My Current Skin Routine : Getting Ready For The Wedding

First of all, I wanted to highlight that I am no skin expert, and this is what currently is working for me. I'm not suggesting it is the right way, I'm sure there are so many things I need to be doing that I'm not. I simply wanted to show what I am doing at the moment as it appears to be working for me.

Over the next few months, I need to get my skin routine into check as I get married in August. I wanted to put everything down in my blog so I can see how my skin is progressing and to highlight to myself what is missing and where! Also, sorry my photo's seem to be a bit blurry at the moment, I have no idea what is going on with the camera on my iphone!

I'm terrible in the morning when it comes to my skin! This is somewhere I really need to improve when it comes to looking after my skin. 

In the morning I simply wash my face with water in the shower, maybe not the best way to start the day for my skin!! 

I then used Creme de la Mer soft cream and Laura Mercier primer to prep my skin ready for my make up. I have recently be trying the Creme de la Mer Treatment Lotion which you apply before your moisturizer to drive moisture into the skin to improve texture and appearance of skin tone. I actually really noticed a huge difference in my skin, so this is something that is currently on order! 

Twice a week a give my skin a little treat (on a Wednesday and Saturday morning to be precise!) I use my claraionic with Estée Lauder Perfectly Clean to give my skin a deep clean and buff. I've started to really notice my make up gets patchy if I skip / forget to so this. Once I've used my clarasonic, the surface of my skin is so much smoother and I find that my foundation is much more even. 

Then, in the evenings I used Shu Uemura Skin Purifier oil to clean off all of my make up. This stuff really is amazing and takes off even the most stubborn of make up including mascara and eyeliner! It's seriously unreal. I have tried this green one and also their yellow coloured one. Personally, I found that my skin felt a bit tight and dry after using the yellow one, so make sure to talk to the ladies / gents behind the counter to make sure you are getting the right oil for your skin. I was really hesitant to use a face oil at first as I do suffer from oily skin, but I love this stuff. Please check out my other blog on Shu Uemura face oils for more details.

When I climb into bed, I then apply The Body Shop Vitamin E Nourishing Night Cream. I decided to use a difference face cream at night because I feel it is a bit of a waste to use my La Mer at night time and also because I actually quite like this body shop night cream.

Once or twice a month, (if I remember) I also use the Liz Earle Face Mask which comes with two face buffers. Unfortunately, when I moved house my face buffers seem to have gone missing :( which is a real shame, but still use this with a damp cloth. 

So it's pretty short and sweet and needs a few tweaks here and there, but it's getting there. At the moment my skin is really

I would be more than welcome to have any of your hints and tips around skincare! Please get on contact either on my email highendmakeupgirl@outlook.com or on Instagram : highendmakeupgirl

DLJ
Xoxo

Christmas Stocking Treats For A Make-Up Lover

With Christmas only a few days away I thought it would be a good idea to reach out to anyone who needs a few Christmas stocking treat ideas. There is still plenty of time to hit the shops and stock up on stocking fillers! 

Here's my list of ideas that I'm sure any make up lover would happily receive on Christmas Day! (Complete with Christmas stocking☺️)

Let's start from the top :

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomada £15

Smashbox Cosmetics Cream Shadow £12

Creme de la Mer face cream £105 + depending on size 

Chanel Perfume around £55 for 50ml

Real Techniques brush set £23.99

Dior Special Christmas nail varnish £21

(Photo to be added when I get home) 

CoverFX illuminating setting powder £28

Real Techniques eye shadow and lipgloss set £25

I tired to cover a large-ish range of budgets from over £100 with the Creme de la Mer to under £15 with Anastasia Beverly Hills and Smashbox cosmetics. 

There is still plenty of time to head out and pick up some treats for your loved ones! 

Wedding hair trial!!!

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me and two of my beautiful bridesmaids. We went to have a little hair trial to get some ideas for the big day 

One of my bridesmaids has really long thick hair, while the other three have short hair. So this was my first hurdle. I wanted my bridesmaids to have a reasonably similar look when it came to their hair styles. I don't want them all the be clones on the day, but I do want a bit of a theme.

So to start the day we decided to tackle my maid of honors incredibly long and thick hair. (I'm so jealous of her hair it's unreal and I'll show you why) 

We started by curling all over. And you ca see how many colours my friend had running through her golden locks. 

Then from curls, the hairdresser made this beauty 

L

Ahhhhh just look at it!!!! Ohhhhmydayyyys it's beautiful. 

As it's a hair trial, we also wanted to see how it would look tied up and out of the way. And here is the finished look. 

Both styles looked so pretty, but my friends hair is so heavy so having it up all day can be uncomfortable. So we decided to stick to having half up half down like in the first photo. We then decided to add a little tint bit of bling ;) 

Imagine the hair down photo with this pin and ta dah! 

One bridesmaid down. 3 more to choose a hair style for. So as I mentioned the other 3 bridesmaid have pretty short hair. So we needed to have something that would suit their short styles but also have just as beautiful an effect 

As you can see this was along the sme lines, it still featured a plait and curls but just ever so slightly different. The plaits here needed to be at the sides as the hair just wasn't long enough to do a plait in the middle. 

When it came to my own hair I decided to have something a little bit different....but that's for another post ;)

DLJ 

Xoxo

Primer : High end vs high street

I have done a blog on primers before, but only focusing on what most people see as 'high end'.

I wanted to do a blog on high end vs high street / drug store as I recently purchased a new primer from The Body Shop. I have to admit, I normally only buy hand creams from The Body Shop, but I had a coupon and was in need of a new primer, so I thought what they heck.

My skin is very sensitive, so I have to be really careful when it comes to putting new products on or I have a massive break out. The Body Shop generally is pretty good stuff and they use mostly natural ingredients. AND they don't test on animals :)

The primer I picked up is called the Skin Primer Moisture It. It is a lightweight primer gel which helps to absorb oil. It comes in a 25 ml tube and is just £12 in the UK. So I thought for that price, you can't go far wrong!

First thoughts : I'm actually quite impressed with this gel. It has a really nice texture and absorbs into the skin fast and doesn't leave you feeling greasy. It doesn't really have a strong smell at all. If anything, (if you really take note to smell it) it smells a little bit like play doe, but like I say, you can really only smell it if you are really trying to smell the product

My make up stays on reasonably well with The Body Shop Primer however it does not last as long as when I used the Laura Mercier primers just hold my make up all day.

The texture is pretty much the same, but there is just obviously something extra in the Laura Mercier that just makes make up hold that bit longer and stay that bit smoother. Price wise the Laura Mercier is £29 but for 50ml. So it's just over double the price, but you do get double the product.

So all in all, I think The Body Shop is a great value primer. I have tried high end primers that I have liked less, so it is a good little buy if you are wanting to give primers a go and not splash out.

But if you need the extra hold, then I really would recommend the Laura Mercier primers. They are a little bit more expensive, but you do get more product and a longer lasting effect.

DLJ
Xoxo

MakeUpGeek Kryptonite VS BareMinerals Purrfect

I have recently started an addiction. My new addiction is MakeUpGeek eye shadows. I had been looking at these eye shadows for months, but at the moment they only have a US website so shipping to the UK is pretty pricey (when you take into account tax and handling fees from the lovely Royal Mail, thanks for that...NOT)

But anyway, I decided to go for it and just get a few colours and a Z-palette to see what all the fuss was about. And so, here we are, I am now addicted to their eye shadows!

I recently purchased one of their loose pigments called Kryptonite. (See blow)

(Photo : Makeupgeek.com)

This colour is a metallic green moss with flecks of golden wonderfulness. It is INCREDIBLY pigmented, you literally need to dab your brush into the pot and you will have masses of colour. And even better it is an ever more wonderful price of just $6.99 for 1.4g

On thing I did notice was that it seemed VERY similar to my BareMinerals Purrfect. And I don't just mean the contents! Let's take a look....

Above you can see that from the outside, the packaging looks pretty similar. Inside things are a bit different. 

When they are side by side you can see a little bit of a difference between the two colours. The swatch on the left is from MakeUpGeek and the swatch on the right is from BareMinerals

The BareMinerals shadow is slightly lighter with a little more of a golden tint to it. However the price difference between the two products is not so little.

MakeUpGeek : $6.99 (approx £4.50) for 1.4g 
BareMinerals : £14.00 for 0.57g!!!

So not only is the MakeUpGeek cheaper but you get MASSES more product for your money! You could even buy a gold eye shadow to mix with it to make it have more gold like the BareMinerals one for less.

DLJ

Xoxo

A Morning At La Mer

As a birthday treat, Creme De La Mer invited me to a complimentary hand and arm massage using their products. Being a huge La Mer fan I jumped at the opportunity to be pampered for the morning.

When I first arrived I was greater by a lovely glass of champagne (which went down surprisingly well at 11am). I had an hour long hand massage with a variety of products and a discussion about which products would be useful to had to my regime with my upcoming wedding. 

Champagne and La Mer

La Mer are actually part of the Estee Lauder group and have a really interesting background. 

There 'Miracle Broth' was created when physicist Dr Max Huber suffered burns in a lab accident. He then spent 12 years developing a cream to help his horrible burns. This 'Miracle Broth' is now at the heart of all of the Creme De La Mer products. 

The range has numerous skin care treatments such as moisturisers, toners, cleansers, eye creams and so on. The range also includes foundations. 

Some of the beautiful products

Dr Huber focused his experiments around sea kelp as it has endless ability to regenerate itself, its nourishing properties and the powerful war it retained moisture.(http://www.cremedelamer.co.uk/miracle-broth)

Sea Kelp is a key ingredient in La Mer

One of my favourite products that was used when I was having my massage was the below body refiner. This stuff is so pretty. It is a scrub that leaves you looking with something from Twilight. It leaves little specs of diamond dust on your skin that make you look and feel so pretty. 

The Body Refiner. Price £80 for 200ml

I am getting married next year and am looking at improving my practically none existent skin routine. Below is one of the products that was recommended for my skin care regime. This lotion dries moisture into the skin to improve visible texture and even the appearance of skin tone. You apply this before your moisturiser and it helps your skin to absorb your product. Apparently applying this first means you will go through less moisturiser as your skin will be fully prepped.

The Treatment Lotion. Price £85 for 150ml

The next treatment that was recommended for my wedding skin prep was the Intensive Revitalizing Mask. This product was on the Glamour Beauty Power List 2014 and is a refreshing cream mask which energises, plumps and protects which makes your skin look lovely and youthful. The instructions say to leave this on for 8 minutes when wipe it away with tissue, however you can also just leave this on all day. 

The Intensive Revitalizing Mask. Price £105 for 75ml

Beautiful products

I had such a wonderful time trying loads of new Creme De La Mer products. The only issue is...which ones should I buy now?

I have a LONG shopping list

DLJ
Xoxo

Clarisonic Mia 2 : Let's begin...

I was actually given the Clarisonic Mia 2 last Christmas as a gift. I started using it straight away as I was so excited to get it, however I stopped using it after about 3 months because it made my skin WORSE that when I started. I knew it would make me break out to being with as it started to clear my skin, but it just didn't seem to get better. After someone at work noted that my skin was getting 'pretty bad' I decided to completely remove it from my skin care regime.

The instruction manual recommends that you use this twice a day, but I think my skin just found it way too much. I was also using the standard brush that came with it, that again I think was just too much for my skin.

I am getting married next year and decided to give this another go because I want my skin to be perfect. I recently bought a new head specifically for sensitive skin and have decided to use this just twice a WEEK rather than twice a day. I have seen so many reviews that say this is the best thing since sliced bread...so hopefully this will start to have a positive effect this time.

I will be doing regular updates on how I am getting on with this product, so stay tuned.

DLJ
Xoxo

Brows : Benefit VS Anastasia Beverly Hills

About 3 months ago I decided to switch from Benefits BrowZings to Anastasia Beverly Hills DipBrow.

I had been using Benefits BrowZings for around a year, and although I was really happy with the product, I kept seeing so many MAU using Anastasia Beverly Hills products.

BrowZings from Benefit 

Benefits BrowZings comes in three different shades, Light, Medium and Deep (I was personally using the shade medium)

One of the best things about Benefits products is that they always come with the tools you need to apply them. This, I think, makes them really good value for money. It also means that when you buy a new product, you get new tools, so it is hygienic and you are always using fresh brushes etc.

This product contains a pigmented wax and a natural-shaded powder. The wax is for shaping your brows and the powder is for setting. You also get a hard angle brush, and blending brush and a mega cute set of mini tweezers. You can also log on to the Benefit website for a full tutorial on who to do your brows.

In the UK, this retails for £24.50

So whats not to like? 

To be honest, there was nothing about this product that I didn't like. I only moved on to something else because I wanted to try something new. Would I go out and buy this again?? YES I really would.

Photo : Benefitcosmetics.co.uk

Anastasia Beverly Hills DipBrow Pomade 

As I previously mentioned I decided to try out this product because it felt like EVERY make up artist on instgram was using it.

The colour I am currently using is Dark Brown, although I could probably get away with using one shade lighter, and come summer time will go one shade lighter. 

I love the texture of this product. It's so creamy, which is one of the reasons I think it goes on so well. Although I really liked the Benefit products, I just felt that this brow liner just looked smoother on.

Price: In the UK you can buy this for £15. I got mine from BeautyBay.com (they do free delivery) so it does make it cheaper than the Benefit product, BUT you don't get any tools ad you don't get a setting powder. 

The two side by side

As you can see from the swabs I have done, I could have got away with a lighter shade from Anastasia Beverly Hills as the colour from Benefit was a near perfect match. 

Going Forward

I would quite happily recommend both of these products to anyone. The one down side to the Anastasia Beverly Hills products in the UK is that I can't seem to find a physical store that sells these products so it was a little bit of guess work when it came to picking a colour.

The up side of the benefit products is that you have all of the tools you could possibly need to apply the product.

For me, I will continue to use the Anastasia Beverly Hills product purely because I think it goes on a little bit smoother. I have also had soooo many compliments about my brows since I have been using this.

DLJ
Xoxo

RealTechniques Silicon Brush

One of the brushes that I was really intrigued by from my set by RealTechniques was the Silicone Liner Brush. Unlike normal make up brushes, this brush has a Silicone Tip for easy Application.

This is the only brush like this that I have seen on the market, so it is pretty different to most gel liners that are bristles etc. I also have their Fine Liner Brush which actually looks very similar apart from the material used on the top. The Silicone is quite firm, so it doesn't loose shape when you are applying your liner.

My first impressions were not good. I found it really difficult to get a smooth finish on my gel liner. It took a few attempts for me to get anything that was even close to being a smooth look. I also find that I need to apply more product to the brush when applying my liner. You defiantly cannot do a full 'sweep' across the eye with just one dip into your liner.

But after a few attempts at using this, I am starting to get used to it. It's not my favourite eye liner brush, but it does do the job.

The one main thing this brush has going for it is that is it mega easy to keep clean. It takes half the time to clean as it doesn't have anywhere to store old product like a normal brush would. 

Price : You can buy this from most retailers for £5.99 such as lookfantastic, feelunique.com and boots.com

I think if you are looking for a liner brush that is cheap and does the job, this is for you. It does take a little longer to use that a normal liner brush I think because you have to keep topping up the product, but it is a nice liner. Make sure you are holding you eye tight to get the smoothest line possible.

DLJ

Xoxo

RealTechniques Big Win

A few months ago I entered a competition with RealTechniques called #rtlookbook. The competition was to design a bronze smokey eye. I have no make up training and decided to give it a go!

Here is the look I entered. 

Photo : Highendmakeupgirl

As I mentioned above, I have no make up training and am completely self taught so was so excited when it heard that I had been selected as a runner up in the competition. 

It took a little while (about 2 months) for my products to come through, but it was so worth the wait. 

Photo : Highendmakeupgirl

One of the things that I love about RealTechniques is that all of the brushes are colour coded.

Pink - for finished of your look with powder, blush or bronzer
Orange - is for your base, so foundations, concealers
Purple - for eyes

Photo : http://www.lookfantastic.com/brands/real-techniques.list

I couldn't believe how much stuff came through. And not only did I get practically the whole brush range, but two make up palettes as well. A serious dream come true. I was in desperate need of new brushes but going out and buying all of these in one go would be so expensive. 

Thank you so much RealTechniques! 

I am more then happy to do a more in depth breakdown if people want. 

DLJ

Xoxo