Colour Match - Green Eyes

Something I get asked about a lot and which I always factor into my bridal work is choosing eyeshadows that are going to bring out eye colours. Once you know what's going to really enhance your eyes then you can go straight for those shades and choosing quads and palettes becomes much less time consuming.

I thought I'd start off with green eyes as, well my eyes are green and though I don't colour match them with my eye shadow every day when I do a lot of people suddenly comment on them. Usually they just look kind of sludgey.

You can choose shades to enhance your eyes - these will reflect your own natural eye colour. So, green shadow for green eyes. Alternatively you can choose to intensify you eye colour - to do this, you need to select shades from the opposite side of the colour wheel and the contrast will make your eyes 'pop'. (Agghhhh I hate that expression.) But, you also need to take into account your skin tone. I avoid purples because of my dark circles, for instance, although a thin line of purple liner would do the trick nicely for most green eyes. Personally I love black liner and mascara, and they will bring out the green in your eyes nicely. Brown's are the way to go if you want something a bit more subtle or for the daytime.

So to enhance your eyes choose a similar shade of green. Golds look beautiful too with green eyes. Or to make them really intense go for purples, copper, browns and taupes. A good slightly metallic beige or tan will really bring out the green during the day so if you want to tone it down for the office those are the ones to try. By choosing an eye quad or palette that has a mix of colours in it you are guaranteed to make the most of your green eyes whatever mood you are in or whatever event you are doing your make-up for and some brands are even starting to note which product will work with which eye colour (thanks Charlotte Tilbury!)

Some of my favourite products for green eyes...

• MAC eye shadow in Satin Taupe and Woodwinked
• The Urban Decay Naked Palette
• Liz Earle Signature Eye Shadow in Bronze
• Charlotte Tilbury Colour Chameleon in Bronzed Garnet (see my review here)
• MAC eye kohl in Teddy, Powersurge, and Smoulder
• Charlotte Tilbury Luxury palette in The Golden Goddess, Vintage Vamp or The Dolce Vita
  (I've yet to try but I've heard great things about these)
• Sleek Makeup I-Divine palette in Au Naturel, Oh So Special, Garden of Eden and Vintage Romance
• Kiko Colour Fever Eye Shadow palette in Coral Burgandy (not the most long lasting colours but blend nicely for a worn look)

Sorry for terrible photo's but thought it would be good to show the difference it can make... on the left is my unmade up eye. Below is with a bit of the Bronzed Garnet from Charlotte Tilbury and Satin Taupe from MAC done very quickly as late for nursery. Standing in the same position light-wise..

March 2015 Favourites Friday Video

I'm away this weekend so I may not be able to embed this video before I go so please if it's not below then just follow this link... and you can also have a looky at my other videos.

La Roche Posay Cicaplast Hand Cream

I have spent the last decade (more?) looking for the perfect hand cream. And I have tried some really great ones, some terrible ones too of course, but some that are so close to perfect and yet, just not quite good enough. This isn't a big announcement that I've found the Holy Grail of hand creams but this is as close as I've come and teamed with the Neutrogena Norwegian Formula hand cream my poor over-washed, over-anti-bacterialed hands have been in pretty good shape for the past couple of months.

I use the Norwegian formula (review to come soon) during the day mostly because it is easier to come across and it is slightly more easily absorbed than the La Roche Posay. But every night I've been using the Cicaplast hand cream and it has made a visible difference. It says to use every 2 hours or as needed but I would be getting through tubes of the stuff and it does kind of sit on the hands for a little while which makes going in for the next nappy change/brush clean/dog wrangle a bit tricky - I don't want to waste it. But it is a protective barrier so probably that sort of thing is exactly what it's for. I should get a grip.

Beauty Blenders

One of the things I get asked about a lot is make-up brushes. Which brush works best for a certain product, skin type or look, what the brush does that I'm using on a client, what my favourite brand of brushes are and the answer is constantly changing. Yes there are some brands that I think are very reliable in terms of quality and there are lots out there that I haven't got round to trying yet so can't pass comment on, but one of the most asked questions is what's the best brush for applying foundation for problem or more mature skins and I used to recommend a stippling brush. However, recently I have been favouring a Beauty Blender so I thought it would be useful to do a little feature on beauty blenders - the original and those from other brands, specifically the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion sponge because this is the high street alternative, the easiest to get hold of.

Japonesque Solid Brush Cleaner Quick Review - Sunday Video

I'm a big fan of this...

Lush H'Suan Wen Hua Hair Moisturiser

I have a love hate relationship with hair treatments and moisturisers. I need them for the poor fried ends of my hair and (usually) really like the end result but have the minutes and minutes and hours or cold drips down my neck or having to use a clean towel as a turban. So because I'm inherently lazy I usually let my hair into really bad condition before I can bring myself to use a conditioning treatment (except the Philip Kinglsey Elasticizer which I love).

I reluctantly purchased H'Suan Wen Hua from Lush, persuaded that it was what I needed by the charming man and I imagined another chilly sad morning spent be-turbaned and sad. I was totally wrong this stuff is amazing, not only for the effect it has on your hair which is lovely, but it sort of dries after you put it on so there are no drips! I actually put it on before I got to the gym (not a great look it has to be said) then off I go. It doesn't go horribly hard and crispy, just sort of dryer than a conditioning treatment usually does.

Face of the Day 12th March 2015 - Friday Video

Long and rambly due to husbands absence. Really simple though using mostly high street/drug store products...

Maybelline Browdrama

I have a bit of a love hate relationship with brow products. I need them for my professional work and then I'm quite picky about what I use, but I don't really need them myself and therefore don't spend a lot of time trying and testing them. I also really don't like the latest trend that seems to be overtaking Instagram for very strong, very obviously drawn on brows that are all you can look at and this makes me a little adverse to looking at any brow products on the high st.

I do however like to have a bit of good brow gel in my personal make-up collection to really make my make-up look polished if I'm going out and to set any brow pencil I've used to fill in the gaps. I've been happily using Benefit's Speed Brow but just because that's what I had and it used to be available near my house. Not any more so I thought I would try Maybelline's Browdrama as I've heard some really mixed reviews and that always makes me want to check something out for myself.

New from Make Up For Ever

The make-up industry is growing and changing at such a rate that it's hard to keep up with everything that comes out and it's easy to fall out of touch with brands. During a recent demonstration at (my favourite shop) PAM I was introduced to a whole lot of new products from Make Up For Ever and completely fell back in love with this brand. It also reminded me that as much as I love applying make-up I also just adore watching other artists at work and this demonstration was no exception - and incredibly refreshing to see something bright and creative rather than an advertorial smokey eye (as much as I love them). Kicking myself for not getting the artists name (or asking her where she got her lovely boots from).

I'm not going to give a full run down on how she created the finished look but I thought I'd share some pictures and
a few of the stand out products for me (if I can read my notes, very hard to write fast with a big bump in the way).

Bobbi Brown Smokey Eye Mascara Quick Review - Friday Video

I love this mascara but I would hesitate before I ran out and recommended it to everyone...

Nip + Fab Detox Blend Bath Soak and Body Scrub

Finding a body scrub that effectively exfoliates dry skin without leaving it angry and red is quite difficult so I was really impressed with Nip + Fab's Detox Blend Body Scrub. It exfoliates but gently so was perfectly suited to my dry, sensitive skin. I've been trying it out for a month, using it once or twice a week on the tops of my arms and they are smoother and softer. If you want something really hardcore (I don't know why you would) then this isn't it. The exfoliating ingredient is very fine pieces of walnut shell - your bath won't be gritty after using it - which is hard enough to be an effective exfoliator but won't break up and become harsh on the skin.Great for getting the tops of your arms ready for spring and at £9.99 for 200ml so should last you a while if you use it once or twice a week. I wouldn't recommend using this on your face.

The Nip + Fab Detox Blend Bath Soak I wasn't sure of at first as it's quite an unusual smell (if you know what Tea Tree smells like then you'll know what I mean) but I genuinely believe it has been relaxing me when I've used it and now I deliberately soak in it after a stressful day. Tea Tree, Green tea and jasmine work together to rejuvenate and detox the body and mind though I can't vouch for it actually detoxing the body tea tree has long been used on the skin for skin allergies and as an antiseptic. Frankincense oil is believed to be comforting and stress busting and this bath soak makes a great change from my usual nice-smell-but-nothing-else bath choices. For 217ml I think this is very reasonably priced at £8.99.

Monday's Make-up Muse - Kate Moss

Who more appropriate to choose straight after London Fashion Week than arguably fashions most famous female model of all time. I'm not an out and out Kate Moss obsessive but every now and then she'll do something and it does make me stop and think 'Wow' - the Olympic Opening Ceremony was one of these times. I remember being told that Kate Moss is one of the few people that has a symmetrical face (Cate Blanchett does as well) and that's partly what makes her so attractive.

from The Daily Express

Yes doing what she does means she has access to the knowledge of the worlds greatest make-up artists and it's hard to really call her a make-up muse as it's these artists that create her looks and it's not surprising that she looks great 99% of the time but what I love is that when you see her out and about not modelling she usually has the same luminous skin, tanned cheek bones but slightly grungy look which is my favourite kind of make-up and one I think of as classically British. She can pull off the I-slept-in-my-make-up look to perfection whilst not actually looking like she's wearing a ton of it and team it with a red-lip without looking overdone.

Yes she can carry off every look and we're not all blessed with her face and bone structure but when often when I see her I am reminded that it's great not look completely made-up and perfect at all times. You can go along way with healthy looking skin, smudgy kohl liner and accentuated cheekbones. Here's how...

Eye Shadows - if you are blessed with a good colour, no greasy lid then you may be able to skip this step altogether and just go straight to the liner. If not then using either a cream or shadow one tone darker than your skin tone will give a defined natural look. MAC paint pots are great for this as are Laura Mercier Eye Basics eye primers - you want something with little or no shimmer.

Eye Liners - a great smudgy kohl that I always have at least two of in my kit and in my personal collection is Smoulder by MAC. I basically just think everyone should own this so I'm leaving it at that!

Skin - you want your skin to look healthy (yes I know that Kate is a notorious smoker amongst other things but her skin always looks pretty good) so well moisturised with a light luminous foundation over the top. Obviously this is completely skin dependent, if you need more coverage then you should go for it but keep it as light as you can. I think Chanel Vita Lumier Aqua or the Estee Lauder EE Cream (if you can get it in your shade!) are good for this as is MAC Face and Body. For a more high street price then a good BB cream would be good here - I'm struggling to think of one that would give this kind of finish though I've heard some great things about he Dr Jart ones.

Blush/Bronzer - Kate usually has more of bronzed cheek than a blush. Charlotte Tilbury's Filmstar Bronze and Glow is perfect if you want high-end. For high street Collections Shimmer Shade in Way to Glow is just enough shimmer and bronze.

Lips - occasionally red, quite often a perfect nude and in fact Charlotte Tilbury has created a Lipstick based on the perfect Kate beige, K.I.S.S.I.N.G in Nude Kate and can be matched with her Lip Cheat in Iconic Nude. This colour is perfect for more grungy make-up giving peachy definition without needing hours spent in front of a mirror.

from Hello Magazine