How To: Fill In Your Eyebrows

I have a love hate relationship with my eyebrows, I have days where they simply won’t co operate or sit right and other days where I’m happy with the way they look and they frame my face. I’ve been using the same brow products for nearly two years now and I feel like they give me a natural but defined brow.

1. I first comb through my brows with a spoole so that all the hairs are facing the same direction.

2. If I’m going for a full eyebrow look then I start with using an eyebrow pencil that is the same shade as my natural brown colour just to stencil out where I’m going to fill in, I use this to slightly extend my natural arch and tail as it gives the final look a sharper appearance.

3. I will then move on to filling in my brows with a wax, I use my holy grail Benefit Brows A Go Go Eyebrow Kit to do this, this kit comes with a highly pigmented light and dark powder and wax. I first take the wax on an angled brush and outline the bottom of my brows.

4. Now I take the dark brown shade on the same angled brush and fill my eyebrow in starting from the middle to the end, going with the shape I made with the brow pencil.

5. Then I move on to the lighter shade and lightly fill in from the middle to the start getting lighter as I go, creating an almost gradient effect. When I get to the very start of my brow I personally prefer to slightly square it off, I feel as though this is the most natural and I’m not a fan of rounded eyebrows.

6. This is where I like to make sure everything blends into each other and there’s no harsh lines. I take the lightest shade of brow powder and take it through all of my brows to blend it out.

7. This is a completely optional step, but when I’m going for a full brow look and I’m going somewhere special I’ll take a small amount of my Mac Pro Longwear Concealer and line it underneath and above my brow and blend it in. This makes your eyebrows appear crisp, defined and bold.

 

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: Contour & Highlight

I think contouring and highlighting a face can make a huge difference and I for one feel like it completes my make up look. Contouring is the art of enhancing your cheekbones with a matte taupe/brown powder or cream. This can make your cheekbones stand out more and make your face appear slimmer. Highlighting is done by applying a lighter product under your eyes and above the cheekbone to highlight the areas. In this post I’m going to show you how I achieve a natural contour and highlight using powder and a more dramatic contour using cream products.

Natural Contour & Highlight
1. Apply base make up such as foundation, powder etc. Some people prefer to apply their contour and highlight under their foundation but I feel like it looks better on top and stands out more.
2. Apply a concealer 1/2 shades lighter than your natural skin tone under your eyes in a triangle shape.
3. Take a matte bronzer/contour powder and apply it lightly underneath your cheekbones (you can make a fish face to find them). Then bring the powder up onto your temples and along your jawline.
4. Apply a warmer bronzer (one with a more orange tone) to warm your face up. (This step is optional)

Dramatic Contour & Highlight
1. Apply your foundation but don’t powder your face yet.
2. Using a concealer that is 1/2 shades lighter than your skintone highlight under your eyes in a triangle shape, along the bridge of your nose, your chin and on your forehead.
3. Using a cream bronzer, darker foundation or concealer place this under your cheekbones, on your temples, jaw line and either side of your nose.
4. After this is all buffed into the skin, set your highlight with a light powder and your contour with a matte bronzer to make sure it stays in place all day.
5. Apply a powder highlighter to the tops of your cheekbones using a fan brush.

Those are my steps to achieving either a natural or dramatic contoured and highlighted look. Do you do anything different?

How To: Rock A Bold Lip

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.

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?

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?