GIFT GUIDE | HOLIDAY EDITION

It's already December, argh! I feel like we all say it every year but it's come round so quickly? What on earth happened to the year?

Well it's now time to start thinking about Christmas shopping and it can be so stressful, I'm working a better job at the moment but I feel even with a little extra money some people aren't so blessed so I hope that I've chosen things for all budgets. Here are my top picks for presents for the family!

• The Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette has been up there with the cult classics this year and this beautiful palette includes three Ambient Lighting Powders, two Ambient Lighting Blushes, and one Ambient Lighting Bronzer.
• Makeup Revolution have a brilliant range of Christmas gifts out and this one is no exception, a gloss, lipstick and nail varnish in a gift box, perfect little stocking filler! 
• These Pandora earrings are beautiful, jewellery at christmas is a great way to feel spoilt and these snow flakes are bound to be cherished by anyone who's lucky enough to receive them.
• The Body Shop have some of the coolest gifts, the Glazed Apple Treat Box is perfect for Secret Santa or even a treat for yourself. (I wish I could use the cheeky monkey emoji here)
• No Christmas is complete without a Soap & Glory Box is it, I get one every year so it's a sure fire hit for anyone and they're usually on 3 for 2 at Boots so you can stock up.
• I don't know anyone who wouldn't appreciate these Real Techniques brushes, a great starter kit with a nice bag to store them in.
• When January comes round we all decide it's a new year so time to change our eating habits and work out more, so look no further than the Fitbit to help you track your progress. Will power needed too obvz.
• No blog post is complete without a Yankee Candle and Christmas Cookie is iconic, I personally couldn't stand the smell but when I burnt it, it released such a yummy warming smell it's now a firm favourite. Lesson learnt never judge a candle by the way it smells before burning it!

OVERVIEW | Powder Highlighters

The world has gone crazy for highlighting/strobing/covering themselves in glitter and I for one am merrily on this band wagon, I thought I'd start doing an overview of products that I have in groups instead of just posting single reviews as I find my blog is literally just all about reviews, haha.
I've gathered together some powder highlighters that I have in my vanity and I thought I'd just have a little ramble about them, pro's & cons kinda thing!

HOW TO | Clean Your Make Up Brushes

I get a lot of people ask me what's the best way to wash make up brushes so I thought I'd just post how I personally wash mine, there are many ways to do it but this is super quick and easy.

Washing your brushes is so important, doing it correctly will not only help make them last longer but keep the nasties off your face. When you clean your brushes is totally up to you but I generally wash them every week but I spot clean using a antibacterial cleaner in between because it also takes the colour or pigment off so I can use the same brush multiple times when doing my make up.
If I'm working on a client I wash after every single use, the last thing I want is to give someone an infection or cross contaminate my products.

TRICK OR TREAT | Quick Halloween Looks

October marks the beginning of some of my favourite months, October means Halloween, November my birthday and of course December means Christmas so I get stoked for the winter.

This October I've been getting creative and I thought I'd share a few looks with you because I've been away for a while again as I had to move house twice in a month!

TRIGGER WARNING: Some of these pictures include simulated gore and fake blood :)

Becoming A Make Up Artist | School, What I've learnt, My Experience & Is it worth it?

I'm going to cut to the chase, this is going to be a long post with a few rants and possibly a few rude words so brace yo' self! This is all my opinion, now yours might be different and that's fine but these are my experiences and what I've learnt along the way. I'm semi breaking it down into sections so you can jump between them if you so wish! Shopping trip to Illamasqua with my school

H I S T O R Y -
I like a billion other people love make up, it's what I think about 50% of the day, the rest is food or sleep.. I've been interested in make up since I can remember my aunt used to be a Beauty Therapist and I was always in awe of her make up and hair, I wanted to be just like her but honestly? I was naughty in school and wasn't allowed to take my work experience where I wanted so I gave up..
If you look back on my old Tumblr blog I used to post on about what was in my make up bag or spend hours on Youtube/Reddit/Make up Alley but never really knew I could be a make up artist without going to cosmetology school, I thought my poor choices in my secondary school led me away from the thing I want to do as an adult... Isn't it funny we're 16 told to make choices about our future when you have no idea what you want to do or even who your are as a person. Anyway it now seems anyone can call themselves a MUA there's no 'rules' to it.  This is a good and bad thing because it means anyone without putting in the graft and long hours some self made MUA's who've been in the industry for a long time have put in can say they're an artist despite not having any experience or knowledge but for those of us who live, breathe and dream make up we can finally do what we want to do without having to go back in time and go to college!   If you want to delve into the world of make up you go the self taught route or go to school - Some self taught MUA's don't like school and some people think all self taught MUA's should go to school. It's just a matter of opinion. I don't care either way.   The last few years I just REALLY wanted to go to make up school to brush up my techniques, learn about proper hygiene, soak up knowledge from my teachers and earn myself a little certificate because clients and some counter roles ask for it. getting ready is always messy huh!

REVIEW | Vichy Dermablend Corrective Foundation | Porcelain

  Click to shop

If you've been a long time follower you may remember a while ago I wrote about this Vichy Dermablend foundation, It's one of my holy grails but in my previous post I had said the lightest shade Opal was just a tiny bit too dark for my complexion so when I found out Vichy had released the shade porcelain I was very pleased!

REVIEW | RCMA VK 11 Palette

As I'm starting out as a make up artist I need to have a decent kit, as cheaper brands are brilliant for some things I do like to have higher end products for foundations just because to me it's probably the most important part of an application so I opted for the RCMA VK 11 palette to start me off with some great foundation/concealer/contouring and high lighting product.

2015 | Holiday Essentials

Every year I try to book a super cheap holiday and get away from it all, this year is my third year back to Palma it's such a nice place to go even the notorious Magaluf is really fun.

I've starting gathering supplies ready to go so here's my check list of things I'm taking;

REVIEW | Air Optix Colored Lenses from Feel Good Contacts

As a brown eyed girl I've always been incredibly envious of anyone with green or blue eyes but I've noticed a lot of Youtube stars such as Patrick Starrr & my mega girl crush Samantha Ravndahl (Batalash) have worn contacts to enhance their eye colour or change it completely.

I decided to try some to mix up my look a little and I received these from *Feel Good Contact Lenses, I opted for the colour sterling gray as it wasn't as bold as blue but I still wanted something totally different to my normal look.

REVIEW | Illamasqua Liquid Metal Palette

If it shines I have to buy it, the magpie in me was delighted to see this Liquid Metal Palette on the Illamasqua website as I'd been toying with the idea of buying a full sized Liquid Metal Cream, this little quad has 4 of them in and I only paid £10.20 for it.