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!