How Highbrow Of You

I love eyebrows. I find myself watching eyebrows and staring at them when I should be concentrating on a tv shows plot. (Julianna Margulies, Alicia in The Good Wife? Perfect brows).

Only problem is I grew up when thin drawn on eyebrows were the best so I plucked my beautiful thick eyebrows into a state of none return. Now I struggle to grow them without them being super patchy. So my tools? I tint my brows every month or so, just to help darken the lighter hairs. I've never paid to have my brows tinted, the Colorsport 30 Day Mascara & Brow Dye in dark brown does the job however they have recently changed the formula and it is really hard to mix. Why change something that isn't broke!

I used to wax my brows but found I was taking too much hair off. Now I tweeze my brows, I am still trying to grow them out / get thicker brows but am not committed enough to leave them for weeks and weeks without being attacked with a tweezer. I have had them threaded a few times but they always leave me with super thin brows. 

Depending on how heavy I want my brows I either use a pencil blended with a spoolie - I use MAC Brow Pencil in Strut (red undertones) or Spiked (for dark brown hairs) or MAC Eyeshadow in Espresso with an angled brush. I also love the ELF Brow Kit which has a pigmented wax and shadow to set, it is a bargain at £3.95. 

The new Gimme Brow from Benefit has changed my routine, I thought it would be a complete gimmick but is actually really good. Some days I now just use gimme brow alone, just with some help from an eye brow pencil to perfectly define this shape. The tiny brush helps catch every eyebrow hair creating dark thick hair where there is none. My only problem is the tiny amount of product you get for the price, but am going to post a full review of this with before / after photos once I have tidied up my very neglected brows. They are not close up ready at the minute.

Yey, eyebrows!

Make-up 2: Lips

(L-R) MAC St Germain / 17 Dusky Pink / MAC Lustering / Models Own Deep Fushia /
Dainty Doll 003 / Natural Collection Cherry Red / No7 Stay Perfect 55

Top to Bottom - 1st Column: Models Own Deep Fushia /MAC Lustering / 17 Dusky Pink / MAC St Germain

2nd Coloumn: No7 Stay Perfect 55 / Natural Collection Cherry Red / Dainty Doll 003

Barry M Bubblegum / Bourjois Effet 3D Brun Poetic /  Avon Plump Pout / ELF Matte Lip Color Tea Rose

Oh if I showed my whole lipstick / lip gloss collection again we would be here forever. These posts however are making me condense my make-up down. I am actually throwing old make-up away! 

My favourites are first Dainty Doll's 003 Lipstick. The range is obviously suited to pale skin lovelies like Nicola Roberts, oh and me. It is such a lovely colour against my skin and is a wonderful lasting lipstick. Models Own Deep Fushia is a new one, I bought on the recommendation of Claire and Hollie and love the colour. The two MAC Lipsticks are no brainers. I really need to increase my MAC collection however I am now POOR. Actually beyond poor. Lastly Elf's Matte Lip Color goes on wonderfully and is cheap. 

Zoey xox

Make-up 1: Blusher

   

ELF Studio Blush Candid Coral - Elf Natural Radiance Blush Glow - Revlon Powder Blush Tawny Peach

Models Own Cheeky Pink - 17 Blush Powder First Flush - Elf Natural Radiance Blush Flushed - MUA Blush Shade 1

Benetint / Posietint from Benefit (free samples from Glamour) - George Cheek and Lip Tint - Max Factor Creamy Blush

Candid Coral / Tawny Peach / Glow / Shade 1 / Flushed / First Flush / Cheeky Pink / Benetint / Posietint / George / Soft Pink

So blusher. I have actually only started wearing blusher in the past two years, I suffer from slight redness to my skin so was all about covering my face in a perfect pale base and didn't think to add blush. Oh how I was wrong. It can completely change the look of your face, from making your cheekbones stand out to dragging your hungover face from half death to looking half decent. This post would be about 5000 words long if I reviewed everyone in my arsenal so have picked my top 3.

ELF Natural Radiance Blusher in Glow - ELF is cheap, even though they are no longer running any 50% off promotions it is still very cheap. This costs £1.50, the packaging is awful. When I have falsies on I can't even open it. Product goes every where but we will ignore these facts. It is highly pigmented, just look at the 3rd swatch along! Gives a lovely glow on even my white as paper skin.

Boots 17 Blush Powder First Flush - I love 17 products and this blush is no exception. I love the colour, it isn't as highlighter pink as it looks in the pot. It blends nicely, I dropped it upside down on the pavement hence mine being slightly chipped. However every 17 blush I have owned has also smashed like this so don't  know if it is a design flaw!

Posietint from Benefit - If you have used Benefit's Benetint this is a little thicker in consistency. It is a wonderful pink colour that suits my complexion. You have to work quick as it will stain your skin (it is a cheek and lip stain after all!) instead of leaving lovely rosy cheeks. It also works well on lips, in fact I always have a pot in my bag. I collected a few from Glamour!

Zoey xox

Early Morning Strawberry Nails

Models Own Jade Stone / ELF Fluorescent Pink / Rimmel I ♥ Lasting Finish  Lemon Drop / Cheap Makeup Brush

A double shift and far too much caffiene equals still being awake two hours after getting in from work. So got comfy in bed and embarked on a nail art session. These are inspired by Charlene's wonderful strawberry nails, which can be bought here and of course the WAH Nails version.

Back to Smallville and hopefully some sleep soon. Or might just place an ELF order with next weeks rent money. It is 50% off after all.


Zoey xox

ELF Review

This is part one of a few ELF reviews I have lined up. I no longer have Photoshop and apparently you can't resize photos in Picasa and then got confused by GIMP. I am now currently having to email my photos to my Photobucket account as I can't upload anything. OMG. Breathe. But excuses excuses. Every time there is a 50% code for ELF I end up ordering myself a little stash - receiving the little brown boxes are a wonderful treat after ridiculous work days. Just got in from a 10am-3am work day.

  Complexion Perfection / Eyebrow Kit in Medium / Complete Coverage Concealer in Light

First up is the Complexion Perfection. As with all the Studio Range the packaging is wonderful, a nice big mirror and the wonderful sleek black. The product itself looks slightly daunting to start with, but for someone like me who has pale skin that is prone to redness it is perfect. It has replaced using pressed powder and is perfect for touch ups on a night out. However it is on the pale side when applied to the face, this is fine for pasty me but when my sister played with it her fake tanned face didn't fair so well. 

Second is the Eyebrow Kit. Now I have dark hair naturally, dyed to a reddy brown but have light thin eyebrows. I usually use Gosh's Eyebrow Kit - the medium colour is perfect for my eyebrows. I am not a fan of pencils for the eyebrow instead I much prefer using a brush. I've heard many rave reviews but am not in love with this product yet. The gel, on the left, is much darker than the powder and you cannot use it like the GOSH wax to just set your eyebrows. Instead you have to be much more careful with application. I will persevere, the little brush that comes with the product is perfect for eyebrows. I am on an eyebrow mission after falling in love with these HD eyebrows but obviously do not have the money to spend on even an eyebrow wax. (This ELF order was my last spend before realising I couldn't actually buy food)

Lastly is the Complete Coverage Concealer. I currently use Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer which is amazing for the price. The Complete Coverage Concealer (mouthful much) has four different shades so you can find your perfect shade. The two darkest ones are however useless on my skin even mixed with the lighter ones. On the website it recommends you apply before foundation, I have always been taught to apply after but even following these instructions it is fairly drying on my skin. But the concealers are highly pigmented and almost cover my dark circles under my eye. But in all fairness I need something much stronger than a concealer to fix them.

Overall I love Complexion Perfection, in fact this is my second one after dropping my first and the powder broke up just leaving me with the green corner. I will persevere with the other two as I do see there positives. All in all I love ELF Studio products!

Zoey xox