Spider Lashes & Red Lips

I've never been one for a red lip, in fact, I'm far from a lipstick aficionado and normally the most you'll ever see me do when it comes to my lips is whack on some Chapstick or a sheer lip gloss.  'Why?' you may ask, well mostly because lipstick never stays on, you constantly have to reapply it and I'm always paranoid that it has somehow transferred onto my teeth - so as you can see, it's somewhat of a fraught relationship. 

However, I decided to be less Scrooge-esque in my attitude towards lipsticks (I'm still going to keep saying 'Bah, Humbug' though because it's not said enough these days if ya ask me!) and try out a red lipstick-style look:

I give great 'serious face'.

 
As you can see, I decided to keep the rest of my makeup pretty minimal and focus mostly on my lashes and my lips. 



*Act natural*

My favourite part of the look (besides my letterbox-red pout) was my spider-inspired lashes.  Normally, just the word 'spider' can offend me and make me start feeling paranoid that I have an eight-legged fiend crawling up my arm but when it comes to my lashes then I can just about put this slight qualm to one side.  I'm mature like that, you see.

I did a bit of research on spider lashes (or 'tarantula lashes' as they are also know - less comfortable with that alternative name.  'Spider' I can deal with, 'tarantula' I cannot.) and found that this mascara style features in the 'it' hair stylist and makeup artist of the moment, Lou Teasdale's, hair and beauty guide called 'The Craft' (which I am yet to buy but desperately need to)!  I love the grungy and dramatic glamour of this lash look and the simplicity of its creation - all you need are some tweezers (to clump your lashes together) and boatloads of mascara.  Simple enough! 



LEFT: one coat of Benefit's BADgal Lash Mascara on the upper lashes.
RIGHT: spider lashes using Benefit's BADgal Lash Mascara on upper and lower lashes. 

 I also used this fab YouTube tutorial to help create my spider lashes, check it out:

If you watched the above tutorial then you'll see that she used an eyeliner as well for the look which was the only thing that I didn't do as I felt that I didn't need it.   



From let to right:  Benefit High Beam (RRP £19.50), Cargo Cosmetics Water Resistant Blush in Ibiza (RRP £19), Benefit BADgal Lash Mascara in Black (RRP £17.50), No7 Perfect Light Loose Powder in Translucent (RRP £10.50), Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in 220 Retro, GOSH Velvet Touch Foundation Primer (RRP £7.99), Benefit Browzings Brow Shaping Kit in Light (RRP £24.50), MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation in NW10 (RRP £21.50) and Revlon Colorstay Foundation for combination/oily skin in 110 Ivory (RRP £12.49).        

The rest of my makeup is pretty simple - I used my GOSH Velvet Touch Foundation Primer and mixed a splodge of my Benefit High Beam product with it and applied this all over my face and left it for about 5 minutes just to sink into my skin.  I then applied a small amount of Revlon's Colorstay Foundation for combination/oily skin in 110 Ivory to my foundation brush and applied it to my T-zone area and buffed it out so that it really was a very light and subtle application.  Afterwards, I grabbed my MAC Studio Fluid Fix Foundation in NW10 which I use as a concealer and applied it to a couple of blemishes that I have (YAY! Aren't blemishes just the BEST?!......Or not.) and finished it off with a dusting of No7's Perfect Light Loose Powder in Translucent.  Moving onto my brows, I normally use a bit of powder, wax and eyebrow gel on them to create a precise brow but this time I wanted a soft and natural look so I just lightly filled them in with the powder from my Benefit Browzings Brow Shaping Kit in Light using a soft eye shadow brush to achieve this.  I then curled my lashes and created my spider effect using Benefit's BADgal Lash Mascara in Black, I added a subtle pop of colour to my cheeks using Cargo Cosmetics' Water Resistant Blush in Ibiza and finished off with my Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in 220 Retro. 

If make up products could be best friends then I'm pretty sure that these
guys would be the ULTIMATE best friends.  Whatever that means.

 
I won't lie to you, I am still wary of vibrant coloured lipsticks as I'm lazy and can't be bothered to keep reapplying my lipstick on a night out because I'd rather be shaking my booty up on the dance floor (and embarrassing myself horrendously by thinking that I can twerk like a pro when in reality I can't twerk to save my life.) but once in a while I do think that a beautifully bright lipstick is worthy of my attention because sometimes it's just nice to have a change.  The spider lashes on the other hand will definitely be making an appearance on a fair few nights out, not only do they give you lashes with drama without having to reach for the falsies but they're also so easy and quick to do - plus you can go as over-the-top as you like with them making them perfect for your Halloween makeup this month!

Let me know what you think and drop me a comment belooooow!

 

Skincare: Getting Back to Normal

Ok, so I've been pretty ill over the last few days which has prevented me from any blogging or computer-related activities so I've mostly been confined to my bed whimpering 'Oh, woe is me!' over and over again (because when people are ill, they should most definitely quote a line from Hamlet.  Don't blame me, blame Shakespeare.).  Without going into too much detail, my illness/virus/bug/whatever-you-want-to-call-it was very much reminiscent of a certain scene from The Exorcist.....I think you know where I'm going with this.......let's just say there was some nausea involved and leave it at that so I that can stick to this ladylike façade of mine.

Now that I'm feeling a little better and can actually keep food down (woohoo! COME AT ME DRY CRACKERS!) I'm just about to begin the process of getting my skin back to normal.  I'm still in the early stages of rehydrating myself and drinking bucketloads of water just to stop my incessant dreams about juicy grapes, peaches and strawberries - for some reason, that's all I dream about when I'm ill and dehydrated.  Great, now I can't stop thinking about juicy fruit.  This dehydration has affected my skin and left it in a pretty unhappy state and it hasn't helped that by being ill, my daily skincare routine has fallen by the wayside.

 

So I'm now ready to tackle my poorly skin and get it back to it's normal, healthy state.  This doesn't mean going full force, I always think it's best to just go back to using my standard products as anything too strong or too heavy could upset it (oh, the joys of having sensitive skin!) plus I kind of think it's best to gently coax you skin back to normal rather than aggressively ambushing it unnecessarily! 

I've always believed that you don't need to spend loads of money on skin products, it's just a case of knowing what ingredients you're after and what works for your skin.  I'm someone that suffers from oily/combination skin with the occasional hint of dryness throw in (wahey!) so my morning routine always includes Neutrogena's Visibly Clear Oil-Free Facial Wash (£4.49 for 200ml).  This is a great cleanser for oily skin as it contains salicylic acid which is an amazing exfoliating agent for oily/greasy skin and it was actually recommended to me by a dermatologist and you really can't argue with a skin expert!

When it comes to toner, I've always used Simple Kind To Skin Soothing Facial Toner (£3.29 for 200ml) however recently I decided to branch out when I saw that Boots had a half price offer on their Simply Sensitive range which resulted in me spending a not-so-whopping £1.34 (normally £2.69) on a bottle of their Gently Refreshing Toner (200ml).  I have to say that there is little difference between this toner and the Simple toner, it removes any leftover makeup and your skin feels incredibly clean afterwards.  Also, even at its full price of £2.69, the Boots Simply Sensitive toner is still cheaper than the Simple toner which makes it even more attractive!

Now to the moisturising and the most expensive product in my skincare routine - Olay Essentials Complete Care Day Fluid for normal/oily skin.  I love love LOVE this moisturiser, it's light enough for oily skin but still leaves your skin feeling hydrated and soft which is exactly what I'm after from a moisturiser.  It's a little pricey at £9.99 for a 200ml bottle but they also offer a 100ml for £5.99 - plus you'll often find that there is half price offers on this range in Superdrug or Boots so I normally purchase the 200ml bottle when it's half price and by the time I run out (it lasts a long time!) then there's normally another offer on.  They also offer a sensitive version of this product which is mighty handy!

Focussing on the moisturising situation, now would be the time that I would crack out my Chapstick......but I lost it and I have NO idea where it is so instead as my backup I've got Palmer's Lip Balm Cocoa Butter Formula with Vitamin E (£1.89 for 4g) which I love, just not as much as Chapstick but it's a solid second best.

I pretty much use the above products that I've just spoken about every morning in that order and stick with it for my night time routine as well, with only a few added extras which are mentioned below!

Before I go to bed and after I've moisturised my face and my lips, I like to use a little bit of Quinoderm 10 (£2.65 for 25g), which is an acne cream.  Now, I don't have acne but like most people, I get the occasional blemish so what I like to do is pop a little bit of the cream onto a cotton bud and apply it to the blemish and rub it in.  This product was recommended to me by the same dermatologist mentioned earlier in this post as the cream is strong enough to dry out spots (or pimples if you're American!) but it's not overly strong that it's going to leave dry patches on your skin.  I normally have to get this from the actual pharmacy section in Boots or Sainsbury's but you don't need a prescription for it so it's pretty easy to get hold of.  Also, this cream is available in varying strengths, I believe that you can also get Quinoderm 5 which is a weaker composition of the cream but I don't I find this as effective at blemish removal for my skin as Quinoderm 10.

Finally, if I have any sneaky little dry patches on my skin then I like to use Vaseline Original Pure Petroleum Jelly (£2.15 for 100g) on these patches.  I find that this classic product works much better when used on actual dry skin as opposed to on my lips as it ALWAYS dries my lips out and from speaking to other people, I know that I am not the only one that this happens to.  Weird, huh?

Right, so that's my standard day and night skin care routine and it's also what I'm going to be throwing at my skin in order to get it back to its former glory, wish me luck and also let me know of any other products that you can recommend to help my skin recovery or if you're a fan of any of the products mentioned in this post!

Lex Luthor Seriously Needs to Chill Out

So, I'm pretty sure that I haven't written a post since late 2012, as in last year. OOPS! I take full ownership for that and have no acceptable excuse other than I've been crazy busy........and Lex Luthor keeps trying to thwart me. Ok so that last bit re Lex Luthor may not be true but the crazy busy bit is!

I have some cute Christmas nails that I did over the festive period for you to feast your beautiful, sparkly eyes upon (yes I am sucking up right now to make up for my absence. Whatevs.):

Plus these standard non-Christmas nail designs aren't bad either:

Not much to report on since my last post. I did make one of the biggest decisions of my life just before Christmas.................I decided to get my hair cut. Pretty big deal, eh? It wasn't even a big decision in that it took me about 5 minutes to decide to get it done whilst drinking a cup of tea and daydreaming whilst watching Strictly Come Dancing. My hair was in a rather bad state from a fair bit of bleaching on the ends (courtesy of DIY dip dyes) and was stained from having been dyed various shades of lavender, deep purple and bright pink so all the unpleasantness needed to be hacked off. So I now have short (ish) hair, although it's not so short now that it's grown a bit (because apparently that's what hair does - grow). My hair for the first time in about 7 years is completely natural in colour - no highlights, no dip dyes, no nothing - just 100% natural redhead. It felt weirdly liberating reverting back to my hair's natural colour and it was nice to know what my actual hair colour was, I mean, I knew I was a redhead, I just had no idea what shade of red I was. Turns out I'm a kind of deep auburn colour which I'm digging (yes, I did just say 'digging', this is the 90s, right?). However, I get bored easily and the time has come to say goodbye to my 100% naturally coloured hair and hello again to the dip dye experience, except this time I will be making no attempt to do it myself.......instead I've made an appointment to get it done at Bleach London which I've been desperate to do for AGES. Yes, it'll be pricey but I've saved up for it and it still works out cheaper than what my highlights used to cost me plus hopefully it won't take as long to grow out so I still have the option of reverting back to natural life again.

So that's it, London tomorrow for the dip dye and a casual persual of Topshop (well, I'm only human after all.................although try telling that to Lex Luthor, he seriously needs chill out).

Nails For This Week

And my nails for this week are looking like this:

RIGHT HAND

LEFT HAND

Yes, I still haven't got round to buying a decent camera yet but trust me I'm working on it, but for now the webcam will just have to do!

This isn't how I always look.........sometimes I wear make up & brush my hair

Don't you just hate it that the one time you decide to risk it and pop out to the shops quickly without ANY make up on and your hair in a tangled MESS, that you're guaranteed to bump into pretty much EVERYONE you know.

I guess you have two options when you see someone you recognise: 1) Hide. Keep your eyes on the ground (avoiding any awkward eye contact) and hope that if you can't see them then they can't see you. OR 2) It's too late to hide, they've seen you and you've seen them, you have no choice but to stroll over to them and make small talk. Normally I find the best thing to do is to come up with some excuse for not being able to talk long, such as 'Sorry I'm in a rush, I've left my hair straighteners on and I really don't want to burn the house down.' or something to that effect.

Personally, I like the avoiding option, that way you don't have to explain why you look such a state i.e. have no make up on and crazy-lady hair. However for some reason I'm terrible at avoiding people, I tend to panic and the pushy side of my brain takes over and forces me into walking towards said person whilst the less domineering side of my brain shouts HIDE. I don't know why but when I get caught, I tend to draw even more attention to how awful I look by apologising for it straight away, which just makes everyone uncomfortable because they then have to lie through their teeth and pretend like you look fine, which you both know that you don't.

I would like to say that I've learnt from these constant situations I get myself into and that I never step outside my front door without a made up face and perfectly (or at least near perfect) coiffed hair, but that would be a lie because to be quite honest, I'm lazy. I can't be bothered to spend time making myself look half decent when I'm just popping out to grab some milk or get some Ben & Jerry's ice cream (cookie dough, preferably). So yes, I bring it on myself, but at least I can tell those people that I bump into that this isn't how I always look........sometimes I wear make up and brush my hair................but most of the time I don't.