Beauty Book Review: Express Makeup by Rae Morris

Further to my review of the Style Eyes, I am back to discuss another makeup book: Express Makeup by Rae Morris.



Known widely as the most influential makeup artist working in Australia today, Rae Morris can also boast the titles of best selling author, L’Oréal Paris Makeup Director and four times Australian Makeup Artist of the Year.
Collaborating with some of the world’s leading photographers including Daniela Federici, Justin Cooper, Philippe Cometti, Sarah Silver and Jason Capobianco, Rae has worked on editorial covers, fashion and beauty spreads in magazines including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Rolling Stone and In Style. Advertising clients who seek out Rae’s work include Max Factor, Bobbi Brown, Coca Cola, Adidas, Nokia and Ella Baché.

Express Makeup is the third out of four makeup books released by Rae (the others being Makeup: The Ultimate Guide, Beautiful Eyes: The Ultimate Eye Makeup Guide and Timeless Makeup), and provides fast, easy to achieve looks for women who want to look great in a hurry.

I really like the way this book is presented: beautiful glossy pages with stunning photographs (taken by Stephen Chee) not dissimilar to something out of Vogue magazine - this could be your classic coffee table book.

The steps and advice are really clear and concise, and there is a good variety of different looks to try, both for young and more mature women, as well as for Caucasian, Asian and Black skin tones.

It is a lovely book which covers the basics from makeup kit, brushes and how to choose foundation to more complex topics such as bronzing, contouring and highlighting. The images are stunning (see below for examples) and I love the way the models' skin is left almost completely natural looking rather than being caked in foundation (you can see their freckles, for example) as I've seen in some other beauty books.

Miranda Kerr! I ♥ Miranda

The one thing I don't like is the constant plugging of Rae's website and own brand of brushes. 

Fair enough to say 'you can use a buffing brush from the Real Techniques range, or for a more affordable alternative the ELF studio powder brush...' (that was a made up example), or even just say 'use a buffing brush like this' with a photo to illustrate so you know what you're looking for, but I don't appreciate the self promotion - especially when i don't even think the brushes are available here!

That aside, and because I haven't read any of her other books (apparently there can be repetition in subject matter, especially when compared to Makeup: The Ultimate Guide), I enjoyed looking through this book and definitely picked up some tips.

You can currently find this on Amazon around the £10 mark (or from Rae's own website).

Have you read any of Rae Morris' other books, or is there any beauty books you'd recommend?

Blogger tip: How to depot your Urban Decay Primer Potion

In the age of waste not, want not, I have been trying to squeeze out every last bit of product before I throw it away (or should I say, recycle it). Urban Decay Primer Potions are notorious for their rather impractical packaging design (although they have recently redesigned the packaging to a squeezy tube), and so I decided I would try and depot the contents into my own pot - and was amazed at what I ended up with!

If you too have a UDPP that you think you are coming to the end of (trust me, you're not), and you'd like some tips on how to depot it easily and safely (without having to saw the packaging in half!), then read on!

What you'll need

001. A hard, robust surface - i'm using a chopping board.

002. Something plastic to cover your surface - such as a sandwich bag.

003. Something to scrape your depotted product up with - i've used an old (but disinfected) gift card.

004. (Optional) A knife to prise the plastic stopper out the top of your PP - be careful!

005. Tweezers - to be used in conjunction with or instead of the knife to pull out the plastic stopper.

006. A container to put your depotted PP in - i'm using a little pot I got from a travel set (for £1!) from Primark.

007. Your Primer Potion - i've got the original large one, and the smaller sample/travel sizes from the Naked Palette.

008. A microwave!

Step 1.

Prize out the plastic stopper from your primer potion using your tweezers (and knife if need be).

Step 2.

Place your primer potion upright in your microwave minus the wand/lid, and microwave for around 20-60 seconds at a time(test to find out what suits best). The packaging shouldn't be hot to the touch doing it this way, but should soften the product enough that it makes it easy to remove.

Step 3.

Turn your PP upside down and start to tap (or bang!) it onto your plastic surface. You'll have to do this for quite a while (and may have to remicrowave a few times), but you'll eventually get it all out as you can see.

Step 4.

Use your 'scraper' to, er, scrape the PP up and place (I used the dofer applicator that comes with the PP to wipe it off the giftcard) into your chosen new packaging.

Look how much came out! This was the result of one large and one small UDPP, both of which I had thought were practically empty - how wrong I was!

Do you have any handy beauty tips?

Melanie x