K-Beauty Haul!

K-Beauty Haul!

Tuesday, 5 December 2017

Read post

Hello internet friends!!! I've been in Japan since September and somehow I've managed not to splurge on any beauty products, which for me is basically a miracle... That all changed last night when I went to Korean Town and found the best skincare store (SkinGarden in Shin Okubo)! They housed everything from Tony Moly to InnisFree in their two story heaven, so naturally I grabbed a few things to try! 

I bought this for the packaging. I mean LOOK at it. IT LOOKS JUST LIKE BUBBLE TEA. It's a "sleeping pack" and is marketed as a super hydrating product. The directions say to pop 1-2 bubbles, mix it with the gel and apply to your face overnight. They had three ~flavours~ (is that the right word, since you don't eat it?? I don't know..) anyways, Black Tea, Green Tea, and Strawberry! I opted for the Black Tea because it reminded me of a good cuppa' back in England! The Green Tea and Strawberry smelt amazing too though, and it was definitely a struggle to just pick one. 

The next thing I picked up is a bit of a cult classic. The Banila Co. cleansing balm was one of the OG (original) cleansing balms on the market. Before Clinique and other western brands brought out their own variants the "Clean it Zero" dominated the cleansing market. It was all the range amongst the "in the know" beauty bloggers, but hard to get a hold of outside of Asia. In recent years it's seems to have lost its cult following as brands everywhere are popping up with similar products. The balm is great for people who double-cleanse and is amazing at removing a full face of makeup. The oils breakdown even the toughest of waterproof mascara's, but I have to say that the price tag (around $30) doesn't seem to be worth the results. Coconut oil, which is easier and cheeper to get a hold of, has the same effects (plus it smells like coconuts!!) 

These Pink Blur Hydrogel Eyepatches were a bit of an impulse buy. I haven't heard much about the brand G9, but I was instantly grabbed by the glittery pink eyepatches. The silicone patches are soaked in a hydrating gel and I imagine they look fabulous on the face. It'll be an added bonus if they also help with the puffiness of my under eyes! 

The last thing I grabbed was this jelly face mask. As expected SkinGarden stocked a huge variety of  sheet masks! It was so hard to just pick one! They had everything from Dr. Jart + to The Face Shop! Sheet masks that bubbled on the skin, ones with cute characters on them, masks soaked in snail secretion, and so much more! Honestly I'm not sure what drew me to this one, but I'm pretty stoked to try it! 

Hopefully my skin is radiating from all the magic of K-Beauty! I can't wait to try it all out and head back to SkinGarden to pick up some more things! 

X,

F. 

☼ D.I.Y Sun in a Bottle ☼

☼ D.I.Y Sun in a Bottle ☼

Tuesday, 21 February 2017

Read post

The faint scent of course sea salt is enveloped in an a fragrant coconut breeze that trickles through palm tree leafs only to lap around and kiss your heated skin. For a fraction of a moment the coolness is so acute you'd mistake the feeling for an icicle pressed against your warmth. Feet sink into the softness of the finely milled flesh toned sugar beneath you while deep indigo waves crash on the soft shore line. With just a spritz of this DIY Sun in a Bottle you will be instantly transported to your magical paradise. The spray provides a sun kissed glow and dewy finish and can be worn with or without makeup. Also it is 100% customizable and can be altered for your skin type and tone! 

Lets start of with the basics! You will need a handful of materials to create your spray! Firstly, and most importantly is a setting spray. I used M.A.C Fix + but there are also many drugstore options available! Both NYX and Barry M have affordable variations of setting spray (I recommend staying away from matte sprays for this DIY).  To create the glow and add some colour. I have picked out a bronzer and eye shadow from Miss Sporty which is a U.K. drugstore brand (they were both under ‎£5). This part is very subjective, so be sure to choose shades that will match and enhance your skin tone! The bronzer is not overly deep for my skin but has a nice glow. While the eye shadow adds dimension and a pearly finish! If you have fairer skin I would recommend a bronzer that is far less orange and warm toned than the one I have selected to ensure this spray blends well with your natural skin! The final thing I have added is completely optional. For added radiance and skin care benefits I also included a few drops of my Shu Uemura Youthful Radiance Generator. 

Step one is oddly satisfying and equally heartbreaking. Because I used pressed powders I needed to grab my butter knife and breakdown the powder into a fine pigment! Try to pick pigments or powders that don't have chunks of glitter but rather just have a nice glow or sheen to them! You can also opt to use pigments over pressed shadows, both work great! 

Once you have your loose pigment give everything a good mix and add it slowly to your Fix+. You will need to stop at times during this step to give the contents of your bottle a shake and allow the ingredients to melt together. Now is a great time to test the product and add any more pigments you may want! I ended up adding a bit of copper pigment to mine using a Sugar Pill loose pigment.

And voila! There you have it! Your very own glowy, luminous, sun kissed spray. I love to wear this on my no makeup days because it adds a kiss of glow without making me look overly made up! It is also an extremely easy DIY. For a more metallic look swap the coppers and golds for silvers, lilacs, and frosty whites! Also when left to sit the pigments may separate a bit from the liquid. Just be sure to give it a good shake before use and it'll be fine!

You can also build up the intensity of your glow! One - Two spritz is quite sheer and natural,  your real skin will shine through effortlessly. While 4 - 5 sprays is much more intense and golden! Also a  few photos in this blog post are stills from GIFS I made using boomerang but they refuse to upload as anything but photos!! If anyone has suggestions on how I can change this please let me know because you can really see the intensity of the glow in the GIF's because of how my arm catches the light when it moves!! Anyways....I hope you liked this short DIY and if you try it out let me know your thoughts in the comments!! 

Xx,

F. 

♡♡ Cupid's Arrow Graphic Liner ♡♡

♡♡ Cupid's Arrow Graphic Liner ♡♡

Saturday, 4 February 2017

Read post

Hello lovely beings!!! It's almost Valentines Day and I am super excited! I love any excuse to get a bit creative and themed with my makeup, so for valentines day I created this graphic eyeliner look! Whether or not you have a special someone or even enjoy Valentines day, I hope this look inspires  you to fall in love with yourself and what makes your heart happy (for me that's just playing with makeup)! 

I was inspired by a pic I saw on Instagram and decided to try and recreate the look myself! I'm really happy with how it turned out. Although in the photo bellow there appears to be eyeliner/ mascara on my eyelid (no clue how that got there!)! The arrow is pretty easy to master, especially if your already comfortable with winged eyeliner, while I found the hardest part to be creating the little heart!

My favourite part of this look is how wearable it actually is! I know that graphic eyeliner can sometimes be a scary thing to wear in public (especially if its got a hot pink heart in the middle) but, when you look at the entire face the eyeliner in this look isn't too overpowering! It also adds a very feminine touch to what I otherwise think is a very edgy eyeliner look!

 I kept the eye makeup to a minimum for this look and started off by priming my lids with M.A.C Painterly Paint Pot (my go to eye primer). To set the primer I used the shade Coconut Creme from the Too Faced Semi Sweet Chocolate Bar pallet all over the lid. Following that I used Nougat from the same pallet in the crease for some soft definition. Although this shade doesn't pop as much on my skin tone I really like it for creating a very romantic and soft look! I think the pigmentation would look even better on lighter skin tones and really help tie the whole look together! From there I grabbed my Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Eyeliner  in Intense Black and lined my eyelid! Before flicking out my wing I tapered the liner at the outer edge of my eye.  Now comes the tricky part........The heart! This one is really just about free styling it! Here I used the NYX lip liner in Bloom to outline the shape of the heart and then filled that in with ColourPop's Ultra Matte Liquid lipstick in Bad Habit on a gel liner brush! For mascara I used the Dior Show Extase in Black and on my lips I'm wearing Jeffery Star Androgyny  over a Rimmel lip liner!

And that's the look! I hope your liked it and it inspired you to get creative and try something new! I promise if you play around with it the liner is much easier than it looks! I know I was defiantly a bit scared to try it when I first saw photos like this circulating my Instagram, but I'm so glad I experimented and tried something new! I hope you have an amazing Valentines day, however you intend to spend it!


XXX,