Looking Good at School

Make Up for School

My sister recently said that some of her friends had read my blog (thanks!) & it got me thinking about something new to write.  I suppose it's kind of like a 'what would you tell your younger self' scenario.  If I could go back now & tell myself some tips for doing make up for school these would be them.  I also hope anyone reading this who's at school can benefit - believe me when I say this - you may think you have nailed the art of make up.  BUT when you look back at those lunch time pictures - you will cringe.  

Now some of you may have well nailed your make up look and that's fine, other may think they have but haven't & that's not so fine.  My experience of school make up consisted of a lot of orange, too much eyeshadow & bad eyeliner.

No matter how little or how much make up you wear to school (or on a daily basis in general) I hope there will be a tip that helps you in some way or another. 

Oh! All the products I mention will be from the highstreet (Boots/Superdrug) or the supermarket (Tesco/Asda) just to help save some pennies.  All products will be listed at the end, if not mentioned in the post!

Ahh!  This is what half my year looked like haha!

Face

My first tip is on foundation - pick the shade that you are, not what shade you think you are!

Too often (I'm talking from experience here too) girls buy foundation in the shade they 'think' they are, or the shade 'they want to be'.  You will notice the difference trust me.  Adding blusher or bronzer will add colour to your face, so buy the colour that truly matches your skin tone!

Next - how to avoid (the best you can) that horrid make up mark on your shirt.  When you apply foundation you must blend it down onto your neck - having a line around your face is not attractive in any which way!  To avoid it going everywhere though, blend to just under your jaw.  If you have the right colour of foundation it wont leave a visible line on your neck.  This means it shouldn't rub off on your shirt (too much).  Your Mum will be greatful. 

Moving on - I know being a teenager means coming out in all sorts of horrid spots & what not, but please don't slap on the foundation!  All you have to do is buy a foundation with good coverage (see my blog about foundations).  You also need a good concealer - tip: always apply concealer before foundation, this will cancel out any redness/dark circles etc...  I don't wear concealer a lot but these are my highstreet favourites.  Oh the little round one is actually an eyeshadow base - but you can use it as a light concealer. 

Powder/blush

Cake face - powders should be used to set your make up, not to add more colour.  Pick one that is close to your skin colour (or a tad lighter) & put all over if prone to greasy skin.  If not, the T zone (forehead and nose) just in case you get shiny throughout the day.  Use a light hand though, looking cakey should be kept for the H.E department (I know, pathetic but could be funny).

Keep it simple - hot pink blush looks great on Barbie but against a bright white school shirt not so much!  A nice pale pink/coral gives a nice glow to the skin.  This means you look as natural & youthful as possible while wearing make up.  This  VIVO one below also has a highlighter - apply this to the tops of your cheeks/apple of your cheeks and it will catch the light & make your skin look great!  The other is a very cheap one but it is a brilliant colour, great for Summer.

Eyes

I would keep it simple here again; try to avoid bright colours that may crease & wear off without you being able to touch up.  Also try to play it down on the old eyeliner, practice makes perfect so until you have practiced I'd avoid a winged eye.  The two pictured are my faves and should be fool proof!  Use the kohl to give a soft look or the liquid to give a more dramatic look.  Both a pretty much smudge & crease proof.  Tip for eyes then - buy a little eyeshadow double/trio or quad in light/neutral colours.  

As for the liner - don't put it on your waterline if it tends to come off on you, it wont look good.  Use a lengthening mascara, this will stop clumps & your eyelashes looking tacky.  This is my favourite highstreet one ->

If you have long bottom lashes avoid using mascara on them, it will smudge and give you dark marks under your eyes.

Also pictured with the eyeshadow - if you can see it because it's getting so small - is an eyebrow pencil.  I think if you want to fill your brows in (because you have dyed hair say) then go for it.  Just make sure you do little strokes & don't press too hard.  Top tip for eyebrows - they are sisters not twins!  So if they look a little different that's fine!  Also if you have dark hair, your eyebrows should be two shades lighter & if you are blonde, they should be two shades darker.  Try to be natural or you will look like a cartoon character!

Lips

Ideally a lipbalm would be enough but I know that just wont cut it in school these days!  You could try a Revlon Lip Butter, which is pretty pigmented & moisturising at the same time.  If not I have added my two favourite nude lip shades - one is a 'tan' nude & the other is a pale pink.  If you choose lipstick instead of a lipbalm or lipgloss make sure to take it with you.  You don't wont to look like you have cracked lips - not very chic at all!

As I said about the products, you can buy them in the highstreet or in the supermarket while doing the weekly shop!  The most expensive part will be the foundation but it is also the most important - a good base makes all your make up look better!

Full list of products pictured;

VIVO concealer kit - Tesco

Maybelline Dream Lumitouch - Tesco/Asda

Rimmel stay matte pressed powder (warm beige) - Tesco/Boots/Superdrug

Barbara Daly Even-smoother eye base - Tesco

VIVO blush with highlight (sweet peach) - Tesco

Natural Collection blush (peach melba)  - Boots

Max Factor eyeshadow trio (01) - Boots/Superdrug

Beauty UK eyeshadow palette (4) - Superdrug

Rimmel Kohl eyeliner (jet black) - Tesco/Boots/Superdrug

Rimmel eyebrow pencil (dark brown) - Tesco/Boots/Superdrug

L'Oreal super liner carbon gloss (carbon black) - Boots/Superdrug

Rimmel scandaleyes mascara (black) - Same as above

Maybelline xxl pro extensions (black) - Tesco/Asda/Boots/Superdrug

Rimmel moisture renew lipstick (700 nude delight) - You get the picture haha

Natural Collection (apple blossom) - Boots (it is cheaply made and will break a lot & go smushy, like mine but good none the less).

Have fun at school, Nic xo

Back to Business...

Back to Blogging...

Many times in my life I have started doing a project or taking a fancy to a particular thing - be it baking, collecting something or whatever - & nine times out of ten I never stick to it.  With this blog though I really wanted it to be the opposite!  I thought long & hard about writing it & really want to make a go of keeping it up for a good while.  Yet again life sticks its ugly nose in haha.  I would say I have quite a lot on my plate most days, but I thought I'd be able to find time to write a blog post everyday surely?  Wrong.  

I don't know where the time goes in my world but it certainly flies by too quickly!  So this is my pledge that no matter what (obviously within some amount of reason) I will post a blog at least every other day.

I do not have an expanding bank account so buying and testing new products isn't always going to happen - cue thinking cap.  I will find ways of blogging about the thing I own already & adopting a more 'youtube' way of doing things. To me this means FOTD's & tags, which are my favourite youtube videos!

Speaking of youtube; I still don't think I have the bottle to make a youtube video myself :(.  I am pretty tempted though so tomorrow if I have time I might give it a bash & let you know how it goes.

I'll post a blog later today as well on a palette I bought a couple of weeks ago & only just tired out last week.

Wish me luck with the video, Nic xo

My Fave Spring Nail Looks!

Spring Nails

I don't get to paint my nails much as i can't wear polish at work :(.  My collection still seems to be growing though and I love buying a nice new colour of polish!  I think because my day to day make up is usually quite neutral, I use bright nail polish to add a pop of colour to my look.

I will post some pictures of my favourite colours on my nails (please excuse the state of them).  I don't have long nails as they don't last long at work, and I don't have the patience to grow them!

Pastel Colours

This year pastel colours are everywhere!  From eyeshadows to shoes and I love a pastel nail colour.  I feel like pastel colours don't emphasise how short nails are if you're like me - dark colours on my finger nails just show how short they are (to me anyway!).

I'm not one to spend a lot of money on nail polish (as I don't get to wear it much) but with nail polish I feel many cheaper ones are still good quality.

I'll put a picture of my favourite pastels in their bottles first - then show them on my nails;

Well clearly that's too many to swatch for you so I picked just 5;

Barry M and Models Own are clearly some of my fave Polishes!

From thumb to pinky the colours are - Nude Beige (MO), Jade Stone (MO), Peach Melba 318 (BM), Strawberry Ice-cream 309(BM) and Blueberry Ice-cream 306 (BM).

Nude beige may not be really a pastel colour but I love this shade so much!  It's also hard to decide if Blueberry Ice-cream is a pastel or bright - I'd say pastel as it doesn't look neon to me.

All of the ones I swatched are just one coat of the colour, with a pastel shade they tend to be a matte formula which makes application easy.  Having no shimmer or too much shine in them takes away the sheerness you can get with other colours.

I don't think any of the colours have been purchased recently but I'm sure they are all permanent colours by both brands.

Bright/Neon Colours

I usually only wear these in the Summer and not as often as I would a pastel colour.  They do look stunning when you have a tan though!

I managed to pick 5 easily so here is what they look like in the bottle;

From thumb to pinky the colours are; 270 Hot Shot (Rimmel), 050 Tangerine Queen (R), the label has worn away but I think it is 23 Show Off (collection 2000), Juicy (17) and Spring Petal (17).

The two Rimmel shades went on easily with one coat as they are matte shades.  The collection 2000 and 17 needed two coats as they are sheer and have some shimmer to them.  Apart from the 17 ones, they were not bought recently (not sure if they are still available).  The two 17 ones are new for the Spring collection - they look a little pastel in the bottle, but go on as a nice bright colour.

All of the polishes (if still available) can be purchased from Boots - where I bought them from could be anyone's guess ha ha!

I'd love to know what colours you love this Spring?!

Happy (nail) Painting, Nic xo

Crafty Lady!

My Handmade Accessories!

Last night I tried my hand at finger knitting - don't laugh!  It is actually really popular among the younger generation on Youtube.  I didn't get taught it in school but a few people have said they did; so it should be easy for us adults if kids can do it right?!  Wrong! 

Well it wasn't too difficult but it did take a while to get the hang of it!  There are plenty of videos and blogs out there to help you get the hang of it.

There are a few different methods of finger knitting - you can do it using one, two, three or four fingers.  I tried the two finger and four finger approach.

Here's some pictures of my master pieces!

To be honest I think it is a bit limited as to what you can do with your finished product.  The easiest things include; scarfs, bracelets & necklaces.  I have also seen links for blankets & rugs - but I don't have enough time for that ha ha!  You can also finger knit long lengths to turn into flowers, these you could add onto other items.

I also think using an old t-shirt to make the bracelets would work better - the wool frays a little around the edges with wool, due to it being pulled on and off.

If you are skilled with a needle and thread you could sew various lengths of your knitting to make a bigger/thicker scarf or blanket etc...

The best materials to use would be a thick wool, that means you would get a chunky, close knit pattern.  Thinner wools/thread give a loose knit and a very thin knit - good for bracelets but not so much a comfy scarf.

I love this pastel coloured wool - great for Spring!

This idea came about thanks to Jade at my work, she was doing it for her college course and I thought it looked like something I could try.  She had bought this great wool from our local Hobby Craft - it is called a Pinky Knit.  It is a little box that holds your wool, with a hole at the top that you can pull through as much wool as you need.

Toffee the cat making an appearance :)

It also has instructions on the side of the box - very helpful!  They are easy to follow although some people may benefit from watching a tutorial on Youtube, seeing it being done in real time may help some folk.

The Pinky Knits are made in Britain and support The Campaign For Wool.  In our Hobby Craft they had four colour choices - the three above that I have and a cream/white colour too.

Go to www.pinkyknit.co.uk to check out their other colours and to gain some useful insight and ideas for projects.

Although it is coming up to 'Summer', I'll still continue to finger knit myself a new scarf!  You can make a really thin one which although it's wool - it can still be wearable in our lovely Scottish Summer!

Happy knitting, Nic xo

Foundation Review & Comparison!

Foundations


I usually wear Estee Lauder Double Wear (in the shade pebble).  However when I run out and don't have time to get a new one I try to buy one from the high street (drugstore if your not from this side of the pond).  The only problem with that is I never find one that I think is as good as EL.


This time round I thought i'd prepare in advance by testing out a couple before my EL runs out and let you know what I think of them...


Estee Lauder

So I can compare them I'll let you know what it is like for me.  As I said I wear the shade pebble and it has an SPF 10.  It is a very thick foundation and with that it gives a very full coverage - which I love!  I don't have problem skin which I'm trying to cover up, I just prefer a good coverage.  It means it will stay place all day (usually I don't have time to touch up my make up).  I do have a slight redness to my cheeks which this easily covers up.  I wouldn't advise it for dry skin though - it could end up clinging to the dry parts.  I think the shade choice is good and I'm not sure about the others but pebble isn't orange and also isn't too yellow.


Rimmel

The next one I tried was Rimmel's Lasting Finish 25hr foundation in 200 soft beige.  This was a shade or two too light for me but I made it work with a little extra bronzer.  The texture to it wasn't too bad, it wasn't runny.  It did take a little bit of extra work blending it into the skin i found - it was like it just moved across your face rather than sinking in.  The lasting power of this also wasn't great, I found by the end of the day it would start to look a little patchy.  It gave a medium to full coverage and took care of my slight redness which is a positive.  The only thing that put me off was its staying power!


L'Oreal

L'Oreal Lumi Magique was next on the list and I was a little skeptical about it, tbh.  This is because it says it has 'liquid light technology', to me this means it's trying to have a 'dewy' finish.  I prefer a more matte finish but this was definitely more of a satin/dewy finish.  I did however really like it!  It had great coverage and the shade was just a tad light (C4 rose beige), but the darker one would have been a bit too orange.  The dewy finish was actually very pleasant with a few people noticing a change in my foundation.  I didn't expect it to last all day but it didn't budge!  It also applied really easily, was a nice texture without being too thick and felt great on the skin.


Bourjois

Last but not least is a fairly new foundation I think.  It's called 123 perfect, it says it contains 3 perfecting pigments. One to cancel out dark-circles, one for anti-dull complexions and the final one to cancel out redness.  This was a very runny foundation and had the most yellow undertone to it (53 light beige) - this means it didn't look as natural on me.  It also needed a bit of work to blend out but once it had it was a nice finish on the skin.  At first i could still see my redness through the foundation - which was a little worrying considering the name!  However once it settled into the skin it was fine.  It is only a medium coverage at most though - at least compared to EL.  It doesn't have great staying power either!  There wasn't any patchiness but it looked like it had started to wear of in some areas that might have less product.  This meant areas like my cheeks (with the blush etc...) looked a little darker compared to my forehead.


All in all, these four foundations are pretty great.  Estee Lauder is an obvious repurchase but for the high street I would definitely buy the L'Oreal Lumi Magique again! 


I think the L'Oreal would be great for Summer!  It gives good coverage but it isn't too thick so it wont feel like you're melting (assuming we see the sun again!). 


When I apply my foundation I don't tend to use a primer - I may sometimes apply some moisturiser which does the trick.  


I always apply it with a Sigma F80 - flat top kabuki brush (there's a link to the right for where to get them).  This brush is amazing and always blends foundation in nicely - without shedding!


Once I've done all my make up I use an Urban Decay All Nighter setting spray - this is more to keep my powder products in place.


Prices


I bought all of these at Boots and I usually buy my Estee Lauder from there too;
Estee Lauder - £26.50
Rimmel - £6.99
L'Oreal - £10.99
Bourjois - £6.99 (usually £10.99)


Hope this helps if you are trying to find a good quality high street foundation!


Happy shopping, Nic xo

MAC Tres Cheek Collection

Perfect blushes for Spring! 

MAC's Tres Cheek collection realised in the UK earlier this month and it was a collection I was really looking forward to. It contains 6 new blushes all of which are the perfect spring shades and will suit pretty much every skin tone.

Shades

 

I myself only purchased 3 of the blushes which were; peony petal, immortal flower and lovecloud. The other 3 blushes are called; modern mandarin, full of joy and pink tea. 

Below are pictures of the blushes in their packaging and some swatches. From left to right - peony petal, immortal flower and lovecloud. 

 All of the blushes in this collection I believe are a satin finish, this gives a beautiful soft texture with an almost matte finish. They don't have a sheen or frost to them but the satin finish means they don't sit too flat on your skin. 

Peony petal is a beautiful bright pink shade, in the pan it looks a bit on the neon side but it is much softer on the skin. I think it would be more suited to someone with tanned or darker skin as it would show up brilliantly. Although fairer skin tones could pull it off with a light hand. 

Immortal flower looks like a very orange colour in the pan - it is bright but pastel at the same time? By that I mean it isn't a neon orange, it's more muted but still true to the orange family. It gives a great flush of colour to the cheeks - perfect for Spring/Summer when you don't want to look like you're wearing too much product. 

Finally lovecloud which is by far my favourite of the 3 I have! It is a gorgeous coral colour which verges more on the pink side than orange. Again it can by worn by any skin tone and will give a slight colour to the cheek or a more bright statement cheek - depending how heavy handed you are. 

Obviously I can't speak for all 6 shades but the 3 I have all have excellent pay off. It doesn't take much get a bright cheek with them, but they can also give a subtle flush of colour to the cheeks by just using a little less. I find that sometimes with a bright blush, they are great for doing a statement cheek but when it comes to just adding a hint of colour the pay off isn't great.  This isn't true for these.

The reason I love these types of collections is because I feel with blushes the shades (from any brand) can be a bit 'same old'. When a collection brings out new blushes there's hopefully going to be at least one shade you don't have something similar too, and that was the case with these for me. 

All in all I'm really pleased with this collection and I think I might try to get my hands on the other 3. I'm glad MAC went with a satin finish as it's the easiest to work with and suits a multitude of people. I hope they even consider making a couple of them permanent colours - especially lovecloud! 

If anyone has the other colours let me know what you think of them! 

 Hugs and blushes Nic xo

The Z Palette

First Blog Post!

I thought for my first blog post I would try something easy (and probably over done!)  I recently purchased a Z Palette and hadn't really had time to do anything with it.  The other day however, I de-potted some eyeshadows and gave it a little test run!

Before buying a Z Palette I did some research on them and what I found was mostly positive and so far pretty accurate. 

If you haven't had the chance to see one of these yet I'll put some pictures below;

The general idea is that you can create your own palette using whatever make up you have to hand.  You don't have to go out and buy a specific size of eyeshadow or brand to match a palette.  Major brownie points for that!

The only downside is that while de-potting things is time consuming itself; if they are not a certain type of metal pan they wont magnitise to the palette.  This means you have to add your own magnets, however the Z Palettes now come with little round metal stickers I believe?

In my opinion though, if you take the time to depot, then sticking on a little extra wont hurt!

As I said I haven't really done much with mine; I have put in a few MAC eyeshadows though.  Two of them were bought in the pan form so came with a magnet attached (pretty handy), the other two I added my own.  I do feel like the magnet approach doesn't work as well as I would like...

I think the magnet isn't as strong in mine as they may be in the newer ones, this means unless the palette is tightly packed the eyeshadows wobble around a bit.

None the less, the fact you can customise it as much as you'd like, as and when you like is amazing!  The colour selection isn't too bad either; black, red, pink, leopard and zebra prints (my faves!).

They come in three sizes now; small, large (which I have) and a pro palette.

I have a pro palette on order so can't show you a comparison but I believe it is deeper than the regular one (for deeper pans and it can hold a brush), and can possibly fit more eyeshadows - depending on their size.

All in all, I think this is a genius idea!  It gives you more freedom with your make up and is perfect for travel. 

It is a solid design with the see through pannel being made of quite a sturdy plastic.  I wouldn't think twice of throwing it in my luggage. 

I would definitely choose these over other empty palettes on the market!

Happy de-potting Nic! xx