YouTube Debut with George

Hey My Lovelies,

If you haven't already seen I posted my first YouTube video! Its not a tutorial as I still don't have my set up sorted so, George and myself did the Best Friend Tag if you fancy a laugh have a watch below.

 

Make sure you subscribe to the channel so that you automatically get notified when tutorials start being posted.

Have a great week and I will speak to you all soon :)

Ems xo

The Beauty Playground Event by NBPR

London near Christmas is so Pretty

Last week I was invited to NBPR's Beauty Playground event which gives Beauty Bloggers and other people in the Beauty industry to have a little preview of new products from Lee Stafford, Myface Cosmetics, Lulu's Timebomb, Colour Xtreme, Skin Art and Nail Art.

The makeup I was wearing

Unfortunately I had the day from hell and arrived in London with no camera, hardly any phone charger and hardly any ipod battery, which meant that I didn't get you guys many pictures which I am sorry about.

NBPR arranged for a car to collect me from Victoria which was great as I don't know my way around London too well. I was one of the first to arrive which was great as it meant I could have a real good chat with some of the girls in a one on one capacity rather than with a group.

I was shown the new Lee Stafford Electrical collection and I must say he has created some really great tools especially the Long Tong which will make curling longer hair an awful lot easier and quicker. I must admit I didn't spend much time looking at the Lee Stafford products because I already use and know a fair bit about them and I wanted to give my attention to the things I knew less about.

The Lee Stafford Collection

My next stop was the Skin Art and Nail art section where one of the lovely girls applied some glitter tattoos whilst I had a great chat with Amy (one of the PR Girls and Makeup Artist) about some of her work, Amy did the Makeup on the Promo Images for Skin Art and Nail Art and one image in particular just screamed recreate me. Amy is going to be sending me the image with a list of products used so that I can attempt to recreate for you guys which is very exciting.

I then moved on to Lulu's Timebomb which I had never heard of, Its a line of Skin Care and Hair Care created by Lulu. I had the chance to have some of the new Miracle Glo applied to my skin, Miracle Glo is the first cosmetic in the line which works as a Highlighter and can be applied before or after makeup. I am very excited about this line which focuses on Anti Ageing, Its great that a funky new line has been created for us girls that are starting to get our first wrinkles.

Lulu's Timebomb Collection

I continued on to my new love Myface Cosmetics to have a little look at the new Italian Ice Eyeshadow Duo's and the Slinky Liquid Liners. I also got the chance to have a play with some of the other Blingtone Shadows in different shades which are so beautiful. The lovely girl that was showing me the new products (memory fails me on her name as I am getting old!) is going to be sending me some other goodies from the line to check out which is rather exciting as I really do like this brand.

The Myface Cosmetics Collection

Finally I was taken through to the plush bathroom to have my hair done. The Lovely hairdresser used Lee Stafford's My Long Tong to create some loose curls then, to give my hair volume he added some of Lee Stafford's Dry Shampoo and back combed my hair before setting it all in place with Hold Tight Hairspray. My hair looked so lovely and I will be investing in the Long Tong sometime soon as it was super easy to use and the loose curl looked so lovely.

After I had had my hair done I made my way back to the main room to say my goodbyes when I was given a huge goody bag of things to try and review so, expect a full review of all of these products over the coming weeks.

What I found in my goody bag

Have you tried any of the brands I got to see if so what have your experiences been?

Ems xo

FOTD - Hear Me Roar!

I visited my sister today for dinner and to stay the night and she asked if I could attempt to recreate From Head To Toe's Lion on her. If you dont know who From Head To Toe is, she is a Beauty Guru on YouTube and she is pretty awesome too!

Here is her tutorial:

 

And here is how sarah looked at the end

Unfortunately I forgot my camera so, we had to make do with the iPhone and that didnt work too well! Hopefully you can see what I did and at some point I will re do it using a decent camera!

Products used:

Yaby Daisy and Almond Butter Liquid Foundation

Elf Cream Eyeliner in Black

MUA Heaven and Eart Palette Top row number 1 and 5

MUA nude lipstick (shade name to be added)

Rimmel Brown Eyebrow Pencil

This is obviously not prefect as it was the first attempt but I am very pleased with how it turned out.

What do you think?

Ems

OCC Holiday 2012 Collection - Metallurgy Now On Sale

OCC's first Holiday Collection is now available worldwide and I have to say to say the new products look completely amazing, how can they not be when liptar and metallic have been put together in one little tube?

OCC had the following to say about The Metallurgy Collection 'After three years of intensive product
development, OCC is proud to introduce a whole new breed of Lip Tar. Infused with state of the art hi-resolution metallic pigments, the unparallelled opacity has gone high-voltage electric with a reflective shimmer finish.' And apparently you need even less that the original lip tar!!!

Here's a look at the new colours 

Authentic

Electric Grandma

Tryptich

Yaoi

Iced

Super NSFW

You can purchase the new liptars now on OCC's website for $16.00 or if you are Europe based you can pre-order the new shades at The Make-up Artist Boutique for £9.25.

Let me know your thoughts on the new collection.

Ems xo

All Images are from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics  (photo credit: David Phelps Photographer)

30 Days of FRIENDS Exclusive UK Giveaway From Warner Bros

I was contacted by Warner Bros and offered the chance to host a giveaway for my lovely readers, of course because I love you all so much I jumped at the chance and lets be honest who doesn't love Friends!?

This Giveaway is to celebrate the fact that the entire Friends collection will be available on Blu-ray very soon.

The Prize:
2 Oversized Cappuccinono Mugs and a Picture Frame like the one on Monica's door (rules are located at the bottom of the post)

Relive all your favourite Friends moments using the Mashup Clip Countdown! Each week a new clip will be unlocked for you to enjoy.

You can also use Warner Bros new Friends app below which has Fun Friends Trivia and enables you to see which Friends Character you are most like

How to win:

 You must be a subscriber by GFC (I will check)

You must live in the UK and be over 18 or have your parents permission as I will require your full address

Enter using the Rafflecopter tool below which will also give you the option to earn extra entries.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review and Swatches- myface.cosmetics

myface.cosmetics has been getting some amazing press of late with celebrity followings from Gwyneth Paltrow, Salma Hayek and Kate Moss so, when I was offered the opportunity to review some of their products I jumped at the chance.

The great thing about this brand is they put their cosmetics into three categories Fair, Medium and Dark which means you can just shop your complexion. Now of course some of the Lip and Blush shades will suit an array of tones but they tell you which skin tone it was designed for. Arranging their cosmetics in this way means that once you have matched up your foundation you pretty much cant go wrong with anything else you choose, obviously providing you take your hair and eye colouring into account.

mymix Foundation £15.99

I received the mymix foundation in shade Fair 03 this shade was a tad too dark for me but with enough buffing I could just pull it off, I think I am more of a Fair 02. This foundation has a very light liquid texture, a lot like MAC's Face and Body, with a medium coverage. This foundation has a lovely dewy finish and without a primer didn't seem to sit in my pores at all which is a major plus.

R&B Rouge/Blusher £14.99

I received Lady Monaco which is part of the Medium complexion range however it looks lovely on my complexion. This blush is very pigmented so a little goes a very long way, the packaging is pretty nifty featuring a great sized mirror and a blush brush so, its perfect for popping straight in your handbag.

Blingtone Eyeshadows £12.99

I received Black Ice and Silver Screen. These shadows are stupidly glittery (stupidly in a good way) with hardly any glitter fall out when applied to the lid. You know what its like you buy a shadow like Blacktied from MAC which is lovely black with loads of glitter but, when you apply it to your lid its just a black shadow and the glitter is gone. These shadows keep the glitter as you will see from the pictures and that is without using a base at all. The silver shadow upon swatching doesn't appear to be as pigmented as the black, it just seems to be silver glitter. The Black shadow I am completely in love with this out of all of the products is my fav, I have not come across a black shadow with so much pigmentation and so much glitter together in one tiny package.


Overall I really, really like this brand and would certainly like to try the rest of the Blingtone shadows and some of their lip products.

The great thing for you guys is at the moment myface.cosmetics are running a promotion which will entitle you to a full size mymix foundation with any order using code free-foundation (whilst stocks last) This is a great offer and certainly gives you the chance to try more than one item on your first order.

If you do end up ordering I would love to hear your thoughts.

Ems xo

Halloween FOTD Series - China Doll

Products Used:

Snazaroo White Facepaint used all over the face
Snazaroo Black Facepaint used on the brows
Sugarpill Tako used under brow
Sugarpill Poison Plum used all over the lid and under the bottom lashes
Yaby Carbon Paper used in the crease and outer corner of the eye
Benefit Dandelion used on cheeks
OCC Liptar in Digitalis used on lips
Selection of ELF lashes cut and applied to upper and lower lashes
Yaby loose setting powder used all over the face
Catrice Mascara

OCC and Yaby products are available in the UK from The Make-up Artist Boutique and Love Makeup

Breast Cancer Awareness Month - A Personal Post!

Hey My Beauties!

I wanted to do a post about Breast Cancer Awareness Month and wasn't quite sure what to post so, I thought I would do more of a personal post.

I currently have a small lump in my breast, should I have started it that way? Straight to the point I suppose, No I haven't yet been to the Doctors which means I don't know if its just lumpy tissue, a cyst or the big C. I know many of you will sit there and think silly girl go to the Doctors now but read on a little and you may understand why I leave it a few days.

I have been on the at risk list for around 5 years, my Mum had Breast Cancer when she was 35 and I have had several lumps in my breast since since I was around 21. I will be screened earlier than most women because of this and when I do find a lump I get seen very quickly.

The reason I leave it a few days is because the previous lumps have been nothing or mastitis so, usually in a few days the pain goes away and the lump reduces in size until its gone.

This time is a little different as it is in the other breast that I have never had a problem with and the lump is fairly large but I still want to see if it goes down by itself before I really start panicking.

I would like to say to all women that read my blog if you don't check your breasts regularly you should! And most certainly if you discover a lump for the first time painful or not get yourself straight to the Doctors.

I am pretty sure mine is nothing but of course it is better to be safe than sorry so, if the lump is still there Friday I can assure you I will be straight to the Doctors going through my usual examination and referral to have a biopsy and scan.

I may seem calm in this post but like anyone I am shitting myself but I look back at the past 7 lumps and chill out a little.

I will keep you updated on the outcome!

Love

Ems xo

For more advice check out these links: http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/ and http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Cancer-of-the-breast-female/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Giveaway Announcement!

Hey My Beauties,

Just a little update to say that once the blog hits 200 followers I will be doing a Giveaway which I am sure will include some OCC and Yaby and maybe some other goodies.

So get sharing and once we getting to that 200 mark I will announce the prizes :)

Have a lovely week beauties and expect a freaky Halloween Doll look and possibly the first video tutorial to go with it.

Also if you are around Brighton and Hove on 3rd November come and watch the lovely Tom's handy work at The Annual Firework Spectacular details can be found here and if you do make sure you say Hi :)

Love

Ems xo

The Beauty Blogger Bunch Weekend Blog Hop

October 5th - October 8th, 2012

 

 Join the Beauty Blogger Bunch blog hop! Add your link below and hop around to discover new blogs and new friends! Both beauty and fashion bloggers are welcome.

Liz Earle Botanical Essence No15 Eau de Parfum

Today marks the release of Liz Earle's second fragrance Botanical Essence No15!

Liz Earle describe this frgarance as "a fresh spicy oriental scent. This clean, sexy, and addictive fine fragrance is synonymous with feeling seductive and elegant."

The lovely girls in the Liz Earle press office surprised me by popping a little sample of this fragrance in the post. I was excited because I wasn't expecting any packages and immediately like a child on Christmas day opened it and spritzed myself.

The fragrance is pretty strong but not in a bad way I just over applied, the great thing about this fragrance is it lasts so well. You know what its like you spray your favourite scent and then you cant smell it an hour later well, this fragrance I could still smell the following morning and even when I applied less the next day I could still smell it today! That is a massive thumbs up for me and means that you will be using less product.

With the oriental feel to the fragrance and the warmness to the scent its the perfect fragrance for the Fall/Winter time.

As I said the fragrance goes on sale today on the Liz Earle website and is priced at £45 for 50mls

YouTube, Tumblr and Other Goodness

Because I hate posting without a picture! Me and the Princess xo

Hey My Beauties!

After much persuasion from a few friends I will be starting to upload a few YouTube Tutorials each week. I will get tongue tied so I am pretty sure the videos will be filmed and then have a voice over or captions added but I haven't decided yet.

I would love your input, How would you prefer the videos to be filmed? Do you have particular tutorials/review videos that you would like to see me post?

I am pretty nervous about the whole YouTube thing so bare with me whilst I find my feet.

I have started my Halloween series as I am sure you have already seen from yesterdays post and I will be aiming to do one a week until Halloween, If you want to see anything in particular please comment and I will give it a go.

Finally, I have started posting all of the looks from the blog on Tumblr so pop along to Tumblr and give me a follow: http://thepromakeuplog.tumblr.com/

I always love to hear from you guys weather it be good or bad so leave me a comment with things you would like to see or things you would prefer i did a little different etc.

For now that's all the updates I hope you have a great week.

Ems xo

Halloween FOTD Series - Two Faced

Products used:

Snazzaroo Facepaint in White, Black and Red
Myface Cosmetics Foundation in Fair 03
Benefit 10 used to contour and highlight
Benefit Dandelion
Benefit BADgal Liner
Sugarpill Bulletproof
Sugarpill Goldilux
Hi Brow 24 Hour Brow Powder
Illamasqua Precission Ink in Abyss
Catrice Mascara (more details to follow)
Lets Go Lashes (more details to follow)

Review: Nail Art Nail Tattoos

I absolutely adore doing my nails, It's one of the best things I do to relax. So when I got my fingers on these nail tattoo stickers I was rather happy.

When I opened the packaging I was pleasantly surprised. They're in pretty nifty packaging which just folds back flat, meaning they are easy to put away once you have finished your nails.

 First of all, even if you are rubbish at all the slinky painted nail designs and dont fancy paying loads for decent looking nails, these will be right up your alley, they're not overly expensive but look really pretty.

There are enough stickers in the pack to do a full set (all ten fingers) six times. On the model I only used one finger on each hand, just for a bit of a difference.

For starters I put on Collection 2000 Nail hardener as a base coat as it makes it easier for the colour to look even. The models nails are painted with 3 coats of Collection 2000 hot looks sherbert lemon.

After waiting for them to dry, you simply gently peal the nail stickers from the backing paper, and place them on the nail in which ever funky design  takes your fancy. Very carefully push down to make sure it's secure then coat them in a top coat to seal them in.

Simple as that!

Nail Art's Nail Tattoos are available for £5.99 from skinartuk.com.

Jo xo

*PR sample sent for review. All views are my own

Makeup Kit/Bag Essentials - Prep & Prime

Over the coming weeks I am going to introduce you to a few products the I cant live without on set and in my personal makeup bag. The best place to start is at the beginning so, all of these products will be products used to prepare the face prior to having makeup applied.

The reason for priming the face is to help your makeup stay put longer, especially under the heat of studio lighting. Each of the products below are products I swear by some are new finds others are old loves.

1. Queen Eyelash Cream*

This product is specifically for the eyelashes as I am sure you have guessed by the name!
This product is applied using your fingers (with a spooly if working with a model) to the top and bottom lashes. This product helps keep the lashes separated, conditioned and protected. Since I started using this I noticed that mascara stays put longer, there is no flaking and fewer lost eyelashes.

The great thing about this cream is that you can get a nice natural curl with it so, even if you didn't want to wear mascara your lashes still look amazing. It sinks into the surrounding skin quickly, leaving no greasy residue and works great at night as a treatment for your lashes to help keep them in great condition.

Queen Eyelash Cream retails at £10.25 for a 12ml pot which is available from their website: http://www.queen-cosmetics.com

2. Pure by Phytocare Paw Paw Ointment*

Paw Paw Ointment is always raved about by a lot of Make-up Artists but for whatever reason I never got around to trying it. I recently got sent this amazing product and it has now replaced Carmex as my go to lip prep product.

This 100% natural balm can be used for an array of issues. I use it mainly to prep lips, you can see an immediate difference in extremely dry lips and there is nothing worse than applying lip products to dry flaky lips.

This wonderful product leaves lips soft, supple and nourished. I have even used this product around my poor cold filled nose, you know the kind of nose I am talking about, the bright red cracked skin nose! The product doesn't leave a greasy or sticky residue and when applied to sore cracked skin it doesn't sting.

Pure offer this product in the following sizes 25g tube for £9.99, 100g tube for £19.99 and a 200g jar for £35.99. The lovely people at Pure have given me a discount code for my readers which will give you a whopping 25% off when you use PUREpapaya25 (valid until 31/12/12) on their website: www.purepapaya.co.uk

3. OCC Skin: Primer

I brought my first bottle of this amazing liquid back in 2010 at IMATS and I have been in love ever since, I cant tell you how many bottles I have since been through.

What I love about this primer is the texture, its a liquid rather than a gel or cream type product. When applied to the skin it sinks right in rather than leaving a greasy film on top of the skin.

I have very large pores and this has been the only primer so far that has stopped foundation and other products sitting in the pores. This product also has the best performance in the studio, It helps foundation stay in place under the hot lights and the need for re-applying and touching up is lessened.

I also use this product instead of water to apply shadows and loose pigments because it doesn't crease as much as it does when using water.

You can purchase this item for $25.00 from OCCmakeup.com or for £14.99 from The Makeup Artist Boutique

What can't you live without in your Makeup bag/kit?

Ems xo

*PR sample sent for review. All views are my own

OCC Heroine Collection Now On Sale Worldwide

OCC have today released their new Fall/Winter Collection named Heroine. The new collection was inspired by the teams favourite horror movie heroines.

The new Lip Tars are as follows:

Black Dhalia

Lydia

Marion

Psycho

Starling

Sybil

The collection went on sale Worldwide today in select Sephora stores, OCC's website and here in the UK at The Makeup Artist Boutique
Ems xo

Review: Hi Brow 24 hour Brow Powder Compact by LaLa

Most of us girls, and some guys, love to have perfectly shaped and defined brows because perfect brows frame the face. I personally go days without wearing any makeup but, I always make sure my brows are tamed and shaped because it just seems to bring the face to life.

This clever little kit includes a highly pigmented brow powder which comes in 4 shades, I have the shade Dark Brown, A highlighter, A Double ended brush featuring an angled brush and a standard shadow brush and finally 3 brow stencils.

I really like the powder its highly pigmented and once applied it does last on me for at least 12 hours before fading and when I say fading its the smallest amount. As for the highlighter its just the right shade not too glittery and leaves a lovely sheen to the brow bone.

I did a test with the brow powders running them under cold water using no soap and rubbing for around 5 mins and I think the image below speaks for itself!

I am normally not a fan of brushes that come in any kit but, this brush isn't actually too bad, the angled end is quite compact as you would expect for this type of brush. The hair used on both ends is super soft.

Finally the stencils, I personally don't like stencils anyway but they do come in handy to use as a guide to shaping your brows. Tip: Fill in your brow with product using the stencil of your choice and then pluck any hairs that have not been covered by product for that perfected brow

I do think the thickness of the stencils need to be addressed as the thickest stencil is not thick enough, it is practically the same size as the medium stencil with a slightly thicker arch, This is my only down point on the whole product.

The price of the product may seem a little steep but in my opinion with what you get in the kit, pigmentation of the product and the length of time you can have it on without the need to reapply I think its worth it.

Hi-Brow by LaLa retails at £29.95 and is available at Lash Perfect Lash Bar and bylala.co.uk
 
*PR sample sent for review. All views are my own

EOTD - Tropicana

Products used:

Rimmel Brow Pencil in  Dark Brown
Hi Brow by La La 24hr Brow Powder in  Dark Brown*
Sugarpill Pressed Eyeshadow in Buttercupcake
Sugarpill Pressed Eyeshadow in Flamepoint
Sugarpill Pressed Eyeshadow in Love +
Sugarpill Pressed Eyeshadow in Poison Plum
Sugarpill Pressed Eyeshadow in Tako
ELF Liquid Liner in Black
Smashbox Bionic Mascara in Jet Black* 

I'd love to hear what you think of this look

Ems xo

Items marked with an asterisk are PR samples 

 

OCC New 2012 F/W Lip Tar Collection - Heroine

OCC are set to release their new Fall/Winter Collection named Heroine. The new collection was inspired by the teams favourite horror movie heroines.

The new Lip Tars are as follows:

Marion - Deceitfully Dirty Rose
Psycho - Dripping with Blood Red
Starling - Deeply Rusted Red
Sybil - Midnight Brownout
Black Dahlia - Blackened Red
Lydia - Darkroom Plum

The collection goes on sale Worldwide on September 17th in select Sephora stores, OCC's website and here in the UK at The Makeup Artist Boutique and Love Makeup.

I personally cannot wait to try out Black Dahlia!

Ems xo

EOTD - Poisoned Pastels

Products used:

elf Eyelid Primer

Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Surge (Fundamental Palette) used as Highlight

Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Bedaub (Fundamental Palette) used all over the lid

Sugarpill Poison Plum Eyeshadow used in the crease and outer corner

Illamasqua Precision Ink Liner in Abyss

Illamasqua Masquara in Raven

elf Cream Eyeliner used on water line

Hi Brow by La La 24hr Brow Powder in  Dark Brown used lightly on Brows

Images really don't do this look justice I really need to get a new camera and I should point out that unless I post a look on Instagram I don't retouch any of my pictures.