The Christmas Tag! 2013

December is here! That means we can officially start getting properly excited for Christmas (Although, I've been excited since about August)! To get in the festive spirit I thought I would do the Christmas tag questions!

1. Do you prefer real or synthetic trees?
Definitely real. I've always had real Christmas trees, going to choose one, getting it cut to fit the stand, having the needles fall onto the ground, and the smell all gets me in the Christmas spirit and I love it.

2. You're in a coffee shop in December, what do you pick?
I know everyone's obsessed with pumpkin spice latte but I've never tried it, and don't fancy it at all. So, I'd probably choose a mocha with a shot of peppermint, yummy!

3. What's your favourite colour scheme when decorating the Christmas tree?
I actually don't like it when people stick to one or two colours for the whole tree, I think it looks boring and not very fun. My family still use the decorations me and my sister made in primary school, and other proper decorations. It's all multicoloured, Christmassy and lovely.

4. Giving or receiving?
I of course love receiving presents, having new things to try out and enjoy and I'm always so grateful for them, but I personally prefer giving. I love finding something I know someone will love and seeing the excitement on their face when they open it.

5. To mince pie or not to mince pie?
Ohhh I love a good mince pie, warmed up of course! With some nuts on the side and a little bit of cream.

6. What's your traditional Christmas lunch?
I'm a vegetarian, so no turkey or other meat for me! It changes from year to year, but normally a product from Quorn - maybe their roast. Then roast potatoes (my mum makes the best ones, with garlic, crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle), lots of vegetables, a yorkshire pudding and my favourite part, stuffing! With gravy all over. We all sit around our table, Christmassy table cloth on, candles light, serviettes and crackers for everyone!

7. Christmas Day fashion
Sometimes I just wear some cosy Christmassy pyjamas, but I do like to feel dressed up. Last year I wore a nice dress, chunky cardigan and thick tights.

8. What's your favourite Christmas song?
I actually don't like Christmas songs that much, I find them annoying in shops and things. Hmm, but lets go for Santa Clause Is Coming To Town by The Jackson 5 because it's a good one to sing along too, or I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday by Wizzard.

9. What's your favourite Christmas film?
Home Alone! The original is by far the best. I also love watching Elf, and The Holiday as well.

10. Open presents before or after lunch?
After! I think I'm the only one. But it's so much more enjoyable. We normally open a couple before lunch and then the rest afterwards. Also my dad doesn't actually get in from work until about 1pm anyway, so it's nice to have lunch first. It's nice to spread it out a bit and make it something to look forward to.

What's your favourite thing about 

Christmas?

My Current Eye Makeup Routine!

Doing my eyes is my favourite part of my makeup routine, I'm definitely a lipstick lover but I enjoy doing my eyes the most - choosing the shadows, applying them, blending, choosing an eyeliner and mascara, ahhh. The last few days I've been reaching for the same products when it comes to do my eye makeup.

I've been using Stila eyeshadow in Champagne, which you can see swatched HERE all over my lid, then in the outer corner I've been using a grey shade from a Rimmel palette called Brixton brown, you can see that swatched HERE, then I blend them. I take whatever's left on the brush slightly under my eye. Then I use Maybelline's black gel eyeliner to draw a thin line and a slight flick.
I finish off with a couple of layers of Maybelline's volum' express the rocket mascara.
I like this look because it's not OTT but it's pretty and neutral, all the products last a long time as well.

What's your current favourite eye product?

My Favourite 3 Eyeliners

Finding a good eyeliner can be quite tricky. You want one that's a good colour, easy to apply, easy to blend, isn't expensive, is nicely packaged and lasts all day. I've tried a lot of eyeliners, and these are my top 3 that I reach for most often and absolutely love.

The first one and the one I use most often is the Maybelline gel eyeliner in black. I use this all the time! It's amazing, it comes with a little brush which makes it easy to apply, it creates a lovely look and it lasts for as long as you need it to! For £7.99 I think it's a bargain.

Next up is Rimmel Scandal Eyes Kohl liner in black. This eyeliner is waterproof so I mostly use it on my waterline. It doesn't budge all day, it's easy to apply and blend and the colour is jet black. Sometimes I find black eyeliners come out almost grey, but that's not the case with this. It retails for £3.99!

My last favourite is a liner I actually only really use around Winter time because it's slightly festive I think. It's the Avon Glimmerstick Diamonds Eyeliner in black ice. This is a twist up creamy pencil liner  (yay for no sharpening!) that has slight specks of glitter running through it, it's super pretty and would be perfect for Christmassy parties! This is only £6!

Top to Bottom -
Maybelline Gel Eyeliner
Rimmel Kohl Liner
Avon Glimmerstick Diamonds

What's your most used eyeliner?

Eyebrow Tips And Tricks!

Whether you believe it or not eyebrows make a massive difference to your face. Shaping and shading your brows correctly can frame your face, help balance facial features, if you're older they can give you a more youthful look by opening up the eye area, make you look more 'put together', and just generally make you look more 'done'.

I have put together some of my best eyebrow tips, from plucking to filling your brows in.

1. Before you get plucking you should brush your eyebrows upwards and trim the long hairs with brow scissors, this will determine the natural shape of your brows before plucking.

2. Determine where you need to pluck! Don't just go straight in with those tweezers or you could easily over pluck. To find out where your brow should start grab a pencil and place it parallel to the side of your nose, that's where your brow should begin.
Next find out where the arch should be, grab that pencil again and align it with the outer edge of your iris, this is where your arch in the brow should be. Finally your brow shouldn't go further than where your brow bone ends.

3. Now you're ready to pluck.  A lot of people find plucking painful, I never have but here are some tips on making plucking a bit more bearable.
 - Pluck after having a hot bath or shower, the pores will be more open.
 - Soak a flannel in hot water, wring it dry and place it over your brows for a minute or two, remove it              then pluck.

4. Don't over pluck. To maintain a natural look don't pluck more than 2 rows of hair and don't pluck too much from above the brow, but you probably will need to pluck some from outer part above to create a very subtle slope.

5. Now you've shaped your eyebrows it's time to fill them in. Decide on your method, either a pencil or a shadow. I personally like to use a shadow because it looks more natural and gives a nicer effect in my opinion.

6. Get the right colour match. Most girls I see use entirely the wrong shade when filling in their brows…it's normally too dark. A rule that often applies is the shade should be 1 or 2 shades lighter than your current hair colour.

7. When filling in your brows it's best to follow your natural brow shape, rather than drawing on a whole new shape like some girls do. But if you have very sparse brows or have a bare patch it's best to use a thin eyebrow brush or even a eyeliner brush and do soft like upwards strokes to mimic the natural hairs.

8. I always start by defining the arch of my brow, just by gently brushing the powder with a brow brush through the brow. Once that's done I move on to the rest of the brows. It's a bit like colouring, don't go outside of the lines! Only ever do this very slightly if you want more definition.

9. Brush through your brows to make sure the powder, or pencil if you decided to use that, is distributed evenly.

10. For unruly brows use some brow gel, or brow set to make sure your brows are set in place all day.

There you have it! Now you should have perfect brows.

For a great budget buy brow kit look here!

I hope you found those tips useful, 

let me know if you try them out or if

you have any more brow tips!

x

The Palette I've Loved For A Year

I love to change around my make-up, use different products, create different looks, so when a product has been reached for nearly every day for a year it makes it very special. The Stila In The Light eyeshadow palette is one of those products.

I got this palette just under a year ago and I've genuinely used at least 1 of the shades more or less every single day that I've worn makeup in that time. I love it a lot, and as you can see from the pictures I've only hit pan on 1 of the 10 shades which just goes to show how pigmented these little shadows are!

L-R bare, kitten, bliss, sunset, sandstone,
champagne, gilded gold, luster, night sky, ebony

The palette consists of 10 shades, all very wearable, all super pigmented and all are long lasting.
There are 4 matte shades (bare, bliss, sandstone and ebony) and 6 shimmery shades (kitten, sunset, champagne, gilded gold, lustre and night sky). All these eyeshadows are very creamy, soft and easy to blend. It also came with a Stila smudge stick in Damsel (brown) but I've used that up! It was lovely.
What I especially love about this palette is how many different looks you can do with it. You can create a really lovely natural look, and you can also create a very pretty smokey eye, and so many other looks in between. The shades I wear most often would probably be kitten, champagne and sandstone (in the crease and outer corner).

L-R bare, kitten, bliss, sunset, sandstone

L-R champagne, gilded gold, luster, night sky, ebony

The only complaint I have about this palette is the packaging, sure it's very pretty but definitely not practical for carrying around or travelling with. The lid is magnetic, there's no clip or anything, so what I have to do is put a hairband around it to stop it coming open if I have it in a bag.

I'd highly recommend this palette. It would make a brilliant Christmas gift!
It seems to be sold out everywhere but HERE! Purchase it for £25…bargain!

What's your most used eyeshadow palette?

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