10 Make-Up Tips

Tip # 1

To make your lips look bigger and more "pouty" highlighting above your cupids bow can transform your lips into looking more fuller than what they actually are, either using a stark white colour or an off white colour then blending it so that it is subtle enough for it not to look like a patch of flour on your face but a soft light be shone on that area. Personally I prefer matte shades. After highlighting the cupid's bow, I then highlight underneath by bottom lip in the middle and blend that out, your lips will look the best. If you want to take it to another step after this you can put some shiny or slightly shimmery gloss in just the middle of your lips, it should look to crazy, subtle but a noticeable difference.

Tip # 2 

When you are wearing a darker lipstick, whether that is a red or berry or whatever else, the best option is to first use a lip liner to outline the shape of your lips to ensure a perfect and precise lip shape rather than a messy/ rough application and sometimes to make sure you lipstick lasts longer you can put the lip liner all over your lips. If you don't have a lip liner, no big deal. Get a precise brush, maybe an angled eyeliner brush or a small concealer brush with precise angles, dip it into your lipstick so you can line your lip shape then apply the rest of your lip colour with either the lipstick tube or that precise brush. After that get a tissue, blot the excess lipstick from lips onto the tissue and then apply the lipstick again and repeat the blotting step and then again. This wont look cakey because you are getting rid of the excess and using the lipstick almost as a stain underneath the last layer of lipstick, hopefully that makes sense. 

Tip # 3

Everybody's eye shape is different so when you are trying to recreate a look from youtube or a celebrity look you should use the look as a rough guideline rather than a stencil because sometimes the exact recreation of a make-up look on yourself will not look the same or even suit you, so whenever you are recreating a look or  are even just doing your make-up in general always keep checking how your make-up looks with your eyes open. 

Even before you properly start doing your make-up, softly do an outline of the shape you want your make-up to be in while your eyes are open so that you can follow that guideline, use like a pale colour that you can see or the colour you will be using. Knowing the shape that suits your eyes is different for everyone, because everyones eye shape is different so it does take some practice but that's ok, when you do that outline you will avoid getting carried away this is more a  beginners tip. It's for when you are getting use to your eye shape and what make-up styles and where you place you eyeshadow look good on you, to compliment your eye shape.

Tip #4

Lip liners are wonderful for making your lips appear bigger and fuller, you aren't using a lip liner right if you can actually see an obvious line around your lips and then a different lip colour shade, that's a BIG no, no. The lip liner should be the same colour as whatever you'll be wearing on your lips whether that is a lipstick, tinted lip balm or matching it to you natural lip colour if you just want to wear a lip balm. You either go on the lip liner or ever so slightly above the lip line and if there are any visible lines you BLEND it out, it should be natural looking and it will totally transform your lips. 

Just make sure when you line your lips use soft small strokes rather than just tracing around your lip line in one stroke. 

Tip #5

When you are doing a make-up look, you should always apply the colours softly and make sure you blend as you go, for 2 reasons 1; it's easier to add more colour later rather than take off colour which can wreck the make-up you have already applied and 2; blending as you go is so important, you don't leave it to the end because it will be harder to get a nice seamless look. 

It will take more time and effort if you leave blending until the end of the look. Remember the difference between professional looking make-up and amateur looking make-up is the blending, if you are blending everything out nicely and have a nice gradient effect you will have a professional look, if your make-up is basically just placing eyeshadow on the lid and not blending or minimal blending,  honestly it's going to look silly. 

Tip # 6

Light colours bring features OUT and dark colours bring features IN!!

 This is one of the most important tips to remember when you are doing make-up, whole face make-up not just eyes or face. 

An example; someone who has very close set eyes has to make sure not to bring dark colours in too much because this will further bring the eyes in even closer, instead you make sure to put lighter colours in the corner of the eyes to create  the  illusion of separation. 

Another example; if you have deep set eyes (like myself) you have to be very careful with dark colours on your lid, so if I was doing a really dark smokey eye on myself and decided "you know what I just want a one colour smokey eye" if I were to place just a dark colour on my eye lid and blend it a little I would look beyond ridiculous, I would have to make sure I bring the colour up above the eyelid to that meaty part of your eye (above the socket line would be an easier way to describe it lol) to even out the look, anyway the rule with deep set eyes is to keep lighter colours on the lid to bring them out.

Another example; the reason why we highlight the top of our cheek bones is to create the effect that you have these stunning cheek bones that are protruding out.

Tip #7

If you have very small eyes, this tip is connected to tip #6, you should avoid putting dark colours on your waterline, instead either whites, off whites and creamy flesh toned colours will open up the eyes and give the illusion of bigger eyes. To take it to the next level either getting a medium brown, dark brown or even black eyeshadow or eyeliner and blending it on your lower lash line will help make your eyes look even bigger, either going 3/4 of the way or the whole way depending on how that looks with your eye shape and blending it to look more natural. If you are very pale and are going for a natural look you are best to start out with a medium brown eyeshdaow/pencil because the look can be a bit much. And after this curl your lashes and put on mascara.

NOTE: Flesh coloured pencil on the water line looks much more subtle and natural than a stark white.

Tip # 8

Droopy eyes or "sad eyes" are when your eye shape is pointing/ going downwards (like my sister), and when I do my sisters make-up it's really important that I don't put eyeshadow or eye liner or the lower lash line, or if I do I just put a little on the outer edge and make sure that I do it on an angle so that it's bringing the eye up. It makes such a difference, once I experimented putting eyeshadow across the whole length of her lash line and it just bought her eyes down, when I left it alone and just put mascara her eyes looked much better! I also made sure that the colour I put on that outer edge was subtle too. 

Tip # 9

CURL YOUR LASHES!!!!! This is a pretty standard tip but not everyone does it but it is so, so, so important for all eye shapes (especially small eyes) and anyone who wears mascara. Curling your lashes just opens up your eyes instantly like nothing else. If you don't curl your lashes before mascara it can in my opinion really let down a look, if your lashes are droopy then it brings down your eyes. Curling your lashes even makes more matures eyes look younger because it's like an instant painless (as long as you are curling your eyelashes right) eye lift. I love curling my eyelashes so much I even do it when I'm not wearing make-up because I look more awake more fresh, just better!! 

It's hard at the start, I mean when I first started curling my lashes I SUCKED at it but I practised so much that I got much better at it and I rock at it now as long as I have a mirror lol. 

Tip # 10

If your neck is lighter than your foundation on your face please, please bring it onto the neck. It is a horrible look when there is a visible foundation line across the jaw, even if you are lucky enough to be all one colour  which is more rare since it's harder for the sun to hit under your chin, still blend the foundation OVER the jaw line. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen this, and it doesn't look good. Of course it's hard to get it to look perfect but blending it down the neck will just help the difference look subtle rather than very obvious when you can see a visible line, it looks very fake and I hate to say it but cake facey.

If anyone would be interested I might add some pictures to some of these tips to show everyone what I mean to get a better understanding of the tips I have outlined.

Anyway let me know if you like these tips and if you haven't already, give 'em a go :)

10 Beauty Skin Tips

1) After plucky your eyebrows, go over the brow area (where you plucked)  with toner, WHY? to close the pores because after plunking the hair out, the pore is open and dirt and bacteria will get into that pore more easily.

2) Exfoliating; so, so, so important! With me my skin is very dry and needs a lot of exfoliation, personally I find a lot of exfoliating scrubs either don't do enough for me or they are too harsh, another alternative to buying those scrubs is using a face washer/ small towel. Wet the towel, get rid of the excess water and gently scrub your face in circular motions, you can do this lightly daily or every few days. So no need to buy a scrub, of course if the dead skin cells are still not all coming off (like with my skin) then other methods should be used too but for most skin types this will be enough. Of course make sure to moisturise after!!

3) Natural oils, I have so many I've lost count they are amazing for your skin, an easy way to use them is putting a few drops in your moisturiser everyday, 2-4 drops is more than enough in your moisturiser depending on your skin type. Another great use for oils is to use around your nails to soften the skin (helps avoid painful peeled skin pieces around the nail) and help soften the cuticles and keep the nail area to be more healthy. 

4)  Put lip balm on always before bed, your lips will be so smooth in the morning, really lather it on.  Tip: to help repair your lips from any bad condition, mix 1 NATURAL vitamin e capsule with some unrefined coconut oil and apply it every night and then apply a natural lip balm during the day.

5) Use a shower cap to let hair conditioner soak into the hair more and do a better job at softening the hair. The heat will help to soften and more deeply conditioner the hair.

6) Use coconut oil and shea butter for smoother underarms. Especially if you are a frequent shaver, it really damages the underarms and coconut oil offers so many benefits for the skin, one being it will help the skin heal from shaving, two it is antibacterial plus a lot more benefits and shea butter will help keep the moisture and soften the razor bumps as well as other benefits too. 

7) Yellowing nails? Rub a little bit of lemon on your nails, or even soaking them in some lemon juice, if that's too strong dilute it with some water and continue to use it until you see results.  WARNING: If you have split skin or cuts around your nails don't use the lemon until cuts are healed otherwise it will burn!!!!!

8) Use natural oils for moisturising around the eye area instead of thick creams. Using a little bit of oil such as jojoba, coconut, almond or rosehip oil  for example is a great way to moisturise the whole area around the eye without the heaviness an eye cream gives. Heavy eye creams can cause milia and white heads, so to give your skin a break at night time instead of using the same eye cream you use during the day, use a little bit of oil. Of course you can use it during the day as long as you aren't wearing make-up.

9) Use shea butter as a moisture sealer, for example after applying some jojoba oil around the eye area, to make sure that moisture is sealed apply a very small dab of shea butter over the area.

10) When you are cleansing you should always let the cleanser sit on the skin for a while to let all the ingredients soak in and do their job, whether it's to hydrate the skin or help clear acne whatever the cleansers purpose is, it needs more time than a minute on the skin. You should always make sure to really massage the cleanser into the skin, really work the cleanser into the skin then let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Cleansers staying on the face for 1-2 minutes will not be giving the skin the full benefits. Even if you leave it for 5 minutes in the morning and go for the 10 minute mark at nigh time and then massaging it for a few minutes which stimulates blood flow which is also good for the skin too. 

This is a pretty standard tip in my opinion but I know a lot of people don't think about cleansing like this or they just don't do it this way, but you really should give it a go.

Please comment if you try any of these tips and tell me if they have helped in any way :)

I Dry My Hair With a.....What??

So....most people I would say dry their hair with a towel, right? Well, not me, at least not anymore. So... what do I use? A t-shirt. Why? I'll tell you.

 So a few months ago I was doing some research, something to do with hair... I can't even remember clearly but I came across an article about curly hair and how it's best to use a cotton cloth or t-shirt to dry your hair, this helps reduce frizziness and damage to the hair follicles.  The fibres on towels are much more harsh than a cotton t-shirt, so I did the switch and I haven't gone back to a towel since.

So my hair is very long, wavy and frizzy since using a t-shirt to dry my hair it's definitely less frizzy and it just feels a lot better when I dry my hair, you can't do as much damage with a t-shirt like you can with a towel, especially an older, rougher towel. When I dry my hair it's obvious that using a towel is a lot more harsh than a t-shirt. I do recommend using a t-shirt or any kind of cotton blend fabric, especially if you have curly, wavy or frizzy hair.....infact I recommend everyone do it, it's just a much gentler  way to dry you hair, less breakage and smoother follicles, your hair will thank you, maybe not literally, but your hair will feel better and endure less damage.

A recommendation, obviously a t-shirt doesn't hold/ absorb as much water as a towel so depending on hair length and thickness you may need to use 2-3 t-shirts. Then just hang them up to dry for the next time you wash your hair.

Give it a go :)

Naturally Remove Make-up with Oil??

At first I was always using just cleansers, which meant multiple washes and wasting a lot of cleanser or using make-up removing wipes, which took so long to remove my make-up and I still had a lot of make-up residue coming off my skin, it was never ending.

Olive oil is my favourite thing to remove my make-up with it is by far the easiest, cheapest, fastest and most natural way to remove make-up.

Step 1) First thing I do is get a cotton circle/ square or a cotton ball wet it then put a generous amount of olive oil on the cotton circle and massage it all over your face to loosen and start removing the make-up.

Step 2) Either flip over the cotton circle (or get a new one and wet it) to remove more of make-up that the olive oil has loosened.

Step 3) Then I get a generous amount of olive oil and massage it all over my face to loosen the rest of the make-up  I let that sit for a few minutes after I've massaged it for a bit.

Step 4)  I then get another cotton square, wet it and remove the rest of make-up then I either then wash my face with water, tone then moisturise or  use a little of cleanser to remove the oil residue (recommended to do in the summer especially) then tone and moisturise.

 I use this to remove all make-up including liquid foundation, eye make-up ... whatever the make-up is BUT be careful not to use too much around the eyes cause you don't want to get oil in your eyes. The only thing I don't use this to remove is mascara because I don't need to but you could as long as you were gentle and careful not to use too much.

Tip #1

In summer and hot weather I suggest washing the olive oil off with a bit of cleanser before toning and moisturising because with some people in hot weather oils left on the skin can clog and congest the pores creating more problems. That being said I would recommend always using a little cleanser after using the oil to remove the make-up.

Tip #2

You can use basically any natural oil  I just use olive oil because it is pretty cheap (compared to other oils) and is easily accessible, other oils you can use include jojoba oil, coconut oil, avocado oil,  apricot kernel oil, sunflower oil,  almond oil.....but these oils would be more expensive to use so I do recommend olive oil, but if your skin isn't liking olive oil then jojoba would be a good choice or sunflower oil, personally I haven't tried sunflower oil but I don't see why it wouldn't work just as good.

Tip #3

Another alternative to use after the oil is make-up wipes, I don't do this anymore because one I haven't found a good natural make-up remover wipe and two if you are removing the make-up correctly with the oil it is usually a waste to use the wipes because the make-up should be gone and a natural cleanser would be better to follow the oil but to each their own.


Tip #4

Depending on how much make-up you're wearing you may have to do step 1 and 2 more than once.