a personal preference. Some may fear of being unconscious and having their nose broken and reshaped. That's where contouring comes in (woohoo!)

The first thing to remember when contouring is: THE MORE YOU SHADE THE MORE OBVIOUS IT WILL LOOK! I see women in real life and all over social media and I am automatically drawn to the middle of their face because the contouring is either too harsh, too orange or too muddy making the nose look more prominent and masculine. 

The contour shade you choose for your nose must be lighter than the one you use for your cheeks and the rest of your face. Whether you're using cream or powder it always has to be a cool tone. Cool tones mimic the natural contours and shadows of the face. ORANGE IS A NO!

STOP following the contour pictures you see on IG, everyone's nose is different and seeing the same contour and highlight on everyone's nose bothers me.

HERE WE GO.

1. If you have a wide bridge concentrate on shading out the darker areas of this diagram and then connect with the sides of the nostrils. This is best done with a cream contour. It will take some practice before you perfect it.

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2. You want to make your nose appear shorter but a little wider too. down your nose use a concealer that's three shades lighter after that apply the contour shade. Concentrate on the tips and the sides of the nose. Blend well is a 224 brush by MAC until seamless. 

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3. STOP highlighting all the way down, you only need the tip highlighted. Shade out the bump, like shown in diagram. 

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4. Common mistake I see all the time. If you have a dent why make it look more obvious by adding darkness to it? Opt for the lighter concealer in this area. Don't worry it won't look funny, it's all about blending it well. 

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5. Use a flat concealer brush to apply cream contour for precision, follow where the light grey colour on the diagram. You want to stop where I have put the black line. Use a powder or a white eyeshadow in the centre, making sure it's a thin line. Buff and blend with any small blending brush.

Best done over your foundation because it shows more but not too obvious. the key is to blend. I took so much time out to do these images. It's pretty simple to follow the pictures that's why there's less description. Be patient and practice. I'm not promising miracles but it's a difference. 

Conquer that contour! wooop!

Fyza xoxo

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My New Foundation - Sonia

Long over due blog post guys! I'm currently in Istanbul, it's a nice evening and I'm just relaxing on the sofa on a Friday night and thought I better get this post done. I'm such a procrastinator and literally got a text from Fyza saying "do a blog post!" 

I recently started using a new foundation and concealer, I'm always searching for the ONE...foundation that is. I may have found the one but there's a drug store one and a high end one. I have oily skin so primer is a must, I'm using Maybelline baby skin Primer at the moment.

For every day makeup I go between L'Oreal True Match Liquid Foundation in W6 (I use a darker shade because of my tanning mousse) and Makeup Forever Ultra HD foundation in Y335.
I blend my foundation in with a Beauty Blender and use Tarte Creasless Concealer in Medium Tan for under eyes. 

To set my makeup I prefer to use a loose translucent powder, MUFE HD loose powder is great to buff everything together but make sure to blend this powder a lot to get the flawless finish that is awesome for photographs to.

I keep Yves Saint Laurent Touhe Eclat Blur Perfecter in my bag to control the shine on my face. This product is like an oily skin person's saviour in a little case! It oil control's the areas you want without removing or budging your makeup at all! It's weightless and the pretty packaging is most definitely a bonus.

If you have oily skin and have an olive undertone be sure to give these a try. Foundation has always been so difficult to find, especially for my skin tone so I had to share my current favourites :)

Sonia X

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Carli Bybel Make-up by @soniaxfyza

It's been a while guys! I've been sooo busy travelling that I've barely had time to actually sit down, I finally have the chance to sit in my bedroom and write this blog post for you guys as I know so many of you are interested...

I recently met the beautiful Carli Bybel and had the opportunity to do her makeup! We have been following each other for a long time and I have been a fan of hers for as long as I can remember, so to me this was a huge deal to be getting the chance to glam her. She has the most stunning features to work with! I wanted to play it safe because it was my first time doing her makeup I didn't want to load her with layers of makeup, a smokey eye or matte powdery face.

I decided to go for something that Carli was already familiar with, a gold two toned eye, dark smoked liner, bringing her blue eyes out and making the main focus on her skin. radiant and fresh!

Skin

I prepped Carli's skin with Charlotte Tilbury's magic cream - Carli was new to CT makeup products and I love introducing her range to people because it's one of my faves!

I then used Wonder Glow by Charlotte Tilbury, giving the skin a pretty glow.

Coverage

For her base I applied Dior Skin Nude foundation in the shade 040, keeping the glow by blending with a Beauty Blender. 

For under eye concealer I used Laura Mercier Secret Camouflauge concealer in the shade SC4

I contoured her cheekbones and nose with Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate intensity two using the 16 brush by Wayne Goss and again blended with a Beauty Blender.

Eyes

The base is done and blended, I take A LOT of time on blending! I primed her eyes with Nars eye primer, first lid colour - L'oreal Infallible eyeshadow in 021 Sahara Treasure, Charlotte Tilbury Eyeshadow quad in Golden Goddess: crease colour bottom right of palette, inner corner colour is the top left. I blended the colours with the base shadow colour using 03 Brush by Wayne Goss, Using Charlote Tilbury's eyeliner in bedroom black I lined the top lid creating a wing with the pencil (this pencil glides on so it's easy to create the shape, it goes on like a gel and dries like a tattoo!)

For her waterline I used a nude eyeliner from MAC in NC30, smoking her bottom lash line with Golden goddess palette by CT with two of the colours on the right mixed smudging it with 07 brush by Wayne Goss. I applied a few coats of full fat lashes mascara by Charlotte Tilbury.

Brows

Anastasia Bevery Hills brow powder in soft brown, 08 Brush by Wayne Goss I did a stroke technique that mimics natural hair growth making the brow appear fuller - think more Cara D than IG fade brow!

Setting the brows with Benefit Cosmetics Gimme Brow in Medium (tinted brow gel) - it gets rid of the grey grow look when you apply foundation over them by mistake.

Contour and Setting Powders 

Chanel loose powder

Smashbox Bronzer in medium to bronze forehead and add warmth to the skin with The holiday brush by Wayne Goss

Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze and Glow to set Contour with 14 Brush by Wayne Goss

MAC blush in Style

Laura Mercier Candle light loose highlight powder for extra glow.

Charlotte Tilbury pressed powder in medium to buff everything together using Brush 11 by Wayne Goss.

Lips

04 Rose lip liner by Estee Lauder - Lining slightly over

filling lips with Hourglass Cosmetics Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick in the shade Canvas.

Finishing off with my fave setting spray - Fix+ by MAC

That's every detail of the products I used,  Sorry if there is a lot of high end products, that wasn't my intension it happened without me realising. None of these images have been retouched or enhanced in any way! Hoping to do a dupe post on my fave products. I really hope you enjoyed reading this detailed post on the look I created for the beautiful Carli Bybel, she is such a sweetheart and I'm so happy I got to meet her and Brett <3

XOXO Fyza

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The Contour Kits Hype!

So since last year the hype of "contouring" hit social media with a bang! 'Contouring' is a beauty method that involves "carving" the face with a darker shade of foundation or powder - creating the illusion of more defined cheekbones, a slimmer nose, shorter nose, slimming the face, temporarily getting rid of a unwanted double chin and it's also used on the body for creating cleavage, abs etc - it's been used in the industry for years! Even Marylin Monroe's Make-Up Artist contoured her nose to make it look more narrow (she had her nose done and they said it still wasn't small enough so that's where contouring came to the rescue!)

using Sonia as my muse.

(This type of contouring is used for photo shoots and red carpet events)

Contouring isn't a new thing for people who have been in the industry for years, it's just become popular to the world because of social media, all the pictures and videos you see being posted on the Internet. I want to explain (my own thoughts) the types of contouring products you can get to use on yourself every day, I don't mean you have to spend two hours every morning drawing lines all over your face, Contouring is meant to be quick, easy, yet effective. If I could do it at the age of 18 with no social media pictures (I would have 15 minutes to get ready for college every morning) so can you! I would use a cheap eye shadow that was COOL toned and a shade darker than my skin to shade the sides of my nose and the tip, a little dust on the hollows of my cheeks too - in 5 minutes my contouring was done, I instantly had a smaller nose and high cheekbones!

Many companies out there have taken advantage of this contouring hype and created contour kits - but do we REALLY need those? do we need all 6 to 8 shades? Yes if you're a Make-Up Artist maybe, but I know of many Make-Up artists in the industry that don't store these contour kits in their make-up kit because there's either products that work better, just as good and they save more kit space. I have used almost every new contour kit out there, powder to cream to those contouring sticks, to realise what makes these so different to concealers and foundations? these companies have just stuck the word "contour" on anything so we buy them, it's the hype, the IT thing, we all want it!

I recently purchased the Laura Mercier contour kit, the shades are perfection, the consistency is heaven and I love how they glide on, but I realised the staying power of this product is not the best, I used it for weeks and I was really disappointed, it melts off after four hours and if you have oily skin it's not the best. People will say set it with powder contour but how many of us have the time to layer our makeup for work, school, college etc? not everyone is a professional Make-Up Artist with a whole day to do make-up and touch up. I decided to write this post to tell people out there you don't need to spend a ton of money on these hyped kits that have contour written on them when you can use any cream foundation or powder that's cool toned and a shade or two darker than your skin.

Many of us probably already have concealers in our make up bags that are a few shades darker because we use them for the summer or we got matched wrong - use those to practise your contour! I will give you a few examples of products that you can use to contour. I prefer cream concealers because they are quick to blend out, make sure they are cool toned - they help mimic colours of the natural shadows on our faces. (check out my post about cool and warm tones if you want to know how they are supposed to look.)

Fave products to contour with - that don't have the word contour on the packaging!

Laura Mercier Camouflage Concealer SC8

It has a warm and cool side - the warm shade is perfect for correcting and the cool is a great contour shade.

Milani Secret Cover Concealer Stick

lovely make-up brand with great products and the shade range for these are great, some cool toned concealer sticks that are affordable.

Cover Girl - TruBlend Fixstick Concealer 

love the tones and the easy use!

LA Girl Cosmetics - HD PRO Conceal

These concealers come in many colours, Love them for contour because it already has a brush applicator! 

Motives Color Perfection Quads

My most used, it's meant to be a foundation but I was one of the first Make-Up Artists on Instagram to use this for contour early last year. love the shades and consistency!

I'm not against contour kits, I have a fave too but for women who love to wear make-up you shouldn't have to break the bank to find the right beauty product. You can still be in trend but you don't have to follow what everyone else is using. Try any of these products and I know you will LOVE at least ONE, they save space in your makeup bag, easy to carry, pack and the staying power of these is much better because they are a concealer formula :)

I hope this helped some of you, I try my best to explain everything without going on and on. I don't always use high end products, I love to experiment with different brands just so I can give my feedback. If you have any confusion about shade picking be sure to check out my post where I explained all of that including powder contour products,

love, Fyza x

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OUR TOP 7 CONCEALER PICKS

The last few months have been really hectic so we're really sorry for not updating. My sister and I have been meaning to post about concealers for a while. We were actually going to post on our instagram but thought it would be way better on the blog since we can post more pictures and explain a lot more in detail.

Under eye concealer took me years to master and I'm still trying new ways till this day!

As most of you may know by now that I (Fyza) am the makeup artist and my sister (Sonia) is my model/muse. I test all my techniques on her so we both can review the product together. Sonia has probably been through more concealers than I have as a makeup artist, We are both beauty junkies so we hope both our opinions will benefit a lot of you out there!

Sonia tries concealers that are more for everyday whereas I test them out for photographs since all my clients are going to be photographed at shoots or events. So here are our picks, let us know your faves  too and why :)

1. Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage Concealer.
This concealer is probably my most used. It has two tones in one which allows you to mix both colors depending on how you want your under eye concealer to look. It is amazing for redness and it blends beautifully. I love how long wearing this product is and it is suitable for all skin types (yay)
I like to use this product with my fingers because the warmth of my skin helps melt the concealer and makes it easier to apply (i love using my ring finger because it doesn't tug the under eye like a brush would.)

2. Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer.
A drugstore concealer! yes! The price isn't the only good thing about this because the product itself does wonders! It already has a soft applicator attached which is perfect for the sensitive eye area. This product works great as a correcter for dark circles, puffiness and fine lines! I love the light weight feel of it and it's for all skin types. Everyone should try this at least once (perfect for everyday)

3. NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer.
Probably one of the best concealers out there. The name of this product basically speaks for itself. It's creamy, light weight, blends so well AND is creaseproof! I love a concealer that will work well with all skin tones/types and this is one of those concealers that is great for the kit and one for your own makeup bag. The coverage is buildable and it creates a soft, glowy under eye that almost looks like a blur effect of an app - so it's great for your selfies!

4. Benefit Cosmetics Boi-ing Concealer.
This concealer has a love-hate relationship with some people but i really like this product. I like the consistancy and a little goes a long way, again this is one of those products that works best when using your fingers. It works really well for under eye discoloration and the coverage is perfect. The shade range is good because of the undertones of the concealers, they work great as correctors because of the salmon undertone.

5. Tarte Cosmetics Colored Clay CC undereye corrector.
Tarte is one of those brands that has so many great products that have benefits for the skin too. I came across this concealer randomly, It's more of a corrector actually. It is available in two shades which is the only downside to it. Th coverage and texture is just right and works SO well for discoloration and dark circles (it even improves the appearance of skin after you use it for a while) I would usually use this under foundation.

6. MAC Select Cover Up
I like using this concealer after a correcter because it is so light in texture and it worked perfectly as a under eye highlight. I blend this concealer with a beauty blender and it melts in with the corrector. Radiant and has the 'no makeup makeup' look to it. If your afraid of the whole contour and highlight I suggest using this as a subtle highlight. I love the fact it comes in a tube :)

7. Clinique Airbrush Concealer 
Best for those girls who never have enough time to apply their makeup in the morning! It is a concealer twisting pen/ brush applicator. This concealer works best for when you want the under eye bright look if you look tired. I did notice how good it is for fine lines. The coverage is ok, it's a light weight concealer that is perfect for everyday work/school makeup.

We have chosen these concealers as our faves because we have tried and tested them. I hope you guys find the right under eye concealer because we all have different preferences and that's one of the things that was the toughest to perfect. If you have tried any of these let us know how they worked for you :)


Fyza and Sonia x

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