Natural Make-up and Bright Lip.

Hay guys so I wanted to show you a few pictures of a photo shoot that I did in August with the fantastic Michelle Shread Photography, and 3 of the most gorgeous girls I have ever seen.

This was a Saturday filled with much fun, pouting and girly giggles, which mainly came from me lol.

What I wanted to achieve on the day was 2 looks. One a completely clean, natural, no make-up look and the other a bright lip look. Now these lovely ladies have all got youth on their side, they are only 15 years old, but with youth also come responsibility for my self and the photographer. What we didn't want to do was make these ladies look older than their years, so both the make-up and photography were carefully selected with this in mind.

You will see that the 3 ladies pictured below are all completely different skin tones, hair and eye colours, which was amazing. It is the first time I have worked on a group shoot with so much diversity. I was constantly in awe of features, skin tone and texture all day. Every time a different girl sat down I was full to the brim with complements for them all over again. It was amazing, I loved it!

Products used

Primer: Smashbox Photo finish light

Eye base: Too Faced shadow insurance

Foundation: Graftobian HD

Powder: Elf HD

Eyes: Rimmel Colour Mousse 8hr 008 Sassy, MAC Phloof, Maybelline Great Lash blackest black mascara.

Cheeks: MAC Phloof (highlight), NYX blusher Peach, NYX light brown (contour) *sorry some of my contour and blushers come from a NYX pallet which didn't name them.

Lips: Carmex Classic lip balm, Sleek Tinted Lip Colour Electro Peach.

And for the bright lip I just added OCC Lip Tar Beta. 

 

Products used

Primer: Smashbox Photo finish light

Eye base: Too Faced shadow insurance

Foundation: Graftobian HD

Powder: Elf HD

Eyes: Rimmel Colour Mousse 8hr 006 Get Fresh, MAC Phloof, Maybelline Great Lash blackest black mascara.

Cheeks: MAC Phloof (highlight), NYX Sliky Rose, NYX medium brown (contour).

Lips: Carmex Classic lip balm, Sleek Tinted Lip Colour Bare Minimum.

And for the bright lip I just added OCC Lip Tar Anime.

Products used

Primer: Smashbox Photo finish light

Eye base: Too Faced shadow insurance

Foundation: Graftobian HD

Powder: Elf HD

Eyes: Rimmel Colour Mousse 8hr 005 Glitz, MAC Phloof, Maybelline Great Lash blackest black mascara.

Cheeks: MAC Phloof (highlight), NYX blusher medium red brown with a shimmer *from the pallet, NYX dark brown (contour).

Lips: Carmex Classic lip balm, Sleek Tinted Lip Colour Bare Minimum.

And for the bright lip I just added Sleek Pout Paint 163 Peek-a-boo.

This is the first time I have used the Sleek Pout Paint and you can see that it is not quite as opaque as the OCC Lip Tars. Also Michelle the photographer did say that this colour needed quite a lot of boosting to make it bright enough in the picture. Now as it is the first time of using this product it could have just been the difference in natural lip colour that had an effect on the shade and transparency. I did try OCC Lip Tar in Traffic first which is a bright yellow and that left the lips looking very patchy. Also the Sleek Pout Paint looked whole and bright in real life so I may give it another try before it is relegated to the depths of my kit bag.

For the last picture I thought we would ramp up the fun a little, as if it wasn't fun enough, and we went all out with some glitter lips. Everybody loves a bit of glitter, don't they? 

 

On the orange lips I used NYX Glitter Mania in Hot Gold. On the pink lips I used Glitter Dust (no make) in Purple. And on the blue I used The Body Shop Sparkle Rollerball which is a white glitter with iridescent sparkles.

So guys I hope you have enjoyed this post. I'm working on some Christmas looks at the moment so stay posted for those.

Stacey x x

Nicky Clarke Frizz Control 2000w Turbo Hair Dryer with Ionic Technology

A couple of weeks ago, on the day that I'd had my hair done, my hair dryer decided that this would be the optimum time for it to break! Instead of blowing out the lovely warm air that I had grown accustomed to, there was only air as cold as Siberia to be had. Now maybe if I had many hours to spend with the Siberian air fixed on my head I’m sure eventually my hair would have dried, but as appealing as that sounds I decided it was time to spend my hard earned cash on a new one.

I would normally buy my hair electricals from a hair and beauty trade shop such as Sally’s or Alan Howard but my hair dresser suggested trying Boots this time as they always have offers on and the high street hair dryers are apparently quite good.

Before I set off I decided that I needed a spec to follow so I didn’t get carried away. My last hair dryer had different heat and speed settings and a cool shot button so these were definitely on my list. Also I really wanted a colourful one, something bright and funky. Most of all price had to be factored in and really I only wanted to spend about £25, a task in it’s self I feel.

I had researched on the Boots website and there were lots of coloured ones on there for around my price range but unfortunately when I got to the shop there was only one coloured one that matched the spec. It was amazing! It had multi coloured stripes and it was a really cool shape and it was £50. Twice as much as I really wanted to spend. So then I had the dilemma of choosing a normal, dare I say Boring hair dryer that met the spec for £25 or shell out the mammoth amount for a hair dryer that effectively does that same but looks really cool. Now in the past my crazy side would have taken over and the expensive hair dryer (along with most of the Sanctuary range) would have been in my bag, but my sensible side prevailed, YAY ME :0) And I went for the well put together, sturdy, spec meeting hair dryer that is the Nicky Clarke Frizz Control 2000w Turbo hair dryer with Ionic technology.

*the funky one would have probably broke anyway, well that’s what I tell my self lol*

The details on the box states that this “frizz control turbo hair dryer utilizes the latest in Ionic technology which helps to leave hair silky smooth and frizz free”

As my hair is in fact the complete opposite of frizzy this description was not really the reason I bought this product. I was swayed by that fact that it has 3 heat settings, 2 speed settings, a cool shot button and a turbo boost.

All in all this is a pretty good hair dryer. Its light, it’s fast and it does exactly what it says on the tin and for £25 I would definitely buy this again. Although maybe Nicky Clarke, the same hair dryer with some extra colour please, thank you?

Stacey x x

Urban Decay Super Saturated High Gloss Lip Colour

Just a quick review for you today guys. I was reading a well know fashion magazine the other day, Look magazine and I saw a write up on this Urban Decay lip gloss.

It stated “This contains phytosterol, a plant oil that not only moisturises, but helps prevent collagen loss as our lips age”.

Now I don't believe everything I read in the glossys but with technology advancing at break-neck speed I didn't think this statement was too far from what could be reality, also I did see Xsparkage (youtube make-up artist) use it in one of her videos and it looked really nice so I thought I'd give it a go.

We have to bear in mind I'm never going to know if this one lip gloss in the known universe has single handedly prevented collagen loss from my lips, namely because I use loads of plumping, priming, moisturising products on my lips and also I'm only going to see the results when I'm about 50, in about 25 years.............ok in 23 years time! And I'm not sure you guys want to wait that long for a review so why don't we disregard this aspect and talk about the things we can see in the here and now.

So here it is, in all its glory. There are 5 colours to choose from in this range: F-Bomb (true red), Punch Drunk (orange red) and Crush (pink) which are all matte, and Adrenaline (red with gold glitter) and Big Bang (magenta with silver glitter). I decided to play it safe for my first one with Adrenaline, it was a toss up between that and Big Bang but I was a little worried that magenta might clash with my red hair. 

So Adrenaline it was, £14 from Debenhams and I have to say I am in LOVE with this product! I'm a lipstick girl anyway but I hate the faffing around that comes with lipstick. Normally with lipstick I would line the outside of my lips with a waxy anti-feathering lip pencil, then I would line and colour my lips in with a lip pencil that matched the colour of my lipstick, then I would put my lipstick on with a lip brush, then blot and lip brush again, and if there was time to leave the house after all that lol, I would take with me, the chosen lipstick, lip brush and a mirror for touch ups. Wow that sounds a lot, it really doesn't take that long but note the faffing involved. 

Well with this lip product you could even leave your mirror at home if you were cleaver enough (I am not so the mirror is with me at all times). I literally just took the lid off and crayoned the colour on to my lips, no out line, no lip pencil, actually I don't even think I blotted. I love the fact that I can take this product anywhere and reapply anywhere, with my trusty mirror of course. It felt lovely on my lips, it wasn't sticky or heavy, just lightly moisturising so my lips didn't dry out. This is the first time I have tried a lip crayon and I understand that Urban Decays offering may be a little expensive for some, but for me I am very impressed, so impressed in fact that I will also be purchasing Big Bang. Glitter lips are my favourite for the festive period so these 2 colours will see me right through. What I would like to see from Urban Decay though is a few more colours added to the collection, maybe some lighter colours as well because I think this product would be excellent for brides that want to wear lipstick on their big day but don't want the hassle.

Well I hope you have enjoyed the review today guys. Any questions or recommendations let me know.

Stacey x x