The Burning short film (makeup)

 

 

 

(All photos in this post are my own)

If you follow me on twitter, then you probably would have already seen that I was given the chance to work on another short film called 'The Burning' Which is a costume drama set in 1588. Myself and two other girls were given the task of making the actors look sun worn, aged and dirty from years of working in the fields. Sadly, because of work and other commitments I was only able to attend one of the days but it was a great experience going out on location and working on another film. the film was shot in the Weald and Downland open air museum which is absolutely gorgeous and fascinating to look around as it's built to demonstrate 'rural living' in the 1500's and 1600's, you're able to look around the interiors of the homes and go upstairs and look at the bedrooms etc. This was the 4th short film I have had the opurtunity to do make-up on and have been given another opportunity on another short film in the near future, it's all very exciting and I have self-taught myself what I know but I'm still learning, so being able to go on set and learning whilst working is both fascinating and exciting for me. I can't wait to see the finished film.

Three steps to the perfect pout

Lip scrubs 

Buffing away the dry and dead skin on your lips will leave them looking smooth and polished. I have made using a lip scrub part of my night time skincare routine so that's it's easy to remember. I love the Lush lip scrubs, my favourite being mint julips which is a mint chocolate sugar scrub which you can lick away once you have finished scrubbing at your lips, although this does mean you will be eating your dead skin. personally I think I'll just stick to wiping it away with a warm flannel.

'Night time' lip balm

By night time lip balm I mean a thick, long lasting lip balm that's going to protect and moisturise your lips whilst you're sleeping. my lip balm for bed time of choice is the Nuxe reve de miel lip balm which is a matte, thick balm which sticks around for hours. I go to bed at night and wake up and still feel it on my lips, it has some serious staying power and I wake up with the smoothest lips ever.

'Day time' lip balm

During the day If i'm not wearing lipstick I still like to keep my lips moisturised with a lip balm, currently I have been using the Lanolips lemonaid lip aid which melts into my lips and keeps them moisturised. the product has 1% shimmer in it which gives them a slightly glossy finish which is really lovely and it's also mildly exfoliating due to some of the ingredients, so it also helps keep any dead skin away and keeps them looking plump.

L'oreal Ever riche range

 

I'm sure everyone and their mum has heard about the L'oreal Ever riche shampoo and conditioner, I previously tried the 'very dry rebellious hair' option which I found to be a little too heavy and weighed my hair down quite a bit, I still used them on days where my hair felt extra dry but after finishing those tubes I moved onto the 'dry fine hair' option, which I didn't even know they did until I saw it on the shelves in Tesco! The dry fine hair range is supposed to be less intense but still nourishing, because with fine hair you don't want to add too much product as it can weigh it down and become greasy quickly. I'll be honest I'm not one to fuss around too much with my hair, I normally use herbal essences shampoos and conditioners and my idea of styling is quickly running the straighteners over my hair and pronouncing it finished. I do use a leave in conditioner and hair oil once I have washed my hair but other than that, nothing else really.

I absolutely love the packaging for them as they're in an easy squeezy tube which is a life saver when you're in the shower. I don't like the typical hard shampoo bottles where they're impossible to get the product out once it gets to the end of the bottle. secondly I would just like to say that this is the best smelling shampoo I have ever used it smells coconutty, yet of creamy vanilla and down right exotic and just beautiful. I found that the scent lingers on your hair as well as I have had quite a few compliments from people telling me that my hair smells nice. Now for the actual hair benefits, after I have washed my hair with the shampoo and conditioner my hair is left silky smooth with no flyaways, it's one of the best shampoos and conditioners I have used. Both the shampoo and conditioner contain natural botanical oils and no sulphates or parabens, which is extremely good for your hair because all sulphates dry out your hair which can lead to breakages in the future. For a shampoo that's as nourishing as it is, it really does make my hair feel clean and refreshed.

Now you may be wondering why the nourishing intense mask is looking a little bit battered to say the least, well it took a bread time, brute force and a very frustrated to open the pot. it took a whole 30 minutes with a lot of curse words to open it! the huge crack was where Aaron decided to stab the lid with a knife claiming that it may release any air that's trapped inside, therefore opening the pot... it didn't help. Anyway, the nourishing intense mask is a thick almost balm textured hair mask that nourishes the hair. after I applied this for 5 minutes after using the shampoo in the shower and did other shower-like tasks like shaving and washing... you get what I mean! once rinsed off my hair was left silky smooth and easy to run my tangle teazer through yet didn't weigh my hair down in the slightest, it was just left easily manageable and super soft. I did feel that the mask made my hair so soft that it looked a bit fluffy prior to styling, but that's alright as no one needs to see that...

Overall, these are honestly my favourite shampoo, conditioner and hair mask to date as I can't get enough of how they make my hair look and feel. definite winners in my books and I can see myself using all three of these products for a very long time.

Mac MSF Soft and gentle

 

Ladies and possibly gentlemen I would like to introduce you to the worlds most gorgeous highlighter, the mac mineralise skin finish in soft and gentle. this little black compact of sparkly goodness has taken it's rightful place in my everyday makeup bag as I have completely neglected my other highlighters since I got this radiant little beauty. Mac make two different types of mineralise skin finish (MSF) powders, the first being the mineralise skin finish natural which is an all over setting powder used to mattify the skin and secondly in the mineralise skin which which is the product i'm writing about in the shade soft and gentle, which is a baked mineral powder with a metallic frost finish which is used for highlighting the high points of your face so cheekbones, cupids bow and down the bridge of your nose, basically anywhere that you want to add a little bit of oomph and radiance wether it be on your face or body. I had been lusting over this for well over a year and I finally decided to pick it up near the beginning of 2014 and i'm so over the moon with it, although it cost a pricey £22 I can see that it's going to be worth the money as even after months of use I haven't even made a dent in it.

Mac describe soft and gentle as a 'gilded peach bronze' and whilst I can recognise the pink tones I do think it's more of a champagne colour as shown in the swatch above. please note that is a heavy fingered swatch so there's a lot of product and that's not what it will look like on your skin! I think that the colour is extremely universal and would suit all skin tones as I've heard fairer skinned ladies say they love it and the same on the other end of the scale with darker beauties. although if the shade soft and gentle doesn't take your fancy it also comes in two other shades being lightscapade which is a "soft candlelit beige with multidimensional shimmer" and gold deposit which is a "soft reflective golden bronze" which I have heard looks gorgeous on darker, tanned skin tones.

I use it every single day to finish off my makeup makeup, I love that it is pigmented but not so pigmented that I'm scared to dip my brush into the product and end up looking like I have been dunked into a tub of glitter, instead this product catches the light and makes me look radiant and healthy. I have heard a lot of people complain that it's 'too much' or contained a lot of glitter for everyday wear and how it's only appropriate for evening time but personally I don't think it is, the powder is so finely milled with no major chunks of glitter I mean sure it has a metallic finish but not glitter, it doesn't look over the top as long as you don't go overboard with it!

Even with the heavy price tag I will repurchase this product when it's finished, which I can tell won't be for a long while yet! I'm far too in love with it to let it go as it's my new favourite mac product that I own. definitely worth the splurge.

Lanolips Lemonaid lip aid

 If you follow me on Twitter and Instagram then you probably would have seen me declare my love for the Lanolips lemonaid lip aid. The lanolin used in Lanolips products is made with 70% ultra medical grade lanolin so it's of a higher quality than typical lanolin so the benefits are more noticeable, it is also used to treat medical wounds in hospitals so it has some pretty nifty healing benefits. as well as the high percentage of lanolin it also contains almond oil and bees wax which helps moisturise your lips and makes them nice and smooth, there's also citric acid in the organic lemon oil helps naturally exfoliate the lips and gets rid of dry skin. even though Lanolips main ingredient is lanolin which is essentially the grease from sheeps wool *cue gagging sounds* their products are 100% cruelty free as it's just extracted from the wool that has been sheered off from the sheep.

I seem to have naturally dry lips that always need some form of product on them to keep them nice and smooth I thought I would give Lanolips a try. I found that the product melts into my lips and sticks around for a long time and doesn't have a tacky texture that makes me wants to wipe it off instead it just melts comfortably into my lips, the texture is quite thick which means it can be hard to get out of the tube if it's cold but I like to apply it onto my finger and then onto my lips as the applicator is hard plastic and not really comfortable to apply straight to the lips, especially with the consistency being so thick. The lemonaid lip aid also contains 1% shimmer so it gives a slight glossy finish that makes your lips look plump and healthy.

I'm not normally a fan of lemon scents but this smells absolutely delicious as it's a sweet scent and not a typical sour lemon smell, it smells just like lemonade as the name would suggest. This has quickly become one of my favourite products of 2014 so far as I love how smooth and soft it makes me lips feel, I have a feeling i'm going to get through this tube very quickly. I have had my eye on the Lanolips banana balm for such a long time, but instead I picked the lemonaid lip aid up on a whim because it was the first time I had seen it in a store. If you can't already tell I'm very glad I picked it up as my lips have never been in such good condition.

I've gone blonder!

At the start of 2014 I decided that I wanted to be blonde and have been slowly been going lighter every couple of months. myself and my hairdresser Lora didn't want to damage my hair because of the length and it's actually in good condition so it's been a slow process becoming this light from black hair. I had dyed my hair black for about 2 years, then was red for two years, then decided to go back black for a further year so I had a lot of colour build up and especially with black hair, it's tough going blonde with all that! There's still a few ginger tones through my hair as there was still some black streaks that wouldn't budge and this time around we covered every single inch of my hair in colour to lift it. I'm very happy with how it's turned out as I was a bit nervous as I have quite dark eyebrows, and of course I have dark brown eyes. I 100% prefer having lighter hair to dark so I can see myself sticking with blonde for a long while!

Birthday Wishlist

So it's my birthday a week today on the 13th may but sadly I have an exam from 9am-5pm in the TV studio so I won't be doing anything fancy this year but I'm finally going to be 20 and no longer a teenager. instead I'm going to be halfway to 40 which is slightly depressing. but exciting. this is a list of products I have been lusting over, maybe some post birthday shopping is in order?

I have wanted a pair of vans for the longest time as my Primark dupes just aren't cutting it anymore, I want to go for the plain all black style as they're simple and go with most outfits I'm not really wild and exciting when it comes to the shoe department they just aren't my thaaaaang. recently my under eyes are really bugging me as they just look really dry and nothing sits well under there so I figured it was time to invest in a good eye cream that'll do a good job at moisturising that area so i'm currently looking to get to Kiehls creamy eye treatment with avocado as I have a similar problem to what Zoella was talking about in one of her latest videos and she said this has worked a treat for her eyes, she was also using the Mac pro longwear concealer which has been on my wish list for the longest time so I figured that they would go well together. I have recently become obsessed with the lanolips lemonaid lip aid which I picked up on a whim from boots, but the product I have been dying to try from lanolips for a long time is the lanolips banana balm and I'm now desperate to try it as I have fallen head over heels in love with the lemonaid lip aid. I have been looking to get a ted baker makeup bag for quite a long time but never bit the bullet and paid the £25 price tag but I have fallen now in love with the gorgeous ted baker large foral printed wash bag  and just want to get my mitts on it. now. finally the last product I have been wanting is another Estée lauder bronze goddess perfume which isn't actually in stock for some reason, I'm currently half way through my current bottle from my birthday last year but I know it isn't going to last until next year so I want to get a replacement soon as it's normally only available between may-june time.