Purple Smokey Eyes

Makeup Products used: 

Face: 

Primer | Benefit Porefessional

Foundation | MAC Studio Tech NW30 

Concealer | Mac Studio Finish Concealer NW25

Highlighter | Collection 2000 Lasting Finish Conealer Fair 1

Contour | MAC Matchmaster Concealer 9.0

Blusher | Kelly Brook Bardot

Highlight | MAC Silver Dusk

Eyes: 

Primer | MAC Painterly Paintpot 

Lid Colour | MAC Nocturnelle

Crease Colour | MAC Dollymix 

Outer Crease Colour | MAC Young Punk

Inner Corner Colour | L'oreal Cameleon 

Under Eye Colour | MAC Nocturnelle

Brow Highlight | L'oreal Cameleon 

Brow Pencil | Rimmel Hazel 

Eyeliner - Waterline | Bourjois Purple Night

Eyeliner - Lash line | Collection 2000 Fast Stroke Eyeliner 

Mascara | MAC Zoom Lash

Eyelashes | Eyelure 

Lips: 

Lipstick | MAC Speed Dial

Lipgloss | Bobbi Brown Hot 

Night time Routine

I am more of night time person rather than a morning person, so I wake up at night! So, it's no surprise that my night time routine is longer than my morning one! 

I start off my routine by removing all my makeup of the day. Firstly, I take my eye makeup off with L'oreal Paris Eye Makeup Remover. I just soak some onto a cotton wool pad and keep it on my eyes for a few seconds, in order to disolve all my makeup; including my hard to remove mascara! 

After removing all, or atleast most, traces of my eye makeup I go onto removing the rest of my makeup using the L'oreal Paris Skin Perfection Micellar Water. I love this Micellar water, it's pretty much the same as the Gariner Micellar Cleasing Water, but when it's on offer I'll always pick up the L'oreal one! 

After removing my makeup I'll then go onto use Soap & Glory vitamin C facial wash. It has little pink microbeads in it which allow it to clean deep into the pores and get rid of any remaining makeup, dirt or anything else nasty lurking in the skin! 

Once everything is removed I sometimes will use a face mask to get rid of any pore impurities, blackheads, spots, dry skin etc. I really like the heated Soap & Glory No Clogs Allowed Detox Mask when you put it on its heated, then use water and scrub your face until the colour changes to blue! Then I'll leave it on for about 3-5 minutes, usually whilst watching American Horror Story!  

After washing the face mask off I then use a night cream. I've recently been using the Soap & Glory Wish Upon a Star  night cream. I picked it up for half price from Boots. I absolutely love the packaging and it smells so nice too! 

After all this! I'll then go onto treat my hands. Usually just before bed I'll apply the Body Shop Almond Hand & Nail cream and once that's soaked in I will use Essie Apricot Oil on my cuticles. This hand resheme has really helped my nails to grow, and get stronger. It also helps to use a good hand cream in the wintertime to prevent dry hands! 

As well as treating my hands, I'll also treat my feet! When I remember that is... I absolutely love the Soap & Glory Heel Genius Foot Cream. It honestly does make your heels and feet super soft! I have repurchased this foot cream many times! I apply it right before I get into bed and put one some fluffy warm socks to allow it soak in, also, because I hate having cold feet. I can't sleep in winter with cold feet!  

Morning Skincare Routine

Good Morning! 

*cup of tea is optional during this routine*

I feel that my morning routine is rather simple, in comparison to others I have seen. 

I start off my morning routine by cleansing my face, this removes any product left over from the night before, as well as, gets rid of any oils or dirt that may have built up overnight, My cleanser I use is the Soap & Glory Vitamin C Facial Wash. The product has little microbeads within the formula. These microbeads really help to get into the pores, and remove any unwanted yucky-ness! 

After cleansing my face I go onto use moisturiser. My day time moisturiser of choice is the Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Cream. I absolutely love this moisturiser, It comes in a little skincare set which is £12 (this is where I first discovered it). Usually I just repurchase that set, since the moisturiser alone is £11! And the little pot lasts me a long time anyway. However, if my skin is really dry I will use the Malin + Goetz Vitamin E Face Moisterizer, as it is more hydrating than the Body Shop. 

After moisturising I use Blistex Intensive Moisture on my lips to hydrate them, as my lips are really dry. Especially, during the cold wintertime, where they tend to peel - eww! I also live this lip product on for quite sometime to allow it to fully soak into my lips before, applying my lip products during my makeup application. 

I have tried several different lipbalms but, I find that this one works best for me so far. Although, I really want to try the Ardell 8 hour cream that everyone keeps raving about, as that is meant to be wonderful for lips. However, I am yet to justify the price tag of that one. 

Ogx nourishing coconut milk shampoo & conditioner review

Today, I'm reviewing the Ogx nourishing coconut milk shampoo & conditioner. I kept seeing this product in every magazine; Vogue, Elle, Glamour. Every time I saw it I thought ooh that looks nice! I know already that coconut milk and coconut oil is meant to work wonders on hair so I thought it would work well from the coconut ingredients. It also contains egg white and we've all tried the rather messy egg and oil olive DIY hair treatments in order it get smooth silky hair! 

My First impressions:

Price: 

I picked them up in Waitrose, as they were 2 for £10, they usually retail at £6.99 each, which is not that expensive for a high street brand.

Packaging: 

I really love the bottles, the shape is unusual, I love the typography on the front - it's very simple but yet so effective. The white bottle and the gold lid is minimalist keeping it looking stylish and it actually looks like a high end salon brand with its fashion look. 

What the product claims: 

'The luxuriously creamy, hydrating formula leaves your hair feeling clean, glowing, softly scented and super soft.' 

It says this on both the back of the shampoo and the conditioner

My experience of product: 

*firstly I must state that I am a trained hair stylist and I used to work in a hair salon* 

Shampoo - 

When I used the shampoo it came out lovely, with a thick and creamy consistency with a lovely coconut smell (usually I don't like coconut but it smelt divine actually. I shampooed my hair twice 

 1. To get the dirt out and to cleanse the scalp

 2. To use the product for the maximum results as  no product works on dirty product built up hair. 

After using the shampoo, I thought I don't really need to use the conditioner as the shampoo alone had left my hair feeling soft! Which is pretty remarkable for a high street brand as to be honest I've only ever found salon high end products, such as Tigi bed head and keratase to do that! 

Conditioner - 

I went on to use the conditioner it was even more creamier than the shampoo in its consistency! 

I only used a very small amount (due to that I felt my hair didn't need much) I applied the conditioner to the ends and mid lengths of my hair then massaged the remainder of the product into my scalp for about 3 minutes before rinsing it out. My hair felt like silk! 

As soon as I'd finished washing my hair I ran out to my friend exclaiming how wonderful the product was and that she had to try it! I literally compared it to the herbal essence adverts, you know the ones in the shower where the lady is literally over whelmed with joy towards the product, my experience was like that exactly...well...minus the noises of course! I also thought I really must write a blog post on these products! 

Here is what my friend had to say about it: 

'I used these products for the first time today. When applied, the shampoo left my hair feeling clean and smooth. When I used the conditioner, it seemed to work its way into the hair, but not in a heavy way and It washed out easily. When drying, my hair appeared much more manageable and styled well. When fully dry, my hair has felt light, and also super soft and very 'touchable'. I will be buying these products to replace the ones I normally use!' 

                                                                       -Karen

Are the product claims true: 

I do agree with the products claims it is 'luxuriously creamy' it does also feel like it  hydrates your hair and whilst most if not all shampoos had conditioners leave your hair feeling clean this one definitely leaves your hair shiny and 'glowing' it is 'softly scented' it is definitely not an over powering smell and it really does leave your hair 'super soft.' So much so that I can't stop touching my hair because it feels so lovely! 

I would definitely by this product again, and again and again! In fact I liked the shampoo and conditioner so much that I am going to buy the serum of this too!

  

Step by Step Blow drying

Firstly, hello all and sorry for my lack of posts recently but I have been super busy! 

This post is all about how I blow dry my hair to make it straight. I am professionally trained in the art of dressing hair and so I know a thing or too about it. 

This is my blow drying routine:

Step 1. start off by towel drying hair 

Step 2. apply products to towel dried damp hair 

^ products I use at the moment: 

-Aveda brilliant damage control heat protector spray 

- L'oreal Tecniart liss control cream

- Aveda Dry Remedy oil 

Step 3: Comb through hair (with a wide tooth comb) to distribute the product 

Step 4: Tilt head backwards and blast off with a hair dryer to get rid of most of the excess water in the hair, this step makes the process a lot quicker.

Step 5. Section the hair into manageable sections, the bigger the brush you use the bigger the section you may take. 

Step 6. Using a vent brush blow dry the hair down straight *make sure that the nozzle is facing downwards to make sure the hair cuticle is laying flat, and all in the same direction* another tip is if you can't reach the back parts just bring them to the side and dry them as such. Also don't put the hairdryer nozzle directly onto the hair and brush just hover it over slightly, or else it will damage the hair.

Step 7. When all dry apply an oil to the ends of the hair (again Aveda Dry Remedy oil) 

Optional: afterwards you can also use a shine spray on the hair I like the Umberto Gianni shine spray 

Everyday Makeup: Face

Care Routine: Nails

This is the follow up post from my first Care Routine blogpost series. The first was Hair care and what I do to my hair to keep it healthy and looking good which can be found here:

http://bellezzaisbeauty.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/care-routine-hair.html

This one is all about my nails, how I care for them, what I do to them, and about my journey of growing them out. 

Firstly, I'll start with the journey of growing my nails out - as that's how I discovered these magical products that are now my holy grail products, and that I have repurchased several times and, shall continue to do so.  

It all started back in July 2012 when I went to a local salon to get acyrillic nails done for my holiday to Spain. But, they were the worst done ever! They looked awful! I wanted French manicure but the lady couldn't do that so I had them painted instead...it wasn't good at all! Even worse, when I soaked them off they were absolutely terrible; weak, brittle, breaking, ridgeds... 

I do believe that It is only due to these products that I have long nails now. 

Treatment

I have repurchased this Sally Hansen Maximum Strength countless times now! I have recommended it to several people and also blogged about it too. 

This was the first treatment I tried. Although, the first time I used it I didn't like it - only because I didn't use it properly! 

It's a weekly treatment and to use it, you apply 1-2 coats on bare nails on day one, then apply another coat ontop everyday for a week. It makes your nails really strong and hard, also I painted over the nail on the 7th day, it was so thick that it made them look like gel nails! 

The Sally Hansen is a deeper and more concentrated treatment then the Essie Millionails which I have moved onto now. I use this one now because I don't feel like my nails need such a deep treatment, they're strong on their own now and I just use the Essie to maintain that. 

To use it I apply 1-2 coats onto the bare nail as a base coat then apply a colour and then use it as a top coat as well. I find that it works really well on helping to maintain the nails strength but I wouldn't say it's as good a treatment as the Sally Hansen product.