Guest Post: Accentuating Your Beautiful Eyes

If you were to go about asking people what they think their best features were, you would surely get a lot of different answers. Some people are proud of their physical condition, and others would say that they think their hair is the most attractive thing about them. 

However, if you were to take such a survey, you might be surprised at just how many people say that their eyes are their best feature. Here’s the secret: eyes are simply pretty. People are attracted to things like gemstones and light, and really when you look closely at just about anyone’s eyes aren’t those the things that they look most like? A close-up of a person’s iris is usually a deep and beautiful thing, which is why so many people will tell you that their eyes are their best features. 

Still, it is not as if people are always up close to see the true beauty of your eyes. This is why so many women make efforts to accent their eyes through makeup and eyelashes – not in order to create beauty, but in order to emphasize existing beauty. So with that in mind, here are some of the top tips for showing off your eyes through beauty products.

• For blue eyes, many women find that using warm coloured eye shadow really helps to emphasize the natural colour of the eyes. Light brown and rose coloured eye shadow, for example, will lighten up the area around your eyes and truly make the blue of your eyes stand out. Combine these eye shadows with a darker coloured eyeliner, and your blue eyes should show up beautifully. 

• For brown eyes, you can also use other colours to set off the natural hue of your eyes, but it can be a bit trickier, as the colours are less neutral. For example, a bit of slight, tasteful blue eye shadow can definitely do the trick, as can a darker blue eyeliner. Brown eyes usually won’t show as brightly as blue or green ones, so one trick is to draw attention to your eyes in general rather than emphasizing colour. 

• For a more unique trick, you may also want to look here. Define contacts, which are designed specifically to show off the beauty of your eyes. Some people enjoy coloured contact lenses, but Define lenses are entirely different. Instead of changing the colour of your eyes, these lenses work on making your eyes shine a bit more brightly and show off their colour more effectively. A pair of lenses like these can be a great finishing touch for making your eyes look truly beautiful.





*This is a guest post. 

Au Revoir...

Beach Face

image taken from Becca

I used BECCA cosmetics as a MUA many years ago, I loved the cream blushers, pigments (Nymph was one of my fave) and the foundations/liquid highlighters. I was known for my 'signature glow' as a MUA at photo shoots and on music videos and this signature glow was always created with BECCA products.

More recently, I came across the Beach Tints, available in seven delicious shades, BECCA's Beach Tint is a Summer hols must-have. It's water-resistant, streak-free, can be worn as a blush and on lips. It's non-greasy, non-drying so it's suitable for all skin types.

The shades I am going to hunt down are;

Guava -  bright coral pink
Watermelon - bright Pink
Grapefruit - pale Coral Pink
Strawberry - warm orange red

The tints cost £20 each and are available from www.beccacosmetics.com

Have you tried the BECCA Beach tints? If so, which shades?

When I buy these four colours, I will do some swatches and let you know exactly how good they are. I'm confident they'll be AHHH-MAZING.

LA Blush

Hello beautiful people,

How are y'all this weekend? I've got a horrible cold and sore throat, just as I'm due to come home. Urgh.

I've always had an obsession with blusher and I really appreciate how blusher can transform a face, blusher is able to balance out your features, contour cheekbones and most importantly brightens up your whole face.

I have only a few blushers, the reason is because when I like a colour and the quality of a particular blusher, I will stick with it unless something better comes along. I am very fussy when it comes to blusher.

My most recent blusher buy is from a brand I highly respect, Sue Devitt. I have been using Sue Devitt's bronzing blocks, cream blusher for a few years now.

I was in Harvey Nics at Christmas and picked up this blusher from the Sue Devitt counter.

This image was taken without flash on my iPhone 4S. Here it looks like a pale pink, it is actually a rose/coral,

It is highly pigmented so don't be fooled, like I was. When I first used this, I rubbed my blusher brush quite hard into the powder and then swept over my cheeks which resulted in a pink/coral blob, which was easy to correct.

I love the colour, it's very pretty and gives a fresh flushed look, wonderful for everyday use and also for brides. I have been wearing it everyday with winter skin and I am looking forward to seeing how it looks on my skin when I have a tan.

This colour will suit everyone and the wearability is brilliant too, like NARS and my Amazonian Clay blushers, I can wear this all day without the need to re-touch. I have even cried wearing this blusher and I didn't have any terrible streaks running down my cheeks.

I will definitely be buying more colours.

I paid £16 for this blusher from Harvey Nichols.

Dull, lifeless skin? You need Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum

Good morning from Cyprus,

How are you all today? Weather here is good after the thunderstorm and I've just had a boxing session, which I really enjoyed, it was so good releasing all that frustration. I'm not a gym bunny at all, but I definitely want to continue boxing. I also had my body fat measured which is 17.9%, it's OK but I want to get it lower. So, I'll have to cut down on chocolate...now, that IS a challenge!

Today's review is about a product which has recently entered my 'hero' range. I have been using Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum (HMS) since December when my tan had finally faded and my skin was back to it's original olive-yellow tone. My lifeless skin needed some va va voom, I read about Healthy Mix Serum in all the mags when it first launched. I then saw it at the Clothes Show Live but the Bourjois stand was soooooo busy I didn't get a chance to match my colour.

Finally, I got my hands on some and I LOVE it! It's a light gel foundation infused with vitamins from lychee, goji berries and pomegranate. 

Here is a picture of the skin on my hands without HMS. 

Lifeless, dull...veiny

Here is a picture of my skin with HMS, just look at the difference.

Luminous, even skin tone

HMS has a semi-matt finish and is really easy to blend, I have applied this without a mirror when I've been in a rush for work, it has been my skin-saver during the miserable winter months when my skin is at it's dullest peak. However, I will continue to wear this all year round. At the moment, I am wearing number 55, an olive-beige. Obviously, when I have a tan, I will need to go maybe a shade or two darker.

Bourjois HMS is officially one of my hero products.

Have you tried HMS? 

Happy Leap Year, Happy Bronzer

Happy Leap Year Lay-dees, wow, an extra day in the year, an extra day in Feb and the chance for ladies to propose to their other half...

I would have loved to have been born on the 29th Feb because I would have a birthday ever four years and stay young forever.

So, today's post is about a bronzer I picked up at a drugstore in NYC last March, I don't know why I haven't blogged about this sooner. I totally love Physicians Formula Happy Booster Glow/Mood Boosting Powder. It only cost like $9. Such a bargain.

You can wear this either dark or light so it's perfect all year round, it's not shimmery either and has an adorable pink heart which you can use as a blusher alone, but I swipe my huge Mii face brush all over so I pick up all the colours and sweep all over my face.

I usually wear NARS Casino bronzer, which I love and have used religously for years, however, I am fed up of the block always breaking so I didn't re-purchase and instead pulled out Physician's Formula from my stack of bronzers.

I'm not sure if it's the packaging and design (cute hearts) which boost my mood or whether it's the ingredients in the product, but I gotta agree, it definitely does make me feel 'happy' when applying every morning.

The staying power is pretty good too, especially for a cheap drugstore product. If you're going to the states anytime soon, I recommend you pick this product up if you love your bronzer like me.

Fudge Me Please..in Mahogany

Last week, I tried out a Fudge Conditioning Treatment in Mahogany. I have never dyed my hair, however, at my old hairdressers (Obsession, Mailbox), I would regularly have glossing treatments (and then they closed down due to a fire and never re-opened.

Anyhow, I have wanted to gloss my hair for ages so thought I'd try a home treatment by Fudge.

The Fudge conditioning treatments have been designed for coloured hair to protect your shade from fade.

Although I have no colour on my hair, I was curious to see how my hair would take to it, I am a brunette with naturally red undertones (my hair goes light brown/red in the sun).

As you can see you get a good sized amount of product, I squeezed every last drop from the packet. However, I have very thick, long hair, so it wasn't enough for my hair, I should have used two packets.

I wore gloves to apply the treatment because as you can see from how pigmented it is, I didn't want to stain my hands. I applied it through the lengths on the top of my hair and left it on for 15 minutes (5 minutes longer than the recommended time).

I washed it out until all the red was gone and this is how my hair looks.

You can see the red in parts of my hair, which I love and my hair is really glossy (I did use some Amazon Series Acai Oil after washing out the treatment too).

It's so easy to use and only costs £2.49 for a sachet.

I'm not sure how long it will last but I'll keep you updated. I'm definitely going to be stocking up on more to give my hair a shine and colour boost.

Thalgo Oxygen 3 Defense Cream Review

I am totally in love with this brand and this range of products! During Summer I was using the Oxygen SOS Serum and have sadly ran out (but will defo be re-purchasing for Summer and Summer hols). It's perfect for city gals who want to prevent ageing skin due to pollution.

During the colder months, I have religously been using the Oxygen 3 Defense Cream, it has been a saviour for my winter-parched skin!

It has a cream-gel consistency and a little goes a long way, it smells fresh and sinks into my skin immediately, so I can apply my base (Health Mix Serum/Ellis Faas/Liz Earle/Chantecaille) straight away.

I highly recommend this product for anyone who needs locked in moisture all day, polluted skin or if you have flaky areas. I have combination skin and this works in complete harmony with my oily T-zone. As you can see from the pot....I have hardly any left but then again, I have been using it since October last year.

I found it on Salon Skincare for £47.95.

Facebook Thief

As if I didn't have enough drama with the dogs...well, I only got some facebook stalker freak as well!!!

First of all, please, please, please make sure you are safe on facebook. I fell victim to some freak stealing my pictures because facebook changed their settings which meant my original privacy settings were re-set and my pictures and info were open for EVERYONE to see!

One of my good friend's called me telling me they had a message from someone (she didn't know) warning her that Miss X (facebook thief) was using my pictures (I also do not know who this person is).

I actually thought it was a joke until my friend sent me a link! The profile pic of Miss X was MY picture taken like 6 years ago. I looked no further because I was furious.

Next day, I told my work girls about it....who discovered this freak's pictures were all mine (mobile uploads/albums/profile) pics with my friends and sisters....she even allowed people to comment on them and thanking them for compliments etc. I could have been sick.

I couldn't work out how this freak got my pictures, especially as I changed my settings to completely private just last year! However, like I said before, facebook regularly change their settings and my profile was visible to the whole world!

What did I do next?

Well, with great advice from friends, tweeters and facebook folk, we all reported Miss X to facebook and got the account shut down.

Now, all my settings are private.

Go and check yours because you just never know what weirdo might do the same to you.

x

WARNING: DO NOT READ/LOOK IF SENSITIVE: Good dog, Bad dog

A few weeks ago, two of my dogs had the WORST fight ever! It was horrendous. I was left feeling a mixture of great sadness and fear (not for myself) but for the future of my two dogs.

The story goes like this..

I got back from my Christmas/New Year hols to find out that my two dogs, Minaj and Blue had a fight while I was away (when my dog walker told me this, I assumed he was being more dramatic than it really was, I thought it was one of those noisy but harmless play fights they usually have...I was wrong).

The same day I got back from hols, I went running to greet my dogs and had their food ready and Minaj (naughty 15 month old puppy) launched on Blue (9 year old good boy) and was biting and clawing at his face, poor Blue was yelping and didn't want to hurt her, anyway, somehow, I managed to separate them. Phew, so I thought and dismissed it as a one off.

I was wrong...

Next day, the EXACT same thing happened but it was a thousand times worse, on a whole different level.

Minaj savagely attacked Blue and again, Blue wasn't fighting back, they were fighting for ages, I tried everything to split these two powerful dogs apart (with scary big teeth)...it's a bit of a blur now, but I spotted an opportunity to grab Blue away from Minaj.

Blue looked a mess! I couldn't stop crying because his face was all swollen and there was blood everywhere and he wouldn't let me near him to clean him up. Meanwhile, Minaj had just a tiny scratch.

WARNING: DO NOT SCROLL DOWN IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THE PIC OF BLUE

This is not even the worse pic I have, there is one where the floor and walls look like a crime scene, I found out later from their newly appointed dog trainer that they would have fought to the death!

I am so glad I managed to separate them..however, this was SO stupid of me and I DO NOT advise anyone to ever do what I did, it was so dangerous. I also think this how I re-injured (if that's even a word) my bad wrist which has prevented my from blogging.

What did I do next?

I got a dog trainer in, he is great (but very expensive) and he trains police dogs. He has been giving my dogs obedience training so they look to me as their leader. We use this chokey chain to train her, it has worked wonders (this one is too big for Minaj).

I got Minaj speyed..(which has not made a difference at all to her temperament).

They are living sepearately at the moment but I am slowly re-introducing them by taking them on walks together and allowing them to spend time alone (15 mins at a time).

I found a great website on what to do if your dogs fight.

I hope they can go back together because I know they love each other but if Minaj keeps fighting with Blue, I will have to re-home her and that will break my heart..but, I would rather do that than have a dead dog.

I'm baaaaaaaaaack!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF). I am finally back blogging..and shall I tell you what made me get off my lazy Kim K butt and start again? This list on my phone that I made two weeks ago.

I was looking for my skype log in deets and found this list. Good ol' notes eh?

Well in short, the reason I have not been blogging in ages is due to;

1, My sore wrist, I injured it last summer (not sure how) but anyway, it's got worse and the only keypad I can use without pain is my ipad..which takes me ages. I have finally got an appointment with a specialist in two weeks, so will let y'all know what happens.

2. My two dogs (Minaj and Blue) had a seriously disgusting and bloody dog fight, so I have had to deal with getting Minaj speyed, getting in a dog trainer weekly and keeping them apart (feels like my second job).

3. Facebook thief! I was SO VIOLATED a few weeks ago, some FREAK STOLE my facebook pictures (all of them) and set up an account with their real name etc! So, I had to sort that out, by the way, thank you to all of you who reported the freak and helped me kick the weirdo off facebook! 

Anyway, here's a sneak peak of some blog posts coming soon....my lip tars and YSL lipsticks collection.

Make it a memorable Valentines..for her

The last time I celebrated (well participated in Valentine's Day) was in 2007 when my then-boyfriend (now-husband) bought me a stunning Louis Vuitton diamond encrusted charm bracelet (I have a lot of jewellery but tend to wear my fave pieces such as my skull, simple diamond studds and chopard watch). I must wear this bracelet more often....

Anyway, for all you guys who are looking to make this Valentines a memorable and special day, or for you gals wanting to drop your other half some hints, check out some of the gifts I recommend (depending on your budget).

Cartier love bracelet, http://www.cartier.co.uk/

Source: Google images

Jewel Heritage's Four Skulls ring RRP: £45 from http://jewelheritage.com/

KORRES Valentines gift set. RRP: £45.00 available from http://www.asos.com/ 

Set the scene with Neom candles. RRP from £13.00, available from http://www.bathandunwind.com/

Image from Bath and Unwind

Whilst setting the scene, give your lay-dee the ultimate massage with a LUX massage candle. RRP from £10.00. http://www.bodycare2000.com/

If you really want to impress your Mrs, treat her to something from my fave undie brand ever! Bordelle! www.bordelle.co.uk or maybe an 'instrument of pleasure' from Kiki de Montarparnasse here.

I won't be getting anything this year, hubby is working away and to be fair, we just treat each other to things when we feel like it, rather than wait for a particular date/day of the year.

What would you like for the big V day or do you know what you're expecting?