Have A Lush Halloween

Excuse the awful title. I almost couldn't bring myself to post it. But in the spirit of all things Bristolian, Lush seemed like an appropriate word. And more to the point, Lush the amazing soap and all things beautifully scented shop have some lovely halloween treats this year!

Halloween For Us Sensible Folk

If like me you work nine to five, chances are come tomorrow night you're not going to be in the mood to go out and drink witches brew and what ever other halloween themed cocktails the bars come up with. So! In the spirit of being a little older, and wanting to avoid a god awful hangover Thursday morning-  I'm going to have a Halloween themed pamper night. Too boring for you I hear you say? Make an event out of it (if you have the energy.) Invite some friends over, buy a couple of pumpkins, light some candles and if the bars can do it why not make your own witches brew cocktail with your friends and have a cheeky glass or two. Heres a recipe that tastes great and is a pumpkin inspired bright orange-

Witches Brew (Rum style)

Ingredients

60ml mixed pineapple and cranberry juice
60ml lemonade
4 40ml shots malibi rum

Method

1. Use a Cauldron (or big glass bowl) to mix up a batch of this halloween punch.
2. Mis together the fruit juices and the rum first.
3. Pour in the lemonade and give it a good stir
4. Pour into four highball glasses
5. Pour a shot of rum down the side of the glass before presenting.

For me I am planning on a night in to myself. A well deserved pamper on a Wednesday night. I'll be popping to Lush after work to buy a bright orange enchanter bath bomb and a tub of 'rub, rub, rub shower scrub.' I'll be coming home to have a bath by pumpkin light, and nibbling on old school sweets that I told my boyfriend (who will be out) were for the 'chubby children.' After my bath I'll curl up on the sofa, paint my nails black and watch 'The Bride Of Frankenstein' made in 1935. And of course there will be more Halloween treats, after all what good is a pamper night with out sweets and cakes! My Halloween cake of choice is Mr Kipling 'Fiendish fancies.' I really hope everyone has tried these! They are amazing! Really they are just the same as normal french fancies...but orange. They seem to taste so much better, but really i think its just the excitement of eating a fancy that isn't pink, yellow or brown. 

From French Fancies...To Fancy dress

Lets not forget what Halloween is really about. Dressing up! It's especially good when you're a girl. And it's the only night of the year which it's acceptable for men to wear makeup too! You're pretty much allowed to put on your face tripple the amount of makeup you usually would. Lashes, fake blood, grey eye shadow as bronzer, purple lipstick! It's brilliant for being creative, especially if you are a little shy about these things. If anyone asks why you have a shovel load of makeup on your face, or your hair is dyed bright purple you don't need to worry, you can merely respond 'It's Halloween.' It's a 'pass' card to pretty much anything when it comes to makeup, hair and clothes!

As a young lady that tends to dress fairly sensibly 97% of the year, Halloween is your chance to show actually you do have a pair of breasts....and you aren't afraid to show it (for one night anyway)! I believe i celebrated Halloween on three separate occasions last year. And I'm not made of money so I had to come up with three variants of one outfit on a budget. 

Makeup wise every night i went for dark purple lipstick, grey eye shadow as bronzer (I always want to put on ridiculous amounts of bronzer to fake killer cheek bones but stop at a couple of sweeps so now's the chance to go crazy!), and lots of fake blood! Grey and blue shadows are good for creating bruises too. Here is a couple of snaps from last years Halloween parties- 

Bruises and cuts created with fake blood and eye shadows for zombie legs!

This was a 'TOWIE' zombie party (The Only Way Is Essex). Basically the aim was to look orange, wear a tiny dress and look like you were dying. 

My all time favourite fancy dress is going as a black cat. Seems a little standard I know, but it's just too good drawing a cat face on your own face! I added some blood this time too, just to make it a little bit more exciting.

Halloween is a pretty fun time of year. Even if you are staying in. I am a little sad not to be dressing up this year, so perhaps i will draw a cat face on my face before i get into the bath just for good measure.

What ever you are doing have a very happy Halloween. And remember when it comes to makeup and your costume get creative! The sky is the limit!

x

I Swear By Double Wear...

Oh The Confusion!

I'm sure you will all agree with me, the challenge of finding the perfect foundation can be a life long journey. You ask your self the same questions time and time again, is my skin dry or oily? Is the tone cool or warm? You'll come to a conclusion, and a month later after purchasing your new foundation, you've changed your mind all over again.

The Right Foundation For Me

Now i know, for sure, my skin is dry, dry, dry! There is no question about that. So I've tired a dozen moisturising foundations...but i like matt makeup, so how does that work? Well it doesn't. The moisturising foundations make me look dewy and errr...oily! So i gave up on those. I tried double wear once when i was 18, and it seemed to make my skin look even drier. So i continued on on my quest. I always thought i had cool toned skin, until recently a make up artist told me I was wrong, and I in fact had neutral toned skin. Since being 18 I've discovered the importance of moisturising my skin at least twice before applying my foundation and so step in Este Lauder double wear...

Double Wear Till I Die!

I cannot give more praise to this product. A medium buildable finish, its great for day or night. I find a thin helping is perfect for day time to cover even skin tone and blemishes, come night time you can apply a little more to amp it up. Now i did find when i was 18 it just didn't work for my skin, it looked a little cakey and drew attention to my drier areas. But a good few layers of a rich moisturiser makes the perfect base if you have dry skin, and if you have oily skin a good primer before applying will work perfectly. 

The foundation claims to stay put for 15 hours, i disagree. On the rare (and very naughty) occasion i fall asleep with my makeup on, I can wake up the next morning and my foundation hardly looks any different to the previous morning i applied it! It has fantastic staying power. There are 30 shades to choose from too, so theres the perfect one for everyone.

At £27.50 the price really isn't that bad. A bottle lasts me a good few months, so it works out at less than £15 a month. I even received a free concealer and mascara over the counter with my last bottle, and if you buy online you are almost always going to get free samples which you choose yourself!

I always think foundation and concealers are worth investing in, and once you've got good basics you can afford to save pennies on the other essentials!

x

Where Does It All Begin???

I can remember the very first day I tried makeup. I was thirteen. And at this point a little behind in picking up my first eye liner. I went to an all girls school, and most of them seemed to have discovered makeup and straighteners a year ahead of me. 

I remember one night after school, i snuck into the bath room and raided my Mum's makeup bag. A naturally pretty woman, there wasn't an extensive range of products in there. Nothing like my makeup bag now. Just the simple products a lady was expected to wear- a mascara, a brown eye pencil, a lipstick and a blusher. No glitter, false lashes or liquid liner. What I can't remember next is applying it. But i do remember standing back and admiring my work. Deciding this would be my new look, and i would give it a test run at school the next day. 

I was small, smaller than i should have been, rosy cheeked with dark thick hair. I imagine i looked ridiculous, but i made it through the day with only a few snide comments. And so the love affair began.

There is something about the option to change your face, paint on a new one, which is so interesting to me. The wonders of makeup are endless. You can use it to make your nose look smaller, to make cheek bones appear when they are lacking, to distract people from your hangover, there are so many options. And lets not forget about Halloween!

So there it is, my start to my blog, my first post. And I'd love to hear about the first time you tried makeup! Post it in a comment!