It's snowing FOTD

So while the rest of the world had snow I was patiently waiting. My patience was rewarded as when I woke up this morning the streets where covered and it was still coming down heavy. So today's make up is quite fun, not something I would wear out, but its inspired by the snow, so enjoy!

As usual I wish I was using a camera as apposed to my iPhone because it is pretty useless at capturing the colour. And in the second picture you can see my geeky new hat!

Face

Foundation - NARS Sheer Glow, Mont Blanc

Concealer - MAC Moisture Select in NW15

Blush - MAC So Sweet So Easy Cream Blush

Eyes

The white, light grey and blue from the Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland palette

For the thing underneath the eye that is meant to be a snowflake, MAC Petrol Blue Power Kohl, Collection 2000 Silver Glitter

MAC White Kohl

Lips

MAC Saint Germain L/S

Current Beauty Routine

So this weekend I have been very ill. My throat is swollen and all kinds of nastiness which means there will not be a FOTD until it clears up, so I was very glad that I came across this tag when reading Modesty Brows blog as it is something nice and easy for a monday morning. Enjoy!

Face
01. Cleanser: Good Things Stay Clear cleanser
02. Toner/lotion: Lush Breath of Fresh Air
03. Cream/moisturizer: Good Things Mattifying Moisturiser
.04. Facial mask: Lush Mask of Magnaminty
05. Exfoliator: Lush Ocean Salt
06. Make-up remover: Baby Wipes (eek!)
07. Shower gels/soaps: Lush The Olive Branch
08. Body lotions/creams: I tend to use massage bars from Lush.
09. Anticellulite/firming treatment: I don't use any, I don't think they work.
10. Body exfoliator: Lushy Buffy
11. Hand cream: Bliss Intensive Hand Cream
12. Lip balm or lip treatment: Carmex, always on the lookout for new ones though!
13. Perfume: Marc Jacobs Daisy
14. Shampoo/conditioner: Phillip Kingsley Itchy Scalp shampoo and Philip Kingsley conditioner (can't remember which one)
15. Mask or other treatments: I can't afford any atm :(.
Make-up
16. Foundation: NARS Sheer Glow in Mont Blanc.
17. Powder: MAC MSF Natural
.18. Blush: MAC Melba
19. Mascara: MUFE Smokey Lash mascara
20. Lipstick/lipgloss: MAC Viva Glam Gaga
21. Eyeshadow: I like my Urban Decay Naked Palette at the moment.
22. Eyeliner: Bobbi Brown Gel Liner

Sugarpill Sale

So today is Black Friday, but being from the UK there isn't that many deals for us. However Sugarpill ship worldwide, and I know that there is a lot of products I would like to try so 30% off means I will be placing a order.
There is so much I would like, but have also asked for some bits for Christmas so will have to be careful when doing a order.
Any other Black Friday offers us Brits can take advantage of?

NOTD - Essie Angora Cardi

So here is a sloppy picture of Essies Angora Cardi. I love this colour, I think its perfect for this type of weather as well.
The formula on this is amazing, its lovely and opaque, and not streaky. I normally do three coats of whatever polish I wear, but this is only after two coats, so you can see how opaque it is.
I'm not quite sure why, but I always lust after Essie polishes, despite the fact that I know most the time the formula is pretty poor. But when they get it right, they get it really right!

20% off Space NK?

So when I got the SpaceNK email on Wednesday night I wasn't planning to get anything, I have spent a lot on make up recently and it is coming up to Christmas, but then I remembered how much I loved NARS Fathom eyeshadow and I had to go back and get it. I may have decided I needed a new lip balm whilst I was there too....

Fathom is gorgeous, and the sparkle in it makes it ideal for the party season. I tried to get a decent swatch picture of it, but using a iPhone as a camera, and poor lighting does not make for a good picture.

I also got Kielhs Lip Balm #1. I am generally very fussy with my lip balms. I only really like Blistex and Carmex because I love the tingle feel it gives. Elizabeth Arden's eight hour cream worked wonders for when my lips started to crack too, but it just didn't wow me.

I am always on the lookout for a balm that will give me super soft kisseable lips, and I have heard good things about the Kiehls one so I thought, what the hell, I have 20% off, plus its winter, my lips need this. I'll give it a go and post a review.

That's my very small haul. I was so tempted to get Strada eyeshadow, which is a beautiful pale purple, but I have asked for a similar colour from Sugarpill for Christmas and have already spent way to much money this month. Did anyone else take advantage of the offer?

Happy Hair

So I wanted to share with you what I have been using to wash my hair as I am very impressed by the products, but first I will tell you a bit about my hair.

I started using these products in June. My hair was still recovering from when I was blonde and was dry and had lost all its natural shine. I was visiting my parents and tried the shampoo and conditioner and noticed that my hair was considerably more shiny and looked a lot healthier after a couple of washes. After mentioning it to my mum I received the shampoo and conditioner for my birthday, so here are the products I have been using:

First up we have we have the shampoo. I got this in the Itchy/Flaky scalp formula, as I have a very dry scalp and suffer from eczema from the back of my neck and all over my scalp so I have to be quite careful about what I use or else I end up with lots of open sores on my head.

This shampoo gives me such a lovely shine. It smells pleasant too and isn't heavy so your hair isn't slicked against your head. It has worked really nicely on my scalp too, I haven't had as much itchiness and I haven't had any flakes or scabs on my head.

The only issue I have with this shampoo is that my hair type has now changed. This shampoo treated my bad scalp, and now it is healthy it is producing a lot of oil. I don't think using this shampoo is helping much for the oil production of my hair, as this is designed for a more dry scalp. My hair is getting greasy quite quickly now, but I refuse to get a new shampoo until I run out of this one because at £19 it's not that cheap.

I also got the re-moisturizing conditioner. My mum got me the litre size because she thinks that you use more conditioner than shampoo. But anyway, the litre size was £40. Pretty steep but it is a litre, and I'm not even a third of the way through in five months.

I'm not going to change hair conditioner any time soon as I am very happy with this. It makes my hair lovely and soft and I'm sure I don't get as many split ends.

Although it is very hydrating its not too heavy. I like my hair with a lot of volume and I feel that this conditioner allows me to have that whilst having soft hair.

So yea, I like Phillip Kingsley products and these have worked well at repairing my hair and scalp. I am on the hunt for a new shampoo, for oily hair now, but I will be sticking with this conditioner.

Konnichiwa

So today's post was going to be about the haircare products that have saved my hair, but I am too tired to do a proper post, so instead you can have a very light hearted one. This is what happens when I am left alone for too long with nothing to do. I try (and fail) to turn myself into a anime character.

Hope your all having a lovely Thursday and if your not, hopefully this will give you a giggle!

Todays Make Up

Today was just a normal work day, but for the first time in a long time I used a little bit of highlighter and some products I haven't used in a while and felt very pretty whilst wearing it. The eye is very similar to stuff I have already posted, but the face is a bit different. Very soft and feminine. It is also the best (and most even) winged liner I have done in ages!

Face

Nars Sheer Glow - Mont Blanc

MAC moisture select - NW15

NARS Laguana Bronzer

MAC Oh So Fair Beauty Powder

NARS Orgasm Multiple as highlighter

Eyes - From the UD naked palette

Buck

Naked

Sin

Virgin

Liquid Liner

Whisky liner on the waterline

Brows done with ELF brow kit in Dark

Lips

NARS Lip Pencil in Bettina

MAC Lipstick in Hug Me

I hate the way blogger puts in huge gaps between lines. Anyway, remembered my love for the ELF brow kit, and I never really like the orgasm multiple, but it is growing on me now. Its nice to mix up products every now and then!

My Lipstick Collection

So my very good friend Rachy did this blog post the other day, and I thought it was such a good idea that I would copy her. I am too ill to do a face of the day so instead I have swatched of all my lipsticks for you:

So from top to bottom we have:

Violetta (from venomous villains)

Lady Danger

Heartless (from venomous villains)

Russian Red

Dare You

And on this arm:

Hug Me

Myth

Jazzed (LE)

Viva Glam Gaga

Saint Germain

Impassioned

So there you go, my lipsticks. They are all MAC in case you hadn't guessed. I feel a little bit better about my make up collection now. Anyway I haven't quite figured out how to do posh links yet, but this is my friend Rachys blog http://allthingsrachy.blogspot.com

What I bought at SpaceNK

Following on from yesterdays post, I did buy a couple of things in SpaceNK so here they are:

I got the blush in Desire, which is a very bright pink, which is flattering on my pale skin.

I also got the eyeshadow duo in melusine. I like the duo a lot, but on second though I probably wouldn't use the silver as much.

When I had my make up done yesterday the MUA used the silver as a highlight for my brow bone so I guess that is what I will be using it most for.

I would do swatches but these are actually going away until Christmas day. My boyfriend gave me the money to buy my own Christmas present and this is what I got, but he still wants to wrap it up and put it away because he is being the Grinch.

I will definitely be going back on pay day and buying fathom because it was a really gorgeous colour that I can see myself wearing everyday. But yea very quick and small haul for you, enjoy!

NARS makeover

So today my local SpaceNK had in a head NARS make up artist. I found this out last week when I was in the store and promptly signed up for a complementary makeover. Anyway this is how it turned out:

I loved how it turned out and ended up getting a couple of products which I will post about tomorrow. The picture doesn't show how bright the blush is, but its so beautiful. I also had such a lovely time in the store itself, one of the sales assistants is leaving to start her own range and have taken my details so hopefully I will be getting a bit of assisting work which is super exciting! Anyway here are the products she used (as copied from the face chart) which are all NARS obviously:

Face:

Sheer Glow foundation

Blush in Desire

Luxor multiple as a highlighter

Eyes:

My own eyeliner

Fathom eyeshadow (I need this it's gorgeous!)

Melusine eyeshadow duo

Lips

Tash Kent lipstick

Striptease lipgloss

Christmas Wishlist

So my Christmas wishlist this year is relatively small. Apart from the items I am going to post here I have asked for a cupcake book, Alex Box's book and a couple of games. I have also asked for money so I can put it towards the MUSE 3 week course I am saving up for. Anyway here is the cosmetic side of things I am asking for:

Sugarpill Cosmetics Sweetheart palette. I also want a couple of the loose eyeshadows. I hear such great things about these products and I am enjoying wearing brights at the moment too. I think this palette has the nicest selection of colours.

Kiehls Creamy Eye Treatment. You're never too young to start preventing ageing and I once again I have heard good things about this product. I did want to try Kiehls skincare and was going to ask for cleanser toner and moisturiser for Christmas too, but I would rather have money to put towards the course.

Illamsqua Precision Ink. Yet another product that I have heard good stuff about through blogs. I am really interested in Illamasqua at the moment because all the products I have tried out from them have been amazing. I especially liked their lip products, but I feel I should use up some of what I already have before getting more.

So yea that's my wishlist, its pretty basic but I tend to prefer buying my own presents. Whats everyone else asking for for Christmas?

Experimental FOTD

So normally I don't wear greens, just because I end up looking like a hooker, but today I fancied having a play around with colour seeing as I am going no where. I quite like how it turned out! Please excuse the wet hair.

Face:

Nars sheer glow foundation in Mont Blanc

MAC moisture select concealer NW15

MAC Melba blush

Eyes (MAC unless stated otherwise) :

Green from Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland palette

Purple from Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland palette

Smut

Blanc Type

White eyeliner

Black gel liner

Concrete for brows

I have staff training later so I shall see how this goes down. Also I have been loving my NARS sheer glow foundation!

My MAC 15 pan palette

So today I was going to do a FOTD, but after a visit to the beauty hall of House of Fraser, my face kind of got butchered by the women on the Benefit counter, clearly I need You Rebel Lite and not the regular tango one, but anyway....

So instead I am going to do a post on my 15 pan MAC eyeshadow palette. This is my only palette and one of my most prized possessions as I worked hard to save up the money for this. Some of the shadows I had to depot myself, and some I just bought in pan form. I have to mention that I got about 8 of these shadows with a discount after doing a make up course at London College of Fashion which is why I was able to afford so much. Anyway here is my palette (my camera seems to have made the colours appear more green, please excuse this) :

Top Row : Dazzlelight, Honey Lust, Sable, Scene, Twinks

Middle Row : Blanc Type, Wedge, Mulch, Concrete, Sketch

Bottom Row : Brulee, Charcoal Brown, Antiqued, Smut, Carbon

I think my most used are Blanc Type, Brulee, Wedge, Sketch and Carbon. Concrete is another colour I use a lot, but I tend to use it as my eyebrow colour rather than on the eye. I also use Dazzlelight a fair bit as a highlighter, but I have quite a few shimmery highlighters which is why it doesn't get used as much. I also love Sable and Mulch a fair bit, but sometimes find it hard to create a look with them.

I love my palette, it definitely shows I prefer more neutral tones, but I think I have a good variety and I can create a lot of looks from these shadows, albeit neutral ones.

So yea I hope you found this helpful if you was looking into making your own palette or just wanted to have a good nosey as I know I love seeing posts like this. Have a lovely afternoon!

Day 2 at London Muse

So today is Monday, the day after, and also my first day of work and the first time I get to try out my NARS sheer glow!
Anyway yesterday was the second and last day of the catwalk trends boot camp. It was taught by Nicci Jackson and we covered using glitter with stencils, manga/geisha, supernatural and ethereal.
It was of the same format, theory in the morning practical in the evening. Nicci used students in the class to demonstrate the looks and she created them from scratch. I think that this course is different ever time it is taught because she did the look to suit the person she was using as the model.
Nicci is very inspiring and I found yesterday to be very exciting and it was my favourite out of the two days. It was a bit more avant garde, and I couldn't wait to come back from lunch and start the practical.
I had a lovely lady do a geisha look on me, which was very full on, and a lot harder to do then you would think, having a white base is a bitch!
We then swapped and I did ethereal make up on her. I don't have any decent quality pictures but hopefully someone will upload some soon so that I can steal them. I used a paler foundation on her and a mix of purple, silver and blue to create a out of this world look.
I also used a Illamsqua blush, that I am lusting after. We used a lot of different brands during the course, including MAC, Illamasqua, Bella Pierre, Dermalogica, Sleek and Chanel. It was nice to use a variety of products as its so easy to get stuck in the MAC rut.
Overall I really loved this course, a lot more so than the London College of Fashion one I did. I feel like it was better value for money and I was a lot more inspired. This course allows for a lot of creativity, where as the LCoF one was more like show and recreate.
I feel like MUSE as a company is amazing as well. They care for their students and will invite you back to events. If you do some of the longer courses as well they post assisting jobs on their facebook page and you can also go in for the day on future courses for free to refresh yourself.
The class size was small and Nicci took the time to learn every ones names which makes everything a bit more personal. All the girls are lovely and most of them, like me had heard of MUSE through Pixiwoo.
I am definently going to do the three week course they offer. Its very pricey but I want to do make up as a career and feel like this would be a great way for me to learn. They also offer a shopping day on the course which has a lot of industry discounts, great for building up your kit. They also offer 0% finance, which is how I think I will pay for the course.
So yea I had a amazing time at MUSE and would definitely recommend them as a make up school and would like to say thank you for making this a great weekend!

Day 1 at London Muse

So for those of you who don't know what London Muse I'll tell you now, it is a make up school, in London. It is run by a make up artist called Nicci Jackson, who has amazing credentials, and her team of selected make up artists, including those of YouTube fame, Pixiwoo.

I want to do a three week make up course, but at over £3000, I thought it would be best to try out one of the shorter courses to make sure the make up school was for me so I went for the catwalk trends bootcamp which is a 2 day weekend course.

Today was the first day of the course and I loved it. We was taught by Francesco Lo Cascio who was lovely and friendly and wanted us all to think of him as our dad.

The morning was theory, which suited me fine as I had a very early morning and would have been useless if I was handed a make up brush. We was first shown how to do 80's make up, and was told about how important is to know about make up in different periods. After the 80's he moved onto iconic make up and finally showed up how to block out brows and how to create different brow styles.

The afternoon was the practical part. We had to take one of the themes we was shown in the morning and run with it. I decided to pick the 80's theme as I am fairly comfortable with a smokey eye and wanted to practise something different. Here is how the make up I did turned out:

There was only 8 of us in the class so it was nice and intimate and we got lots of personal attention from Francesco who was very encouraging and always very willing to help. I had a lovely day and I can't wait until tomorrow!

A small haul

So today I ventured down to Bluewater shopping center and picked up a few bits. I have run out of my studio fix fluid and fancied a change so I decided on NARS sheer glow after all the rave reviews I got. I went to Space NK (who's customer service is appalling) and was matched up to Mont Blanc. I can't wait to try this out and will do a review after trying it out for a bit.

I also went into MAC to check out the latest offerings from the Tartan Tale collection and ended up buying two of the pearlglide eyeliners in petrol blue and undercurrent.

The picture quality is poor but it shows the shimmer in the product and you can get a clear idea of the colour. The one on the left is Petrol Blue and the one on the right is Undercurrent. They are both gorgeous colours and I think they are quite unique, I know I have nothing in my collection like these!

After swatching them on my hand I tried to smudge them but found they did not budge. 5 hours later the swatches are still on my hand so I am very impressed with these.

I think the fact that they didn't smudge means you could get away without setting them with powder too and I may even try using them as an eyelid colour.

Apart from the two pearlglides I was not impressed with this collection at all. I was tempted by the Romancing lipgloss, but not enough to get it. Everything is pretty but nothing else is truly unique or that pretty.

I think the sets are good for a person just starting to collect MAC, but I think someone who has quite a few of their products will already have dupes for most the colours in the palettes. However I do really like the brush bag sets, and I was tempted by the purple eye bag which had a fluid line and pigment in them as I don't actually own that much purple.....

Anyway today was a good shopping day and I also managed to get two pairs of sensible flat shoes and a pair of trousers, yay!

What I took home

So if you don't know, I am visiting my parents for a few days. I thought it would be handy to share with you what I took home. Normally I end up taking half my makeup collection back with me, but this time I managed to narrow it down, its still probably too much for 4 days but a lot better than normal for me! Anyway here is what I took:

So I have a selection of brushes, these are the ones that I use most days, basic things like a blending brush, eyeliner, blusher brush etc. Mascara, that's pretty essential, tweezers because I hate stray hairs, two eyeliners, one black one white as I think both are essential, a liquid eyeliner, primer potion, my mineralise skin finish natural, concealer, two lipsticks, one is viva glam gaga for every day use and the second is violetta for a more daring evening wear look, I also have my usual foundation (studio fix fluid) in a sample pot that I got a long time ago so that I don't have to lug around the full bottle, and last but not least my Urban Decay naked palette. I love this palette and it has all the right colours for creating lots of different looks. It is also a decent size and isn't heavy to it makes it great for weekends away. Oh I forgot my beauty powder in Oh So Fair. This is my go to colour at the moment, I was going to bring another blush but I thought for 4 days, really? But yea, this is what I took home, I think I did a pretty good job of choosing essentials!

Another interview FOTD

So today's interview wasn't a office based one so I could go for something a bit more exciting. I decided to use the naked palette to create a smokey brown eye. I also used Ardell hottie lashes, which look pretty natural, benefit coralista blush and on the lips is NARS orgasm lipgloss. I am very happy with the way it turned out, que some posey pictures:

Whats I am doing this week.

I just thought I would let you know what I am getting up to this week as I am quite excited about it and will probably blog about it so I just thought I would share what I am doing with you!
Tomorrow I have a interview and a trial shift so I need lots of luck and expect a FOTD and probably a NOTD too!
On Wednesday I am going back to my parents house in London. My mum and I are going to the MAC tartan tale preview shopping event at Kings Road and then we will have a nice dinner. I am going to make my boyfriend give me some money so I can buy myself my Christmas present from him and I am after a couple of the glosses, they look so pretty!
Thursday and Friday will be quiet, but then the most exciting part of the week will be the weekend! I am doing a two day catwalk trends boot camp at London MUSE which is a make up school! The course looks so fun, from what I remember we will be doing power brows, glitterati, anime inspired stuff and more whimsical stuff, hopefully this will make me a bit more creative and improve on my technique. I will be taking my camera along to document what I have been getting up to so expect everything to be posted on here too!
Have a great week everyone.