Halloween Inspo Day of the Dead

Hey All

L, C and I are off to a Halloween Party on Saturday (you can see some of our previous halloween looks here and here) we've not been out for Halloween the last two years so decided it was time. The theme of the party is Day of the Dead. There are so many amazing tutorials for it that I couldn't wait to play. I ordered the Snazaroo Face Paints Ultimate Party Pack from Amazon and you can still get it in time for halloween. This one had a great set of colours and glitter in it so I was sold!

I saw lots of great tutorials so decided to just get stuck in and see what happened! I started with a white base all over. I used a mixture of a sponge and a brush to get as opaque a base as possible. I then set it with a barry m dazzle dust to give it a slightly shimmery finish. I started on the eyes but from looking at the photos I definitely did them too bit so would thin them at the sides and not go above the brows. I'd also like to get big gems around the eyes for the petals. I lined the eyes with black paint and a thin brush then coloured them in. I think I'd probably do the eyes all black and just colour around the edge next time. For the lips I just did the lines as think this looked better.

I like the web on the forehead and hopefully would have more room for it by making the eyes smaller and add a little spider. I contoured the cheeks and face using a black shadow to add depth. I'd be tempted to do this with a colour for halloween and maybe add a flower to the chin and some more swirls. As a practice I'm happy with it though. 

For an outfit I've decided to do a full length dress and corset. I'm probably going to whiten and contour my chest and get some contacts too but happy with my practice!

Are you out for Halloween this year? Have you done day of the dead before?

Love M

xxx

Scott Cornwall Colour Restore Iced Platinum Review*

Hey All

Hope you've had a great weekend! Mine had been spent moving in with C. We've finally got our own little place. We've managed to get lots sorted and our downstairs is all arrange but the two spare rooms still need lots of work!

Just before we moved I tested out the Scott Cornwall Colour Restore in Iced Platinum. A few months back I put a box dye on my hair and it went really brassy. My hair has a tendency to do this but I still haven't learnt! I tried my usual favourites that have previously worked (Bleach London Toner and Bblonde!) great at lifting out the brassiness but nothing was helping so when I was offered the chance to try this I couldn't wait!

The Colour Restore contains no peroxide or ammonia which is great as bleached hair is usually pretty damaged and my box dyed hair was no exception (my mistake on my box dye I think was choosing one without ammonia, I think my hair needs proper bleach!). 

There are three different ways you can use Colour Restore as you can see about, It can be used like a purple shampoo to maintain brightness, create more of a highlight effect by using the comb through method or be used for whole head toning. I opted for the third method! The kit also comes with one set of gloves which is great as it does annoy me when toners don't have them!

The product is a deep purple which you would expect. It's a thick creamy consistency and really easy to apply because of this. I just squeezed it onto the gloves, rubbed it all through my hair, combed through it and then left it to do it's magic for 20 minutes. After washing it out hair is just styled as normal. My favourite thing about this is how soft my hair felt after washing it out. The bleach london one has me reaching for a conditioning mask but with this I just washed it out and styled it. My hair was so soft and shiny after!

And the result as that's what everyone wants to see. I think the lighting is a bit different in the photos which I know isn't the most helpful. The brassiness isn't fully gone but has massively improved and it has really blended the two distinct banding that I had in my hair before. My housemate as soon as she saw me also asked if I'd been to the hairdressers and had it done so I do think it looks better in person!

The Colour Restore also comes in browns, reds and various blonde shades! Which is great for topping up the hair in between dyes without damaging it. 

I'll definitely be repurchasing this over the other toners now as it's done a slightly better job and left my hair in better condition!

You can pick up colour restore and the great decolourer from boots!

Do you tone your hair?

Love M

xxx

Ebay Make Up Brushes

Hey All

After seeing a post on Make Up Savvy's blog I've been debating trying eBay brushes for a while. I'm always after new make up brushes as you can never have enough right! When I saw this set for around £6 delivered I decided to give them ago.

The set comes with 5 face and 5 eye brushes and with different colour options if you search. I thought black on black looked the best. It was also a UK seller so arrived really quickly with free postage.

left to right are the Round Kabuki, Flat Kabuki, Tapered Kabuki, Flat Angled Kabuki and Angled kabuki.

The first thing I noticed when they arrived was how soft they were! I really didn't expect them to feel so nice but they are pretty much as soft as real techniques brushes and as densely packed! There are 5 different shapes and all of them are great. I've mainly only used them for foundation at the moment but the shape of some of them will make them perfect for contouring and blush too. They work great with liquid and powder products I've tried and don't shed. They give the same flawless finish as my RT buffing and expert face brush!

They are all synthetic hair but do have different textures depending on what they are best used for and the shape of the brush.

For each of the face brushes there is a corresponding shaped eye brush. These are as soft as the face brushes but I've found my self using them for other things. The size and fluffiness of them has made them great for blending in concealer. Some work as crease brushes and I find them good for final blending but they don't seem to pick up eyeshadows great for application. I do still reach for them on a daily basis and would order more.

Due to the price the only quality lacking in them is the finish as you can see here on this brush there are stray hairs. This was present in a few brushes but hasn't affected how they work. In some brushes I've pulled them out and some I've left them.

Overall I'm really impressed in my first lot of eBay brushes and will definitely be ordering more.

Have you tried cheap brushes and been impressed? At 60p a brush you really can't complain at these!

Love M

xxx

Go Ape at Margam Park

Hey All

Hope you've had a great weekend and there isn't too much of those Monday blues! I've been busy doing lots of things lately and have a few great places I wanted to share. Go ape is something I've wanted to do for ages. I love doing fun things and anything that may give me an adrenaline rush I'm drawn to. One weekend me and C had a free weekend so decided we'd just go to Margam Park for a wonder. As we didn't have his car that weekend we used public transport from Cardiff. We got a train to Port Talbot then a bus from just across the road from the station which dropped us basically outside. Google maps is great for figuring out public transport routes!

We grabbed sandwichs from a local deli (if you're local to Cardiff definitely go to deli rouge sometime! The sandwichs are amazing as is the full monty breakfast roll, they also serve tea pigs and fentimens drinks!)and had planned to just stroll around the park. Margam Park has beautiful grounds and an amazing house, which we didn't get chance to look around so we'll have to go back. It's also got a great play area for kids!

After a quick stroll we decided to wonder up to Go Ape and see how much it was and if there was space! After being told we could go back in 1 hours and we had the last slot of the day we decided to just go for it. It was £35 each for Adults so not the cheapest but the course does take around 1 hr 45, so it isn't a quick activity. Go ape is a high ropes activity course where you are clipped in and swing from things or climb.

As it was unplanned I ended up doing the course in a playsuit. The women did duoble check as she was giving me my harness. I did have to pull down the shorts a few times to save my dignity! You do need to be in suitable clothing and footwear to go round it.

After a safety briefing and being shown how to clip yourself in and out we were taken to the first section where an instructor checks your can do the different types of things safely before you get sent off. There are four other sections you can then go round. Each end up with a zip wire too!

There were different types of attachments to get used to depending on what you were doing. Before each section there was a difficulty rating, rules and displays showing you how to safely clip yourself in.

This was the first zip wire out of five. It was a low one so you could practice how to land properly!

Tarzan swings were really fun. If you didn't want to do the big one there was an alternative route and on sections with areas described as extreme difficulty there was an alternative.

At the centre you can buy things like gloves and safey cords for phones. I bought one so we could take photos and I'm glad we did! 

I opted for the going through on my back for this one! It killed the news otherwise, it was so weird as this one was really high above ground to just look down!

This one was described as extreme and it was so hard!! It reminds me of hang tough from gladiators (I always wanted to go on that!!). As the rings moved so much it was a little scary. I kept worrying if I fell out of the hoop I wouldn't have the arm strength to pull myself back up!

We had such a fun day doing this course!! Once you complete it you get a certificate and money off your next one. With Go Apes dotted around the country I'd definitely go and do another course.

Have you been to a Go Ape or high ropes course? Would you?

Love M

xxx