March Beauty Favourites

Finally we are coming up to the end of March, and the clocks went forward yesterday evening in the UK (or should I say sprung forward), which means we have officially reached Spring- yay sun. So my beauty favourites this month are predominantly quite Spring inspired, though I have to admit I'd probably use them all year round anyway. My favourites are actually mostly new products that I've bought this month and loved/a general beauty staple I've had for a fair while now.

So first and foremost it's my Mac pigment pot in Vanilla. What can I say, I absolutely adore it. I know some people don't like too much shimmer and like matte eyeshadows or brow highlighters, but Vanilla is my absolute staple by far. Just a touch of it in the inner corner of your eye really opens it up and it's really nice and reflective from the shimmer. It's sort of a white creamy colour with pink shimmer/undertones. So goes really well if doing a purple smokey eye.

Next is a newbie to the collection-the Clinque Cheek pop in Plum pop. It's a really nice bright pink, with a slight shimmer not too overpowering. It looks deceiving from the colour that it would be really pigmented, but it's actually quite buildable, so you don't have to be too cautious when putting it on your brush. The slight shimmer means it acts a bit as a highlighter if you want a bit of a sheen on a summer's day.

This Max Factor Calorie 2000 mascara was my attempt at trying to find a cheaper alternative to YSL false lash effect mascara- which everyone knows is heavy on the purse strings and by the time you've taken it out of it's packaging excitedly undoing the lid for its first use, it's already dried out. Though the calorie 2000 doesn't lengthen or curl your lashes as well, it does have longevity and is really good at volumising and thickening. So definitely a good alternative when you feel a bit disillusioned with the bank loan you've had to take out just to keep up with your YSL habit.


Last, but by no means least of all, is the NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in Mexican Rose, a bright fushia colour. As we all know matte finishes are a bit harsh for the warmer weather, so this is a perfect alternative if you want colour, longevity, shine, and high impact. This lip pencil literally lasts all day. Obviously it loses the gloss side of things, but the colour hugs your lips for hours, so really good for an evening out if you don't want to keep reapplying.

Have any of you used these products,if so let me know what you think of them!

Frankie xXx

Cara Delevingne inspired make up tutorial-Love magazine cover

Cara Delevingne has been hot property for the last 18 months or so now, so I thought who better to base a celebrity inspired make up look on than her. Cara does often rock a bare face, and pulls it off better than probably the rest of us ever would, but she has had some flawless make up over the years, but the one the caught my eye the most was her cover on Love magazine, inspired by the legend that is Kate Moss.

For the Base:
- Nars sheerglow foundation in Light 5
- Collection 2000 concealer in Fair
- Gosh Prep'n' Prime powder
- Sleek contour kit in medium
- Hush cream blush from MAC

Eyes
- Urban Decay primer Potion Original
- Urban Decay Buck (also in Naked pallette)
- MAC Grain
- MAC Embark
- MAC Amber Lights
- MAC Shroom
- MAC Brule
- MAC Coppering
- Maybelline 24hr cream liner in 02 Brown
- Urban Decay 24hr liquid liner in Eldorado
- Bodyshop Eyebrow kit in Brown/Black
- Max Factor False Lash Effect mascara in Brown/ Black

Lip
- MAC cherry lip liner
- MAC So chaud
- MAC Vegas Volt
- Myabelline colour sensational lipgloss in Orange

The Eyes
1) Start by using a MAC 217 and taking the colour Buck across the crease right out to the edge of your brow and bringing it down to the end of your eye making a V shape.

2) Take the same colour under your eye a good few MMs from the edge of your eye.

3) Using a MAC 239 pack Grain onto your lid.

4) Take Coppering and using a 231 brush take it under the eye above where you placed Buck, blend using a 217.

5)  Using a 231 brush place Amber Lights in the inner corner of your eye.

6) Take Embark under your eye to make it slightly darker than the top, blending with a 217.

7) Line your eye, on the waterline and slightly below with the maybelline cream liner in brown, using an angled brush, on the top part of the lid create a small flick at the end.

8) Just above where you have your brown eyeliner on your lid, take the Eldorado liner and place a thin line following the top of your brown liner, excluding the flick. 

9) Just inside where you have placed Amber Lights,place a small amount of shroom to catch the light, and highlight your browbone with Brule.

10) Curl lashes and coat with Max Factor false lash effect mascara in Brown Black.

The Lips

1) Line your lip with cherry, blending it in with your finger.

2) First use a layer of So Chaud on your lips, for the red in the picture, then take Vegas Volt and place that over the top to enchance the orange.

3) Finish with a sheen of Colour sensational gloss in Orange.

Now you can look like Cara, minus the nudity and the bath!

Frankie xXx

Red Ombre Lips

So we are getting well into spring now, thus I am trying to embrace everything spring,including the ombre trend. Now this usually follows in the form of a hair dip dye, some of those dip dyes being less desirable than others, but there are definitely other ways to incorporate some ombre into your life this Spring. I am a huge fan of a red lip anyway, and I think Ombre lips give a really nice illusion of bigger lips, with light being focused on the centre (even if my mum thought I had been biting a biro- I think two colours on your lips is too confusing a concept for her).

I started by lining right round my lip with Cherry lip liner from MAC,starting from the outer corners and filling it from the outside. I then used my MAC Riri Woo lipstick on my lips except in the centre where I put a small amount of So Chaud (also MAC). I then took Urban Decay 24/7 lipliner in Venom and starting from the outer corners shaded in my lip about a 1/4 of the way in each side. You can then take Nightmoth lip pencil from Mac for extra definition just in the very corner. I finished my putting my Maybelline colour Sensational Shine Gloss in Electric Orange just in the centre to catch more light-like you would do with a highlighter. And now im ready to brace the Spring weather,though knowing England it will just be a continuation of rain from Winter, but one can hope.

Frankie xXx

An evening in with ELLE

So I hadn't got round to reading this months issue of ELLE yet, and I went to the supermarket today to do some shopping.  I swear I just needed therapy just to cope with that. Everyone at a supermarket, especially when armed with a trolley, is akin to a lion hunting for prey, facing their last ever meal. I was on tenterhooks at the prospect that round every corner there was someone else waiting to ram a trolley full of shopping into my rear end. Anyway, that aside I thought I would treat myself to some relaxation time,so purchased ELLE, and bought 3 new Barry M nail varnishes. I'm especially excited to try my baby blue hi-shine polish in the next few hours or so- getting into the pastels vibe now we are getting well into spring. I also like to light a few candles, so lit my Waxed Lyricial Spiced Berry candle and a No.2 Vanilla scented one. Silence, fruit, and a hot choccie ( I just bought the new Options Belgian hot chocolate Brownie one-highly recommended, it's like heaven in a mug, and for only 60 calories!!) and my relaxing evening is all set.

Frankie xXx

Candice Swanepoel make up- becoming an angel... well, close enough

When you're little, you have dreams of when you grow up of becoming a princess. However, when you get older, that dream begins to evolve and now the ultimate dream is to be part of the Amazonian elite- a Victoria's Secret Angel. Something seems different strutting down that catwalk with little left to the imagination, than if you appeared in the Sun on page 3. Without delving into any politics involved with that debate (I like to avoid being in the midst of controversy at all costs), it remains true that everyone wants to be one of the VS models. My personal favourite, though Adriana Lima comes in a close second, is Candice- so I thought I would try my hand at recreating one of her make up looks. It is actually a lot more dramatic and less angelic (excuse the pun) than the make up looks often debuted on the catwalk, but I've always been a big fan of a smokey eye.

So here's just how to do the eye part:

1) For the eyebrows I used a Bodyshop brow and liner kit number 2 in Brunette and brown (using the brunette colour), I used the angled brush that comes with the kit and actually started my brows just beyond the line following up from the cornea of my eye (her's are quite long) and then just creating a bit more of an arch than I would have normally. 

2) I primed my whole lid right up to the crease with Urban Decay Primer potion, just working it in with my finger. I then placed some sellotape (trust me it works) at an angle following my lower lash line so you would end with a nice butterfly effect.

3) I used shaded in my crease with a Mac 217 blending brush with a mixture of both Mac Swiss Chocolate, and Mac Texture.

4) I then packed on Mac grain onto the centre of my lid just to create a bit of highlight using the Mac 239 brush.

5) Using the same 217, I  started working Mac bronze just in the outer corner of my eye, right up to the crease, creating some more shadow, blending that out up until the centre of my eye.

6) I then swept Mac Knight Divine in outer half of my lid, and then using a 231 brush to bring that colour underneath my eye right up until the cornea. I then took a lighter shade (Electra) on the first half of my lid. On top of this I put some Idol Eyes just in the centre of my lid to create an illusion of larger eyes.

7) Using an angled brush (or the same 231) I created black eye liner right around my eye with Urban Decay Blackout. Then wing the line out following the edge of the sellotape right until a few mms underneath the end of your brow. Then blend this black out with a clean 217.

8) Highlight the brow bone with Brulé using a 219, then take the same brush and take a small amount of Shroom and place it on the inner corner of your eye.Then take Urban Decay 24/7 pencil eyeliner in Peversion and line the whole way around your waterline (bottom and top), and just below the water line on both the bottom and top and smudge it out with the 231.

9) Finish off with mascara, I used YSL False Lash effect in black.

Complicated I know but the smokey eye had quite a lot of depth to it (warm bronzey tones and cool silvery tones). This sort of make up look would be good with an LBD and maybe some Burgundy nails and Burgundy suede platforms (you need some colour in there somewhere).

The lipstick is Myth by Mac, a Satin nude colour. 

Here is a picture of all the other make-up products I used, and thanks for reading!

Frankie xXx

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MAC Lipstick: An Addiction

Ok, so it seems only right that my first official beauty blog post should be dedicated to a life long passion of mine, MAC lipsticks. It is something that my friends know me all too well for, and an addiction I have suffered from for the last 6 years, but not one I'm looking to remedy anytime soon. Now I've tried all the other make-up brands, from Chanel, to Rimmel, Nars, the list goes on, however, something always seems to bring me back to MAC. I think something that MAC offers in this respect as opposed to other brands is a variety of finishes, as well as a vast array of different shades. I think, so far to date, my collection is in the late 20's, reaching the 30 mark, and I'm sure once I've hit this milestone I'll celebrate by buying yet another MAC lipstick (happy birthday?).

So the finish I tend to go for is Matte, but coming up to spring time I like to use more of the Satin and creme sheen and lustre finishes, mixed in with some of the frost ones on the occasion. Some of the lipsticks are better than others admittedly, there are certainly pitfalls with them, even the most popular. 

(From left to right: Flat Out Fabulous, Mehr, Fabby, Lovelorn, Russian Red, Riri Woo, and Relentlessly Red)

Above are probably my most used and favourite out of my whole collection. 

Flat out fabulous is a matte finish, one of the newer editions to the MAC matte collection, and it's just a really nice purpley fuchsia colour, good for day and night, though quite dry so lots of lip primer is needed. 

Mehr is a really good deep pink, another matte, something I think is really nice for day, maybe interviews as well because it is reasonable neutral. One of the better finishes of the matte selection, doesn't dry or crumble on your lips at all. 

Fabby is a really pretty frost finish, something I like to wear in the summer with minimal make up, similarly to Lovelorn, the coral/pink creme-sheen colour next along, which goes really well for people with tanned skin, or if you've fake tanned and are looking a little sunkissed. 

Russian Red is my all time favourite. Not the most wearable in terms of adaptability to different skin-tones, it's quite a deep colour so wouldn't recommend it for the fair skinned of you out there, but it is a really nice blue under-toned red, matte finish, doesn't flake at all. It's my go to for any outfit on a night out (mostly because I predominantly wear black). 

Riri Woo, or Ruby Woo (they are the same- just Rihanna's edition) is a lovely colour. The most adaptable by far, matches really well to all skin tones. One thing I would say is it is very dry, so therefore lots of re-applications, get's crumbly on the lip etc. Not so good if leaving the house a lot, having to take primer, and lipstick etc. and continual re-applications.

Relentlessly Red, a similar sort of situation with Riri woo, in that is is very dry. But a really nice brighter shade, quite similar to Lady Danger, a good pick for the fairer skinned, especially those with fair skin and mousy brown or blonde hair. 

If anybody has any other good lipstick suggestions, please let me know, I always need an excuse to go out and buy more.

Frankie 

xXx

Graduation Purgatory

Now I know that Purgatory in it's traditional sense pertains to the Catholic religion, but I thought it's underlying meaning of being an intermediary state, an 'inbetween state' if you will, from where you were and where you want to be, resonated most with life post university.

Though it is clear that not everyone feels like this, and if you don't then you are one of the lucky few; however, from having cross-referenced some of my friends and other people I have met along the way, post university life is daunting. I first thought about this whilst watching Jim Chapman's YouTube video, where he drew his life, explaining a similar feeling when he left university. Suddenly you are taken from the regimented, progressive academic life you had gotten used to, into the 'real' world of jobs, and even more daunting- 'careers'. I think the predominant sense of dread comes not from leaving your friends (the good ones will stay in touch), or from getting to go to Reflex every other night (hangovers start to get tiresome-eventually), but from not knowing what it is that you WANT to do. Want here being the operative word. Getting onto Graduate Schemes is first and foremost, very competitive, and secondly, very time consuming- so to undertake them in itself is a big commitment. These sorts of commitments, whilst you are slaving away in the library for your dissertation so much that you start to resemble an extra in 28 Days Later, are ones that take a lot of forethought and dedication. It is because of this that many students opt out of this sort of commitment, the downside being that you are left wondering what is that you really want to do when you leave the concrete jungle of your University Campus.

The danger after you leave university is to jump unwavering feet first into any job, because your parents would have told you time and again, the job market is tough. Whilst this is true, many mistakes can be made from this attitude- and you can end up in a job that wasn't meant for you, inevitably facing the more frightening decision to leave that job and start in pastures new. Though I can empathize with echoing thoughts of 'any job is good at this stage'-we all need pocket money to fund the next Gin and Tonic (OK, so we haven't taken a complete hiatus from alcohol)- I think that people have started to forget the importance of passion and love for what you do. Some people find this earlier on, so never get to face this stage of purgatory, and some people will go into a job that has a career, perhaps isn't what they want to do, but it's OK for them, and others- like myself- are left pondering what direction to go in.

The message here, perhaps contradicting the initial tone of this Blogpost, is not bleak. On the contrary, it is one filled with optimism. Though it may be a long road ahead, what recent graduates have the opportunity to do is find their passion, and it is from this you will derive your direction in life. A career is not a job, it is a lifetime dedicated to a profession, and what worth is that if not something you are invested in spending your life doing- and something you will be content with. Though some passions may seem more 'unrealistic' than others, if it is something you are truly passionate about you will succeed. I'm sure many of you are familiar with Steve Jobs, who said that the 'only way to do great work is to love what you do', and from this the fruits of your labour will start to appear. Find what it is that you are passionate about, what you love to do, and once you have found this you are well on your way.

Frankie
xXx