Coming soon...

So after the Christmas craze and the forced stop because of me being sick, things go on in Lost in Makeupland and I have plans on releasing new stuff and keep my company improving and growing.

There are quite a few products in the works. I want to briefly introduce them to you.

Finishing Powders

I've been working on these and testing them for quite some time already, with great results.  These will be released sometime between the end of January or beginning of February.
I've formulated three different powders to suit different skin type needs.

There's the Normal to Dry skin finishing powder, currently being tested by the lovely Sakura (thanks hun!). This powder it's meant to help set and kind of mattify your foundation, diffuse pores and fine lines and keep your skin nice.

My favourite is the Normal to Combination skin one. I've tested it on myself and it has absolutely worked great for me as a finishing powder AND as a primer. I've been using it on a daily basis since I formulated it. I usually wash and tone my skin, then apply a really thin layer of powder on my face, let it sit for a couple of minutes then do my foundation and makeup routine. To finish my makeup, I dust a bit of it again over my face and it keeps me matte and nice for 6-8 hours, depending on how my skin is behaving that day.

Last but not least, I've also formulated a Finishing Powder for Oily skin. I was having a friend test it, but she didn't at the end so I'm still trying to find someone to test it before it is released.
I've tried it on myself, but it's not appropiate for my skin type since I'm normal with a tendency to get slightly to very (depending on the weather and my hormones) oily on my T-zone, so my experience isn't correct in order to test/tweak it. It does dry my skin too much and I have to take it off after minutes. The only conclussion I can take out of this is that it is too drying for normal skin types and would "probably" work on oilier ones, but there's no way I'm releasing this until I get it tested properly.

Alice's Chains collection

When this collection was going to be released, I had a major supply problem so I kept it away for some time. Then, I re-tested it and found I could make some changes since Dirt and Rain When I Die stain my lids so I've tweaked their formulas a bit. It'll probably be released in February.
I really do want to take my time and maybe design some nice packaging for it.

Them Bones, Would?, Dirt, Rain When I Die, Man in The Box, Love Hate Love

More Blushes

I have quite a few blushes formulated and will probably release them all during February. Swatches will be up soon ;)

Lifestyle Collection

I stopped releasing Lifestyle shades back when I had the supply problem in December and it was something else I neglected after being sick. I have a lot of colors from this collection and plan on releasing them. I'm quite fond of them and think they're really nice on terms of color and texture, even though each one has its own.

If everything goes well, I'll be releasing a new Lifestyle eyeshadow on Monday 24. I'll show you some swatches during next week.

Concealing Powders

These are still in the earliest creation process. I'm experimenting with formulas, colors and coverages to come up with a green and yellow powder to even out redness, a light lavender and orange one for under eye concealing... as I've stated, right now that's just experimenting, but I hope something good comes out of it.

More Eyeshadows

I'm also working on more colors with and textures for eyeshadows and will keep on releasing new colors in the following months. I'll probably wait until I'm happy with quite a few and release them all together instead of releasing one by one.

Highlighters

I'm happy to say that there are a few more highlighters coming soon!!! I've done two collaborative super seeeeekrit projects with two wonderful ladies and you'll hear about them soon. I'm very excited about them and hope you will be too once they see the light! ;)

Wow, that's about it I guess, are you people looking forward for something particular? Any suggestions on products, eyeshadow finishes, blushes or finishing powders you'd like? How do you feel about powder concealers? Feedback is always welcome! :)

Testing... something not to overlook - Part One

Hi everyone! Today I'm going to talk about something I find quite interesting and that people often doesn't know how it's or if it's done at all. Every MMU creator has their own way to do it, I'm just telling you the way I test my products. If any of you has other ideas or a better way to test them I'll be more than glad to hear that!

I find that testing a product is a very important step on its creation. You can't just throw in some micas, a base, mix them and voilá, ready to sell. There is a process, where you first have to mix a color, know which kind of finish you want (I want to do a very extensive post someday explaining the way bases or the lack of them and which kind of bases and quantities affect in a certain way the finish, look and quality of an eyeshadow), put it all together and then you have to actually try that finished product to see if you made it right or if it does work at all the way it should.

Depending on the product I'm testing, I do it differently. I'll write a two part post breaking down in detail how I test each product. In Part One I'll cover eyeshadows and in Part Two I'll talk about blushes and face powders.

Let's start!

Eyeshadow

Eyeshadows are really fun to make. They have so many possibilities it's ridiculous! You can also test them in many different ways.
The first thing I do is swatch the eyeshadow on my forearm with no primer, then I apply a bit of TFSI next to it, let it set for a few seconds then apply it on top of the primer. I'm going to use Purrrple as a sample here. The swatch on the left is on bare skin and the one on the right on top of TFSI.

The next step is rubbing the surface where I applied the eyeshadow gently to see how it holds up to touching and blending.

I also like to test how the eyeshadow behaves when it's wet, so I dip the tip of an angled eyeliner brush on a drop of water, take of the excess of water with a tissue and then I pick a bit of eyeshadow and apply a thin line next to the swatches.


Once I'm happy with that, I go on and apply the eyeshadow on my eyelids. I use a little bit of primer before then I apply it and see how it wears during the day. I also like lining my lower line with that eyeshadow wet. If I'm going out, I also do my liner and apply a bit of mascara.

One thing I find very important and it's primary for me is to check if my eyes get irritated using an eyeshadow. My eyes are sensitive and get irritated easily so I would never sell anything if it irritated them.

Cleaning up is also important, does the eyeshadow stain? Is it hard to remove from my eyes? These things are also taken into consideration.

The next day I'm ready to see how it blends with other eyeshadows so it's time to create a look using the one I've been testing. At this step, I ALWAYS use eyeshadows from Lost in Makeupland that have been already tested or other eyeshadows I have at home, be it loose or pressed it doesn't matter, but I have to be sure that if anything goes wrong, it's because of the one I'm currently testing and I can know exactly what's wrong and how to fix it.

It is the last and most critical step. If the eyeshadow doesn't blend well, if it falls out of your eyes, if it's impossible to build up opacity... then that batch is wrong and the formula will need some more adjusting and to start the test again.

If everything goes fine and I'm happy with the result, the eyeshadow will be ready to be released!! I take pictures of it, write the Etsy listing, and time to move on to another one! :)

Do you find this kind of posts useful? Do you want me to keep on posting things like this? Is there anything you'd like me to cover? As always, I'll be glad to listen.

Stay tuned for Part Two!! ^___^