Just a winters tale...

Hello bloggers.

Today it has been snowing so bad here that buses stopped running and nearly all the schools were shut.

So to entertain you whilst it is cold out I thought I would show you my winter look.

Now I wore this make up on Saturday whilst out with my friend and she told me that it was perfect for the environment we was in. (Cold and snowy)

So I will recreate it for you.

Of course you would start with the base, which is concealer, foundation and powder but you know all that so I will get to the nitty gritty of the eyes, cheeks and lips.

The lips for this look have to be nude either beige or pink would work well with this look depending on what skin colour you have. Since I am the palest of white, pink is my choice with the nude lip colour. Then just add either a clear or similar light lip gloss to set your lip colour off.

Next is the cheeks. For this look you should try to go for stain rather then block colour. Has it gives more of a colour sheen. A nice pink works well but you can always go for a coral base is pink is not suited to your skin.

Then for the eyes. I used a white glitter under the arch of the eyebrow and in the corner of the eye. Then placed a ice blue colour just after the white in the corner of the eye. Then to stop it looking block like. I used a baby pink eyeshadow to soften the tone and help create the ice effect look.

I then finished with lashings of black mascara, a sweep of liquid eyeliner and then placed some multi coloured glitter gel on the bottom eyelashes to give them a twinkle.

This is the finished article.

This look is quite easy to achieve but you can always alter the colours and the products to create your own winter look.

Products used are the urban decay palette in Uzi, kiddie pool and grifter.

Barry M liquid eyeliner in black

Topshop liquid lip and cheek stain in bitten berry

Avon sparkle lash and eyeliner

Lancome juicy tube in pink sparkle

and Models own lipstick in baby pink.

The Christmas wish list.

So it's not long until Christmas and I am muchos excited about it.

Mainly because I can eat like a little piggy and say my excuse is that I am insulating myself for the cold dark winter months. :)

But what I also like about Christmas is we get presents, which means every year I make a list of wildly exaggerated things I would like in my stocking but never get because either it is too rare, too expensive or just imaginary.

So instead of writing to Santa. I thought I would tell you the top five things I would like Santa to bring me.

Of course they will all be Make Up/Beauty related. :)

So in no particular order.

One.

A huge 100ml bottle of Christian Dior's pure poison.

My ultimate going out fragrance.

Consisting with notes of neroli, orange blossom, jasmine and amber.

This scent was the first perfume I truly fell in love with.

One of the few perfumes I ever got complimented on and the only perfume that me and both my sisters liked.

A classic.

Two.

I need some decent make up for the Christmas period so a box set would do the job nicely.

So for me it would have to be the Urban Decay box of shadows New York.

Not only does it contain 16 Eye shadows, two eyeliners and a primer but the box opens up with a 3D cardboard New York city skyline. Not only perfect for my dressing table but the eye shadows are all colours that are usable for not just for winter but summer and beyond.

A must have eyeshadow staple.

Three.

Nails are next on the wish list agenda and for a girl who is obsessed with glitter this has to be the perfect set for Christmas.

The all that Glitters set from Nails Inc.

Contains Purple glitter, pink/Bronze glitter and silver glitter.

Perfect for co-ordinating or clashing with outfits.

This is the product I want more then life. :)

Four.

For my body. It has to be a bit of the luxury brand Elemis.

I only used this stuff once but I was hooked from then on. It made my skin feel amazing.

It was the exotic spa secret set, which contains the magical exotic Frangipani monoi bath and shower cream, moisture melt and the bath milk. The smell is divine and for a small moment in time actually made me feel like Cleopatra.

Five.

The last thing on my wish list has to be something big but this is the one product I can't be without EVER.

So I would just like five of them just so if I lose one I have another one on the go.

So the last product on my wish list is Touche Eclat. In shade No 1.

This concealer/Demi god of a product was a staple of my hangover cures at university.

It made me look fresh and awake and for someone who has suffered for dark circles for years. It was the best product that not only covered them up but didn't make me look like I had polyfillered under my eyes.

Now one day I hope to own all these products and more but for now they are pipe dreams.

Well until the January sale anyways. :)

Have a great Christmas and hope you get all the beauty goodies you asked Santa for.

So can you split the difference?

So after my post the other day on eyeliner.

I am going to talk about the next trend in eye wear.

Which is split eyeshadow.

For anyone who doesn't know split eyeshadow is where you wear more then one colour on the eyes, split into blocks.

The can range from just two colours to three, four or even five colours.

This trend is always popular on catwalk shows but is it wearable in real life?

Picture one is the three colour split.

This eye is consisting of white, purple and green.

Picture Two is the split blend of dark to light.

Good for a more smoky eye and great for the night time.

Picture three is the horizontal split.

This eye is a white top half and purple bottom half.

Picture four is the most traditional three way split.

This eye is a white top half and purple/blue half and half split.

I love picture five but it is a little more complicated. This is a five way split.

This eye consists of a white top half but then four variations of brown from light to dark.

These looks are quite wearable day or night but I think that the key to getting this trend right is to balance the colours you are using.

You either need to compliment the colours like in picture five or you need to contrast them like in picture one.

Sometimes a bit of experimenting is the key to getting this look right.

The one major plus to this look is you don't have to be neat. I didn't use a brush for my pictures I just used my fingers to draw the blocks on.

The catwalk likes this look because it matches the colours of the clothes that the models are modelling and although we all may not be models. It is one look that we can steal and we don't need to be a size six either.

The many faces of eyeliner

Hello all.

Hope you are well.

I have got some great posts coming up for you in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

So today I am going to be talking about eyeliner.

Now eyeliner is very much a marmite make up product.

Mainly because the people who love it, like what it does to their eyes and to their features. The people who hate it hate how fiddly and sometimes complicated it can be to put on their eyes.

I have seen many a friend poke themselves in the eye or in my case wobble the line and watch it go into my hair or on my cheek.

Eyeliner can just seem like effort.

But with the variation of eyeliner now available. From liquid, pencil, kohl and even glitter. To where you can put it on your eyes, to how it can really highlight your features and how eyeliner can be fun even if you do make mistakes.

Here are a few ideas I tried out today. Sorry for the bad light. :)

Picture one is glitter eyeliner.

Done with Collection 2000 green and pink.

Picture two is gems stuck on to the eye as a makeshift eyeliner.

Picture three is the smoky eye look.

I place pencil brown eyeliner on the top, under the eye and also on the water line.

I think think this look looks amazing but with nude lips and mascara on.

Picture four is done with black liquid liner for a 60's vibe.

These are just a few ideas I did in a few minutes each.

There are many more ways, styles and type of eyeliner I could of shown but these pictures just give you a idea.

After all eyeliner shouldn't be scary.

If you worry about making a mistake. Don't worry just keep a pack of wet wipes handy and the more you panic the more mistakes you will make. Even whilst doing the eyeliner above I made mistakes. So just take your time and have fun and if your worried just practice at night a few days before you need to wear your eyeliner out.

Eyeliner is the most versatile piece of make up in your kit. It takes your make up from day to experimental.

So if you just have one black eyeliner pencil in your make up bag.

Route it out and have a go at a smoky eye (Picture three)

And then try out some other techniques with some other eyeliners, like glitter, colour or even liquid.

Nail Art. Genius or annoying?

So a new trend hitting the make up world is nail art.

Now nail art has been in style for a little while but it's what I call hammy nail art that has been taking over.

By hammy I mean nail art that looks like you have done it yourself even if a professional has done it for you.

One case in celebrity style is Katy Perry and her Russell Brand nails. They are very much the thing you used to do when you were 15 and you used to write the name of the person you fancied when you were 15 on your nails in permanent marker. Before you ask I used to write "Love Alonso" on mine because it was exactly 10 letters. Perfect for the 10 fingers I have.

Now Katy Perry isn't the only one with the Hammy nail technique. Rihanna also did this with the acid smile face. Now we know it was done by a pro but the styling is very hammy.

I love this idea/style/look for nails because it means you don't have to be professional to achieve this look. You just need a bit of creativity.

I am as anyone who knows me not in the least bit creative but I managed to achieve the hammy nail look within about 20 minutes. Not bad really considering the nail varnish is just Barry M (Cheap but amazing) and a nail art kit I bought from the pound shop and it will last for ages too. Result.

See below for my attempts

Now nail art genius or annoying is an app title for this piece. Mainly due to opinion that nails should just be simple. Some people think that nail art is a pain and I can understand their view. If your not nimble with small objects it can be annoying and very frustrating and if you make mistakes with nail varnish a lot. It just doesn't seem worth it.

Sometimes though the genius can come out in nail art and it means people with no creative flair (like me) can have a go and not only change their look but have fun too and what wrong with having a bit of fun with nail varnish.

Just look at this mushroom nail from my friend Nat Horton. If you can't smile at this. Then maybe fun isn't your thing. :)

Thanks to Funkytrend.com for the Rihanna picture.

Help I have broken my lips.

Well we know winter is very much here now. Well I know it is in England.

Everyone is wrapped up in hats, scarf and gloves and the heating has finally been turned on.

This for me also means the return of something more dreadful, painful, unattractive and annoying.

No not me moaning.

It is the return of having dry and pretty much broken lips.

What I have to admit, is when I am stressed I do pick at my lips anyways but because the cold weather sort of came out of nowhere. I wasn't prepared and my lips have been badly suffering.

So products to use.

First thing you should do is with a old clean toothbrush, brush your lips to get rid of any dry and dead skin off your lips.

Then you should apply a protective lip balm to your lips. Try to avoid lip gloss and vaseline (Why vaseline you ask, well the petroleum in vaseline actually dries out your lips more, meaning you put more on and you buy more tins. Nice marketing ploy there.)

So when you buy your lip balm try to look for one without petroleum in. My personal favourite is the blistex daily lip conditioner, which although smells very medicated. Is one of the few products that does heal my lips whether from dryness or from me picking at my lips and it is also more unisex so your boy mates can steal it too.

It also doesn't contain any petroleum. So it won't purposely dry out your lips. Result.

Sometimes being a blogger has it perks.

Well first off sorry for the lack of posts last week. It's been absolutely crazy.

Will make it up to you with lots of posts in the next few weeks.

So for the first time in a while I get to do some product reviews.

Last week I got given a huge bag of samples from Lush to review.

Now sadly most of my family stole them before I had the chance to test some of them but the ones that were left have been tested by me and now I can give my honest opinion.

This may be in a few parts as I still have a few to try but for part one here it goes.

I love Juicy.

With a combination of pineapple, kiwi and mango. This shampoo is very much a fruity delight. When I washed my hair with this I must admit because I wear a lot of product in my hair. It took a long time to get my hair back to normal, so I did have to use slightly more then average but the smell outweighs the effort. This is meant for greasy/oily hair, which I have and I must admit I have had to wash it a lot less.

Veganese.

With seaweed and rosemary this vegan conditioner is the lightest one that lush do. I was very impressed with this, not only did it make my hair very soft but it didn't weigh down my fine, oily hair. No matter how much I put on. I also like the fact that it is vegan so no animal products are used. Result.

Cupcake

The fresh face mask that smells like chocolate. For oily, combination skin. This fresh face mask had my six year old niece week at the knees to try it. With cocoa powder and rhassoul mud to help tone down oiliness. This is fantastic for spotty or out of control skin. I really did have to resist the urge to lick it off.

Herbalism

The green face cleanser containing nettle, rosemary and rice vinegar. This is did actually help clear up the spots I had on my face, so is fantastic for oily, spotty skin. The only problem I found was after I used it, it made my face go really tight. If you like a cleanser to do that. Then this is perfect but I can't stand having to put tons of moisturizer on just to get rid of the tightness.

Gingerbread house

The gorgeous ginger bubble bar. That everyone seems to adore. My nieces and nephews loved the smell and the shape of the bar. I loved how much like Christmas it smelt like. Produced a lots of lovely, soft bubbles and I am personally gutted that this is only a limited edition bubble bath bar for Christmas.

Almond and coconut smoothie

This smoothie body wash didn't froth up like other conventional shower gels but did leave my skin feeling moisturized and it felt like when I got out of the bath that my skin didn't even need body lotion. The smell was beautiful, I actually felt like I was on holiday. Lovely for the winter.

Karma kream

With orange blossom water, this to me defines the smell of lush. Karma reminds me of being in the swinging 60's and it is very much a marmite smell. Years ago I hated it with a passion. As I have got older I am starting to love it more and more. This body cream, moisturized my skin without feeling greasy and the bit I loved. I could get dressed straight away after putting it on.

Dream cream.

This cream is lush's best seller. I can see why the smell is nothing to write home about but it made a difference on one key area of my skin. The places where I have eczema, so at the minute that is my arm and on my stomach. I always have a few places where it comes and goes. This cream helped clear my eczema up, which for someone who has had it for years, is a welcome blessing.

Handy Gurugu

Now I didn't get chance to review this, as my mum stole the tester. These are her words about this hand cream.

"I actually liked the smell of this hand cream, but I did find that it was a little greasy. So I mainly used it at night but it has made my hands soft and it is starting to repair the cracks on my thumbs, which no other hand cream has been able to do."

I will do the next part of my lush sample testing either next week or in the next few days. So keep an eye out for that but if you want to make your opinions. Visit a lush shop and see for yourself. If you want to comment on this please feel free.

http://www.lush.co.uk/index.php