My Current Everyday Make-Up Routine|Glowy Skin & Neutral Eyes

 So it’s been a while since I last did a post on my most worn make up look and since then a lot has changed and I have discovered new products. This make up look is what I  wear on most days, either to college, out with the girls or just shopping, I do sometimes skip the liner for college so that it’s less to do in the mornings.

 Face

So I start by using my new No7 Instant Radiance foundation on a Real Techniques Buffing brush and blend this into my skin. I have only been using the foundation for around 2 weeks so I still haven’t made a full decision on how good I think it is yet, but so far I like it. For bronzer I used my Sleek Contour Kit to enhance my cheekbones, and for blush I used the Benefit Benetint which gives a beautiful natural flush to your cheeks.

Eyes

The eyes are the main focus of this make up look, even though they are still neutral they do stand out. All the shades I used are from the Barry M Limited Edition Starry Nights Palette, I place the gold shade all along my lid and the burgandy/red shade into my crease. I find that these sort of colours really make blue eyes pop and I have been loving this eye look lately. On some days I will apply a thin line of the No7 Felt Tip Liner to my lash line to make it appear thicker. I then finish off the look with the No7 Midnight Lash mascara, this stuff is amazing and adds so much length to your lashes, I would highly recommend it. 

Lips

My lipstick changes on a daily basis depending on what I am feeling on the day, but my favouite basic lip look is to take Estee Lauder Stay Mauve lipstick and then apply a dab of Mac’s Creme Cup in the middle. This gives a natural looking Kylie Jenner feel. 

 

Quick And Easy Work Make Up

So you get called into work last minute and you’re not the slightest bit ready, what do you do?
This is exactly what’s been happening to me the last few weeks, I’m chilling in my pjs and then all of a sudden work wants me in, in half hour! I’ve gotten my last minute work make up down to a T now and I’ll wear it even when I’m not rushing for work. I like to go basic but put together, and this is how I achieve that look.

Face
I start off by using a small pump of my Match Perfection Foundation and blend that all over my face. I then take collections lasting perfection concealer and apply that under my eyes to highlight and cover any darkness. Next ill powder which I think is essential for work as you’ll most probably be working hard and sweating. To complete the face I’ll apply a little bit of NYC’s Smooth Skin Bronzer and a bit of Sleeks Rose Gold blush on the apples of my cheeks.

Eyes
This is my favourite part, it’s SO easy but looks as though it’s taken a while, all I did was take a beautiful brown eyeshadow with gold glitters in  and blended that all over my lid, crease and under my eye. Then just applied a quick coat of the Rimmel Wonder’ful mascara the eye look is finished!

Lips
I like something natural but long lasting for work so I took a collection cream puff matte lip cream in cotton candy. This stuff sort of dries on your lips and stains them for around 5 hours which is great for work when you have no time for touch ups.

The Vampire Diaries Inspired | Last Minute Halloween Make Up Tutorial

I’m a HUGE fan of TVD so I wanted to incorporate it into my Halloween look this year and decided to go for a vampire. This make up is so simple to do, and unless you want to use the blood, everything can be done with things you probably already have in your make up kit. This is also a great look to do for a last minute costume, just throw on all black and follow this make up look.

Without blood

With blood

How To Do It

You want to start by taking your normal foundation and lightly applying it over your face, feel free to mix in a pale foundation at this point depending on your preference. You then want to heavily contour using a grey toned matte bronzer and applying it along your cheekbones and temples, you don’t want to be light with this as you want to look as though your face is sunken in.

For the eyes take a shimmery red eye shadow and place it all over the lid and on the lower lash line, then take a copper eyeshadow and place it in the crease and blend it upto your browbone. Then take a matte black eyeshadow onto a pencil brush and pat it into the outer v and blend. You can then add an optional flick of liquid liner.

To create the veins under the eyes, you first want to cover the entire under eye area in a white eyeshadow, then take a matte yellow shadow and apply it lightly just below the eye. For the actual veins I took a mix of red and black face paint on a paint brush but you can achieve the same look using eyeshadow. You want to slowly create lighting type lines from the bottom of your eye outwards until you get your desired effect.

Lastly apply a dark red lipstick and then you may optionally drip some fake blood from either side of your lips and add fangs. And there you go, quick, easy and affordable vampire look!

What are you going as for Halloween this year?

Natural School/College Make Up Tutorial

September is fast approaching which means so is the start of a new school/college year, so I thought I’d do a post on what make up I would typically wear to college or when I’m not doing anything special. I know this look may not be natural to some people as it does involve a little eyeshadow, but the make up does look very light and natural looking. It’s very easy to do and only takes around 10 minutes which is perfect when you don’t have much time in the morning.

So on with the tutorial..
I started by applying some Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation with a Real Techniques Buffing Brush. I honestly could not recommend this foundation enough! It’s the perfect every day coverage, really moisturising (great for dry skin) and lasts a decent amount of time.
After I have applied my foundation I move on to my eyebrows. When I’m going for a more natural look I like to use the lighter shade from my holy grail Brows A Go-Go Kit. (If your school is strict or you don’t like wearing eyeshadow you can skip this step) I then applied some eye primer and the highlighter and contour shade from the Sleek Contour Kit on my eyes, I started by putting the highlighter all over my lid and inner corners and then lightly applying the darker contour shade into the crease. Then you can just apply your favourite mascara, I used the Estée Lauder Sumptuous Extreme Mascara.This just opens up your eyes and gives them a little definition but is still natural enough for school/college.

Next up is concealer, I applied some a small amount of the Mac Pro Longwear under my eyes and blended it in with the Real Techniques Contour Brush. A cheaper alternative to this is the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, it’s perfect for every day use and has amazing coverage! Now is the time I like to powder. Depending on your personal preference you don’t have to powder but I think for school/college it’s essential. It’ll keep your make up on for a lot longer and stop you getting oily throughout the day. Bronzer is next aka my favourite step…I don’t feel the need to go all out and contour for college so I take my cheap and cheerful (but amazing) NYC Smooth Skin Sunny Bronzer on a big fluffy face brush and bronze my cheekbones and temples. Then on to blush which I personally think is the most important for a natural look as it makes you appear more awake (which is what you need in the mornings). I like to use a small dust of my Sleek Rose Gold Blush.

Last but not least it’s onto the lips. You don’t want to use anything high maintenance or in your face when you’re going for a natural look, lipgloss’ or a lip balms are perfect for school/college. For this look I used the Rimmel Vinyl Bronze High Shine Lipgloss, it’s a sheer pink gloss and keeps the look very natural and pretty.

Wearable Green Smokey Eye

I decided to do something different with my make up today as I always stick with neutral browns and greys. Whilst looking through my palettes I noticed I have a lot of pretty green shades and attempted to create a smokey eye with them. I finished the eye look with winged liner and Mac’s Creme cup and I’m really pleased with the final look. As you will be able to tell the look is easy to create and only took around five minutes to do on both eyes.

Method
I started out by applying the darkest matte green shade from the Elf Little Book Of Shadows Palette (all shades used are circled in picture above) to my crease and blended it out. I then used a shimmery light green shadow from an old Accessorise Palette on my lid followed by a dark khaki shade in the outer v of my lid. To give the look a little more depth I took a brown shadow from the Accessorise Palette and lightly blended it through my crease to bring the look together.
Finally I applied some liquid eyeliner, made a small flick and applied some of my favourite Estée Lauder Sumptuous Extreme Mascara.

Are there any other make up looks you would like me to do a post on?

How I Clean My Make-Up Brushes

I have to admit I am very lazy when it comes to cleaning my make up brushes. it’s not until they resemble a shade of brown or orange that I even think about washing them.(bad beauty blogger, I know!) Recently I’ve been trying to wash them more than every month, and by doing so I’ve seen a massive difference in not only the way my make up applies, but also the look of my skin. I’ve been getting hardly any spots since washing them more and my skin is looking healthier in general. So for today’s post I thought I’d talk you through how I easily clean my make up brushes.

1)I start by laying all my make up brushes in front of me, and getting a towel ready to to put them on to dry.
2. I will then take my make up brush, (I usually start with the biggest ones first) run it under the cold water, then apply some antibacterial hand soap to a soap dish and start washing the wet brush in the dish.

3)After rubbing my brush around in the soap for a little bit I will then rinse it under the tap to remove the soap and make up.
4) I will repeat step 2 and 3 until the water runs clear and no soap buds or make up remains.
5) Once I am happy with how clean the brush is, I will squeeze any excess water out of the brush and lay it flat on a towel to dry overnight.

There you have it, 5 quick and easy steps to get clean make up brushes! It usually takes me around 20 minutes to wash all of my brushes using this routine? which I don’t think is too bad.
Another thing I have been doing lately is spraying a making setting spray or even water onto my brush and wiping it wish a wet up just to give them a quick clean in between washes.
I hope you’ve found this helpful and comment down below if you do anything different.

How To: Get Flawless Long Lasting Foundation

For years I’ve been searching for the perfect foundation that will give me a flawless base and last all day and I finally think I’ve found that. I now believe that it’s not all down to the foundation and that preparation and a good primer plays a big part in getting your base to look flawless and last all day.

Step 1- Cleanse and moisturise face
A key to getting your foundation to apply smoothly and evenly is to make sure you apply a good hydrating moisturiser to a clean face before hand. My favourite moisturiser that I like to apply before I put on any make up is the Garnier Moisture Math moisturiser for dull skin.

Step 2 – Apply a primer
Before I had used a primer I was skeptical about them and thought there was no way they could ever make your foundation last any longer. But gosh how wrong I was! Applying a primer before your foundation not only makes it last a lot longer but also makes your pores appear smaller which leaves your skin looking flawless. The primer I use which gives me at least an extra three hours wear is the Elf Face Primer.

Step 3 – Apply a long lasting foundation
My absolute favourite foundation which delivers outstanding, long lasting results is Mac’s Pro Longwear foundation. As the name suggests this stuff does not budge all day and along with the two other steps can leave your skin looking flawless for up to 16 hours! My tip to achieve a flawless coverage is to apply the foundation directly to your face and then buff it in in downward motions.

Step 4 – Set everything
You may think you don’t need to powder your face if you don’t suffer with oily skim but powder doesn’t just control oil it also sets everything on your face making it last a lot longer. If you do suffer with dryer skin just powder through your t zone and where you’ve put concealer. If you’re on the oiler side lightly powder your whole face.

There we have it, this is the final look using 4 steps to achieve long lasting flawless looking foundation.

Do you have any tips to make your foundation last longer?