Saturday 26 May 2012

My current makeup routine

Hello there my beautiful people, just a quick update on my life and makeup. I went to my friend's wedding; she looked stunning, and I finally got to meet her husband for the first time, and she got to meet mine for the first time too which was funny and lovely. We saw the Olympic torch run right past the hotel she got married in (shortly after the ceremony) and she even got to have her photo taken with the torch, which was brilliant!

I've kept up with my fake tan routine because I'm just loving being this tan at the moment, I feel so much better, and loads of people ask me if I've been lying around in the sun, which of course I haven't, even though the weather has been amazing for the past week. In fact I love it so much I did a YouTube video on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDSFbvkZ2Wg

This is a picture I took yesterday afternoon just after the makeup was done. It only took me 14 minutes to make up my entire face. What makes it easier is having these insanely long eyelash extensions as I have no real need for eyeshadow or mascara at the moment, so I'm just loving that!

Hope you're all enjoying the summer sun (at last),

Hugs x

Saturday 19 May 2012

Eyelash Extensions, Fake tan, Fake Nails... Oh my!

Yes, you read that correctly. I am covered - top to toe - in fakery. My hair is dyed black (has been for a couple of years), my skin is golden brown, my lashes are thick, curly and long, my nails are in acrylic pink-and-white french manicure. "Why?" you might ask. Well, I'm going to my friend's wedding tomorrow and I wanted to look my best. I think I went a little overboard...
I look much darker than normal, don't I? It's kind of scary, seeing as how normally I'm as pale as milk haha! I used Soltan Beautiful Bronze Self Tanning Gel to achieve this colour. Normally I use my Xen-Tan but I seem to have misplaced my bottle of it. At the moment Boots is doing a "3 for 2" offer, so three bottles is £18 which works out at £6 a bottle, which is cheap and cheerful. I was afraid the fake tan would turn me orange, but it hasn't, which is a God-send!
Check out my insanely long eyelashes! I had them done yesterday in a salon down the road from me. The products used were all Polish, and they were applied by a lovely Polish girl who was so brilliant at her work. My lashes have never been so thick and lustrous looking. I love my new eyelashes!
And here is moi all faked up to the nines and ready for my friend's wedding tomorrow. I had to use a small amount of my Double Wear foundation mixed with a couple of drops of bronzer to even out my face, then used a little bronzing powder to very lightly contour my face (it's still too fat to contour properly) and added a bit of highlighter to my cheek bones.
I'm probably going to be the only one at the wedding with a tan, because England's seen about 6 days of sunlight in the last 7 weeks or so due to rain, rain, rain and more rain... Oh, did I mention that it's been raining a lot here..? The weather has been unseasonably cold, summer is almost here and the only evidence that spring turned up is that the trees all have leaves now. I'm wrapped up in a quilt on the sofa right now! Oh well...

Anyone else out there that loves to fake up, or do you lovelies like to keep it more natural looking? I'd love to know :)

Hugs x

Friday 11 May 2012

My Weight Watchers Journey

Ok, so this blog post will have nothing to do with makeup and I won't be talking about the makeup that I have on in my pictures because, quite frankly, it's irrelevant to this post. I joined Weight Watchers in Feb 2012, and have been with them for 12 weeks so far. At first, I hated it; I was hungry, snappy and irritable from my very sudden diet change. Carbs have become a big 'no no' as I like to call them. So has most meat, really. And cheese. Mmmm, cheese. Pro Points really are the way forward when you want to lose weight though, it's just not as easy as you'd think.

People join WW as they believe it's going to be easy, and there are more than the fair share of some people that are willing to feed you bullsh*t about how simple and easy it is. They'd have you believe that no one 'falls off the wagon'. Let me tell you now, it isn't easy. It isn't particularly nice, having to cut out the cakes and crisps and chocolate (the 3 deadly C's), plus much more. It certainly isn't easy when your favourite Ben and Jerry's Icecream is at half price in the shops, or when your other half/friends/family eat things in front of or offer you food you shouldn't eat.

My WW journey has been an uphill struggle. I'm not saying that there have been times when I've gained weight, but there have been a couple of weeks and the scales have barely moved down. It's really easy (surprisingly so) to lose motivation, or to wonder why in the heck you're bothering to do it. I'm a big girl. A very big girl, and have been all my life. I have so many stretch marks it isn't even funny, and now I'm losing weight my skin is starting to sag just a little. My boobs have become droopy, which has me depressed quite a lot. It's tempting to stay fat just so I don't become a slimmer me but with all that creepy, excess skin hanging off my arms and belly. Tempting... But not enough to stop me from continuing my WW journey.

When I first joined WW, three months ago, I topped the scale at a hefty 19st 6lbs (272lbs or 123.6 Kilos). I'm almost ashamed to admit it. I'm not the fattest person around but at only 5ft 6inches high I needed to do something about it. Believe it or not, I do actually have big bones (for example, my bone structure and width is similar to a male structure of the same height; I have a large rib cage and large lungs, wide wrists, hips and feet etc), but I wouldn't dream about trying to blame my weight on that. My resting heartbeat was 89 beats a minute. Yes, you read that correctly. Scary? Very much so!
This picture above (is just my face, I know, I know) was taken just before I started WW. I have the app on my iPhone, which has helped me track everything I eat, BEFORE I put it in my mouth. It's been a life saver while out shopping, believe me!
This picture above I took today (11th May 2011). I now weigh in at 17st 3lbs, having lost 2st 3lbs (31 lbs or 14 Kilos) so far. I still have another 6st 3lbs to lose (minimum), but I'm slowly starting to feel a difference. My resting heartbeat (checked 3 minutes ago) is now 68 beats a minute. Not as slow as it should be, but it's getting there! My clothes are slowly becoming baggier. I can't wait 'til I start dropping dress sizes, but I don't think that'll happen 'til I lose at least another 14lbs.

Don't get me wrong; I have fallen off the wagon a couple of times. I ate a sneaky burger king meal one day and chinese another day (not in the same week, mind you) when I was feeling very hungry and my weak will deserted me. It goes to show as long as you get back on the wagon immediately after falling off and commit to your vision of losing weight again, you'll be fine.

Being all about beauty doesn't mean you should love the way you look on the outside only; take care of your insides too, they're the things that'll get you through to the end game! It's a hard lesson I'm learning now, but it's never too late to turn your life around xxx


Sunday 6 May 2012

This Is Why I'm Addicted to Makeup

This blog has been about looks and makeup - of course it has - because makeup has the ability to cover flaws, accentuate your best features and hide your worst ones. The possibility of makeup is endless. You can be a plain Jane just like me, with pigmentation and scars, large pores, broken blood vessels and skinny eyebrows - and makeup can make it all go away. You may want to look naturally flawless, you may want to look striking or stunning, cute and playful, dark and dramatic. Makeup will allow you to do it. I wish I was naturally beautiful, with smooth, even skin, but I'm on the other end of the spectrum. Look!

Ok, this picture was taken in natural daylight. I have NO products on my face. My eyebrows are non existent, my skin looks dull. I have pigmentation under one of my eyes, colourless lips as well as broken blood vessels on my cheeks and large pores. Even if you can't see it in this picture, believe me, they're all there. I'll tell you something; I hate going outside without makeup on my face. I feel naked, vulnerable and exposed with no makeup on.

With the help of foundation, eyeshadow primer, eyeshadow, blusher, lipstick, lipgloss and mascara I can transform my tired skin and flawed faced into something much closer to flawless and I feel more alive, brighter and more cheerful:

The transformation is quite shocking, isn't it? My eyebrows are filled in, my skin is more luminous and a more uniform colour, with the blusher where I want it to be. My eyes look more awake thanks to mascara, my lips have some colour and shine from just a touch of lipstick and gloss.


This is why I'm addicted to makeup.



Big Love to y'all out there xx