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

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

Pale English Rose

It's finally heading into spring here in England, although you'd hardly believe it, with the freezing cold nights, chilly days and the thunderstorm with lightning that we had only yesterday. But spring is officially arriving, the daffodils are out, the first green leaves are coming out on the trees and very soon the whole of England will be lush and green. Even though I have seen a lot of places in the world, I cannot help but think England can be one of the most beautiful places on earth when summer is in full swing.

As anyone that is makeup-mad like me will know that spring colours are IN right now, but I have never been one to conforming to seasonal colours. I like to head my own way and do my own thing. Also I happen to be an Urban Decay eyeshadow addict, and their colours are hardly neutral, but still... Today I decided to do a pale, English Rose look:

As y'all know, I have a pale-as-milk complexion, and this look is really easy to pull off. I used my Estée Lauder Double Wear Foundation in 1C1 Shell, all over my face. It is really full coverage foundation, and even though I kept the foundation use to a minimum, I still used a tad too much... Oh well, nevermind...

Agh! Super strange weird closeup! My eye looks cross-eyed... Hmmm... *Ahem* As you can see, I've filled in my eyebrows to make them much thicker than they really are to help give a more *cough* youthful appearance. I'm wearing my Max Factor Blusher in Classic Rose to help give me a nice colour on my cheeks after wearing such heavy foundation. My lips have almost no colour, which is very embarrassing; to get the achieved colour here I had Benetint stain on my lips, followed by Lancome's Le Rouge Absolu in Pink Diamond, followed by the tiniest touch of Nivea's Glamorous Gloss in Pink Sugar, for extra hydration as my lips have been super dry recently...

 

Ok, so for my eyes I used my Too Faced Shadow Insurance, and then applied two basic Urban Decay eyeshadows for a neutral, understated look; Sellout over the entire lid and over the entire lower lash line, with a dusting of Mushroom on the outer corners to add depth. I tightlined and carefully lined my upper lash line in Urban Decay's 24/7 liner in Zero to make my lashes appear fuller. My Asian-inherited eyelashes are straight, so needed lots of curling with my eyelash curler and two coats of L'Oreal False Lash Telescopic mascara. Finally I finished off my look, lining my waterline with a white khol eyeliner pencil by NYC.

So there you have it; a pale English Rose makeup look that's perfect for spring and can be worn anywhere, any place, any time! Have fun guys x

My tips and tricks of using Highlighters

I love highlighters. I have two; a liquid highlighter called "High Beam" by Benefit:

                               And I have a powder highlighter called "Light 01" by Bourjois:

Highlighters are simply fabulous. You don't have to use them all the time, but they are so useful that I find myself reaching for one or both of them every time I put my makeup on. If my skin is looking dull or fatigued and I want a quick pick me up, then I mix a few drops of High Beam in with my foundation. It gives my skin a healthy glow and makes me feel like a million dollars:

                                  LOL at my face powder in my hair, making my hair look grey!
Ahem... Anyway... To make my eyes look brighter, fresher and more awake (without the use of eye drops, because even though I LOVE them, they're not particularly good for your eyes), I use the bright, Bourjois highlighter in the inner corners of my eyes, around the tear ducts and blend down into the lower lashes for instantly brighter, less-tired-looking eyes:

I also like to use the powder OR liquid highlighter on the top of my cupid's bow on my lips because my top lip is teeny tiny. Apparently it can make your lips appear fuller, but I don't think it makes much difference to my lips *sigh*:

 I'm wearing lip gloss here to help make my lips appear fuller, which does a much better job - at least that's what I think.

So there are the joys of wearing highlighters on your face and how they can help you look or feel better when your skin is letting you down. Big Hugs x

The Day After the Day Before

So, it was my 27th Birthday yesterday. Getting closer to 30 every day. For the moment, I'm still ok - perhaps I'll panic about being 30 when I turn 29... I'll let you know...

So I drove down into Cornwall to see my family yesterday, and I was treated like a princess and was spoiled rotten, I even had lunch made for me and everything - it was a fabulous day! I was bought a lovely bracelet by my hubby:

Blue is my favourite colour and he chose all of the beads himself; I am a very proud wife indeed :) xx

I was given a red packet from my Poh-Poh (Grandma) with money for my birthday:

I was given a bottle of Lancome Hypnose eau de parfum by my little sister. It is one of my favourite perfumes ever, and I was so chuffed that she forked out that kind of money for it, as it is quite expensive :)

I was also given money by my mother and father in-law, which was very generous of them, and here's what I bought with their money:

This is some curl creme for hair. I'm always on the lookout for something that'll define my thick, wavy-almost-curly hair. I'll let you know how it goes.

This is the Bamboo buffing brush from Boots. Apparently it's for loose or compressed powders and it should be buffed into the skin, but I was going to see what happened if I used it with liquid foundation, which has always been my foundation of choice.

This is my first ever stippling brush. It's by Samantha Chapman. I have always wanted one, because so many makeup guru's on YouTube go on and on about how flawless a stippling brush can make your skin look. I mainly use my fingers to blend foundation, so this will hopefully be a nice change :)

My eyes are starting to look dull and tired at the moment, which shows a lot when I am doing my makeup tutorials on YouTube, so I want my eyes to be brighter and whiter, and this seems like a pretty good way to go. Of course I shan't be using this everyday as it's very bad for eyes with long term use.

Ok, so this last one has NOTHING to do with beauty, but I have recently lost 14lbs and I thought I'd treat myself to something delicious. I can't find decent Turkish Delight anywhere where I live, so it's a treat I buy when I visit Truro. I have been in the Weight Watchers programme for the past 5 weeks, and have discovered to my dismay that Turkish Delight is high in points, so I will only eat a square a day to make it last and to make sure I don't use up too many points.

So there you have it my lovelies; a list of products that I bought and was given for my birthday. I hope you're all having fun and taking good care of yourselves

It's been a long time...

It has been a long time since my last Blog - just over 6 months, in fact. Without trying to be negative, no one reads my blog, so I stopped adding to it, but then I thought "Hell, why not just carry on?", so here I am...

My last blog was about my first ever YouTube video. Since then I have uploaded another 16 videos, so I have 17 all in all and I think they're getting better. They're definitely much better quality than the first one and I've learned to edit a bit better now, but my laptop can't deal with the video editor that came with it (thanks for nothing Windows Live Movie Maker), so I do my best.

The picture above was the finished look of a how to wear red liptsick like a pro video...

This one was a gothic style makeup tutorial that my friend's fiancé asked me to do and this was the end look...

This was a cute, kitch and glittery look, so retro and cute. It's one of my fave looks because it's so easy and bright...

This was a picture of a green eyeshadow tutorial I did. It was the first time I tried to do a voice over and failed miserably, but we live and learn...

And this one was a simple vampire makeup tutorial.

I haven't been slacking; editing videos for YouTube is a much harder job than blogging. It requires hours of painstaking editing, saving, captioning, saving again and then uploading to YouTube. But on YouTube, some of my videos have been watched hundreds of times, people have commented and asked me questions. I never recieved that kind of praise or was even acknowledged as a lowly Blogger... I don't expect to be seen or heard even as I type these letters to anyone that cares to read them, but know this: My makeup addiction is still going strong. I love makeup, I have done all my life, with no real end in sight. But that's ok.

                                                   I'm Still Here...

My first ever YouTube video :D

I have always wanted to buy a camcorder, and I finally did it :). Today I made a makeup tutorial for people that wear blue contact lenses. As ya'll know, I love blue contact lenses, so it's kind of befitting that that video is my first.
It took only 20 minutes to film myself putting on the makeup, and the best part of 6hrs to edit the video, add music, narrate, only to find that the music I had chosen and saved on the video was simply too loud to be narrated over *sigh*. It took hours to save and hours to upload to YouTube, but I finally did it. I can't upload it from YouTube, as I cannot find it on YouTube haha! But here is the link if anone wants to check it out:

                                             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zgju9EE7y4

The camcorder has no auto focus and no optical zoom so it's a bit limited as to what it can do, hence my blurry face when I sit more than a foot away from the camcorder. I hope you enjoy it.

Have fun guys x