Sexy STRECTHING

While reading about what to expect in beauty for 2012 I came across a article on STRETCHING...I read on and it was rather interesting. It reported that something as simple as stretching a couple of times a day can really make you feel good...not only can it make you feel good but it will make you feel sexy too!

The stretching of the muscles increases blood flow to certain areas and muscle groups making you feel sexy and good about yourself....

Just holding a few stretches throughout the day can alter and realign the body getting us out of the habit of slouching and can even lift your bust and lengthen your legs!

If this interests you then why not check out these 15 easy to learn exercises designed by Marja Putkisto the creator of method Putkisto which is the a simple theory of stretching major muscle groups.

http://www.methodputkisto.com/uk/2/23

 

So if you want a quick, free and easy way to make yourself feel good then get stretching...now I know why all those celebs bang on about Yoga!

HAPPY STRETCHING!

What's your makeup diet staple?

With the mascara-less look seen all over the catwalk this past season at the shows for Balmain, Mui Mui and Valentino I ask you all the question....what is your makeup must-have, your staple product, your can't leave the house with on....?

Going mascara-less is probably the last thing most of us would rather do! Of course if you look like Gisele Bunchden then you don't have to worry about how weird your going to look without mascara...

Most women you ask will say either all three of these or at least one...concealor/mascara/lipgloss...

Or maybe I'm wrong...what are those products you can't leave the house without having on?...your thoughts on this would be much appreciated...

You can comment on the bottom of this post in the comment box with your views...

So...what one item of makeup could you not bare to leave the house without on...?

Elle Internship

 

Hey everyone.......

I need your help.........I have been shortlisted to possibly become an Elle Beauty Intern starting this February woohooo!

But I have a presentation to do for this coming Thursday and its all about St Tropez fake tanning, they are due to launch a new range of products called the dark tan range....and from the range I am due to sample one of the new products  and then create a 10 minute presentation on the product....

So basically I have a number of points to try and cover in the presentation one of which is what PR stunts/events/social media/consumer events would I use to launch the product.......so if any of you can think of any cool ways to launch a new St Tropez product I could really use your help and Inspiration!

Big Love Xxxxxxx

Dream Making Up....

For any fellow makeup artists out there reading you will agree with me when I say that to work on the x factor contestants for the live shows would be a dream come true!

And the show this year has not dissapointed with its styling of the contestants, every year I sit watching the screen drooling at the gorgeous amazing makeup some of the contestants wear... This year the shows makeup has been sponsored by Rimmel and therefore most of what the contestants look like is all down to Rimmels ...

The X factor style team is a major production and comprises of hair people, makeup people, styling people and their very own in house tan expert called Jules from St Tropez....

The team get together at the start of each week once they know what the contestants are singing and develop a complete new look and direction for each contestant...

Lets take a look back at just how amazing some of the looks have been in the past years...

One contestant who always looked stunning was Rebecca Furgerson from 2010...

And lets not forget some absolute disasters as well...

Lip Tattoos...ey?

I was reading my faithful bible this morning (Cosmopolitan) and found a very exciting new beauty trend, LIP TATTOOS, temporary ones of course!

They look very exciting indeed and are probably going to be used only by the very brave...or they will be great for fancy dress parties or just big parties where you want to make a bit more of a statement and turn a couple of heads...

They come in all patterns and styles to suit you and start from £10.50

Of course Celebs were the first to get their hands on them and Khole Kardashian was one of the first few to be seen adorning the quirky designs...

These particular designs are by a brand called 'Violent Lips' and are Vitamin enhanced plus designed to last 4-8 hours depending on skin type and care...

They are also not tested on animals plus can be removed using baby oil or lotion...

Prices vary depending on where you get them and how many you purchase at one time, but on ebay I have seen prices per lip tattoo starting at £1.75, thats for just one...

Follow this link to find them on ebay:

http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/250926207783?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar 

You can purchase them from the actual website www.violentlips.com, or you can also find them on ebay, ASOS, or in Selfridges, they are basically cropping up everywhere and are sure to be a massive hit...

I did start writing a step by step guide to applying but I think in order to be able to get this right first time it is best to watch their tutorial video which covers everything and should ensure for no mistakes to be made!

This is the link to the tutorial:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c61JpbD2r_g 

Happy lip tattooing!

Brand ALERT!

Models own is a relatively new brand, they hit the high street back in December last year and have been a force to reckon with ever since then...One of the best things about the brand is the packaging, the look of the brand is very simple but so effective...it just screams 'COOL'...Plus the stuff inside the packaging works too! The colours are vivid and eye catching...perfect for girls who want to make a statement and be a bit more creative...

I have been using a blusher of theirs since last December and it's just gorgeous, the colour is a very pretty pink that comes off well on the brush...you don't end up putting tonnes on but at the same time your not swirling the brush round and round the palette to get some colour... 

 

This is the exact colour that I have ( called cheeky pink) and there are two further shades from this...This blusher will set you back just £5 and I promise will last you a long time... I have still got another 3-4 months left with mine and I bought it at the start of this year...

As well as being purse friendly they are also 'furry friendly', making a promise not to test any of their ingredients or finished products on animals at all...

Their website is also very good, providing you with lots of images and ideas, plus how to recreate your favourite celeb looks...

You can buy their products in most large Boots stores, they are not in Superdrug at the moment...You can also buy all their products online from their website www.modelsownit.com or through ASOS.com...

AND... if you go onto their website they have some really great Christmas gifts, collections and kits starting at £15... my favourite is the ' Luxe glamour eyes' kit for just £25 which includes six different products for the eyes ( some shadows are cream, some are loose, some are glittery, some are matt etc) plus three mini brushes for application AND a nail varnish, of which you get to pick the colour you want! perfect!

So if you were stuck on what to buy a girlfriend for Christmas look no further...!

Right...sorry its been so long my little beauties...

I want to just quickly talk about brushes again, not the cleaning of them because I know already that you are all doing that now! But to just quickly make a note on what brushes are the best, the best value for money, the longest lasting, the ones that give a great finish etc...

Since I have just started working for the body shop at home I have been reminded recently just how amazing their brushes really are...they are good for a few vital reasons, one because they feel so soft on your skin, two because they never shed any hair, three because they will last you a life time and four because they are great value for money. This is not a sales pitch by any means, because if they were rubbish I would just say so but they are really very good. They come in all sizes and for all different applications and products...

The cheapest is the line softener at £9
 
which is perfect for smudging eye liner, creating softer lines and generally blending... right up to the most expensive which is the face and Body Brush for £16

Of course some of you will have your favourites... and for me MAC is my other favourite line for brushes, and in my kit I have brushes from all ranges, but most are from the Body shop and from MAC...bearing in mind that MAC is alot more expensive and pretty hard to find as the stores are only located in certain shops or areas of London...

Anyway if your treating yourself or a friend to something this Christmas I would recommend getting one or two of the brushes from the Body Shop as they really are a very good investment...the body shop do a great mini brush kit plus if you go to a Body Shop at Home Party then you can buy brush collections which will save you money by buying as a collection, so go and get yourself some...your face deserves it!
 Mini brush kit: £14.50

A quick note about the glitter nails trend...

After having performed the glitter nails trend twice this past week, once on my sister and the other on myself...

The only thing I would say is that it is quite labour intensive to achieve the look, but to be honest well worth it because they do look very cool indeed, and the other thing is that (as I discovered last night), it is difficult to remove... not really difficult, but I did have to scrape and scrub a little to get the hardened on glitter to budge.

Otherwise an absolute winner and especially as we move into the Christmas season where everything sparkles I'm sure to see this popping up everywhere!

Evidence of crimes against makeup brushes

Just thought I would post a picture of a classic example of a very dirty old makeup brush that needs to be thrown away and forgotten about!
Alice Rampling you have been named and shamed!

If your makeup brush looks like this then you know what you have to do....

GLITTER NAILS ATTEMPT

Here is the first attempt I've made at the new trend of Glitter Nails...
It is a mix of the finer textured glitter from GOSH which I quoted in the last post, plus a chunkier glitter from Wilkinson's craft section, which compared to the GOSH pot only cost me £1 for six colours!

So it will be worth shopping around for cheaper glitter or one you like best!

Happy painting!!!

GLITTER NAILS

HELLO NEW TREND....... just seen an article in NOW magazine about glitter nails, they look so good!

It's basically what it says on the tin, glittery nails BUT they are dip dyed in the glitter so only the tips are glittery, it should look like this:

You can create this look by:

1) Apply a clear base coat

2) If you have a glittery nail varnish already then just paint the tips with it 

3) then dip the tips of your nails into a glitter pot (you can buy one of these from GOSH for £4.99, or just buy loose glitter from any craft shop, make sure it is a fine texture)

4) once dry apply another coat of the clear nail varnish to seal the glitter onto the tips. 

Can't wait to try this trend myself...and it's perfect as we move into the Christmas season where everything glitters! 

MOISTURISING

I want to just quickly emphasize the importance of moisturizing, moisturizing keeps the skin looking young fresh and alive.

It is when we loose moisture in the skin that ageing presents itself, when we loose moisture we loose elasticity and in loosing elasticity we make the skin took tired and flat, making it looking older and less plump and youthful.
whether you have oily skin or you suffer from dry skin you can and should still moisturize, you just need to choose the correct one. naturally if you have oily skin then your moisturizer should be light and sink in quickly, I recommend Boots own brand Shine Control Day Moisturizer only £3.56 (and of course you will be getting your boots advantage points).


If you have very dry skin then you will probably already have a favourite moisturizer which you already use regularly but some good alternatives include Cliniques Dramatically different moisturizing lotion which has been a dry skin favourite for years and with all their products being 100% allergy tested and fragrance free it is perfect if you are like most people that have dry skin and also suffer from sensitive red skin sometimes.
(Prices start at £15)
 

And if you consider yourself to just have normal skin then Olays Complete care UV fluid is great (and under £5), it also contains an SPF which is another important tool in the fight against the signs of ageing.


I could go on and on about this subject as their is so much to say and I have covered very little here, but the basic principle is that moisture is the key looking young so whether you have oily skin, dry skin, normal skin or a bit of everything then you still need to use it and try to get one with sun protection even for winter use as sun damage is the major factor in causing ageing.

COFFEE

I want to write about coffee and how amazing it is not only because I love the taste/smell/benefits of coffee but because it also has so many other benefits...

The coffee bean is rich in antioxidants, amino acids, vitamins and minerals which is all good for your brain/skin/body/soul you name it! If your not a coffee lover then you are going to have to sit this one out but if you are like one the millions of Brits that are now absolutely mad about coffee then you will be with me on this one...
AND it may have anti-cancer properties too... apparently last year, researchers found that coffee drinkers were 50% less likely to get liver cancer than non drinkers...

Britain now has a real coffee culture and coffee shops are springing up everywhere! and with more and more people not eating breakfast and just surviving off coffee and cigarettes until lunchtime we certainly drink alot of it...

When I Googled the beauty benefits of coffee a whole list of things came up that I had no idea about...some included getting rid of cellulite, reducing bags and puffy eyes plus generally reducing redness and inflammation of the skin...

I always love to try new coffee's and a great place to go is Boston Tea Party where they have a 'Guest Coffee' each week, allowing you to try different tastes and types of coffee to suit you...

So now you can not feel bad at all about the £2.95 you spend in Cafe Nero every lunch time, and know that you need it in order to keep looking so beautiful and radiant!

HOME MADE FACE SCRUBS

If you are a good girl then you will have a skin care routine where you cleanse tone and moisturise one or perhaps if your really keen twice a day!
Then on top of that you may intersperse your cleansing with a couple of exfoliations per week, exfoliating skin is really really good for it and helps to slough away dead skin cells, unblock pores and promote healthy glowing skin...

And I bet most of you use the St.Ives apricot scrub...which don't get me wrong is brilliant and one of the best facial exfoliators out there on the high street...BUT it's not dirt cheap and facial exfoliators are the easiest most inexpensive things to make at home!

All a facial exfoliator is, is a lotion or gel that contains a rough grainy substance, so if you think what the texture of your current shop bought exfoliator is like then just try and replicate it by using what you have in your kitchen cupboard...

I suggest using sugar as your grainy substance or you could even use oats or finely chopped or blended nuts like almonds... then add them to honey or yoghurt or a mashed avocado or banana what ever you fancy or have lying around!

Seriously its that simple and you will find you get exactly the same results...so if you have a couple of random things left in the kitchen why not try and make your own face mask or scrub and see what happens!

The BODY SHOP

Right sooo now that the weather is definetley turning in for the winter and I for one starting to feel all autumnal and christmassy and halloween hasn't even been yet!...anyway that leads me to talk about the body shop and just how amazing it is ...

I can sometimes forget how good the body shop is and it's especially this time of year that the body shop comes into it's own...
The body shop always does the best Christmas products and packages, full of lots of glitter and sweet smelling christmas smells...

The newest cutest thing I have spotted from them has to be these literally so cute so girly and adorable little boudoir pump action body shimmer sprays which come in Boudoir Pink and Enchanting Gold £12 each...

This is the enchanting pink one shown above...

I am going to go and get myself one tomorrow Im so excited, and having just signed up to be a body shop at home party girl this is going to be one of my Christmas faves and a definite best seller Im sure!

PINK Hair...?

Today is Saturday and that means one thing........X Factor!

And that is what has prompted me today to talk about this new trend of pink hair, or a soft baby pink rinse in the hair...this year 16 year old contestant Amelia Lily from the girls group has been seen sporting a pink do since the contestants underwent their X Factor makeovers prior to the live shows about to start tonight (YEY!)


This also reminded me of two other well known celebrities that have gone pink too...one popular face who we all know and love...Fearne Cotton recently marked her 30th Birthday by turning pink...


And then there is Katy Perry who we all know is not shy of changing up her look...

Anyway...it has been cropping up everywhere and I personally LOVE it...it looks great...but I'm not sure I would suggest trying it yourself at home unless you are very brave and a regular 'DIY DYER'....if only I didn't have dark brown hair then i reckon this is one trend I would go along with!

What do you think...?

DIRTY BRUSHES

Right.......so I want to address makeup brushes....and the cleaning of them.....or the not so frequent cleaning of them

I don't know if any of you have friends like mine but if you do then you might have seen some seriously alarming looking brushes...I have lots of girlfriends who NEVER clean their brushes...

You must clean your brushes ladies because they can hold tonnes of bacteria...plus if you want them to last longer and apply your makeup better then you have to try and keep them how you originally bought them...

Just wash them with a little bit of hand soap or shampoo, take them in the shower or bath with you...but what ever you do go and do it now...it will take you two minutes...let them dry naturally overnight on a towel or tissue

The miracles of BABY LOTION!

Today I write to you as I sit in my kitchen looking out onto a beautiful sunny morning...which is set to turn into a equally beautiful sunny afternoon! And I am thinking about Baby lotion and the many uses it has....

It first came to my attention that baby lotion is amazing when last weekend I was staying with a friend and realized I had forgot to pack my eye makeup remover (I use simple by the way...but you will see why not anymore), anyway I did not know what I would use instead as the girlfriend I was staying with takes hers off by scraping her eyes with a rough old flannel!

As I was scrambling around her four flour flat with a wet face and soggy panda eyes looking for something to remove the days heavy mascara off with...I found her baby lotion...and I remembered back to when I was training... a fellow makeup artist had said to me that she removes her eye makeup with baby oil, I have tried doing this and although it was brilliant at removing every last bit of makeup, it left me with very greasy blurry eyes...so it makes sense to go in between...don't use the oil but use the power of it from inside a lotion...

Anyway I used the baby lotion and it worked amazingly at removing all my mascara and eyeliner, leaving me with soft clean eyes...and the best part is that it only costs £1.85 if you buy boots own brand, and it should last you a long long time...

So stop buying really expensive eye makeup removers...as we all know they are SOOO expensive sometimes and get yourself some cheap old baby lotion!

istylist App for the iphone

Tomorrow I am planning on getting an Iphone...can't wait to use things such as the istylist!
What better way to get yourself out of your makeup rut than to mess around on your phone a bit to see what you could be looking like!

Stuck In a Makeup RUT!

So...yesterday I did try the Millie Makintosh inspired look and It looked rather good!
I have not posted a picture though as the picture did not do the look justice...damn Samsung mobile camera's...

One thing It made me realize is that I had completely got stuck in a makeup rut...doing the same things everyday for a few years now and not really changing it up as I thought only one look suited me...but trying out the new makeup look, which I never normally do was rather refreshing...it is important to do what looks good on you and stick to that girls but also don't be afraid to sit in front of the mirror and play around and change up your makeup look every now and again...it can't hurt...if you don't like it then wipe it off and no one has to know!

Do it now...do it today...think of someone's makeup which you like but have never thought would suit you and go and do it on yourself...you never know you might be surprised like me!

Made In Chelsea Stlye

Just been looking for a tutorial on how to achieve Made in Chelsea's Millie Makintosh's everyday Makeup...follow this link to watch the tutorial via youtube.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFzE6C09BdU&feature=mh_lolz&list=FLlItMgYrJPq7HEfPCbmepOw
Also follow her blog on http://missmilliemakeup.blogspot.com/

Going off now to the bathroom mirror to try and recreate the look on myself! If it looks good...then pictures to follow...

Pictures from the past weekends shoot

Hello there...pictures from a shoot this past weekend...model Sabina King and Photographer Cecilia Fazacas ( http://www.ceciliafazacas.com/) 

Shot in Golders Green Park- North London on a beautiful Saturday morning

Working on making the page look amazing...any ideas?

FIRST BLOG........

Hello fellow internet/makeup/hair/products/beauty junkies!!
This is my first post on my newly designed blog...
Stay tuned to see what's coming up with me and my world of makeup and hair!