Prom Prep #3

I love having my hair in a high ponytail - it's just something I find easy, flattering and comfortable and what I consider to be very 'me'. However, as much as I wanted to just throw my hair up in its messy home for prom, I opted for a slightly fancier variation.

I first curled my hair using my Remington Pearl Curl Wand (a must-have tool for stubbornly straight hair) and then by flipping my hair forwards, I french braided upwards securing it all in my favorite high ponytail. Of course this would've looked more detailed and intricate if I had blonde of highlighted hair, like the pictures I'd seen on Google, but we had to make do.

(Although it now looks like my efforts were wasted, I am the type who like have their hair over their shoulders, so I would've pulling it forward during the night.)

I think some form of up-do is perfect for a strapless dress as well as allowing me to showoff my last minute earrings purchase from literally the day before prom.

Sigh, how I miss feeling like a princess already.

Lara xo

Prom Nails

Prom Prep #2

I initially had huge visions of doing something intricate yet delicate for my leavers' ball to match the effort I'd put in creating this butterfly design for my prom 2 years ago. 

However, it just was too much for the very classic style dress I had chosen and even the white tips I was attempting looked glaringly fake and tacky. Despite this I do still want to share a little trick that I put to the test, which is using the little white ring hole reinforce stickers designed for filing paper. By cutting the stickers in half and then using one for each nails the rounded edge creates the perfect guide for a neat tip. Simply paint white (or any colour), ensure you wait until fully dry, and then gently peel the sticker away leaving a neat, crisp edge.

In the end I opted for a nude colour base by NYC followed by a subtle glitter top coat by OPI. Whilst not quite as exciting as I originally intended, I think the end result oozed elegance, especially against my Accesorize navy clutch bag . Shame it just took me 2 hours of indecision before I reached this point!

Lara xo

Face of the Day | Leavers Ball Make Up

Prom Prep #1

It's the day before my sixth form leavers' ball so, for someone prone to stressing like me, a practice run of my make up is a necessity. 

 I wanted to keep it quite natural but still a bit different from what I would normally wear. I went for a navy eyeliner from Eyeko as I love the tones it brings out in my eyes and, even better, I got it free with June's Glamour Magasine. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for this month's Glamour magasine too which offers a mini Clinique freebie;  either their high impact mascara, dramatically different moisturiser or a choice of 2 different chubby stick shades. To compliment the navy I chose brown and copper shades of eye shadows creating a winged edge. This was the first time I used the tape method to help achieve a crisp line and I must say it worked pretty darn good!

Products used:

• Benefit Porefessional Primer
• Maybelline SuperStay Better Skin Foundation in 'Light Beige'
• Mac Prolongwear Concealer in NC15
• Rimmel Clear Complexion Transparent Powder
• Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer
• Too Faced Blush in 'Raindrops on Roses' (A Few of my Favourite Things Palette - Limited Edition)
• Benefit High Beam
• Real Techniques Core Collection Brushes

• Mac Paintpot in 'Utterly Becoming' (Limited Edition)
• Urban Decay Naked Basics
• Benefit She's so Jetset Palette (Limited Edition)
• Mac Eye Shadow in 'Amber Lights' and 'Mulch'
• Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner in 'Navy'
• Maybelline Falsies Mascara
• Mac 219 Pencil Brush
• Set of 4 eye brushes only £3.38 on Ebay

• Maybelline Baby Lips in 'Peach Kiss'
• Elf Studio Matte Lip Colour in 'Natural'

Hopefully I'll be able to duplicate this tomorrow!

Lara xo

The New Glamour Beauty Edit Box

Latest in Beauty - New Collection

It's that time again when Glamour Magasine have teamed up with Latest in Beauty to create another product packed box, the theme of this one being Summer. 

Costing £16.95 including postage and packaging, here's a break down of what's included and the value of each product:

• Full sized (4g) Illamasqua Glamore Lipstick in a new nude shade - £18.50 (Illamasqua website)
• Full sized (0.9g) Magnifibres Brush-On False Lashes which claims to lengthen lashes by up to 5mm - £15.80 (Beauty Bay)
• Full sized (125ml) Rimmel Sun Shimmer Instant Tan BB Skin Perfector - £6.99 (Boots)
• Velvotan Tanning Mitt - £2.99 (Feel Unique)
• 100ml  Hawaiian Tropic Ultra Radiance Sun Lotion SPF 30 - £13.99 for 200ml (Superdrug) therefore value of £6.99 for 100ml
• 30ml DHC Deep Cleansing Oil - £21.50 for 200ml (Selfridges) therefore value of £3.23 for 30ml
• Full sized (90ml) Toni&Guy Volume Plumping Whip - £7.19 (Boots)
• Full sized Crabtree&Evelyn Nail Polish - £6 (Crabtree &Evelyn website)
• Full sized Bourjois Cream Blush - £7.99 (Boots)

That's a total of £75.68 therefore saving you almost £60! With a majority of full sized products, some definite summer essentials, such as sun lotion and a tanning mitt, plus products I'd been wanting to try out anyway like the Bourjois Cream Blush this is definitely a great deal and I'll be sure to do a review as soon as this little beauty of a box arrives through my door. However, do make sure you get it quick as LIB collections do have a tendency of vanishing pretty fast. 

For more information or to purchase this you can visit the website here.

Lara xo

My Make Up Storage

Shabby Chic Letter Rack

I store all my make up at the back of my desk using this letter rack/desk organiser that I picked up quite cheaply from TK Maxx. Although this wouldn't have been it's original design purpose I love it because of its compact size and different compartments.

The main section is split into 3; a longer section at the front and the same divided into 2 at the back. In one side I keep all my brushes, including the bags I use when travelling with them, and in the other I store my everyday make up including mascara, concealer, bronzer and eyelash curlers. In the longer front section I have a bag with all my mac make up in, then to the right of it my lip crayons.

What's great about this desk tidy is that is also has a drawer where I can neatly store away other products such as spare mascaras, lip products and varying pencils.

To the right of my main storage I have palettes and make up bags as well as more everyday products that wouldn't fit (foundation, lip balm, translucent powder and an Elf blush). I also have a Ted Baker tin that I picked up from eBay which has smaller sample sized products that have come with other purchases or are magasine freebies.

Although I am almost reaching the point of running out of room, I currently love the look of this set up. It doesn't take up much room but still allows me plenty of options for separating different products.

Lara xo

Blender Inspiration

Breakfast Smoothie

For my 18th one of the presents I was most looking forward to getting was a blender. Not your standard cause of excitement, I know, but I just love soups and smoothies; I guess my laziness has reached a peak where even chewing is too much effort. 

The blender I have is the Breville Pick and Mix Glass Blender in 'Pistachio' which is also available in cream and pale pink and was admittedly chosen for its appearance (although equally it also does its job great!) I've been playing around and have made a couple of meals now including roasted red pepper and tomato soup from the guide that came with the blender and crepes from '101 Things to do with a Blender' available here Another recipe book I got was 'The Blender Bible' here and I love both these books as they offer more unique ideas of recipes which you can use a blender in such as Yorkshire puddings and banana nut bread. It allows more variation than a standard soup cookery book. 

I've particularly been loving a smoothie called 'Sunrise Booster' again from '101 Things to do with a Blender'. It's intended as a breakfast smoothie but I much prefer something with a little more substance in the morning so have been having this as a snack.

It includes: (for 2 servings)

1 small banana

1/2 cup strawberries

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup sweetened cornflakes

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

and 2 ice cubes

Blend this away and Bob's your Uncle! It's also worth adding that for those who prefer to work in ml there's a handy conversion chart in the back.

I've also found blenders are surprisingly easy to clean; fill the jug half up with warm water, add a small amount of dish soap, use the pulse button then rinse. Here's to more blender experimentation in the future!

Lara xo

How I Clean my Makeup Brushes

The task we all hate . . . 

Everyone despises it when the time comes and your brushes are looking a little grubbier than they should, but in the interests of hygiene, it's something that needs to be done. In a quest to find something that would make brush cleaning a little more entertaining, I stumbled across Sigma's 'Spa Brush Cleaning Glove' which promised to be a quick, easy and effective method. However, at $35 and being a brand hard to get in the UK I began to search elsewhere. Of course I turned to eBay, the glorious home of cheap alternatives, where I found a Silicone Oven Glove with the same textured surface and costing only £1.99 plus 99p for postage. I decided there was nothing to lose.

Along with the glove I use a basic shampoo. This is an Alberto Balsam Shampoo which can be picked up for 99p here . I start by laying out my brushes on the toilet lid (classy, I know), putting them in the groups I plan to wash them in, so faces brushes, eye brushes, smaller brushes etc.

I take about 4 brushes at a time and damp them all under a running hot tap. I then squeeze some shampoo onto the glove and individually swirl them in it, rinsing and repeating until the shampoo remains white. The glove is excellent as not only does it stop you burning your hand when the tap starts running too hot and prevent your hands from drying out with all the water and scrubbing, but the lumps and bumps on it really getting into the bristles providing a deep clean with minimal effort.

 The Sigma version has a specific grooved  'shaping' section between the thumb and fingers, however I settle for just using that area to squeeze out any excess water so my brushes dry quicker and then just shape with my fingers.

For drying, I like to lie my brushes flat so that water doesn't seep into the section where the bristle are attached. I use just ice cream tubs lids with a piece of kitchen roll in each. I normally let them air dry, but if you're in a rush I recommend either using a hairdryer or placing them in the airing cupboard.

Overall, I love this cleaning glove and for the price is it definitely not one to miss. It even adds a bit of novelty into an otherwise extremely tedious task!
Lara xo