Airbrush Makeup 101

After finishing my diploma in Beauty School, one major part of the course that stood out to me was airbrush. Before actually studying it, I had assumed airbrush involved a bulky kit, a lot of time/effort, and a lot more money per face - I'll start apologising now for how wrong I was. 

The breakdown

What's airbrush? - ' Airbrush makeup is product sprayed onto the skin using a gun with airflow, rather than makeup applied with sponges, brushes or other.'

Why airbrush? -  For both personal and professional use, the finish is flawless. In a science-y explanation, the particles of foundation are much smaller than a regular product, and the air that it's shot out with helps it to disperse evenly and 'dry' straight away so it doesn't have time to move about and settle into weird lines. Other than that obvious main attraction to airbrush, it's extremely quick, mainly an advantage if you're using this professionally as you can get a large party sorted in a fraction of the time, but it does also help in personal use. Hygiene is obviously great with airbrush as you're not touching anyone's face, and you'd be amazed at how little foundation can do a full coverage.

Which airbrush? - I've worked with a few brands of airbrush now and the kit I chose for myself and every product I will probably ever buy for my airbrush kit is from the brand Airbase. The brand is famous amongst TV and Theatre makeup artists, the kits are small and affordable compared to other brands, and the control available from the guns along with the stunning finish of their products just makes it an overall winner. I've got similar to this kit, exactly this one , but I believe you have to be a student to get it. If you browse the website there are bigger and smaller kits for home or professional use. The shading pad is great for protecting hairlines when you're doing swift motions for light overall coverage, and having every selection of foundation colour has been a dream lately. They're perfect for mixing, too!

Quick tips:

• Don't mix formulas or you'll ruin your gun- I use silicone, best for all skin types and can withstand all environments. Water based is good for everyday, and alcohol based leans towards SFX and tattoo coverage the most- it's quite hardcore. 
• Use layers- Apply very light layers with a couple of seconds drying time inbetween to avoid cakey results.
• Don't pour too much in the gun's cup, because you won't get it back and I can promise you that you'll be surprised with how little you use.
• Use big swirls for overall coverage, but if you're looking to 'conceal' with the gun, pulse the trigger back and forth keeping it still over that area. 
• Start from light to dark so you don't have to clean your gun out too thoroughly inbetween- Go from base, to bronze, to blush- the colours merge more naturally and you don't have to use any cleaner to get rid of traces of product, if there's too much left in there just spray onto a tissue!

Would you ever try airbrush? 

Alice.

Ferrero Rocher & Nutella Cupcakes

I may have just recently joined the gym and decided to get a little bit healthier in prep for my holiday in 2 months 15 days (not that I'm counting, or shopping for it, or packing..), but I do still love baking and I've got a huge household to help me out with eating any creations. In fact, I used up the lasts of my Ferrero Rocher's from Valentines day so that I couldn't sit and eat them, so it really was a decision best for my health.. 

This recipe for the sponge is the best cocoa-based recipe I've come across, and I think I'll definitely keep it as a base for any chocolate cupcakes I make in the future. I had a lot of fun playing around with these and it's something a bit different to your standard cupcakes. The sponge itself is moist, the chocolate in the middle adds a nice texture, and the Nutella buttercream is all sorts of heavenly. It's rich, super Nutella-y and I've never liked a buttercream so much. The method is simple and if I can follow it, so can anyone! Overall they're definitely the best cupcakes I've ever produced, much better than a box mix- too!

To serve 12:
Cupcake ingredients-

• 230g Lightly salted butter
• 230g Caster sugar
• 230g Self Raising flour
• 60g Cocoa Powder
• 4 Large eggs
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 Tablespoons milk
• 12 Ferrero Rocher chocolates

Nutella buttercream ingredients-

• 100g Any butter
• 140g Nutella
• 200g Icing sugar
• 50g Cocoa Powder
• 4 Tablespoons milk
• 30g Roasted chopped hazelnuts - to sprinkle, optional
• Cake Decor glitter spray - to decorate, optional (but really pretty)
• Any decorations - I've used Galaxy Golden Eggs and extra Ferrero Rooters

Method

For the cupcakes-

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C for fan.
• Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
• In a seperate bowl, sift together the flour and cocoa powder. Gradually add the eggs and dry ingredients to the butter and sugar, mixing until well combined.
• Beat in the vanilla extract and milk.
• Line a cupcake tin with 12 cases and divide the mixture evenly into them, reserving a few tablespoons amount in the bowl.
• Gently press a ferrero rocher into each cupcake, pushing right down in the mixture. Spoon the remaining mixture on top of the chocolates to cover them.
• Bake for about 15-17 minutes, or until the cupcakes feel firm to the touch.
• Cool completely.

For the buttercream-

• Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the nutella.
• Sift in the icing sugar and cocoa powder.
• Finally beat in the milk until you have a creamy mixture, still firm enough to pipe with.
• Pipe the butter cream on top of the cupcakes.
• Decorate with the hazelnuts and any other decorations you wish to use.

Let me know if you try these!

Alice.

BOOTEA 28 Day Teatox | First Impression

Yesterday- I love you, Amazon Prime- I ordered the BOOTEA 28 Day Teatox. I've heard lots about it and as you're probably aware, it's a very popular detox tea.

I've tried a 'teatox' before, with SLENDERTOXTEA (post here), and I was really happy with the results. For a slightly cheaper, and shorter teatox I'd definitely recommend it. I'm excited to compare the two. 

Here's the information you're given to start with:

The 28 day box contains 28 daytime teabags and 14 bedtime teabags. You're supposed to drink the daytime tea in the morning/whenever you can if you forget, and the bedtime tea every other night, starting with day 1, for the entire teatox. 

You brew them for 3 minutes with boiling water just as you'd expect. It's not massively advertised as it, but as far as I'm aware it's supposed to aid weight loss and help with energy levels.

My first impressions of the BOOTEA, after having one of the daytime teas:

• I'm really impressed with the price, I think it must be a deal *update- it's for Amazon Prime users, but if you start the free trial you can get the deal and cancel at any time!* but for £18.49 for the 28 day box on Amazon I'm very happy. 
• I really like it so far, the daytime tea tastes really pleasant and a little bit like lemon.
• The packaging and the box that it comes in are really cute, I like the design etc.
• The bag of nighttime tea doesn't smell so pleasant- I'll let you know in the next post.

You can buy the 28 day box where I did here.

I'll definitely post a final update with some before/after shots, weight update etc, and maybe even some updates in-between! After one day my boyfriend's looking to join in, so I might have two opinions by the end!

Have you tried bootea? Are you going to join me?

Alice.

5 Cheap Makeup Products Every Beauty Junkie Should Own

As you can tell by the pictures, I love and have used these products a LOT. They're easily the five best drugstore products I've used, and I can hand-on-heart say that I've repurchased each of these multiple times (except the blusher, that I've only repurchased once! - I never get through an entire blusher though, so it is still a statement).

Let's start on the left. Maybelline's Anti Age Eraser Concealer in the shade Light has a permanent spot in my daily makeup bag for three reasons. It's easy to apply, because of the sponge built-in applicator (not the most hygienic thing in the world but it doesn't go near spots so, meh, I'll put up with it), the packaging in genius in that you get to use every.last.drop of the stuff thanks to the wind-down technology going on - if you're as cheap as me, this means a lot with your £7.99 concealer - and finally, it works a miracle on your under eyes. It's the most brightening concealer I've tried and I feel so happy in just applying an upside-down triangle of the stuff under my eyes and that being the area sorted. If dark under eyes is something you struggle with - you'll love it.

Next up, a cult favourite, Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in 01. It's under a fiver, it's my go-to to cover literally anything on my face and it blends like a dream. That is all.

My go-to foundation of the ... past 4 months? ... and probably for the rest of my makeup days - Maybelline Fit Me foundation in 115/120. I love this foundation so much that I purchased every single shade for my college makeup kit. I've used it on so many skin types and it doesn't fail to give an even finish, not too dewy, not too matte. I'd buy it even if it were Chanel prices.

Maxfactor False Lash Effect mascara in Black. I featured this in my Rose Gold Makeup Menu eye look, it's great for length and definition. It's quite voluminous, there are definitely thicker looking mascaras out there, but it's the perfect middle that makes it a must-have for, well, everybody.

Finally, the NYX High Definition Blush in Amber. This is the only blusher I've ever repurchased, and I know it'll happen again a few times over. The texture and pigmentation is strong enough to not need much, but light enough that you aren't stepping on eggshells wondering if you're going to look like a rag doll today. This particular colour is something different from the other blushers I own - which are much more baby pink - and I reach for this daily. It suits a lot more skin tones than pinkier blushes, too.

Have you tried any of these? Let me know of other bargain products!

Alice.

Makeup Menu | Rose Gold Glitter

I'm definitely one of those still clinging on to the 'Rose Gold Everything' trend, and I don't think I'll ever back down. It's crept so far in my life that it's now on my face. 

For the base of this eye look I used MAC's Paint Pot in Painterly (it's a huge cult product, but for a reason- It's a creamy texture that thickens a little once you've applied it to the eye, and it does a good job of cancelling out veins and whatever else goes on ontop of an eyelid that you don't want in your smokey eye). All of my eyeshadows and including my brow colour came from one of Smashbox's new Cover Shot palettes, Ablaze, which I bought with the intention of using it for travel since it's so teeny and has a great little mirror, but I haven't put the thing down since I got it. For my brows I used Dark Horse, and for the brow bone and inner corners I used Moccasin and Relaxed mixed together. For the inner third of my eye I used Siesta, a shimmery rosy-pink shade, and for the centre my lid I used Nirvana, which is a matte burgundy colour. I copied all of these shades in the respective places beneath my eye, and then applied more Dark Horse on the outer third of the eyelid and beneath, joined together. Blended together this created a more-than-your-everyday smoky look. 


For mascara I used Maxfactor's False Lash Effect, my current favourite, in Black. The lashes I applied are from Eyelure's new Luxe Mink Effect Lash collection. The type I used are Solitaire, a gorgeous, wispy set. I'm a complete noob with applying lashes and I manage to apply these fine every time - so they're great if you feel like you can't hack the application of strip lashes too.

To complete the look, and my favourite part, I used Kryolan's Multi Gel in Copper. Kryolan is unfortunately a professional makeup brand and their main store, the only one I've ever seen, is located in Covent Garden. Otherwise, it's quite hard to get hold of without ordering online here where the postage costs more than the product. If you weren't looking to buy a few more colours to make the postage worth it, I've found a very similar one here.

What do you think? Would you try this look?

Alice

Lemon Drizzle Traybake

If you've watched this year's Great British Bake Off kick off then you've seen some weird and wonderful variations of the classic Lemon Drizzle cake, and are probably still drooling over the thought of them. This encouraged me to whip up my own lemon drizzle, a recipe from Mary Berry herself. I'll be honest, this is a regular occurrence in my household but at least this time there was an excuse. It's the basic recipe, which has been so good to me that I've never thought to change it as the contestants did. Maybe one day! 

The recipe makes 16 slices, of decent size. You'll need a 30x23cm (12x9in) tin that's 4cm (1 1/2in) deep (I found mine at sainsburys).

• Preheat your oven to 180 celsius, (fan 160C, 350F or Gas4). Grease your tin and line the base with baking parchment.
• Place 225g butter, 225g caster sugar, 275g self-raising flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 4 large eggs, 4 tbsp milk, and the grated zest of 2 lemons in a large bowl and beat until smooth. The butter should be room temperature. If not, cut into cubes and microwave for 10-20 seconds. Be careful not to melt it. The mixing should take 2-ish minutes with an electric mixer or 3-4 with a wooden spoon.
• Turn the mixture into your lined tin, and use a spatula to smooth it out.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until risen and springy to touch.
• Once removed from the oven, loosen the edges from the tin with a knife and transfer the cake onto a wire rack.
• Mix the juice of 2 lemons with 175g sugar and spoon over the cake whilst it's still warm, this will ensure the lemon sinks into the mixture and keeps the cake moist. 
• Once the cake has cooled, cut into 16 rectangular slices. 

It is really that simple! The prep takes 10-15 minutes before cooking, and a few minutes after. If your family are like mine, the 16 slices will turn into 1 within a day or two.

Top tip: To get the most juice out of the lemon, either roll them on a chopping board to loosen the insides, or cut them in half widthways and pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds. Be careful - they'll be hot after, but you'll be shocked at how much more juice will come from them. To juice them, press half of a lemon over a lemon squeezer (these are cheap and can be found in any supermarket, or stores with kitchen departments. Think Lakeland and Tiger). Twist and turn until the lemon looks empty, and then drain the pith and pips before adding to the recipe for the glaze. If you're doing this slightly in advance, pop the juice in the fridge in an airtight container to keep it fresh. 

Let me know if you try this recipe!

Alice.

Bean Burst*

Bean Burst is a company built on a personal story about a natural product to help a child's skin condition. The product's aims are to be completely natural and benefit the skin in multiple ways, such as reducing acne, cellulite, dry skin, scarring, stretch marks and psoriasis (severe dryness). As the name suggests, the products are coffee-bean scrubs that come in brown-paper sachets with reusable seals. You can order travel or full size versions of different ranges, for example orange, peppermint or grapefruit. I received the 100g Peppermint Blend and can already see that a little goes a long way- you don't need much of the scrub at all to cover your entire body including the face. I focused mainly on my legs and face, leaving the scrub to work with it's oils for 15 minutes before removal. Instantly I was shocked at how soft my skin felt- it's the type of time where you run around the house and demand that each family member touches your face to experience the baby-face softness. It's not as messy as I thought it'd be and washes right off with water on your skin and on any surface, it has a pleasant smell and feels amazing in application, during the waiting periods and of course after. I'm excited to use it again!

OK Bouquet & Miss Piggy Roses*

OK Bouquet is a family-run business overflowing with experience, expertise and attention to detail. They offer 'fresh-cut' style bouquets, which come across a lot more personal than many other flower delivery sites. The bouquets are extremely generously sized, with length definitely taken into consideration. You can pick your foliage and bouquet size, really adding to the personal touches in this service. You receive a bunch like those you'd expect from a high-quality market stall, delivered with the flowers partly bloomed, but still with a lot of growing to do. The flowers blossom a surprising amount after delivery. The bouquet that I received could easily have been split and generously fill two standard vases, however I enjoyed the showcase-ingly full look and kept them in one vase. 
The delivery service is very quick and OK Bouquet keep you up to date often with emails. The flowers arrived in a large box, well-packaged with a box at the base to keep some moisture with them. So far my flowers are on day 5 and still look incredible - I'd give them as a gift at this point still. Overall I can highly recommend the service for a gift, treat to your self, or a regular decoration to add to your home! They really do add a lot to a space. 

I received a Premium bouquet of Coral Pink 'Miss Piggy' Long Stem Roses, 2 dozen, with eucalyptus. See here.

Sliced Finger SFX

Halloween may be over, but my interest in gore-y makeup is definitely not. To create this look I started off by using some clear DUO eyelash adhesive on the areas that I'd be applying 'extra skin' to, preparing it for the wax. Spirit gum or Pros-aide would work well here, but eyelash adhesive is all I had.

Next, I went in with some Ben Nye nose & scar wax on a metal spatula dipped in petroleum jelly to prevent it from sticking to the tool. To create the 'sliced' effect, you need to apply wax to below the bottom crease and above the top on one side of the finger, and to between the two creases on the opposite side. Place a somewhat flat disc of wax onto the corner you're working on, and then use the tool to smooth out and take away the wax on the centre of the finger, trying to create a seamless edge. 

I then used a sharper metal tool on its side, dipped again in petroleum jelly, and 'cut off'/ neatened up the sliced edges, following my natural crease lines in the finger. 

After that, I dabbed a dry makeup sponge over the wax to remove the shine from the petroleum jelly, then I used a stipple sponge to try and recreate the skin's porous texture onto the wax. 

Here, I used some of the Benefit Benetint applied with my fingers to try and colour match the wax to the redness of my skin. Alcohol activated paints would work much better here, but this is all I had. 

To finish, I used some of the Ben Nye thick blood along the insides of the wax and then the Ben Nye stage blood along the crease lines of my finger to create the 'cut' effect. Less is definitely more in this area. 

Final notes: If I were to recreate this look I'd hopefully have something like the Skin Illustrator flesh tone palette to hand to enable a better colour match from the wax, and I'd definitely use some Ben Nye neutral set powder to mattify the whole look a bit more. For a first attempt at 'real' SFX, I'm quite pleased!

Would you ever try SFX makeup?

Alice.

The Holiday Post 2015

Between lounging around the pool, eating my weight in crepes from the nearby ice-cream shop and reading The Book Thief, I've been itching to blog about my time in Portugal so far. At a grand 7th visit, I'm still only aware of about three words of Portuguese (one of them being the translation for ice-cream), but for a second trip to this town - Carvoeiro - I'm a bit more aware of the surroundings and everything's therefore less of a challenge. A lot of pros have come from the trip so far:

I tried tapas. Less of a discovery if you're aware what tapas is (and it isn't, to my surprise, a Spanish rice dish). Our fourth night involved a meal at a tapas bar - the view displayed bottom centre - overlooking the sea and all of the chaos that is the town centre at night. A good experience, not only because the restaurant offered blankets to keep you cosy as you ate, but I actually found out that I quite like squid, and a few other odd-bits that I tried, which is a surprise from such a fussy eater.

I've seen the sky change about 6,000 times. Slight exaggeration, but it's been a roller coaster of colours up there. This may be The Book Thief talking, but I've seen some extremely beautiful sights whilst being here that I can't imagine you'd see too often at home. The skies at night are so much clearer, enabling a view of stars and deep blues to win you over. I'll probably return with some form of neck injury from looking up so much.

And the last one I'll mention, I've got a really good tan. Less sentimental than the others, but coming home will sure be easier with this long-lasting reminder of how good the weather's been painted on my skin. Or maybe it'll be harder. 

Because life isn't all sunshine and roses, two cons to even things out:

The villa is on such a hill - correction - mountain, that it almost isn't worth walking down to get crepes and such. 

I've had my first two encounters with cockroaches on this trip and I hope to God that they're my last. One more and I'll be on an early flight back.

How's your summer going? 

Alice.

What's In My Prom Clutch?

Clutch - Whistles at Asos

With my prom coming right around the corner, I decided it was time to finally put my Pinterest boards to use and organise what's going inside of my bag. Some are obvious, but there's a few which I consider to be handy tricks...

• Safety pins: For, god forbid, if you or one of your friends' dress/suit were to break. They don't take up room, so it's worth taking some just incase.
• Oil absorbing sheets: Since I'm using a loose powder for my prom makeup, the container was far too big to bring along with me for touch-ups. The solution? Oil absorbing sheets. They don't ruin your makeup, clear your skin of oil, and they're in a tiny compact ideal for a clutch.
• Lipstick: Fairly obvious. For touch-ups throughout the night.
• Mirror: To aid these touch-ups. Even if you're planning on doing so in the bathroom, it's easier to have a little mirror that you can use up-close. Mine's tiny and thin.
• Eyelash glue: No matter how sure I am that my falsies are glued down, nothing will stop me from taking along the glue- just incase.
• Phone: It's obvious, but it's always good to check that it fits in your clutch along with everything else. Prom pictures with your phone in your hand just aren't as nice.
• Tissues: For spills and tears, always needed.
• Comb: Since I'm going for a 'brushed out curls' hairstyle, this will be handy for when my curls spring up and no longer look 'brushed out'. 
• Blister plasters: These things can save the night if your heels begin to cause blisters.
• Socks: ...and if the plasters don't cut it, by the end of the night you may be feeling ready to take the heels off all-together. 

Summer Skin Essentials

There's no doubt that whilst we're still receiving the expected rainfall every few days in England, Summer is definitely here and our skin routines are definitely in need of a re-vamp. With a mix of skincare and makeup suggestions, I've got you covered with five of my summer skin essentials;

Benefit POREfessional Primer - £24.50 at Boots

My holy grail primer. Not only does it minimise the size of your pores, it's also great for keeping your base glued to your skin throughout the day. I find that even when the heat melts away the powder from my face, my skin continues to give that holiday-esque finish due to the smooth, pore-free base that this stuff gives me. And if you buy it in store at Boots, there's usually smaller sizes (I get 7.5ml) for a much cheaper price! Even the smaller versions of this primer manage to last me months. 

Piz Buin Allergy Sun Sensitive Face Cream SPF30 - Currently £6.00 at Boots

Everyone often forgets to protect their face from the sun during the hotter months. I always find it's best to buy a cream specifically for your face, which tends to be most sensitive on the skin and slightly less shiny-looking. This one's the perfect factor to protect your skin completely and gives a healthy-looking glow, over the 'disco ball' effect that I've received from other facial suncreams.

Laura Mercier Invisible Loose Setting Powder - £29.00 at House Of Fraser

Pricey? Yes. Worth it? Completely. I tend not to go for high-end nor loose powders, always content with my Rimmel Stay Matte. This, however, changes everything. It's far more luxurious, easy to apply, and doesn't highlight any pores or dryness. It eliminates greasy-looking shine and encourages your makeup to last for around 4-6 hours without a touch-up, and doesn't give a chalky wash of colour like other translucent powders do. A must-have to keep your makeup sweat-proof this summer.

Topshop Glow Pot in Polished - Currently £9.00 at Topshop

A more glow-y makeup look is definitely 'in' this summer- and this little pot of magic helps to achieve exactly that. It's a cream, which I find is easier for the summertime, and enables you to blend it out nicely - especially helpful if, like me, you're more likely to mess up your highlighter than any other makeup product. Great for a gorgeous glow, and generally making your makeup look more summer-ready. Plus, with their '5 Years of Beauty', rose gold anniversary packaging, how can you resist? 

Bourjois Paris Bronzing Primer - £9.99 at Superdrug

Whether you're using it for a primer or as an above-foundation cream contour, this stuff wins. It's a holiday-bronze in a tub. The actual packaging of the product is quite luxurious and it'll last forever. It's got a pleasant smell and blends effortlessly underneath foundation. Above foundation, you've got to be a little more careful, but it's still fairly easy to get the hang of. Perfect for bronzing up your complexion this summer.

What are your summer skin essentials?

Alice.

Tips For Drinking More Water

If you read my 2015 post you'll know that it was a goal of mine to drink more water this year. Three months in, I'm still keeping it up. I've noticed a few things that helped me to remember to drink more water and mixed them with Pinterest ideas to form a few tips.

Buy cute bottles.

As odd as it may sound, a pretty bottle to drink from is the easiest way to get motivated to drink. I got two VOSS bottles from Amazon that are just slightly nicer than your average supermarket bottle or a glass. You can also take them around with you everywhere you go and count your intake in 500ml portions.

Count days.

I saw on Pinterest the idea of creating habits through counting. It can take 30 days to form a habit, so drink water for those 30 days and count them as you go. Simple sticky notes on your wall numbered with a marker can be an easy way to keep track. After those days are up, it should be more of a habit to drink lots of water every day.

Use your phone.

I'm sure there are many apps of the sort, but iDrated is a free and useful app to track your water intake. You set your own target and put your measurements in as you go, with reminders popping up if you go too long without a drink. If you reach your target or get close in the day, you get medals that show on the page. There's a graph to show your average intakes for the week and you can look back at the months to see your progress. If you're not sure on your target, you can simply put in your weight etc and have it calculate for you. 

Do you have any tips for drinking more water?

Alice.

Everyday Red Makeup Menu

With red being my favourite colour, I've found my own favourite ways of wearing a red lip in different situations. I always make sure I've got a slightly bolder-than-usual eyebrow going on and a clear bace, so that nothing is to interfere with the lipstick. With an everyday red lip, I tend to keep the eyes quite light and the lashes separated, to keep the attention nearer the mouth. Playing around with blush is always paired with red lips; for this look I keep it quite subtle, but not so little that you're washed out. I think that the easiest way to dress-down a bold lip is to go for a soft hairstyle - I just added some texturising spray to my natural hair - and to go even further, wear something slouchy (I threw on a baggy cardigan from Boohoo over my outfit). 

In need of a high-coverage base, I reached for my Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in Sand. It's perfectly buildable and you can get away with only powdering once. To brighten up my under-eyes I went for Rimmel's Wake Me Up Concealer in True Ivory, and to set both base products I used Rimmel's Stay Matte Powder in Peach Glow. I added definition to my face with the oh-so-classic NARS Bronzer in Laguna, colour with a NYX Blusher in Mocha, and added some glow with the highlighter from my Sleek Contour Palette in Fair. As usual I filled my eyebrows in from my Naked Basics palette - Urban Decay's Eyeshadow in Faint, to be precise. For the eyes I used a loose pigment, Lily Lolo's Mineral Eye Shadow in Vanilla Shimmer. It was my first time using it and I'm really happy with how it turned out, especially since it didn't meet my upsetting expectation of turning my eyelids into disco balls. For everyday mascara I've been loving the Lancome Hypnose Star Mascara in Noir Midnight, and so chose that. Finally, the lipstick. I chose Rimmel's Lasting Finish by Kate in 01. Not too dark, nor too light, and it's fairly long lasting - overall, it does what it says on the tin.

What's your go-to everyday red?

Alice.

SLENDERTOXTEA- 14 Day Teatox*

If you read my '2015' post you'd know that it was amongst my resolutions to get fit. I did my research and found that the best way to change your lifestyle in terms of diet and exercise was to first do a detox to cleanse your body so that your new, healthier habits will be able to have their full effect. 
SLENDERTOXTEA offer a 'teatox', which is essentially a detox with teas. I tried the 14 day 'daytox' alongside the 14 day 'sleeptox'.
The daytox contains 14 tea bags, and you're supposed to take one each morning. The sleeptox contains 7 tea bags, and you're supposed to take one every other night. The benefits of both include increased energy, colon cleansing, increased metabolism efficiency and they also aid weight loss. All the details and instructions etc come with the tea and it really helps to get you clued up before you start.


You can buy the teas here

How I found it: I expected the taste of the tea to be poor, as all detox style teas I've had before haven't been pleasant. To my surprise, the taste wasn't too bad at all. My stomach felt settled constantly and I feel like I got great changes without doing much.

How much weight I lost: 6 lbs

What changed: I had a lot more energy than usual in the days and went to sleep a lot more easily. The energy definitely helped to boost workouts. 

Would you ever try a 'teatox'?

Alice.

LP Brookies

It wasn't too long after Lily Pebbles shared the recipe that 'brookies' became half an internet sensation. 'Brookies' -meaning a brownie mixed with a cookie- are supposed to pick up the crunch of a cookie with the inside chew of a brownie. A mouth-watering idea with an instagram-worthy outcome, no wonder so many bloggers have taken it upon themselves to dash to the kitchen and have their own attempt (myself included!). 
You can find the recipe here, and for an advanced warning- it makes a lot of brookies.

My final outcome: I loved them! They went down a treat with everyone who tried them, they're light, and they look great. I found they taste best dipped in something (I used milk), as they're a lot more brownie-like. Easy recipe, providing you allow yourself some time for it. 

Have you tried 'brookies'?

Alice.

Nanshy Blending Sponge*

The 'Marvel Makeup Blending Sponge' is designed to enable a buildable coverage, aiming for a smooth finish. The brand is cruelty free, which is important to look for. The sponge itself is latex free, non-allergenic and odour free. All good stuff.

With all my sponges, I prefer to wet them before use. I feel like it stops them absorbing foundation and generally helps with blending. After soaking this one under the tap, I was amazed at the size of it. This-sponge-gets-huge. It made applying my foundation a lot quicker and the shape of it meant that I was still able to get into smaller areas. The finish was smother than any I've tried before and I especially noticed that I was getting more coverage out of my under eye concealer. The sponge was a lot denser than the BeautyBlender etc, and I felt that I could really get a good blend with it. Overall, I'm impressed. 

How do you apply your foundation?

Alice.

Joe Dulude II Interview

With huge awards and achievements, Joe is the makeup designing mastermind behind hit productions Wicked, Grease!, Follies and many more. He's recently begun to share his talent through theatrical makeup master classes, after fifteen years of freelance, work at MAC, runway shows, makeup for TV appearances and broadway makeup. If all of that artistic experience wasn't enough, Joe is also a fine artist and photographer in his spare time.

Recently, I've had the pleasure of being in contact with Joe and arranged an interview about all things makeup. His wisdom and experience of the industry shines through in every response. 

01- What made you want to get in to the makeup industry?

I always loved makeup as a kid.  I loved watching old monster movies like Dracula and Frankenstein and wanted to do that makeup on me.  I did a lot of theatre when I was growing up (acting) and so would practice doing makeup on myself or my young nieces.  I love being able to create a character and dressing up in costume.

02- Which brand of makeup do you predominantly use?

I use a lot of different brands.  MAC eyeshadows and blush, Make Up For Ever HD Foundations, powder, flash color palettes, Temptu airbrush makeup, Graftobian creme foundations, Ardency Inn foundations (my new fav), Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (amazing loose pigments, liners and lip tar), Ellis Faas concealers, Cozzette brushes, Crown brushes.  I think it's important to branch out and use different brands.  You get different pay offs with different lines.  Of course MAC still has my favorite shadows.

03- Out of your work, what looks are you most proud of?

I love my design for Madame Morrible in Wicked.  It probably is my favorite character I have ever designed.  I like that the makeup can transform as the actor transforms their character.  And there is only one small change in the makeup as well.  Also overall, I love my design for Follies, that starred Bernadette Peters.  It was such a creative high for me to be able to design makeup for all these amazing women and have it set in 1971.  I had to decide if the characters would be current with makeup in the early 70s or whether they would still be a throwback to when they were a star in the Follies.  Then I also got to design the ghosts of these ladies, all played by younger women.  I had to make them look period (early 1900s through 1940s) and yet make them look ghost like.

04- What is one piece of advice you would give to someone wanting a job similar to your own?

RESEARCH!  When you get a job, you need to know the time period, the style, etc. of the makeup.  Find as many reference pictures as you can, and knowing that sometimes there are multiple styles of makeup during that time period, depending on who the person is.  Be knowledgeable about it, so that you can back up your work.  But also know that you will have to adjust it to make it work for stage.  You can't do a straight period makeup and expect it to read perfectly on stage.  So sometimes you have to alter it so it looks right to the audience, yet still looks period.

05- What's one thing you wish you'd learned sooner than you did about makeup?

I wished I had learned to be confident in myself and my work.  I think I learned that long after I should have.  And that is another piece of advice.  Confidence.  If you are confident, employers will like that.  If you make a mistake, don't make a big deal out of it, just fix it and move on.  It shows you to be reliable and knowledgeable about your work.

06- What's the first thing you consider when you're about to design a look? 

There isn't just one thing.  I consult with the costume designer and find out time period, feel, theme of the show.  Then I find out about each character individually.  You need to take all aspects into consideration before starting your design.  If you just focus on one thing you will lose so much in the design and it won't be correct for the show.

Huge thanks to Joe for lending me his artistic expertise for this post, and for all of the great advice that I'll hold on to. 

Alice.