Everyday Make-up

Natural make-up is a style I particularly love to wear. I have recently had a break from contouring and swapped it for a touch of foundation, subtle strobing and lightly bronzing my cheeks. I have stepped away from the heavy eye make-up and lined lips and decided to try a more two tone nude look with much smaller and thinner winged eyeliner and just a lick of mascara rather than lashings of the stuff.

I have toned down my eyebrows by simply brushing and lining them rather than colouring them in and I personally think they look so much better this way.
Don't get me wrong, I still absolutely adore getting all my make-up out and having a good old contour session with false lashes and bright red lippy but I have really started to tone down my everyday make-up look and managed to save myself bags of time in the morning to enjoy an extra 20 minutes in bed with my coffee.

To achieve natural looking make-up I think it's really important to use a foundation that matches your skin colour exactly rather than choosing a shade darker to try and look more tanned which is a mistake I've made in the past and trust me it's not a good look.
Instead of contouring I lightly strobe my face by highlighting the areas of my face that the light naturally hits first, for example my cupids bow, bridge of my nose and lightly under my eyebrows etc, with first of all a very light concealer then with a shimmery highlighting powder. This is to give me a more natural glow rather than leaving my face looking flat with just foundation.

I lightly add a very light bronze to chisel my cheeks and frame my face and add the tiniest amount of matte peachy blush to the apples of my cheeks just to give me a little smidgen of colour.

My eyebrows are just brushed into shape then lined and slightly extended to neaten them up.

I use 2 shades of eye shadow only, a pale ivory for the lid to brighten my eyes up and a light brown shade for my crease to make my eyes look bigger and deeper. Then I add a thin line of my black liquid eyeliner and gently flick the wings before putting on just one coat of clump-free mascara.

Finally I add one coat of a nude or light pinky lipstick to finish of the look and voila my make-up is done! Easy! This takes me no longer than 10 minutes in the morning before I shove my hair up into a messy bun and carry on with my day. It's an effortlessly lovely look that is dead simple to achieve. You don't need any specific items for this look, just use what you have.

What is your everyday make-up? 

Have you tried strobing?

Love Hari Pixie

What I wore on Wednesday

Today I put 0 effort in to my outfit and I received a load of compliments about how nice I looked which was a massive mood boost! Todays outfit was inspired by fellow fashion bloggers Sarah Ashcroft of That Pommie Girl and Lauren Arthurs of Love Lauren. I follow both of these beautiful fashion bloggers on Instagram where they share daily photos of their 'outfits of the day'. A look I adore from both of them is their take on the smart-classy-casual look. I love the combination of smart attire with trainers to create a dressed down, almost effortless look so decided to attempt the recreate this idea and apply it to my own style.

Top: Primark £8 

I brought this top from Primark in the Business wear department for only £8 and it's unreal how many compliments I get when I wear this. I adore striped clothing and I find it uncommon to come across many items with vertical stripes. I think that by wearing vertical stripes it seems to create the illusion of me looking taller and even my hair seems to look longer! The material is lovely and floaty so perfect for the recent sticky, humid weather. The only downside is that the V neck is slightly too low meaning that my cleavage is slightly more on show than I'd like it when the top slips down abit, however I easily fixed this by wearing a bandeau top underneath.
I think this top is perfect for the smart-casual look as it's formal and perfect for business attire however can easily be dressed down.

Jeans: Topshop Leigh Jeans £38

These are my life saving, trustworthy Topshop jeans that I have had for a year. They're still in perfect shape and look fantastic as well as being super soft and comfy material.
These are brilliant for a more smarter looking set of jeans as they're plain denim with no fancy features. I wear mine with the ankles rolled up slightly to make a cuff. They're ideal for a smart-casual look.

Shoes: Nike Blazers £70

It seems to be that the way to change an outfit to be smart-casual is to do it with the shoes. You can be wearing ripped jeans and a oversized tee but pair it with some killer lace up heels and it transforms the outfit into looks fantastically smart-casual. In this case I paired my smart jeans and top with my immaculate pair of Nike Blazers that my amazing fiancé brought for me 2 years ago. As long as trainers are kept in super clean condition then they're an excellent addition to dress down almost any outfit.

Bag: Primark £8

I finished my outfit off by adding my trusty little boy bag (that I like to pretend is Chanel..I wish) to tie the outfit all together. This bag is my favourite buy of the month! It holds everything you need to carry meaning I can no longer cram my handbag full of crap I don't need. It is the perfect combination of smart and casual with minimal detail.

I teamed this look with simple winged eyeliner, soft strobing, a light pinky lipstick and a messy high pony tail.

Freedom MakeUp London: Pro Bare Collection

I have been absolutely blown away by new makeup brand, Freedom Makeup London, that launched in June this year. The quality of their makeup is utterly amazing and the price is even more outstanding (I mean £1 per lipstick..?!)

I started following Freedom Makeup London on Instagram a little while ago when they were first trying to get noticed before launching and I was so excited to try them out! As many of you may know I adore finding beauty bargain that are really worth buying.

I am a little bit of a nutter when it comes to nude based lipsticks and I'm not as brave as I should be with bold colours so when I was browsing around on their website and stumbled across the Pro Bare 5 Lipstick collection for £4 you can imagine how excited I was. I purchased these lipsticks around about 2/3 weeks ago and I have honestly used one of them every single day since they arrived. 

An overall review of the quality of the actual lipstick product is all round fantastic. They apply beautifully and evenly, however I apply at least two layers of lipstick to ensure I get the best of the colour. I find the bars very moisturising which is spot on for keeping summery lips from drying out and winter lips from chapping. They have their own unique finish to them which is neither matte nor glossy but more velvety which is perfect for every day wear and can be glammed up by adding a clear gloss over the top is a more formal look if desired. I do however find myself reapplying the lipstick a few times over the course of a day, meaning I'm using alot more of the lipsticks than I do with many of my other lipsticks, however you can't really complain for less that £1 per lipstick! They're still gorgeous. 

Sooner or Later 

Sooner or Later is the palest colour in the Pro Bare collection. Its a a very light natural pink shade that adds just a touch of pink over your natural lip colour. Its' subtle pinky tone collaborates perfectly with Makeup Revolution's Iconic 3 Palette. This is my favourite pink shade at the moment as its a dead easy natural colour to wear for summer.

Untouched

 Untouched by name, untouched by nature. The name says it all really, this lipstick is the most natural shade in the collection because it literally looks like my lips have no colour on, however have a flawlessly even tone and velvety appearance for the ultimate natural makeup look.
I use this look when I'm trying to get away with looking as natural as possible with minimal make-up.

Naked Beauty

I would say Naked Beauty is one of my favourite nudes in this collection as it is a fantastic subtle taupe colour that seems to just go beautifully with any makeup look whether is big and bold or sweet and subtle. I wear this as my every day lipstick for work as it is the perfect everyday lipstick.

Mannequin

It's a terrible shame that I couldn't quite get the camera on my iPhone to pick up how much darker this shade is to Naked Beauty. In person this shade is quite noticeably darker meaning it needs quite tame eye make-up to match. I use this shade when I have bronzed and tanned my skin. I like to use a dark nude lipliner when using this particular shade as it is quite a statement nude.

Whispers

Whispers is the brightest shade in the Pro Bare collection. I would describe this as a bright rose pink, still maintaining it natural shade however bright enough to make a subtle statement. It collaborates perfectly with my Makeup Revolution Iconic 3 palette and looks stunning against my natural pale skin, however I wouldn't personally wear this when I've been tanning or bronzing.

I have already spent another £25 on their website and taken advantage of their many many special offers! I can't wait for my next delivery to arrive this week.

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Epoch Mud Mask Review

On one of my previous blog posts reviewing the Nu Skin foundation I mentioned how my friend, Chloe, gave me a free sample pot of the natural mud mask that she sells. I have to say that this is by far my favourite face mask I have ever tried!

It has a clay like texture that applies very smoothly and evenly across the skin and I was also really impressed with how little of the product  I needed to use to spread all over my face. Chloe only gave me a small sample but I have managed to get 2 whole masks out of it so I can't even imagine how long a proper tub would last! Fantastic value for money.

It dried very quickly on my face and made the skin feel very tight which was really refreshing. It was amazing at how I could actually see tiny oily dots bursting through the dried mud mask showing me how the mask is actually drawing out all the dirt from my skin!

It really showed me the areas of my face that get clogged up and dirty easily meaning I'm focusing more of deep cleaning those areas with exfoliators.

I kept my mud mask on for about 10-15 minutes to make sure my skin had enough time to draw out all the dirt and muck from out of my pours.

You can see quite clearly along my nose, t-zone and a couple of spots around my mouth dots of oil where the mud mask has drawn impurities out of my skin

After washing off the mud mask with a flannel and hot water I could instantly feel a huge difference. My skin felt so silky and much smoother than it has before. It almost felt as though a a new layer of soft skin had been uncovered. My pours were visibly more unclogged and began tightening up again.

Epoch Mud Mask- £26

Knowing that the Epoch mud mask only uses natural ingredients means I can trust this product to be used on my skin over and over without worrying about any chemical damage. It's so good using natural ingredients to feed your skin with nutrients and vitamins!

Once a week to anybody! It is without a doubt one of the best products I have used to buff up my skin, especially with these hot summer days!

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Nu Skin Moisture Shade Liquid Finish Foundation

I struggle massively with finding a foundation that suits my skin and end up spending lots of money each month trying and testing different foundations until I come across 'the one'!  Well, I think I've found my prefect foundation!

A friend of mine, Chloe O'Connor, sells Nu Skin products which use natural ingredients ranging from whitening toothpaste to mud masks. I saw she'd advertised a liquid foundation on her Facebook page a little while back and figured I'd give it a go!

It costs £22 for a 30ml bottle which is slightly more expensive than my normal foundation but completely worth it! Chloe sent me a colour chart over so I could pick my shade and I ended up going for one of the lightest shades called Honey Beige.

I only needed to use two small pumps worth of the foundation
for it to cover my entire face. The foundation is a runny liquid in texture which is something I'm not used to, however sits on the face beautifully and because of the runny texture it means it's dead easy to apply and doesn't look caked.
I applied my foundation with a flat foundation brush then buffered it with a stippling brush like I normally would do, however Chloe kindly put in a little leaflet with some information about the foundation and how to apply it which I though was a really sweet and personal touch! Plus the décor of the leaflet is gorgeous so I may even need to steal this idea for my wedding invites ;)

As soon as I applied the foundation I could instantly see a huge difference. My skin looked even and all my blotches had gone leaving me with flawless skin, however I really liked the fact that I could still see my freckles along my nose. My skin seemed to just glow but looked totally natural! As if I had no foundation on at all, just naturally flawless skin.

I have been wearing my foundation all day and it feels as though I have nothing on my face at all. The foundation is so light on my skin, it feels as though it's able to breath.

 This photo shows me wearing the Nu Skin foundation and it's safe to say that no filter was needed! I feel as though I'm walking around airbrushed and it's so good to know that it uses natural ingredients meaning my skin loves it too.

Thank you again Chloe for introducing me to Nu Skin products! She also kindly gave me a sample pot of the Nu Skin Mud Mask, can't wait to try it.. look out for the blog post!
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Hair Care Routine

With long luscious locks being the latest trend it's very important to look after them and keep them looking and feeling healthy.

I have alot of very long, brown hair that is naturally straight and flat with minimal volume or bounce; so I like to use products that help to keep my hair looking shiny and bouncy!

I personally don't wash my hair every day but instead every other day. This is so I don't strip my hair and scalp of their natural oils which can dry your hair out. When I do wash my hair I like to use my Faith in Nature Tea Tree shampoo and conditioner as they use only natural ingredients and leave hair feeling and smelling amazing! The tea tree also helps to repel insects and lice which is a good preventative measure.

Straight after washing my hair I lather in my Neal & Wolf Elevate Volumising Lotion into my towel dried hair. I received this in my goody bag from the Shropshire Blogger Meet and has now become a part of my daily routine! This products helps to give my hair bounce and body, reviving it from its naturally flat state.

Before blow drying my hair I use my Avon Advanced Techniques Instant Repair 7 spray to protect my hair against heat damage. It smells absolutely amazing and leaves my hair feeling strong. I also use this product before straightening my hair to add extra heat defence.

Because I don't wash my hair everyday I like to use a serum to add abit of extra shine on days I don't wash it. For this I use Tesco's own hair serum which is only £1! I add a little squirt onto my palm and rub my hands together before applying it all through my hair. This just adds gloss and shine to my hair as well as smelling amazing.

If I really want to add some volume to my roots and have big hair for a day I add a sprinkle of my Schwarzkopf Got 2 B Powder'ful volumizing powder to the roots of my hair and srunch it with my fingers into the style I want. I was sceptical of this product at first until my hairdresser used some on me once and I actually saw it really does work! I think this is personally better than using hairspray to volumise roots and the product only need to be re-scrunched for it to start working again meaning no top up.

To keep my hair tangle-free I used the Tangle Angle brush that I received at the Shropshire Blogger Meet back in May and use it daily to de-tangle my knotty hair, I find this brush especially useful for when I've had my hair in a messy bun all day and want it to return back to normal,or after I've had a shower. I love the fact that this detangling brush has got a handle as my previous Tangle Teaser brush had no handle as it was forever flying out of my hand and ending up halfway across the room.

 So here is how I keep my hair feeling healthy and looking fab!
Hope you all enjoyed reading

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Why Do I Wear Make-up?

I get this question alot, which to me is very surprising considering how popular make-up is.

I was inspired to write this post after watching a video that popped up on my Facebook page by Nikkie Tutorials, a make-up and beauty YouTuber and you can watch that video here

So why do I wear make-up..?

The fact that I can control exactly how I look gives me a huge sense of power. I can be totally glam with golden eyelids and big red lips one day to suddenly be nature girl with freckles and barely there make-up the next. I can become whatever I want to be with just a stroke of a brush and that's amazing. My image is one of the few things in my life that I have full control over so I'm not going to feel bad for how much I cake on. Make-up is a fantastic creation and has helped me gain the confidence I need to be able to look in the mirror and like what I see. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy for people to see me fresh faced with nothing but my moisturiser on but I feel at my best with a lick of mascara on and my spots covered over. 
I do not wear make-up to impress anybody other than myself; if I want to make my nose look smaller today then it's for me. If I think I look beautiful then I will feel beautiful for the rest of the day which means that it's going to be a good day. I feel empowered when I feel beautiful so if I need a little concealer or a bright red lippy to feel beautiful then hell I'm going to wear it!

However shaming women for wearing a lot of make-up is becoming increasingly popular in society and this needs to stop. If make-up can give somebody the confidence they need to walk out the door with there head held high and feel a million dollars then why make them feel bad for doing so? 

This photo shows just how powerful make-up can be. Half of her face is completely naked showing her glorious freckles and the other half has been painted beautifully. Although I may think she looks naturally beautiful with no real 'need' to wear make-up to improve her appearance she may not think the same. I still think she looks stunning with it on so why not!? Make-up is fun!! Both sides are beautiful, but because one is considered 'fake' many people don't class this as real beauty.
So many people focus on the fact that the beauty on the left side has been created and is not natural, therefore not real beauty. People are so wrapped up in what's 'real' that they forget how beautiful a creation can be.





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High End Beauty Wish List

I have never had the funds to indulge in expensive make-up and beauty products I get super excited when I occasionally treat myself to an item off my wish list! Here is my most recent wishlist <3

Real Techniques Bold Metal Collection

I have seriously lusted over these ever since they came out, they're incredible! I hear nothing but positive reviews regarding Real Technique brushes however have sadly never had the chance to use any.

Smashbox Contour Trio Sticks

I fell in love with these when we had a talk from a Smashbox Rep at the Shropshire Blogger Meet. I am obsessed with difference techniques of contouring, especially easy contouring and these are perfect. 

Mac Studio Fix Fluid

Everybody raves about Mac foundation and have always wanted to try it! Would love to see how this sits on my skin as I struggle to find decent foundations.

Mac Lipstick Velvet Teddy

I adore nude toned lipsticks and this is a perfect everyday colour. Especially as it's known to be one of Kylie Jenners favourite lipsticks!

Dior Addict IT Liquid Eyeliner in Black 

I use the Dior Addict IT mascara and it's absolutely fantastic. I have been dying to try a higher end liquid eyeliner as winged eyeliner is my go-to everyday look and recently my drug store eyeliners are just not cutting it

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Simple Contouring

Although I'm not exactly a pro at it, I love contouring! I call this simple because it literally takes me about 5 minutes to do this. I love having control of my face and deciding whether today I will have a smaller nose or maybe tomorrow I will define my cheek bones more. There is no correct way to contour, it all depends of what you want your face to look like. I have watched endless tutorials and studied many many guides on how to contour and after alot of experimenting I have finally found a perfect go-to contouring routine for me.

It is very important to prime your face before contouring as it involves the use of alot of make-up product. I use my Smash Box Photo finish primer which is absolutely fantastic and leaves my contour looking perfect all day. 

For the contour itself I use Make-Up Revolution Cover and Conceal palettes in the colour Light and Medium-Dark. For the highlight I use the lightest shade in the light palette and for the bronze and contour I use the shade next to the darkest brown. These are creams which I find alot easier to apply and blend rather than the more commonly used powders. 

To apply the creams I used 2 flat concealer brushes, one for the highlight and one for the contour/bronze and finally my Nanshy 4 in 1 blending sponge to blend the creams. 

I got my Nanshy blending sponge in my goody bag from the Shropshire Blogger Meet I attended last month and it is absolutely fantastic! It has different shaped sides to help you with sculpting and blending the products in any way you want and it doesn't absorb much product which means hardly any is wasted. My previous beauty blender sponge would end up with more product on it than there was on my face so I'm mega impressed with this one! 

So here I am barefaced, fresh as a daisy, absolutely 0 make-up. I naturally have fuller cheeks and a large nose so I like to use contouring to try and define my cheek bones and make my nose appear smaller in particular as well as defining my personal favouring feature.. my eyebrows!
 (Anybody who knows me knows that I adore doing my eyebrows and am extremely proud of the fact I have naturally thick and dark brows)

So it's time to begin. I found a guide on the internet which I used to inspire this type of contouring for me and helped me with where to highlight and contour. 

I always start by applying my highlighter with a flat concealer brush by using the lightest shade of my Make-Up Revolution creams. I apply this to my cupids bow, on my forehead, above my cheek bones/under my eye's and down the centre of my nose, as you can see in the photo. Then, using my slightly damp Nanshy blending sponge, blend my highlighter until it looks smooth and flawless. 



Although most tutorials I've watched shows the mua applying all of the contour, highlighter and bronze then blending it all together in one I find that by doing it all separately and in stages you have more control over it and it's alot easier and less messy. 


With a different flat concealer brush I apply the darker shade cream along the edge of my forehead, below my cheek bones, down the side of my nose and also across my chin. Be careful not to apply a shade too dark or apply too much product as you could end up looking as if you have mud strokes across your face which is never a fab look.  The key with blending the darker shade is to ensure you blend it fully into your hair line otherwise you could end up with very obvious make-up lines which is a big no-no. 

So here is my finished blended contour! Easy! Two creams, two brushes and 1 blending sponge is all you need. 

After blending

Complete make-up look

                     
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Silky smooth summer legs!

It's coming up to the summer season where it's all about skirts, shorts, dresses and cute playsuits so it's super important to get those legs silky smooth and summer ready.

It's dead easy to achieve beautifully smooth legs. It's best to shave your legs when you're in a warm shower or bath to soften the skin, First it's all about exfoliating. I use Lush Ocean Salt face and body scrub on my wet legs with exfoliating gloves to remove as much dead and dry skin as I can before shaving and wash off the scrub with warm water.
It's then time to prep your skin for shaving by using either a shaving foam or a personal favourite of mine is to use a hair conditioner! Now it's time to start shaving. It's best to use a really good quality razor, not a disposable one as they're less damaging to the skin and provide a better, closer shave. I use Venus razors with Olay Moisture Bar heads as these leave my skin irresistibly smooth and cut the hairs very close.
Start shaving from the bottom of you ankle gliding the razor all the way to the top of you knee and continue all the way around until you calf and shin is complete, then repeat for the thighs ensureing you don't miss any hairs. Remember to rinse the shaver head every stroke or two to try and avoid the razor head getting clogged up and ensure a closer shave. 

Once you've shaved your legs and are happy with the result its very important to moisturise afterwards to hydrate the skin and repair and damage to the skin. I prefer to use a thick body butter for this as I feel it really feeds the skin. This will also help reduce shaving rash!

So there we go ladies, the perfect guide to perfect summer legs!

No 7 Colour Match Experience!

So I have been through A-L-O-T of foundations to try and find the perfect one for me. I'm naturally very pale skinned however have found that most brands palest foundations are still too orangy for my skin tone! So I decided to get colour-matched!

It was so easy, I have no idea why I've never thought about doing it before! I went up to my local Boots with a bare, make-up free face and sat straight down in the No 7 counter to be matched. The lady, who I regret not catching her name as I would definitely recommend her, whipped out a little device that she scanned over my face and within seconds had detected my skin colour; Calico! This happens to be their lightest shade of foundation. I was then asked what type of foundation I would like as No 7 do a range of different types of foundation, I explained to the lady that I was after a liquid, medium coverage foundation that didn't completely cover my summer freckles but that did cover my blemished and uneven skin tone. I was recommended either the Beautifully Matte or the Stay Perfect foundation so I asked to try both.

 Photo Credit :
Boots Website

The lady then applied both foundations to my cheeks (one on each) but didn't tell me which was which; she then asked me to look in the mirror and decide which I liked better. I was really impressed with this technique as it's a very honest way of selling somebody a foundation that they genuinely want to buy! Because I didn't know which was which i could make a decision based solely on what the foundation looked like on my skin without being influenced by the packaging, price or name. I so happened to pick the side that had Beautifully Matte which was surprising for me as I don't normally like matte foundations as they normally make my skin look flat and lifeless, however the No 7 Beautifully matte makes the skin look healthy and flawless without looking too dull or too shiny.

I was then given a little card with my colour match name and  little chart with the lipstick shades that No 7 sell that are matched to Calico which is awesome! I struggle with lipstick colours as I never ever know what colours suit me besides the neutral nudes so this was a real confidence boost for me to actually pick a new lippy colour to wear.

I couldn't resist but to buy a new lippy to wear with my new foundation so after alot of swatching I finally settled on the colour 'Deep Rust' from the Moisture Drench range and I love it! It's my new go-to lippy as the colour flawlessly matches my skin tone. I was very surprised that it actually suited me as normally orangy lipsticks don't tend to suit me, however this is more of a blood-orange rather than the coral shades I had been attempting to wear so this was way more suited for my pale complexion.

If you're unsure of what lipstick shade to get (as there is a huge choice) Boots have created an online colour matcher that breaks down the decision into easy steps to help you find your perfect shade you're looking for! Visit http://www.boots.com/en/No7-Match-Made-lipstick-tool_1534715/ !

Boots Online Lipstick Colour Match!!

The foundation itself is fantastic and is so easy to apply! I only have to use two small pumps worth which amount to the side of a large pea to cover the whole of my face and I apply this using a flat foundation brush. 

Amount needed to cover full face

My No 7 foundation

I highly recommend getting matched by No 7 and purchasing one of their foundations, I honestly don't think I would ever go back to any of my previous foundations and it's very reasonably priced. The Beautifully Matte cost me only £13.50 and with only having to use a pea sized amount every day, it will last for ages. The lippy was £9.95, slightly expensive for a lipstick in my opinion but totally worth it for the fantastic colour and the fact that it stays put for hours with absolute minimal wearing!

Hope this helps anybody who was wondering what this colour match business was about, I can't recommend this service enough. Big thank you to Boots No 7!