Make up classes

I’m a sucker for a make up class, I can’t help it. I just love to learn! Can’t be a bad thing can it? Surely not. 

When it comes to make up & make up application I want to learn as much as I possibly can. I love it!

 I honestly think when it comes to make up- no matter if you are a make up artist or just apply your own, you are always learning. There are so many different products & tools on the market and more being released all the time so just when you think you are on top of your game another technique is discovered/rediscovered (baking for instance, which has been used in drag make up for years, has recently become famous again) or another product or tool is released claiming to make your make up life easier…. 

This is why I love to attend classes,  I’m already a qualified MUA and have attended lots of other accredited courses but to be honest I find I’ve learned a hell of a lot more from working make up artists at the masterclasses they hold than I ever did in college. 

I love picking up little tips and tricks from them that I might not have thought of. Like a product I use regularly another artist might use it in a way I haven’t thought of, or they might have a brush that is typically for one thing but they find it works better used another way etc. Little things like that. 

This week I attended a class ran by a lady who did my bridesmaids make up on my wedding day just over a year ago. 

As much as I love a dramatic smokey eye & strong contour á la PLouise it simply isn’t for everyone, which is why I’ve always admired Jaimies work. She creates the natural ‘no make up, make up’ look so well when it comes to her bridal clients and her night out make ups are beautifully done with glowy skin, subtly smokey eyes & soft but flattering contour. And I simply wanted to see what it takes to achieve the above mentioned looks. 

The class was held at the Brentwood kitchen and began  with prep and then application of various brands of make up (illamasqua, Mac and Charlotte tilbury to name a few) & lashes accompanied by a lovely iced coffee and home made Victoria sponge 😋

Makeup + cake + coffee = HEAVEN! 

I learned some fab tips when it comes to application and decided on a few more make up purchases (of course 😉)  after seeing her work her magic. 
I really enjoyed myself and look forward to attempting to recreate the look we were shown at some point this week. 

The final result 

I’d definitely recommend attending Jaimies future classes to anyone. And I look forward to attending another in the near future I think there may be a Christmas one coming up. 

I also attended a seminar in London this week with my favourite Youtuber Amy of ‘Amy’s make up box’ so I’ll be writing another post to tell you all about that one 🙂 

Are you a make up artist? 

Are there any classes you would recommend? 

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Today’s face

Base:

 Becca shimmering skin perfector in moonstone

Mac prolongwear foundation in NW15

Maybelline fit me concealer on 15

Contour:

Benefit Hoola bronzer 

Highlight: 

Mac soft & gentle 

Eyes:

Urban decay Eden primer 

Urban decay Naked smoky palette, shades combust, whiskey & radar

Peaches and cream pigment in selfie

Provoc eyeliner in 90 (black)

Urban decay perversion mascara on black 

Brows:

Illamasqua brow gel in strike 

Lips: 

Nyx high voltage lipstick in stone 
The finished look

If anyone would like a review of any of the products mentioned above, leave me a comment & I’ll get right to it 

Sam X 

Gwen Stefani for Urban Decay!

  
Urban Decay were teasing us this afternoon by posting a sneak peek of their new palette that comes from their collaboration with Gwen Stefani.  

 

First Impressions:OMG take my money already!! 15 shades of gorgeousness- get on my eyelids now please! 

They say it’s coming at the end of the year. In time for Christmas maybe? If so could someone kindly show this to my husband? Thank you in advance 😘

Are you as excited as I am? 

Let me know what you think 

However in the mean time the next one which will finally be available in the UK is the spectrum palette 

  
A little less ‘everyday wear’ than the Gwen palette but it’s beautiful none the less. And obviously I just HAVE to own it. 

  

Any new releases you guys are excited about?

Drop me some links 🙂 

Enjoy the rest of your week lovelies

Sam 🙂 x

Too faced romantic eye palette: swatches & review

Anyone who reads my blog on a regular or knows me personally will know my love for Too faced cosmetics. I literally love everything Too faced! Excellent quality and beautifully packaged products. And the chocolate bar & Cocoa contour products? Erm HELLO! who doesn’t want pretty cosmetics that do what they say on the tin and smell like chocolate?! 

I own many too faced items but there are still sooooooo many more on my wishlist. 

I’ve owned this palette for a couple of months now and wanted to share its fabulousness with you guys. 

 
9 pretty, girly shades that are suitable for day & evening wear. With matte, satin & shimmer shades the amount of looks you can create are endless. And check out the names! 

 Shown here in natural light
  Shown here with flash 
Colours from L-R: 

• Un veil
• First dance
• Bouquet toss
• Soul mates
• Kiss the bride 
• I do
• Cut the cake 
• Honeymoon
• Ever after 

Pigmentation is perfect and the shades blend like butter. As always too faced are consistent with their shadows. 

The tutorial cards are really easy to follow especially for beginners.  And as I already said its so easy to go from day to night with this cute little palette.

For day I wear bouquet toss all Over the lid, soul mates as a brow bone highlight & inner corners. Then for night just add either unveil or first dance to the upper & lower lash lines & outer corners of the eyes and your good to go! 

It’s definitely up there with my favourites. 

Here’s a look I created at the weekend using shades: soul mates to highlight, bouquet toss as a base, I do in the crease & unveil on he outer corners & lower lash line.   

Have you tried the Too faced Romantic eye palette? 

Let me know what you thought in the comments section 🙂 

This weeks manicure

It might be Autumn but Im not ready to give up my bright shades just yet! This week I’m wearing Gelish in ‘scandalous’ a gorgeous bright red.  

 

Is there anything particular you guys would like to see on the blog? 

Let me know in the comments 

Hope you enjoyed.

Sam 🙂 x 

Olympia beauty haul part 2: Swatches!

Happy friday people! I hope this week has treated you well?

As promised here are the swatches from my little Olympia beauty show haul. See part 1 here

My show purchases

NYX butter glosses

I always have at least one butter gloss in by bag at all times. They give a lovely wash of colour that isnt too over the top for every day wear. Definitely a make up bag must have for me.

Tiramisu & Madeline

Natural light without flash 

With flash

NYX Butter lipstick

Lovely feeling on the lips although very sheer. If you don’t like anything too heavy coverage wise then this is for you. I’d be interested in hearing what some of the darker colours are like though. So if you’ve tried them link me to reviews please 🙂

Snow cap

Without flash in natural light

With flash

NYX High voltage lipstick

This is my favourite lipstick ever! I love it more than (dare I say it) VELVET TEDDY!! It stays on for hours and is so pigmented you literally just need one sweep and it gives perfect coverage. I am 1005 buying more for my pro make up kit.

‘Stone’

Without flash in natural light

With flash

NYX Eyeshadows

These are really highly pigmented and for like £4.50 I think they were a bargain!

Without flash in natural light

With flash

Inglot amc gel liner in black 

I’m still new to wearing eye liner myself but this is a pretty intense black liner which can be hard to find. Its easy to apply and glides on like a dream. However once its on it will not budge so if (like me) you find it hard to get your liner right first time remember a little goes a long way, also have some make up remover and q tips handy for any mistakes so you can clean up quickly before it dries. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

Gel liner in Black

Without flash in natural light

With flash

Milani Bronzer & Blush

These had been on my wishlist for some time. I mean just look at them, what girl wouldn’t love them?? And they didn’t fail to impress. I love a coral blush on myself and I also find it suits many other skin tones but some are afraid to try it & are put off by the colour thinking it wont suit them.

Go on, try it and let me know what you think!

Milani Bronzer in ‘Amber nectar’ & Blush in ‘Coral rose’

Simply beautiful!

Taken in natural light

This weeks manicure!

I’m still sporting shorties but went for a raspberry shade this week.

Gelish in ‘Rendezvous’

Have a fab weekend!

Sam 🙂 x

30 day blogger challenge: Today’s face

  
Just a quick post of ‘today’s face’ and what was used to create it.

Base: 

• urban decay naked skin in shade 2.0 
• La girl pro conceal in orange- to correct my dark circles
• Pro longwear concealer in NW15 to conceal
• Ben Nye banana powder to set.

Contour/blush:

• Mac ‘matte bronze’ to contour
• Lord & berry blush in lotus
• Mac soft & gentle to highlight

Eyes:

• Anastasia Beverley hills eye shadows in A touch of lilac (all over lid & brow bone) dark chocolate shimmer on outer corner & also used as liner) & Metal (patted onto lid & inner corner.)
• Max factor false lash effect mascara on top & bottom lashes

Brows:

• Naked basics palette colour ‘faint’ used to fill in brows 

Lips:

• Khroma beauty (Kardashian collection) double take lipstick & gloss in ‘nectar’

  
Wow these iPhone photos aren’t very forgiving! Okay don’t mention the brows! They are so not my friend at the moment.  I’m trying to grow one back, hence one being majorly shorter than the other see  Here for an explanation. This was also taken before work and I hadn’t done my hair yet but hey, I can’t be perfect all the time 😏

  Close up of the eyes 

What are your everyday make up essentials? 

Let me know in the comments 

So that’s my face today! Hope you enjoyed. 

Sam 🙂 x

30 day blogger challenge: Contents of my handbag

Not exactly the most exciting of posts but it will hopefully give me a kick up the backside to finally get rid of all the crap in there! 

  
So here’s my lovey handbag and its contents 

  

I’ll list the contents just In case you can’t see it very well. 

• River island purse
• Illamasqua make up bag
• Mac velvet teddy lipstick (of course!) 
• Elemis pro radiance illuminating flash balm
• Illamasqua blush in lover – minus a brush might I add!  Makes no sense to me either 
• Mac soft & gentle highlighter-again see above ? Must have been half asleep this morning
• Random pens I’ve stolen from people
• Hair clip
• Hand food hand cream – another essential. Smells amazing! 
• Random allergy medicine- stupid dust! 😬
• Lash curlers not that I ever use them
• Various lids that my bag steals from my perfumes everytime they enter my bag
• Random keys- I haven’t got a clue what they are for or how they got there?! 
• An Allen key- incase I need to urgently assemble some furniture 
• Givenchy hot couture perfume 
• Collection 2000 concealer (my holy grail product!) 
• Car keys
• Neutrogina lip balm 
• Tweezers 
• Doritos- gotta have a little emergency snack

And while I’m being completely honest, here’s the rest of the unimportant crap that was in there  

 
This weeks manicure! 

I’ve decided to go short and dark to get into the Autumn spirit. I used Gelish in ‘Bellas Vampire’ a lovely rich, deep purple. 

  
Tomorrows post is on my favourite concealers.

Enjoy your evening.

Sam 🙂 x 

30 day blogger challenge: Bold lips

  
Hi, Hope you are all enjoying the lovey weather On this sunny Sunday afternoon! 

Today’s post as you probably guessed by the title is bold lips. 

I very rarely wear lipstick but when I do it’s far from bold! I’m a nude lips kinda gal. (Mac blush teddy is my all time fave!) So it’s very rare to see me with any kind of colour on my lips. 

However I recently attended an Urban Decay make up masterclass and received a sample (hence the size) of their Revolution lipgloss in ‘Scandal’ so I thought I’d give it a try. Check it out Here 

  
Even for a sample they didn’t scrimp on the packaging and the full size is just as pretty.  It’s a gorgeous fuchsia pink and the pigmentation is fantastic, it doesn’t have that horrible sticky feeling and it wears off well. It left a subtle wash of pink after 2 hours of wear and I didn’t feel the need to have to reapply. I’m definitely impressed.

 
It may not be enough to sway me to wear more bright colours, but I’m definitely putting this gloss on my wish list for when the spending ban is over but in a more wearable everyday shade.  

 Have you tried the lip revolution range? Let me know what you thought. 

This weeks mani!   

Gelish in ‘sweet thang’ matted with gold filigrees over the top. Find them Here they are a great way to transform your regular manicure in seconds! 

Keep your eyes peeled for tomorrow’s post on ‘my favourite eyeliners’ 

See you there 🙂 

Sam x

30 day blogger challenge: My favourite mascara

I’ve bored you all with long posts all week so today’s is going to be short & sweet. 

My favourite mascaras. 

I don’t have 1 particular favourite, I tend to switch between 3. 

Too faced: Better than sex mascara £19.00 debenhams.com    
I don’t know why they’d call a mascara that because it’s definitely not true. I mean, yeah I get excited about make up but seriously? Nope 

The brush is brilliant, it picks up every single lash and makes my lashes look huge. But! And it’s a big but, the fallout is ridiculous. And it Makes me look like a panda by lunchtime. And you need to constantly wipe the brush on a tissue as there’s so much product build up. If they made a waterproof version of this it would be fantastic and be the only mascara I’d ever use as I haven’t found anything better which is why I’ve put it on my favourites list. Can’t have it all eh? 

Have you used this? How did you get on with it? I’d like to know if it’s just me that has this problem.

Max factor: False lash effect mascara £10.99 Boots.com

   

   
Another of my favourites false lash effect & false Lash effect waterproof. Obviously they are both the same mascara but one is waterproof (proof is in the name 😉 the original is great for every day use and makes my lashes look long and thick without crumbling off half way through the day. 

The waterproof is perfect for swimming, holidays,  sporting activities, gym etc the stuff literally doesn’t budge. I can’t fault it. But you will need a waterproof eye make up remover or you’ll never get it off! 

What’s your favourite mascara? Let me know in the comments.

See you tomorrow 🙂 

Sam x

 

Bloggers beauty award!

Sorry (again) it’s been a while I know. I promise to be more regular after the school holidays are over next week.

As you all know I haven’t been doing this for long at all, so it’s lovely that my little blog has been noticed by someone other than my family who read because they have to. Love you guys 😉

I’d like to thank Kaitlynskollection for the nomination! Make sure you stop by her blog!

So on with the post…..
The rules…

• Tag the blogger that nominated you
• Answer the questions you were given
• Nominate 10 people who’s blog is about beauty or fashion
• Make 10 questions for your nominees to answer
• Inform the bloggers you chose that you nominated them

My questions…

• What is your worst beauty habit? I don’t really have any habits but one of my beauty ‘problems’ as some (my husband) might say is being a brand whore. If there’s something new being released from my favourite brand I HAVE to have it. If I could find a brand that would swap items/people for products I’d be living in a box on the street with my make up collection and no family.
• What is your favourite beauty product? Collection – lasting finish concealer. Cannot live without that little beaut.
• What is your favourite beauty brand? I can’t choose just one! That’s like asking me to sacrifice my first born 🙊 I love Illamasqua, Too faced & Urban decay equally.
• Face or eyes first? On myself face first. But doing someone else’s make up eyes first.
• Do you keep the same make up look everyday or change it? I try to change it up everyday. Like I’m on a mission to wear every eyeshadow I own at least once. I should be done by the next millennium.
• Foundation or concealer first? Foundation then concealer but there are sometimes bad days when I need to repeat the process a few times to look slightly normal.
• Where would you most like to go on holiday? At this precise moment- anywhere! But I’d love to visit Dubai.
• What is your greatest acheivement? Buying our house. It was something I thought was far in the future. But we did it in December and couldn’t be happier.
• What keeps you motivated to blog? My followers. I love that people actually like reading my ramblings. Every time I see a like or a new follower on my blog it makes me smile. I want to be able to be honest and say exactly what I think about products I buy rather than lie because a company sent me something for free. If I waste my money on a product and my blog stopped 1 more person wasting their hard earned cash on the same thing then I’ve succeeded in what I set out to do.
• Who is your favourite blogger/Vlogger? I love pixiwoo! Sam & Nic are so normal and down to earth. It’s refreshing to watch. I particularly like their tutorials as they aren’t telling me to contour the crap out of myself so I look like a completely different person, to the point my husband wants to sue me when he wakes up next to me in the morning!

My nominations!

• Curly.spring.blossom
• Emmalovesbeautyx
• myloveforbeautyproducts
• mediaandmakeup
• Ryanpaynesworld
• Valsvoguexo
• Myfashionandbeautytales
• Realitydeity
• charlenesparklesbeauty
• B-17Bombshell beauty

Your questions:

• What inspired you to start blogging?
• What beauty product could you not live without? 
• What make up/fashion trends do you think will be big this year?
• Your favourite high street store? 
• What advice would you give to a new blogger? 
• What products are on your wish list? 
• Your best beauty/fashion tip?
• Your favourite holiday destination? 
• What’s your favourite perfume/aftershave? 
• Favourite make up brands? 

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed. Looking forward to reading the nominees posts!

Samantha xx