The Famous Five

Five beauty products that create a multitude of beautiful looks? Shutuuuup. My fav red lip? A sultry eye? Bambi lashed eyes and pucker up lips? A classic doll liner? A jet black eye? MASSIVE hair? Slicked down hair? Glowy skin? You need more that five products for such a thing...surely?

Infact you don't. You don't need a zillion different things in your makeup bag to create the looks you want. If you have your five basic essentials, you pretty much can do whatever you like.

1. THE LINER -

Founder of infamous Ford car's once said 'it can be any colour, as long as it's black' and as i like to say, black liner is the LBD of makeup. It's the best trick for going from a classic flick, or regular line, to a full on sex kitten smokey, or a super blended foggy look. Your perfect eyeliner needs to be one that's strong enough in pigmet but soft enough to blend. MAC's Eye Kohl in Smolder is your star pupil. Use it to trace your upper and lower lash line and then with a cotten bud smudge over. Or use a small angle brush to run along the eye kohl itself and then apply to the upper lash line, choosing to flick out at the ends if you want your classic liner look.

Liner can also...

• Be subtle. Gently dot the liner right into the lash line or very softly stroke the lash line. This just add's major depth to your lashes and gives the eye a very subtle outline without being too OTT.
• Look rock n'roll or doll like. As explained above, it just depends if you want a smudgey, blended messy look, or a classic line.
• Create a smokey eye. Adding on to the application of smudging the eyeliner with a cotton bud. Follow on by drawing extra liner onto the socket line and blending with a brush. For extra intensity, apply liner on to the inside of your eye.
• Act as a dusky/foggy/grey like shadow. Just blend blend blend! The more you blend the softer the pigmet becomes and fades away.

2. THE SHIMMER

Be it liquids, creams, or powders. It always gives that fresh, dewy face. However i personally always go for a cream shimmer. It looks more natural and less TOWIE like. An all time favourite product of mine EVER is MAC's Cream Colour Base in 'Hush'.

Shimmer can...

• Open up eyes. Apply in the inner corners of your eyes for an instant eye popping opener. Sweep a small amount under the brow line also.
• Make you look fresh face and glowy skinned. Blend a small amount across the middle of the forehead and chin area. Then add a little more on to the top of your cheekbones and under the brown bone. I always avoid putting highlight on the nose (even though many makeup artists advise it) i find it makes the skin look greasy in this area.
• Add shimmer to shadow. Dust over a dark pencil or matte shadow to add an extra sparkle.
• Make the mouth pop. Adding a touch of highlight over the cupids bow creates dimension.

3. THE LASHES

I'm not talking your strips here. I'm talking your individuals or corners. Super long falsies look too fake. Mid length individuals at the best, and the beauty of them is you can layer them to create extra thickness. They can be customed to your desired look.

Lashes can...

• Look beautifully innocent. So bambi like. The trick is to place them inbetween your lashes, instead of on top.
• Change your eye shape. For cat like eyes, use longer lashes on the outer corner, or just use specially designed corner ones on the ends. For huge, round, twiggy like eyes, concentrate them more in the middle of the eye, and if your daring enough, to lower lashes also.
• Be glam. Add longer lashes for length, and shorter ones to give the bulk needed.

4. THE HAIRSPRAY

Everybody who know's me, know's that i won't be seen anywhere without my hairspray in my bag. Even in a festival toilet, it's nestled permanently in the bottom of my handbag. But you want one that you can spray in, but also brush out, without having that nasty sticky residue left over. A hairspray you can create style with, as well as hold.

Hairspray can...

• Smooth and slick. Got a chic ponytail going on? Perfect. Spray over and comb down pesky fly aways.
• Create volume. Tease your hair at the same time as misting over hairspray to hold it. Alternatively, turn your head upside down, spritz with spray and throw your head back. Amazing!
• Style short hair. Spray hairspray onto your hands, and work through hair like gel.
• Fix makeup. Once you've finished your look, very lightly (and i mean very lightly) mist over face with your eyes closed. It's a backstage secret.

5. THE LIPSTICK

Red of course is the colour. You want a really highly pigmented, matte/satin texture. MAC 'Ruby Woo' or 'Russian Red' are two i swear by.

Lipstick can...

• Create the classic. This look is precise, sharp and clean. Once you have applied your first layer, press lips together, blot with a tissue, then apply again. For a more modern look, soften the edges with a cotton bud.
• Create a softer stain. Use your ring finger to just dab the colour on lightly.
• Be a tinted balm. Mix with vaseline or a touch of your highlighter, and again apply with your ring finger.
• Give a flush. Rub a touch of the lipstick into your fingers then dab onto cheeks. Perfect for your english rose like flush.

So you see...it's a simple as 1,2,3...(and 4 and 5)

A/W trends - say what?! pt.2

I just can't get enouuuugh. I just can't get enouuuuugh. I've has that stuck in my head all day after watching 'The Saturdays on tour' on t4 this morning. And i also can't get enough of makeup and its latest trends that are brainwashing the nation at the moment. It's all so exciting.

So last time i babbled on about the red lip and how its back in all it's sophisticated glory. Now i'm going to ramble about eyeliner, gothic grunge and the swingin' sixties. Starting with bardot's days of glory...

Brigitte is back but as a bad girl. It's like she's rebelled and made Courtney Love her new BFF. Her famous sex kitten matt smokey eye has had an update by being smudged out at the corners of the eye, accentuating the cat like eye. You'll need your classics such as MAC Smolder Eye Kohl, Blacktrack Fluidline Eyeliner, and Bourjois do a great smokey black shadow in 'Extrait 10', at £6.99 a pot its a fraction of your slightly higher end products but still does the job perfectly.

The trademark babydoll pink lip is still bang on trend though, however keep it on the nude as it's all about the eyes for this look.

The other side to the swingin' sixties is the big, round bambi like eyes, with a huuuuge emphasis on lashes (falsies are your new best friend, or try a longer lasting style with lash extensions) and the nude lip with this look is more of a beigy nude. Think MAC Lipstick in Cherish or Myth, or Topshop Lipstick in Desert. If your too shy for false lashes, a couple of good mascara's are Maxfactor's False Lash Effect Fusion, or Rimmel Lash Accelerator (which has ingredients that make your lashes GROW - oh.em.gee).

To get the most out of your mascara...
- Comb it through both top and bottom lashes from root to tip, repeating this 2 or 3 times to intensify.
- If you want them heavily coated, you will need to coat the top of your lashes also. It's best to look down to achieve this.
- For the twiggy like lashes, being neat is not necessary, she was all about the clogs!

Our other luscious look seen on the catwalk's at designers such as Roberto Cavalli, Alexander Wang and Betty Jackson (to name but a few) was the famous Gothic Grunge. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah just in time for the king of rock festivals Reading and Leeds. It also takes us through to halloween, which is when we all love to unleash our dark side (well i do, anyway).

With this your looking again, at your Courtney Love/Brody Dalle/Shirley Manson type nicotine stained eyes. Angsty teens with their grungy, dishevelled hair that falls beautifully with a centre parting. Scuzzy is now fashionable.

It's the sort of ghost wedding type greys and mauve/roses. Misty eyed. Colours that work on both pale and tanned skin. 

Lips are purple and berry stained. Seductive and vampy. If dark lips and eyes are too much for you, neutralise your natural lip colour by wiping your foundation brush over them, then take your ring finger, dab it into a berry shade of lipstick, and dab over both top and bottom lip. This way you've got the hint of colour, but with out the full on statement.

Get painting!

A/W trends - say what?! pt.1

I am fully aware, that in my last (quite possibly ancient) blog, i declared that i had an alternative mistakes blog lined up...in the next few days...

...those next few days came and there was no blog. I only have myself (and my ridiculously busy schedule) to blame. However i now vow, to never make a promise, and break it, again. Especially when it comes to things so important as talking about make-up.

BUT before i write about mentioned subject, I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT A/W TRENDS. Because to begin with i wasn't all that excited for them. But oh jeez i am now. You've got your usual classic form of a red lip going on, BUT ITS THE RETURN of my ultimate favourite, classic, vamp, precise red lip. And not just in your one shade scarlet blood red. Oh no baby, this time she's arriving in a hot scarlet, but bringing herself a vamp burgundy and sent via pillar box. It's the type of lip you will be drinking through a straw with. Because it's high maintenance. And it doesn't come alone. Oh no...lip liner's are making a major comeback too. This is where you get your precision, your sharpness and your sculpture. The look was seen everywhere from Diane Von Furstenberg, to Altuzarra and Giles.

Metallics again, are making their usual comeback. But this time with a raw edge. Lose the TOWIE like glitz, and think more raw, shameless reflection with gunmetal greys, aluminium and rusted bronze. With designers such as Fendi and Chanel rocking the look. When it comes to metallics I instantly go for cream shadow's. To me they feel more real and give a rougher, more life like metallic shine. Instead of the OTT, false shimmer and gleam that powder's often create. They also allow you to work with your fingers, as this really melts the product into the skin, giving you that sexy, smudgy, molten texture.