My current night time skincare routine.

My Night time skincare routine:


I never really had a specific skincare routine until I was about 15, I realised then that it was very important for me to take care of my skin especially since I started to wear make up a lot more, my routine has changed over years and also changes depending on the weather because in the summer I tend to use different products to moisturise. But here is my current night time skincare routine.

1. I first use my Garnier 2 in 1 eye make up remover- this stuff is seriously amaze, the price makes it even better. It has an oily kind of formula that sits on top of a clear liquid, you have to shake the bottle to mix both formulas together. It dissolves even the toughest of eye make up when you hold it onto the eye for around 30 seconds, after that just a swipe over the eye with the same cotton pad will ensure everything is removed.

2. For my birthday last year I was given a Liz Earle Cleanse and polish from my best friend, this cleanser seriously changed my life, I did't realise how much make up can be leftover on your face due to only using make up wipes, even my Garnier micellar water didn't remove make up thoroughly enough. I now feel that I have finally found a skincare routine  that can efficiently remove my make up and also keep spots at bay. I apply it all over my dry face (even with make up on)and rub it in for a good 2 minutes, I then put a muslin cloth under hot water and hold it up to my face so that the steam really gets to my skin. I then just keep putting my muslin cloth under water and wiping all the make up and cleanser off my face and neck.

3. I then like to carry on my skincare routine by using a toner, my favourite toner is the Liz Earle instant skin boost tonic, this is great, it is suitable for all skin tones and has many beneficial things for the skin included in it such as vitamin E. I just use a cotton pad and swipe this all over my face.

4. I then use my Dramatically different moisturising lotion from Clinique, I like this, but not under my make up. I feel like my make up doesn't sit nicely on my skin when I use this as a base of moisture so I prefer to use this only at night.

5. I like to then use my Nivea anti ageing eye cream, I just use my ring finger to tap this under my eye. This stuff is really good and also affordable. It really hydrates my under eye area.

What make up i wore for my school prom: FACE

I was hoping to do a segment of posts related to my prom make up when I wrote this blog post but unfortunately after this point I totally stopped blogging so I didn't manage to include everything about my make up, still though I wanted to post it onto my new blog.

On the 4th of July 2014 it was my school prom, I speculated more and more about getting my make up professionally done on the day but after a lot of thought I decided to do it myself which I was excited about but I also felt a bit of dread towards it as i was positive that with my bad luck and clumsiness I would end up looking like a clown.

I thought doing it myself would be better for money as the money I would pay to have my make up professionally done could go towards products that I could use on the day and then use again in  the future.

#STEP ONE- BASE

1. As we are all aware the urban decay de slick setting spray which i mentioned in my February favourites is a holy grail product for me but as my main goal on prom night was for my make up to stay in place till 6am the next day, when the after party finished, so I decided to buy the urban decay all nighter setting spray to help all of my make up 'cement' on  to my face. After moisturising I sprayed this all over my face to prep the skin for long lasting make up.

2. Another product that was a saviour was the Benefit stay flawless 15  hour primer, although my skin is a haven for oil and shine this primer did what its name states it does and kept my make up flawless until the next morning, battling the oil and heat. I applied this all over my face and then made sure it was evenly dispersed by blending it in with my real techniques stippling brush.

3. I am one of those unfortunate people who have been blessed with large pores around my nose and when I say large I literally mean craters on my face so I did not hesitate to use my Benefit porefessional primer around that area only just to fill in the pores and create a smoother complexion which also helped to mattify my skin. I used a small pea sized amount and rubbed it in with my fingers.

4. MAC pro long wear foundation is another favourite of mine that  I had to wear, not only for its long wearing formula and matte finish but because it photographs beautifully. I am normally an NW20 but prior to prom day I had a spray tan so MAC kindly gave me a pot of  NC25 to match my tan for the event. I applied it with myreal techniques buffing brush and also used the real techniques miracle complexion sponge on the flat side to assure that my make up was evenly blended into skin, it does contain an SPF of 10 but I didn't notice any flashback at all.

5. MAC pro long wear concealer is yet another favourite product for me, it has good coverage and also stays put until I take it off, it doesn't crease on me and I love the texture of it. I used this underneath my eyes and on any discolouration or imperfections that my foundation didn't conceal enough as I wanted a really flawless base especially for pictures. I used the pointed side of the miracle complexion sponge by real techniques and the flat side on the areas of my face that I needed to conceal more.

6. To set everything in place I used my trusty Stay Matte powder by Rimmel to keep my t-zone under control so it wouldn't look extremely shiny and photos and also to keep my make up in place all night. I applied this with my real techniques powder brush.

7. I wanted my face to look really sculpted so contouring was the best option for me as I have quite chubby cheeks, I used the Hoola Bronzer by Benefit to contour my cheekbones, jaw line, temples, nose and also underneath my bottom lip to make it appear more plump. I used the real techniques contour brush found in the core collection to do this and also used a clean MAC 217 brush  to contour my nose and underneath my lip.

8. No blusher was used on prom day as I feel that I suit a bronzed look more, I then highlighted using a MAC cream colour base in the shade Improper Copper and also went over the top of that with the ambient lighting powder in the colour incandescent light which is only available in the ambient lighting palette. The MAC highlighter was applied with my fingers and the powder highlight was applied with a real techniques duo fiber contour brush 

9. After that I sprayed urban decay all nighter setting spray all over my face again to lock in my base and keep it flawless all night.



Thanks for reading,
em x

One of my old skincare reviews

I wrote a review about the Eve lom balm cleanser last year, my skin care routine has changed A LOT since then.

The balm cleanser, what's all the hype about?

I hate to admit it but I am such a lazy person when it comes to taking off my make up, I dread it. I normally get in and all I want to do is lie in bed and sleep but unfortunately the fun of applying make up is over and now I have to take it all off thoroughly to avoid waking up with a volcano on my face.

One day I came across a lot of women's 'bedtime skincare routine' video's on the fabulous you tube and I was amazed with how quick and effective balm cleansers seemed to be and how they definitely gave a good deep clean, obviously as I am a student buying a balm cleanser such as the Emma Hardie Moringa cleansing balm (http://www.emmahardie.com/product.php/32/0/moringa_cleansing_balm_with_cleansing_cloth)  is something that will well and truly burn a hole in my pocket and unfortunately I can not afford right now.

Luckily for me my Mam had a cleansing balm of her own, the Eve Lom balm cleanser (http://www.evelom.com/Cleanser-50ml/MEV0028_9470,en_GB,pd.html?start=4&q=cleansing%20balm) this stuff is absolutely brilliant, as I stumbled across it at 11pm I was utterly intrigued at how it literally dissolves face make up AND eye make up, even waterproof mascara! I have oily skin around the t- zone and normal everywhere else and it did not cause me to become any more oily and I also felt that it kept my skin balanced and moisturised.

It is best used with a muslin cloth and melts as soon as you apply it to your face. Definitely worth a try.

Old feb faves from 2014!!!

This was my February faves from 2014! i cant believe how much my favourites have changed from this time last year until now, woah. enjoy.

I cant believe we're coming near to the end of the 2nd month of the year already, Christmas is starting to feel so long ago it makes me sad but on the other hand the excitement of not having to wear about 50 layers of clothing just to walk to the corner shop comforts me a little. Spring is definitely my favourite season, I love how fresh it is and how crisp the air is at this time of year. Its that balance between summer and winter when its not too hot and not too cold and of course we cant be forgetting about the Easter eggs that are taking over the shelves in every supermarket right now.

I thought I'd do a little blog post today on my February favourites because I really felt the need to jump on the favourites band wagon and share my love for some amazing products with you all. It's not a huge favourites video so don't be prepared for masses of beauty products but its just enough for a first timer.

So yeah here we go...

1. Urban Decay- De slick make up setting spray £20.00 (118ml)

Since using this product I have seen a difference in my skin throughout the day, my make up stays on slightly longer than usual and oil is kept at bay for a longer amount of time, I am not going to lie, my oil still ends up managing to get through but it has slightly more of a battle than it would if I didn't wear this product and its nothing that a mid-day powder touch up cant solve. I have found it works best if  I apply it before applying foundation and also after to help set my make up. I have been considering buying the 'all nighter' make up setting spray from the same range to see if my make up has a longer staying power when paired with that product instead of the de slick, so in future a blog post of that is a must.

2. Urban Decay- Naked basics palette £22.00

I bought this product over the Christmas holidays as I'm a sucker for the Naked 2 palette and I'd used up one of my day to day colours called 'foxy', I'd seen bloggers use this product so I thought it was worth a buy especially since it contained foxy. It's well known for it's gorgeous matte eye shadows that are just subtle enough for day to day use so this is a product I really recommend especially if you don't want to fork out a lot of money for a full sized  naked palette or if you're a newcomer to eye shadows.

3. Urban Decay- Primer potion £16.00 

This is literally a holy grail product for me, it's staying powers are incredible and really do a fabulous job of making eye shadow stay put. I had trouble finding an eye primer that actually did its job of saying that it stops eye shadow from creasing until I found this, my eyes (which are very prone to creasing) look the same  when I walk out of the house at 8am to when I walk back in at 4pm, I love it. Definitely worth a buy.

4. James Brown London- Intensive moisture mask £8.16

The winter weather definitely has stripped my hair of some moisture, a few weeks ago as I was brushing my hair I realised how dry it had became all of a sudden so I used this product for the first time,its fabulous. It contains shea butter which really treats my hair and leaves it smooth, moisturised and refreshed. I've noticed how much softer my hair is since using this product and frizz free! it doesn't feel heavy like quite a few hair masks I've tried did, fantastic!

5. Roberto Cavalli- Just cavalli £30.00 (30ml)

I received this perfume for Christmas and since then I've been absolutely loving it, it's fresh floral scent is definitely one of my favourite perfumes ever, its not too heavy which I love because I feel that its just nice enough for every day wear and isn't too strong a scent. Although I do love a good strong scent such as Alien I really feel that this perfume is perfect especially for the spring. 

6. Mac- Chili (matte lipstick) £15.00

I have been obsessed with this colour for over a year now- it's most definitely been well loved! it's so pigmented and has good staying power. I love mac lipsticks anyway but this is definitely something from their collection that really stands out for me. I'm most definitely a red lipstick girl and I find this colour perfect because of it's balance between red and orange, it's not too red and it's not to orange, making it subtle and it's my go to dark lipstick.

7. Mac- Auburn (lip pencil) £12.00

Paired with chili this lip liner really shows off its amazing colour, I find both very similar in colour so I use them both together, its creamy texture makes it glide on the lip easily and it's a really easy lip pencil to work with. I love defining my lips with this. It really compliments chili when they are used together.

8. The Body Shop- Satsuma shower gel £4.00

Dark winter mornings are the worst as we all know, especially when trying to wake yourself up, having the will power to get out of bed at the right time is a challenge for me so a splash of this shower gel when I hop in the shower on a morning really works wonders, the citrus smell of it is so awakening and fresh and adds a dollop of summer to my shower, definitely worth a buy!

9. Hourglass- Ambient lighting palette £56.00

Wow,this trio really is magnificent, I received it as a gift and I am so thankful for it, its amazing. It contains a limited addition shade called incandescent light and two of their regular popular shades, dim light and radiant light. On camera this is gorgeous, it really compliments the skin and brightens the face,if you can get you hands on this its definitely something worth the price tag. The powders are universal which make them perfect for any skin tone.

Hope you enjoyed

Em

x

first post from my old blog.

This is the first post that i posted on my old blog, I thought that i might as well include it to give people an insight into why i decided to start blogging.

Wow so here I am sitting in front of my laptop FINALLY writing my first blog post, its weird really to be quite honest. Starting a blog has been something I've considered for some time now but I just never got round to doing it, juggling coursework and keeping a half decent social life seemed hard enough without creating my own little internet space where I can freely write whatever I want, finally review my favourite make-up products, write about fashion and what not.

For now I've decided I'm going to post a minimum of  once a week, maybe until I get the blogging addiction or until I have any idea of things I'm going to post. Hopefully though as we get into the future I may start YouTube (BIG STEP I KNOW) a blog is a good foundation in my opinion for me to start online reviews until I maybe build up the confidence to sit in front of a camera and let my voice be heard to the many YouTube users out there.

Make-up and fashion are two things in my life that really interest me, it also intrigues me how one stroke of black eye-liner with a slight cat-eye flick on the outer corner can give me so much confidence  in myself. I just love how much of a difference make-up can make to an individual. Fashion on the other hand is something I cant get enough of, honestly I think sometimes I should be refrained from entering the likes of topshop with my bank card because in under 10 minutes I usually have burned quite a hole in my bank balance (whoops).

I hope you all enjoy my posts!

So I'll end it there guys,
thanks for reading.

love ya,
Em
x  

Brief explination of my new blog

Hey everyone, I assume people may be kinda confused why I created a new blog to gossip about make up on, basically I created my old blog in around December-ish 2013, I loved it, but it was a bad time to keep up with blogging as I had a lot of exams and work deadlines. I really didn't like many things about my old blog so that's why I've decided to create a totally new one. I am going to re-post some of my posts that I really liked from my old blog so I do apologise if anyone is confused. Ill be back to blogging regularly very soon which I am very excited about.

Thank you
em x