Strobing vs Contouring (and another apology)

Hey everyone,
So I currently seem to be the absolutely worst blogger in the world... considering I never actually update. But I promise (again) that I am back... And my high quality camera is back so no more bad pictures!
But anyway, today we are going to be discussing strobing and contouring. If you don't know what contouring and strobing is I have done a little graphic below that explains them. But essentially, contouring is the application of darker tones to places you want to recede (the cheekbones and side of nose for example) and highlighter to the areas that you want to glow and the sun would naturally hit (the bridge of the nose, chin, cheeks and t zone), giving a far more chiselled look... So strobing is just contouring... without the contour, basically, the application of highlighter to create a shimmery glow.

All in all I have to agree with all of the people that say that contouring is out and strobing is in.. after all who in these summer months wants to pack on layers and layers of makeup which will only end up melting off and making you look like an extra in the Wizard of Oz. Strobing is a lighter and more effortless way of chiselling your face to perfection. However, I feel that the contouring is far more appropriate for night functions and high fashion looks as it is less shimmery and gives a far more structured and high fashion feel.
Currently I am using the sleek contour kit and I use the highlighter from that to strobe however it may be a little shimmery and not right for everyone's skin tones so I have made a little guide below of high end and drugstore (high street) products and their respective skin tones.

I may end up making a video on strobing and contouring, if you want to see that leave a comment and let me know!
I hope you've enjoyed this post,
- A

MUA Luxe Bronze And Sculpt Contour Kit review - and a side note

Hey everyone!
First off let me just say a massive SORRY that I haven't posted in a long time but I have been busy with exams and have been trying to get all my studying done, I will be back to posting every day in no time.
Just as a little side note... I am thinking about making YouTube videos in a few weeks, perhaps when I am all done studying and was wondering what you guys think of this and what you'd be interested in seeing, so leave me a bit of feedback... if you're even reading this.
So anyway let me get on with this review, I have been out cheap make-up shopping again, yes I know, it should be a crime to let me out into boots or superdrug. I have recently run out of my trusted sleek contour kit, and I am finding it truly impossible to find a replacement, so I picked one up from MUA, mainly for reviewing purposes but I ended up absolutely falling in love with it.
If you don't know about MUA it is kind of the UK's version of elf, affordable makeup that is still good quality, most of the original range was a pound but obviously it has gone up now. If you're from out of the UK but want to get your hands on it I am pretty sure that they ship internationally, so here is the link.
I picked up the MUA Luxe Bronze And Sculpt Contour Kit in medium. I absolutely loved the packaging, it is way higher quality than you would expect of such a cheap brand and even contains a handy mirror inside to look at yourself whilst you apply your makeup, although I never use these, I always think that it is a nice touch. The product contains a whopping 20g of product which for the price tag of £5 is brilliant. Here are some pictures of the product (which if you click will link you to it).
Also I'm sorry for the low quality pictures... the camera is being fixed.
The product comes with a shimmery highlighter and obviously the contouring powder, the contouring powder is available in light/medium and medium/dark, this is brilliant because it allows someone of every kind of skin tone to get something that they need. The contouring powder looks very dark in the pot but when applied smooths out into a nice blended natural contour colour. The highlighter, although shimmered, is really subtle and is brilliant to blend out the contouring powder if you have applied too much... who me? never.
Here are some more pictures... tomorrow the pictures will be higher quality, and will contain swatches... I promise.
Anyway,
I will speak to you later
-A 

ECOTOOLS eye enhancing duo set review

 

Hey everyone ,
I'll try and keep this blog post super short, considering that I have work in the morning and I am exhausted... Oh the joys.
So today I had a £10 voucher in my pocket for Superdrug that was burning a hole in my pocket, I knew that I wanted new eye make-up brushes and I was planning to go out and grab some Real Techniques ones. Unfortunately, the Superdrug that I was in didn't have any Real Techniques brushes. This obviously left me gutted and I had to settle for the ECOTOOLS ones, not that I love ECOTOOLS any less, in my opinion the brushes are of only a very slightly lower quality, but the theoretical eco-credits I mentally gain from owning them makes up for it... haha
I picked up the Eye enhancing duo set, at first I was confused that there were only two brushes in the packet, but then I looked down and saw that both of the brushes had another set of bristles on the end of them.
Now this may seem like a massive convenience, and it is, but I'll get onto that later. I didn't realise when I had brought them that there was one massive drawback to this 'convenient' system... I like to store my brushes in MUJI (clear plastic) casing and since the brushes are double sided, this is difficult to do. You cannot stand the brushes up as it will damage the bristles on one end. However, this isn't a huge problem if you don't stand your brushes up. And if you do, keeping them in the little bag that they came in will help, as the bottom of the bag takes the brunt of the crushing.
But now onto the positives... and whoa, there are a lot. The first and most obvious thing is that by having brush bristles on both ends, they save a lot of space to store, this makes them far easier to travel with as an extra added bonus. The brush bristles are also insanely soft which makes blending eye-shadow a dream, the hairs don't shed much at all either. The 4 brush sets that you're provided with are the perfect starter set for anyone wanting to get into eye-shadow, and are even brilliant for those of us who are a bit more experienced as they cover everything from start to finish. Another massive benefit of these brushes (which is a bit of a silly one) is that on each and every ECOTOOLS brush, the name of the brush is inscribed on it (e.g. blending), this is helpful as it helps you to tell similar looking brushes apart and also helps you to keep track of which colours you have on which brush (which prevents you from smearing black eye-shadow all over your inner eyelid...c'mon, we have all been there... right?). Honestly, the largest benefit of these brushes are that they are super cheap, I picked them up for £5.24. That works out to roughly £1.31 per brush. Compared to the Real Techniques set which is £21.99 for 5 brushes, which is consequently £4.39 per brush.
Would I buy them again?
Yes, absolutely, most definitely, 100% yes. I absolutely love the brushes and the wooden handles make me feel really hippie. Haha
Anyways,
I shall post again soon
-A

Lush Bubblegrum Lip Scrub... New obsession or passing fad?

Hey everyone,
So I know I may be a teeny tiny (extremely) late on the bandwagon with this one. But in all honesty, I was sceptical about this, I mean £5.50 for a bit of coloured, oily sugar in a pot?! Seems ridiculous right? Well I ended up giving in to the temptation due to my ever peeling lips. Does anyone else have that problem when their lips are super dry and they put on lipstick and end up having it collect up in the chapped-ness of their lips? Nope, well, just me I suppose.
So essentially, you pick up the oily, sugary mixture on your finger and scrub away at your lips until they feel noticeably tingly, then you lick off the sugar and your left with just the oil. After this you put on lip-balm or lipstick to keep your lips nice and moisturised.
On my first couple of attempts with this, I got sugar everywhere... no exaggerations! so it was slightly hard to lick off. After you've got past the initially really sugary layer, you get to more of an oily layer which is easier to scrub with, since the sugar doesn't fly around and get all over your face.

After I had done it, my lips felt noticeably softer. As smooth as a baby's bum (which is a great time to mention that I used baby lips to moisturise with afterwards), the dry skin was most definitely gone and they were ex-foliated to the best extent. I am literally obsessed with it now and cannot seem to put it down... I even managed to coax my boyfriend and mum into trying it and they both loved it... and had to wrestle it out of my hands to stop me from using it (literally)! The smell of it kind of reminds me of parma violets (a retro English sweet) when it's on your lips, and isn't as sickly as the bright pink colour alludes to. It smelt a lot yummier than the other two flavours that were available in my local Lush store (mint and popcorn) and so is the best vegan lip-scrub on the market.

The only negative (if any) about this lip scrub is that it can get a bit messy and so is probably best not to be used on the go.
So in answer to my title, I believe that this is my new obsession... for the next few weeks at least (until I have eaten it all... because it really is that yum!), perhaps after that I will need to do some more exploration into the realms of lip scrubs. This really is all new territory for me...
Anyway,
I'll talk to you later,
- A

Top tips for taming the dreaded frizz

Hey everyone,
So at this time of year, the sun finally seems to be reaching England... and honestly... my hair can tell. It's like my hair has spidey senses or something, that at the slightest bit of humidity it frizzes up and I end up looking like a glorified Albert Einstein. Not the 'beach waves' that I've been going for in all honesty. And I'm sure that many of you surely must face the same problems!

So, in light of all of this, I've devised some simple home remedies to turn you from Dianna Ross to Kim Kardashian... Lets get started!

Tip #1 - Don't shampoo your hair more than every other day. I know some of you may absolutely dread dropping the shampoo bottle, and although it is super yummy smelling and supposedly great for your hair... it can lead to dryness and that just is not what we want for our hair. You can still shower daily just avoid using shampoo or getting your hair wet every other day.

Tip #2 - Get your split ends trimmed. Getting a proper haircut can avoid that raggedy look at the end of your hair and also prevents dry and damaged looking hair. Avoid getting a layered cut, as although it emphasises curls, it takes the weight off and can lead to puffiness. Try to go for a long and straight cut so the weight of the hair can reduce that dreaded frizz

Tip #3 - Use a leave in conditioner or after shower serum. I mean... I was pretty sceptical about these too! "Wont they leave my hair feeling greasy?". NO! They leave my hair feeling smooth and soft without fuzz.

Tip #4 - Dry hair the gentle way and only brush it when wet. I know, it's hard to give up the hair dryer, but it's best. Drop it, in the name of smooth hair! You should also avoid tousling your hair when you dry it as this can cause knottiness and tangling and damaged hair. Both hair dryers and rough towelling can cause friction which causes broken hair that flies up! Why not get yourself one of those towel wraps. I use it and I love it. When combing hair, only do it when it is wet and do it with a wide tooth comb or paddle brush. This once again prevents breakages and leads to smooth and soft hair. 

Tip #5 - Sleep  with hair tied up or back. This may seem like a strange one but I really have noticed that it makes a big difference. Sleeping with hair up prevents the tangling that occurs when you toss your head around at night which leads to frizz and fluff the next morning. I usually plait it back if I want a wavy style or put it up in a loose bun on top of my head if I want to maintain my natural style.

Tip #6 - Hair mousse. This is my last secret little tip and is honestly what I swear by. Even if after all that my hair isn't as smooth as I would like it to be, I take a spray bottle of water to dampen my dry hair and put in a little bit of mousse. If you're struggling to use it there is a brilliant wikihow article you can check out by clicking here. At the moment I am utterly obsessed with the Pantene defined curls mousse which you can pick up in any superdrug and I'm pretty sure any boots too!

I hope all of these little tips and tricks can help you guys to tame the frizz just like I did... if not... I suppose it's time to bust out the straighteners.

Anyway,
Talk to you later
- A

NARS Audacious Lipstick Review - Shade 'Charlotte'

 
Hey everyone!
So I popped into London the other day to grab a couple of bits and bobs for some upcoming events that I was going to, and when passing by Selfridge's I got myself entangled in one of the window displays and so thought it be best to pop in and have a look. I made a beeline for the make-up section, narrowly avoiding being sprayed in the eye with perfume.
I knew immediately that I wanted a red lipstick but I definitely did not want a bright red, I wanted more of a matte burgundy lipstick, although I am buying the lipstick for a vintage look, I don't want to be wearing a bright red as it will detract from my dress and will look too clown like with my skin tone. I didn't want any shimmer in it as I feel like with my baby face it makes me look like a 12 year old who has just discovered the joys of lip gloss, and after-all, it doesn't really go with my vintage look, I'm sure Marilyn Monroe didn't wear glittery lipstick. 
I was immediately drawn to the MAC counter, but I found the staff to be unhelpful and when I finally did find someone to help me, he pointed me to completely the wrong shade and exactly what I hadn't asked for.
Failing this I popped over to the NARS counter where the lovely ladies were super helpful in helping me find the shade that I wanted. I was stuck between the Audacious lipstick in 'Charlotte' and the Pure Matt lipstick in 'Vesuvio', I ended up leaving with the Audacious Lipstick because I found the Pure Matt lipstick to be a little too matte (yes I know I'm a huge mind-changer but I can't help it, I love a little shimmer). 
The packaging itself (as pictured above) is sleek, black and neat, truly illustrating that this is a high end product, the embossing on the outer packaging on the NARS name, really gives a lasting effect and shows how high quality the brand is. Once open the lipstick consists of a square-like lipstick which has a lid and base and (how brilliant is this) there are mini magnets in the lid and base that make it snap together once you've got them close to each-other! I cant help but loving that little snap it makes when it closes... snap snap snap. The bottom has a little sticker on it that shows all of the information, I suppose that the thing that I love the most about this lipstick is that it is square, this is just super convenient for me as if I buy tonnes and tonnes of them I can stack them together neatly. Although... looking at the £24 price tag, it is highly unlikely that I will buy an excess amount of these. 
Please excuse the grubbiness of the packaging in my pictures... it went into the make-up back for about 2 seconds and managed to pick up all kinds of dust in there.

 I was pretty amazed with the look of the lipstick as it has the NARS name stamped into it which I felt was just another cute little touch. 
The lipstick claims to be a "single swipe" lipstick, which basically means, it should be super pigmented and you should be able to get it all on in just a single wipe, although... if you're a messy pup like me this just never happens. Nevertheless I took a swatch of two swipes vs one swipe. Can you tell which one is which? Nope... neither can I.

The colour (although not shown here due to the flash) is super duper pigmented and comes out with masses of ease. It an absolutely classic burgundy colour which can not only be used to create a vintage look, but an edgy one too if paired with a sultry smoky eye. The lipstick is insanely smooth and (unlike the MAC lipsticks which can sometimes be kinda choppy and hard to apply) this lipstick glides on with ease. Without a primer or concealer base this lipstick gives a more rich and deep red feeling but without it can give a more day to day look. The slight shimmer makes the lipstick less intimidating and slightly more wearable than I think it would be if it was completely matte. All in all I completely love this lipstick and it is true to it's word about being a smooth and single swipe lipstick. But this lipstick is so creamy that if you don't use a good quality lip liner you'll end up look like Ronald McDonald.

Would I get it again?
Most definitely yes, it is my new make-up staple and I'm going to be gutted when it runs out!

Anyway,
I'll talk to you soon :)
- A