Bronze Chocolate | Eye

3/20/2013 06:00:00 am
Hola Munchkins,
Today I would like to share with you the base of a simple eye.  
Constructivist Paint Pot by Mac on the lid, and slightly smoked out with a blending brush, topped off with Rimmel's Scandaleyes Eye Shadow Stick in Bad Girl Bronze (awful name, I am by no one's standards, a "bad girl"), also smoked out.  Add a lashing of Black Kohl, and a smudge of Mascara, and Bob's your uncle, a groomed, smouldering (but also day-appropriate) eye.
Love A.x

Barry M Gelly | Nail of the Week

3/19/2013 06:00:00 am
Hola Munchkins!
I caved, and gave into the Gelly hype, and I am very glad that I did so!  Thick, opaque, hard-wearing, gel-like.  Perfect nails.
So perfect that my nails are now coated in Lychee, the most beautiful, understated nude, very elegant, and surprisingly very lovely on my very long nails!  I topped them off with the Morgan Taylor Fame Game, a super duper sparkly, silver, but many other colours, fine, fine, shimmer slash glitter!

Beautiful!
Love A.x

Big Fat | Hair

3/18/2013 06:00:00 am
Hola Munchkins!
My hair has been annoying me to the max for a while now.  It is thick.  It is heavy.  It just sits when I don't give it a helping hand.  There was a time, not long ago when I would not leave the house without perfect hair and make up, but for whatever reason, I've dropped the ball on it a little.  No longer shall I do this! I am back, with a vengeance, and in the quest for height, I have turned to these products:
Needless to say, they are pretty self explanatory - spray the Fructis Heat Protect Big Volume all over wet hair, then (and herein lies the trick) spray some of the gorgeous (odd adjective for a hairspray, I know), into the roots of wet hair, then blow-dry upside down like crayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyzay.  Just before I style, I spray dry shampoo on dry hair, to give grip to what I'm about to do next - Backcomb!  Et voila, big fat hair, just the way I like it!
Hope you liked my hair styling routine, if one could even call it that!
Love A.x
P.S. the hairspray is super fine, non-tacky, brushes out easily, and I seriously love it!

A Very Mischievous Splurge | Kevyn Aucoin The Sculpting Powder

3/15/2013 04:00:00 pm
Hola Munchkins!

You know that feeling, when you get a bee in your bonnet, and the only thing that will rid you of said bee is to shop.  And not just shop, but buy something amazing?  Well, generally I can stave off that feeling, but today I just couldn't, and, as the title suggests, the Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder in Medium tumbled into my possession.

I may feel somewhat poorer, but let me tell you, that small, shiny red case, that fits neatly in the palm of my hand, OH it fills me with joy and makes my heart just want to sing!
Basically, it is what I have been searching for for the longest time - a contour that leans wholly cool, almost looks as if it isn't there, and is deep enough to show up well.

I will report back later, but for now, let's just say that my bee has most definitely flown away!
Love A.x

Face Mask | Love-In

3/14/2013 11:40:00 pm
Hola Munchkins!
Now, you may have realised I have been MIA as they say.  I apologise, life just got very busy all of a sudden, and then when I wanted to blog I got overwhelmed by the amount of things I could blog about!  Soooooo I thought I'd start off with a nice, easy post, a post about the month of face masks!
February and this half of March have been the months of the face masks.  Plural.  As in I can't seem to use one at a time at the moment.  Forget triple-threat facial, sometimes is a quad-threat facial, or on those super busy days, often a bi-tri-or quad smoooshed facial!
Now, I am a full-on skincare routine advocate - I cleanse, I tone if I feel I need it, and of course I moisturise.  But tbh, I do more than that.  I double cleanse, sometimes triple cleanse, tailoring the cleanse to whatever my skin needs on that particular morning or evening.  I exfoliate, both using physical and chemical exfoliants.  I use serums, oils and treatments, and of course, I use masks!

As usual, we have the face masks in categories - the deep cleansers, the brightening and chemical exfoliants, and the moisture-givers.  All used together to (hopefully) rebalanced my stressed and confused skin. 

Let's start off with the deep cleansers.  In this category, lies the Superdrug Oil Balancing Mask, the Clarins Pure and Radiant Mask the Good Things Five Minute Facial Face Mask, Oskia's Deep Cleansing Mask and the Kiko Peeling Mask.  All of these masks do exactly what they say on the tin - all contain clay to suck out the yuk from your skin, and suck out the yuk they defos do.  If you need a super-quick fix, the Superdrug mask works in only three minutes!  A handy tip if you will, is to let the mask dry on your skin, then dampen the mask again, helping it to suck even more yuck out!

Brightening masks are currently my favourite - winter has literally sucked the soul out of my skin, at the same time as dumping a truck-load of oil on it!  The brightening masks alleviate some of the "I'm so ill" pallor that winter brings to me, helping me to achieve a somewhat fresher complexion.  In this category, hero products are the Elemis Tri-Enzyme Mask, which you can really feel working, the Superdrug Naturally Radiant Mask, and the Alpha H Perfecting and Smoothing Mask. 

Last of all, moisture.  And here I have been cheating somewhat - after all my clay and brightening masks, sometimes I have lain in the bath with the Una Brennan Rose oil on my face, and I must say, it leaves behind the most beautifully moist, plumped complexion when buffed off with a hot flannel after a steamy bath, without an oily residue. 
Hope this helped navigate the minefield that is face masks!
Love A.x

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