Thursday, 28 July 2011

It's been a while!

Sorry for my long absence but its been quite a busy week. I have so much stuff I have to share with you so I'm going to do it in sections rather than paragraphs and paragraphs of stuff!

Some of you may be aware that I recently turned 21... I'd just like to share some things with you that have been a little highlight for me :)


My Surprise Birthday Cake :)



My New Laptop

(Finger marks all over it already)

My Birthday Weekend in Kent


My Present to myself :)

My Favourite Picture from the weekend

Thank you for all your birthday messages too <3

Hannah xxx

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Tuesday, 19 July 2011

It's my Birthdayyyy

Quick post while I wait for my boyfriend to get back :)

21 TODAYYY!

My mum got me a gorgeous special '21' necklace and driving lessons.
And my boyfriend got me a brand new Acer laptop, its amazinggg.

I'll be back on later with updates and pictures xD

Enjoy your day

Hannah xxxxx

Monday, 18 July 2011

What's in my bag...

I seriously love seeing what people have in their bags, I don't know why, and when i see their makeup bags I'm wondering what's in the too.


My Bag- The story behind this bag is that some guy who I used to date bought me a pair of Armani Jeans, they didnt fit properly, so instead of getting a smaller size I just decided to get this bag from there instead.

It has two compartments on the side which have zips, and two of the front with those magnetic clip things. It looks like its collapsed on one side.

This is what was in it today:

Red Makeup Bag which came free with Christina Agulieras perfume.
A clip in cat ear from halloween, I must have shoved it in here and its just got lost in the corners with loose change.
A large hair grip which came with the GHD straighteners.
Black necklace
Keys
Razor (must have been there from when i've stayed out somewhere)
Glamour magazine
Every human being necessity, Ipod, with working headphones!
A brush glitter stick thing from La Senza.
Fuji Digi Cam.
Sunglasses (not that i need them right now)
Deodrant
A Pink Barbie comb, I have had this comb for soooooo many years but i love it and cant let go.
Britney Spears Fantasy Perfume
Tweezers.
Bottle of Tango
And my purse, which is from miss selfridge.

Let me know if you have or are thinking of doing a 'whats in my bag' <3

Hannah xxxxxx

Sunday, 17 July 2011

My Last Day...

Today, the 18/7/2011 is officially the last day I will be 20. The big 21 is finally here! I never made a list of things to do before I turn 21 so, I'm giving you lot a chance to list some things and I will do them and take picture proof! Just to make the day fun as I'm pretty sure it's going rain!

I hope being 21 isn't as scary as it sounds!

Love Hannah xxxxxxxxx

Gloomy Day

Oh what a glorious July Sunday we have today! Torrential rain, grey skies, gale force winds. I envy every person who is abroad right now,

On days like this I tend to sit in front of the mirror wondering what makeup to do, watch re-runs of My Name is Earl which I sky plus, or, just sit on my little sisters bed with the laptop and the dog.
So, sat on my little sisters bed I am, wondering what I could post about today. Then i seen this picture of makeup I did a few months ago and thought it kind of describes the whole day.

This isn't photoshopped, I used Picasa to change the add light, highlights and shadows. This is sooo simple, you basically just colour in your eyes with black eyeshadow and red eyeshadow, although I think I used red eyeliner. 

xx

Saturday, 16 July 2011

A Kim Kardashian-esque look

I don't know if it's just me, but as much as I love makeup, I always prefer doing it on other people rather than on myself. Unfortunately for my 13 year old sister she has become my little model. But I have to say, her face takes makeup so beautifully. I don't know if its because of her young skin or what, but when i do the exact same look on myself afterwards, it never photographs the same and I get so jealous!


We did nothing with her hair its naturally very curly, and was tied up so she took her bobble out. 

After doing makeup like this its once I look back at the pictures that I see where I went wrong. Kim Kardashian never seems to wear very heavy fake lashes, but tends to opt for thin naturally long lashes as she doesnt need to put too much emphasis on her eyes as they are already very striking. From pictures I could see that she uses alot of concealer under her eyes and her trademark brown and black smokey eye look. For her lips I actually went over them with white eyeliner, followed by pink eyeshadow followed by the Benefit Lip Gloss which I posted yesterday. I absolutely love the colour on her.

Overall, I will be the first to admit that this is not one of the best looks I have done and I do not feel like I achieved the image I had in my head, but, I was still happy with the overall look and decided to share it.

I would have to say that Kim Kardashian is an Idol of mine, I do love everything about her. She does like to switch it up sometimes and goes for a 40's look and still pulls it off beautifully.

Who would you say was your makeup idol?

Fake Tan of the Year 2011!

I am an avid self tanner. I have been using fake tan since I was 13. Over the years I have found fake tans that I find amazing at the time, but then I always seem to find faults with them after a few applications and then I'm back on the hunt again.

Things I hate about certain self tanning products:
  • Some of them just take a ridiculous amount of time to dry, and you feel like most of it is sticking to your sheets
  • One L'oreal fake tan is so sticky when it's applied, I couldn't sit on my leather couch afterwards without having to peel myself off it
  • Others dry very weirdly and they tend to go a bit "bitty" as if you're rubbing the first layer off when applying your second layer
  • Tans that claims to develop within the hour.... but never ever do.
  • Awful smelling fake tan. Could look amazing on, but the stench can sometimes take away the overall look. 
In my local shopping centre there is a cosmetic shop that sells really cheap products like nail varnishes, eyelashes, and hair accessories, I'm pretty sure everyone everywhere has one of these type of shops. I needed a new fake tan but had around £10 on me so I decided to go there, I asked the lady who worked there what fake tans are really good, and for her to not be biased just because she worked there, she told me about this new fake tan mist that was instant, but also developed to a darker colour over time. I bought it for £5.99.


I have to say, out of 10, I would give this product a 9.5. It is absolutely excellent. It's actually everything I have ever looked for in a fake tan.
  1. Does go on instantly, and does get darker over night.
  2. Dries completely within 10 minutes.
  3. It does not work like normal instant tans where it is instant application and instant wash off, this one stays on.
  4. It fades over time, instead of going blotchy and patchy.
  5. It is quite watery so a little bit goes a long way.
  6. Doesn't have any form of over powering smell, I don't think there is even any form of smell whatsoever.
  7. Doesn't streak.
     The only thing that is wrong about it's advertisement is that its a mist spray. It is misty, but when you apply it you do have to rub it in hense why it didnt get the full 10/10. But that in itself doesn't deter me from the product in any way. I will continue to buy this product unless they realise how under priced it is and start bumping it up!

    I don't really know if you can tell colour wise as this is quite a dark picture. But I had applied the Natural Tan about 2 hours before this photo was taken. I have very fair skin with freckles, so although it may not look very brown, it really is alot darker than my natural skin tone. Hope this gives you some sort of idea.

    Thursday, 14 July 2011

    Benefit Babe!

    I bought the Benefit Lemon Aid eye primer a few months ago off ebay for £3.50. I never seem to have came across it at the counter, but because I love the products they sell for the eye area I would give it a go. I thought I had bought the bargain of the century, but when I recieved it I was very unsatisfied to the point where I just do not use this product, and had to buy another eye primer. However, during a recent shopping trip I seen it on the counter, and it was only as I was going to show a friend how bad it was that I noticed it was nothing like the one I had bought. The one I had purchased had a very oily greasy consistency, and just felt like it took ages to dry, unlike the one at the counter which was very soft, no oilyness or greasyness about it, infact, I was tempted to buy it as it was completely ideal for the type of thing I was looking for. My ebay purchase was all in the exact same packaging, everything about it was the same, but even just looking at the two products together, the difference in them was so obvious.

    So, a slight warning when it comes to purchasing ridiculousy cheap high end makeup brand items on ebay, they may not be as high quality as what they should be, I'm not sure whether they will be fakes but still.

    As weird as it sounds I felt really guilty, guilty that I had wrongly slated a product that someone may have originally thought about purchasing. Infact, I took to my facebook to attack this product advising people not to waste their money on this as it retails at £16.50. But now I do completely take it all back! I would definitely recommend this product as it didn't have any excess moisture and it also has a compact mirror.




    The benefit products I own I am very pleased with. I swear by Benefit High Beam, I have been getting it for a number of years and I use it with my everyday makeup as well as of a night time, for evening makeup I tend to use a lot more on my brow bone area just because when it catches the light, it gives of such a beautiful shine that makes your whole face look glowing and your skin looks perfect! It photographs extremeley well.

    L-R:
    Benefit High Beam Sample Size (bought from ebay).
    Benefit High Beam Regular 13ml sized bottle - I put this on my cheek bones after my foundation and bronzer/powder. For my own preference I do not use it on the apples of my cheeks. When using it on my brow bone I prefer to do it before using my eyebrow pencil/shadow as sometimes it can be smudged.
    Ooh La Lift- Instant Under-eye Brightening Boost (how its described on bottle) - As stated it is designed for under the eyes and gives a really understated shimmery glow look that catches the light beautifully. It is very transparent and doesnt look like you are wearing anything, but you can still see a difference with regards to before and after use.
    Thrrrob Blusher- It tells you to brush across your cheekbones, forehead and chin to get the "turned on flush you've been looking for". It is a very very pale pink which I think works perfectly on all skin tones, you get a really pretty shimmery effect, as with most benefit products.
    High Brow- This is another product I swear by and again, I use it in my everyday makeup routine but use it in different ways when it comes to evening and daytime looks. I am wearing it on my leopard print makeup look just underneath the eyebrow area, it creates that really bright brow bone effect that works amazing with a smokey eye look, HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT!
    Eye Bright- Again, highly recommendable! I use it in the very corners of my eyes by your tear ducts, and it gives an under stated look where it doesn't really look like you have anything there, but you can tell the difference between when you're wearing it and when you're not. Sometimes I take it from the corners and sweep it just a little bit underneath my lash line especially if i have used eyeline on half my lash line for a night time look.


    I thought I would do a seperate section for the lip gloss as I have ALOT to say about it!

    Benefit lip glosses- Since using their lip glosses I have never used anything else, I cannot find fault with anything. I love the short brush applicator, I love the mixture of the blue and green shimmers that just make it POP, and I absolutely love the lip gloss bottle itself. A few of you may remember, I said how disappointed I was with the Urban Decay lip gloss, as it had a really striking lid yet, was in a squeezy tube bottle and I felt like it somehow cheapened it. It seems Benefit have take every aspect on board and have created a product that looks and is, very stylish!


    Saturday, 2 July 2011

    MAC Technique Classes

    At MAC they offer technique classes in makeup, helping you to perfect what you may already know and maybe show you an easier and better way of doing your makeup.

    The classes cost £50 and are on for 2 and a half hours. The one I was on today was from 2-4.30pm and they had a morning one too. The £50 includes the cost of the class, and also, after it has finished you get that £50 to spend in store.

    Before the class started we were matched with the right foundation mine was NW15 that they gave us in a tiny little tester bottle. 

    We went into a seperate room with round tables set out with a load of MAC products in the middle and each person had their own vanity tray with mirror, brushes, cotton buds and other makeup tools in front of them.

     They started off with a natural makeup look, applying the foundation with a foundation brush. Now, I dont know if its just my skin but I really don't like MAC foundations, it doesnt feel like I'm getting any coverage and I find them too yellowy/green, and no matter what moisturiser I use, the makeup just sinks into my pores and looks really odd. 

    If I was to be honest I would say that I wouldn't attend this class or any others like it I don't feel as though they really helped much at all, especially when it came to lipsticks as they didnt really direct people about which colour lipsticks to go for. They also did a dramatic lip colour, followed by a nude, which didn't work as most peoples lips were stained from the lip liner and lipstick.

    We completed the day by doing a smoky eye look using browns, and I was not impressed with it at all, they encouraged me to use bright pink lipstick as I said im not really a lipstick wearer, god knows why they thought it would be a good idea mixing bright pink lipstick with brown smokey eyes on my very pale skin!

    Thats why I won't even post the finished look as it's a complete waste of time.

    BUT...

    I did spend my £50 plus and extra £12.50...
    MAC Blusher - Pink Swoon
    Gel Fluidline Eyeliner- Blacktrack
    MAC Brushes- 217 & 266

    We used the fluidline with the 266 brush and it made such a difference, definitely cant wait to have a more defined and strong look to my eyeliner.

    If you are thinking about being involved with these classes then go to your local MAC store and just ask about their technique classes and they will take your name and number, they also have different types of classes, I heard they were doing a bridal one at the beginning of september :)