Budget beauty: ELF Haul

Firstoff, i LOVE ordering things online! Like. Seriously when a package arrives and you get to open it, it's like my freaking birthday! So crazy rambling aside I recently received an email from elf with a 30% off voucher inside and I thought it would be silly not to use it. I love elf and with most items ranging between £1.50 and £3.75 I was getting an absolute bargain. I didn't get anything majorly exciting and out there but got quite a few kit essentials that I'm looking forward to trying out. So here's what I got along with some first impressions! Will I be right? Time will tell ..

Complete Coverage Concealer Palette 

I was in need of a concealer palette for taking clients. I'm pretty taken with my mac concealer but I wanted something with a variety of shades so I could adapt to whoever s make up I'm doing. The Complete Coverage Concealer Palette has 4 shades and comes in medium, dark or light. I purchased the light and medium palette as the I felt this covered quite a large base of skin colours and the darker shades of the medium palette are really quite dark. This is part of the elf studio collection which I always find myself leaning towards as the packaging is always really seek and expensive looking, it's kind of a copy of Nars packaging without the price tag. On first impressions the concealer itself seems pretty good. I prefer to work with my fingers with this product as it needs warmed up to become creamy and bendable, I swatched it on the back of my hand as well and the coverage seems really good. So far so good! 

Corrective Concealer Palette 

I also got two Corrective Concealer Palettes, one to neutralise and one to brighten. I am looking in to corrective make up just now so needed something to practice with. They have the same creamy texture as the coverage palettes and I can't wait to try them out. Hopefully will put up a tutorial on corrective make up as well once I've got the hang of it.

HD Undereye Setting Powder

I always find my concealer sets in to fine lines around my eyes as the day goes on so wanted to try setting it with a powder. I was disappointed at the size, it looks so much bigger on the website but hopefully a little goes a long way. Another thing that took me by surprise about this product was that when I took the lid off I noticed there was small glittery bits through out the powder. I expected it to be matte but it is very sparkly so hopefully it'll set the concealer quite nicely and not look like fallout. Looks like this one is going to be one to watch!

Brush Shampoo and Daily Brush Cleaner

It's so important to keep your brushes clean as your are essentially putting them all over face and they could be spreading all kinds of germs! I do a deep clean on all my brushes once a week which is why I got myself some brush shampoo. The daily brush cleaner is so I can give all my brushes a quick once over after I've used them to avoid any bacteria building up or any colour transfers occurring when doing eye makeup.

                                                              Hope you liikkeeeee :)

                                                                      Lots of love

                                                                           Kirsty 

                                                                        Xxxxxxxxx

 

Special effects make up: The Joker

So I was planning on saving this one until Halloween but I'm far too excited by it so I'm going to upload it now! Today's post will be in how to create The Joker make which can be seen on the hugely talented Heath Ledger in Batman: The Dark Knight. 



This is a look that is often recreated but I really wanted to try it myself. Using both my face paints and my special effects kits that I got from Hobbycraft this is the result I got ....

I started by taking a small amount of special effects wax and rolling them into long thin sausages and putting them on either side of my face in a smile shape. I blended the wax in to the skin so the edges don't seem so harsh like they look stuck on.

Using a spatula I carved deep cut shapes in to the wax. No scar is clean cut so try to make the lines look raggedy and uneven, sometimes going off in different directions as this makes it look more realistic. Fill these lines in with red and blood coloured face paints, and then apply white face paint all over the face with a sponge.

Outline round the eyes and above the brow in an oval shape with black face paint and fill these in with a sponge. The jokers make up is never intact so remember to smudge the eyes in any direction. Try not to be too precise, it's meant to look messy! Taking some red face paint and a face paint brush randomly dab the colour all over the scars in uneven strokes and smudge some red paint over the lips.  Mixing brown, orange and yellow I made a skin tone colour. Raising my eyebrows I followed the natural lines across my forehead and around my mouth. There you have it! Why so serious?! 

        Hope you like! 
         Lots of love 
            Kirsty
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Make up Tutorial: Una Healy Eye Make Up

Oh hello!

It's been so long I know! I seriously have no idea where the time goes sometimes! But I'm back with an eye make up tutorial inspired by the ever so beautiful Una Healy! She wore this green look at the Isle of White festival this year and I totally loved it! I've wanted to recreate this look for quite some time but haven't really had enough shades of greens and I really wanted to do this look justice as I just love it so much.

                                 
Firstly, it is so difficult to pull off majorly green eye make up because its such a strong look. Una pulls it off really well because of her colouring, red or auburn hair looks amazing with green! With my pale skin and dark hair it does look a little severe on me but I done my best to try and recreate the look for those who wanted to try it themselves. Here's what I came up with.

For this I used my NYX Make Up Artist kit and began by applying a yellow eyeshadow to the very inner corners of the eyes then applied a lime green to the centre of the lid using a small eyeshadow brush. Using a large eyeshadow brush I applied an emerald green to the outer corner of the lid and underneath the eye as well. Taking a large pointed crease brush I took a blue green tealish shade and applied this to the crease and blended it in to the outer corners. Lastly I applied some 17 cream eyeliner in black and some Eyelure lashes in 107. 

Thanks for reading!

Lots of love

Kirsty

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Taylor Momsen Inspired Look

Hiiiiiii!

So today's look is something a bit different. I'm not normally a fan of Taylor Momsens make up looks but I seen this photo of her and thought it was a more wearable rock chic look. 

I tweaked it a little so it wasn't as dark on me and I also styled my hair in to a fauxhawk as I dont like the over straight, flat style that taylor wears. It was a great opportunity to try out my new MAC lipstick in Cyber as its such a dark colour and complimented the eye make up really well. Any way ill stop rambling and show you guys some pictures.

Face 
Clinique BB Cream in 01
MAC Face and Body Foundation in NW1
MAC Concealer in N20

Eyes
Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Pomegranate (all over lid)
17 Cream Liner in Black (smudged over top lid and waterline)

MUA eyeshadow in Corrupt (outer corner)
Benefit They're Real! Mascara 

Lips 
MAC Satin Finish in Cyber

I hope you like! 

Lots of love 

Kirsty

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Clinique 3 Step Anti Blemsih Solutions Skincare Set

Hello!

2 posts in one day, whatever have you done wrong to deserve this?! As promised I have decided to do a review on the Clinique 3 Step Anti Blemish Solutions Skincare Set. This was a trial set that I bought and is intended to last 2 weeks. It includes a Foaming Cleanser (Step 1), a Clarifying Lotion (Step 2) and a Clearing Moisturiser. It retails for £30 and claims after one week skin is glowing, looks clearer, less oily and make up is going on smoother too. Although intended to last 2 weeks I actually still have about half of the moisturiser and cleanser left over so you do get a reasonable amount of product in each bottle (or I haven't been putting enough on). I have oily to combination skin and despite keeping my brushes clean, testing various types of foundation and all kinds of skin crèmes I just don't seem to be able to clear up my skin so I thought this would be worth a try. Here is a very scary picture of me before starting the trial.

                                   

As you can see I get quite bad breakouts around my jawline and chin area which can be really annoying and quite noticeable. I have been using the 3 Step System for just over 2 weeks and whilst my skin feels softer and breakouts aren't lasting as long, I don't notice a major difference.

 

                                  

I'm going to review the products separately as there are some I like more than others and all 3 products have their pros and cons.

Foaming Cleanser

I have to say, this is probably my least favourite of all 3. Whilst I really like the idea of a gentle foaming cleanser with a pump, it doesn't feel like the product is really doing anything. The foam melts away as your massage it in to the skin which leaves you feeling like there isn't really anything on your skin when your trying to clean it. This could be down to my own personal preferences though, as I am a huge fan of St Ives Apricot Scrub as I feel it gives the skin a really good clean and is amazing at removing any excess dirt or dead skin cells. I found that the smell of the product was very clinical like something a doctor would use to clean a wound. Furthermore, when it came to using the toner after I had washed with the cleanser there was still a lot of make up coming off on the pad despite using a remover wipe before washing.

Clarifying Lotion

I really quite liked the lotion, when applied with a cotton pad you could really feel it working on the skin and got a lot of dirt, oils and excess make up off. There was a very slight tightening/ tingling sensation on the skin after application which reassured me that it was working on clearing out all the pores on my face. However, I think without the moisturiser it would dry out any dry patches or areas you may have on your skin as it is quite strong.

Clearing Moisturiser

Your probably going to cringe when you hear this but I never usually apply moisturiser. Since I have oily skin I have had some bad experiences with other moisturisers in the past but this one was quite good. It has a nice silky soft feeling when you first apply it to the skin and it dries in reasonably quickly so your not left walking around with a shiny, sticky face. It seems to have a soothing agent in it as I found a lot of my breakouts looked much calmer and smaller the next day. Also worth mentioning is a I have some dry areas either side of my face which causes my foundation to go quite patchy half way through the day but the moisturiser really hydrated these areas and my make up looked much more even after this.

Overall, I would say the set is OK. It is really good for prolonging make up and making breakouts look less angry and sore but it doesn't get rid of them all together. Perhaps if I keep using it, it will eventually all come together but right now I think I would only reinvest in the Clarifying Lotion. For the price of the products I really don't feel like I got the results I wanted. Have any of you had any experience with this product? Did you think it was good, bad or just OK? Let me know!

 

Thanks for reading!

Lots of Love

Kirsty

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Birthday Haul! MAC, Zara and lots more!

Hello everyone!

I do apologise, I realise there has been quite a large gap between my last post and this one but its been a super busy week or so getting ready for my 21st Birthday! I had such a lovely day and got some amazing gifts which I wanted to share with you all. My ever so generous boyfriend gave me £100 to go shopping with along with Marc Jacobs perfume that I have been dying to have for so long! So of course I just had to go to the Mac Store, I mean where else?! Since I'm still building up my kit I invested in 2 Face and Body Foundations (N1 and C6) so I can mix and match to find the right shade for clients. Then I thought id treat myself to a new Lipglass, Lipstick and Liner. Im pretty sure the artist who helped me thought shed struck gold as I was literally taking everything she suggested to me. I put what little money I had left towards a nice coat which I spotted in Zara and couldn't walk out the store without buying! I am just so weak when it comes to shopping! I also got a lovely pearl set from my auntie, £200 altogether from all my family and the big one ... A TRIP TO NEW YORK from my far too kind mum and dad. Here is my overall birthday collection:

It was so generous of everyone to get me such lovely gifts and I had an amazing day picking out lots of new make up at MAC. Overall, I had a fantastic birthday and am so grateful I got to spend it with such a brilliant family. To top it all off my mum arranged the most beautiful Jimmy Choo birthday cake which had the New York skyline round the box. It was such a gorgeous cake and I was devastated when I had to cut it up!

Here are some swatches of the lip products I got from MAC. They are reasonably dark colours as youl probably notice and I thought these were perfect since sadly we are coming in to Autumn! Far left is the Pro Longwear Lipglass in Dark as Night, the centre is Satin Lipstick in Cyber and the nude swatch on the right is a Lip Pencil in Boldly Bare.

I really love all my presents and am so grateful for everything from everyone. I cannot wait to blog about my trip to New York in November, I have been saving like crazy so I plan on doing a major haul post when I get back. Watch this space! Hope everyone has had a great week so far!

 

Thanks so much for reading!

lots of love

Kirsty

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Tutorial: Kim Kardashian inspired red lips and gold eyes

Hello again everyone!

So today's post is going to be a look inspired by the GORGEOUS Kim Kardashian. I love how she pulls off the golden bronzey eyes with the statement red lip so thought I would try it out myself. Here is the lovely Kim wearing the look herself:

The important thing to remember when trying to recreate Kardashian make up is concealing and conturing. Kim's face always looks flawless and perfectly sculpted which is hardly surprising when you consider that her make up is done by the majorly talented Joyce Bonelli. Here is my take on the look:

Products used:

Face   

Clinique age defence BB cream in Shade 01

Estée Lauder double wear maximum cover in 01 Creamy Ivory

Sleek face form Contouring and Blush Palette in Light (bronzer, blush and highlight)

MAC Select Cover-up Concealer

Eyes

Benefit browzings kit in Dark

Urban Decay Primer Potion

MUA Undress Me Too Palette - lids: devotion, crease: fiery, outer corner: obsessed, brow bone: shy

17 Gel Liner in Black 

Benefit They're Real! Mascara 

Lips

Lush Lip Scrub in Bubblegum

Kate Moss for Rimmel lipstick in 01

Barry M Glitter Lip Gloss in Cherry

                                                         Thanks for reading!

                                                                 Kirsty

                                                               Xxxxxxx