What's in my kit?!

Hello everyone! So as some of you know, I am expecting my second baby and as a result I can no longer carry around my big suitcase full of products and I've had to massively downsize, so I thought, now is a good time to show you what's made the cut and it may help out potential clients :)

First, what do I use now? 

 I carry my kit around in a large black bag with a shoulder strap and a "zoe??" Bag from zoeva 

It's still not super light but with my amount of products, it won't be!

My brushes.

I'll split this into face and eyes

These are my most commonly used face brushes from foundation, concealer, powder, blush/contour and highlighting. Most of my brushes are from zoeva as I recently bought a huge kit. There are a mix of zoeva, real techniques, inglot, smashbox and bare minerals

Next are my most used eye brushes.  From left-right they are shading brushes, blending/crease brushes, pencil brushes then eyeliner and detail brushes. All from the ranges of brands listed above!

Now to the actual products. First let me explain properly what I do. I am a self employed freelance makeup artist, but I am also a contracted makeup artist for "flash photography studio". Instead of carrying two kits I just carry one and crossover the products. The majority of my high end products are used for my self employment work such as bridal parties and occasion makeup and the highstreet products are mainly for the studio. The highstreet products are still of great quality and there is nothing in my kit that I dislike! 

Primers and foundations.

The primers I use for both types of work and they are my favourite! I have no7 airbrush primer, no7 mattifying primer and the le maquillage makeup base-They all do different things. I then have my le maquillage (MAQ pro) wax foundation palette, makeup forever HD foundation, Bourjois healthy mix foundation and a maybelline fit me to mix into other foundations to deepen them up, but if I'm honest I hardly use it! 

I wanted to say that I used to use Mac foundations for quite a while, but I was just never happy with them. Some were too thick, too cakey, didn't photograph well etc etc... Apart from the face and body foundations! It's light/medium coverage, great for MOB and brides with good skin and its water resistant 

Not sure why benefit erase paste is in this pic?? But it's a very good peach toned concealer to correct under eye circles!

Concealer 

I really like the Mac prolongwear concealer and my light reflecting pens (aren't in this photo) for under the eyes, but to cover blemishes and redness I LOVE the collection lasting perfection 16hr wear concealers. They aren't drying, great colours and last all day and a bargain at £4.19!!

I also use the MAQ palette as a concealer as it's very pigmented. 

I have colour correction concealers that I don't use often, so haven't photographed them.

Powders

Have quite a few for different effects. They all do as they say- mattify, and set the makeup. The bare minerals mineral vale is lovely for people with open pores and the laura mercier under eye setting powder is amazing at stopping concealer creasing and brightening under the eye (also helps diminish the appearance of fine lines) if you can get your hands on it you have to try it! 

Blush/contour/bronzer/highlighter 

Pretty self explanatory what they are! The first product is a pink tones highlighter from bare minerals and the second is a rosy blush- perfect bridal colour :) 

Eyeshadows 

Most of you are probably most interested in my shadows haha. There the the urban decay naked 2&3, urban decay smoked palette, smashbox full exposure palette, my Mac palette (self chosen colours) and two inglot palettes, again I chose each individual colour and put it in the empty palette

Eye primers, bases and eyeliners 

Urban decay primer potion and my soft ochre paint pot if what I mainly use to prime the eyelids before shadow application. My mascara of choice is the max factor false lash elect waterproof and 90%of the eyeliners are the urban decay 27/7 glide on pencils. There is also a few Estée Lauder, Lancôme and Rimmel :)

Finally, lips! 

Now I hope you didn't expect me to go through these?! Let's just say it's a lot of different colours from a lot of different brands!

I hope this answered some of your questions and gave you a little look into my kit. Like I said this is extremely downsized for me and it is the products I use most often. The rest, for now, have been retired to my ikea Alex drawer once again!! 

Thanks for reading, kirsty xx

Bare minerals original foundation review

Hi everyone, I got some good feedback for my last foundation first impression/review, so I thought I'd do more. I'll alternate high end with high street brands, so today is bare minerals.
Let me start by saying I went to the counter in boots, edinburgh, told her I had combination skin with flaws and she recommended this foundation, I asked her if I should wear the matte and she said no... I'll go with the "pro". I don't have particularly large pores, not too oily skin and foundation generally stays quite well on my skin.
So what about bare minerals? Hmm, let's see!

No makeup. I'm pretty clear today but as usual, uneven tone and acne marks

This is the makeup freshly, applied. I love how it looks- it covers without masking, it looks like skin, it feels light and it's quick. I do have to do a few layers to get the coverage I like but that's no problem. No complaints here!

Two and a half hours later... OILY! If you zoom in, you will see a multitude of sins. It looks like a pound of makeup, it shows all my pores and it's wearing off my chin. This is how most foundations look on me after 8-10 hours. Not two and a half. I am certainly not impressed as this would need to be touched up every hour or two to keep on top of the fading and oiliness. I'm a mum, I don't have time for that. Maybe if you have drier skin this might still look good, but for me, it keeps getting worse.

Three hours later: It's separating, still Showing all my pores, marks where my glasses sit, still oily, my blush has faded, it's splotchy and it looks to be giving/highlighting spots on forehead. At this point I really wish I had something positive to say as I don't want to completely slate bars minerals as I love some other products. Just not this one! It doesn't feel heavy though.

 I won't repeat myself again, what I will say is that I am in my early twenties, and this foundation has settled in my lines, so if your over 25, I'd stay away. You can see it creasing under my eyes (I chose not to use concealer) and especially in my nasal/labial fold (lines from nose to mouth) WTF, really?

I could cope no longer and washed it off at 3pm after only putting it on at 9:30am.

Overall I am not happy with this foundation. I am not the type of person who liked to touch up her makeup. I want to put it on in the morning and trust that when I look in the mirror several hours later it will still be the same. I don't have time and quite frankly don't want to touch it up- it's something I've never done. 

I do love the finish of this foundation, so if you don't mind putting this in your handbag and touching up every few hours then this might work out for you. 

I would recommend if you do want to try this to go to the counter, have it applied and wear it all day. Don't do as I did- have it applied, looks great so buy straight away. 

This foundation is at a great price point at only £25. This is similar to mac or Clinique prices but cheaper than Estée Lauder, urban decay or Lancôme (who have better foundations!) 

Thanks for reading, kirsty xx

Morning skincare routine

Hi everyone! So I always harp on about how important a good skincare routine is to my clients but it's not as easy as buying a moisturiser and using it once a day. So I'm going to tell you what I use every morning and everynight. What I would like to remind you of is that your doesn't need to be as complicated as mine and I am constantly trying nee things so this changes a lot- for the everyday woman who doesn't work in beauty, find what you like and stick to it!  I'll tell you the products and brands I use and why. I'll also tell you my "lazy" skincare routine.

Typically there are three daily steps then weekly extras:
Cleanse
Tone
Moisturise

Extra:
Mask
Exfoliation

Let's start with my lazy morning skincare to easy you into it!

Cleanser: on a lazy morning I tend to cleanse my face with the garnier micellar water, or the Clarins one step facial cleanser. The Clarins one comes in different skin type formulas and since I have combination skin (oily forehead and norml cheeks) I use the combination to oily formula. The garnier only comes in one type. When I can't be bothered or I can't get to a sink to wash my face, I love these. If I have done a good cleanse the night before l am only getting off what has built up through the night and these do the job nicely.

Tone: if using the Clarins one it has a toner built in so no need, hooray!
If I use my garnier water then I follow with my garnier multi action toner I believe it's called. It clears spots, prevents any more coming through and fades acne marks. It's not too harsh or drying and I love it. I wouldn't recommend this for dry skin, but if anyone wants I can do another post with products for dry skin.

Moisturise: I really like the nivea moisturiser for normal to combination skin. It's in the white amd blue packaging and just does the job. It makes my skin very smooth and makeup goes on nicely on top.

Ok so now let's get onto what I usually do when I wear makeup or have some more time.

Cleanse: I use my philosophy 3 in 1 cleanser. This is really nice and gentle on the skin and doesnt irritate my sensitive skin at all. It doesn't claim to do a million and one things,  but it doesn't need to! It cleans my skin and keeps it breakout free without stripping my skin.
If I don't use that I use my Ren clay facial wash. I use this more when my skin is misbehaving as the clay draws out all impurities. Again not drying. With both I just apply on damp skin and remove with a really warm facecloth to open all my pores and get really clean.

Toner: stays the same

Moisturiser: I like my Clinique dramatically different moisturising lotion+ again doesn't claim to do a million things but I do like how smooth my skin feels! If not this its the nivea one.
When I have more time I also use my simple eyecream to keep away lines and hydrate my eyes. Makeup will apply smoother and my eyes are very dry due to hayfever! :(
At this time I also apply my bodysuit vitamin E chap stick.

Extras:
I don't exfoliate or use a mask in the mornings, I save these for evening to relax when the little one is in bed. I do use the facecloth to buff over my skin when removing my face wash and this is enough for me.

I hope I broke this down enough. Tried to keep it quite simple without using too much complicated terminology. Any questions, let me know!

Kirsty xxx

First impression: no7 stay perfect foundation

Hi everyone! Today am I giving my opinions and first impressions on the boots no7 "stay perfect" foundation, but before I say what I think, here is what no7 says:

"up to 24 hours wear for a non-stop complexion complexion"
 They say it is a semi-matte finish

 I do agree with the semi-matte finish and it does look great for MOST of the day, by 11/12 hours I did start to see some oil. Please remember this may work different for different people but I have a normal/combination skin with redness and pigmentation marks.

I will insert pictures and say what's going on.

So this is before I have applied any makeup- only skincare. You can see I have dark circles, pigmentation and uneven skin tone.

this is straight after application at 8am. It has covered my pigmentation fairly well, I chose not to use a primer,concealer and powder just so we can get a good idea of how it wears. It looks great! Medium coverage but it doesn't look or feel thick at all, not sticky and blush and bronzer applied evenly on top.

So this is two hours later and there isn't much I can say! It looks exactly the same as when I first applied, blush and bronzer still as vibrant. Thumbs up so far!!

So here is it 5:30 and I had the foundation on for 8.5 hours? I had been down to the studio, worked
for a few hours, ate and came back home and it still looks great! I did start to SIGHTLY get oily and the coverage has started to sheer out a bit. You can see my acne marks a bit more now, but I didn't conceal them at the start of the day. By bronzer has started to go very slightly patchy but overall for a fulls days wear I'm very happy at this point! I kept it on for a little while longer just to see...

Final check in: in this picture you can see that it's a little more oily in the t-zone and redness and pigmentation in my cheeks, it's hardly covered at all now, but as a whole for 12
hours wear it still looks better than most of my foundations! It's not patchy, it's not overly greasy, my skin tone is still pretty much even, not clung to dry patches and best of all it hasn't accentuated my pores.

Final thoughts: if you want a foundation to last 24 hours, I don't think this is the one for you... Then again, who wears makeup for 24 hours? If you have a long day ahead and need your makeup to stay in place id say use this with a primer and/or powder and youll be good for at least 12 hours. I think most skin types could use this, if your very dry just make sure to moisturise and if your very oily use a powder. I think this is around £14-£16 which is a bit more than the regular brands boots stock in the self selection. No7 isn't High-end but not low end either! I used a £3 off voucher so got it s little cheaper. If you need a long lasting foundation definately try it out.







Kirsty xx

Slimming world (my journey so far)

Hi everyone! So this technically isn't going to be a beauty or fashion post- it's going to be about my weight loss journey (thus far) with slimming world. I hope you enjoy and this may help some of you!!

The best place to start seems to be the beginning. So let me go ahead and tell you my story from why I started, my results, food it eat and my lifestyle right now.
So after Christmas 2013 I had some money I had got as a present for people and decided I would go into town to get myself some new clothes. I got my usual comfy dresses in my usual size and all was well... Until I decided since it was rather cold and I would buy some jeans. I had not bought jeans since before I fell pregnant with my daughter, who was 10 months at the time. Before I had her I was a good size 16- I've always had big hips and I was comfortable with that- so I went ahead and picked up a 16 in jeans, they didn't fit and I was gutted! But never mind, I went ahead and got the 18... They didn't fit either. Quite far from it. I was angry, disappointed and just felt awful but when i REALLY looked in the mirror I could see I had gained weight. I could see I had changed shape but I couldn't blame it all on having a baby. When I was pregnant I was quite ill in the last 4/5 months with a lot of pain and on a lot of strong painkillers which made me sleep so obviously I was in my bed a lot of the time. Hardly got out which meant I wasn't getting exercise and to top it off my hubby would bring me chocolate and crap to make me feel better. He was working all day so he could eat those things and he would burn it off, I wasn't! Anyway, when I gave birth, it just didn't register to me that I couldn't eat like that anymore, and that led me to where I was.

I went home feeling shit but after a few days I realised that sitting on my backside wasn't making any changes. I knew I had to do something. My nana had done slimming world for a while and lost 4 stone and her friend lost 6! If they could do it, so could I, and I did. I called my nana and we went along to my first class on the 6th on January I went to my first class. It was a bit daunting but I had a vague idea what I was doing as I went for a week pre pregnancy (then found out I was pregnant and quit. Worst decision ever)

THE PLAN:
Simple, eat as much fruit, veg, pasta, rice, potatoes, poultry, lean meat, quorn and tofu as you like. No counting, no weighing no measuring. FAB! So fruit and veg in "super free" and speeds up your weight loss, and everything else on that list is "free". You can eat unlimited amounts of both but it is recommended you fill 1/3 of your plate with super free and 2/3 free. On top of this you also get 1 "A" choice and 1 "B" choice. "A" is calcium so like cheese and milk. You do have to weigh and measure this depending on what your using and what your allowed, your "B" choice is your fibre so whole meal bread, cereal nuts etc. again they need to be weighed and measured. If that's not good enough you also get 5-15 "syns" to be used on treats like chocolate, crisps and anything else you enjoy but needs to be limited. Syns are typically 20calories is 1 syn, although SW don't like to talk about calories :)

SW is all about HOW you cook. I find fry light is my best friend. I chop a potato, par boil, spray with fry light and in oven 20 mins later hey presto, chips. You are pretty much cutting out fats and ready meals.

When you get your mind round all that it's simple to make good choices and the losses do come! I list 4lb my first week and by week 2 I got my half stone award and I was hooked. It feels so good to see a loss on the scales that you want to strive for those losses every week and have that good feeling. You can still have a social life and eat out, it's all just about better choices. For example, when eating out i have a nice big steak cooked without oil, a baked potato and beans. Tastes good and no syns which leaves room for.... Alcohol! 4 syns per vodka and diet coke. Not bad.

So after about a stone and a half I was fitting into size 16 dresses again  and I felt amazing, size 18 jeans fit lovely and I just felt great and the best park... It only took me about 2/3 months to loose that stone and a half.


So now we are at today, what can I say? I go to the gym 2ce a week and it's changing my body shape so quickly. I see a personal trainer every 3 weeks now who gets me a new routine, makes sure I know it then I see him 3 weeks later to do a check up, then again in another 3 weeks for another new routine to keep it fresh and keep by body guessing! BUT.... The gym is slowing down my weight losses. the cm's are coming off nicely and I can see the changes in my body so it's no problem! My first week at the gym I gained 4.5lbs but that was off the next week

Pre gym I could loose up to 2/3lbs, now it's usually between 0.5 and 1.5lbs a week, don't get me wrong it's still amazing.

So what everyone asks "how much have you lost in total?"
I was weighed this morning and I have lost a grand total of 39lbs (2 stone 11lbs) and all that in 24 short weeks :)
I am now between a 16 and 18 jeans (annoying) and I am a 14/16 in dressed but more so the 16. I don't know why it's taking so much weight for my body to drop a dress size. I know some people drop a dress size every 10lbs but everyone's body is different! I have dropped about 2 sizes and I'm so happy with that.

I am 2 stone 13lbs away from target, so let's say I'm half way!

Cringe! The *ahem* rather unflattering pictures at the top was June 2013 (way before SW) and  bottom pics was taken around a month ago so quite accurate (Sorry about the joggers!) 

I hope this post helped some of you thinking about loosing weight but not sure how to do it! I had never successfully lost weight until now and I'm so glad I did.

Kirsty xx

Mac Makeup haul

Hi everyone! So today I got my Mac pro discount (woo hoo) so naturally off I went to mac! For those of you who don't know- Aberdeen's union square shopping centre got Scotland first freestanding store and it is gorgeous! The staff were very helpful and helped me choose products that I was looking for.

 Let's get onto what I bought! First of all I knew I had to get the mineralised skin finish in "soft and gentle" this is raved about in the beauty community and boy was I missing out! It is a beautiful champaign/gold colour highlight. It would suit so many skin tones and I can't wait to use this on my brides!

 Next I got the "prep and prime" translucent setting powder (pressed). I got this as I also work at a photography studio and get woman of all colours coming to get their makeup done. I was assured this does not make lovely dark skin go ashy. If this is true it saves me buying coloured powders in lots of different colours, and any way i can save space in my kit is a big plus. I can't say much about it at this point but as with all products I will do individual reviews when I use them more.

I got a "sheer tone blush" in peachy. This is a gorgeous peach colour unlike anything else have in my kit. It's sheer so not to intimidating to the everyday woman but can be built up. I love these shades for fair ladies like myself (I did try it on and it's Stunning!!)

 I also got a "pro longer" concealer in NC30. Do I even need to explain this product?! I already have it in another shade and it's my go to for my brides and people who have got a long day ahead. This is great both under the eyes or on the face. As the name implies it lasts all day, look great on the skin and most importantly looks good on camera. Love this concealer.

Finally in mac I picked up a mini fix+. Firstly what I want to say about this product is that it is not a makeup setting spray but a refresher. It's basically water mixed with botanicals and glycerin etc. I had never tried this product before so I wanted to give it a go. Like the Blush I have tried it this evening and I will undoubtedly be going back for the large size. I will use it after applying all powder products to get rid of the "powdery" look to the skin and make it all blend together more seamlessly and to wet an eyeshadow brush if I want to intensify them. It looks amazing on the skin and would be a life saver if you work where there is air con or is very hot. Instantly makes your makeup look how it did when you first applied it. Who doesn't want that??

Also as you can see I sneaked in the smashbox "full exposure" palette. I will give this palette a post of its own when I try it out some more. (heads up... I love it!!)

That's all for now so I hope your all having a great day and I'll post again soon

Kirsty xx