Saturday 30 April 2011

MIA

Hiya everyone, I've been a bit MIA lately cause this past week has been super busy with theatre rehearsals every day and yesterday we did our play for the first time. It went really well, the audience seemed to love it, although there were some minor mistakes. We're doing it again today so fingers crossed it'll be even better. I'll just leave you with a picture I found of us at our dress rehearsal, if anyone's curious!



The photo is HUGE so that's why it looks so pixelated on here, click on it to see the original size. Being a luxembourgish school, we don't have uniforms and as the play is english, we had to wear a uniform although I'm not sure whether it's a typical English uniform, but I suppose it looks believable.

That's all for today, I will try and get back on track the week after next as I have my piano exam coming up next Saturday!

Sunday 24 April 2011

Ins and Outs 002

I'm back! I know, I know, how the hell can you NOT have time to update during the holidays? I'll admit, I didn't feel like blogging much, I've been getting a bit stressed out lately cause this next week, my timetable's going to be so insanely busy I won't even have time to do homework, unelss I do it on the bus in the morning. I mean, ok, I WOULD have time, but you have to take some time out for yourself and not spend every minute of every hour doing homework/practicing/etc.. . I DO have a post lined up for you all, I just need to finish editing the pictures, which is taking a little longer as I'm trying something new out. 


+ This heatwave we've been having! I've really enjoyed it although there have been a few occasions when it just got TOO warm to function. Unfortunately, it's set to go back to normal this week, but it was (is) nice while it lasted.

+ Theatre. AGAIN. So this week we've had practices each day except Friday, which we got off. It was a little bit tedious and a tiny bit boring, but I did enjoy it, despite going to school during the holidays. Another fun thing about this is that we discovered the polaroid camera that we're using as a prop does work, only we don't have any film. We were planning on getting some so we could take some pictures with it, but it seems a bit too expensive, even on ebay, so unfortunately, we'll have to give this a miss.

+ Nuvole Bianche by Ludovico Einaudi.I've added the video here as it is a stunning piece of piano and just makes me love it so much. I really recommend you guys listen, it's such a beautiful song.




- Whilst school starting itself isn't that bad a thing, I'm dreading swimming lessons. I hate them so much as I'm so self-conscious and what's even worse is this year we've started swimming with the boys as opposed to girls of another class, so I'll probably be hearing loads of lovely remarks about how fat I am or my boobs or whatever. 
- Piano exam. I know this was on the last ins and outs, but it's two weeks away and needless to say, I'm getting nervous. I do have the choice of getting a sick note and postponing it to July, but I don't want to do that. I just want it over with, even if it ends up being awful. This year I've really been doubting whether I want to continue or not and I just don't know at the moment. I adore playing, but the stress gets to me. I also don't want to be a quitter nor let my fantastic teacher down, but I really don't know. I'm going to try my best to master the song I have to play so I can at least pass this year.

- Theatre ending. After Saturday we'll have finished theatre and I'm dreading it already. I adore going, the people (most of them, at least) are great and I enjoy it so much, I don't know what I'll do with myself once it's done! Another thing that's relevant to this is that I'm scared next year won't be the same. Three of them are graduating this year and a bunch of others don't know whether they'll continue, which would be a shame. All the same, I wont' quit next year as I've had so much fun and it's something I'm not bad at, so I want to persevere.

That's all for now, but I'll try and get the next post up!

 

Friday 15 April 2011

wax products

As this is a beauty blog, I've realised I have to cover all aspects of beauty...including that which I'm not very fond of, which is waxing. To be more specific, waxing my upper lip. I have an eagle eye when it comes to the hairs above my lips. I start to freak if I even see the shadow of a hair and this consequently explains my lack of lip swatches. Oh I'd love to do them, but it's just something that gets me so down and I'm just so self conscious about it so I don't do them.
I have however decided to review the various waxing products that I've used. I know I'd appreciate it, especially as a student who can't afford pricier things, if someone would recommend a certain product or tell me to avoid another one, so this is what I'm doing in the hopes that it'll help someone. 


Here are four products that I've tried and still have. There was a Boots Own Brand one as well that wasn't bad, but I couldn't seem to find it when I was in Boots the other day. 



First up is Veet Ready-To-Use Wax Strips, which you can get in Boots for £4.50. These are so far my favourite, as they are the most effective. I've even gone and bought them again, which shows how much I like them! They really do work and one strip can last quite a few goes, contrary to other strips. The wipes for afterwards aren't bad, but they leave your skin feeling really greasy and the greasiness takes elbow grease to go away. If I were to rate these out of 5, I'd give them 4.5/5 cause they're not quite perfect, but still pretty good.



Next up is Jolen Microwave Peel Off Wax, priced at around £10 in Boots (I saw this instore at around that price but looking online, I can't seem to find anything to confirm it!). Now I've tried Jolen's Hair Bleach and it's quite good until I got tired of just bleaching and wanted to remove the hair instead. This stuff looked very promising and I was keen to try it, but it was awful. First of all, as the photo shows, even doing the test patch was an absolute nightmare!The wax dries very quickly and is really difficult to get off the spatula, so an enormous amount is wasted. Then, when I tried it, it took minimal hair off. A complete rip off for the price. 1/5



Nad's Hair Removal Facial Wand, £10.20 is a bit of a different technique. Designed a bit like one of those liquid concealer wands, except having this natural wax stuff instead of concealer, the gist is to apply it to the area and then use the reuseable cotton strips. I thought the idea was quite nifty, but it was pretty tricky.First of all, it takes ages for the wax to come out and it's also a bit TOO sticky. Sometimes the strip wouldn't pull of properly, which results in painful skin pulling. I DID manage to get some results from this, but nothing fantastic. 3/5





Last and most DEFINITELY least is Sally Hansen Hair Removal Cream Wand. I bought this in TK Maxx for £2.99 and it is AWFUL. No result whatsoever. Nothing else to say really. 0/5

Anyway I hope this helps anyone who has this kind of problem like me!

My take on Cosmopolitan's 'everyday sexy' eyes

For those of you that read Cosmo (and that got this month's issue with Kim Kardashian - UK version, just to clarify), you've probably seen this in the magazine. 



I liked the look of this, so I decided to try it out. After trying it a couple of days ago, I thought I'd attempt to do a tutorial of sorts, but not really a tutorial, rather more like my way of doing this. First of all, I decided to do it with lighter browns and tweak a few things, but of course, you can just follow the steps in the magazine. I'll be adding what Cosmo wrote for each step in italics, because it can be a bit tricky to read that tiny writing!

Froncover Mermaid Dreams palette, Natural Collection eyeshadow in Milk Chocolate, Maybelline Colossal Volume mascara, Collection 2000 Big Fake mascara, Shu Uemura eyelash curler, Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Bourbon

Naked eye
A quick note before I start, my photos seem a bit blurred at some points, which I didn't notice whilst taking these pictures. It's probably due to my camera lens possibly being a bit smudged, so sorry bout that! 

Step One:
"'Sexy = dewy, so avoid matt eyeshadow on the eyelid', says Kay. 'Press a silky brown eyeshadow all over the lid to just above the crease.' Using your fingers helps flatten the powder and make sit more reflective."

For this step, I used my Frontcover Mermaid Dreams palette. So baked eyeshadow isn't the same as silky, I felt like using this palette. To start with, I used Baked Bronze. 


Then I decided it was shimmery enough for me, so I used Sunray over it to give it a bit more oomph.


When I was trying to photograph it, it isn't very visible on my eyelid, but I followed the instructions from the magazine, so there isn't that much to miss.
Step Two:
"Using a small, fluffly brush, swirl a dark matt brown eyeshadow where your eye naturally creases. 'Don't take the colour too far inwards - it's all about trying to widen the eye', says Kay.
Again, I didn't really pay attention to the colour choice. I decided to go with a medium brown instead of dark, as dark colours can look really harsh against my colour. I used Natural Collection's Milk Chocolate £1,79, I believe, but you can get 3 for £5 on NC's stuff at Boots at the moment!

 
Step Three:
 "'Brown pencil has the same impact as black but is much more flattering.', says Kay. Run brown eyeliner all along the upper lashline. 'You can apply a little on the lower lashes too if you have almond-shaped eyes, but don't do this if your eyes are very round.' 
Add a few extra dots of pencil on the outer corners to give a thicker edge. 'Finish the line at the last lash, not beyond on the skin,' says Kay."
Another rather simple step, I used my Urban Decay eyeliner in Bourbon.



As with everything else, I toned this down a bit, as although they say it's everyday, I feel their version is a bit more suited to nights, so I made it all a little lighter and subtler.

Step Four:
"For lovely thick lashes, use a finer mascara and apply a few layers, rather than using a thickening formula, which is likely to clump. 'You need to ensure there are no gaps,' says Kay,'so look straight ahead in the mirror and zigzag the mascara from root to tip, holding the wand vertically if you need to.'"
So this step I completely disregarded, as I have my own way of applying mascara to get a not bad result.

I used my Maybelline mascara and my recently-bought Collection 2000 Big Fake one, which everyone and their mum has been raving about.

So the final result....
The final result actually looks nothing like in the magazine, but I quite like it as it's an easy, simple eye makeup that doesn't require liquid eyeliner.


As for the rest of my face, I used Natural Collection's lipstick in Rose Bud (when I first read it I thought it said Rose Dud!) £1.99 and my Sephora cream palette, which I just use for the blush.

I hope you guys like this and if in the future, I do a tutorial, I will try and get some decent eye shots!

Thursday 14 April 2011

My nails over the past few weeks

So these past few weeks, I've been noticing an onslaught in nail art on blogs. Now I myself have a very shaky hand so I can't draw straight lines nor perfectly rounded dots. Ask my various art teachers, the only thing I'm really good at is abstract! 

Anyway, one thing I've ALWAYS wanted to try is nail marbling. I've watched loads of tutorials on youtube and I even tried it once, but the results were disastrous. About two weeks ago, I tried again and I suppose it was halfway successful. I used my Barry M pastel colours and whilst it is very tedious, I found it sort of relaxing, strange enough as it sounds. 

There were a few gloopy areas but it's a massive improvement from the last time. Hopefully next time, they'll end up better!

Next up, following one of Gem Fatale's Tuesday tips with dotting with a kerby grip, I managed to get another halfway decent look. 



So there were a few dodgy dots, but mostly they seemed to go well. These lasted for ages as well, I'd say about a week with minimal chipping.


Here are the products I used, the no7 Topcoat that my sister left behind hehe and the Barry M Boots LE nail varnish and then Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream.

Week in pictures 003

Yeah, another one that I forgot! I thought I'd post one again as I took quite a lot of pictures this past week of random things.


Trying on dresses in Matalan. I loved this one but I felt the fabric felt a bit odd for my tastes. But Dani's bought it for our second cousin's wedding and I'm sure it looks better on her than on me! She said it fits like a glove, which it actually did on me as well.


I went to Broadstairs on Sunday with my brother, grandparents and uncle, who I don't see very often.We went and had lunch in this little cafe place that was LOVELY. I especially adore the typical English soft drinks. You only get the main brands here so I love drinking cloudy lemonade whenever I'm over. This time, I tried Mandarin and Orange Seville, which was quite nice! The second picture was just one of the beach as I cannot resist taking pictures of beaches. I love the view in Broadstairs, I think it's beautiful.


A funny picture with my uncle. It was really windy so he pulled a bit of my hair to make a fake moustache, but it failed a bit!


A few pictures of the sea where my grandparents live. I adore this view, I think it's stunning, especially when the sky is so clear that you can see France! I had a few pictures where you could see France, but my camera went and formatted them, unfortunately. I also had some lovely ones of my sister when I went to visit her.



I spent a lot of my time in England looking for my favourite herbal tea, London Fruit and Herb! I don't like normal herbal teas as they smell so good but don't taste like it! Eventually on Tuesday, the day we were leaving, I found these in Holland & Barretts. I recommend them for anyone who likes warm Ribena! 

My blossom tree is out! It usually blooms a lot later than all the other trees but upon my return, I was greeted by my beautiful pink blossom! It really completes my garden, I think.

And finally, a silly outtake of my friend (trying to) take my outfit pics ;) 

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this. If anyone else is a fan of London Fruit & Herb (which funnily enough, is made in Merseyside), let me know and we'll share the love!