Make-Up Must Haves!

Lovely Lashes

Now although I thank my mum for giving me my lovely curly hair and nice big lips there is one thing that I wish she hadn’t passed on to me…and that’s her tiny little eyelashes. Not only are they little in length, they are also very straight which makes achieving lovely long curled eyelashes almost impossible for us. For years I have been working my way through the make-up aisle trying to find the best mascara around however I find they all seem to have their down falls. Those that provide the length I want require numerous layers, which overtime weighs down my lashes leaving me with zero curling effect. Equally, others that provide great curling action do not do anything for the length. So when it came to the point in my wedding planning when I had to think about make-up, I was determined to find something to help with my little baby lashes. When I asked others for advice the most common answer was ‘fake eyelashes’. However as I have never attempted these due to the thought of applying glue to my eye lid just sounds like a recipe for disaster, these were straight out of the equation. So I started trying some other mascara’s that I hadn’t tried before and one I did really like is a Max Factor one. It’s their Wild Mega Volume one and although it can get a little clumpy sometimes it was definitely my favourite out of all others I had tried. It wasn’t until I heard of a new mascara offered only by individual sellers that I decided the Max Factor one just wasn’t going to cut it for the big day. So I did some research. This mascara is called Moodstruck 3D Fiber Lashes and is from a brand called Younique which promises to give your lashes a makeover with very little effort. After watching a number of videos on YouTube that all showed amazing results, I was sold! Unfortunately Younique was only available in America at the time so I was going to have to wait until I next visited in order to try it out. The cost of the mascara was $30 but with this you received two different tubes in a hardy glamourous case, almost like a sunglasses case. I was lucky enough to get this as a birthday gift from my best friend who understands and has suffered through me moaning about my tiny lashes. So I was now ready to try it out!

A friend of mine had a similar mascara and said that it took her a couple tries before perfecting it, luckily I had 4 months before the wedding…fingers crossed that will be enough time. The two tubes that I mentioned earlier are both needed for one application as one tube contains transplanting gel and the other micro fibres. Now I know the transplanting gel sounds quite dramatic but I think it’s essentially just black mascara but it allows the micro fibres to stick on to something. So to apply you add a thin layer of the gel, then the fibres and then cover with another layer of gel. The last step is to ensure the fibres are stuck in place and are following the direction of your lashes. As the fibres are very lightweight, they can be blown about a bit in the wind or when you move so ensure you apply plenty of the gel over the top. Leave this to dry for a second or while you do your other eye and then apply further coats if you need to. I usually apply just two coats so gel, fibres, gel then gel, fibres, gel again and this gives me excellent length and curl. I am so happy that I decided to try this mascara and although it’s more expensive than other brands, it is definitely worth it in my opinion. I only use mine when I’m going out somewhere nice due to the price but I haven’t had to buy I knew one in over a year so it lasts well. Younique is now offered in the U.K. as well as the U.S. so my Brit readers don’t panic, just find a seller near you and get your amazing mascara from them.

Hopefully it's obvious but I only applied the mascara to my eye lashes on the left and you can see the difference between my two eyes. My other eye has absolutely no mascara on at all. You may also notice from my photo, I didn’t apply this mascara to my bottom lashes purely because the first time I attempted it I ended up with little fibres all over my face as soon as I stepped outside. Also they can go in your eyes too. Usually I just apply normal mascara to my bottom lashes.

Plodding

I came across this new hair technique that is meant to keep your curls lovely and bouncy, rather than crazy and frizzy so I had to give it ago. Okay so apparently this technique is called ‘plopping’ but 1) I don’t like that and 2) I had in my head all week it was called ‘plodding’, so that’s what I’m going with. You apply this technique after washing your hair and while your hair is still wet. For this you basically tie a t-shirt around you head and leave overnight, similarly to how you would wrap your hair up in a towel after getting out the bath. Due to the softness of a t-shirt compared to the roughness of a towel, the frizzy ends just can’t form which is amazing. So after washing, dry slightly with a t-shirt and then apply any frizz-free serum or oils to the ends of your hair. I have a bit of an obsession with coconut oil at the minute, so I just used a small amount of this. Now onto the magical t-shirt wrap. To apply the wrap, lay a t-shirt in front of you on a bed or flat surface with the bottom of the t-shirt closest to you and the neck furthest away. Flip your hair over and slowly lower your head down onto the middle of the tee. Grab the bottom corners of the shirt and wrap around your forward and bring together at the base of your neck. Holding these together with one hand, grab the neck of the tee and bring this to base of your neck also. Now this bit doesn’t sound like it will work but trust me it does. Once all three parts are held together at the base of your neck, flip you head up so you are essentially standing up straight. Quickly transfer your hand(s) from the base of your neck and grab each sleeve with a hand. This will keep all the t-shirt that was gathered at the base of your neck together and should allow you to now tie the sleeves together on the top of your head. It did take me a couple of goes to get it right but once you get it, it’s easy.

Literally this is it. Leave it overnight and you will wake up with beautiful curls that are dry and ready to go. With all hair, you are bound to get a few pieces that don’t play nice, so simply just fix them up with your preferred curling tool.

Apologies for the stupid light in the corner, but I hoped you liked reading these weeks blog. Also if you know of any main stream mascara's that I should try out, please let me know!

Oh and before I go. The new app that I'm loving for editing photos is Photo Editor and it's free from the App Store. Try it out!

Peace out for now!