Beautiful Bride!

Today, I woke up feeling so so nervous! I was doing my first ever full on wedding for Fiona and was really freaking out! We've had plenty trials with her and her bridesmaids and I am normally totally confident making other people beautiful, but I guess the responsibility of today kinda got to me!

In the end, everything went swimmingly, everyone looked beautiful and there was not a bridezilla in sight! Was such a lovely, lovely morning and the bride absolutely shone. It was a pleasure and an honour to be a part of Fiona and Stephen's big day and I wish them all the love and luck for their life together as a married couple.

Check out some pics!

I did Fiona's base before her rollers went in, then we finished her off after her hair was done

2 of Fiona's bridesmaids... Lesley on the left and Claire on the right.

On both the girls, I used Bobbi Brown's foundation stick and Benefit Creaseless shadows, with Coralista for the cheeks.

Doesn't she look beautiful?

We used Chanel Pro Lumier in 10, Chanel Bronze Universel, Benefit Coralista, Laura Mercier E/S, Benefit Bad Gal lash (waterproof of course!) and Beaute Girlina on the lips!

And the completed party! Nicola (2nd from the left) was done by Morag, her own MUA but the other 3 were me and I'm delighted with how they all look!

Pro Makeup Shop

Tonight I am quickly extolling the virtues of one of my current favourite websites... Pro Makeup Shop

I know many of you might already by familiar with this site, especially the hobbying and profressional artists amongst you, and I've kind of toyed with the idea of ordering in bulk from them previously, but always sticking to picking up bits in Boots or Sally's etc. But yesterday I received such good service from them, I felt I should give them a shout out! I needed a next day delivery, so rather than ordering through the website, I gave them a call and nothing was too much trouble. The important thing was my order arrived next day. Awesome.

The website is concerned with safe beauty and hygienic practices which you can read more about here. In essence, it equips artists with disposable tools to eliminate the risks associated with cross contamination and infections, bacteria etc. But for those amongst you who only ever do your own makeup, there;'s something for you too! Take your pick from mixing dishes for creating your own shades, colour wheels, false eyelashes, bags, brushes and the infamous Lucas Pawpaw Ointment...

Enjoy!

A xx

FOTD with Chanel Bronze Universel

Hi lovelies,

Hope you are dandy!

Just a few pics to share some new products I am loving at the mo...

I've a bit of a early summer tan just now, so invested in a summer bottle of Pro Lumier in shade 30. I usually use 10, but 30 matches me much better just now. Whilst at Chanel, I decided to pick up some of the much talked about Bronze Universel to see what all the fuss is about!

I've been a massive fan of Benefit's One Hot Minute bronzer for ages, so didn't think even Chanel could tempt me with a different product, but oh it has been so worth the investment. I can't even write how much I love it! It looks way scary in the pot and it took about 2 hrs of Twitter chat to decide which brush to use to apply it (I settled on a BE Kabuki), but it's absolutely brilliant!

So, this is me with foundation only - Chanel Pro in 30

it looks really solid and orange, but it actually just blends away into a lovely natural glow and is more of a moussey texture. You get a heck of a lot of product for your cash too

This is a Victoria Jackson palette I have and the blusher (looks pale pink here, but is actually a lovely coral shade) is AMAZING!!! I usually use Benefit's Coralisat and this is almost the same colour, but it's matte.

And this is the finished face! The only other products I have on is some Barry M lipgloss and my Eylure lashes.

Loving the more natural, summery look!

What do you think then? Have you tried Bronze Universel? Do you love it or loathe it?

Clinique 'Anti-Blemish Solutions Liquid Makeup'

If you read my blog regularly, you’ll be aware of how often I bemoan my often oily, slightly blemished, dull skin.

I was one of those annoying teens who never had a spot or blemish and didn’t realise how lucky I was. Unfortunately, at the age of 20 when I suddenly got hips and a decent chest, I also got spots. I don’t know what happened – maybe it was payback for being smug between 13 – 19! Until about 26, they didn’t bother me too much. But then I had a few problems with my pill; since then my skin has gone haywire.

I think I’ve mentioned before about how it got so bad I ended up being seen by a dermatologist at the SK:N clinic for a round of chemical peels. Pricey, but they have done wonders, bringing my poor painful inflamed skin, back to mildly spotty.

I have good weeks and bad weeks, where my skin can swing from glowing in the morning to inflamed by tea time, but it has generally remained middling. Products such as Dr Perricone’s moisturiser that I’ve blogged about before generally keeps things to a minimum in terms of large blemishes, but I am still plagued by slightly dull, congested skin.

So, as I am always on the lookout for new things that might help, I’ve agreed to try the new Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Liquid Makeup, to see if that can improve things. I took the ‘skin type’ test on the Clinique website and it diagnosed me as having type 2 combination skin, with my main priority as keeping oil under control.

The makeup works to get and maintain skin clear and lovely in these 4 ways...

Ease of Irritation: The presence of caffeine helps to reduce redness and soothes the skin

Control of Blemish Causing Agents: Hydroxydecanoic Acid is an ingredient that helps control the spread of blemishes

Exfoliation: Salicylic acid works as an exfoliant, working off those dead skin cell debris which can clog pores

Oil Control: Laminaria Sacharrina Extract is a sea algae which purifies and balances the skin, helping to regulate sebum production.

As the Anti-Blemish liquid makeup is all about natural, but good coverage whilst controlling oil, I’m game! I’m going to try the foundation over a couple of weeks to give it a chance to work its magic. In the meantime you can check out this tutorial or you can find out more here.

Eylure Semi Permanent Individual Lashes

Please be careful if you decide to try this product. I can't take responsibility if you decide to glue your eyes shut or end up with lash clumps stuck to your forehead for a month...

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I'm on a roll this week!

In Boots last week they didn't have my usual Mister Mascara lashes so I picked up some Eylure Semi-Permanent ones, just to see if they were any good. They were £5 for the mixed box of lengths and the pack comes with both adhesive and adhesive removing dissolving stuff.

Before pic.

They were suprisingly easy to apply. Unlike strip lashes which are usually applied at the lash root, against the eye lid, these are glued directly onto the lashes, so as your lashes grow, these are supposed to naturally grow out with them.

The adhesive isn't gloopy white stuff you need to blow on; this stuff is clear and an entirely different type of glue. It dried really quickly and the lashes didn't move around while they set. You need to be quick to get it into place before it sets, but if you make a mistake you can use the dissolver to remove it.

This is one eye completed - as you can see, very subtle joins along the lash line

This is the completed result! The instructions suggest applying 7-14 individual clumps, but I only used 4 per eye! 2 Medium and 2 Short. I only used a tiny tiny stroke of mascara just to blend my natural lashes as they are very pale.

The instructions suggest avoiding the use of oil based make-up removers to preserve the life of the adhesive and they advise not to remove the lashes without the use of the dissolver.

The only 'down side' is that the 'long' lashes are too long for me, so I will probably only get use out of the short and medium. This means as well that there are no short enough ones for the inner corners of my eye. But I'm handy with a pair of nail scissors so might try trimming some of them down (before applying!!).

It remains to be seen how long they last! I will be amazed if they make it through tonight's sleep, shower and are still intact by the time I put my makeup on. But, I love the effect! What do you think? Will you give them a go?