As soon as I saw the lovely Jodie had written this post I just had to do it too. I love hearing other peoples stories of how they got into make-up and thought I would share mine :)
1. How old were you when you started wearing make-up?
I'd say the summer before I turned 13 so I was 12. I moved a lot as a child and I started a new high school with just a few weeks of Year 7 to go and it was the influence of the girls I became friends with.
2. How did you get into make-up?
I started doing Avon when I was 14. I still get ribbed to this day that I never earnt a penny because I spent all of my commission and more on make up! I acquired so much from being an Avon rep. I fell in love with make-up. And my room was overflowing with everything from room & linen spray to shower gel to mascaras. Being an Avon rep really gave me the freedom and confidence to experiment with no end of products because I had unlimited access to everything imaginable.
3. What are some of your favourite brands?
Avon (forever loyal), MAC, Chanel, Max Factor, Collection 2000 & 17.
4. What does make-up mean to you?
Make-up is an expression. I love the way it can tell you so much about a person.
5. If you could only wear four products on your face what would they be?
Mascara, blusher, eyeliner & lipgloss/lipstick.
6. What is your favourite thing about make-up?
How good it makes me feel and how happy I feel buying it.
7. What do you think about drug store make-up vs high end make-up?
Having bought across all price ranges I'd say different products work for different people. A high price tag doesn't always mean an amazing product. I'm not fussed what make-up I use as long as it looks good, but I appreciate high end make-up a lot more than drug store probably because of the price difference.
8. What is one tip of advice you can give to a beginner?
Experiment, experiment, experiment! This will be the only way you discover what works for you and what looks best on you. Just because a certain look suits one person it may not suit you. By experimenting with different looks, products and tools you'll soon find your comfort zone and the best look for you.
9. What is one make-up trend you never understood?
There has been so many!! I'll stick to lips...darker liner than the lipstick, concealer lips and frosty lipstick.
10. What do you think about the beauty community on YouTube & Blogger?
I think its amazing. I love seeing the creativity and talent of others. I love the way its like one big family and help, compliment and support each other.
Em x
Monday, 26 September 2011
Friday, 16 September 2011
Peace
Words cannot express how long I have lusted after a peace necklace!
As usual the perfectionist in me knew exactly what I wanted I just had to find it. I love long necklaces but sometimes they aren't the right length. I like mine to sit on the middle of my stomach. I find it really irritating when a necklace sits over my bust (too short) or my belly button (too long).
On my lunch break I was trying desperately to avoid visiting the Chanel counter as there is lots of make up I'm lusting after and I can't trust myself I won't buy it all at once! In a last ditch attempt to waste the last few minutes of my hour I popped into Claire's Accessories. As a girl I was forever buying little trinkets in there with my pocket money. Now that I earn my own money and can spend anywhere I choose I rarely visit the shop.
I was very surprised to see they had endless hanging bars of jewellery that was current and original. I found several necklaces I need to go back for: a panda, a gum ball machine, tiny jars with items such as fairy dust inside. I've always swayed towards unusual, unique jewellery although I have some very expensive pieces, for everyday I tend to wear costume jewellery.
I was about to walk out when my eyes fell upon this necklace. I couldn't believe I may have found what I'd been looking for and in the last place I'd thought to look!
It was even the perfect length!
And at £4 an absolute steal!
I'm so pleased and I can't wait to wear it. I've loved the peace symbol since I was tiny and when I saw this becoming popular I couldn't wait to get my own piece to wear.
Em x
If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another.
Winston Churchill
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Models Own
Now that I pretty much own every Barry M nail paint, I wanted to start on another brands collection. Models Own only arrived in my Boots store earlier this year and I decided that would be my next brand to collect. I would be very surprised if you hadn’t seen or heard but Models Own wanted to hit 50,000 Facebook likes to give their customers a 50% saving on their website.
Pretty exciting right?!
It didn’t take long and I was super excited to get my hands on some goodies at half price! Unfortunately the day the sale went up my life got turned upside down and it was the very last thing I was worrying about. If you follow me on twitter you probably noticed how very quiet I was!
I’d even made a list of the items I wanted as especially for the nail polishes it takes so long to look all through the colours. I managed to place a quick order just before the sale ended. I only had a spare five minutes so stuck to nail polishes. As I expected many of the colours on my list were out of stock but I was surprised at some they still had! Just as I was about to checkout I remembered to order a nail pen too!
I half forgot about my order as I still had a lot going on but when I did remember it made me excited as it was something to look forward to, what girl doesn’t get impatient for online orders especially make up related ones to arrive!?
I LOVE the way the orders come packaged. I was so impressed. I’ve never ordered on Models Own before and was expecting a jiffy bag! It made me think higher end brands should make more of an effort with their orders. Although all that matters is the product is in pristine condition I think presentation is essential. There are certain websites I no longer order from because whatever I order always comes damaged!!!
l-r peacock green, juicy jules, bluebelle
Peacock Green – I love a darker shade on my nails as I love the contrast particularly because I am very fair skinned. This is a two toned shade that is exactly what it says on the tin > a green but with a blue-ness to it, exactly like a peacock feather. The only green I own is a mint green so this will be a nice change for me.
Juicy Jules – I went to lunch with my lovely friend Amy and she tested this on one of my nails in Boots. I then spent the remainder of our shopping trip admiring my Juicy Juled nail and lusting after this!
Bluebelle – This is actually one of my Mum’s nicknames for me! I’ve got a love for glitter especially on my nails and although I own the blue Barry M glitter it’s a different shade of blue. Out of all the glitter I wanted this one and disco mix the most, but disco mix, as I expected had long sold out.
l-r beth's blue, lili's pink, blue med, black nail art pen
Beth’s Blue – I have been after this colour longer than I can even remember! It was featured in Company once and I just had to have it. I couldn’t find it anywhere until I spotted in in a River Island London parma
Lili’s Pink – A shimmery pink. Not sure how I feel about this yet as I usually only wear a solid colour or glitter nails. Its very pretty though so I’m sure it’ll be a hit!
Blue Med – I expected this to be a solid blue or a glittery blue but its actually a pearlescent shade. Again I’m not sure about it because I don’t usually wear this sort of shade. I actually steer clear of pearlescent shades mainly because of the white pearl shade that was so popular in the early Noughties but I now think looks horrid! However this being a blue it shouldn’t be such a traumatic wear for me ;)
Black Nail Art Pen – I’m sure these were bigger when they first launched?! Anyway does what it says on the tin – art. I used to have a silver art pen from Sabrina the Teenage Witch magazine, haha. And I’ve still kept it because I loved it so much when I was little! This is the grown up version, and should stop me using liquid liner to do leopard print nails!
And as if ordering online wasn’t enough I took advantage of the Models Own offer in Boots. Buy any two products and get Lilac Dream free. After much debating I opted for two nail polishes.
l-r gold rush, lilac dream, golden peach
Gold Rush – I don’t own a gold nail polish mainly because I think they look cheap. I have a silver but never use it. This is shimmery with tiny glitter bits and so pretty! I can imagine this looking amazing during a night out against a dark outfit.
Golden Peach – Not sure what drew me to this bottle as there were lots of others I wanted but it was a particularly hot day (out of the ordinary lately) and I must have been feeling summery. The names perfect as it’s a peach with golden shimmer and such a summer shade.
I then went a little nail polish obsessive and bought a Barry M top coat and Barry M Cyan Blue. I ended up being served by the guy who often serves me. He must inwardly groan when he sees me. He probably thinks all of my money goes into Boots tills. It doesn’t but he serves me 80% of the time haha! Probably didn’t help my case buying 5 polishes in one transaction!
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Pearly Whites
I'm tucked up in bed feeling sorry for myself. This afternoon at work I just knew I had a cold coming. Thought I've had one coming for the last few weeks and was surprised it never came out but it seems the cold has won the battle. Feel absolutely rotten tonight so decided a night in bed with the laptop was in order. Dosed myself up on max strength cold relief, got a dairy milk, a magnum (even though I can never eat all of them) and a strawberry milkshake with lots of vanilla ice cream as can feel a sore throat coming :(
Hopefully I can get it out of my system by the end of the weekend as its my birthday next tuesday! I'll be 23...can't believe it! Seriously only feels like a few months ago it was my 21st! It really is true time goes faster the older you get...!
Being a perfectionist has its downfalls sometimes! I don't drink tea, coffee or red wine, drink coke occasionally and I don't smoke. My teeth have always been average white I'd say but I've always wanted pure white teeth. I embarked on a mission to find a home kit to whiten my teeth as the strips aren’t available in the UK
It was the only one on the shelf but I left it. The next day I went to Boots and discovered the kit they had was for 7 days. After many minutes spent crouched on the floor (their whitening products are on the bottom shelf!) I decided to try the Superdrug and if it didn’t work I’d get the Boots one. I have two Superdrugs in my town, one little and one large. There were some Sleek products I was after and I wasn’t sure if the bigger Superdrug had them as the little one didn’t, also the kit was in the little one. But I assumed being a larger store they would stock everything the little one did and more.
How wrong I was!
Also note the Superdrugs are opposite ends of my high street! So off I went to the bigger one, not only didn’t they have the kit but they don’t stock Sleek! Double annoyance!
So back I went along the entire high street hoping it wouldn’t be in vain. It must have been my lucky day because it was still there!
I couldn’t wait to try it. I’d never used a whitening kit before so was entering into the unknown. I’ve used whitening toothpastes for years but never got the whiter than snow teeth I want. And let’s face it, professional whitening is pretty expensive!
The first few days were fine. You use the kit morning and night, basically when you’d brush your teeth. It can be a tricky time whilst you have the mouth tray in as you can't speak!
The kit is very easy to use but there are more steps than I expected. You need to brush your teeth as normal. The first step is to fill the mouth tray with the whitening gel. Next you rub a liquid accelerator onto your teeth, which will react with the gel in the tray. Pop in the tray and you can go about your business. The box instructs not to leave the tray in for longer than 10 minutes but sometimes I did because I got distracted. I could always tell if it had been longer than 10 minutes as I could feel the gel irritating my gums, which the box also advises against the gel going on your gums. Pretty impossible I think. There’s no way to stop the gel pushing up onto your gums.
I’d advise removing the tray over your sink. It can be a little messy. You gently use your toothbrush with water to remove the gel and then clean your teeth with the whitening toothpaste.
After about five days my teeth really started to ache. I actually stopped using the kit for two days because I got paranoid my teeth were going to drop out!
My teeth are very important to me. I’m very particular about caring for them and as a smiley person they’re pretty essential to my smile ;)
The aching died down and I re-started the treatment. By this time my teeth were definitely whiter. I was so happy with the results and stopped the treatment a couple of days before the 14th day. I have enough of the products left to do another session I expect but I bought a new colgate whitening toothpaste which I want to try out. I didn’t want to use a whitening toothpaste while I was putting my teeth through the whitening process. It seemed too much so I started with aquafresh but when my teeth started to ache I switched to a sensitive toothpaste.
Although I was so happy with the results of the kit the teeth ache was pretty horrendous (note I say teeth not tooth!). It made it painful to eat and three weeks after I finished the treatment my teeth are still more sensitive than before the kit. I have one tooth in particular which hurts whenever I eat.
I still want to try the Boots kit, just to compare the results and see how my teeth go.
For now I’ll stick to my whitening toothpastes J
Em x
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Pinch, Punch, First Of The Month
So we’re into September and this year feels like its speeding by!
I love this final third of the year. Its all my favourite things:
September: my birthday J and its getting colder
How pretty is this cake?! Definitely the sort of cake I like on my birthday!
October: shops are getting their Christmas stock in, I’m writing all my Christmas lists and beginning my Christmas shopping, Halloween
Look at those nails!!
November: bonfire night, Christmas card writing, wrapping up & keeping cosy, even more Christmas shopping!
December: putting Christmas decorations up, wrapping Christmas presents & very excited for Christmas to come! New year
My only complaint about it getting closer to the end of the year is it getting colder. Much as I love the cooler weather and wrapping up in all my winter accessories I really can’t stand the cold. Last winter I found it so so cold, I’m pretty certain it was one of the coldest winters ever. It snowed so much in November and it wasn’t just a few days it went on for weeks. Usually the snow melts or turns to slush but it stayed as snow for ages. I love snow but even that was too much for me.
I'm already planning for Christmas. I usually have about ten hundred lists but am resisting the urge to start writing them already! I'm trying to focus on shopping for my autumn/winter wardrobe :)
Em x
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