FIVE PRODUCTS FOR GLOWING, RADIANT SKIN

During the winter my skin tends to lack radiance and can look quite dull, I try to incorporate brightening products into my make up and skincare routine to help to keep my skin looking fresh and dewy. I've found a few hero products that have really helped to keep my skin looking radiant and glowing throughout winter:

Sanctuary Therapists Secret Facial Oil: This 99% organic lightweight oil works miracles on my skin overnight. The mixture of hydrating, radiance boosting and soothing oils help to make my skin stay nourished, dewy and glowing, it's fast becoming one of my favourite skincare treats and has become a staple for me in my skincare routine.

Topshop Glow Highlighter in Polish: I love to dab a small amount of this creamy, iridescent highlighter onto the tops of my cheekbones, brow bone and on to my cupids bow for a radiant glow. It keeps my skin looking dewy and the pearl pink/peach tones help to really brighten up my complexion.

Topshop blushers: I own so many of these brightening, cream to powder blushers. I love the formula of these as they blend so seamlessly onto your skin as a cream before setting in place as a powder and the range of shades available are beautiful. My favourite shades from the range are Neon Rose (a beautiful pink pictured above) Head Over Heels (a bright coral) and Flush (a pink coral). They really help to keep your skin and make up looking fresh, I have my eye on Afternoon Tea next which looks like a pretty bright pink.

Seventeen Skin Wow Highlighting Primer: I love to mix this shimmery opalescent, pearl pink primer in with my foundation to help give my make up base an illuminated glow. It really helps to make your foundation look dewy and gives a boost to lacklustre skin.

Ren Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask: This mask is so great to use once a week to help to renew your complexion and to improve skintone, It leaves skin looking bright, smooth and clear. It contains natural fruit acids and has no parabens, petrolatum or silicone's.

What are your staples for glowing skin?

CHRISTMAS DAY MAKE UP

I can't believe it's Christmas tomorrow!

Every Christmas Eve, Alex drops me off at my mum's and me and my brother have a little tradition of watching Christmas films and eating festive treats. I've brought with me a festive collection of make up to wear tomorrow, my nails are already freshly painted with Essie Bordeaux but I have packed Essie rock at the top - a gold glitter as an option to add on top later.

I'm planning on priming my skin with Seventeen Skin Wow highlighting primer which is a shimmery iridescent pearl/pink primer to help to give my skin and foundation a dewy glow. For my eyes, I've opted for L'Oreal Color Riche Mono Eyeshadow in 205 Sable lamé (swatched here), as it has light gold glitter running through it to make my eyes look shimmery and sparkly on Christmas day.

For my cheeks, I've packed thebalm Mary Lou Manizer highligter which is a pigmented shimmery champagne highlighter. It works so well on the top of your cheekbones, under the brow bone and in the inner corners of your eyes. For blusher, I've chosen Nars Orgasm to give me warm golden peachy pink cheeks.

I'm keeping my lips simple with just a swipe of lip balm. I would brave a red lip but with all the chocolate and veggie roast dinner I plan on eating tomorrow, I'm not sure it would last! 

What are your plans for Christmas day?

THREE REDS

Whenever I can't decide on a colour to wear on my nails, I choose red. I prefer darker shades of reds as I feel they add a touch of sophistication, these are my three current favourites.

'The Bright Red' - Rita Ora for Rimmel in 'Raw as night'* is the perfect fire engine red. Touch dry in 60 seconds and opaque in just one swipe, this is perfect for on the go, no fuss nails. I own a few other 60 second colours and I love the formula, I can never be bothered to wait for my nails to dry and these are great if you need to do your nails in a hurry!

'The Sophisticated Red' - Nails inc Tate nail polish is a classic dark red. It looks great with gold midi rings and is a great transitional colour from Summer to Autumn.

'The Shimmery Red' - 17's fast finish nail polish in 'Garnet' is a deep warm shimmery red. It has just enough shimmer to show on the nails but it's subtle enough not to look sparkly. I normally wear this on my toes as it's a little streaky to apply but it dries quickly on the nails.

xx

Halloween Black Cat nails

I love this simple black cat nail design, It's easy to do and looks cute on the nails! For Halloween I'll be wearing black sparkly nail varnish on my nails and then have this little cat design as an accent nail!

This is how I achieved the look:

Step 1 -  Paint the whole nail black and wait to dry, I used 3 coats of 17 Nail Varnish in Nightshade.

Step 2 -  Using a cuticle stick, paint a pink triangle on the nail using the middle as a

             guide for the top of the Triangle, but make sure you leave enough room for the  

             eyes! For this I used Bourjois 26.

Step 3 - Again using a cuticle stick draw on the eyes, to do this I made a circle shape and 

            then dragged the stick up to create a 'cat eye' effect. I used 17 Nail Varnish in  

            Sherbet Lemon

Step 4 - Whiskers! I used the thin metal pen end of the models own nail art pen. This has a brush and a pen, I found the brush too difficult to use but the pen was so easy to draw on the nail.

Step 5 - Once the eyes are dry, use a cuticle stick to draw on the pupils. I used 17 Nail Varnish in Nightshade but a Green Nail varnish would also work really well!

Let me know if you try these!