My Favorite everyday Mascaras

Hello everyone! I thought I would write a blogpost on my 2 favorite everyday mascaras. I always gets compliments on my eyelashes when I use these mascaras. 

The first Mascara is Maybelline the one by one Volum'Express and I absolutely adore this one! I have been using this for the last 2 years and will repurchase this one over and over again. I have bought other mascaras but nothing beats this one! 

The second one is Loreal Mega Volume Collagene 24hour mascara in the color extra black. I usually use this mascara after the Maybelline one just to give my lashes volume because the one by one mascara is mainly for separating the eyelashes and adding length. 

The Maybelline mascara has sort of a rubbery and spikey wand. So it really helps get the product into your lashes and really separate them, adding length at the same time. If you love separation in your lashes I would defiantly recommend this one. This Mascara is available at Boots or Superdurg for £8.49 Here's a closer picture of the wand: 

 

The Loreal Mascara has a bigger wand with loads of large bristles which really help to add volume and give the illusion of thicker lashes. This is available at Boots or Superdrug for £9.99.

I first layer lots of Maybelline mascara, I am not going to lie, the mascaras do clump. In order to avoid clumping during each stage of coating I comb my lashes through with an eyelash comb, which helps take out clumps. I then go in with one coat of the Loreal mascara just to add a tiny bit of volume. I then go over my bottom eyelashes with one coat of Maybelline mascara. 

As you can see the difference between my left eye (coated with the 2 mascaras) and my right eye (no mascara). As mentioned above, I do use a lash comb to really stop my mascara from chunks of clump and this helps in giving that flawless drama to your eyes. Definitely give this a try and do let me know how you get on with these mascaras.

Lots of Love

Avi

xx 

4 simple ways to leading a healthy lifestyle

Hello everyone! Hope your all doing good. I thought I'd share some tips with you on how I stay healthy. I am defiantly not a nutritionist, but this has really worked for me over the past 6 to 8 months, so I wanted to share my experiences with you all. There are different ways of staying healthy which might work for other people, and I would recommend doing research and finding suitable ways for yourself and I hope these tips help you kick start your healthy lifestyle. These are basic tips which have really helped me lose weight and stay heatlhy: 

1) Eat healthy 

The first thing to do is put away all the process foods and start afresh by eating healthy. I personally stopped going to fast food restaurants, stopped eating burgers and fries. They are honestly not good for you. The reason to why I stopped eating fast foods is because I noticed that every time I would eat a burger, whether it be from McDonalds or Burger King or any other place I would get sick straight away. So I completely stopped eating fast foods. 

It is important to eat 3 meals a day, a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner, dieting is going to take you nowhere! For breakfast, I usually eat a low calorie cereal with dried fruits in it with low fat milk. I do watch what I eat, I am not a crazy fanatic of eating healthy, but having 5-a-day is important. I do feed my body, if your on a diet, your not helping your body. You need to feed your body properly to ensure it is healthy. 

I do give myself a treat, once a week I do eat out so I am not a healthy eating freak. Just be sure to feed your body what it needs.  

2) Drink plenty of water 

I make sure I drink 9 to 12 glasses of water a day. Water helps flush any impurities in your body, helps with clearer skin and is really good to keep your hair hydrated. I have stopped drinking fizzy drinks. Fizzy drinks are really bad for your body, do not help in losing weight, and have loads of sugar in them. I always used to break-out a lot and once I stopped drinking fizzy drinks, my break-outs disappeared straight away. 

3) Exercise

Exercising is very important to keep your body active. I do not go to the gym, I just exercise at home. Even though it means going for a walk or a jog. It is very important to keep your muscles active and keep the bloody flowing. 

I do not exercise every single day, you need to give your body rest. I would recommend giving your body a break. I exercise only 4 days out of the 7 days a week because the other 3 days I do give my body a break so that my muscles can get a chance to replenish.

4) Yoga 

Yoga and exercise is not the same thing, Yoga is a way to relax your inner-self. Yoga helps with detoxifying and relaxing the body and increases flexibility  I would recommend doing yoga once a week, you can get many DVDs on yoga, so do your research. 

I know these are very simple tips, but as I mentioned earlier I have stuck to this routine for the past 8 months and this has really worked for me and improved the overall health of my body. Let me know if you have any further tips. 

Lots of Love 

Avi 

xx

NARS Orgasm Illuminator Review and How I use it

Hi Everyone! Hope your all doing well. I have a review of the NARS Illuminator in Orgasm and how I use it. I know a lot of people have a love hate relationship with this illuminator, but I love it! 

I ordered the Copacabana illuminator, but unfortunately that was way to silver for my skin tone so I instead exchanged it for this one. I know not many places in England take back cosmetics, so I ordered mine from ASOS because they do offer refunds and exchanges with cosmetics. It costs £21.50 , however, I got 20% off it because they had an offer on some beauty products. 

It has sort of peachy undertones to it and is a very very sheer illuminator, hence why some people do not like it. I have been experimenting with it, trying to discover a way to wear this illuminator and have found the perfect way. It gives a perfect wet, dewy and fresh glowy summery feel look. 

As you can see from the swatch above, its not too shimmery, doesn't add that much color to my skin tone and gives a nice wet glow. 

I tried mixing it with my foundation, I did like how my foundation looked, but I would not do that all the time. So I decided to try it on top of my foundation, just on my cheek bones to give that highlighted look, I absolutely loved it. Gave the best fresh glow to my skin, and I love the way it smells. Smells like orange chocolates. 

Recently I have discovered another way of applying Orgasm and I find that technique works best for me. I apply my moisturiser and then dot this on the areas that I really want to highlight. I apply this on my cheekbones, Chin, and my T-zone area (note, I only do this because my skin is very dry). 

I blend using my fingers and then dot my foundation on my face and blend with a buffing brush. I just love this technique because it gives a very fresh look, and adds dimension to the face, instead of just a flat face. When I do want more of a highlight to the cheeks i do add a little more just to the cheekbones, just a tiny little dot, you really don't need a lot.

Overall, I would recommend this product if you are looking for something that will really give that "oomph" factor to your face! Let me know if you have tried this product before, and leave your thoughts in the comments! 

Lots of Love

Avi 

xx

My Real Techniques Face Brushes

Hello everyone! I thought I'd give you an insight on how I use my Real Techniques face brushes. I do own the entire line of the brushes, however, these are the face brushes I use on a daily basis. I own loads of brushes, but the Real Techniques brushes are my favorite of all! I have owned these brushes for over a year now and I can say, nothing has gone wrong with them, they still feel new. All Real Techniques brushes have multiple uses. I would highly recommend these brushes and they are available to purchase worldwide! So here are the brushes I use on a daily basis:

1) Buffing Brush 

I do use this on an everyday basis for my foundation application. I love to buff my foundation into my skin so that my foundation looks natural. This brush gives a flawless finish, and leaves no streak lines at all. I use this brush in circular motions to really blend my foundation. 

2) Expert Face Brush 

This brush has multiple uses. I do use this when I want a medium coverage foundation, which I tend to wear during the evening time. I love this brush for contouring. Its the perfect sized brush for really sculpting the cheekbones. I also use this brush to apply liquid highlighters. It blends the liquid highlighters really well! 

3) Stippling brush 

Once again, the stippling brush has multiple uses. I use this brush for my foundation too, gives a medium coverage as well, but really helps to blend out. I use this brush with cream blushes, really helps apply cream blushes very well. It does not disturb the foundation at all when using it with a cream blush. 

4) Blush Brush 

LOVE this brush! Amazing for powdering the face, amazing for using pressed powder and loose powder blushes! You only need to apply blush to the tip of this brush because the bristles around the brush help the blush blend. This is also amazing for bronzing the face. Once again it is good for contouring the face because as I mentioned earlier, the bristles around it help blend the product. 

5) Contour Brush 

I mentioned this brush in my previous post about contour and highlighting. This is a mini version of the blush brush. I do use it for contouring, but use it for concealing under the eyes. I use it to blend a lighter concealer under my eyes to give that Kim Kardashian highlight to the cheekbones. 

6) Setting Brush 

The name of this brush is pretty much self-explanatory. I do use this brush to set my concealer under the eyes. But this brush can be used to highlight in small areas of the face like the cheekbones, cupids bow, chin, nose etc. It is an amazing brush because it picks up the product in an instant and don't need to keep building it. 

Overall, I do love ALL my Real Techniques brushes and these brushes can be purchased in Boots or Superdrug in UK. They are inexpensive. I will do another post on how I use my other Real Techniques brushes. 

Lots of Love

Avi 

xx

My favourite contour and highlighting palettes

Hello everyone! Hope your all doing well and enjoying the lovely weather! I decided to show you what I use to contour and highlight. I do not contour everyday, only during special occasions. I do love bronzing though, I will do a post soon on my favorite bronzing products.  

I have been loving the Urban Decay Naked Flushed palette (higher-end) and the Sleek contour and highlight palette (drug store/ highstreet).  I know Sleek is not available in the US, but you can order online. I do love to use the Real Techniques brushes to contour and highlight, I will also do a post soon about all the Real Techniques brushes which I am obsessed with! Let's get started! 

1) Naked Flushed Palette

This is an amazing palette for contour and highlighting! You have the Bronzer which is a Matte finish, the Highlighter which is an iridescent finish and the Blush which is a Satin finish. I am not a fan of the blush though, just not my type of blush. It is too pink, very sheer, have to keep building up, doesn't blend very well, however, that is my opinion. But on the positive note, I love the bronzer and the Highlighter. I have used this a lot, still  looks like I've barely used it! 

I feel the bronzer is very sheer, you have to keep building to get it to show. Getting a lot of product on a brush will make it hard to blend. So building the product slowly and blending as you go along will ensure that you don't have harsh lines under your cheeks or your jaw or forehead. 

The highlighter is so pigmented, you just need to pick up very little to highlight. But overall, great product for contouring and highlighting! I picked this palette up from Debenhams for £11.25 because I had £5 to spend on my beauty points card and they had 25% off all beauty products. It is originally £20 so I got a bargain!

Overall, I would defiantly recommend this product for contour and highlighting. 

2) Sleek Makeup contour kit

I love this product, comes in 3 different shades: light, medium and dark. I have the medium one. I do not use the contour as much because I feel like its too dark, takes a bit of work to blend it in, so I prefer the Urban decay one. But, the highlighter on this is amazing! Usually wear this highlighter on a day to day basis, just need very little and it just highlights perfectly. I picked this up from Superdrug for £6.49, it is inexpensive. You can order online from www.sleekmakeup.com.

3) Brushes for Contour and Highlighting

To contour I use the Real Techniques contour brush from the core collection to contour. Fits perfectly under cheek bones, it picks up product on the tip of the brush. The bristles around it help it blend well. I will do a separate post on the different uses of each of the Real Techniques brushes. 

To highlight I use the duo-fiber contour brush from the Real Techniques limited edition brush set. Love this for highlighting because you can build on the highlight without making it look 'cakey'. I haven't tried it for contouring as yet, but it is perfect for highlighting! 

Lots of Love

Avi

xx

How I conceal my blemishes

Hello Everyone! Hope your all doing well! This blog is all about giving you tips on how to conceal blemishes. I know concealing is not that hard, just pop some foundation on and then concealer, but this technique does not work for me. I find that as the day goes by, the concealer starts to slip off and my blemishes and break outs are visible again. So I am going to share with you how I avoid this problem by using the following products:

1) Moisturise skin 

The first step is to moisturise your skin, I have done a blog post on what I use to moisturise my skin. If you want to prime your skin using a primer, feel free to do so, I do not prime on a daily basis.

2) Conceal blemishes and breakouts 

I know many make-up Gurus and artists believe in concealing after foundation because it is believed that foundation will just wipe of the concealer. The reason to why I apply my concealer before using foundation is that the foundation seals the concealer. I usually use the MAC studio finish concealer because the formula of the concealer is pretty heavy, personally, for me water based concealers do not conceal well. I prefer a thicker and creamier texture. You have to be careful when applying the first layer, use very little concealer. I apply the concealer on my blemishes with my fingers using a dabbing/stippling motion. I feel using fingers helps control the amount of concealer you pick up. If you rub the concealer into the skin, this will not conceal anything. 

3) Apply Foundation 

I know I mentioned very sheer foundations in the previous post about my top 3 foundations, however sheer foundations will not do the job to cover breakouts. I only use the MAC select foundation when I feel I need a bit more coverage. This foundation has been discontinued, I am so gutted because I did like this foundation. There are other Mac foundations that offer the same coverage, like the studio fix. I feel that with this foundation you can actually build up to a heavy coverage. I usually dot the foundation on my face, I go for a light medium coverage because I do not like to build up to a heavy coverage. This foundation is a matte finish, but for some reason, it worked perfect with dry skin. I like to use a foundation brush because I feel that it does not wipe the concealer away like a buffing brush would,

4) Apply more concealer 

I know this might sound too much. But layering the products helps them stay better. When doing this you want to make sure you pick up very little concealer and just lightly dab. This way it does not look 'cakey' but the breakouts are still covered. 

5) Use a powder to seal everything

I use a translucent powder because using a coloured powder could make everything look very cakey. I use the Mac prep and prime transparent powder. I use a small fluffy brush to just push the powder onto the concealed areas. Using a stippling motion allows in sealing better and does not disturb the concealer and foundation. 

This does not take a very long time to do. If you do use this technique then please let me know how it worked for you.

Lots of Love 

Avi 

xx