House Of Fraser | Beauty Confidential

The amazing Mikee Becman from Laura Mercier working his magic
on Gemma by giving her Kylie Jenner lips.

Laura Mercier Bath

House of Fraser Beauty

Dior Stand

Giorgio Armani

Tom Ford

Laura Mercier

Chanel

Tennents Training Academy

House of Fraser Gifts

On my way to the event. Wearing an M&S Top and New Look Necklace.

Hello guys,

I`ve had quite an easy week as college is finished for a few weeks due to the Easter holidays so I have caught up with my blogging to do list and I’ve also attended my first ever blogger event! I was lucky enough to receive an invite from the lovely Paul over at House of Fraser to attend the Beauty Confidential event on Wednesday night. This was a showcase of all of the amazing brands within HOF including Laura Mercier, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Tom Ford, Nars, Bobbi Brown and Urban Decay to name a few where we got to check out the SS15 collections.

I love the Glasgow HoF store, the decor is so decadent and extravagant especially with the grand staircases. I used to work in HoF before I met Liam and I always lusted over the beauty counters and enjoyed the many events they held for top celebrities but I adored the makeup counters the most, most of the girls were lovely but there were a few who I would never speak to as they were too up their own arse if you know what I mean.

I was a little nervous about attending as I haven’t met any other bloggers nor have I been to an event before, but I felt right at home by the girls and also the amazing staff at House of Frasers. Meeting fellow Scottish bloggers such as Gemma Agnes, Folklorique, Dusty Pearle, A Life With Frills, The Brantastic Life, Secret Little Stars and Glasgow Beauty Blogger was such a great experience as it was so good talking to girls with the same interests and who also blog about beauty, fashion and lifestyle too. After meeting the girls and having a cheeky glass of champagne in Hugh`s Champagne Bar we then moved on to a chat with Mikee Becman who is a makeup artist with Laura Mercier, this was the highlight of my night as he gave us some great tips and tricks.

As well as filling our champagne glasses and feeding us too many chocolates, Mikee showed us how to achieve the "Kylie Jenner Lip" using the Laura Mercier Anti-Feathering Lip Pencil in Natural Lip (£18.50) and their Laura Mercier Crème Smooth Biscotti Lip Colour (£21). As this is a hot topic at the moment, it was quite good as it really helped me understand how to define my lips without overdrawing them. He then showed us how to achieve a finished eye look by using the Laura Mercier Brow Pencil (£17.50) to create a fuller looking brow without making it too dark and heavy. He also created fuller looking lashes by applying product to the upper lash line and a small coating of mascara. His final look of the night was a bright red lip using Laura Mercier Paint Wash Liquid Lip Colour in Red Brick (£22) which has a demi matte finish and also a little contour action which left Folklorique looking even more stunning.

Once we were finished, we headed down to the amazing Beauty Hall within HOF and it was wild! It was so busy. There were so many great things to look out for such as more champagne (I refrained) cocktails by the Tennents Training Academy (I only had one), kale shots with Nails Inc., cupcakes, demonstrations with Jamie Coombes who is an amazing makeup artist with Dior and a lot more. To say this was a major success is putting it lightly. Not only did we have a great time but everyone was given an amazing goodie bag with a lot of gorgeous products including a full sized Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream (from £39) and a Just Cavelli bag.

HoF are offering £10 off of their favourites buys with any other purchase and if you have a Beauty Recognition card, its double points! I remember all my customers going crazy when they knew it was double points so try and pick up one if you can as it helps towards pricier products.

There are many great products including the Urban Decay Naked Palettes (£37), Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks (£34), Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation (£34) and a whole lot more. I ended up buying the Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Concealer (£17.50) which is by far the best concealer I have tried in a loooong time! The Beauty Confidential event is running from now until Sunday 19th April so grab a friend, lover, mother, sister, anyone to go along and check out some of the best brands out there which are all situated under one roof. Also, check out the champagne bar on the 1st floor, it’s gorgeous!

Have you checked out my latest post featuring A DIY Sugar Scrub?  I can also be found on Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram |   

DIY Beauty | Green Tea Sugar Scrub

Hi guys,

I have seen a lot of blog posts and Instagram posts about coffee and tea based scrubs recently and decided to put together a post with my favourite tea scrub of all time, my own! I have used this scrub numerous times over the years and love how it makes my face, lips and body look and feel. Tea scrubs can be amazing for the skin, especially green tea as it has all kinds of health benefits such as fighting inflammation, reducing stress, protecting the skin and best of all preventing wrinkles. Most supermarkets stock these teabags but they offer different variations, please stick to pure green tea though as they aren’t blended with anything else.

As well as green tea I used *Viridian Nutrition`s 100% Organic Ultimate Beauty Oil (from £9.85 for 200ml) which contains a broad range of potent antioxidants including Vitamin E, Alpha-Carotene and Beta Carotene. This oil is vegan, kosher and organic and supposed to be used in salad dressings and smoothies but I honestly can`t stand the taste of it so I put it to better use and added it to my facemasks and sugar scrubs.

Onto the ingredients now, but first...Always do a patch test 24 hours before use, to make sure you are not allergic to any of the ingredients. I normally do this on my inner forearm as its most like the skin on your face. *If you are pregnant or breastfeeding please ask your doctor for advice before using any oils as they may not be suitable for you.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Sugar (add more or less depending on preference)

1 Tbsp. of Viridian Nutrition 100% Organic Ultimate Beauty Oil (substitute for Light Olive Oil)

1 Tbsp. of honey such as Manuka or Lavender. If you can’t get one of these then normal runny honey is fine.

1 x Mint Tea bag

2 x Green Tea bag

2 x drops Vitamin E Oil (£1.59) (Skip this step if you are using beauty oil which contains Vitamin E)

3 x drops of any of the following oils to help with particular skin concern

Lavender Oil (from £5.19)

Great for all skin types and smells amazing! This is great for mature skin and minimising scars.

Lemon Oil (from £2.49)

An anti-bacterial oil which is great at reducing pores and will help with acne prone skin.

Myrrh Oil (from £4.95)

Will help to improve skin tone, firmness, and skin elasticity. Can also help sun damaged skin.

Neroli Oil (from £7.49)

Great for sensitive and mature skin.

Tea Tree Oil (from £4.49)

Great for acne prone and oily skin.

Method

Get a small clean container and add the contents from the tea bags and the sugar, give it a good mix to make sure it’s combined. Add the beauty oil, honey and all essential oils and mix thoroughly until it’s a scrub like texture. If you require the scrub to be coarser, don't add as much oil. Equally if you like it a little more loose then add in some more oil until you have the desired consistency.

Use

Double cleanse your face if you are using it this to treat your face, this will ensure it is clean enough before layering a generous amount of the scrub (it may fall off but just keep adding it until it sticks). I normally leave on my skin for about five minutes to infuse it with goodness from the oil and tea. If you are treating your body with this scrub then grab a nice hot shower and work over the desired areas before removing. It may leave your skin a little slippery so wash your skin again with your favourite shower gel.

Creepy Face!

Have a go; let me know what you think. If you really want to go all out and give your skin a good old clear out, I would suggest a green tea steam before the exfoliation step. All you need is a bowl of hot water with 2 x green teabags (leave to stew for about five minutes) and a towel to cover your head whilst you relax. This will help to open up the pores and infuse your skin with so much love and attention that you will be reaching to do it every week (or maybe more). As this is made with all organic and natural ingredients, you can be sure that your skin and conscience will thank you!

Have you checked out my latest post featuring The Stigma's Of Hair Colour?  I can also be found on Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram |   

What Does Your Hair Colour Say About You?

Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Lindsay Lohan and Dita Von Teese.

Hi guys,

I was thinking about hair colours recently and the typical statements that spring to mind when we see people with certain colours such as "Blondes have more fun" "Blondes are dumb" "Brunettes are smarter" "Brunettes are classy" "Raven heads are vixens" "Raven heads are strong" "Redheads have tempers" "Redheads are great in bed". Oi! oi! A little cheeky one at the end there I know, but it’s true, these are the first things that pop into people’s heads when they see hair colours. This isn't me just rambling, this is a proven scientific fact that people judge a person based on hair colours and these are the most common preconceptions.

I don't think blonde haired folk warrant the idea that they are all dumb or stupid, blondes are actually unique creatures of the world as there is only 10% of them out with naturally blonde hair so why not have an expression such as "Blondes are unique" rather than conform to the idea that all blondes are dumb. Even though Marilyn Monroe may be the most famous blonde to ever live, she wasn't a natural blonde, she simply dyed her hair to look a certain way and to give off a certain personality which to be fair, worked in her favour as she landed the roles she wanted and became the most famous ditzy blonde ever known. All at a cost though eh? Although brunettes are supposed to have the thickest hair of all the hair colours, blondes are supposed to have the most hair on their heads.

Brunettes are the most common haired folk out there with the most coarse and thickest of the bunch. They have been studied and the consensus is they are level headed and great judges of character which I totally agree with, my judgement of a person or situation has never let me down in the past! Look at Audrey Hepburn for example, she is the most famous brunette, in my books anyway, she just oozes class and intelligence but that doesn't mean all brunettes are the same.

The raven haired girls like Dita Von Teese, to me look so mysterious and ooze sex appeal, they look as though they could take on the world without batting an eyelid, which is something I admire. Dita again, isn't a natural black haired girl, she is naturally a blonde but we wouldn't say she was dumb would we?

Like the natural blondes out there, red heads are also a very rare breed with something like 2% of the world having natural red hair (according to the BBC). Lindsay Lohan may be the most famous of the red heads at the moment due to her constantly being in the press. She is a natural red head and has had her fair share of column inches whether it be good or bad. She does strike me as the "typical" red head in the sense that she seems fiery, bad tempered and good in bed (if we are to believe all of those rumours) but it would be wrong of me to judge all red heads on this assumption.

As you all know I am a brunette and I certainly don’t conform to the typical ideas of a brunette as I am not that classy nor am I the smartest in the bunch. Sometimes I have those typical blonde moments we discussed earlier, Liam would probably say more often than not ha-ha! If my hair was to say anything about my personality it would probably be along the lines of “Fiery” “Speaks My Mind” “Funny” “Ditzy” and “Kind”. After speaking with my friends and family they confirmed these. My very good friend, Ross, said I was an open book, meaning what you see is what you get where as my friend Pauline said I had a kind and nurturing personality but most of who I asked said I was gobby, fiery and funny ha-ha! Charming!

Obviously there are other colours and designs out there now as people aren’t afraid to experiment with their looks and even use it as a fashion statement or for a particular way they are feeling. We are lucky to have so many options now rather than the 4 main colours such as gorgeous pastel shades, multi coloured, leopard print, tiger print, and grey. I say, do what you want with your hair, be any colour you want and if you aren’t happy with the colour you are just now, change it!

If you do want a change you should check out a great hair dye company I recently discovered, Madison Reed. They have a color advisor on their site which helps you out if you want to change your look, it also helps to find the perfect shade for you based on complexion and hair type. Madison Reed offer a healthier approach to colouring your hair as all dyes are PPD, sulphate, gluten and ammonia free. Who really has the £s to spend in a salon every time you need your hair coloured? 

If you could change your hair colour, what colour would you choose?

What does your hair colour say about you?

Have you checked out my latest post featuring A Lush Facemask?  I can also be found on Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram |   

Lush Cosmetics | Mask of Magnaminty

Hi my loves, 

As you know, I love me some face masks so it was inevitable that I would venture my way into Lush territory to try out what masks they had to offer. Between browsing their website and reviews online I decided on the Mask of Magnaminty (from £5.50) as my first choice. So after finishing my tub I decided to write a review and let you all know what I thought of it.

The mask itself boasts that it can clean, calm and clear the skin along with stimulating, exfoliating and treating the skin. It has 14 ingredients in total including peppermint oil, marigold oil, honey, aduki beans and evening primrose seeds, so full of promise and goodness. On first inspection, the mask is a vibrant green colour and smells so fresh and minty that it almost doesn’t feel like it’s a mask. It smells like it should be eaten as it has a certain sweetness to it, but steady on ladies, just stick to applying this to your face and body please! I don’t want any casualties from reading this blog post.

The mask is quite thick and layers on the face perfectly. From the instant it touches the skin it instantly soothes and leaves your face smelling like a minty heaven. I do love the exfoliation aspect of this mask too which comes in the form of the aduki beans and evening primrose seeds which are quite coarse but it doesn’t upset the skin in any way.

I love this mask, it is truly great and I can safely say I didn’t have a huge issue with breakouts throughout the time I was using it which was an added bonus. Even if this mask didn’t do anything for my skin, I think I would buy it just for the smell to be honest, it is that good! If I was to complain about anything it would the fact that I found it quite tough to remove after leaving it on for a couple of minutes as it dried quite hard on my skin. The first time I used it, I was there for ages trying to remove every last inch but as it had exfoliation seeds throughout it, I didn’t want to scrub my face too hard with a face cloth so I just persisted until it was all removed. That’s the only downfall of it, every other aspect of this face mask is absolute heaven.

What other face masks would you recommend?

Have you checked out my latest post featuring A Miley Cyrus Lipstick?  I can also be found on Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram |