My Everyday Makeup

I go through alot of phases with everyday makeup and at the moment I'm aiming for a more natural look. I've opted for more sheerer bases and less harsh contouring and eyes, and here's the products I'm using at the moment.

Face:
Foundation: Mac Face and Body (C2) - Stippled on with a Crown Brush C439
Under Eye Concealer: Garnier Roll on - Buffed in with a Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush
Blemish Concealer: Bourjois Happy Light Concealer (21 Ivoire) - Stippled on with a Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush
Contour: Illamasqua Cream Pigment (Hollow) - Stippled/Buffed with Real Techniques Exprert Face Brush (Nose contour applied with Crown Brush SS021)
Powder: Clinique Blended Face Powder (08 Transparency Neutral) - Pushed on with Real Techniques Powder Brush (Kryolan Anti-Shine Powder applied on T-Zone)
Bronzer: Clinique Superbalanced Powder Bronzer (Bronzed 1) [discontinued] - Brushed over high points of face with Real Techniques Blush Brush

Eyes:
Eyeliner: Maybelline Master Drama Khol Liner in (Brown & Black (Mainly Use Brown)) - Applied with cheap angled brush from eBay
Eyelash Curlers: QVS Ergonomic Eyelash Curler
Mascara: Max Factor 2000 Calorie (Brown/Black) - Combed through with Real Techniques Lash/Brow Groomer
Eyebrows: Maybelline Brow Drama (Dark Brown)

Lips: Maybelline Baby Lips Peach Kiss

And I end up looking something like this...

If you have any questions about any of the products I use comment below!

Thanks,

Cameron :)

My 5 Favourite: Lip Care Products

With winter here and the weather getting colder and windier it's much more important to protect your lips. Personally I wear lip balm all year round as I hate the feeling of dry or flaking lips. After trying a lot of lip products these are the best of the bunch, in my opinion.

Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm (£3.69 from Boots)

No top 5 lip care post would be complete without this! This is a hardcore lip balm which works wonders during the winter months. The thick, waxy consistency protects the lips well and soothes any cracks you have. You can tell by the state of mine in the picture that it is definitely a well loved product, and is always in my bag through the cold weather.

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Moisturizing Lip Balm (£1.89 from Boots)

This lip balm is slightly more creamy than the Burt's Bees and has an AMAZING scent. It feels relatively light on the lips and contains SPF15, so it's perfect for the summer.

The Body Shop Coconut Lip Butter (£4.00 from The Body Shop)

This is far less waxy than the lip balms and It'd do little in terms of protection. However, this is a fantastic moisturiser. I slather it on my lips at night before bed, to put some hydration back into them. It goes on a little white, but soon melts into the lips and feels great.

The Body Shop Honeymania Lip Balm (£4.00 from The Body Shop)

This lip balm has a really nice scent and the consistency is similar to the Burt's bees one. However, I only really use this at home, as I find the pot is a bit annoying to carry around. I've got into a good habit though of applying it every time I go into my bedroom. It leaves my lips nice and smooth with a subtle sheen.

Maybelline Baby Lips Peach Kiss (£2.99 from Boots)

This lip balm is slightly tinted with a tiny amount of shimmer. It feels light on the lips and makes them look great without any drastic colour change. The formulation isn't amazingly protecting against cold weather, but it does contain SPF20 so it's great for summer.

Tip: Lightly brush your lips with a toothbrush to remove any flaking skin before moisturising, lips will feel much smoother!

If you have any questions about any of these products, or you have any suggestions of good lip care products I should try, let me know in the comments below!

Thanks,

  Cameron :)

Review: Crest 3D Professional Effects Whitestrips

For ages I've wanted my teeth to be whiter, so a while ago I switched to an electric toothbrush and a whitening toothpaste but not much changed. I am quite good at looking after my teeth, flossing every day and brushing 2+ times per day. However, as a smoker (I know, very bad habit...) I'm always going to end up with stains and discolouration. In the past I've tried out whitening kits with the gel in plastic gum shields, I found them very uncomfortable, produced little change and they left me with very sensitive teeth! I've seen a lot of positive reviews of Crest Whitestrips on the internet and thought I'd try them out. I decided to get the 'Professional Effects' variation as they are the strongest, and I want the stains gone as much as possible. I got 20 pouches (recommended) for around £40 on eBay. The price is a little bit steep, but if they work, it's much cheaper than paying £200+ to get them whitened by a dentist.

Each pouch contains 2 strips, one longer for the top teeth, and a shorter one for the bottom teeth. The strips are clear in colour, and when peeled of the backing plastic one side is coated in a sticky gel. You press the strips on your teeth, and then fold the excess over your teeth and press that to the back. The strips stick really well and aren't that noticeable in your mouth, you can still talk very easily, I think you can eat and drink with them in, but I wouldn't recommend it. You leave the strips on for 30 minutes and then peel them off, they leave little to no residue, and any that is left behind can easily be brushed off with a toothbrush.

With strips on

After using these for 3 days (I did them for 60 minutes a day, because I'm too impatient...) I noticed big changes, the stains on my teeth had reduced a lot and they were less grey and they looked more opaque. About 3 hours after using the strips I did experience a little sensitivity, but nothing major and brushing my teeth with a sensitive toothpaste sorted it out immediately. After 20 days my teeth were noticeably whiter and about 90% of stains were gone, as you can see in the pictures below...

OMG I can't believe my teeth were ever that bad! looking at the comparison picture I think I can safely say the product is amazing! I will definitely be using them when my teeth start looking gross again. For only £40 I think the difference they have made is great, I'm so glad I took the plunge and bought them.

If you have any questions, or you have tried out these whitestrips, leave me a comment below!

Thanks,

  Cameron :)

The Body Shop Haul

I love The Body Shop and when I saw they had put a cleansing face butter on their shelves I had to have it. But me being me, not being able to only buy one thing, I took advantage of their sale and a 40% off discount code to buy a few bits.

Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter (£12)
This is a solid cleanser which you melt in your hands and rub into your face, to remove any makeup, oils and dirt with a hot cloth. I thought it worked really well and it had a really nice subtle scent. It also left the skin feeling fresh, smooth and moisturised, without causing any irritation.

Rainforest Volumising Shampoo (£6.50) & Conditioner (£6.50)
These are sulphate free, paraben free, colourant free and silicone free hair care products. I plan to only use them occasionally, as I've started co-washing my hair. But I've used them once and they left my hair feeling soft and smooth, the shampoo lathered up well and they cleaned out any hairspray and other hair products with ease.

Raspberry Body Butter
I've tried out a few of The Body Shop body butters (Coconut is my fave!) and this one was in the sale. It smells a little bit like raspberry milkshake, and I was worried that I'd find the scent a bit sickly after a while. However, the scent soon calms down after being on your skin for a couple of minutes, and it leaves your skin soft, moisturised and supple without that sticky feeling.

Honeymania Lip Balm (£4)
I love a lip balm and wear them all the time, and when I saw this I decided to get in on the beauty buzz  of honey based products (pardon the pun!). This lip balm is great, it isn't heavy on your lips and leaves a nice subtle sheen.

Almond Hand & Nail Cream (£10)
I've tried out The Body Shop's Hemp Hand Protector before and although it's great at moisturising your hands it was a little bit too heavy for me and took a while to sink in, also, I didn't really like the smell. So I decided to buy the almond one. I love this hand cream because it sinks in easier and smells a lot better, as well as also helping your nails, bonus!

If you have any questions about any of these products, or you have any suggestions of good Body Shop products I should try, let me know in the comments below!

Thanks,

  Cameron :)

Review: Lush Caca Brun Henna Hair Dye

I have been dying my hair for years, it started with a few bleach highlights pulled through a cap (ouch!) when I was 10 or 11. Since then I have always dyed my hair with colours, bleach, semi-permanents, demi-permanents, veggie dyes, sun-in, lemon juice and anything else I could get my hands on to change the colour of my barnet, as you can see in the picture below...

So, the last 10 years of hair-dying has definitely taken its toll, leaving me with very dry, snapping hair. Also I've noticed in the past year that my hair is getting a lot thinner, especially around the crown area. So in an attempt to ward off chemical-induced male pattern baldness I started looking into healthier hair dying options.

This is where henna comes in. From researching on the internet I found out that henna is meant to be much healthier for your hair than commercial dyes, and definitely healthier than bleach. It is a depositing dye, which means it does wash out eventually, but by repeat applications of henna you can end up with a long lasting colour. Real henna produces a orangey-red colour, however it can be mixed with other natural ingredients such as indigo to produce browns and other colours. Henna also doubles as a protein treatment, leaving the hair a lot stronger, smoother and glossier. Henna is also great for people who have allergies to commercial dyes as it's made out of more natural ingredients.

I'd heard that lush did great hennas for beginners, and as I wasn't not confident enough to mix up my own henna dyes I thought it was for the best to get one of theirs. Lush Caca Brun (£8.25 from Lush) is made up of 35% henna and 65% indigo, to produce a brown hair colour with a reddish hint. The dye comes in a solid block form made up of 6 squares. It also contains other ingredients to condition your hair whilst you dye. The block is a greenish-brown colour and resembles a block of dry mud.

So, I crushed up one block of the henna and mixed it with boiling water, adding it slowly to create a ketchup-like consistency. The mixture has a rather odd smell, which I can only describe as a mixture of cut grass, leaves, coffee and ponds cold cream (what?!) It isn't a particularly pleasant smell, but not unbearable.

I then applied the mixture to my head with a tint brush, and then covered it in a disposable mob cap. The instructions say to leave it on for 1-6 hours, dependant on how dark you want the result, and to wrap it in cling film if you want a more red colour. I didn't particularly want it to be really red, so I left it open, however it started crumbling off, hence why I put on the disposable mob cap. When I have brown hair I like it relatively dark, so I left it on for the maximum amount of time.

After 6 hours of walking around my house looking like a dinner lady I went to rinse it off. Firstly I rinsed out the henna as much as I could, until the water run pretty much clear. I then took a generous amount of conditioner and worked it through my hair massaging it in as if it was a shampoo (I read that shampoo strips the henna out of the hair too much as some of the ingredients need to carry on working for 24 hours). After rinsing out the conditioner and blow drying my hair I was greeted in the mirror with smoother, glossier hair which looks brown indoors, but has a vibrant auburn tint in the sunlight... I LOVE IT! The only negative I have is the rather odd smell of the mixture seemed to vaguely linger in my hair for a couple of days after, which is not too much bother, considering all the good its doing to my hair.

Overall I think this is a great hair-friendly alternative to hair dyes. I will definitely re-purchase, however this wont be very soon as I'm only using 1 block a time, so it will last me ages. Also, I'm thinking about trying out some of their other hennas (Caca Noir).

UPDATE! Results Picture.

Have you tried out Caca Brun or any of the other Lush Hennas? let me know how you've got on with them in the comments below! 

Thanks,

  Cameron :)

Review: Real Techniques Brushes

Over the past year I have ended up buying a lot of real techniques brushes. I am a big fan of Pixiwoo and when I found out about the brush range I bought a couple, and OMG I was so sucked in! Overall I've ended up buying 6 different individual brushes, the Duo-Fibre Set and the Starter Set so far... All of the brushes are synthetic, made from taklon bristles which means they are cruelty free. I have found that all of the brushes are very soft and wash up very well, no matter if you're using them with powder, cream or liquid products.

Firstly is the Powder Brush.(£12.99 From Boots) This brush is slightly over-sized and gives a great liberal application of any powder products, whether they are loose or compact it always gives great results. Personally I'd like it to be a tiny bit smaller but it's not a big issue & overall I love it!

Secondly is the Expert Face Brush. (£9.99 From Boots) I absolutely love, love, LOVE this brush, so much so that I have two of them! It's versatile and can be used for buffing/stippling foundation, cream blush, cream contours, bronzers, anything! And its slightly tapered shape means that it can easily apply to small spaces such as around your nose and eyes. I personally use this brush for foundation most of the time, as the density makes buffing so easy and gives a great finish.

Next up is the Blush Brush.(£9.99 From Boots) I find this is great for blushes, bronzers and contours, the tapered shape of the brush means you only have to put the product right on the end of it, and brush does all of the blending out for you, amazing!

Next is the Stippling Brush.(£11.99 From Boots) To be brutally honest, I have a slight love-hate relationship with this brush, but I think it's because when I first got it I didn't really know what to use it for. This is good if you want a light-coverage finish with your foundation, I also use it for liquid bronzers and highlighters. (Also, when I first got this brush quite a big chunk of the bristles shed, but I'm guessing this was a one-off fault as none of my other brushes have done this, and after the initial shedding catastrophe no more bristles have fallen out!)

The last of the Face brushes is the Setting Brush.(£8.99 From Boots) This brush is great for precise application of powder highlighter, I have also used it for a one-colour sweep of eyeshadow on the eyelids.

Next up is the Limited Edition Duo-Fibre Set.(£23.99 From Boots) This contains a Face Brush, Contour Brush and an Eye Brush.

The Duo-Fibre Face Brush (Top) is great for light applications of powder, blushes and bronzers. Also, it gives you the choice to build up product gradually. The sparser bristles also make this brush great for blending out harsh lines in your bronzer, blush or contour.

I mainly use the Duo-Fibre Contour Brush (Middle) for applying cream contours, but it is also great for applying pigments as a highlighter, as it gives a really light application.

The Duo-Fibre Eye Brush (Bottom) is really good at blending out any eye makeup such as the crease, it is also really good for precise application of pigments.

The Starter Set (£21.99 From Boots) is a good eye brush set for beginners, giving you all of the tools you need to create nice eye makeup. It consists of a Deluxe Crease Brush, Base Shadow Brush, Brow Brush, Accent Brush and a Pixel-Point Eyeliner Brush.

Firstly the Deluxe Crease Brush (Top) is a dense rounded brush (almost like a mini Expert Face Brush!) and I personally use it for stippling/buffing in concealer. The size of this brush means its perfect to fit under-eyes and cover blemishes.

Next is the Base Shadow Brush (2nd Brush Down), this is a flat fluffy tapered brush which is a great all rounder when applying eyeshadow. The shape means that it can be used for packing on eyeshadow, defining the crease and blending.

The Brow Brush (3rd Brush Down) is a stiff, angled brush that gives you great precision and easy application when you're using a powder product to fill in your brows.

The Accent Brush (4th Brush Down) is a really good multi-purpose brush. To be honest with you, when I first saw it I really didn't know what on earth I'd use it for but as time has gone on I've found a lot of uses for it... Blending out pencil eyeliner, precise application of concealer on blemishes, contouring small areas such as the nose, applying lipstick, detailed eyeshadow work and precise application of pigments.

Lastly in the set is the Pixel-Point Eyeliner Brush. I don't particularly like this brush for eyeliner, unless I'm aiming for a really thick line. However, this brush is good for precise application of pigment and I have found it very useful for more theatrical looks, such as fancy dress.

P.S. This Set also comes with a stand/case for the brushes, which I don't personally use, but some people people might find it useful.

The final brush in my personal collection is the Lash-Brow Groomer.(£7.99 From Boots) For years I've had those plastic lash combs, but now I have one with metal teeth I'd never go back! Finally I have a lash comb which effectively removes clumps from my lashes and leaves them looking nice and defined, rather than just poking them in different directions! The Brow side of the brush is great too for putting crazy brows in shape.

Overall I LOVE the Real Techniques Range. All of the brushes are such good quality but at a very affordable price. Also the versatility of all the brushes is so good, so even if I don't use the brushes for what they are meant for I'll find another use for them.

If you have any questions, or you have tried out any of these brushes, or any others in the range, let me know how you've got on with them in the comments below!

Thanks,

  Cameron :)

Review: Maybelline Color Tattoo

As soon as I heard about Maybelline Color Tattoos I wanted some, and when I got them I wasn't disappointed... Colour Tattoos are marketed as cream-gel eyeshadows, with vivid colour and 24 hour staying power. I got 3 of the 12 shades: Pink Gold (65), Metallic Pomegranate (70) and Permanent Taupe (40) from Superdrug for £4.99 each.

Pink Gold is a light pink colour with gold shimmer and works really well in a subtle natural-eyed look. The Metallic pomegranate is a reddish purple colour, with flecks of gold shimmer, it works well with a slightly darker look with browns or purples. And the Permanent Taupe is a matte warm grey colour and would work very well in a black/grey smokey eye.

I think these cream eyeshadows are great, whether they're being worn on their own or under a powder eyeshadow. When used as a base for powder eyeshadow I find they give the eye makeup more depth and make the colours stand out more, as well as prolonging the wear-time. The eyeshadows are extremely pigmented and creamy, they are also very easy to apply and blend. The eyshadows can also be used as gel eyeliners when used with a brush, and perform very well.

If you have any questions, or you have tried out any of the Color Tattoos, let me know how you've got on with them in the comments below!

Thanks,

  Cameron :)