Thursday 30 October 2014

Make up brushes

Hello Everyone!

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about my desk(to see that post click here) and I showed you guys my Zoeva brushes. However, I didnt really get a chance to show them all to you. So I thought I'd do a little bit about these amazing brushes.



Apologies about the dirty brushes on this photo, I had taken this after I used them this morning! 
I never used to use makeup brushes and never really saw the point in them, that was until I saw a youtube tutorial that Zoella had created. She had mentioned these brushes a couple of times before, but after a while I got curious as to what the fuss was about. So I checked out the Zoeva website and had a browse at all of their products.

They are pricey but, I think that when it comes to brushes, you get what you pay for. The quality of these brushes is amazing and I can't fault it.


This is the set that I bought, the classic face set this costs 60.00 EUR*. I love this as, even though this  goes without saying, it has all you need for your face when applying makeup. You have a brush for; foundation, pressed powder, blusher, highlighter, stippling brush and concealer.
I bought this along with the brow line brush and the cream shader separately. 


This is the 322 Brow Line brush, I don't really use this much any more as I've made the swap from powder to an eyebrow pencil. This brush is perfect for doing your brow line as it has very short bristles that make filling in those brows very easy! If you're anything like me and struggle with doing your eyebrows then what more could you want? 


This is the 106 powder brush, I use this for my pressed powder. Its quite a wide brush and distributes the powder evenly over my face. I'm really happy with this brush as it's ridiculously soft and does exactly what I need it to.
106/ Powder - 12.80*


This is the 102/ Silk finish brush. If you've watched any of Zoella's makeup tutorials you'll more than likely see her using this for her foundation. It's a brilliant brush that allows the foundation to be smoothly applied onto your face giving a 'silk finish'. I use this in a buffing motion when putting foundation on and it's amazing. I love this brush, it really is the best for foundation, I have tried other branded foundation brushes and to me they don't compare to this.


The 127/ Luxe Sheer cheek, this another favourite used by Zoella. This is for your powder blusher. The angle on this brush is to help define your cheek bones. By blending in your blusher you can really get those cheeks to stand out using this brush. It's fantastic if you just want to add a little bit of colour to your cheeks as this brush is stupidly soft so when you apply powder lightly it gives a subtle colour to your cheek.


The 122/ Petite Stippling Brush. I use this for my cream blushers. This is fantastic for applying these blushers as it doesn't put too much product on the brush. Dabbing product onto my face using this gives my cheeks an instant glow, especially over winter I'll be using this to give myself the cold rosey red cheeks. 


The 142/ Concealer Buffer. This brush is so lovely to use for your concealer, I use this brush to cover my dark circles. The brush itself is small and soft, perfect for covering up those pesky imperfections!


The 105/ Luxe Highlight Brush.
I haven't really used this brush properly since I got the set as I still haven't found a highlighter that I like that's in my price range (oh the joys of being on an apprentice wage!) I can't wait to try this out properly when I do find a highlighter I like and can afford. 


The 233/ Cream Shader.
This brush is perfect for when I'm applying eye shadows. I recently bought the Bourjois Paris Colour edition 24h eye shadows that are a cream to powder eye shadow. I find it a lot easier to use this brush to apply these eye shadows than using my fingers like I normally would have. It's great for blending eye shadows to give a smokey look too. I'm so happy I bought this brush!

So those are currently the makeup brushes that I am using. I do plan to buy quite a few more, but for the time being I'm more than happy with these. 

Have you tried any Zoeva brushes?
Give me your recommendations for future purchases!

Sophie

x


*Note that the prices are in euros as this is a German company and you do need to pay for shipping.


Saturday 25 October 2014

Découpage shoes

Hello Everyone!

I haven't actually posted about this on here yet, but earlier this year I tried out Découpage. I found it easy to do and got very, very creative with it. So much so, that I've actually started doing them for my friends. 

I started by using old pairs of heels from charity shops, I found quite a lot of pairs of shoes with hardly any wear on the soles/heel. I would take these home and cut out images from wrapping paper and stick them on with PVA glue. 


These, above, are my babies. The first pair of Découpage shoes I ever created. These wear just a pair of gold heels from New Look that I only wore once, now I wear these a lot more. I love the butterflies that I created on the front of the shoes. To think that these were made from wrapping paper and glue! I'm so pleased with these, definitely my favourite pair.

The below photos of shoes are pairs that I have created for my friends and for my mom. 















The pair above are the ones that I'm currently working on.

I'm actually tempted to turn this into a little business for myself as I've had a couple more people ask me to do them a pair. To add more to this I'm doing a dressmaking class next year to dip my hands into that craft, as I really want to create my own clothes.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this project, any ideas for me? Please throw them at me!


Sophie


x

Sunday 19 October 2014

Keep those lips kissable!

Hello Everyone!

So today I'm going to talk about our lips! Now that the summer months are far gone its time we started looking after our lips. With the cold months upon us it's important to keep our lips moisturised - because who wants dry, chapped lips and more importantly who on earth wants to kiss those lips? Lets avoid nasty looking lips and get them soft, smooth and kissable!


These are the lip balms and scrub that I'm currently using and they are all a staple in my handbags!





This is the Bubblegum Lip Scrub from Lush which you can buy here for £5.50
It's so pretty and pink and smells amazing I literally can not explain how amazing it smells. It's fantastic for your lips. You only need a tiny little bit on your finger and then you literally scrub it on your lips. It makes them so smooth and tastes amazing too! I'm having to stop myself from eating the whole pot!*





Next up should be a staple in every girls handbag. Vaseline Petroleum Jelly Lip Therapy tin. You can buy this from boots/superdrug/bodycare and they're relatively cheap.
I love using these on my lips, this is the aloe vera tin. It soothes dry skin and lips, so it's perfect for moisturising those chapped lips and your skin.



This is the Nivea Pearly Shine Lip Balm. Again you can buy these from most drugstores and is relatively a cheap item. I love using this as a lip balm as its got a slight pink tint which is great as I like having a bit of colour on my lips, and having a lip balm and faint tint in one is great!





Now the two balms above I'm going to talk about together as they do pretty much the same thing. Except the balm at the top is a soothe and protect balm which does exactly what it says on the packaging. So it's another one to help with those troublesome chapped lips! The second balm is the basic Nivea lip balm which I usually put on when I start doing my make up to keep them moisturised. 

I hope this gives you girls some ideas on what to have in your handbag to keep you prepared for the cold weather! 


Sophie

x

*Please take note that if you have cold sores or any abrasions on your lips you shouldn't use the lip scrub it as it will sting and potentially spread the cold sores. 

Thursday 16 October 2014

Bumble and Bumble

Hello Everyone!

No this isn't a post about a new breed of Bumble Bee! I'm talking about Bumble and Bumble hair products. This company is owned by  Estée  Lauder and was founded in a New York hair salon which has two flagship salons in Manhattan. 

These are three products that I use over and over again! They're the BB Thickening Hairspray, BB Styling Creme and BB Texture Hair (Un) Dressing Creme.








You can buy all of these products online on the Bumble and Bumble UK site.



        

This is the Bumble and Bumble Styling Creme. As it says on the bottle 'It's not a mousse and it's not a gel' that exactly what it feels like. Something in between a gel and a mousse styler. It's kind of a weird texture when you first put it on your fingertips but once you rub it into your hair the feeling goes. Rub this into your hair and style. I love this for making my layers stand out more.
You can buy this product for £20.50

 

This is the Bumble and Bumble Thickening Spray. Time to point out the obvious that this is a thickening hairspray! I love this product, I spray this into my roots all over to get a bit more volume. As my hair is getting longer it's starting to get that 'flat' look, which I'm really not loving. So it's time to start using this bad-boy a bit more. You don't need a lot of this spray to get a bit of volume, don't over-do it with this spray as it can make your hair look a tiny bit greasy which everyone knows is not a good look! The smell of this spray is different to other hairsprays, it is quite strong though but it doesn't really bother me. It hasn't got a very strong hold on it so this spray is more for volume than hold.
You can buy this product for £21.50




Say Hello! To the Bumble and Bumble Texture Hair (Un) Dressing Creme.
This teeny tiny little product is a sample, which has lasted me over 6 months! Let me repeat, 6 MONTHS! You may think texture creme would be used up so quickly, but this little amazing product lasts forever! You only need a tiny bit rubbed onto your fingertips to get an amazing texture to your hair. I love that this product gives you so much from so little, definitely a value for money product! It only has a subtle scent to it which is great as I tend to mix up all three of these products into my hair so having loads of scents would be so confusing and a little too much!
You can buy this product for £22.50

I definitely recommend all three of these products from here:

I'd love to hear if any of you have tried any other Bumble and Bumble products!


Sophie

X

Autumn looks

Hello everyone!

So it's that time of the year again, definitely one of my favourite seasons for clothing!
I love being able to wear pretty dresses with thick tights on, digging out my  boots from the bottom of my wardrobe and getting all snuggled up by the fire on nights.
Here is part of my autumn wardrobe this year!
*All photos were taken on my iPhone and the camera is not that great so apologies for the terrible quality of photos!










                                     
 
  


As a quick p.s I buy the majority of my clothes from New Look! :)


Sophie

X




Sunday 12 October 2014

Bourjois Paris: Healthy Mix foundation

Hello Everyone!

Wow two blog posts in one day! I am on fire tonight!

I thought I'd talk about my current favourite foundation! 
This is the Bourjois Paris Healthy Mix foundation it's for a healthy glow and flawless complexion it says that it gives you coverage for up to 16 hours. Normally this will last me from 8am when I apply it up to around 3pm. As I work in a small office where there are only 4 people who will see me regularly in there I'm not really that bothered that it wears off. I normally carry my pressed powder in my handbag so I can top myself up later on anyway! 


I bought this foundation in shade No 51 Light Vanilla, I'm quite pale with pink undertones so I find it quite difficult to find a foundation that will blend easily into my skin. With this foundation I've found it a bit easier to blend into my natural skin tone. For me its quite a light foundation that feels wet on your face for a while, but I've had this foundation for the past three months and to be honest, I'm used to it. 




This foundation is perfect if you're not expecting it to last all day, I think this would be fine if you're going out for a couple of hours but if you're wanting coverage all day long I'd stay clear! Most of the time I don't expect a foundation to last 16 hours anyway, I like my skin to be able to breathe and having foundation on for 16 hours straight does kind of scare me a little!

Overall I like using this foundation, however, once I have saved up a bit of money I will be making the swap to a MAC foundation. I've been eyeing them up for a while whenever I walk into Debenhams in my local shopping centre and I really want to try them out. I want to find a foundation that will match my natural skin tone without making me look like a bottle of fanta.

Do you have any suggestions on foundations for us girls who have very pale skin?


Sophie


X


Recipe: inside out chicken kievs

Hello Everyone!

I hope you're all having a lovely Sunday afternoon/morning/monday wherever you are!
I'm just about to sort out the Sunday roast with my Mom but before I do I thought I'd share a little recipe with you all.
About three months ago I re-joined the gym and started to look at what I'm eating more. I've tried to make healthy alternatives to fatty junk that you buy in the shop, this is because I'm not going to lie to you, I LOVE my food. So for me it would be extremely difficult to change my diet to only eating chicken, veg and protein shakes. So here is one recipe that I found to be quite a hit, not only with me but for my whole family and boyfriend.

INSIDE OUT CHICKEN KIEVS


Normal chicken kievs that you buy in the shops are really bad for you, full of fat and most the time the chicken is not a whole breast and is processed together. Not mentioning the amount of oil that is inside of it!

I made this meal by simply cutting up garlic cloves and rubbing them all over the chicken, I then cut a little incision in the side of the chicken and placed a little garlic in there. I placed these under the grill for about 5 minutes each side, I then put breadcrumbs all over each chicken breast and put them under the grill again until the chicken was completely cooked.

You can do this recipe by using garlic butter/garlic puree too! Just do exactly the same recipe but change the garlic clove for the butter/puree.

Serve with vegetables or low fat chips!
Enjoy!


Sophie

X
 

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