Professional Eye & Brow palette by HD Brows

I have genuinely NEVER been so excited about the pigmentation of a product before, but this palette has oodles of it and I had to share it with you guys! I turned 23 recently (boo) and was spoilt enough by my friend to be given it as a birthday present. I fully expected it to be great when it came to the brows but was a wee bit skeptical about using them as shadows. But oh, I couldn't have been more wrong! To start off with the pigmentation and colour pay off is ridiculously good, and as they're designed to be smudge proof they have great staying power, what more could you ask for? A double ended applicator? It has one of those as well! With one end being an angled brush and the other a handy smudger.

The palette comes in six different shades to match anyone's brow colour, which means six different matte browns shadows -varying from carbon to a light beige - with varied undertones to suit individual skin tones. As they're matte shades they're ideal for applying to the eyelids natural crease to create depth and definition (shimmers are no good here!) Or using an angled liner to create a soft flattering eyeliner. 

You can pick one up for £29.95 from the Nouveau Beauty Group website, I would highly recommend having one of these in your kit, even if it's just for brows, as you have all the shades you need in one place! 

http://shop.nouveaubeautygroup.com/brows/hd-brows/professional-eye-brow-palette/

Anna x

Back to blogging! Avon SuperShock Gel liner

I'm finally back to blogging having been absolutely caotic with projects and work! However I had to put a stop to that last week when I broke my foot which has played havoc with my schedule and move to Brighton for the summer but on the plus side I now have copious amounts of time for my blog! So I'm back on the wagon and ready to go..

Being dutiful family members my gran and cousin popped round earlier today with a pile of magazines and chocolate (not so good if your stuck on your bum for the foreseeable future) to keep me busy. Amongst the pile was Marie Claire magazine, with low and behold a full sized free sample of Avon's SuperShock gel liner in pencil form, yipee I thought some new makeup to review, and here it is....

Now, I have to admit that this is the first Avon product I have EVER tried (whether that's classed as a sin or not I don't know) but providing me with a free full sized product will always put my mood on the sunny side, and so far so good! The product glides on like a dream, it's a very soft, jet black pencil and as long as you don't press too hard it's really easy to apply. Once dried it's pretty much smudge proof, but this doesn't mean vigorous rubbing won't cause some colour displacement! The only issue I can really see with this product is that when it comes to sharpening you're likely to loose quite a bit of the liner as it's VERY soft and the pencil is obviously hard, although it's made from plastic so will offer less resistance than wood! You can get your sample in this months issue of Marie Claire on sale for £2.50 instead of the usual £3.80, however if you miss this issue you can always buy it direct from Avon where I think they have it at the offer price of £3.00 plus postage instead of £6.00, there seem to be discounts everywhere at the moment! You'll have a choice of gel liner, brow definer or red lipstick with the Marie Claire mag, I'd get all three if I could get to the shops!

So in a nutshell the SuperShock gel eye-liner is ideal if you love the longevity of gel liner and the convenience of a pencil, it's quick and easy to use, and won't break the bank, just be prepared for some sharpening issues! 

If you've tried it let me know what you think..

Anna x

My Top Three Highlighters

I've found that certain highlighters work best on certain foundations, which I'm sure is common knowledge. So I thought I'd do a short post on my favourite highlighter for three different foundation bases, liquid, Cream and airbrush! Highlighters are used to draw attention to and enhance certain areas of the face, such as the tops of your cheek bones, brow bone, temples and cupids bow.

So here they are...

1. Liquid foundation: My absolute go to highlighter for using with a liquid base has to be Smashbox's 'Artificial Light Luminizing Liquid', it comes in three shades; Luminous pearl, peach & bronze... one for every look and skin tone! It can be mixed with your foundation for an overall but subtle glow and dewy finish or simply dabbed and blended onto the desired area.

£20.50 from www.smashbox.co.uk, each order comes with a free primer/mascara sample, which are also amazing!!

2. Cream/stick foundations: This has to be without a doubt Illamasquas 'Gleam in Aurora', incase you don't already know, I'm absolutely obsessed with this highlighter! it has an absolutely flawless finish, I find it works best with this type of foundation, but also works well with liquid foundations. It has champagne tones and complements any skin tone! For more on this fabulous little highlighter take a look at my blog post on it here.

£18.00 from www.illamasqua.com

3. Airbrush foundation: My airbrush is my best friend, it creates a flawless matte finish, and once set STAYS PUT. The only trouble I had with it was finding a good highlighter which would work well with this type of foundation, cream and liquid highlighters are no good so a powder highlighter is best for this! I started using the MAC 'Mineralize Skinfinish' highlighter, it's perfect! It comes in three shades; Soft and gentle - a peach bronze (this is my fave!), Lightscapade - a soft beige with a multidimensional shimmer and Gold Deposit - a golden-bronze. It can be brushed on lightly to your foundation and built up slowly, so as not to disturb the base! The only thing to be aware of is that when it's initially brushed onto the skin there quite a bit of sparkle fall out which can play up to the camera, not ideal. But with a good amount of buffing it blends to a flawless finish and creates a soft glow, which works very well with the camera!

£21.50 from www.maccosmetics.co.uk

Hope this is helpful... didn't turn out quite as short as I was planning!

Anna x

Rihanna for MAC

 

We rarely see Rihanna without her trademark red lippy, so it's not surprising that she's collaborated with MAC to re-create their classic Ruby Woo red lipstick. 

Introducing the new RiRi Woo lipstick, it has a personal touch, with her embossed signature on the lipstick itself and she's personally re-worked MAC's iconic red to create her very own matte red shade with blue undertones.

The lipstick is due to hit the shelves on May the 3rd and is limited addition, so don't forget to snap one up asap!

 £14 from www.maccosmetics.co.uk

Anna x

What's In My Make-up Bag?

I've seen a few people do this now, and I thought sharing the content of ones make-up bag on a Sunday morning seems like a lovely idea! A lot of what's in my huge Bill Brown bag is skin care, but that's for another day. So here are my essentials, and some not-so-essentials along with some hints and tips...

Contents:

- Vaseline: Everyone should have some emergency lip balm!

-Rose design compact mirror

-Kryolan translucent powder, decanted into a cheap little pot, easy enough to buy online. 

**TIP** Set your foundation with a small amount of translucent powder, this will make it last a lot longer!

-The Body Shop, Tea tree Blotting tissues: A necessity for oily skin!

-Smashbox Photo finish primer & Benefit Porefessional Primer

**TIP** Use a primer as a base before foundation, this will create a smooth base for your foundation and give it more staying power.

-Tweezers

-Topshop Cream blush Duo

-NARS Edie Eyeshadow (part of an Andy Warhol Gift set)

-Bobbi Brown Gel Liner in Caviar Ink

-The Body Shop Perfume Oil in Madagascan Vanilla - It's a perfect summer scent!

-Bobbi Brown Corrector in Peach 

**TIP** Peachy tones will counteract the dark circles around the eyes for yellow and darker toned skins & pinks will do the same for paler, pinky toned skins

-MAC Face and Body Foundation: Waterproof, light coverage

-MUA white liner

-The Body Shop Brow & Lash gel

-Smashbox Full exposure mascara - I LOVE this! 

**HINT** Pick a free sample up with any purchase from the Smashbox website, alternatively you can buy the 'try it kit' for £19 Follow this link: www.smashbox.co.uk

-Bobbi Brown Rich Caviar Eye palette: My favorite shade is 'Wheat' (top right), perfect for contouring the eyes.

-Topshop LIPS lipstick, in Charmed - I picked this up in the Jan sales (they still sell it) and it's now an essential piece in my make-up bag!

-Smashbox Lip enhancing gloss: This also comes in their 'try it kit' - Follow the above link.

-The Body Shop Brow & Liner Palette: Comes with a wee applicator.

So there it is! That's my personal make-up bag, most of the items above don't change but I'm always finding new additions! 

Anna xx

Alice & The After-Tea Party

This is just a little post about my most recent college project! I developed a 'Dark Alice' concept - hence the 'After' tea party, but I didn't want her to be your typical, short skirt, boobs out and everything in black 'Bad Alice' so instead I took inspiration from Tim Burton, the film maker who directed the most recent Alice in Wonderland and also Tim Walker, the photographer who does all the crazy props and photo shoots!
I absolutely LOVED doing research and prepping for this shoot, I watched both the Alice in Wonderland films, dragged my boyfriend round second hand shops looking for copious amounts of tea cups, teapots and all sorts of bits and bobs, then rooted through our attic (which by the way, is brimming with junk!) finally I raided Abakan and settled down to make the costume and accessories.

A lot of work went into this project so I really hope you like it!!

 Let me know what you think :)

Anna x

Get super soft hands!

Now, I got this hand cream as a freebie (a good sized one at that) from the April issue of Marie Claire, which you can still get your hands on!

 As with many of the freebies you get from magazines, they have a tendency to look lovely which makes it all the more underwhelming when the product doesn't live up to the packaging...but not this one... Neal's Yard Remedies 'Bee Lovely Hand Cream', to start with it has a lovely scent which is orange essential oil and honey, sounds weird, but I promise you it's not!

A little of this product goes a long way, and leaves your skin feeling velvety smooth, I rarely find a hand cream I like but I'll definitely be sticking to this one for a while. I'm not sure how good it would be on VERY dry or chapped skin but I'd 99.9% recommend it for normal to dry skin, and as a little bonus it's made using organic honey, so if your into your organic ingredients, this is perfect for you!

If you don't manage to pick up a copy of Marie Claire Mag, you can buy it from Neal's Yard Remedies for £10 for a 50ml bottle: http://www.nealsyardremedies.com/bee-lovely-hand-cream

It really does live up to it's name.

Anna x

(If you've already tried it let me know what you think!)

Illamasqua: ''No More Blind Mice''..

If you haven't heard of them, Illamasqua are a big but still developing makeup brand, they have an ethos for free creativity, expression and individuality. Their ever growing range of tools and products, showcase a MUCH larger colour palette than many other brands. I really mean it when I say they are a creative make-up artists dream, and my go-to brand for anything slightly unusual. 

So naturally I was very happy when I saw this: 

They said: 

''Illamasqua has and always will stand against animal testing. So as an independent British beauty brand we are proud to support the new EU ban against animal testing in the cosmetics industry. Coming in to action this month, we know the ban is close to many of our fans hearts.

At Illamasqua we carefully research each of our suppliers, and continually look for new and more ethical ways to produce the colour-intense make-up you love. Unlike many brands, our range of professional brushes are 100% cruelty-free. Made entirely of advanced synthetic hairs, they deliver a flawless finish you can really believe in.'' *

It's always really nice to know that a big brand such as Illamasqua is just as concerned for the welfare of others (even teeny tiny animals) as they are about their own profit and growth! 

Well done Illamasqua! 

*You can read more about Illamasqua's stance against animal testing here:  http://www.illamasqua.com/explore/about-us/against-animal-testing/

Anna x

Smashbox Tapered Shadow Brush

If you haven't had the good fortune of trying Smashbox's brushes then you should. I can't vouch for all of them, but I bought their tapered [eye]shadow brush #7 a few weeks ago, and oh my is it good. I'm assuming the quality goes accross the board, but that's never guaranteed so this blog review is soley about the eye shadow brush (the wee brushes that come in their palettes are also good as far as mini's go!)...

The bristles on this brush are dense and it's natural fibres are super soft, so it's perfect for packing colour onto the lid (or anywhere else for that matter!), and it blends amazingly well, I wish I had more than one of them! It's £19.50 from www.smashbox.co.uk, but you can buy them from Smashbox counters at selected Boots stores. And as an added bonus for buying it online, postage is usually free and you get to choose a mini sample with your purchase.
The only thing that lets the brush down is that it has a tendency to moult ever so slightly when washing it (and I don't even submerge my brushes), but it's not enough to put me off!
It's now a staple eye shadow brush in my brush set, I'm looking forward to trying the rest of their range (apart from the angled liner brush, it's still Illamasqua's ALB all the way for me!).

I noticed last Christmas they did a brush set, which I'm gutted I missed out on! So if you're very patient, it would be worth waiting for!

Tip: Avoid using natural fibre brushes with cream products, as they'll soak up the oils, which will ruin the brush.

Anna x

As always your comments are very welcome!

'The Dark Side of Alice'

Here's a mini preview of what I'm aiming for on my next project/assessment... 'The Dark Side of Alice'....

My dress for the shoot is coming along nicely, needs a few extra bits, but it's almost there! Make-up and hair decided on and practiced (apart from the eyebrows - do I go no brows or OTT brows? Oh the decisions!).
Only the head piece and props to get sorted now, going totally over board on teacups and teapots, so I best get raiding those charity shops....

Almost There..

Rough idea of the make-up look I'm trying to achieve

 I'll do a full post on my design and the final images at then end of next week..

Half way through the eye make-up (Not sure why I didnt take a proper one at the end aswel!)

 Anna x

Bobbi Brown BBU Face Palette

Please excuse the lack of posts this week, I've been caught up with a big assessment for SFX next week, and it's been keeping me rather busy!

After a long debate with myself as to weather or not I should invest in the Bobbi Brown BBU palette, I went ahead and bought one. It cost me around £143.00 with my 25% student discount and would normally be £185. I decided to go ahead with it mainly because it comes with 20 shades of their stick foundation, 11 shades of corrector and 14 shades of their creamy concealer.
I thought it would be a very handy thing to have in my kit, as a go to, due to it having so many shades of foundation in one handy place! The foundations are yellow based which is great for redness etc but not so great if you have someone with a pinky toned skin, needless to say I still get good use out of them and I'm forever using the correctors and concealers (as you can see from the pic) which are great for all skin tones as they have peachy tones for dark skins and pinks for lighter ones, and they give fab coverage!
The foundations give a very full coverage which is brilliant for covering blemishes and it's always good to keep a slightly heavier duty foundation in your kit, and they can be blended in to give more of a medium coverage if full coverage isn't the desired finish!

The other thing with this palette is I was expecting it to be on the small side but not quite as compact as it turned out to be! That being said it's still been very usefull and excellent quality; but I don't think the spare mixing well is necessary as you end up wasting valuable foundation buy using it! So instead I use a very small palette knife to decant what I need onto a palette/back of my hand, so that nothings wasted (and it's also very higenic). I got my palette knife in the HD brush set from Crown Brush and I have to say it's been very handy, especially with this palette! You can see what it looks like in my blog post on the HD brush set: http://inthemakeupbox.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/crown-brush-hd-set.html

If you're looking at getting it for personal use...don't! You won't use half the shades in there (if that!) making it a huge waste of money, you can buy the foundations individually for £28 and the correctors and concealers for £18, which can be matched up to your specific skin tone at your nearest Bobbi Brown counter! Couldn't be simpler!

  

But from a professional point of view, over all I would say the BBU palette (although being small) was worth the money, It's compact which means it's lightwight and doesn't take up much space in my kit - which is always good news! I'd recommend it to anyone who dosn't have heaps of different foundations already, needs to save on space and is pro, quality over quantity; and especially if you have pro or student discount!

  

Kryolan Lippy

Being rather partial to a bright lip, I was very happy to find an incredibly bright pink lippy from Kryolan (shade LC334), sent to me in a little package from Karla Powell for coming 3rd in her online lip competition. I normally stick to oranges if I'm going bright and peachy tones if not as they complement my skin tone, but that being said I just can't help myself sometimes, and this colour certainly is beaut.
Needless to say, this particular lipstick will live in my make-up kit as it's far too good and completely the wrong shade to waste on myself...

Looks really red in this pic, but as you can see below, it's not!

If you like wearing lippy but the feel and maintenance of actually wearing it puts you off, then Kryolan lipstick is ideal for you. (Sounds like an advert, so sorry). It has a really smooth, creamy texture, and barely feels as though I have anything on at all. It has quite a nice sheen to it (as you can see in the pic) but if that's not your thing just blot it carefully with a piece of tissue paper, this will give you a more matte effect, it won't loose any of it's vibrancy and still doesn't feel dry! It'll also last a lot longer if you blot it.

These pics don't seem to do the colour justice but you can see how nice the texture is!

If this one's a bit too bright, try some of Kryolan's more subtle shades in this light lipstick, they're perfect for this spring/summer, the first layer is sheer to medium opacity - perfect for spring; you could also try dabbing a small amount onto your lips with your ring finger for a subtle tint!

If you've bought anything after reading a review I'd love to know what you think! Let my know by posting a comment, Thanks, Anna xx

Illamasquas Dream Highlighter

I'd been hearing a lot of hype about 'Gleam in Aurora' from Illamasqua, things like it being the best highlighter you could possibly use, blends perfectly, looks flawless to the eye and on camera!
So, having had my make-up done at Illamasqua I redeemed the money I'd spent on the make-over on this supposedly fabulous 'Gleam'... and trust me, it really does deliver!
Oh, my, word, it's amazing. Unlike a lot of other highlighters I've used which need to be blended with a liquid foundation to get a flawless finish and the full effect, as it's a cream product it can simply be dabbed on top of your cream foundation happily, without causing patchyness, giving you a beautifull glow. All you need is the product and your ring finger, and gently dab onto the areas of your face where the sun naturally highlights: The tops or your cheekbones and brow bone, you can also take it onto the tops of your temples. Avoid the forehead and chin area as it can make you look a bit too shiny or even a bit sweaty (but that goes for all highlighters!). It's an irridescent champagne colour which makes it perfect for all skin tones, as it won't cause any ashyness on darker skin tones!

I would happily reccomend this product to anyone, professional or otherwise. I've used it on shoots and on myself, if I'm feeling the need for an added glow..

It's £18 and you can buy it from www.illamasqua.com

Anna x

Kryolan Competition update..

So the competition was moved to Pinterest, due to Facebook not agreeing with some of the nudity, with it being body art, there was bound to be some!

I'm posting the link to the new voting page here again, I really appreciate it if you've voted for it all ready, but all the facebook likes have been discounted! Boo!

So heres the new link: http://pinterest.com/pin/511651207635890291/

I would love it if you could follow it and like my design :) (again). Just click on the link, hover over the image  and the like button will pop up in the top left corner. If you don't have a Pinterest account it logs you in with Facebook!

Thank you, thank you, thank you x

Please Vote For My Design! :)

Hello my lovely readers!

This is just a quick post, basically to ask for your support with a little competition I've entered on the Kryolan facebook page!

How it works: They post the make up pictures sent in by make up artists who've used the Kryolan products for a look. The pictures are entered into specific categories, 'mine's Body Art'. Basically the picture with the most likes wins!

I would be forever grateful to you all, if you'd take a couple of minutes out of your day to follow the link below and like my image (only if you actually like it though!). It;s the black one with big pink flowers and huge eyelashes! There's a few pictures at the bottom of this post :).

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=525354487507809&set=a.525354450841146.1073741825.130832636959998&type=1&theater

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Xxx

Smashbox eyeshadow palletes

Having bought the Smashbox 'try it kit' and thought every one of the products really good quality, I decided to splash out a little on a couple of their eye palettes. I'd seen one of their tutorials and thought the shadows worked really well, so waited patiently for my next makeup binge, when I'd allow myself to buy them (basically when the next pay cheque came in), and wound up getting two; the 'blue eyes' and 'brown eyes' palettes.
To start with I'd just like to point out the obvious that they make it really easy for you here, they've selected six shades that complement specific eye colours and put them into a singe box, plus a handy double ended brush. All you have to do is remember what colour your eyes are! Not exactly tricky is it?!

Saying that, I have hazel eyes and I bought the blue and brown eyes palettes. I do have a reason though:- they're not for me, they're for my kit! But I will be getting the 'hazel eyes' palette as soon as I get paid again!

Brown Eyes Palette

Blue Eyes Palette - Coppers will really make blue eyes pop!

Having pointed out the obvious, I'd like to say....these eye shadows are amazing! The first time I tried them I was rushing to get out of the house and opted for a quick subtle peachy eye with a bit of definition in the crease, these shadows just blended SO easily and went on so smoothely and the colour pay off was really good too.

Each palette comes with a mixture of matte and shimmer shadows, perfect for creating smokey eyes, use a shimmer on the lid, matte in the crease and BLEND = perfection.

Matte Black Case

I'd recommend these to anyone looking for an eyeshadow palette which takes all the difficulty out of choosing the right shades for you, and is easy to apply when your on the go and short of time! As I know a lot of you ladies are! For really easy blending I like to apply the shadow with the Smashbox Tapered Shadow Brush, it has really soft but dense fibers, so perfect for creating intense colour and flawless blending. Although the double ended brush it comes with does the job perfectly well, and the smaller one is brilliant for doing along the lash line!

Each palette is £32.50 and worth every penny. I got mine from www.smashbox.co.uk

Anna x

Illamasqua Speckled Eyeliner

Evening beauty geeks!
I tried my hand at the Illamasqua Speckled eyeliner this morning, if you haven't heard of it yet it's from their most recent collection: I'mperfection!
It was very quick and easy, I managed to get it done before I left for college at 6.30am!
The only technique needed is the ability to line your eyes with a liquid liner and then take it from there. Here's how mine turned out:

For a tutorial on creating the speckled liner visit: https://www.illamasqua.com/explore/tutorials/speckled-eye-liner/ they'll tell you all you need to know!

Anna x

My Counter Crawl: Illamasqua

I fancied having my makeup done on a makeup counter purely for the experience, as all though I'm a makeup student I've never actually has it done on a counter before.
So my friend an I have decided that over the next couple of weeks we're going to try out several different counters and let you know what we think!

The first counter on our list was Illamasqua at the Trafford center, it's £30 for a total make-over which is about 45mins and that money is redeemable against products, the girls on the counter were very friendly and perceptive, the girl doing my make-up asked plenty of questions and new exactly what I wanted, even though the picture wouldn't load on my phone! I went for quite a dark smokey eye as it's a bit different to how I normally wear my makeup and Illamasqua are well known for their more dramatic looks! 

The make-up application itself was good, the girl told me most of what she was doing, some techniques, the tools she was using and of course the products - mustn't forget to sell, sell, sell!
The eye make-up she applied lasted all day, but the foundation and especially the lips didn't last long at all.
I think the reason the lips didn't last long was down to the fact a lip liner didn't come any where near my face, there was no blotting and it felt a little rushed. The foundation however, just didn't suit my oily complexion, and looked greasy and patchy not long after leaving the counter.

I do have to add though, that I'm a huge fan of the majority of Illamasqua products, but the foundations just aren't one of them - which I put down purely to personal preference!

Rachel looking lovely! The peach lips really complement her skin tone!

Over all I was happy with the make-up application, everyone loved the eyes! I've popped a picture up of them, all though it doesn't seem to do them justice (they look a lot 'smokier' in person) and with me not being particularly photogenic, it's not a great pic! I've also added a picture of my lovely friend Rachel's final look, which I think turned out really nicely!

Needless to say I came away with a couple of things: Gleam in Aurora, which everyone's been raving about, so there will be a review on that very soon, I've tried it already and I love it!! And the Precision Ink in Scribe (white) which I can't wait to try some speckled eyeliner with. All in all it was a good experience, and if you're thinking of buying something from them anyway it's well worth having a make-over at the same time, as it's effectively free (as long as what you want is around the £30 mark)!

Next stop: MAC!!

 

Anna x

Soft smokey eye tutorial

I posted this tutorial yesterday but woke up this morning and it was gone! I've somehow managed to completely delete it! so here it is again....

A soft smokey eye is the perfect look for any season! It can be a subtle with simple definition and highlights or more of an evening look with sultry black winged eyeliner.
This is one of my favorite looks, it goes with almost any outfit and with a good eyeshadow base it can last all day!

I'm not brilliant at explaining things, especially when it comes to how to do things. But I've given it a go so here's a quick step by step guide on how to create this look:
 

1. Use a lid primer all over the lid, up to the brow bone and along the lower lash line. I used Smashbox photo finish lid primer.

2. Take a light almost white coloured eyeshadow all over the lid and repeat as above. (If you have pinky undertones in your skin use an eyeshadow base colour which also has pink undertones, if your a more olive skin use an eyeshadow base with peach or yellow undertones).

3. Take a matte medium brown eyeshadow over the entire lid and into the crease, use a 'windscreen wiper' motion to build the colour all the way along your crease, then blend it up and out onto the socket line - but no higher. Take the medium brown along the lower lash line and blend. I used MAC eyeshadow in charcoal brown for this (sounds darker than it is!).

4. Then take a matte dark brown into the outer third of your crease, and blend it onto the outer corner of your eyelid and a long a third of your lower lash line, this will add extra depth and definition to your look.

5. Ensure all harsh edges have been blended away, this is what will create the beautiful smokiness!

6. Take a highlighter in white along the brow bone and blend, you want it to look as natural as possible, I find pearlescent shades better than a shimmer for highlighting, but for this look I used a matte white. Also blend a bit onto the inner corner of your eye!

7. I used Bobbi Brown gel liner in Caviar ink a black-brown colour along the upper lash line and winged it out at the edges to create a more sultry look, start from the middle of the eyelid and draw a poker straight line to the outer corner, then go back and join it to the inner corner of the eye. Next take a small amount on the brush and tuck it under the lashes of the lower lash line and draw a line from there to the top of the point on the upper liner. Fill in any gaps!

8. Always curl your eyelashes before applying mascara, this will really open up your eyes and make all the difference to your look, then apply your favorite mascara! My personal fave at the moment is Smash box full exposure, it doesn't flake and you can apply a few coats without it going clumpy!

And that's it!

Hope it made some sence! I might do a youtube tutorial for this look, so watch out for that.

Anna x

Dotty nails

For me having tidy nails can make all the difference to your appearance and how you feel, you see your nails every time you do something with your hands, which when you think about it, is all the time!

Nail art is on the up, but it can be time consuming and quite technical so here's a little design which is seriously simple!

Pastels are big for next season and this is quite a nice way to do the trend, I bought some pastel shades from Barry M and Maxfactor ranging from £2.99 to £3.99, they're great value for money as I've had them on for three days without a top coat and not one chip has appeared, and I've even helped my dad mend a fence! So I'll definitely be buying these again! 

All you need is a few different shades a nail varnish a  dotting brush and a steady hand! I couldn't find my nail art brushes so I used a fine paint brush (make sure its one you don't mind ruining) it didn't quite give me the results I was after, but I quite like the  unequal/unevenness of my dots which are more like blobs! I had to do about three coats of shade 308 in Barry M nail paint to get a nice solid colour for the base as it's quite opaque, but even with that many layers it dried quite quickly. Then all I had to do was dot on my other colours haphazardly and leave them to dry!  

All in all I think you can achieve a really simple yet affective look in a short amount of time! Plus they're super cute!

Anna x

Crown Brush HD set

I bought the CrownBrush HD set after hearing countless reviews from other make-up artists - all good! And it really has lived up to my expectations!
It comes with 6 brushes (three face and three eye), a mixing pallete and a fab double ended pallete knife, which I've found to be great for blocking out eyebrows.

The brushes are all synthetic fibre which is great for cream products but they also work well with powders too. I'd recomend giving them a THOROUGH clean (not just with brush cleaner) as soon as possible after using a cream or liquid foundation as it may dis-colour the brush - which never looks good! They're also super soft and feel amazing on the skin!

The set includes:-

*1 x powder and body brush

*1 x Blush brush

*1 x Foundation Brush

*1 x Blending creas

*1 x Oval Shadow

*1 x Pointed eyeliner

*1 x Palette

*1 x Palette Knife

*1 x Case

I bought mine from www.crownbrush.co.uk for £29.99 which is brilliant value for money, as you're getting good quality brushes, a pallete and palette knife as well as a fab little case!

**I'd highly recommend this to anyone who's starting out and looking for a good starter set of brushes, someone who's always adding new brushes to their kit (like me, and probably most MUA's!) Or even someone who just wants a complete set of brushes for their own use!**

A Neon Pout

There are always several trends at a time, it just depends on which one suits you. A huge trend this season is neon brights, and one of the ways to transfer this hot trend to your make-up look is to wear a bright lip, this is exactly how I like to wear the trend...neon bright clothing has never been my cup of tea, I'll ocassionally dabble in a neon accessory for a festival but that's the extent of it!

As seen at Oscar De La Renta - NY Fashion week A/W13

So for me make-up is the perfect way to keep up with the trends! Orange and peach are this seasons favorite tones, so if you're olive skinned, this colour trend is for you... However if you have a paler skin tone, pink would be your best bet, I have a yellow based/olive skin tone and the pinks can make me look washed out.

My favourite lipsticks for this trend at the moment are Topshop LIPS in 'Charmed' - £8.00, it has a really soft velvety finish which doesn't make your lips feel dry and great if your on a budget! Another SUPER bright lippy is Barry M's Lip paint in lp54 (orange) or lp62 (bright pink) - £4.49 = Bargain! They're slightly more matte and don't feel AS nice as the Topshop lippy but the colour pay off is well worth it.

Neon lips featured in Look Magazine

If however crazy brights aren't for you, why not work this seasons colour trend with a burnt orange or peachy lip, try Bobbi Brown lip colour in 'Orange' - £18.00 or for a softer, glossy lip try Bobbi Brown Creamy lip colour in  'Tiger Lilly'.

From top to bottom:- L'oreal Colour Riche in shade 371; Bobbi Brown Lip color in Atomic pink; Barry M Lip paint in shade lp62.

From top to bottom:- Barry M Lip paint in shade 52; Topshop LIPS in Charmed; Bobbi Brown Lip color in Orange; Bobbi Brown creamy lip color in Tigerlilly; Revlon Super lustrous matte lipstick in Smoked Peach (013).

Alternatively, tone the neons down and mix it up with subtle peachy eyeshadow, this is a great spring time look, complete the look with statement black liner and a natural lip for a fresh, spring time glow!

Keep the rest of your make-up neutral for a fresh on trend look!

***Tip: For longer lasting lippy (even drink proof too an extent!) carefully apply a layer of your chosen shade and gently blot with a tissue, apply a second layer and blot again, the result will be a matte finish, so add a gloss or balm for a more sultry look!***