Soft and Romantic Valentines Day Makeup Tutorial Urban Decay Naked Palette 3

You're thinking that Valentines day is approaching and you want to look cute for the day! Well I have you covered, today I uploaded a super sweet Valentines Day Makeup tutorial that is effortlessly beautiful and chic! Panic over! For this I used my beloved Urban Decay Naked 3 palette, and today it makes its debut to my YouTube, although it's had a special place in my heart for a while now.

  The Naked palettes aren't the cheapest palette available, so check to yesterdays post for a super detailed run down on what the palettes are about, what one is best for you and whether they are worth it.

I couldn't resist this tacky photograph effect! Love heart confetti all over my face, what could be better?

New video makeup tutorial: Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette Smoulder Look

Who doesn't love simple great looks at your disposal to whip on time and time again that look just great, are simple and fool proof?

Here is another of those classic looks that use a few colours (dupe-able) to create something striking, it's a simple case of dark colour on the corners of the eyes and the crease, with a paler colour in the center of the eye lid, the real key is blending blending blending, and a little bit of adding the dark colour at a time, it's much harder to 'blend away' dark colours once you've applied too much, so keep a light and gentle hand and take your time at first!

Yesterday my Naked 3 palette showed up, and I got to have a little play around, so my next few tutorials may have a little something on that, I'm also contemplating getting a good quality microphone to begin creating voice overs to some or all of my videos, I'm not too savvy with the editing though, so it may be a step too far for me!?

New Video: How to Frame a Photograph

Framing a photograph is a little off beat compared to my normal videos, but I figured that you guys would appreciate a little helpful 'how to' from time to time.

The photograph is one from my sisters wedding, and is a little mini one and the first to be framed! I hope you find this handy for all your photos to come!

Sunny day stitching!

I decided to crack on with a craft project that I'd been meaning to complete for a while now, It's been sitting in a pre cut pack in my room since Easter!
It's a 'make your own felt doll' kit, and comes with all the felt and stuffing. I think it was meant to come with thread and a sewing needle too although mine didn't, but luckily I have plenty of that so it was no problem. I thought that it might take me a couple of hours to assemble but it actually took me all day, it turns out that i am a slow hand stitcher, or much slower than I though. I guess I could have done it by machine, but sewing at a machine is less theraputic I think as they're all noisy and such.

Here is the little before and after for you!

She may look a little scruffy or rough around the edges but I got a real sense of satisfaction from making her, I decided to name her Delilah!
I would really encourage you to do something similar just as a bit of mental therapy for the day!

New Video: How to stop biting your nails - How I broke my nail biting habit

If you look back to my older videos, it wouldn't take you long to notice my horrible nibbled down nails. My nails have been this way since I was very little, and the habit has been severely in my brain for about fifteen years now.
I got to the point where I just presumed that I would be 40 years old and still have chewed up finger nails and never be able to wear nice nail polish and still cringe when anyone suggested getting a manicure together as part of a fun girly day out.
One April day I was lying in my bed at home with what I can only describe as a horrible sickness bug, this was the only time that my nails would ever get a small break as I couldn't stand the thought of putting anything near my mouth. It was at this point that I picked up my phone and very randomly just snapped a picture of my nails.

 
Well I was shocked, despite seeing them every day of my life, having a picture just of them really brought home what an ugly state they were in and I couldn't believe that I didn't feel even more ashamed to walk around with hands like that.
I can only akin this experience to an overweight person seeing a picture of themselves and for the first time really realising the extent of their problem and choosing then and there to do something about it.

So this is what I did, and this is my little story:

New Video: Red lip

It's been a little too long since I uploaded a video but here I have it!
How to do a matte red lip using only a lipliner



Lip liners do not have to just line your lips, they can and should be used for the whole lip! Enjoy!

New video: How to do all different kids of eyeliner in under 4 minutes!

Whether you want retro, chunky, delicate, winged, exotic




Enjoy!!!

Espresso Eyes

Chocolatey browns and Golden creams- the makeup look inspired by a Starbucks!

If you like this look then today is your lucky day because here is all nine steps that I did this morning!

1.Primed my eyes using Bare Escentuals eye primer
2.Coated the whole eyelid in a creamy white shadow 'Shroom' by MAC
3.From the outer corner I dolloped my versatile dark brown 'Folie' by MAC and swished it back and fourth in the crease
4.I used a taupey-grey colour, I can't remember what one! and blended that back and fourth over Folie, only use a little amount, we want to look to be mostly that lovely warm brown rather than a cool grey
5. Using the Folie eyeshadow and taking a thin eyeliner brush i run that along the upper lash line and half way along the lower- this way it's not as harsh as liquid liner and fits in with a 'smokey' look.
6. On the browbone to make a crisp contrast I uses Loreal Color Infaillable in shade 001 Time Resist White
7. Using a brow brush and and an eyeshadow in shade 'Folie' from Mac I run the colour through my brows lightly, and slowly builing up the shape and thickness I'd like
8. I used a white eyeliner pencil on my waterline to my my eyes look bigger, I used 'Fascinating' from MAC
9. I finished off with a few layers of Bare Escentuals black mascara

Done and done!
Espresso, daytime look deliciousness!

Make Up Wake Up

I decided before I applied my 'heavy-non-everyday' to take a 'before shot'  and an 'after shot' so I could truly see the difference in myself!

I was feeling somewhat rough and worse for wear but just thought 'Thank MAC for Makeup' when it was all done!

Get set to put on your filter sunglasses to filter through bed hair and bare face!

Here is the warpaint breakdown:
Laura Mercier moisturising foundatoin in Ivory
MAC studio sculpt concealer in shade NC20
MAC Blusher in shade Mocha
Bare Escentuals Bronzer in the hollows of the cheeks, along the sides of the nose and under the jaw
MAC Highlighter in shade SnowGlobe (xmas special collection)
MAC eyeshadow shroom all over the lid with folie in the crease, really blended out, white shadow on the browbone
MAC white eyeliner on lower waterline in shade Fascinating
Avon brown eyeliner on the top lash line and lower(just under the white) in shade Cosmic Brown
Bare Escentuals mascara in shade Black
MAC Translucent finishing powder all over the face
MAC eyeshadow in shade Folie in the eyebrows to make them a little more shaped!
MAC lipstick in shade Lovelorn
Slick of vaseline over the top!

Then we're ready for action!

Out the door I go!

Hello Kitty Curls

Saturdays are the perfect days where you have a little more time to give your hair a little more
'ooh-la-la' there is nothing particularly Hello Kitty about the curls other than I'm wearing a hello kitty jumper!

Here it is! My insanely easy and not-so-slow loose, perfectly-imperfect mermaid curls

First of all, split your hair into an upper and lower layer, and clip up the top layer (you might need to split it into more clipped up layers if your hair is super thick)

Pinch at little sections of the bottom layer of your hair and place it between the plates of the straighteners

Holding the straightener pointing downwards, begin in the middle of the hair strand so that only the ends are curled and it looks more 'loose and natural' twist the straighteners to wrap the hair around the straighteners and slowly pull the straighteners downwards so that the hair is pulled out between the plates. It's super important to do it in a kind of slow and graceful motion, like when you use scissors to curl ribbon!

Here's a little looky at how my curls looked!

Once you've curled the bottom layer, pull at small sections of hair from clip that seperates off the next layer

...And do the same again as you did on the bottom layer, same technique with the straighteners pointing downwards and curling like ribbon, but rather than beginning half way down the hair you may want to start twisting closer to the root for more curl and body to your hair

Keep going all the way around your head until you have pulled all the hair from the clip seperating the curly from the straight hair. If your arm gets tired have a little break- maybe a quick snack!

The end result! Wonderfully, natural looking waves that just ooze glamour but are super simple and can be done with a straightening iron curlers, mousse or even hair spray is really needed!

And while we're here.... We may aswell have a quick look what I wore today, it's not super exciting

A baggy Hello Kitty jumper that looks like it was from some 80s dance movie where baggy dance gear was 'all the rage'! I wore a white vest underneth because it's kind of cold today!

Then some simple black treggings on the bottom, they're super comfy stretchy and go with everything, I got them from TKMaxx
(of course, the thick hello kitty socks are the most glamorous part of this outfit, theyre from H&M)

For my Make up that I wore today I'll do a little step-by-step for that tomorrow otherwise this post will be a bajillion pictures long and you might fall asleep half way through! Haha

100th post and a new study-time video!

It's a double whammy of treats today and it's Friday!So maybe that's a triple whammy!?

First of all...
Happy 100th post day to my blog! Who would have thought? 100 days of writing about crafts and videos, tips and trick and all other kind of cray cray and peculiar posts.

I did not mean it to coincide with making a new video, but it does so here it is:



This is more of a practical how-to because although it may give you shudders to think about, exam season is upon us!
These tips work for all kinds of tests, exams, mid terms, end of terms, anything!

Please: take note that cramming is never ever a recommended form of studying, and for good reason- you won't be able to answer questions so insightfully with sophisticated links between theories and ideas than if you had learnt things over a longer period of time- this is true for theoretical topics
For numerical and more factual based topics, you won't be able to answer the hardest and higher level questions as easily, if at all.
But, cramming is going to be a million times better than nothing!

So cram this time- but next time make sure that you don't have to!

Ice cream in your eye!

Here's a breakdown of a look I've been wearing a lot for daytime-Springtime
I call it my 'ice cream' look!

This is how it goes:

1. I cut the crease on my eye with a deep berry purple and blend this onto the lid.
2. I dab the inner half of my eye with a cotton candy pink
3. I dab the outer corner with a lilac and bend them together to make a nice gradient
4. I use a sweet yellow Vanilla colour on my browbone
5. I use chcocolate brown pencil liner on the top lashes and bring it down to the bottom a little way
6. Finish with some black mascara

For the rest of the face:
Bare Escentuals foundation- it's light, doesnt sweat off and has SPF
A pink blush on the apples of my cheeks
Sunkissed bronzing powder in the hollows of my cheeks

First bloom of Spring!

I'm very relieved to be able to finally upload my first makeup tutorial for spring.
It's very beautiful and understated- and blue is one of the freshest colours that there is (except for maybe a lime green)
So we most definately should put it on our eyes to signify the new season.

I especially love this look for the afternoon/evening- garden parties and Spring Flings and all other shenanigans that one might get up to on Spring nights!



Let me know if you'll 'dare to wear' a blue eye this Spring- even if you wear blue all the time!

What's THE JUICE?

To help make getting up out of bed, I like to have a breakfast I can look foward to, to make the transition from asleep to awake a little easier.
I'd consider myself to still not be a 'morning person' but people  often ask
"How do you have so much energy in the mornings!?..I thought you said you weren't a morning person!"
I never really thought about the answer, until I realised it probably has a little something to do with my breakfast. I call it my 'Super Sweet Detox' because it is all three of those things!

So here's how it goes...

Take yourself a melon (Galia or Honeydew)
A handful of Blueberries
3 Applies

Chop it all up! The size of the pieces depends on how good your blender is- mine is an old rickety thing so I have to cut pretty much everything up into bite sized pieces

Throw everything in the juicer as you chop it up, it doesn't matter what order you juice it as it all gets mixed together anyway! Of course, Blueberries can go in as they are

You should have enough there for about two days- store it in the fridge in the meantime!

Voila! The end result (alright, alright I know it looks a little incy wincy bit like someone vomited, but thats the texture of the apples- If you buy apple juice and it looks like that, then it's the 'real deal' and fresh from the apple) If you want the colour to be a little more vibrant, throw in some more blueberries!

Why you should try this...
It is filling despite it being a liquid form- if you really can't handle having nothing to chew on in the morning then have a banana too!
It simply tastes good
You can sip it on your journey to work (less rushing around in the morning)
It is thoroughly good for you (unlike most cereals which have a lot of junk in them even when marketed as 'healthy')
It gives you more energy and the energy is released slo-o-o-w-l-y so that you can power on for longer
Blueberries are a superfood- they hold magical powers (well kind of) here's what research tells us:
-Blueberries can improve memory
-Blueberries can postpone the onset of cognitive problems frequently associated with aging
-Blueberries can reuce damage to muscles following overly taxing exercise
-Blueberries can protect the nervous system from stress
-Blueberries can protect the retina from sunlight damage and oxygen damage

Top tips...
If the thought of getting up in the morning to prepare this fills you with horror, prepare it the night before and store it in a jug in the fridge
Take the seeds out of the melon to half clean up time (those pesky seeds get everywhere)
When an apple is blended, it all tastes the same so you may aswell go for the cheapest

Happy juicing!

Recipe for a bath

Some people might be thinking, a recipe for a bath? What do you need other than to just add water...?

Well! I'm here to show you how we bathe over here, because if you're going to dedicate some time to a bath you may aswell do it properly.
All you need is:

Hair band and hair ties to keep your hair out of the water (unless you want to wash it in the bath of course)

A face mask- I'm using Cupcake by Lush- it smells of chocolate and mud, but mostly mud!

A bath bomb/bubble bath- today I used 'So white Bath Ballistic' by Lush - it's fizzleness is not that great but it's soo moisturising, it's like bathing in milk!

A candle- one of my favourite scents -Chocolate Orange from http://www.bombcosmetics.co.uk/

A bottle of water - I always get so darn thisty in the bath!

Usually I bring a book too but I had a little headache this morning and just wanted to close my eyes in the bath.

So this is how my bath window ledge looked today:

Don't you feel like you learned a little something about bathing? haha!

Are you a bath person, or are you more of a showerer?

Side note: I filmed a little tip/trick today about travelling with makeup which will be up next week too!