Gimme Candy: L'Oreal Miss Candy & Smokin' Eyes!

Hello my pretties, how's your week going?

 I don't know about you, but every now and again I have this furious burst of beauty & make up addiction, I'm not entirely sure if it had anything to do with my little L'Oreal Paris surprise this week (-great start to the week, yay!!!) or the fact that I just wanna ply my face with a bit of colour when the weather seems a little unpredictable and grey sometimes.

Anyways... I loved seeing all the candy, gum dropped colours coming through for spring/summer; from Dior to YSL & even Laduree's super yummy sorbet shaded make up collection.

MAC/NARS/Bobbi Brown, please forgive me but I officially have a new love - L'Oreals Miss Candy collection.  My pouts craving the super shimmery Glam shine lipgloss in Cola Fizz & Strawberry Licorice (available in 6 delicious shades) and my eyes will be coveting the Color Infallible eye shadows bright n' sparkly 'Innocent turquoise' (above) and 'Sassy marshmallow' hues (Eye shadows available in 4 colours), which will pop against my subtle tan. Looks like I'm all set to to dress my nails, eyes and lips now! 

For the best part of winter you could say that I'm pretty guilty of falling into the same make up routine, but once summer hits, I do love experimenting with eye make-up looks,  especially with colourful shades, similar to the L'Oreal look (first image above). Right now, I'm totally smitten with these gorgeous eye make up looks.

 Coco Rocha with emerald green & grey hues for Vogue Nippon, Aug 2008 by Arthur Elgort

Check out the brilliant How-To post on how to achieve this colour blocking make-up look via The Beauty Department here.

I adore this! I haven't actually tried purple, but I think I will do... one night. Love this step-by-step image by make up artist Zina Grekova whose eye make up looks are all over Pinterest.

 Have you mastered your smokey eye look yet, take peek at Zina's classic brown/black smokey eye look close up!

Having read some of the comments, I thought I'd add a little more to this post. I know that doing a smokey look on yourself can sometimes look like you've been punched in the face in both eyes if you're not used to seeing how this look looks on you - just remember to BLEND!!! I always keep cotton buds at hand to help remove any parts that I might have gone way OTT on (usually to lessen the amount of dark shadow near the brown bone area, in the corners or underneath the eye)

Everyone has a different eye shape - it's about experimenting and knowing what or how much smokiness works with your face shape. Always take a step back from the mirror and see how it looks.

It's good to try different things - sometimes I'll go for a more elongated cat eye shape and balance the make up on the cheek area with a bit of definition.

 Need a little help? What about this four-piece brush set by Sonia Kashuk? (Alternatively, you can find similar brushes at Sephora too) image via: Glamour Mag

So lovelies, will you be trying something new or different this summer? Know what colours work for you and take a risk I say! Colour is a real game-changer in the name of make-up!


p.s Thank you L'Oreal Paris GR! Mwah!

'Tis the season to be frocked fantastic! Part Un

I have a Christmas gauge-o-meter, as in when I ought to get really excited, start X-mas gift shopping and thinking about party outfits and so forth. I only ever get seriously giddy with excitement once it's passed my b'day, so now that we're well and truly past that date I am ready to immerse myself in the fabulousness that is Christmas.

Here are 3 fun & flirty party looks I'm kinda loving at the moment from the Daily Mail; I love everything that's going on here, from make up, hair and the fun factor!

From left to right:
Outfit 1:
Dress by Olivia Rubin, £270, House of Fraser Gilet by Biba, £145, House of Fraser Belt by Topshop, £30 Silver Crystal Ring (right.hand), £82 Konplott Necklace, bangles and crystal ring on r.hand all from Dannijo, Net-a-Porter.com Round ring on left hand from Wallis, £12.50 Sandals by Guess, £135

Outfit 2:
Dress by Laura Ashley, £110 Headband by Cherry Chau, £125, Selfridges Belt by Twiggy, £49, Fenwick Necklace, £79, Fenwick Stackable rhinestone rings in gold, £99 black, £75 and silver, £125 all by Amanda Wakeley from Ernest Jones Socks, £19.95 by Max Mara, Fenwick. tights £6 by Marks and Spencer Shoes by Kurt Geiger, £90

Outfit 3:
Dress by Nocturne £320 Blue ring by Konplott, £167 Silver ring, £12.50 & grey silver bangles, £18 for two by Freedom, Topshop Chain and pearl bangle by Allusions, £18, BHS Bag at Russell & Bromley, £165 Tights by Pretty Polly, £4 Sandals by Kurt Geiger, £220

All these looks are very easy to create with a clever mix of accessorizing, layering and hair and make up. To get a messy bun look, see previous post here.
I thought I'd also throw in a 'how-to' video by one of my fave girls, Tanya Burr aka Pixi2woo! Seriously, this girl can do any look, but this is a fun one for going out. You can easily swap out the blue for any mix of colour for the sultry cat eye look or just stick with charcoal tones/black.

Tanya Burr's Blue/Black smoky eye look

Hope you enjoyed this!
I'll be sharing more party frocks with you this week, bringing you the best of high street through to designer!

Beautylicious videos: How To...

Yes, it's another series of beautylicious videos, only this time I hope they're working and don't take too long to load, eek. With 2 of my dearest friends getting hitched next month, and me being assigned extra curricular Maid of Honour duties involving hair & make-up, I've been checking out some super cool beauty vids to make sure I have I haven't missed a trick.

It's one thing doing make-up on yourself, but doing make-up on someone else is a totally different experience. I've done make-up on both chums before and experimented a fair bit already, but wedding make-up requires quite a bit more attention. These are some of the cool beauty vids I checked out in my recce...

My fave being the Kim Kardashian ones, because you get to watch her make-up artist transform her from being normal gorgeous to super wow! It's not exactly wedding make up appropriate, it's more of "so this is what Kim looks like sans make up" video and "so this is how they do it"!
Oh and a brilliant video showing you how to get cheekbones to die for, aka 'Contouring'. Enjoy!

How-To get the perfect base, by Look Beauty Editor Sophie Beresiner - this is something that everyone should get right.

Get Kate Moss Cheekbones: Contouring by Look Beauty Editor Sophie Beresiner

This video is brilliant for accentuating and defining your cheekbone area and a fantastic follow up to the first video.

Kim Kardashian herself & make up artist show us how to get the Smoky Eye look, with Stephen Moleski
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Lastly, Part 4, et voila!

via Youtube

Thank you so much everyone for stopping by and taking time out to leave a comment, they always make my day and even chuckle a bit (I know how funny some of you guys are!).

Have a Fantastic weekend lovelies!