I thought I'd take the opportunity to write a blogpost about nails.
If you're anything like me, you like to have your nails looking pretty, I spend the majority of my days typing, and looking down at shiny, glittery fingertips makes me happy indeed.
If you are even more like me, this is how it work out when you paint your nails;
Thank goodness for gel polish, right? Who would have thought, all that time we've spent sat waiting for polish to dry, chipping a nail after an hour of painting them, and the endless search for THE ultimate topcoat, that someone would introduce a product that lasts up to 2 weeks chip-free on your nails!
Ever since the birth of shellac, gel, gelish - however you want to refer to to it, I've been on the bandwagon. I'm one of those people that, when one nail chips, the whole set have to come off, immediately. This has resulted in me chewing/scratching polish off when I've not been in near distance of nail polish remover - seriously unattractive and not good for your nails of course!
To be able to sit down and have your nails done in 30 (ish) minutes and have instantly dry and perfect looking nails is heaven to me, especially working a full time job and having a busy lifestyle, painting my nails will often fall to the bottom of the "to do list"
A fellow Yorkshire lass and friend, Clare is the (lucky?!) lady that I choose to work on my talons and she does an excellent job each and every time. Here's what I'm sporting currently for Crimbo...
You can look her up as Clare Loves Nails on Facebook. Clare is a fully qualified CND trained nail technician covering most of North and West Leeds. Her service is professional and friendly using CND Shellac polish, the original and best gel polish around.
For the month of January exclusive to my readers, new customers will get a free solar oil with any appointment booked, here, all you have to do when booking is quote "The Makeup Maestro"
Maestro'
Enjoy!
Lauren x
H&M Beauty
It was a good day when H&M announced they were releasing a beauty line, although it's taken me a little while to really get stuck in and order a selection of items.
I would prefer to go into the shop and swatch away until my hearts content, but the H&M store in my City doesn't carry the beauty line, so I had to go online to read reviews and look at swatches and then place an order online.
I went relatively steady to start with and ordered 3 eyeshadows and a blusher, I had already picked up another blusher ("Coral") on a recent trip to Manchester and was impressed with that one. I chose "Candied Almond", "Golden Light & "Orange Ochre" eyeshadows and "Brown Sugar" blusher.
I am really impressed with the quality of the eyeshadows, they are pigmented, have a silky texture and apply very easily. I'm really happy with all the choices I made.
I've noticed the blusher in "Brown Sugar" has been popular in the beauty blogging world, the shade is unlike anything I already have and I think this will be a great shade for Autumn.
Here come the swatches;
Left to Right; Golden Light, Orange Ochre, Candied Almond (eyeshadows) Brown Sugar (blusher)
Has anyone tried anything from the H&M beauty range? Any recommendations?
Lauren x
I would prefer to go into the shop and swatch away until my hearts content, but the H&M store in my City doesn't carry the beauty line, so I had to go online to read reviews and look at swatches and then place an order online.
I went relatively steady to start with and ordered 3 eyeshadows and a blusher, I had already picked up another blusher ("Coral") on a recent trip to Manchester and was impressed with that one. I chose "Candied Almond", "Golden Light & "Orange Ochre" eyeshadows and "Brown Sugar" blusher.
I am really impressed with the quality of the eyeshadows, they are pigmented, have a silky texture and apply very easily. I'm really happy with all the choices I made.
I've noticed the blusher in "Brown Sugar" has been popular in the beauty blogging world, the shade is unlike anything I already have and I think this will be a great shade for Autumn.
Here come the swatches;
Left to Right; Golden Light, Orange Ochre, Candied Almond (eyeshadows) Brown Sugar (blusher)
Has anyone tried anything from the H&M beauty range? Any recommendations?
Lauren x
Kiko Cosmetics | Moon Dust Face Power
If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know I'm a big Kiko fan. I think they have a fantastic range of products, great quality and you can come away with a bag full of products and not feel like you've got to live on baked beans for the rest of the month!
Luckily, I work in a large city centre, with my office located a very short walk away from the Kiko store (bonus!) So many a lunch break is spent swatching the eyeshadows (they have so many shades!) and I like to go check out the new collections when they launch.
I was particularly excited to see the Christmas collection, Cosmic Starlets, when I popped in last week, the stand out item for me was the Moon Dust Face Powder. Kiko have released two shades; 01 Mysterious Pink & 02 Fairy Taupe, naturally I had to pick up both!
These powders are in essence, illuminating baked blushes. They are very pigmented, silky and the finish they give to the skin is beautiful. They do not add any glitter or shimmer to the cheeks but just the right amount of warmth and glow.
They remind me a lot of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blushes, which I love, but at a fraction of the price.
The packaging, although plastic, is still very sturdy, each blush presented in a red, geometric-shaped, compact complete with a mirror.
I think the shades will suit all skin tones, on deeper skintones these could be used as highlighters.
Overall, I'm very impressed and wouldn't they make a lovely gift for someone this Christmas! I would definitely bag a cheeky one for yourself as well, after all, they are limited edition and when they're gone, they're gone!
Lauren x
Luckily, I work in a large city centre, with my office located a very short walk away from the Kiko store (bonus!) So many a lunch break is spent swatching the eyeshadows (they have so many shades!) and I like to go check out the new collections when they launch.
I was particularly excited to see the Christmas collection, Cosmic Starlets, when I popped in last week, the stand out item for me was the Moon Dust Face Powder. Kiko have released two shades; 01 Mysterious Pink & 02 Fairy Taupe, naturally I had to pick up both!
These powders are in essence, illuminating baked blushes. They are very pigmented, silky and the finish they give to the skin is beautiful. They do not add any glitter or shimmer to the cheeks but just the right amount of warmth and glow.
They remind me a lot of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blushes, which I love, but at a fraction of the price.
The packaging, although plastic, is still very sturdy, each blush presented in a red, geometric-shaped, compact complete with a mirror.
I think the shades will suit all skin tones, on deeper skintones these could be used as highlighters.
Overall, I'm very impressed and wouldn't they make a lovely gift for someone this Christmas! I would definitely bag a cheeky one for yourself as well, after all, they are limited edition and when they're gone, they're gone!
Lauren x