Beauty Brawl 2017 Day 1- Liquid lipstick

Day 1- Liquid lipstick

Not going to lie, I'm not a fan of liquid lipsticks. I'm an artist, make up artist and illustration, I like to be creative, wild and make a mess. Liquid lipsticks are harsh and unforgiving. They require you to be precised in a way only a surgeon can be... and then there's usually me plastering it on like a reject from a Miranda Sings lookalike competition. 

I went with an old faithful brand and chose Make up Revolution's Salvation Liquid Lipstick in "Velvet rose" , I also teamed it up with one of my favorite and a bit more pricier lip liners by Jane Iredale also in the shade "Rose" 

This is pretty much the only photo of me wearing this lipstick where it isnt smeared half way across my face or on my teeth.

Product: 40

Packaging:  70

Price:   90

All marked out of 100, as you can probably tell I wasn't too impressed. It took ages to dry and go matte, it dried my lips out and stained them really bad until the following day, and despite the fact it was stained it didn't actually stay on my lips very well, in fact the lip liner stayed on my lips a lot longer. The packaging is swanky and makes it look a bit more high end then it is, it feels nice to put on, although given how precised you have to be it's a bit tricky to get the hang of even for a pro. The best part about it was the price as it was only £3.00, which is insane. 

I've tried their darker liquid lipsticks and they all seem to be amazing in spite of my hatred of liquid lipsticks, I may just have had a dud, or because it is a lighter colour it doesn't perform the same as the others, or am I just making excuses. Regardless, only impressive thing was the price!

Love and Light. XoXo

Please go and check out Beth's Day 1 Review Here. 

Beauty Brawl Graphics http://emmadrury.com/

Beauty Brawl 2017

If you've followed me for a while now you know I let life get in the way of my blog. And for that I will not apologize as i'd rather live a life...but I will make it up to you guys whenever I can! So as a peace offering I am very happy to announce I am taking part in the Bloggers Beauty Brawl for summer 2017!!!

I loved doing this back in December and I am excited to be doing it all over again with new products and honest reviews for this summer.

Our shopping list this time is:

Day 1) Liquid Lipstick

Day 2) Brow Product

Day 3) Eyeliner

Day 4) Make up Remover

Day 5) Nail Varnish

Day 6) Face mask

Day 7) Primer

Day 8) False Eyelashes

Day 9) Hand Cream

Day 10) Bronzer


I'll be stepping out of my comfort zone with some of these items this time around, but none the less I am always willing to try something new!


(Update) This post is later than planned due to unexpected technical issues, Original post dated (20/05/2017)

Bloggers Christmas Beauty Brawl 2016

This year I'm lucky enough to be taking part in the Bloggers Beauty Brawl for Christmas 2016. 

If you're unfamiliar with this, the basic idea is that a group of lovely ladies get together and review a list of ten products over the next ten days and mark them out of 100 in a "top trumps" way to battle it out for their best products. 

Now as you guys know I don't, and wont beat around the bush. If the item is rubbish I'm going to say it and score it accordingly. I will link all of the other lovely ladies' blogs down below if you want to go and see any of their reviews, also look out for the #beautybrawl2016 on Twitter and Instagram. 

Here is the list of products:

1. A moisturiser 

2. An eyeshadow palette 

3. A highlighter 

4. A mascara 

5. A blush 

6. A brow product 

7. A lipstick 

8. A Foundation 

9. A hand cream 

10. A concealer

Bloggers taking part:

Beth: La Blog Beaute 

Victoria : Victoria life on camera 

Elaine: Early Retirement Rocks

Kimberley Jessica: KimberleyJessica 

Tori; Powdered and Polished. 

Laura Faye: Forever Faye 

Karen: The Mad House of Cats and Babies. 

Gemma: An Ocean Glimmer 

Ellysia: Miss Dainty K

Andreia: Andreia Prieto X

Natalie: Beauty Box Obsessed 

Rabia: Rabia Qureshi

Bethany: The Beth Blog 

Becky: Hideaway Blogging

Lynn: Lemons Cake 

Sarah: The Passion Ease Queen 

Taylor: Reese's Hardwear

Cheryl: Cheryl Gemma

Daisy: Daisey Says

Phillippa: Phillippa Beauty 

Charli: High Street Beauty Junkie

Natasha: Beauty By Natasha16

Emma: Running in Couture

Love and Light XxX

My Hair from Long to Short of it- and pros and cons.

(Basic pros and cons are at the bottom if you want to skip past my tale) 
  Like any modern day woman i'm in-decisive and constantly wanting to change and update my look. And up until two years ago, my look with my hair anyway was always long jet black hair, right from the age of 15/ 16. 

 

Even on my wedding day i still had my long black hair, i have had it cut a few times, or a few red streaks added etc but its pretty much always been like this. But then

apparently like most other "new brides" i went through the usual crisis of wanting a dramatic change now that i was a married woman. I'd realized that my fashion sense was my own and i didn't have to follow any trends so in order to make myself more unique and more like who i felt i should be, i had all of my hair lobbed off!

I believe it was one of the best things i've ever done. It was like i'd chopped off my security blanket that i was hiding behind and stepped out from the crowed, now i could have some fun! as sad as that sounds that's what changing my hair meant to me! it's exactly what it did! i was more confident in myself, in my style and more inclined to try new looks and that lead me to lightening my hair and eventually going blonde.

 Again stepping away from my security blanket of long black hair... i now had short blonde hair! Which also meant i could do a lot more with it! i ended up being able to do so much with my hair i think its one of the best things i've ever done! I'd had it white, lilac, pink...even multi. i felt i could express myself easier.

And now i'm right up to a pixie crop!

ANYWAY thats my quick hair length journey, now to the part you're really here for, should you cut your hair or grow it out? Here's a list of my personal pros and cons i've discovered. 

Pros and Cons:

• Long hair was easy to hide when it was getting a little dirty, you could easily whack it up in a bun or pony tail and no one would know, so with short hair its more effort - BUT the miracle that is Dry shampoo covers a multitude of sins with short hair! 
• Short hair uses less products, You may have to wash your hair more often and use some styling products like wax etc but over-all your shampoo usage is halved and the excuse "i'm washing my hair" doesn't work anymore. 
• Its quicker and easier to work with when its short, and you don't really have any of those "my hair wont do what i want it to" with styles etc.
• You can still have different hair styles day to day with short hair, especially as short as mine, you can pin back the fringe for a cute quiff or spike it up and volumise it for an edgy OTT quiff or even gel into a mow-hawk.
• Its easier to change your colour- there's less hair to actually damage, you don't need to use as much dye and you can go for bold bright colours without investing hours in bleaching, conditioning, re-bleaching to get the colour out of the saturated long ends where you've been dying it for years. 
• Lastly- and not meant as a 'dig' at people with long hair but i find personally i stand out from the crowd more, i'm not mixed with the generic long hair- pretty girls. Not that that's a bad thing if that is what you like, but personally I've never been a "pretty" girl, I've always been a Kick-your ass, tattoos, motorbikes and decorate my house with skulls and roses kinda woman. And for me short hair was the best choice I've ever made. Its made me step out of my shell and away from the usual conforms of what i thought was my personal fashion- when actually i was just trying to be like everyone else. Girls with their long luscious hair are beautiful but i was trying to be them and it really just wasn't me. 

   I'll be the first to admit i do get hair envy when i see someone with long blonde hair, but it last for a second and then i remember why i got rid of my curtain and stopped hiding myself away behind it all. There's no hiding now! It's the same as women with straight hair will always want curly and people with naturally curly will always want straight. I guess were blessed with being able to have the choices we do now. You can cut it off or grow it out, or straighten it or perm it.

   If your thinking of going short its a long-term commitment you have to live with for years before it'll grow back out again so think long and hard, but if you're doing it for the right reasons it'll be the best thing you've probably ever done. 

Just think before you chop!

XxX

Skin Analysis: What is your skin type?

Sorry this is a week late but i have been having issues, namely HAIR issues, i shall explain that though in another blog post... for now, as promised here's a definitive way of determining what skin type you are so you can buy the correct cosmetic products to help enhance and even-out your skins' appearance, also featuring a few celebrities. After each type I've linked a few beauty products ideal for that skin type; some high end, some drug-store. 
HERE is Clinique's step by step choices using your skin type.

1)Normal Skin
 This skin type is very VERY rare- in fact it's quite likely that no one you know is going to have completely "Normal" skin all over. Your skin can Combine two skin types, as in one can commonly be "Normal" with an "Oily t-zone" (this is Combination skin as described in the next point) but it's highly unlikely they will be "Normal" all over. 
A Normal skin type is identified by it's even appearance, matte finish, no visible pours and no redness or "sallow" (yellow) appearance. - Usually someone with combination skin will have Normal skin on their cheeks and upper forehead. Basically, all-over "Normal" skin is only achievable through Photoshop. 

2)Combination Skin
Combination is the most common, simply because it covers most bases- it is literally a Combination of two or more of any of the mentioned skin types in this post. As simple as that. Obviously products in stores that are for "Combination" skin are usually designed around people with "Oily and Normal" combination skin. But some can be tailored to specific combinations like "Mature and Dry" etc.. so just read packaging carefully.
Dermalogica Normal/Oily Skin complete KIT
Nivea Oily to Combination Day Cream

3)Dry Skin
 Dry skin will have a naturally Matte appearance, will appear flaky on the surface (NOT to be confused with Psoriasis or Eczema). There will be very small or no visible pours when looking closely in the mirror, and skin will be quite thin, with capillaries on your cheek area (small, teeny-tiny thin red lines).
 You will want an oil-based or cream based make-up remover for daily use, and a cream cleanser. If you use toner (which you should!) it should have a very low or no alcohol content. If you want to pamper yourself you need a non-setting mask, aka: avoid clay masks! If you can still move your face while it's on then it's the one for you! And your daily moisturizer should be high in oil content. 
Dermalogica Skin Hydrating Booster
Dermalogica Dry Skin Kit
Eucerin Dry Skin Relief - Face
Garnier Skin Naturals Moisture Match For Dry Skin.

4)Mature Skin
 Believe it or not you can be classed as having "Mature skin" from the age of around 25 plus. No it doesn't mean you need to retire now and put away the hot pants! It's simply a way of categorizing your skin type. All it means is you've lost some of the elasticity in your skin, this happens over time to everyone and means your skin is no longer producing enough collagen to fight against gravity, so your skin may begin to sag around your neck and cheeks.
 You will have visible lines and wrinkles around your eyes, mouth, and on your forehead- perhaps small but if they're their i'm sure you'll have seen them! 
 Your skin becomes thinner, and more sallow (yellow) in appearance, and will seem quite dull. Older skin also begins to develop Pigmented areas or "Age Spots". 
Ideally you'll be wanting to use a cream cleanser and a refreshing toner. Any anti-aging beauty product will be great for your skin, although as a side note, do be aware that any product can claim to be anti-aging if it has a SPF factor. 
A great treat for your mature skin will be an Exfoliating Peel mask. It'll pull away the drying surface skin and reveal the newer younger skin underneath. 
Also ALWAYS use neck and eye creams. Daily! Make sure it has an SPF of at least 15 and that you keep up to date with your skin care, as well as looking after your skin dietary-wise; AKA drink plenty of water. Correct vitamins etc...(see skin health note below) 
Olay Anti-Wrinkle Day Cream
Boots Time-Delay
Cliniques Range of Anti-aging

5)Congested Skin
 This can happen to any skin type, it's usually known as acne or more commonly; spots and black heads. Full blown Acne can be a horrid thing to try and battle but always seek dermatological advice from your local beauty therapist and your GP there are a lot of things out there you can get to help. Do not be ashamed to ask for help. Although you may be finding it hard or even being bullied there are so many awesome things available now to help you! I'd hate to think some poor girl/guy will suffer through it without seeking help that could potentially clear it up for good!  
For the other people who merely suffer with the occasional spot or black-head bare in mind you become more prone to spots if your hormones change (puberty, before your period, or during the menopause) so get on top of it with exfoliating at least once every 28 days or using a very gentle exfoliant or mask every week. Never exfoliate every day as this wont give your skin time enough to recover from its intense scrubbing. 

Miss Diaz is always exploited in the press with her "Bad Skin". 

But as you can see here most of the time she's on top of it and seems to look after her skin well!

Dermalogica Pure Night TreatmentDermalogica Clearing Skin Wash. Dermalogica Concealing Spot Treatment
Visibly Clear Spot Stress Control Cleanser

6)Sensitive Skin
 Redness in the skin, plain and simple. It's the easiest way of diagnosing this. I have it. And i hate it. If the temperature of the room suddenly changes my cheeks go a lovely scarlet shade and stay that way for hours after. The redness can also be set off by make-up application, make-up removal and even just TOUCHING the skin. The redness and constant "Highly-flushed" look is easily treated with products designed for sensitive skin... it usually caters for combination sensitive too so it shouldn't be too oily or drying. It should just be a nice medium that is nice and cooling to the skin, to keep it nice and calm. 
You must avoid any Exfoliants that have sugar/seeds/beads etc in, anything gritty will tear-apart your skin and make it redder than ever. Should you need to exfoliate due to congestion etc... try and find one with a mild acidity- this will essentially burn away any dirt and grease. A non-setting mask, which keeps the skin nice and cool is ideal. 
Dermaligica Cream Mask/Exfoliator.

Clinique Redness Solutions


7)Oily Skin
This is a common skin type. Not many people may actually have surface oil nor a shine to their skin but it is an obvious identifier. It is also common to have large visible pours, commedones (black heads), thicker skin and a yellowish appearance.  
A make-up remover designed for oily skin is ideal, usually cream based. You'll want a slightly harsher toner, perhaps with higher alcohol as this will dry out the skin, and a good moisturizer that's light. 
If you want a treat a clay or setting mask with grab any dirt through that oily layer and cleanse the skin of the oily texture at the same time. 

Poor Katy Clearly has visible pores, and congestion as a result of her oily skin type. But we wont let that stop us from freakin' loving the girl.

Dermalogica Oil Control lotion

Garnier Skin Oily Skin Cleanser


8)Dehydrated Skin
Now this isn't necessarily a skin "Type" as such- as it's usually a temporary problem that can be fixed with the correct intake of water and changing the products you're using on your skin. I'm featuring it as a type because so many people do have it- and it will have an obvious lack of moisture, the skin will feel tight, almost like its pulling, and it will be flaky, especially if your flaky areas are appearing in your oily t-zone. I am guilty of suffering from this so this leads nicely onto my final section; 
(Drink This)

Skin Health
All of the above can change rapidly dependent on the factors listed below, so it's a good idea to check none of these things have changed before you continue using the wrong products for your skin and making it worse;

Hormones
Products Used
Diet
Water/Lack of fluid
Exercise
Alcohol
Weather/climate/holiday
Allergies
UV/Sun Exposure
Smoking
Health issues (illness)
Stress
Medication
Sleep (lack of)
Genetics 
Drug use.