face of the day: natalie from made in chelsea

Haha can I point out that I don't have a wrinkly forehead or one eyebrow higher than the other...  I just seem to have  to raise one eyebrow when I smile for a picture and this is usually hidden by my fringe - nice!

When I was watching Made in Chelsea on Monday night (oh the drama!) I was thinking to myself how lovely some of the girls' make up looked. Millie, Louise and Natalie especially always manage to look so natural and pretty and, like me, they're a lover of all things neutral when it comes to eye make up. In particular, I really liked Natalie's make up on Monday night's programme. Natural glowy skin with very slightly defined upper lashes - beautiful! Obviously this is just an inspired look so I'm never going to look quite as flawless or have locks that bouncy and flowing (sigh) but I'd thought I'd give it a shot.

As I said all the girls in Made in Chelsea have such glowing and healthy looking skin so after applying the Rimmel Fix and Perfect Pro Primer I used a combination of the Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 51 and the No7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream for Normal/Dry Skin in Fair. Now normally I would perhaps just use the No7 BB Cream but over the past few days my skin has gone crazy (I think due to the stress of exams and eating naughty things) so I just wanted a little extra coverage but still with the finish of a BB cream. Also as I wanted a little more coverage I used a traditional flat foundation brush which I very rarely do. Usually I always use a buffing brush or stippling brush for my foundation but I find a traditional foundation brush really allows you to lay more product on to the skin and hide any unwanted areas more effectively.

To conceal my gazillion spots and in particular the really nice volcano right in the centre of my forehead I used my Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair. Then for under my eyes and around my nose I chose the Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in Ivory. I find that this is great for the under eye area as it really brightens any darkness. Finally to finish off my foundation and concealer I took a very small brush and only powdered the areas that need to stay in place such as around my nose, under my eyes and any spots. For this I used the Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Translucent.

Step two in getting the perfect Made in Chelsea skin definitely requires some bronzer. When don't you see the girls with a healthy looking tan? As I haven't jetted off to Dubai any time recently (or ever for that matter) I made do with using some Soleil Tan de Chanel. Natalie doesn't have much contouring so I simply used a stippling brush to apply the bronzer all over my cheeks and up to my temples rather than creating any more of a defined structure. To carry on the bronzey cheek theme I used a little bit of tangerine coloured blusher. The one I actually used is a very old one I found in my blusher collection by L'Oreal Paris but after a little look on the internet I don't actually think it's available any more and all the information has rubbed off the back... Anything tangerine or peachy coloured will do on the cheeks but don't use too much as Natalie doesn't seem to be wearing much blusher at all (I had to restrain myself as if you've read my blog before you may have realised that I can be quite heavy handed on the cheeks!) To be honest you could probably leave out any blusher but this is something I'd definitely struggle to do haha.

I kept my brows very simple and natural looking by using my trusty Clinique Superfine Liner for Brows in Soft Blonde to just fill in any gaps and extend them a bit. I didn't really change my natural brow shape as I didn't want them to look unnatural or drawn on. I then slicked a little ELF Wet Gloss Lash and Brow Clear Mascara on to keep any unruly hairs in place.

On to the eyes! This was actually what I liked most about her make up. It doesn't look like much but that's the genius of it - it's so simple it's perfect haha! I also love how round Natalie's eyes are and I really think she knows how to work with her eye shape, she makes them look even wider and prettier. First I swept a little of the Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Ivory all across my lids just to even the colour of them out. I then put some of Urban Decay's Naked Eyeshadow in to the outer part of my crease and blended thoroughly as I only wanted the tiniest amount of definition here. Along my upper lash line I then used an Avon Colour Trend Kajal Stick in Brown. To make my eyes appear rounder I only took the eye liner about two thirds of the way along my lash line and made sure that it was thickest in the middle of the line as this can make your eyes appear wider. I chose brown instead of black as I didn't want a harsh black line and I also used my ring finger to smudge the liner in to my lashes a little. I then used some of the UNE Skin-Glow Pencil in G01 along my lower water line to open my eyes as much as possible! After curling my lashes I chose to use the Clinique High Impact Mascara in Black. I only applied this to my upper lashes as Natalie doesn't seem to have any on her lower ones.

Finally to finish the look off, on my lips I first applied a little lip balm then took some of the MUA Lipstick in Shade 16 on my finger and rubbed it across my lips so the colour was nice and sheer.

Are you a fan of the girls' make up on Made in Chelsea? I'm not obsessed with the programme but I'm definitely obsessed with their make up!

xx

face of the day: back to the liner

As I've mentioned before, and you've probably noticed from my recent posts, I haven't been wearing liquid eye liner much lately. I used to think my face looked odd without it but I'm beginning to feel that I look so much fresher and less over done in the day time when I'm liner-free. However, last week I put some on and loved how it looked! Paired with a neutral coloured lip and eyeshadow I didn't feel like I was wearing too much make up at all.

On my face I used Rimmel Fix and Perfect Pro Primer which I'm really starting to like, I think I'll do a review on it soon! I then used Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in Light Vanilla and put a little Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in Ivory under my eyes. I set my foundation on my nose and chin with Natural Collection Loose Powder in Neutral Translucent - I'd forgotten how good this was! I finished my skin off with some MAC Breath of Plum Blush and ELF Blush Highlighter in Gotta Glow.

I tidied my brows up with my Clinique Superfine Liner for Brows in Soft Blonde (I can't stop using this at the moment!) and set any naughty hairs in place with my trusty ELF Wet Gloss Lash and Brow Clear Mascara.

On to the eyes! As I said, I only wanted a really neutral eyeshadow with minimal shimmer so I chose my Revlon Colourstay Eyeshadow Palette in Addictive as it's perfect for that. The four colours are so great for everyday use. All over my lid I used the top right eyeshadow, which is a very slightly shimmery light grey. I then defined my crease with the bottom right shadow which is a mid-toned matte brown. For the all important liquid eye liner I used the Maybelline Gel Eyeliner in Black. This is such a great high street gel eye liner which is really pigmented and doesn't budge all day but the little brush that it comes with is so horrid and scratchy! I also added a bit of the Avon Colour Trend Kajal Stick in Black to tightline my upper waterline and make my lashes and eye liner look nice and dark. Similarly, on my lower waterline I used ELF's Eye Widener Pencil in Pearl White to open my eyes up a bit. I finished my eye make up off with the Rimmel Scandal Eyes Mascara in Black. I recently got this free as part of an offer Rimmel have on at the moment but I'm still undecided as to whether I like it or not... It hasn't blown me away!

To finish it all off I kept my lips nice and simple and used a Jack Wills Gloss Lipstick in Rosewood which is a lovely browny rose colour.

So there we go! Do you love the look of liquid eye liner? Do you wear it everyday?

xx

an every day make up look #2

First of all, I have to say thank you so much to all of you because I've reached 100 followers! This makes me feel so happy, as it's fab to know that people actually read my silly ramblings and it just makes it all feel a bit more worth while! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anyway, to today's post!

You know when you do your make up and then feel really happy with it all day? Well that was me on Thursday. I don't know what it exactly was about my make up, because as you can see it was very plain and neutral, but it just made me feel really feminine and pretty. (Most of you will probably be wondering what all the fuss is about haha.) In fact, I liked Thursday's make up so much that even though I wasn't going anywhere, I recreated the same look again on Friday just so I could take a picture. I'm definitely losing it.

Anyway, we'll forget about my insanity. Here's what I used:

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation - 51

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer (under my eyes) - Ivory

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer (on any blemishes) - Fair

NYC Smooth Skin Loose Face Powder (on my t-zone) - Translucent

Clinique Instant Lift for Brows - Soft Blonde

17 Blusher - Damson Wine

E.L.F. Shimmering Facial Whip (on my non-existent cheekbones) - Lilac Petal

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Urban Decay Naked Palette - Sin (all over my eye lid), Hustle (in my crease and outer corner)

No 7 Smoky Rose Quad - Shimmery cream colour in bottom left (to highlight my inner corner and brow bone)

Maybelline 24 Hour Colour Tattoo - On and On Bronze (to line my upper lash line and smudged a little under my eye)

Rimmel Glam'Eyes Mascara - Black 

Rimmel Lasting Finish 1000 Kisses Lip Tint - Nothing but Nude

I absolutely love liquid eye liner, and up until about a year ago I would wear it with a little flick every day without fail. However, I also love shimmery neutral eyeshadows and I began to feel that the two together looked a bit over the top for the day time. Especially for the spring, I'm now really enjoying simply wearing pretty shimmery neutral shadows, which has also given me a bit more freedom to wear a darker or brighter coloured lip - win win!

What kind of make up are you enjoying wearing at the moment? And if any of you want reviews of any of these products then let me know!

xx