December | Monthly Top 5

Hola!

I hope you all had a really happy christmas and got lots of great stuff! 2014 has gone so fast, but I'm looking forward to 2015. and without any further ado, here's what I loved during december...

5. Avon Nailwear Pro+ nail polish in Starry Night

Sadly, they don't sell this perticular shade any more, which is a shame as I really love it for christmas, however the formula is really good too. It lasts nearly two weeks with a top coat and about 1 week without. It doesn't chip too badly and although this shade is quite sheer and needs several coats, I'm sure not all shades are.

4. Zoella Soak Opera bath soak and shower cream
I'm a huge Zoella fan, so this review might be slightly biased! This smells amazing, although it's a delicate scent. I like using it in the bath for bubbles more than in the shower, but it's nice then too. You get a lot of product for your money too, I think it's great value, and I'm really proud of Zoe (zoella)

3. The Body Shop Frosted Cranberry body spray

I always love the Body Shop's Christmas ranges, and this year didn't disappoint! I loved all three scents this year, but the cranberry was probably my favourite,  although it's close! This spray stays on for ages and is really good value for money, especially as it's half price at the moment!

2. Rimmel Colour Rush lip crayon in Rumour Has It

I don't normally go for a dark, bold, red lip, but I actually really like this one. I've worn it almost every day this month. I usually dab it on to create a more sheer colour, but occasionally I wore it full on. When I did, it was easy to apply and the colour lasted quite well. It had a matte finish, which isn't too drying. Overall I really rate it. 

1. The Wet Brush

I bought this back in November,  buy I didn't do a November top 5, so I've been using it for a while now and absolutely love it! It's the only hairbrush I use. It's meant for using on wet hair, which means it's really gentle and doesn't tug on knots, but still getting rid of them. My hair gets really tangled and brushing with some other brushes can hurt, but this doesn't, which is why I love it and would really recommend it!

So that's what I've been loving through december. If you didn't see it, then I uploaded my Christmas Day Get Ready With Me on my YouTube channel recently, so you can check that out if you like. I hope you all have a very happy new year and I wish you all the best :)

Contouring tips

Hola!

Before I begin, there wasn't a Monthly Top 5 for November sadly because I haven't had the time to put one together and plus I haven't really tried many new products this month, let alone ones I loved. Anyway, this is part two of the extra tips that I didn't know about when I did the 'Tips & Tricks' series earlier in  the year. Last week I did lipstick, so click here if you haven't seen that and want to.

My first and main tip is where to contour. The main place is under the cheek bones to create the illusion of a thinner face. This also works with the nose and hair line. You can also add highlighter to brighten up your face and make you look more awake, like this....

Photo credit: http://www.taylorandrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/highlightcontour.jpg

Obviously blend the product in more than that picture, but that's just to show where to put it. Also just to add, I don't do all of this every day, but on occasion I'll make an effort.

Lipstick Tips

Hola!

I've got two posts for you this week and next that I didn't know about when I did my 'Tips and Tricks' series, so I'm going to talk to you about them now and next monday. The first is some lipstick tips, which I'm going to get straight into.

First is a technique called blotting, which is applying one layer of lipstick, then dabbing your lips with a tissue to remove excess and create more of a stain. Just repeat this a couple of times for longer-lasting lipstick and more of a matte finish.

If you don't like a matte finish, then a clear lip gloss is a great option for you and relatively inexpensive.

If, like me, you don't like a very intense colour, but you want a deeper red or berry tone for autumn/winter, then there are two techniques you can try. The first is dabbing the bullet of the lipstick on your lips instead of a swipe. The other way is to use a lip brush to apply the colour, which also creates a neater edge, as well as a slightly paler, more sheer colour.

Something you could also do is use a lip liner all over your lips instead of around the edge to prevent bleeding with darker lipstick colours.

My final tip is that you can actually use lipstick as a cream blusher, and visa versa with powders on lips, a technique I used at Halloween with a red lipstick and a back eyeshadow, which looked pretty cool!

Anyone else getting excited for christmas yet? I am! Keep an eye out for a Christmas video soon on my YouTube........

Quick & easy hairstyles

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I recently uploaded a tutorial on my YouTube channel to show you some inspiration for some quick and easy hairstyles for when your about to run out the door to school, or just running late. They're all really simple so all you need is hair bands, bobby pins, a hair brush and maybe some hairspray. Click below to watch....

Essential tools & SOS kit

Hola!

I thought I'd share with you guys what I consider to be the bare essentials to use for makeup and what I carry as my "SOS" kit to fix any makeup disasters on the go. I got the inspiration for this from a Vogue makeup book I read a few months back, but I've adjusted it to what I think you absolutely need.

First, essential tools that you need as a basic start to makeup. All I think you need are 3 things: a medium face brush, a medium eyeshadow brush and a thin lip brush. You can multitask with these brushes, so you only really need these. The face brush can be used for powder, bronzer, highlight and blusher. The eye brush can be used for concealer, eyeshadow and detailed shading with bronzer, while the lip brush can do eyeliner as well as lipstick.

Now moving onto my SOS kit, which is just four things. The first is Vaseline, or any lip balm, which if you've got dry lips it's an absolute savior. Next is a cotton bud, which sounds odd, but if you've got dramatic eye or lip makeup on and it smudges, or your mascara dots around your eyes, cotton buds are really great to clean it up. The next thing is a compact mirror, which I find always comes in handy, just to check that everything's in order. You can get one for under a fiver from most highstreet makeup stores. Last is an emery board (or nail file), which I don't use as often as the other things, but it's great if a broken nail crops up just to put that right and neaten everything up.

I hope you liked this and found it helpful, particularly if you're just starting out in makeup, and leave any requests for posts or even videos below as I'm always open to your suggestions :)