How I Do- The 'Overdrawn' Nude Lip

Hey lovelies! 

                    Starting a new series today all about how I do all my favourite make-up looks! I'm starting with possibly the biggest trend of right now, the nude lip. The nude lip is something that has obviously been around forever but thanks to Kylie Jenner and those larger than life lips she's sporting, it's now everywhere! I love it and I'm all about the big lips. 
BUT I've seen SO many people get it wrong, it's actually painful. The key to a slightly overdrawn nude lip is for it to not actually look like you've drawn your lips on. Seems obvious right? You'd think so but a couple of scrolls on Instagram would suggest not everyones got it. 
Here's how I do it: 

Start with a dark lip liner to create the shadows, focus on the inner corners of the lips and underneath the bottom lip, where the natural shadow would lie. None of this has to be neat as everything gets blended at the end. 

MAC 'Chestnut' lip pencil 

Then go in with a nude pencil, slightly darker thank your own lip colour. Here's the important part - NEVER overdraw the corners of the mouth, this is what will give you away. Start from the inner corner following the natural line and slightly go above your natural lip line. Don't emphasise the cupids bow, go straight across (*obviously* don't draw a line across your mouth). 

MAC Pro Longwear 'Nice n Spicy' 

Now this is what will make or break the lip, (woah tense) you have to use a matte lip colour as anything with a shine will draw attention to the lip liner. My favourites are MAC 'Yash' and Illamasqua 'Bare' but you can just use whatever you have that works for you. 

MAC Lipstick in 'Yash' 

Then if you want to add a dab of concealer in the centre of the lip and blend out, as well as highlighting above the cupids bow. Get a lip brush blend up any lines so everything looks one gradual colour. Don't add gloss. If you feel you need it, add a clear or a lighter gloss in the centre. 

It's easy really. It's my go to lip at the moment and I love it, anything that makes you poutier can't be a bad thing, right? Let your inner Kylie Jenner soar my children. 

What's your favourite nude lipstick? I'm always on the hunt for more!

X

She's A Liverpool Girl, She Loves A Dance...

 I love Liverpool. I love the people, the shopping, the architecture but most of all I love the nightlife and I reckon I'm dead lucky to live somewhere that definitely has some of the best bars around complete with tidy bartenders and even better bevys. I'm not arsed if you're a student or you're "only going for a quiet one" (when does that happen really?) you should always make an effort. Now I don't mean you have to have a spray tan/Illamasqua makeover and full professional curly blow every weekend cos let's be honest I get payed monthly and I'm normally skint a week after pay day but that doesn't mean you let your prin standards drop. If anything you should go out more in order to get better at the pre night out prep so you don't look shit when it actually matters. 

The basics are obviously tan, hair and make-up and what you're wearing but if you've got the first three sorted you can almost get away with your outfit being a bit more chill. 

Tan prep should start AT LEAST a full 24 hours before so you have appropriate time to exfoliate, shave and  moisturise before you even think about picking up that St Moriz. Please don't be one of those crazies who live on the edge and think doing their tan last minute is fine and end up being left with odd arms and a streaky back. None of that tar. 

Tan done, I normally do my hair before my makeup simply because I have more makeup than I care to admit and can spend about 2 hours arsing round when it comes to my eyeliner and fake cheek bones. It's up to you what you do with your hair but please do something, if you're really shit/have no time, scrape it back, keep it high and pretend you've intentionally gone for a catwalk style slicked back pony. Thankfully the hair Gods were looking down on me when I was born and blessed me with my own personal curly blower (my mums a hairdresser), but if this isn't the case for you, then heated rollers will be and should be your best mate. Lash them in before you start your make-up then all's youve really got to do is a bit of back-combing before you leave the house and you're pretty much sorted. 

I pretty much ALWAYS have my hair blown and curled, it's the easiest thing ever!

Contour game so strong

Now when it comes to make-up, there's no time for messing round cos this is where it becomes obvious who means business and who needs to be sent back across the Mersey from whence they came. If you're not on the contouring/highlighting bandwagon then get on it now. It will change your life (and your face). The scarier and linier you look the better, just for the love of God make sure you remember to blend it properly! It should be flawless, no big lines or white stripes across your face please ladies. When it comes to eyes, there always has to be something there. I don't care if you're 'doing a statement lip' or if you can't do a smokey eye for shit. Buy a Naked palette, a 217 brush and teach yourself how to blend. Don't throw yourself in the deep end with black though, leave that to the professionals or there's a 99% chance you will end up with a striking resemblance to a panda. Also I find it WELL better to do my eyes before my foundation etc, just in case I have one of those days when you get leaky eye syndrome and half your eyeshadows down your face because you blinked too fast. Do it first then you're free to wipe away any mishaps. Eyelashes should be your mate, don't be scared of them cos I really do think they can sense fear. Trim them, put your glue on, pull yourself together and just pray you don't end up looking like you've got one eye looking at you and one looking for you. I assure you that there's nothing that awakens my wooldar more than a bare eyelid complete with an untrimmed spider lash, THIS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL. If this is you, now you know the error of your ways please correct it IMMEDIATELY or I will not be held accountable for my actions the next time this holy show presents itself to me. Soz rant over, please don't do it though, k? Boss. Lipstick should also be your mate. Whoever said you can't do lips and eyes is probably the same person who said you cant get your boobs and your legs out at the same time, clearly a boring bitch. I reckon a smokey eye and a red lip look fab and I wouldn't be seen dead without my lippy on a Saturday night. 

Once all this fun stuff is sorted you're now free to sort through those 25 outfits you and your mates have deemed acceptable, find something fabulous and then make sure it's slut-drop proof whilst listening to Beyoncé, with a bevy in hand whilst waiting for your Delta (get the iPhone app, it's well quicker). 

Town is BOSS, therefore you should look boss cos you always have a better night when you know you're looking fab!

Don't forget though, you've made all this effort so YOU have an amazing night so  please don't be the girl who stands at the bar pouting all night, eyeing up every fella who walks past and just waiting for someone to buy them a drink.  Swerve that. Be fab cos you want to be and not cos you're looking for a fella and you're determined not to pay for any of your own bevys. Get your birds, get your bevys and then find a big enough dance space to do the full Single Ladies routine and then slut drop for the rest of the night. 

XXX

Fake It Til You Make It - The Kylie Jenner Effect

Hey hey hey, 

So unless you've been living under a rock of late, I'm sure you've all been privy to the worldwide phenomenon that is Kylie Jenner's lips. 

Now I for one, am one of those people who has no qualms whatsoever when it comes to plastic surgery or fillers or whatever, so many people look amazing with it, many of whom I know. I'm also pretty sure that as soon as I can afford it, I will be getting a 0.5ml Juvederm syringe of filler in my lips to make me look pouty and fab. 

My problem however is that Kylie is telling the world she hasn't had anything done and is therefore responsible for girls everywhere drawing big lines on their face and passing them off as their lips as if no one can tell. I'm not saying she doesn't do it well, cos bloody hell that girls make-up is on another level of perfection but seriously who is she kidding? She's gone from this to this in like 6 months...

Girl please. 

If she want's to say she's had no fillers (which I highly doubt) that's cool, she's very clearly also over-drawing and rounding them off but can she at least say something? She's acting as if it's normal for your lips to just quadruple in size over night, which unless you've developed a particularly nasty allergy to something, they don't. Tell the world your secret before every girl in the world thinks that because they own a nude liner, they've cheated their way to new lips-you haven't.

My real problem here though, is the MAC problem. Ever since the new and surgically enhanced improved Kylie emerged, everyone and their dog has jumped on the bandwagon and sought out the lipliner that is apparently Kylie's secret- Whirl. That lipliner has been sold out for what, 6 months? This however has now filtered down into the other MAC liners and consequentially led to MY lipliner of choice for the last 3 years, Spice, being sold out for nearly 2 months in my two local MAC stores. WHAT?! Is this a sick joke? I've had to change to a pro liner in Nice 'n' Spicy, which is good but it's not the same. 

Seriously Kylie, what are you playing at? Just tell everyone your mouth is full of collagen and put the world to rights again!

XXX

Keeping Glam: Contour and Highlighting

Hey girl hey,

So today is just a quick one about my absolute favourite look ever which I wear pretty much every day and can change depending on what I'm wearing it to. Basically it's all about the contour and highlight. My love for cheekbones hit me hard last year and I've been blagging I have them ever since thanks to some wonderful little products.
I love both high end and high street products for creating this look and here are my favourites...

Firstly, for anyone who's on a budget or just wants something simple, Sleeks Face Contour kit. It's ridiculously cheap at £6.49 and comes in 3 different shades, making it pretty accessible for most people. The kit comes in a compact form with both a powder contour colour and powder highlight, complete with a good sized mirror which is always handy for topping up whilst out. The contour colour is gorgeous and I've actually used it all over the face when I've forgotten my bronzer as it isn't too heavy but is very easy to build. The highlight is peach toned but is very glittery and pigmented so it is better for a heavier look and not so much for natural every day make-up. I absolutely love this product and have repurchased twice and would highly recommend it to anyone who's interesting in having a play round with contour.

Secondly, my most used duo for contour and highlight is Benefit's Hoola bronzer and Highbeam liquid. Hoola's around £28 and Highbeam is £18 but are both some of the most long lasting products I've ever used. I first received Hoola in 2010 and it has been my daily bronzer ever since, becoming my contour colour also in 2012 and I am now only just coming on to my fourth box now. I also received Highbeam for Christmas in 2011 and am still only about half way through the bottle. 

I've now moved into the magical world of cream contour and I can honestly say, it's one of my most favourite make-up products I've ever used. The "contour" I'm using however is actually a cream eyeshadow by Illamasqua in the shade 'Inhale'. It's a grey toned brown and it gives the most realistic looking shadow. 

When it comes to brushes, I first used the Mac 168 for contour and the side of the brush for highlight when using powder. I then moved onto the Real Techniques Blush Brush for contour as it gave a more natural effect because of the domed shape and it was also easier to blend with. I've now moved onto the Mac 109 for contour and the Real Techniques Contour brush from the Core Collction, for highlighting (I tried it for contour and in my opinion it didn't work as well) 

So that's it guys, I absolutely love everything about contouring and highlighting. It's so handy and personally anything that makes me feel a little bit more like a Victoria's Secret model is always welcome. Who doesn't want to look they have a more bronzed/sculpted/glowing face? 

Lot's of love

XOXO

My Christmas Wishlist

Well hello there, 

So as I'm sure you're all aware, Christmas is nearly upon us, if you weren't aware of this, I'm terribly sorry to have ruined the surprise for you. And what with the most wonderous of days being less than a week away!!!!!! (

As I'm now so ridiculously old, I do tend to ask for more practical things for Christmas that I wouldn't tend to buy for myself, however if someone bought me a Barbie Dream House and a Tickle-Me Elmo I would be in no way disappointed...here's my more realistic gift preferences for this year: 

Firstly, we have make-up. Arguably my most favourite thing to buy/own/use, I go all out at Christmas. This is the first year in a while that I'm not asking for brushes, as I think I'm pretty much set. My actual make-up collection is also pretty substantial so this year, I have asked for some more exciting purchases, for example...

 Rebel&Hang Up Lipstick

And the list goes on. Hoola bronzer and Chanel powder are something I get every year and they are firm staples in my every day routine, I love them, lots! The Edie Sedgwick Collection by Nars is possibly one of the most beautiful sets I've ever layed eyes on, I'd get it for the film case with Edie's face on alone. Considering Factory Girl is one of my favourite films, this is definitely a must for me. 

Two beautiful things I definitely want are: 

A gold Daisy Knight's ring

And these shoes from Topshop

Finally I would also very much appreciate a selection of the always lovely books from Urban Outfitters and a nice sum of iTunes vouchers to purchase all my new loves. 

What are you all asking Father Christmas for? Let me know! 

If you want to know more about anything featured in this post, every image is linked to it's rightful home (none are affiliate links, obviously) 

Lots and lots of love and Christmas cheer! 

Izzi X 

Existentialism on Prom night...

Hey hunnies! 

                        Long time no speak but basically the last few weeks have been a mixture of the end of exams, a huge load of celebrating the end of exams, crazy last minute prom prep, uberly tanned skin, getting my first ever job, PROM, recovering from prom, starting work and a few more parties...
So as you can see I have been insanely busy as of late and I probably will be for the next month or so as not only do I have my new job which see's me working crazy hours this weekend ( I'm usually coming home at 4am not getting up to go to work) but it's also 2 of my best friends birthdays and I still have to celebrate my other best friend's birthday with her as it coincided with prom! And I obviously have to do all my other general day to day living too! So I just thought I'd show you all some pictures of the last few weeks or so and also finally show you my prom dress, yay! Enjoy poppets, speak soon, I promise! 

Hairband from Topshop

Shoes from AX Paris

Stud bracelet and clutch bag from Topshop

(My Prom dress was from French Connection) 

Lipstick MAC Girl About Town

Yes that's mostly prom pics, but I can only wear that dress once and I want to get my moneys worth...
I'm also on instagram now if anyone wants to have a gander at my every day shenanigans, through the oh so cool camera phone filters the delightful little app offers. My username's izzi96 
Hope you're all doing well and I shall be back with my summer faves post soon and hopefully a haul once I've got paid, yayyy! 

Stay classy!X

May Faves!

Aloha hunny pies! 

Apparently somewhere between April and today, May came and went, sneaky little devil. This year really does seem to be flying and I can not believe it is now JUNE! I know, it's insane. So without further adieu here are things I enjoyed through out the month that was May. 

(from back left: Garnier Medium BB Cream, Soap & Glory Hair Supply, Palmers Cocoa Firming Butter, Garnier Ambre Solaire Dry Face Mist, Benefit High Beam, MAC 'Insanely It' Sheen Supreme Lipstick, OPI 'Conquistadorable' Nail Varnish, Nivea Essential Care Lip Balm, MAC 'Indianwood' Paint Pot, Rimmel Scandaleyes Mascare, MAC 109 brush, RayBan large turtleshell Wayfarers, Rimmel 'Timeless Tango' 1000 Kisses Lip Tint, Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer, Garnier Tinted Caffeine Eye Roll-On)

So let's kick this thing off with non make-upy products...

Thanks to the rather strange, insanely beautiful weather that graced Liverpool with its presence during May, I was whipping my limbs out left, right and centre and because of the sun, I gave my usually religious nightly false tan application a rest for a few days. Being a member of the fairer skinned group (ahem ginger...) I don't usually tan very well, singe would probably be a more appropriate word, but miraculously I absorbed a reasonable amount of rays and found myself moisturising like nobodies business to lock in that colour. For this frantic moisturisation, the Palmers Firming Butter worked a treat and it actually did seem to make my legs appear well less...flabby. Tar very much Palmers! 

Now, I have a very paranoid phobia surrounding wrinkles. Yes, I'm only 16 but after watching 10 Years Younger since I was about 7, wrinkles have scared me to my very core because of this I am an avid sunglasses wearer. Not just when it's really sunny but pretty much all the time. Ever since I was presented with these little beauties at Christmas...

They have become a permanent item in my everyday attire. They have become particularly handy of late and I have literally worn them pretty much all day, every day throughout May. However as beautiful as they are, they're also slightly large taking up pretty much my whole eye to nose area. Add this largeness to my tanning obsession and a problem arises, extremely dodgy tan lines. I can feel you all panic but do not threat my little blog friends, Garnier Ambre Solaire Dry Face Mist was on hand to solve my problem, a few sprays across the paler parts of the face and voila, total tan uniformity. Brilliant. 

Next we have Soap & Glory's Hair Supply. It's a hair masque and it smells like utter wonderfulness. For those of you who do not know, sometime last year, I swerved the hair dye and went back to my natural hair colour but my inner non-conformist wasn't happy by this and before I knew it I was getting my hairdresser (A.K.A Deej) to whip out the peroxide and Ombred Isabel arose. I have now became a slave to it and am currently sporting about half a head of progressively lighter hair. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. However with great hair comes great responsibility and looking after bleached hair can be a bit of a task especially when you throw in rather hot weather conditions. In order to avoid my hair starting to resemble hay, I grabbed my Hair Supply, covered my head in it and thanks to whomever master minded this little bottle of beauty, my hair is now looking (and smelling) rather lovely. 

Now for my face faves...

I've loved the Garnier BB cream since the Little Curly Girl (A.K.A my sister) gifted it to me on Christmas morning, but a few months ago I picked up the darker version and my love for this product grew more and more. It smells gorgeous and blends really nicely, it's not too heavy and can easily applied with hands if you're lazy like me. Also on that trip to Superdrug I found the perfect partner to the BB cream, the tinted eye roll on. I absolutely adore this for under the eyes, and for all those night owls like myself who are constantly thinking it's okay to stay up until the early hours even though a 7 AM wake-up call is looming, it does wonders to your under eye area making you look all awake and fresh. 

At the end of April, I went to a party. A lovely party that was filled with pre-exam celebrations and dancing and fish-bowls and lots of awful Facebook photos the day-after. Why am I telling you this I hear you wonder? Well being the make-up enthusiast that I am, I tend to often be called upon as make-up artist to make all my beautiful friends look even more lovely for all our nightly ventures. This was the case for this party. So after beautifying my friends, I was left with about 5 minutes to illustrate my own face, annoying I know. Halfway through my eyelash application, people had arrived and I was all a flutter, still wearing my dressing gown with unfinished smokey eyes. It was as awful as I'm sure you're all imagining, but being the trooper that I am, I quickly finished my face and then graced the party with my presence (minus my dressing gown and plus my best party clobber). This being a house-party there were people up and down the stairs all night and somewhere along the lines my make-up bag became a popular place for party goers and a few of my things were stolen. Awful I know, I was fumingggggg. Because of this I had to venture out and replace my products with a few cheaper alternatives until I could afford to go to MAC to replenish my supplies. On my travels, I came across the Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection concealer and I was so impressed with it, I may not even go and get a new MAC Studio Finish concealer, which I have used since the ripe old age of 12. Out of the robbery darkness comes light in the form of this little beauty, every cloud and all that. 

I've also been majorly big on the contouring and highlighting scene this month, venturing back to my old favourite that is the Sleek Contour Kit in Light, I don't use the highlighter just the contour shade as I use Highbeam by Benefit instead. The contour colour plus my new find which is the MAC 109 brush and your face will be looking catwalk ready in no time ( well that's a bit of an exaggeration but they work pretty darn well together). On days when contouring is not really necessary, though I barely ever find one of those days...Highbeam still looks fab on it's own leaving a lovely pink sheen on the cheekbones which looks heavenly in photos. 

And here's swatches...

(From Left: MAC Indianwood paintpot, Rimmel 'Timeless Tango' 1000 kisses liptint, MAC 'Insanely It' Sheen Supreme Lipstick, Benefit Highbeam, Collection 2000 Concealer in 03 Medium, Garnier Eye Roll-On in light, Garnier BB cream in Medium) 

Eyes and Lips! 

This little beauty is MAC's Indianwood Paint Pot and it is one of the most beautiful colours ever! (swatched above) I got it in January and have used it sporadically ever since, but lately it has became my go to eye base for pretty much every single day. It's a gorgeous bronzey colour with gold shimmer and it looks great on its own or matched with something liked Baked pigment from Urban Decay. I've been wearing this alone and quite lightly blended across the lid with some black eyeliner during the day or as a base for my smokey eye at night and I'll match it with colours from my Jemma Kidd Palette or Sleek 'Oh So Special' palette. Love it. 

My favourite mascara of May is... 

Rimmel Scandaleyes Mascara in Black. It's got a huge wand, kind of like the Bad Gal lash by Benefit. It makes lashes look super long and thick and got a really nice formula that doesn't go crispy and gross. Definitely one of the better mascara's I've tried of late and this has been my go to mascara nearly every day this month. Definitely worth a look at if you're in Superdrug or Boots anytime soon. 

Another MAC find now and it's this...

 MAC Sheen Supreme Lipstick in Insanely It. This came out a while ago but I found it in a CCO on a recent trip to Cheshire Oaks and couldn't resist picking it up. It's bright blue-toned pink, I'd compare it to a glossier and sheerer version of Show Orchid. It looks great alone or on top of another colour, I wore it over Girl About Town on Friday and it looked gorgeous.


Also

 Rimmel 'Timeless Tango' 1000 kisses lipstick has replaced Benetint as my favourite lip stain of all time. This is super pigmented and goes on so easily, the balm at the bottom not only seals the stain in but also adds a gorgeous glossiness to the lips. It doesn't dry out your lips and it has great staying power. When it does fade, it doesn't go flaky in places which is also great. Really love this product and the line has a great colour range, perfect. 


I've also been loving Nivea Essential Care lip balm which is definitely one of the best lip balms on the market and is great to apply both before and after lipstick application to avoid it looking dry or cakey on the lips. Also OPI nail varnish in Conquistadorable is a perfect pink for toes this summer and it goes on really easily, yay for that!


Woah, this was a ridiculously long post, so well done if you've got this far! Hope everyone had a wonderful May and are now all looking forward to summer! I for one only have two exams left and then I'm off for 3 months, YAY! Thanks for reading guys! 

Stay Classy!X