WHY HIRE A MAKEUP ARTIST FOR YOUR WEDDING?

WEDDING MAKEUP FOR LAUREN, CAPTURED BY MARTYN AT WESTPHOTOGRAPHY

I thought I would share with you some beautiful pictures I received from Martyn, at West Photography. His style is very natural, relaxed and classic. I have had the pleasure of working along side Martyn at a couple of weddings now and always love his images! Lauren looked absolutely stunning on her wedding day, as did her Mum and Bridesmaids. 

If you would like to find out more information about Martyn and his work, please visit http://www.westphotography.co.uk/.

60'S MAKEUP

I had the pleasure of working with the lovely Amie Scudamore at the Seanhanna salon in Bristol today. She’s auditioning for a chance to be part of the L’Oreal ID Colour training program and I hope that she does really well!

Her mood board was very 60’s monochrome, so the makeup look was loosely based around 60’s fashion model, Twiggy.

Here are the final results!

Product breakdown:

Kett Crème Foundation – Natural Palette

MAC Moisture Concealer – NW15

Urban Decay – Eye Primer Potion

MAC Shadow – Vanilla, Omega, Carbon

MAC Fluid Line – Blacktrack

Rimmel Khol Pencil Eyeliner - White

Maxfactor 200 Calorie Mascara – Black

MAC loose Powder

Bare Minerals – Warmth

MAC Lip Liner – Subculture

MAC Lipstick – Blankety

Natural False Lashes – Eylure 

Hair by Amie Scudamore at Seanhanna Salon, Bristol

Clothes provided by Topshop

SCHEDULED EVENTS: BRISTOL MARRIOTT HOTEL WEDDING FAIR 2013

Bristol Marriott Wedding Fair 2012

On Sunday 27^th January 2013, you will find me at the Bristol Marriott Hotel Wedding Fair. I will be accompanied by my beautiful assistant, Becky, and look forward to meeting all of the beautiful brides to be!

Come down and visit us!

This wedding fair is huge and full inspiration!

Free glass of wine or squash for all visitors.

Choreographed fashion shows at 12:30 pm and 3:00 pm

Free Wedding Magazines.

10:30 am – 4:30 pm

Admission £2 (u16s free)

For more info visit Wedding World (SW) ltd   

See you there!

xxx

XMAS BEAUTY GIFTS AND STOCKING FILLERS UNDER £10 - 2012

Not everyone has the luxury of having huge budgets at Christmas, so I thought I would help you all with some great beauty buys that are under £10! There are also some great ideas to help jazz up stocking fillers. Prices are just a guide line and may be different when you go to buy. It's worth checking out places like Boots for 3 for 2 offers! 

1. Models Own – Beauty Blender £8 Use damp to apply foundation for a flawless finish!

2. Nail Art Gold/Black Nail Set £7.50 

3. Topshop Lip Gloss Gift Set - £10 

4. Burt’s Bees Red Dahlia Tinted Lip Balm £5.99 

5. Maxfactor 2000 Calorie Mascara £7.99 This is probably one of my most loved mascara’s for creating big full lashes

6. Fearne Compact and Bijoux Mirror £8 A girl’s bag is never complete without a compact mirror!

7. Visit Wicked Nails for some great stocking filler ideas! Wendy has lots of Beautiful Nail Art gift sets available, at very reasonable prices! I love her Gold Gift Bag £4.50 Each bag includes Silver stickers, Gold stickers, Black 3d stickers, White 3d stickers, pot of mixed Rhinestones, 5 Hexagonal glitters in Silver, Gold, Red, Blue and Green and 2 nail files all supplied in a lovely draw string bag.

8. No7 Lift & Curve Eyelash Curler  £7.25 Eyelash culers are often over looked, but they are the best way to get the most out of your lashes, especially if they are very short.

9. Models Own Limited Edition Mini Nail Glitter Polish Trio Reduced to £6 online from ASOS 

10. No7 Mini Beautifier £10 This mini makeup palette with built in mirror, 3 eyeshadows, mini gloss, mini shimmer and mini mascara is great for travelling or to keep in your gym/hand bag for on the go beauty.

11. JK Jemma Kidd Air Kiss Duo Now only £4.50 online from ASOS! 

I appreciate that this would be quite an expensive stocking filler and is not under £10, but I had to include it because it’s awesome!

VictorinoxClassic Alox Swiss Army Knife– Mini manicure set swiss army style! £15.20 

I hope that this has given you some ideas for gifts this Christmas! Let me know what you found for under £10 or share your own ideas in the comments below. For more beauty Xmas buys, see my post for TOP 10 XMAS BEAUTY GIFT SETS 2012.

TOP 10 XMAS BEAUTY GIFT SETS 2012

Christmas is nearing kids, which means that there are all kinds of amazing beauty gifts in stores that should be on every girls wish list! It was so hard to pick a top 10 and I know that there are loads of great sets missing in my selection, so feel free to comment with products that are on your Christmas beauty wish list! Prices listed are just a guide line and could change by the time you go to purchase them.

So, my Top 10 beauty gift sets are (in not particular order):

1. NARS Andy Warhol Edie Set £54 I am in love with all of the NARS Christmas sets this year and would be more than happy for Santa to put any of them under my tree!

2. Ciate Cavier Mini Bar £20 Ciate nail varnishes are brilliant and this gift box displays them beautifully.

3. Bobbi Brown Uber Nude Lip & Eye Palette £36 Bobbi Brown never fails to put together some of the most amazing must have pallets around Christmas time, from nude and natural, to sparkly party colours.

4. Laura Mercier Signature Colour Essential for Face, Eyes andLips £45 I think that this might be exclusive to John Lewis as I can’t seem to find it anywhere else… Laura Mercier products are 100% in my top ten makeup brands! This is an amazing set that would suit almost every skin tone beautifully. It is really great value for money and I recently managed to persuade my Mum to buy it for herself and she LOVES it! My sister also took a liking to the lip gloss and it has now mysteriously gone missing!

5. Yves Saint Laurent Radiant Make-Up Set £48 Touche Eclat is a cult product and a beauty must have, especially around Christmas time with all the tired after party eyes! This is a real luxury product and a real treat!

6. O.P.I Limited Edition Bond-ettes Mini Set £12.95 Who doesn't want to feel a little like a Bond girl this Christmas?!

7.  Lancome Hypnose Mascara Christmas Set £21 Lancome mascars are about £21 on their own, so this is a great deal!

8. Clinique Lotta Colour Set £30.00 Cliniques chubby sticks are like tinted lip balms and are great for a sheer and moisturising hint of colour. Do you have a lot of friends to buy for this Christmas? Why not buy box set's like this and split them among your friends?!

9. Stila Brush Gift Set £20 Stila brushes are excellent and this gift set is a perfect mini collection.

10. Benefit Away We Glow Gift Set £29.50 Beautifully boxed beauty essential kit containing some of the best of benefit!

I hope this helps you find your perfect gift this Christmas!

REAL TECHNIQUES MAKEUP BRUSHES BY PIXIWOO'S SAM CHAPMAN

I am going to start by saying that I love these brushes. I think they are great collections and amazing value for money. Since buying the Real Techniques Core Collection and Starter Set, I haven’t really reached for any other brush in my kit!

The brushes have been launched by Sam Chapman of Pixiwoo. Some of you may already be familiar with the youtube sensation that is Pixiwoo, but for those of you who aren't  Pixiwoo is  a makeup artist duo by the names of Sam and Nicola Chapman. If there was any makeup look out there that you wanted to create, but didn't know where to start or what products to use, guaranteed that Pixiwoo would have a video tutorial to help you out! If you wanted to know how to do a smokey eye, how to look like a bond girl or even the corpse bride, Pixiwoo has you covered. The girls are really great to watch and I have to say that I really enjoy their tutorials. There are a lot of tutorials on youtube, but I would highly recommend that you check out  the Pixiwoo Channel before looking elsewhere!

So, back to the brushes!

There are three collections, as well as, individual brushes to choose from and all are available at Boots stores and online. In fact, Boots currently have a ‘Buy one get one half price’ offer on at the moment, which includes these brushes! Bargain! What a perfect pre Christmas treat or gift idea! :) The Core Collection and Starter set are both currently priced at £21.99 each and I think the individual brushes start from about £6.99 each.

All of the brushes are made from Taklon, which is a synthetic material making them 100% cruelty free. Even though the brushes are synthetic, they are so incredibly soft and clean really easily. I have used them with both cream and powder products and I can’t really fault them. I’ve not experienced any fall out and I love that you can fold the brush case to make it stand up. If you want to know more about the brushes it would probably be best for you to visit the Real Techniques website at www.realtechniques.com.

The only problems I have are with the brow brush and pixel-point eyeliner brush… The brow brush is a little too thick for me and I find that I can’t quite get a precision brow with it. However, it is the perfect brush for smoking out gel liner with eye shadow for that smokey feline effect. It’s the perfect shape and density to really press the powder it and smoke it out easily. I have a similar issue with the pixel-point eye liner in that it doesn't really have a pixel point. The bristles are a little too long to control when applying gel liner and the thickness of the brush makes it hard to create a really fine line or pointed flick. My perfect gel liner brush will always be the Shu Umera 2R (Sable brush) .

BEAUTY HIGHLIGHT: FACE-LACE

I'm not sure if you have seen the video for Pink’s new song ‘Blow Me (One Last Kiss)’?? Aside from being a kick ass song, the video features Pink wearing a lace mask. Originally, I thought wow, that makeup artist must have one hell of a steady hand to be able to draw that on in such detail!! That was until I discovered that they had actually used Face Lace. 

Images taken from Face-lace.com

The creative genius behind this product is British Makeup Artist, Phyllis Cohen. She is a true artist and I have been a fan of her work since discovering she was the body painter behind the iconic Pink Floyd painted ladies.

Image taken from Phyllis Cohen's website

The product was launched at the Corrie Nielson Show at London Fashion Week 2012 and can now be purchased online at face-lace.com or from Harvey Nichols (it's cheaper to buy direct from Face Lace and they have a better selection of designs). The face lace designs are absolutely stunning and I'm so keen to get my hands on some!! They aren't a day-to-day wearable look, but they would be perfect for a costume party or masked ball! I really need an excuse to buy some!

RED LIPS: TIPS AND TRICKS

RED LIPS: TIPS AND TRICKS

One of my absolute fav red lipsticks is MAC’s Russian Red. It is a high pigment lipstick with a matt finish and lasts for hours!  Below are a few tips and tricks for creating the perfect red lip.

• Before starting your makeup apply a moisturising lip conditioner/lip balm and lightly exfoliate any dry skin using a tooth brush.
• When you are ready to apply your lipstick, take a tissue and blot off any oily residue left by your lip balm to avoid the lipstick slipping off.
• Apply a very small amount of your foundation over your lips to create a neutral base. This will make you lipstick colour more vibrate and help ensure a lasting finish.
• Just above your cupids bow, apply a small amount of pearlescent highlighter. This will make your lips look fuller and draw attention to the centre of your face.
• Starting at your cupids bow, create your desired lip shape using a red lip pencil. If you have thin lips or flat cupids bow, you can make them look fuller and create definition by taking the colour just outside of the lip line.
• After creating your desired shape, fill in the whole lip area with the liner.
• Creating a long lasting lip colour is all about layers! Apply your first coat of lip stick, gently pushing into your lip. Blot with tissue and repeat.
• Create a more defined lip and tidy up any mistakes using your concealer and small concealer brush.
• You can set your lipstick and create a matt finish by gently dusting over translucent setting powder.
• For a fuller and glossy finish, apply a small amount of red or clear gloss to the centre of you bottom lip, blend out and lightly put your lips together.

Vois là! Perfect red lips!

FOSSILISED PLASTIC JEWELLERY BY SUE GREGOR

It was an absolute pleasure to work with Shikha, at Odd& Eden Studios, shooting a collection of jewellery by artist, Sue Gregor. This particular collection is ‘inspired by Masai Tribes women’s discs shaped wedding necklaces’ and are so beautiful when the light shines through them, projecting a shadow onto the wearer. She describes her method of dying and embossing plastic, as ‘fossilised Plastic’. Using ‘quite ordinary plants and weeds’, Sue manages to create truly unique and stunning pieces of wearable art.

To find out more about Sue, her collections and how to get your hands on these beautiful pieces of jewellery, visit http://www.suegregor.co.uk/site/. 

REVIEW: ORIGINS SKIN CARE

Having a good skin care routine is a basic beauty rule, but there is nothing basic about finding the right products to suit you. It can be overwhelmingly confusing and very costly. Like many, I have sat for hours reading reviews about skin care and spent hundreds of pounds on products that haven’t worked or reacted badly with my skin.

I am nearing my late twenties now (I’m holding onto my mid-twenties status as long as I can!) and I’m starting to notice changes to my complexion and level of sensitivity. I have also noticed an occasional heat and redness to my skin, which is probably due to an underlying issue, but can be easily irritated by the types of products that I am using. I sometimes struggle to find the perfect skin care partner. If only there were a ‘match.com’ for skin care! I’m a makeup artist, not a skin specialist, but I know that natural organic oils and ingredients are much more beneficial compared to a combination of synthetic oils and nasty chemicals that can cause irritation and more damage. Origins has been on my radar for a while, mostly because their products are completely natural and made up of essential oils, but also because family, friends and clients all rave about them.

I have been using Origins skin care products for about a week now and can honestly say that I have noticed a massive difference already! Speaking with Origins consultant, Kylie, was great. She was so helpful and I was really impressed with her level of skin care knowledge, as well as being able to tell me every detail about my recommended products. I really felt that she listened, understood and could explain why each product would benefit my skin. She has totally enlightened me and put my faith back in good quality skin care that does what it says it’s going to do. I decided to go for a cleanser, toner and day moisturizer and have also been testing a small sample of skin relief serum.

The Products:

For the full list of products and ingredients please visit www.origins.com

Cleanser – Check and Balances

This is a creamy face wash that leaves skin feeling super clean and fresh. Ingredients include lavender, chamomile and spearmint. This face wash smells beautiful and leaves a really nice finish to my skin. It never feels dry or tight and a little goes a long way. It’s not a bad makeup remover, but I wouldn’t recommend it for removing eye makeup as it really stings!

Treatment Tonic (Toner) – A Perfect World Moisturizing Lotion

Age-defense treatment lotion with White Tea. Oil free and alcohol free. I love that this toner or ‘treatment Tonic’ is alcohol and oil free! Some products that I have used in the past contain so much alcohol that I fear walking near an open flame after application! Toners are great for restoring the PH balance back to your skin after cleansing, but sometime I find them really drying. I was nervous to use this product, as I have not had the best experience with previous toners, but I am really pleased with how refreshed I feel after using it. My skin feels plump without any extreme tightness and smells like a luxury spa treatment.

Serum – Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins Face Serum ‘Mega-Mushroom Skin Relief’

This is my A* product! As I said before, my skin can sometimes get quite red, heated and easily irritated, but not anymore! This product has been a savior. Applied before moisturizer, it is so soothing and genuinely calms my skin. Unfortunately, this was not the cheapest item on my shopping list… I was nervous to spend so much money on a product that I wasn’t even sure would work, so Kylie kindly gave me a small sample to try out. I am so impressed with it that I don’t think I could be without it now! It is an expensive item, but my skin is definitely worth the investment.

Moisturiser – Starting Over Oil Free Moisturiser

This is an ‘age-erasing’ moisturizer… I would like to be clear that I don’t actually have wrinkles or lines, but I am noticing changes in my skin and it’s better to prevent than try to reduce. It’s a really nice, light  moisturizer that absorbs into the skin quickly, without leaving an oily residue behind. It’s also sits really nice underneath foundation and doesn’t cause any slippage. A change in moisturizer usually causes a break out for me, but I have had none what so ever with this one, so happy days!

About Origins:

 ‘We manufacture using a combination of renewable resources, wind energy and earth-friendly practices.’ Truly sustainable beauty! :)

Obviously, some of these products might not be the best for you, so make sure you have a good chat with one of their consultants and don’t be afraid to ask for samples!

LAURA MERCIER: EYE BASICS EYE SHADOW

Laura Mercier products are excellent and I’m especially loving Eye Basics in Flax. I have worn this eye shadow nearly every day since I bought it and I’m really impressed with how long wearing it is. It’s so easy to apply, has good coverage and leaves a really nice soft finish. It doesn’t set completely matt, which I think makes it such a nice product to wear on its own. It’s also proven to be a great base for powder eye shadows and doesn’t crease at all throughout the day. Another great feature is that it doesn’t dry out the skin like some other primers.

Skin friendly ingredients enhance the delicate skin on the eye lids, botanicals soothe distressed lids, vitamins A, E and C provide anti-oxidant protection and eye bright offers anti-inflammatory and healing benefits.

There is an applicator brush included, but I wouldn’t suggest you put this straight on your eye. A little goes along way with this eye shadow, so pop a bit on the back of your hand and use your finger to blend in. You can always build up coverage if you think you need it and by applying it this way you will help keep it bacteria free.

There’s a range of about 8 neutral colours to choose from and a really amazing soft baby blue. It currently retails at about £20.50 from John Lewis, and is definitely a worthwhile 2-in-1 eye shadow/eye base investment.

If you’re wondering how it compares to Laura Mercier eye canvas, then I would say that the eye basics gives a lot better coverage. The eye canvas pots are quite sheer and don’t really cover imperfections or discolouration. It is a nice lightweight eye shadow and lasts really well, but I would always go for the eye basics. I also find that the canvas pots aren’t as easy to apply as the basics.