Dewy Sunkissed Base

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I’ve been absolutely loving mixing foundations lately, especially when I have tan on and need to darken my regular foundation. Whilst testing out the perfect shade with different foundations I stumbled upon a miracle! I’ve had a bottle of the Elizabeth Arden Flawless Finish mousse foundation laying around in my make up collection for a while and I’ve never seen a purpose for it up until now as 1) it’s way too dark for my skin, 2) it provides next to no coverage and 3) it has a lot of shimmer in. Whilst experimenting with different foundations I decided to use a couple of pumps of this with my Mac Pro Longwear foundation, the result was the most amazing sunkissed and dewy looking foundation I’ve ever used. The shimmer isn’t noticeable and it just creates a natural holiday looking glow to your face. I apply it to my face with a Mac 217 brush if I want a lighter coverage or with a Real Techniques Buffing Brush for a fuller coverage. This is now my go to foundation mix and I can’t get over how amazing it makes my skin look!
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Day To Night Make Up

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We often have days where we’re sprung with last minute plans and you don’t have time to re do all of your make up so that it’s suitable for the night. You may apply an extra bit of gloss or the lipstick you had on and rush out the door, you can however achieve a whole new make up look by simply applying a bold lipstick. Today’s post is how I switched my day time look to make it suitable for the evening.

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Day
On my face I used the Mac Pro Longwear Foundation to give me a flawless coverage that lasts all day, the Collection Concelear, Sleek Contour Kit and an Estée Lauder Blush that I can’t seem to find the name of. All of these products are long wearing and suitable for daytime and nighttime wear.
On my eyes I used a shimmery burnt orange/brown shade all over and in the crease, a line of liquid eyeliner and Estée Lauders Sumptuous Extreme mascara. For a more natural every day look you can skip the liner and apply that for the evening look. Now this is where the day and night look will change dramatically. For the day look I used a simple pink lipgloss and lip liner to make my lips appear bigger.

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Night
To change my simple day time look into a bold evening look I simply applied a dark lipstick of my choice (Rimmel Moisture Renew 330 Sloane’s Plum), this can be a purple, red or deep pink. Applying a bold lipstick will give the illsuion that you have put more effort into your make up and makes everything look more put together. If you have any extra time you may want to add a shimmery eyeshadow to your lids and some false eyelashes.
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June Favourites

Well here we are again, another month gone and another favourites post. We’re finally into summer and I’m off college until September meaning I have a lot of free time to write blog post. I’ve discovered a lot of new beauty and non beauty products this month that I’ve really liked so this favourites may be longer than usual.

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Beauty Favourites

Red Lipstick
I’ve never really gotten on with red lipstick until this month, I just didn’t think it suited me and was a lot of hassle to keep it looking good throughout the day. Lately however I’ve been loving pairing a red lip with a subtle smokey eye and winged liner and I actually did a blog post on it here. The red lipstick I’ve been using is red by Avon, it’s really creamy, pigmented and lasts for a good 6 hours without needing to reapply.

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Elf Beauty Book in Natural
I picked up this little beauty whilst at the Elf blogger fair which you can see my blog post on here. I swatched the shadows in store and thought they were amazing but I really did not expect such high quality seeing as I only paid £6 for it. The beauty book contains 6 eyeshadows, a primer and am eyeliner. The eyeshadows are the reason this product has made it into my favourites though as they really do compare to the quality of the naked palettes and can be used to make a beautiful natural smokey eye.

Estée Lauder Sumptuous Extreme Mascara
I’ve had a sample size of this mascara for a while now but I’ve only recently started using it and it’s safe to say I’ve been amazed by how good it is! This mascara adds so much volume and length and since using it I’ve had so many compliments on my lashes and people even asking if they were fake. I’m definitely going to pick up a full size one when this runs out.

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St Moritz Fake Tan Mousse
I’m not a huge fake tanner as I just find it so much hard work and it tends to look fake and patchy on me. At the start of the month when we were getting nice weather however I decided to apply some of the St Moritz tanner as I didn’t want my legs looking like milk bottles. Not expecting much I left it on over night and showered it off the next morning. To my amazement I came out of the shower with a beautiful, natural glow to my skin and I’ve been hooked ever since! I apply it every Sunday night and wash it off the next morning, you really can’t go wrong for £3!

L’Oreal Eye Make Up Remover
I’ve never really seen the point of eye make up removers as I’ve always used cleansers that are suitable to use on your eyes, a couple of weeks ago though I picked up the loreal eye make up remover as it was on offer. The smallest drop of this on a cotton pad removes all of your eye make up in two swipes! This means that you’re not only not using as much cleanser but is also softer on your eyes as you don’t have to tug at them to remove the make up. I am sold!

Collection Lipstick In Tallulah
Yes another lipstick.. I picked this up in my local asda as it was only around £2 and wasn’t really expecting much. I should have had higher hopes though as this lipstick is the most beautiful every day pink colour, applies like a dream and is so moisturising. If you’re looking for a natural everyday lipstick you need to pick this one up!

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Non Beauty Favourites

The World Cup
Never ever in a million years did I think I would be saying that I enjoy football but ever since the World Cup has started I can’t get enough! Maybe it’s the whole hype around it or just because it’s always on tv, but I am really getting into football. I’ve watched at least one game every day since it’s been on and I find myself oooing and ahhhing at the TV (My ex boyfriend would be so proud of me!)

The Fault in Our Stars
I’ve featured the fault in our stars book in my favourites before so of course I had to go see the movie the first day it was out. Without spoiling anything all I’m going to say is that I have never cried so much at a film in my life! I laughed, cried, laughed and cried again. It’s one of the most heartwarming films I’ve ever seen and I recommend you all go and see it.

Beyond Beauty Star
I’ve decided I’m going to feature my favourite Youtuber every month and this month I’ve really been loving Claudia from Beyond Beauty Star. I am obsessed with her style and I’ve been really tempted to cut my hair shorter ever since I’ve started watching her. Claudia does beauty videos on her main channel which you can see she puts so much effort in to and vlogs on her second channel. You can check out her main channel here and vlog channel here

What were your favourite products this month?
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How To: Rock A Bold Lip

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To some wearing a bold lip colour such as red or a deep pink or purple can be very scary and tend to stay on safe ground and go with a light pink or nude. There’s no need to be afraid of wearing a bold lip, and I think if you apply it in the correct way it can look great on everyone! These are my top tips on how to apply a brighter lip colour correctly and make it last as long as it can.

Prepping The Lips
1. Apply a lip scrub to your lips and leave it for a minute or two. When wearing a bolder lip colour you need to make sure there’s no dry skin on the lips as the colour will tend to cling to the dry patches and start to look patchy throughout the day.
2. After you have removed the lip scrub ( I usually lick mine off as it tastes yummy) apply a deep conditioning lip balm so your lips are moisturised ready for the lipstick application.
3. Line the lips. When wearing a bolder lip you can see where the colour is bleeding a lot more so a lip liner is essential. Although an exact colour match to the lipstick isn’t necessary, try to find one in the correct colour range so that it’s not noticeable when you apply the lipstick.

Application
1. As the lips should be fully lined, now is the time to apply the lipstick. When using a bolder colour I find it easier to use a lip brush so that I have more control of where I’m applying it.
2. Now it’s time to blot. This will ensure that your lipstick won’t transfer and will keep the colour on your lips for longer.
3. Use a concealer that is an exact match to your skin tone to clean up around the lips and any bleeding you may have.
4. This step is optional but I like to highlight my Cupid’s bow so that my lips stand out more. To do this I take a shimmery shadow or highlighter and lightly pat it directly on to my Cupid’s bow.

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Throughout The Day
1. Make sure you take your lipstick with you in your bag for any touch ups throughout the day, especially after eating or drinking as the lipstick will fade and start to look patchy.
2. Blot every time you re apply.

Those are my top tips for rocking a bold lip, do you have any?

Mac Creme Cup

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I’ve owned Mac’s lipstick in Creme Cup for a while now but I realised yesterday I’ve never actually written a review on it and I have no idea why because it’s probably one of my all time favourite lipsticks! I find this lipstick to be so versatile, I can wear it alone for a natural every day look, paired with a darker nude which looks amazing with a smokey eye and even on my cheeks as a blush. What an amazing little product!

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Finish: Cremesheen
Price: £15
Colour: A blue toned pink
Texture: moisturising and creamy but does tend to settle into some fine lines so a good lip balm is required before application
Lasting Power: 3/5. As this is a light lipstick it tends to only last around 3 hours before needing to be reapplied again
Pigmentation: Not completely opaque but not sheer, I’d say two coats will give you a nice opaque finish.
Looks best with: a smokey eye look in the night or a natural everyday look.
Overall Rating: 4/5 one of my favourite lipsticks purely for the fact it’s so versatile and can also double up as a blush.

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My Skin Care Routine / How I Remove My Make Up

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My skin care routine is something that doesn’t change very much, once I like a product I will stick with it until I’m really bored of it or it doesn’t work do skin anymore which doesn’t happen very often. This is what I am currently doing to remove my make up, cleanse and moisturise my face every night before I go to sleep. I have dry combination skin and I find this is what works for my skin type.

The first thing is do is remove the base layer of my make up with a wet wipe, I know most people will say that wet wipes are bad for your skin but I honestly don’t see anything wrong with them. I’ve been using the Huggies Baby Wipes for over two years now and I’ve never had any problems with them. I prefer to use baby wipes as I know they are gentle enough to use on my skin and won’t irritate it.

I like to take my eye make up off with a gentle eye make up remover instead of tugging at it with my cleanser. I use the No7 Cleanse & Care Eye Make Up Remover to go this.

After this I take my Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water on a cotton pad and thoroughly take the rest of my make up off and cleanse my face with this. This product completely dissolves your make up and makes your face feel squeaky clean.

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I will then apply a toner, this one the one part of my skin care routine that I do tend to switch up a bit as I haven’t found a toner that I have fallen in love with yet. I’m currently using the L’Oreal Age Perfect Refreshing Toner. Although this is for mature skin (which I don’t have yet) I find that it really refreshes my skin and brightens it up. Toning not only refreshes and smooths your skin after cleansing, it also makes sure that every trace of make up and dirt has gone.

Then once a week after I have done all this I will use the Soap & Glory Scrub Your Nose In It scrub and mask. I will leave this on for around ten minutes whilst I shower or brush my teeth and then wash It off. Using a facial scrub removes any dead skin cells which can cause dry skin and dirt stuck in your pores leaving it revitalised and fresh.

After either toning or using a scrub I will then moisturise my skin so that I am bringing any moisture back into my face that I may have lost using cleansing and scrubbing. My favourite moisturiser of all time is the Garnier Moisture Match Moisturiser for dull skin. I use this morning and night and I’ve seen a huge difference in my skin since using it.
I like to then apply a moisturising lip balm like Vaseline or Elizabeth Arden’s 8 Hour Cream.

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Up until a few weeks ago this would have been the end of my skin care routine but I’m now using the Nars Eye Cream which I apply under my eyes in a triangle shape. I suffer with quite dry under eyes and since using this eye cream it has really improved and I feel as though my foundation and concealer apply much more smoothly now.

Elf Blogger Festival

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Around a month ago I was invited to attend a blogger event at the Elf store in Cardiff focused around festival make up. The event took place on Thursday (12th of June 2014) and when I arrived it was like walking backstage into the make up room in a festival. Amazing!

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I invited my friend to come along with me and as soon as we arrived we were offered free punch with the option to have an alcoholic or non alcoholic one with endless refills. There was also an amazing singer who sung a few songs at the beginning of the event which made me feel like I was in an actual festival. We then had an hour to walk around all the pop up festival stands to get our nails, lips, eyes and cool flowers on our face using their little book of shadows.

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This was my first time visiting the Elf store so of course I was taken back by all the beautiful make up and spent around half an hour looking and searching it all. I ended up picking up one of their beauty books in the natural look as the pigmentation on the shadows for £6 is insane! I’ll hopefully be doing a blog post on an eye look using the beauty book.

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After an hour of drooling over make up, getting my nails done and getting a cute little heart painted on my face it was time to go upstairs for the main event. The lovely girls at elf (which I must say a huge thank you to for being so welcoming and friendly) were going to create a festival make up look using 5 products. I found this tutorial amazing and the end result of the model was stunning, they used the Elf eyeliner and shadow stick in midnight blue to line the eyes and in the outer v. All I’m saying is I now need this product in my life!

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Finally before we left, the girls handed out goodie bags to us which I was totally not expecting. Inside was a little black beauty book of shadows which I can not wait to try, I think this is going to great for fun summer looks. As well as this there was a card for a free make over at the Elf store worth £20 which I’m going to use when I go to a festival in Cardiff during August.

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I’d like to say a huge thank you to Elf for inviting me the event and the fabulous staff for being so kind and helpful! Elf are currently having a huge clearance sale on their website and are offering free delivery on any orders over £10, go check it out! http://eyeslipsface.co.uk. Higher quality images we’re taken from the Elf store cardiff’s Facebook https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.
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How To: Get Flawless Long Lasting Foundation

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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.

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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.

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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?

 

Small Drugstore Haul

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I’ve picked up a few new items in the last week or so and I thought I’d share them with you.

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation
You probably all know about my love for this foundation by now and I’ve recently run out, so whilst in Asda a few days ago I seen they were having a massive 50% off on Rimmel products. The Match Perfection foundation was only around £4.49 so of course I had to get it! I got the shade 103 true ivory which matches my skin perfectly.

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer
Again another holy grail product of mine that I had to repurchase. I had enough boots points to not have to pay a penny for this which is a huge bonus! I noticed they’ve changed the packaging since the last time I bought it, I’m just hoping the formula hasn’t been changed!

Collection Deluxe Lipstick in 02 Talullah
I seen this lipstick being used in a YouTube tutorial a few months ago and it looked like the perfect pink lip colour. Whilst at the Collection stand I couldn’t resist picking it up, and at £2.99 it’s a steal!
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Nivea Daily Essentials Sensitive Night Cream
I’ve been looking for a good night cream for a while now and have been finding it difficult to find one that doesn’t burn my sensitive skin. I found this one in my local supermarket at around £4 I think and I’ve used it a few times since. It’s thick but not greasy and best of all doesn’t affect my sensitive skin!

Collection Lasting Gel Nail Polish in Stormy Grey
I’ve been looking for the perfect nude nail varnish for a while now and this colour caught my eye whilst picking up a new concealer. The formula looks really glossy (seeing as it’s a gel polish) which I like and the colour is just what is was looking for.

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Nars Eye Cream
I didn’t pick this up myself as it was a gift from my mother but I thought I would include it. I’ve only used this once so far but I’m really impressed! the consistency is quite light and I feel like it brightens up my under eye straight away. I’m thinking of doing a more in depth blog post on this product after I’ve used it for a few weeks so stay tuned.

Have you picked up anything new lately?
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What’s in My Make-Up Bag?

Following Wednesdays post on what’s in my bag, I thought I’d do a what’s in my make up bad today. I don’t carry a full make up bag everyday but if I’m staying over my friends or going away anywhere I will take one, here’s what’s I’m it.

I use this wash bag to hold my make up in as it fits more than a regular one and if I remember correctly I think I got it from Tesco.

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Face Products:
• Foundation – Mac Pro Longwear in Nw15, this has great staying power!
• Concealer – Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer
• Bronzer – Sleek Contour Kit, great for travelling & on the go as it comes with a highlighter too
• Blush – Sleek Rose Gold blush

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Eye Products
• Primer – Avon Eye Primer
• Eyeshadow – When I’m travelling I like to bring products that serve as multipurposes so I use the highlighter and bronzer from the Sleek Contour Kit as well as the powder that I use for my eyebrows.
• Eyebrows – Benefit Brows A Go Go
• Eyelash Curlers – Primark
• Mascara -Chanel Le Volume De a Chanel

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Lip Products:
• Lip care – Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Lip Protectant and Elf Lip Exfoliator
• Lipstick – Currently I have Mac All Fired Up in my make up bag
• Lipgloss – Barry M limited edition, this is always kept in my make up bag
• Lipliner – Loreal Lipliner in simply rose

Brushes:
• Face Brushes – Real Techniques buffing brush, Elf Studio Line powder brush, Eco Tools powder brush, Real Techniques foundation brush and Elf fan brush
• Eye Brushes – Double ended brush from Naked 2 palette, Urban Decay flat eyeshadow brush, blending brush, UBU eyebrow brush

What’s in your make up bag?
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