Mother's Day Gifts from Artistry - Indigo Skies Colour Collection Make-Up

If you are looking for a gift for your mum this Mother's Day, cosmetics can be a good choice.  I'd definitely enjoy receiving some lovely new make-up, especially as some of the things in my make-up bag are older than my children!  The huge range of beauty brands available means there are lots of choices to suit every taste and budget.  

For great quality products,  Artistry, which is one of the world's top five skincare brands, offers beauty products created to push the boundaries, using beneficial ingredients and advanced technologies. New from Artistry comes the Indigo Skies Colour Collection of cosmetics, designed by makeup artist Rick DiCecca. The limited edition Indigo Skies Colour Collection is inspired by the springtime, in a soft colour palette ranging from pale blues to rich indigos to shimmering beiges.

Featuring seven products including the Indigo Skies Eye Crayon Trio (£43.05), Signature Eyes Volume Mascara (£23.80) and Signature Colour lipsticks or Sheer Finish lipsticks (£19.95) the Indigo Skies Colour Collection will give women the freedom to create a bespoke seasonal look.  I was sent the eye crayons and a lipstick to review.

The Eye Crayons can be used as both eyeshadows and liners to shade, define and highlight the eyes. The crayons are sleek and black with a twist up function. They have a long-lasting, lightweight formula and glide on smoothly, drying to a smooth, powdery finish. The three shades are Indigo, Sky Blue and Desert Sand.  The brighter crayons can be used as accent colours for a bold look, whereas the Desert Sand crayon is very natural, perfect for an everyday look.

The Signature Colour Lipstick and Sheer Lipsticks are formulated with plush pigments and contain hydrating ingredients to coat and condition lips. Available in Sandstone, Rose Quartz and Coral Sunrise, the Signature Colour lipsticks colour lips with high-pigment hues, whilst the Sheer range gives  a high-gloss hint of colour.

I love the Sandstone coloured Sheer Lipstick, which is a nude shade with an orangey undertone and a shimmery finish. Lovely for everyday wear, it can also be dressed up, making it a very versatile lipstick.  It feels very moisturising on the lips and the subtle colour lasted well.

Also available is the Signature Eyes Volume Mascara™ in indigo blue is a revolutionary, colour-intense FullFx formula mascara, which claims to increase volume by up to 600%.  It contains conditioners to smooth, gloss and enrich lashes.

The Artistry range includes make-up, skincare products and accessories.

Find out more from the Artistry product portfolio.

Who has been voted the Ultimate Beauty Icon of all time?

New research by Amway has revealed that Hollywood's Golden Age is still considered to be the era that has produced the most beautiful women, whose looks we all aspire to emulate.  Beyonce may be the most Googled female of 2014, but when it comes to beauty icons, she was rated #5 behind the glamour of Sophia Loren, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn, who claimed the number one spot.  It seems that when it comes to beauty icons, we still favour the old school, sultry sirens and the effortlessly elegant and stylish women from the silver screen to today's pop stars and actresses.  Even Scarlett Johansson, who has been crowned 'Sexiest Woman Alive' couldn't compete with the big beauty hitters of the golden age, placing at number 10, behind Brigitte Bardot and Ava Gardner.  Kate Moss polled just 2% of the vote.

The survey of over 2000 women also revealed views about what they felt defined beauty and about their own personal beauty regimes.

68% of women said that confidence is the holy grail when it comes to beauty whilst 57% claimed being in love made women feel more attractive.  38% of women claimed that having a full face of make-up made them feel better about themselves.

Age doesn't necessarily have an adverse effect on a woman's view of her own beauty.  Woman over 55 were more content with their looks with 26% having a positive view of their beauty compared with just 22% of women aged 18 - 24.  The younger women also feel the need to wear make-up to make themselves feel beautiful (19.8%) whereas the older women are less inclined to rely on cosmetics to feel good (3.74%) recognising the benefits of lifestyle, diet and exercise.

The majority of British women are still quite thrifty when it comes to spending money on beauty products with almost half shelling out less than £10 a month, although a minority admit to spending in excess of £50!

Amway's ARTISTRY skincare and make-up collection has been making women feel beautiful for many years, with its ethos of creating the very best formulations to make women look and feel their best whatever their age or lifestyle.

I was sent some of their new ARTISTRY INTENSIVE SKINCARE Advanced Skin Refinisher which offers skin smoothing benefits, that they claim to be comparable to professional fractional laser treatment.  With age, the skin's texture becomes duller and rougher and pores become more visible. So I was very willing to test out it out, especially given that my aging skin needs a little help in these departments!

I am not usually one to rave over beauty products but this skin refinisher is pretty amazing.  In just one application of the cream, my skin looked more refined, smoother and softer with less visible pores. It felt velvety to touch and some of my fine wrinkles seemed less prominent.  The minimisation of the pores on my cheeks was really pleasing to see and I couldn't stop stroking my face!

The results are thanks to a blend of active ingredients.  Optical diffusers mattify the skin for a soft-focus effect. Lentil Seed Extract is an antioxidant that minimizes the appearance of enlarged pores. Java Tea Extract suppresses sebum production and Star Fruit  Leaf Extract tightens the pore's structure to prevent slackening over time. Oat Extract and NMF Sugars exfoliate and smooth away roughness.

During clinical trials 98% of users felt their skin was softer and smoother and in 4 weeks the appearance of pores was reduced by 62%.

The ARTISTRY products don't come cheap with the Skin Refinisher selling at £53.35, however this is much cheaper than professional treatment and can be used in the comfort of your own home.  It can be used with other products in the ARTISTRY INTENSIVE SKINCARE Collection for an efficacious skincare regime.

One thing's for sure, having my skin look and feel better definitely made me feel more confident and, as confidence is the holy grail of beauty, I felt good about myself - even make-up free!

www.amway.co.uk