Monthly Favourites: Eye makeup

Summer Wedding Makeup Ideas

Alright ladies, let’s talk beauty. Chances are you’re going to wear some sort of makeup for your wedding day... the question is, what look are going for? There are ton of different options out there! So many, in fact, that the beauty choices can be almost overwhelming.

This summer I have been asked by my cousin to do her makeup for her and her lovely bridesmaids on her big day. Ive been having a think about what makeup looks would compliment her chosen colour scheme (coral).  Your wedding colour scheme will set the tone for the entire day. Darker hues are more formal and can be considered more refined and stylish, while lighter tones are more playful and romantic. By mixing and matching different shades of the rainbow, you can achieve all sorts of different tones and settings to help set the mood for your wedding. The internet and my art student knowledge suggests that the most popular colours to be matched with coral are turquoise and grey. But, I dont think Thea (my cousin) will appreciate a turquoise eye look, so grey is the next option! As lovely as bold smokey grey eye looks are, i think for a summer wedding it may look slightly too dark. So, to compliment the coral and the grey ive chosen five warm toned coppers and browns to brighten the overall eye look... (see below)

From Left To Right: (all products are from Mac)
Da Bling, Sable, Woodwinked, Amber Lights, Coppering

You may be thinking "wheres the grey?!" well, i was thinking of using a grey shadow to do a smoked out winged eyeliner which will soften the look even more. The grey i have chosen to use is 'Smut' from Mac.
For the skin, its all about looking naturally radiant. A dewy foundation and liquid highlighter is my chosen base for this look, with a peach toned blush and a gentle bronzed contour. Prepping your skin with a matte primer (not an illuminating one) is key, as you’ll want to create the perfect canvas for this glowing look. Since you’ll be skipping powder altogether for this look, you need something to prevent shine and oil overload.

This look from Desi Perkins is how i imagine this look will turn out...
I'll update you on how it turned out when i do the trial in a few months time! haha. 

i hope you enjoyed this post!! xx

What I Got For Christmas: Makeup & Skincare

Happy Boxing day everybody!  I hope you have all had a fabulous christmas!

I think its safe to say that i have had more than enough lip products to last me a lifetime. If you are as nosy as i am im sure you will enjoy this post...

How To: Silver/Lilac Hair

If like me you have spent literally FOREVERRRR trying to get your hair this colour, fear no more. I found a way!! To get your hair the same as mine (below) keep on reading!!

Now, everybody knows that bleaching hair can be a risky one. But after trying so many different hair dyes and never bleaching my hair, I had a "fuck it" moment and decided to go for it. My hair is naturally a dark/dirty blonde, which has been coloured with box dyes OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN! so my only option to get it this light was to hit the bleach. Before bleaching my hair, It was an all over yellow toned blonde. My hairdresser bleached it for me, concentrating mainly on my roots, and brushing the bleach through to the ends of my hair. (The ends of my hair was a lot lighter, so no need to bleach all over) But if you are a dark hair colour, whack it on all over!

Once bleached a blue/purple toner was put on my hair immediately after rinsing off the bleach, this was then left on for about 20minutes to half an hour. If you have thin hair, at this stage your hair WILL go blue, but after a few washes this will disappear. You now have the perfect white blonde base to start adding the lilac. For this i use three different products, all avaliable at Boots.

Bleach London silver shampoo - £5
Lee Stafford bleach blondes shampoo - £6.99
Lee Stafford bleach blondes hot shots - £7.49

- Every time i wash my hair i use the 'Bleach London silver shampoo' to maintain the grey. 
- The Lee Stafford purple shampoo adds a pinky/purple tone to the hair, so i use this once a week, after shampooing with the silver shampoo and leave it to soak on my hair for 10-15minutes.
- Finally, once a week i also like to use the Lee Stafford Hot Shots, these are best used after shampooing your hair. It says on the box to leave for 2 minutes, but i leave it up to half an hour to get a full effect. (BEWARE: This is a self heating hair treatment and you will have a cold tingling sensation for the duration)
- Use a load of conditioner every time you wash your hair also, keep that hair hydrated.

There you have it, its pretty easy once you get used to the crazy hair washing routine.
If you have any other questions, dont hesitate to leave a comment!

XX

Party Season - All Purple Everything!

I’ve created a festive, glittery purple eye, for the party season, absolutely perfect for the christmas and new year period! It’s a wearable evening look (if you are as daring as i am)

Basic black and brown eyeliners are fine, but sometimes we crave a little more colour. The hint of purple works on all eye colours, especially brown and hazel, and is the perfect liner colour for blondes!

For the liner, i used a liquid lipstick, from MakeUpAcademy in 'Kooky' and a liner brush to get a precise flick. 
The glitter on the lower lash line is just a cheap loose glitter that i got from ebay! (check my previous post for details)
And as always, the inner corner... Vanilla pigment from Mac!! 
This look is SOOOO incredible easy to do and looks like it took so much time and effort. 

I hope you enjoyed this post!
XX

Loose Glitters Are My New Fav Thing!

Hello everybody, 

Sorry its been such a long time since i last did a post. My hours at work on the lead up to christmas have taken over my entire life. Finally, i have got some time to sit and concentrate on keeping you guys entertained! So here we go...
Loose Glitters & Pigments:
Loose glitters are ultimately my new obsession! If you LOVE glittery makeup looks and dont mind getting glitter EVERYYWHEREEE, these will be perfect for you! At just 99p each (BARGAIN) from ebay i couldnt resist these beauties.
Im going to be trying out a few different looks with these to wear over christmas and new year. New year's eve is all about making a statement! Glitter is the perfect way to add "bling" to your look, but getting that bling just where you want it can be tricky. 

There are many different ways to wear and apply glitters. My favourite way is to use them as a slight accent of colour, and really pretty when used on the inner corner of the eye. To keep the glitters in place, use either a cream eyeshadow base or a glitter adhesive!
Below is a link to the gel adhesive that i use, i think its great!

 https://www.stargazer-products.com/glitter-fix-gel.html
XX

Bold Black & Copper Cut Crease

Popularized by super fabulous drag queens, a cut crease is a sharply-defined, exaggerated eye crease shape, mostly commonly done with eyeliner and blended out. Although it looks complicated, and definitely takes a little practice, when broken down, this cut crease tutorial makes it quite simple and can make a small eye actually look larger.

To create this look, you'll need the following products:

Pale, shimmery vanilla eye shadow.
Black cream or gel eyeliner
Black eye shadow

brown and orange matte eye shadows
Black liquid eyeliner
Black Mascara
Copper loose glitter

Set of false lashes

Also, the following tools will make the process much easier for you:

Flat shader brush for applying lid colour

Fluffy shadow brush

Synthetic, angled liner brush

Small crease brush

Pencil brush

Lets get started:

Begin with primed eyelids and pat the shimmery vanilla shade all over the lid with your flat shader brush.

1. Take your angled liner brush and draw a thin line of gel or cream liner just above your natural crease, winging it out at the end slightly.
2. Immediately smudge and blend the line upwards with a dense smudge brush dipped in black shadow.
3. Follow with a brown shadow on a small crease brush, blending upwards toward the brow.
4. Using your orange eyeshadow apply a small amount to the crease to blend the black toward the brow bone and add the same colour to the inner corner of your eye.
5. Reinforce your original crease line by going back over with the gel or cream liner.
6. Create a dramatic winged cat eye line with liquid liner.
7. Apply a black shade to the lower lash line and follow with mascara.
8. Coat your top and bottom lashes with mascara.
9. Using a glitter adhesive, apply your glitter to the inner corner of your eye for that pop of colour.
10. Apply a set of false lashes if desired.
    
    I hope you enjoyed this post! xx

Sexy, Sultry, Smokey Eye

This makeup look is kinda inspired by Kristen Stewart’s, (although i dont really like her so im not going to give her much credit) SORRY! im not sorry.

This burgundy smokey eye look happens to be one of the more popular ones and is my favourite look of hers because she rarely goes out in anything pink or girly, so a cranberry/burgundy smokey eye look is a great way to make her grunge-y style appear more feminine. 

Face: 

The eyes are the main focus, so keep the rest of the face looking natural. Apply something sheer like the MAC Face and Body Foundation, and buff it in to achieve your desired coverage. Conceal any dark circles or blemishes as well. To set the foundation, apply a translucent powder very lightly over the sides of the forehead, jaw line and chin. Leave a bit of shine on the T-zone.

A light pink blush may be applied to the cheeks, but is not entirely necessary as the overall finish is very subtle and natural. Ladies with naturally rosy cheeks may skip this step.

Lips: 

Go for something that’s close to your natural lip color so it doesn’t overpower the eye makeup. I used dior collagen plumping gloss which has a subtle shimmer.

Eyes:

1 Prime your lids with your primer of choice. I’m using the Nars Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base. 
2. I’m using a black eyeliner as a base for my eyeshadow. This will help create a deeper black later on. There’s no need to be overly neat about it just yet. 
3. Blend this out into a slight wing, with the deepest black near the lash line. Keep adding eyeliner and continue blending until you have a nice black smokey eye.
4. Take a warm brown eyeshadow like Mulch by MAC and apply that to the eye socket with a tapered blending brush. 
5. Then take a matte black eyeshadow and pat it over the lid to set the eyeliner. Use a blending brush to blend the shadow upwards over the rest of the eyeliner base. I used Kiko eyeshadow in No178.
6. You’ll need a berry colored eyeshadow for this step. I’m using No137 from Kiko also. Pack the color onto the lid, making sure to cover the inner corners until you are almost to the outer corners of the lid. Don’t forget to put a little bit along the lower lashline as well. 
7. Take the same matte black eyeshadow as earlier and apply it on the outer corners of the lid in a V shape. Make sure this color is blended into the berry-toned eyeshadow. I also used No207 from Kiko to add a warmer tone to the look.8. Line the top and bottom waterlines with black pencil liner.

Now for the glitter!!
I used a clean glitter fixing gel that i bought from ebay to help the glitter stay in place. The glitter i chose for this look is a charcoal/grey, from ebay also. (99p each, BARGAIN) I applied it along the whole of my lower lash line, using a small eyeshadow brush to really pack it on.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

xx

Kiko Haul & First Impressions

Kiko FINALLY has a store at my local shopping centre, I was so excited when it opened today and went to pay a visit. I wasn’t hugely impressed with the store-a little garish, weird smell and odd layout of products but I was impressed by the price tags of the products.

I have been on the hunt for some different coloured eyeliners recently so I picked up all sixteen of the colours that they have to offer. All of them have a shimmer that runs through the colour so I knew that they may not have the best colour payoff when worn on the waterline. However, the website does say that this can be used on the inner and outer eye so I would expect it to live up to these claims!
Unfortunately this is where the good points end. I have tried these in every way that you can try an eyeliner... waterline, tight lined, lash line-upper and lower, and it sucks at all of them. It does not show up at all on the waterline at all and the hard nib drags across the lash line so much that it becomes sore and just looks like a mess. Whilst the colours are pretty I have found these to be completely unwearable. Luckily the products were "buy 3 get 3 free" so i dont feel like i have wasted a stupid amount of money. Although they arent wearable for everyday im sure i will be able to find a use for them!

I also picked up three of their eyeshadows. At £2.90 each i wasnt expecting much, but the colour payoff is actually pretty impressive. They are nicely pigmented and give intense color payoff over primer aswell. What i love the most about these shadows is that they're very buildable and lovely to blend. Great value for money!
I hope you enjoyed this post!
XX

Makeup Transformations

Graphic Eyeshadow

This graphic eyeshadow look is inspired by a girl that i follow on instagram. her account name is 'dausell'  (check her out) and she is by far the most creative makeup artist that i follow. Her work is so edgy, bright and always looks perfect. i know for a fact that my attempt looks nowhere near as good as hers does, but i thoroughly enjoyed trying out something completely different. To get a blunt clean edge i used tape on my face with a matte black eyeshadow on a brush with fix+ to intensify the colour. I used a clean fluffy brush to keep the edges blended nicely. clean up and fallout with concealer. its easy!
Its safe to say that this look is no way 'wearable' but its always fun to play around with your makeup and test your abilities. I have seen similar work in the past from Dior when they did A/W2015. Makeup artist Peter Philips created an intense graphic eye, which was shown in blue, green, prune and burgundy red versions during the runway show. (below)

xx