Benefit: Gimme Brow

Morning all!

Hope you all had a good evening last night. L and I are probably rolling round in bed hungover!

Gimme brow is something I've wanted to try for ages. Especially since losing my Browzings. Unfortunately after visiting Cardiff's Brow Bar for Brow Arch March we were both left with one eyebrow a lot shorter than others. L and I have had our brows done at Benefit in Bristol, Swansea and Carnaby Street and have always been pleased so we were disappointed to have been left with noticeably uneven brows. Benefit always have amazing customer service and sent us a few bits to try as an apology. I couldn't wait to try Gimme Brow to try and extend the now slightly shorter brow.

I have the light/medium. I find having blonde brows is harder to make them look perfect without them looking drawn on and powdery. Gimme brow is an amazing little brow product. A tinted brow gel with fibres and a tiny brush to make application easy.

One of the things that put me off Maybelline brow drama was the impractical wand for brows. Benefit have created a easy to use wand that has a small tip to be able to fill in fine gaps. Gimme brow adheres to skin and hair to create full natural brows.

Here is my natural brows. They are fair and need filling in or it looks like I don't have them. As you'll have seen if you saw my post on Facebook photos earlier on in the week.



Below is one coat of gimme brow. I tend to wipe of the excess and quickly swipe over the brows for quick definition. This is perfect for those lazy mornings and when you want more natural make up. Brows are left defined, darker and not looking drawn on.



For me I do love a power brow! I like big full brows but not to dark for my skin tone. No scouse brows here. I find Gimme brow layers up really well but I find it's best to do a few light layers as it can go a little flaky if you do one thick coat.



The thing that has taken getting used to for me is that my brows are coated. They stay amazingly all day but they do feel a little hard sometimes.

I am absolutely loving gimme brow and it's been in my handbag since (I do my make up on the bus alot!). It's quick and easy to apply and great for everyday.

My downside is the price. At £17.50 it's not cheap. If it lasts a while I'm not complaining. So far so good so fingers crossed it lasts as I'm loving the convenience of it.

Love M
xxx

Hey there! 

As M has already mentioned were big fans of defined brows, as mine are black and my skin a rather white shade it can be really hard to define mine without going too far and giving myself the dreaded scouse brow or looking like I've drawn them on in permanent marker.

Gimme Brow caught my eye because everyone's brows seem to look so natural after using it.



As the packaging states, its a brush on fibre gel that adheres to skin and hair and has qualities including being water resistant, long wearing, buildable and most importantly natural looking.



The tube itself is tiny, similar in height to a mini They're Real but with the thickness of a pencil its a really dinky little product that has made its way into my make up bag as a firm favourite. 

It's just SO easy to use and defines and fills in the natural gaps that I have in my brows (thanks to my mum, we have the same gaps!)

The tiny mascara type brush fills in even the tiniest gap without any issues and looks perfectly natural. I was worried my brows would be a bit crispy after using something like this but I haven't had that problem at all

I really do love the little brush, so cute!

You can see Gimme Brow in the pictures below, I've got the medium deep colour. The first picture is without any brow product, second with one coat and the third with two coats. 

You can see how it so easily defines and fills in without looking too 'done' because were all natural beauties aren't we ladies??

The only downside for me is again, the price. I think £17.50 for a tiny tube is far too much. But hey ho, you do have to pay for good quality products!

What do you think of Gimme Brow? Are you a fan of natural looking brows or more defined and powerful?

L xxx

Stages Before a Night Out

Well hi there! 

I have recently read the following link: 30 Stages Girls Go Through Before Nights Out.

I am a FIRM believer that getting ready for the night out is normally just as fun as the night out itself. Don't get me wrong, I love being out with my friends, choosing my shots, throwing some of those new moves I've seen on the dancefloor and wobbling my way to a taxi (via a food outlet of course).

BUT I can honestly say that I ADORE the build up to it as well. A lot of friends dislike and even go as far as to hate it (gasp!) but I truly love the whole getting ready experience and I fully recommend the link above for a few lols as I'm SURE you will have definitely come across a few.

As me and M have mahussive plans for this evening now that her exams are finally over I thought it would be fitting to divulge a few of our favourite stages of getting ready for a night out....enjoy!

1) Our night out begins on Mondays. This is when we begin to scrub and apply copious amounts of tanning moisturiser. Living in the ever rainy Wales a real tan is hard to come by and over the years has left us looking paler than MJ so a fair few coats is necessary for us to achieve the glow we desire. We need to apply normally around 3 coats of this just to reach normal human colour so it takes a while.

2) The week long group message as to what to wear, and priorities....what shoes. We've now come to the conclusion that as we are both quite tall ladies that whatever shoes we wear, we're in it together. In heels we can be up to 6'4 when M wears her huuuuuuge Carvelas and so the shoes take the priority in our texts. Admittedly, it's ALWAYS heels!



3) This is normally followed by furious snapchats of dresses and accessories, normally paired with an absolute mountain of clothes in the background where we have both emptied our wardrobes onto our beds to find the desired outfit. Chaos.

4) This is followed by the Thursday tanning session. This is a full application of 'proper tan' followed by a pedicure. If you're going to have to stand naked and watch tv to let your tan dry you might as well do everything all in one go and not be able to walk at the same time.

5) Drinks orders. Sometime during the week thoughts will travel to predrinks. This used to be easy; wine! But unfortunately as I am now allergic to wine (LORD KNOWS how this has happened) vodka is the usual tipple, occasionally mixed up with rum, pimms and basically whatever else we can mix in with cranberry juice and lemonade. This week? I've got my eye on the £10 bottle of Pimms in Morrisons, deal!
We also get our order in for the containers that will come in very handy later on (see further on for an explanation)





6) The day has finally arrived! Normally on a Saturday we both get up and off to the gym to burn an extra set of calories in anticipation for the sugary cocktails and McDonalds meal that we just KNOW we're going to have later. Excited!

7) With the 'hard work' out of the way, it's just the usual shower, scrub, defuzz, moisturise, apply an extra layer of tan, paint our nails and dry our hair. Easy peasy.........probably need a power nap here too and some food. Whoever decided eating was cheating never lasted long on a night out did they?



8) Next stage? Precision application of make up to the face. Da Vinci hasn't got shit on us; it took him days to paint his masterpiece. We've got our faces down to an art within an hour....ish?
This normally cues the debate of eye make up application first or base first.......Answers on a postcard below. M's a lover of eyes first but I'm a firm fan of starting with a flawless base. Many debates have been had, surely by this time we should be able to apply eye make up without getting it all over...no?
Needless to say it looks like Debenhams exploded into Boots wherever we are getting ready; palettes, brushes, bottles and all manner of product goodness EVERYWHERE.


9) Once the face has been finished, the pre drinks begin. Nice and steady to start, getting stronger and crazier by the 3rd, half vodka, quarter rum, a shot of malibu topped up with cranberry anyone?

10) Hair begins. What a nightmare, straightening is so easy but what about the volume! We're big hair people on this blog and volume is everything, curling almost always wins out for me as rollers take forever to wrap up into my thick and long mane. My arms aren't even long enough to reach the ends of my hair at the back!

11) Then the most dangerous and stressful part begins. The lash application. Having the potential to ruin your entire facial make up application this part is tricky and sends your heart into overdrive. Better sit down and have a another drink to calm those nerves.


12) Think you're ready? Extra application of instant tan. JUST IN CASE.

13) Now it's time to actually get your clothes on and make the final decision on your outfit for the night and do one of our favourite things, the Lipstick Lucky Dip.
Place your hand inside your make up bag/hand bag/drawer and wriggle it around until you find a lipstick, save yourself the hassle and use whichever one you find first, that's our motto!


14) It's selfie time. Snapchat, instagram, facebook, twitter. Absolutely nothing can escape when it's selfie time on a night out with us!






15) Finally ready to call a taxi so more drinks are poured and it's time to settle down and relax after the getting ready sesh is over, this time its doubtful there is any mixer in the drinks at all and it sometimes comes accompanied with a shot of red absinthe. This can send the night one of two ways, but its sure to become a firm fave of a photo if you manage to time it just right:

16) The taxi is probably outside. Never EVER forget that last refill of your glass and our personal favourite; universal containers.
Listen up guys and girls, I'm about to divulge the best secret in the business. Get your hands on some 50ml containers and bob's your uncle, you've got yourself a fair few double shots you can easily just slip into a drink in the loos when the bouncers aren't watching. Naughty? Us? We like to think of it as innovative. Many a time we've filled our bras with them, 2 in each side for a beautiful 4 drinks worth. Even better is the Russian Roulette version; containers full of random types of liquor. Flavoured vodkas, rum and a nasty one: the straight absinthe...horror! Whoever get's the nasty one gets first pick the next time.




17) The taxi is definitely outside. Last minute checks; more powder, more hairspray, more perfume, more lipstick. More tan?
Then comes the putting on of shoes before running out the door to the exasperated taxi man waiting outside.






All sounds exhausting doesn't it?!

What do you think? Comparable to your nights out?

Let me know!

L xxx

Fitness Friday: Let's Eat Cake

Good afternoon!

I hope you're all excited for the impending weekend.....M has finally finished her exams so we are both going out for the first time in months!

Lots of fake tan and make up headed our way for a night of drinking and dancing and I cannot wait!

First things first though, i need to share this recipe with you. I've been changing my diet and lifestyle over the last few years and have mostly kicked the bad habits to the kerb. I no longer drink diet coke, I rarely have takeaways (in fact i made it until May 10th without one this year!) and sugary snacks I don't even think about. However.....I have an extremely large achilles heel in the form of cake.

My mum is an amazing cook and has always provided some form of cake the rest of my family. I'm talking muffins, flapjack, traybakes, loaf cakes and sponges. None of which are particularly bad for you as my mum is health conscious....but they're not exactly the nutritious snacks or desserts that I normally have.

So you can imagine my surprise and delight at finding a recipe on Emily Skye's 30 Day ab shred that produced muffins! I was over the moon and it was the first thing that I made sure I had the ingredients for. Muffins on an ab shred that genuinely works, and a quick check of the forum told me that although the ingredients made 2 snacks...it actually made around 6 muffins. 3 muffins as a snack?! It was love.


I've made them a few times since and have changed the recipe around a few times trying different things so I will share my tips and tricks with you as we go!





Firstly cover your muffin tin in coconut oil so the cake batter doesn't stick. I love coconut oil for its many health benefits and its the best one to use in all cooking and baking as its treated by the body as a carb and so is burned off rather than stored. I've previously written a post about it here.

Secondly, get all your dried ingredients together:




This was one of my many batches so I've cheated here and varied it from the original recipe. you'll need 1.5 cups of almond meal, 1-2 tablespoons of stevia and 2 scoops of protein powder.

I ran out of almond meal so have been using quinoa flour and oatmeal for a similar effect. Quinoa flour has also been amazing because its gluten/fat/cholesterol etc etc free so would be a good substitute but generally i use whatever is available. I still can't find stevia so have been using demerara sugar; i know its not as good as stevia but it's better than refined sugar!

Mix all of these together in a bowl with a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda.



My protein powder is also chocolate flavoured....my unflavoured hasn't turned up yet but I figured it was only going to help the taste!

Next up you need to crack the two eggs into a bowl and whisk them together before adding to the mixture with a tablespoon of honey.





The original recipe is for apple and cinnamon muffins. For this you will need one apple, peeled and grated, and 1-2 tablespoons of cinnamon. The cinnamon you can add as much or as little as you like, I find 1 is enough for me but you might be a cinnamon fiend so throw in as much as you want!



I've also made coconut and cranberry muffins with the same recipe too, just substituted the cinnamon and apple for 2 tablespoons each of the dried cranberries and dessicated coconut. These taste so sweet, I love cranberries in baked goods! I'm sure there are plenty of others you can also try too, some with nuts in and other fruits would be great but try and steer clear of the chocolate....

Mix up all of the ingredients together in the bowl and hopefully you will have a fairly runny batter. I've found depending whether I've used oatmeal, almond meal or quinoa flour the mixture can be quite thick and nothing like how a normal muffin batter is.

I made them following the recipe and instructions and unfortunately ended up with some quite dry muffins that tasted fine but definitely required a cup of tea or two to wash it down with! So i would definitely recommend that you add some almond milk to the mixture to loosen it enough so that it is runny. Hopefully you'll know what i mean but as an extremely novice baker my technical terms are somewhat ridiculous!

After that simply spoon them into the tins and pop them in the over for 15 mins on Gas mark 6. As long as the tops are slightly spongey and bounce back after you give them a prod then they're done! Here's my latest double batch cooking away...





On the left are the coconut and cranberry, and on the right are the cinnamon and apple. Again, according to the meal plan I got the recipe from this make 2 servings, so three muffins for a snack! This is delightful news for me but i have managed to keep control of myself so far and have had one in the morning with my cup of tea on my work break. However on particularly hungry days i know that i can have another without any problem at all and its knowing this that makes these taste even sweeter!

I tend to make a double batch like these, pick 3/4 to keep in a container on the side of my kitchen and freeze the rest. Then when i run out I just need to take out whichever flavour I want that day and it defrosts in my lunch bag by my 11am break, perfect!

Have you tried baking without using flour before?

Almond meal is a great alternative but can be expensive for small bags. I've found quinoa flour to be better value and is still has so many health benefits.

Will you be trying these muffins? What would your recipe suggestions be?

L xxx

Beauty Rehab

Hi there lovelies!

I've been working hard for these Beauty Rehab posts of late, and have been successfully powering through my stash. I've still got a long way to go but using up moisturisers is my biggest mission as i seem to have thhe worlds biggest collection.

If you're looking to use up your stash as quickly as possible I would recommend you start with all of your half used products followed by sample sizes. After that, start attacking your biggest items as I'm assuming that space is the number one reason for using items up. I'd probably suggest you avoid using Soap and Glory products as they're always so big and last forever, testament to their value but not ideal for using up!

Weleda Skin Food - Actually really liked this, too greasy for day wear but a gorgeous smell and a thick cream for hydration, Would consider buying it.

Indeed Labs Pepta Bright - Not sure if this works or not, I did enjoy it and the effects initially but I was rubbish at continuous use so I can't comment on the entire tube. Wouldn't repurchase as it wasn't the right product for me.

Lancome Hypnose Mascara - loved this but unfortunately after an eye infection this one had to go....I'm extremely fussy with eyes products! Would rebuy but not at full price, the Christmas sets are worth waiting for!

Collection Lasting Perfection concealer - Love love love for the £4 price tag. Have already repurchased!

Re Gen cream - a home bargains bargain, lovely moisturiser but can't say it had any re generation properties.

Body Shop Clementine body butter - loved the smell of this and actually enjoyed using it considering I'm not a body butter fan! Would rebuy in future when I don't have 5 million others to use....

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundation - initially loved this but the colour didn't suit me as much after a time. Needed to condense my foundation collection which is taking some time!

JPG MaDame perfume - absolute favourite perfume. Struggled from Christmas to get one for my birthday so am very relieved to have a full bottle again!

Bourjois Nail varnish remover pot - Loved this but it does seem to degrade pretty fast. I'm sure there will be a cheaper version soon but I do like the look of the new toe nail remover they've got!

Ojon Rare Blend Hair Oil - lovely smell, lovely idea but it was a chore to use and I don't like pouring things. wouldn't repurchase again as I'd prefer one with a dispenser.

Botanics Clay Face Mask - technically not finished...I don't get on with this mask any longer and there's not a lot left in the tube anyway. Wouldn't repurchase as I have plenty more!

Cutex nail varnish remover - wouldn't normally include polish remover but I'm intrigued if anyone ever thinks that there's a difference between cheap and expensive brands?? I never notice a difference! Cheap is good with me.

S&G Slimwear - Used to love this and that it was blue, now it feels very cold on my skin! I have another tube of this to use so maybe I'll save it for just before Glasto in the hope it will make me look super svelte!

Aussie 3 Min Miracle - love this conditioner and will buy it forever more! Smells amazing and works a treat for my long and dry hair.

Aussie Mega Shampoo - also loved this, would repurchase both Aussie products but I've already stocked up for the next few months :)

S&G Smoothie Star Body Milk - took me a while to use this but loved it. The smell is so warming and comforting. Cannot go wrong with an S&G product!

Tresemme Salon Finish hair spray - great spray thought the nozzle does get clogged up easily. Good size can of spray for the £5 price tag! Have another in the sidelines.

Mane n Tail conditioner - enjoyed using this and it definitely did help the condition of my hair and length of it too. I'd love to try more products from their range like the leave in treatment.

Murad AHA/BHA exfoliating cleanser - Loved this and it lasted forever, large price tag but was so worth it as this cleanser really works and isn't abrasive at all.

What do you think of my empties? Do you have any favourites in the list?

L xxx