Makeup Mistakes

I admit to making these mistakes, but eventually I did learn that I looked a bit silly. I think it can be easy to over do things, or think it looks good at home but when the flash camera comes out - uh oh. I think it's something to do with over exaggerating the current trends, or copying high fashion trends which just don't look good on us ordinary people (ahem Cara's brows.) When I was 13 I used to think powder foundation is what everyone used to use to cover their imperfections, I used to apply layers and layers of it all over my face - silly me. Luckily now, I'm all clued up with make up and although I still have a lot to learn, I'm not making these mistakes anymore.

Brows - The Bad

Eyebrows are so important, if you have good brows the rest of your face is 'going to look a lot better. But nowadays with Cara inspiration, everyone wasn't fuller and thicker brows. I love thick brows, but they've also got to look natural (unless you're going for the fake/drag look!) Here I used a pencil for my entire brow and literally went to town thickening them up. For me, this really doesn't look good. The main problem is the inner part of my eyebrows, filling them in with a pencil really doesn't look good. You can't see the individual eyebrow hairs, and they just tend to look like big caterpillars on your face

Brows - The Good

I think this looks a lot more natural and my subtle (somone might even think they're o natural!) For my eyebrows, I use Anastasia's tinted brow gel to keep the hairs in place and darken them a little, I then go in with Benefit's Brow Zings (just the powder) to fill in the outer part of my eyebrows, and then I use Rimmel's brow pencil to make them a little longer. I don't even touch the inner part of my eyebrows, I think it looks a lot better that way. If you have light eyebrows and want them darker, instead of filling them in maybe try a tinted brow gel - it will make all your eyebrow hairs individually darker (or just actually tint them with eyebrow dye - but that's effort.)

Cheek Contour - The Bad

Looking at this just makes me cringe, WHY! I actually used to do this, but didn't even realize. The problem with contouring is, when you're facing the mirror it looks great - but half the time you forget to look to the side and there's some big ass orange/brown line on your cheek. Over application, the wrong brush, the wrong bronzer. A lot of bronzers tend to be very orange, that works for some people but if you have pale/olive skin it's best to get one that's a darker version of your skin tone (just get your face powder but in a shade or two darker.) Most people like to use smaller brushes for their contour, to really get the angle. But I think that makes it far too defined. Of course, you can blend it out afterwards but I much prefer using a big fluffy brush as that makes it look a lot natural. Only use a little product, and take a flash photograph to see the damage - then add more if you need it.

Cheek Contour - The Good

Here I used Body Shop's Honey Bronzer with a big fluffy brush and just applied a little. It makes your cheek bones stand out, but doesn't actually look like you've put bronzer on. After all, the reason most people use bronzer is to make certain features seem less obvious. With the cheek contour, it's so under neath your cheek bone will "sink" and the cheek bone will stand out more. Applying it subtly actually makes that happen, but applying a lot or the wrong shade won't make your cheek bones look HUGE, it will just make a big brown/orange line on your face. Be careful ladies!

Mascara

Left - The Bad: I used Maybelline's Volume Express Rocket Mascara on both eyes, but here I applied literally TONS of it, and didn't bother moving the wand side to side to remove any clumps. The amount of lashes you see is literlly half the amount compared to the right because they've all clumped together. Doing this makes your make up look messy.

Right - The Good: Here I only used two coats of mascara, and everytime I moved my wand side to side to make sure each individual lash wasn't clinging to another. I find it's best to apply one coat, let it dry for 2 minutes and then apply another. For the bottom lashes, I only ever apply one coat of mascara (using a smaller wand is easier - try getting your hands on a Benefit They're Real tester.)

Eyeliner Flick - The Bad

This doesn't look terrible, but there's a big reason why I don't like it. I used to do my eyeliner like this all the time, until I realized what I was doing wrong. When it comes down to it, the reason everyone loves eyeliner is because it extends your eye and makes them look wider. Here, I've drawn my flick quite low, and so instead of making my eyes look wider and lifting them, it's making my eyes look droopy and small. 

Eyeliner Flick - The Good

sorry for the blurry picture

Here I've made my eyeliner aim toward the end of my eyebrow instead, and by doing this it widens my eyes and makes them look lifted. Here I used Loreal's Ultra Precision SuperLiner, it works wonders. 

Do you have any make up regrets that you wish you didn't do?

Beauty Purchases

I went sort of crazy recently and wanted to buy everything on the make up counter. Fortunately my boyfriend managed to calm me down and I only bought a few things. Sadly, I couldn't get the Stella palette In The Light as it's been sold out for months! But I did get some lovely things instead. 

1. Sleek i-Divine Au Naturel Eye Shadow Palette, £7.99

2. Sleek Face Form Contouring and Blush Palette In Light, £9.99

3.  Bourjois Delice De Poudre Bronzing Powder, £6.99

4. Topshop Cheek Duo In Desert Sun, £12.50

5. Katy Perry Cool Kitty Lashes, £5.95

6. Topshop Lipstick In Macaroon, £.8.00

7. Topshop Lipstick In Infrared, £8.00

8. Real Techniques Core Collection, £21.99

 I bought these Sleek palettes because I watched Zoella's video about her drug store favourites, and I'm definitely not disappointed. This is the first contouring palette I've bought, and I'm definitely a fan of the bronzer and highlighter. Unfortunately I really don't like the blusher, It's an orange pink with a lot of shimmer - no thanks! The eye shadow palette is brilliant with matte and shimmer shades ranging from white to black. 12 shades for £7.99 seems like a good deal to me. There's not much fall out and they stay put all day, too. I really love the Sleek packaging (probably because it reminds me of Nars), and I love the huge mirror on these compacts too. 

I've gone a bit contouring mad lately! I saw this in Topshop and had to get it. I haven't really tried this out much and I'm slightly hesitant, but I'm sure I'll get into it. This looks like it will be really good for when I'm in a rush. Unfortunately every eye-shadow/powder product I have bought from Topshop has broken and it has gotten everywhere, and I'm really not a fan of the cheap plastic packaging. We shall see! 

Another face product, tut tut. I also can't believe I've only just bought this, and I am officially in LOVE!!! Every bronzer I have bought previously has been a little too orange and hasn't blended well, but this is literally perfect. I recommend this to everyone - I think they do a lighter shade too. 

Here's a swatch of the two lipsticks I bought from Topshop - macaroon and Infrared. Infrared is the bright ass orange, and I am so proud of myself for being brave enough to wear it - I have too many red lipsticks and need to start being experimental. Macaroon is a lovely bright baby pink and will be great for Summer. I don't know why but when I apply Topshop lipsticks they really do set into the creases in my lips and make them look so dry. Maybe I need to ex-foliate more, who knows. They stay on like a dream and are very pigmented, though. 

I don't think Real Techniques brushes and Katy Perry lashes need any comment, we all know they're amazing. What are your recent beauty purchases?

Electra Heart

Here goes another copy cat make up look! I love love love Marina & The Diamonds and her Electra Heart look is amazing. She has dewy skin, rosy cheeks, thick eyebrows and HUGE false lashes (with individual lashes on the bottom.) And not to forget the heart on her cheek, I love how she's turned the classic drawn on beauty mole into something modern. Unfortunately I don't own a pair of false lashes - yes I know, it's terrible. I just have never wanted to wear them, so why waste the money? 

Here's a list of the products I used to recreate her look: 

Maybelline's Dream Fresh BB Cream

Rimmel's Hide the Blemish Concealer 

17's Instant Glow Bronzer 

Natural Collection's Blushed Cheeks 

Revlon's ColorStay 16-Hour Eyeshadow In Addictive 

MUA's Immaculate Collection Pallete Shade 18 (as a highlight) 

Rimmel's Exaggerate Eye Liner 

Rimmel's Scandal Eyes Flex Mascara 

Benefit's They're Real Mascara (for bottom lashes) 

Do you like Marina Diamondis make up look? Who's you make up inspiration?

Double Winged Eyeliner

Recently I've seen quite a few daring eye liner looks, including the triple winged eye liner look. As flattering and creative as they are, I'm not really comfortable leaving the house like that. So I thought I'd try doing a double winged eye liner look instead, making the look far less extravagant and beautiful - but hey ho! I think it turned out really well. It makes my eyes look a lot bigger and jazzes up my boring make up routine. Here's how I did it: 

Using my Rimmel Exaggerate Eye Liner I drew a basic line slightly on the thick side. When doing this it's best to put your handheld mirror below your chin and look down. That way you can really see if it's straight or not. 

I then added a flick. I made sure it wasn't too thick because obviously I need to fit another flick in there. 

I added another flick underneath, I tried to make it as identical to the other one as I could. 

Here's a view from the front, with a dash of Rimmel's Scandal Eyes mascara. I thought it looked pretty nice! Definitely going to start doing this more often, and maybe I'll get a little daring and add another flick. 

Have you tried out any funky eye liner looks? And if you tried this let me know how it went! 

Mwah! x