Hydraluron - 1/3 off!

Just a quick post today for all the other skincare junkies, Hydraluron is currently 1/3 off at Boots!

I'll just let that sink in...

Hydraluron is a serum that you apply before moisturising which increases your skins ability to retain moisture. It's heavily raved about over the blogosphere, by beauty gurus and skincare experts.  

Caroline Hirons mentioned it, so obviously I've been dying for it ever since.

If like me, you've been put off by the price (usually £24.99, now £16.66) now is the time to snap it up! 

It's consitency is gel like and feels slightly tacky but once applied absorbs almost instantly. If not, instantly. It's like magic! I've found it helps for my moisturiser to absorb very quickly too. This means you can apply a lighter moisturiser than you would usually (so great for those prone to breakouts, avoid a heavy cream but still leave skin hydrated).

 I'll do a more in-depth review of course but I just had to share!

Happy shopping!

Growing up

So as you may have noticed, I haven't been blogging lately.
In July I finished my 2 year make-up course at college, with top grades, and life was glorious.

I also had it lined up that in January I would be studying at my dream school Greasepaint.

Utterly, utterly glorious.

All it meant was I then had to work my arse off for the next 6 months to save money for the hell that is living in London. As lots of you may know, working 40 to 50 hours a week in a crappy retail job takes it's toll. Yes I have something to aim for and got to do make-up work on the side, but oh boy does it take it's toll. On top of that I've been, and still am, searching for somewhere to live in London. Well that's a nightmare, let's leave it at that.

The good news is that this week I handed in my notice at my crappy retail job. To anyone else in a dead end job that they hate I highly suggest that you do the same, it's a wonderful experience. I have four weeks left now at my 2 (yes 2!) hideous jobs, and it's time to focus more on writing again. I started this blog so that I can share my experiences while training and working as a Make-Up Artist. To recomend products I've tried and tested, to say to those in the same position "Hey it's hard for me too, I get it", and to generally just share my love for the industry. 

What a better time to do that when I'll be a student at (in my opinion) one of the best make-up schools in the country. 

So I'm sorry for the absence and stay tuned for my return to the blogosphere.

ps. to those of you in jobs you hate, I feel you sister. 

It's never too late.

Brighter Place

Gahhhh, so I've waited to write about this post since July. JULY.

At the start of the Summer I was asked to do the make-up for a music video for RedTails debut single Brighter Place. I of course jumped at the chance and I'm glad that I did!

Firstly, the band are great! Lovely, talented people who are clearly so passionate about what they do.
The song is fantastic and if you like it too it's available to download here.
And lastly, not to blow my own trumpet, the video looks amazing.

The video was shot in two parts over two days. 

For the first look I got a message saying "Think David Bowie as thin white duke, The Fifth Elementm, Paramore Now music video."

What a beautiful, beautiful sentence. 

I had the freedom to be really creative with this look and I just love how it came out.

I went with icy blues and pale skin and worked with the sharp lines of her hairstyle. 

This is Ciara Baron from A Trickle Of Meaning, and doesn't she look amazing? If you're not a follower of her blog (and why not?) go over and take a look!

For the second part I created a look for the singer of Redtails, the beautiful Colette.
Contrasting to the cold blues and whites on Ciara, I used warm gold and copper tones for Colette.

Colette has her own individual style that we really wanted to work with rather than change. The colours suited her skin tone and, (by complete chance as I only met her on the day) went PERFECTLY with her highlights.

(I will be doing a post on this make-up look, I promise)

 I love the footage of Colette, as well as Rick (keys/vocals) and Dan (drums), because it just shows what passion really is. How it feels to love what you do.
This picture shows it alone.
 The two days I worked on this video were brilliant purely because it was a bunch of people doing what they absolutely love. The band, obviously. Me, well duh.
But also the actors and the crew. Which was mostly made up of students.
It was just a great thing to be a part of and to watch.

So please go over to the YouTube video by clicking here and let the band and the people who worked hard on this video what you thought by leaving a comment or a thumbs up!
You can also just watch it at the top of this post too if you're feeling lazy.

For those of my regular readers and make-up enthusiasts who are wondering "What's going on!? Where's the make-up reviews?" I will be doing another post or two on the make-up looks I created in this and the products I used, so stay tuned!

RedTails: Twitter, Facebook
Director/Producer: Scott Hayden

Bdellium Brushes

"Bee-dell-iuum"

"Bu-dell-iumm"

Turns out the B is silent, well isn't that easier?

After hearing about Bdellium brushes on Zoellas Youtube, I had to pick some up when I was at IMATS this year. Bdellium are professional eco-friendly make-up brushes that also claim to be "Antibacterial". Don't take this the wrong way, yes you still clean them, but it is ten times easier to do.

Mine are from the Green and Pink Bambu series as they're made from sustainable materials and eco-friendly. The green are short handles and are my travel essentials and the pink are long handles.

Firstly, I bought a 957 which is a "Precision Kabuki" brush. A dense brush that is amazing for blending a flawless foundation.

I also got the 959 which is a "Powder Blending" brush. This is great for powder, all over bronzing or softening a blush or contour. It's also amazing for applying foundation too.

Last of the green brushes is the 776 which is the "Blending" brush. A great all round brush for eye make-up for all over colour or for blending.

On to the long handle brushes now which the 781 which is the "Crease Brush". Which, obviously, is an eyeshadow brush for blending in the crease. It's the perfect size for just that and is dense so blends wonderfully. 

Sadly this is the last of the bunch and it's the 780 which is the "Pencil brush". Perfect for smudging out an eyeliner, applying colour under the eye and I also use it to add a really definite dark colour in the crease.

I think the best thing however about these brushes is how affordable they are! I bought mine at IMATS where they were discounted however I believe they're retail prices range from £6 to £13 which is still absolutely incredible! They're just as good in quality if not better as some of my brushes that have cost £20 each.

I chose these brushes individually to achieve a perfect base and smokey eye make-up, however they're also sold in kits where you can save some cash,

If you're in the US, well lucky lucky you. These are even cheaper and available on their website, here.

For all my fellow Brits, I've found you can get your hands on these (and other amazing products) here at love make-up.

Has anyone else tried these brushes or found any other bargains?

Let me know!

The Wedding Guest

So I haven't written a post in almost a month, partly because so much has been happening but also because I've been suffering "bloggers block".

Similar to writers block, except I'm in no way a writer.

I will be doing an update post soon to fill you all in but thought I'd jump straight back into it with a make-up look for you all.

The Wedding Guest

Slasssssshhh Prom/Ball/Anything a little swish.

Meet my friend Sarah, isn't she gorgeous? Make-up, Hair and Photography is all my own.
Jewellery: Debenhams, Dress: H&M

So this is a look that I created for a college assesment that I thought I'd share with you all as it's so easy to achieve but perfect for special events!

Skin

So here I went for a "dewy" finish because it's my preference, but if you want a matte finish or are going to be photographed lots use a powder! For the face I started with Benefit high beam and went over with Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation. I used NARS Laguna Bronzer very lightly (this has strong pigmentation) as a subtle bronzer and the highlight from the Sleek Face Form contour kit. I also worked this over the neck and shoulders as it's a strapless dress.

 Highlighting the shoulders and collarbones is always beautiful on brides.

Eyes

I kept the eyes soft so that it's a really versatile look. It could go with so many different dresses and events. Pop on some individual lashes and this could be a bridal.

I used the Urban Decay naked pallete, Virgin under the brow, and Sin, Toasted blended over the eye with Hustle in the crease. Use a fluffy blending brush to blend this into a soft smokey eye.

I used a black eyeshadow along the lash line as it gives a softer look than a liquid eyeliner.

Lips

The lips are really simple, I'd definitely use a pink for this. I mixed a pink lip shade from my Kryolan lip pallete and used a clear MAC lipglass over the top. 

For a long day when you want your lipstick to last, apply your lipstick, then place a thin piece of tissue over your lips and powder through it to set it!

What do you guys think?

Sorry it's not beautifully worded, I'm getting back into the swing of blogging again.

Link me to your special event looks :)

Travel Beauty Bag!

So this is a really random thing to write about, so I'm sorry I'll keep it short, but this was just too cute!

Hanging Wash Bag, Primark £4.

See, cute right?
I saw this and couldn't stop myself from picking it up for my holiday to Greece (that's now only 3 weeks away!!). It's a folding wash bag that hangs on the back of doors, sounds boring but it would seem if you put a cute pattern on the front it turns into the best thing ever.

The hearts are like lattice cut outs with the pink material underneath showing through!

So I'll tell you about how very practical it is and what a sensible buy it was. It's great to keep things organised with four zip pockets including one that's removable. It hangs on the back of doors.. which is handy? Okay! Okay, so I bought it because it was pretty. 

 To make this post vaguely more interesting (for all of you who came to my blog hungry for a make-up post) I thought I'd include some travel size beauty products that I plan to take with me on my holiday.

So from top to bottom:

- MAC lipstick in Girl About Town
- NARS, Laguna Bronzer
- Aveda Botanical Kinetics Purifying Creme Cleanser, 40ml
- Soap & Glory, Flake Away 50ml

- Aveda Botanical Kinetics Exfoliant, 50ml

- Piz Buin Transparent Sun Spray SPF 30
- Phil Smith Colour Illuminating Conditioner, 50ml
- TRESemme Heat Defence, 60ml
TRESemme Extra Hold Hairspray 100ml

Let me know if you liked this post and what you take away with you for holidays!

Chanel Rouge Coco in Mademoiselle

Chanel Rouge Coco in No5, Mademoiselle. - £24

I've always wanted a Chanel lipstick, especially Chanel Coco. The adverts appealed to me even when I was young, before I probably owned any lipstick,. 

They were beautiful, glamorous, and classic.

I'm now eighteen and I feel a step closer to being a lady. 

 On a day to day basis, I don't wear lipstick. I'll wear a bold red lip on days I really make an effort with my make-up, however this leaves my make-up on other days looking very unfinished. I wanted a shade I'd get a lot of use out of. This never leaves my handbag, I wear it so often and it's beautiful. It's a beautiful colour, a very natural pink-red that is so easily worn.  Looking closely it has a slight shimmer in it too.

 It's a very moisturising which keeps my lips hydrated the whole day and it's lovely and creamy to apply. Because of that I thought the colour wouldn't last long, but it does last for around 6 hours and a tint of it will last all day. Which to me I think is fantastic. 

The lighting in this photograph is more true than the first.

I think what I really love about it though is how it makes me feel. 

Beautiful, glamorous and classic.

Taking a minute out of your everyday life, a day where I'm running around non stop, to apply this lipstick just adds a little luxury. From the classic Chanel packaging, the click as you open it, the feel of the lipstick and maybe even the glamorous price tag that comes with it. It just adds something that you don't get from a normal lipstick. 

The only problem now is that I want to try other colours.

This blog post has been a long time coming, I found it hard to put into words why I love it so much. However, it's done! I'm considering a lipstick post every Monday, what do you guys think?

May Favourites!

June is here and it brought the sunshine!

Which means it's about time I do another post on all the things I've had a little love affair with this month. You'll notice there was no April favourites, and that's because April was the worst.

Dove Summer Glow - £4.99

The packaging claims it's the UK's No.1 gradual self tanner and personally for me it is. The majority of May had awful weather and I was starting to think there would be no summer at all. I love this gradual tan as it's so easy and builds up to such a nice colour. It's also incredibly cheap, yay!

Perfect now the weathers picked up and I can show off my legs.

Use with...

Fake Bake Skin Smoothie, special dry-oil spray - £11.25

If you haven't tried this and always get horrible patches around your knees, elbows and ankles when you tan, go get this now! This isn't really essential for gradual tanning as they're moisturising and tend to avoid this problem, but I still use it every time. Because it's the best. Spritz over dry areas before tanning, then when applying tan just lightly drag it over these areas. 

I love these both just because of how beautiful they smell!

Fudge Urban Iced Raspberry & Vanilla Hair Spray - £4.99

That already sounds delicious right? Very good hairspray in "strong hold" but I feel I love it for the fragrance. I love fragranced hair sprays as that's so much better for you than actually spritzing a perfume through your hair which some people do. 

Just noticed Fudge do a styling mouse with the same scent, uhoh! This will quickly turn into an addiction.

The Body Shop, Vanilla Body Mist - £7.50

Massive "meh" to May Favourites, this would be in my yearly favourites. For the past two years and forever more. I love the smell of Vanilla, I just love it. I spray this all over my body and I smell of Vanilla all day. Even my boyfriends noticed and said he likes it, which in itself is mind blowing.

I also spray it on my clothes and pillow.. but that might just be me.

Boots Sun, Swim & Gym Shampoo and Conditioner for Coloured Hair - £3.05 each.

For over a month now I started swimming again and go twice a week. Since doing this I developed a slightly-irrational (but mostly rational) fear of chlorine. The chemicals in pools can be really bad for your hair but I also find them very drying to my skin. I got to the point where I'd text my friend right before a swim saying "What if it kills my hair!?" or "Will my tan come off!?". So I started the search for hair care products aimed for swimmers. I've started at the cheap end so I could work myself up if needed, but so far I like these. 

Boots Sun, Swim & Gym Protective Masque, £3.55

Another from the range that I like the idea of is a protective masque. I put it through dry hair, which I then tie back, before I swim to protect it from absorbing the chlorine.  It's also good to wet your hair before swimming as it will absorb that water rather than the pool water.

Bioderma, usually £9.99 for 250ml

Currently 1/3 off at escentual.com for the whole of June!

I'm sure you've heard enough about this product and how fantastic micellaire water is, so I won't go on! But this is my first bottle for myself and it truly is worth the hype. I use it just to remove heavy make-up and will continue to cleanse afterwards. I feel it's still important not to rush your skincare and use this as a cleanser, however fantastic it is. I do love it though and will stock up now it's on offer!

And just because I haven't included in any make-up yet, as nothing new has shook up my make-up routine. Here's some products I used this month and feel I'll use more together for a bronzed look!

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum, £10.99

NARS "Laguna" Bronzer, £26

MAC in "Bronze", £12

Maybelline Color Tattoo in "On and on Bronze", £4.99

What have you loved this month?

Maybelline 24hr Color Tattoo

Maybelline Eye-Studio 24 Hour Colour Tattoo cream shadows available here for £4.99.

Oh wow, I really like these. I like these a lot.

These have actually been around for a while, and I completely ignored them. And I'll tell you why, dear friends, but not just yet. I picked up two colours in the shades "Pink Gold" and "On and on Bronze".
However I've noticed different stores and countries have different names for the colours which might get confusing. What's the deal there Maybelline? 

The reason I actually wanted to try these was to wear as a base before eye shadow so I picked up the colours I felt went best with my Urban Decay Naked Pallet. They're a match made in heaven for that. Can you see it? Ugh I feel like Cupid for the cosmetic world. "Pink Gold" would go perfectly as a base for the pink shades in the naked pallet such as Sin or Toasted. And "On and on Bronze" will really bring out the browns and golds such as Half Baked or Smog. They'll make any shadow last all day.

The thing is, I wasn't expecting to love these products to wear on their own. As much as I love the dewy look and how perfect they'd be for summer, I don't go for cream shadows.Well, the exception is these. They don't crease, they don't flake and they really do last hours (possibly not 24 hours but I won't be putting that one to the test). When I washed off my swatches they also didn't budge so I feel it's safe to say they're also waterproof to some degree. Like that.

The colours on their own are also beautiful! I literally fell in love when I swatched them in store. Just look at them, that bronze! If you're a fair English rose (like me!) then this pink is perfect for you.

Maybe the best thing is how soft and creamy they are to apply, they're easy to blend and won't drag across your eye lid. Nobody wants that do they? 

So far I love dabbing them with my finger over my eyes when I'm running late and just want a little something. Effortless and so beautiful. A small amount will give a shimmer and a sweep of colour which I like with the pink to brighten the eye, and the bronze I build up the colour intensity and blend out for a natural smokey eye.

I feel I ignored these for so long as the advertising was wrong. I only ever saw the turquoise or the  bright purple used in really bold looks. The reason they're amazing is because of the range of neutral colours and that they can be so wearable. I'm sorry I doubted you Maybelline, these will always be in my make-up bag from now.
Through sickness and through health. Like for ever and ever. 

Breakfast Scrub

Well it's only the best smelling thing on the planet.

Ever.

I couldn't not blog about this. I've probably smelt it 3874 times since buying it at the weekend. I've also held it up to my boyfriends face, my boyfriends brothers face and my boyfriends brothers girlfriends face and said "SMELL THIS, IT SMELLS LIKE PANCAKES".
And if I could unscrew the cap and virtually hold it up to your face, I would.

Yep, it's a body scrub that smells of Maple Syrup. To be precise it smells of Maple Syrup on warm pancakes in Vancouver. To be even more precise it smells of happiness.

This is £8 and personally I wouldn't care if it did nothing for my skin, I'd still slather it all over my body without complaint. Luckily, it's also a really good exfoliant and I would happily repurchase it.

I take a small scoop with my fingers and exfoliate in circles. This is a product that's perfect in a bath because it will fragrance the water too! It's a sugar scrub so will remove any dry skin but it's not overly harsh grains, like in Soap & Glory Flake Away which can sometimes be a bit full on. It's also very moisturising from the Shea Butter and will leave your skin feeling pretty darn soft (and smelling fabulous, have I mentioned that yet?).
Like all Soap and Glory scrubs, they've hit the nail on the head. 

If I could give you only one bit of advice in life, it would be to go into Boots and take a whiff of this.
Thank me later.

Natural Glow Make-Up

So as a part of college last week I did the hair, make-up and photography to produce a photo shoot on the theme of "No make-up, make-up". This is all about creating a natural look with flawless skin but so it appears the model isn't wearing make-up at all. It's commonly used in skincare adverts (sneaky). I thought I'd share with you the look I went for with a glow to the skin.

My beautiful friend Fen Barr was sweet enough to come model for me and how fantastic does she look?

skin 

I started with Benefit High Beam on her cheek bones, brow bone and her cupids bow. I also re-applied this over the foundation too to give a beautiful highlight to her skin. Fen naturally has such clear skin, so I blended two shades of Kryolan Ultra Fluid Foundation to give an even but not heavy coverage. I used Kryolan Derma Colour to cover any dark patches or blemishes and MAC Select MoistureCover concealer around the eyes.

I used the highlight from the Sleek Contour Kit to highlight areas of her face, although this has small glitter specks in so be careful when photographing this. I then used Nars Laguna bronzer to contour and add warmth back to her face.

Eyes

Keeping to the natural look I used natural matte eye shadows to add some colour and shape to her eyes and Urban Decay shadow in Virgin to highlight the inner corner and under the brow bone. I LOVE this shade.

I also took a natural matte shadow through her brows with a small angled brush and brushed a clear mascara through to hold them in place. I put some black eyeliner onto a very thin brush and painted inbetween her lashes to give a light natural defintion. To finish off the eyes I put a small amount of white eye pencil on the water line.

Lips

I used a lipstick in a natural shade that had a slight peach tone to go with her beautifully tanned skin and added a lttle MAC lipglass to the centre of her lips and blended out. This enlarges the look of the lips and a slight shine for a healthy look.

Products Used:

- Benefit High Beam

- Sleek Contour kit

- NARS Laguna bronzer

 - Urban Decay Naked pallet

- MAC Lip glass

- MAC Select MoistureCover Concealer

 - MUA White eyeliner pencil

So there you have it, who else loves this natural make-up look? I can't wait to try it on myself now.

Little Shop Of Horrors

Feed me Seymour

So the past week I have been super duper busy helping the cast and crew of my local drama company, BATS, with their production of the Little Shop Of Horrors. I thought I'd share with you some snaps of what was such a fun week!
 Normally doing make-up for shows can be so hectic it's a nightmare, but every night was fantastic and so much fun. The cast and crew were incredible and did such a brilliant job with the whole production. I've always been a huge fan of the music and the show so I took a night off so I could go see the it in all it's glory and I loved it.

As for the make-up, the first half is fairly chilled out with your standard stage make-up and a quick black eye for Audrey. It's after the interval where the real fun begins as people start to get eaten!
- Joy!

I'm not sure if I've ever actually mentioned this on my blog, but I plan to specialise in prosthetics. I just happened to become girly and fall in love with beauty make-up when I started my training. However my heart has and always will be devoted to horror. So you can see why I love this musical so much.

Feed me all night long!

For the comedic final number almost the entire cast had to be made up as "zombies". So much fun. Of course this was still stage make-up though so this was quick, easy but effective for the audience. For the (very) few people that didn't have incredibly fast changes, small latex pieces were applied.
Respect to Liam, a chorus member who let us cover his eye with a latex piece of an eyeball hanging out and still go dance and sing on stage, every night. What a babe.

And just in case you're an addict like me, here's some Instagram snaps to top it off.

 

 

 

Covering imperfections.

Just a short one today to carry on from my last camouflage make-up post!

So recently I posted about how I was learning camouflage make-up to cover tattoos. But of course it also covers discolouring, hypo-pigmentation, hyper-pigmentation, blemishes and some scarring.

Here's a picture (with no filter or camera tricks) of a covered hypo-pigmentation that I did this week.

Personally I think this came out really effective and I'm pleased with the result.
So of course I had to share it with you!

This was really simple and really quick, it's just done by using camouflage concealers (personally I use Kryolan Derma Colour) and matching the area to the natural skin tone and layering this up!

What do you guys think, would you guys like to see more posts on this?

Maybelline The Falsies

 It's Tanya Burrs favourite mascara...

I don't need to say more.

After reading so many good things, this week I picked up The Falsies mascara by Maybelline and finally gave it a whirl. And what a better time to do it than when it's £2 off at Boots, making it only £5.99.

Ps. does anyone else want to curl up and cry when this happens to their nails?

Mine is in "Black Drama" which is a darker matte black to the original, and it's shown by the lace detail!
I love that aspect of it, it's very black so perfect for definition.

The brush to me looked pretty scary at first. I don't tend to use plastic brushes so I'm used to the classic mascara brush wand. This seems to have spiky brush hairs at all angles - a little crazy. 

The stem of the wand is flexible as you can see by the indent which I do feel helps.

Maybelline call it a "spooned" brush which they've actually patented, to me that just means curved. Nothing new but it does work well with the shape of natural lashes and catches every lash. I feel this also adds curl to the lashes but not lots.
To me that's okay, I look for definition in a mascara but if you're after curl I'd recommend the No7 Exquisite Curl mascara. 

I feel it lengthens lashes pretty well and does add volume.
 It claims no clumps which I'd say is almost true. What is really good about it is that it does layer up very well if you want more from it! However it's important when using any mascara to not let the mascara on the lashes dry in-between doing this.

Creepy and up close before and afters!

As you can see it clearly makes a good difference. 

For £5.99 I definitely think it's worth a buy and I would recommend!

What do you think of The Falsies? 

Tattoo Camouflage

So at college this week we're learning to Camouflage Make-up, starting with tattoos.
I use colour corrective make-up a lot but this was my first time actually covering peoples' ink. Lucky for me my class is FULL of people with tattoos so I had tons of options to choose from.
I thought I'd share with you my first attempt at this and maybe one later when I feel I've improved?

For most camouflage make-up I use Kryolan Derma Color, here I have a 24 Pallet!

I started by colour correcting using a a Kryolan Colour Wheel. For example for the purple flower I started with yellow to cancel out the colour. I tried to correct the colours as much as I could until it looked a sort of grey colour, then went over with a skin colour to conceal. When building up layers I powdered in-between.

As you can see from the picture, I'm still struggling. Hopefully as I keep learning and practising, I can share with you when I completely cover one!

 If anyone has any tips, pretty please leave a comment!

:)