My First Make Up Post

Welcome to my first Make-Up post. I actually wanted to post about my new favourite lippy, but as it's my first beauty post I thought I'd start with a bit of background before I start inflicting my opinions on beauty products on you  - bear with me, we get to the lippy eventually ;)

So what exactly makes me qualified to write about makeup, well, nothing! Apart from, I've been wearing it almost daily for the last 17 years and I've spent enough money over this time on makeup and cosmetics to pay for a 5* holiday and more than my first car cost me! I've tried everything from £1 products to well the ridiculous.  I've picked up a few hints and tips over the years and formed my own opinions - like mascara DOES only last 3 months and be careful with shimmer, application under the influence can result in a shiny mess. I have a staple look day to day and unfortunately time doesn't allow for playing and trickery much on a morning but I still like to experiment when I get the chance.

My obsession with the beauty world started young, I worked in a salon as soon as I could and listened intently for hints and tips. I'd grill my Mum's beautician friends and spend hours practicing new looks. Magazines like, Just 17, were my bible back then - they had handy columns like, "how to create 5 new looks with 5 items for 5 pounds" or "Bag your boy with a slick of mascara and gloss" - it was always a slick!?!

After Mum finally gave into my hounding and let me buy some makeup I was all set, armed with a kit bag of No17 tinted moisturiser, Rimmel mascara and a "slick of gloss" - well how else was I going to "bag my boy." The first time I applied my make-up I had a life changing realisation. Rightly or wrongly I thought, "why do people chose not to wear make-up when it can make you look instantly better!" I appreciate that some amongst us would completely disagree with wearing makeup and it shouldn't be encouraged, especially to young girls. I like make-up, although I do fully agree that confidence and happiness is only found within and makeup should only ever be used to enhance your natural beauty, not to create a mask or a new face. Sorry to break it  but if you don't look like Kim Kardashian first thing, it doesn't matter how many layers of slap later, you still won't.

During my career I've worked on a lot of tv shoots & photo shoots (for the most behind the camera but very occasionally I've been in the makeup seat  (very very occasionally about twice actually!) - I'm not in the makeup and costume area but it's still always a great opportunity to find out new trends and techniques, just by paying attention.

 

(Above left) My one work experience with the make-up department. Shooting a WW1 film 'Wilfred.' It was my job to carefully apply fake blood and mud to the background artistes. (Above Right) studio - look at how dark it is and then there are so many bright lights!

My moment in front of the camera, shoots for a radio show. The one on the left is the actual shoot, the one on the right is just messing about off-set with a normal camera. Can you see how much makeup was applied in reality to what appears on the professional photo - you need much more makeup with the bright lights.

These two early shots  - sporting a "slick of lip gloss" as all good, girl next door looks suggest. In fact the photo on the right looks like it should be in one of those teenage magazine problem columns - "I've fallen out with my friend" or "I fancy my ….." - mega cheese! cringe! 



Anyway enough of the credentials (if any) and more about the now. My staple look at the moment is pretty simple actually, a bright lipstick. My must have items are listed below:

• Face makeup,  I'm very pale and prone to Anemia if I get run down which can leave you looking dark eyed and pasty, so I like a bit of something to give my complexion a boost. Currently using MAC, medium Pro Longwear. It lasts all day and is great for combination skin. It hydrates but stays matte.
• Bronzer or blusher for a bit of colour. In summer I like a bronzer (currently using Bourjois dual palette which has a bronzer and shimmer) and in winter I like a pink.
• Mascara - black - I swap every 3 months irrelevant of price, cheap or pricey in my opinion they all go weird after 3 months.
• Eyeliner - I flit between liquid and Kohl eyeliner.
• Lipstick - I like a bright colour, as I said I'm pale so I think it livens up my face. Currently I'm using Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipstick.

It was the Bourjois Rouge Edition that I actually wanted to talk about. It has to be my favourite find of the moment. Firstly the packaging is beautiful and looks really eye catching and premium - well Bourjois are owned by Channel don't you know! But, the price is a bargain, £8.99.

The range has 8 vibrant shades but I love the red 03.Hot Pepper, it's a red but with an orange tone. It goes on like a lipgloss but has a matte finish and also staying power! When you apply it you can build it up, so you can either have a more natural look or a full bold lip smacking colour. The colour also lasts longer than your first cup of tea! I hate it when lip glosses come off after one brew. Once applied this colour lasts!  In fact is doesn't even come off around your cup and most surprisingly, for such a strong lasting power it does't leave your lips dry and parched looking - nothing very kissable about that. It leaves your lips feeling moisturised and lovely. The finish is matte but if you want something more glossy you can always apply a little, or a "slick" of gloss over the top ;)

London Life

Tower Bridge by night

I moved from my lovely hometown Leeds to London nearly 12 months ago for a new job and an adventure. Today after work I aimlessly walked from work to Buckingham Palace and around St. James Park and suddenly thought how lucky I was to be in such a wonderful city and to have all these amazing things on the door step. It reminded me of when I was younger and went travelling, there's something really quite humbling and exciting about being a small fish in a BIG pond.  I really appreciated where I was and it inspired me to get writing about my London adventures and the experience I've had in the past year.

It's been a a complete whirlwind and my feet have not touched the ground. I have done so much and had some amazing highs but there's also been hard times and a couple of long lonely nights. I've lived in different cities before (Birmingham and Manchester but London's been a completely different kettle of fish). I've experienced more live music than ever before, met amazing people, been to film premieres, fashion shows,  eaten in the most amazing restaurants but then at times I have felt lonely and out of my depth.

Im really pleased I made the decision to come to London and here are my learnings from the past year that hopefully may help someone else who is making the move…...

I think that for anyone in the media/ music industry the experience and contacts you build in your career in London is invaluable, and the events you get to go to are incredible! I know London isn't for everyone, some people come down for a year and then take all their experience back home - but I would recommend giving it a go, even if it is for a short time.

The pace is like nothing else, I thought I was busy in Leeds and I pride myself on liking to be busy but this was insane - be prepared, I thought I was until I thought I was going to have a heart attack about a month in. It really is work hard and play hard, once you get used to it though you're fine - take lots of Vitamins!

Lower your expectations - I'm poor! some nights, too often, my meals have resembled those from my student days. The places you live in are 'great for London' but wouldn't be considered an option back home. Yeah you get paid more, but not double the amount more yet rent is double! On the flip side - yep you're skint but socially there are so many free and cool events to go to - especially if you work in the media or have a mate that does ;) so you end up in this weird phase of a champagne lifestyle with beer money!

Getting home at the end of the night is a mission! it takes precise planning. You also turn into Cinderalla at about 11:30 - there's absolutely no chance you can miss the tube.

In the first month I spent all my savings, I got carried away and thought I was on holiday. There are just too many restaurants and bars it's far too easy - that was a mistake and I certainly had to cut down on my lavish lunches! I also got ill - the underground is so germy and the air polluted compared to Yorkshire's clean air I caught every cold going! I'm fine now though plenty of Vitamins and your immune system soon toughens up. My hair and skin also went weird at first as the water is different and I couldn't drink the tab water. My hair and skin are now climatised and goes weird when I go home! I bought a water filter - problem solved.

I love the fact it's a 24 hour city - in fact I found myself grumbling on a recent trip home that the shop had dared to be shut at 10am - I hung my head in shame I promised not to become that person!

The tube takes your soul! Forget polite chat and offerings of seats. It's every man/ women for themselves and it gets vicious - and don't ever stand on the left hand side of the elevator.

You can get any type of food!! apart from Fish and Chips - London has rubbish fish and chips -but is the best place for Dim Sum.

You can wear ANYTHING and no one looks twice! London is the place to be experimental and any style goes.

There's so much to do as well as the millions of bars and restaurants there's markets, shows, attractions, museums, galleries, tours, music - in 12 months I've only just scratched the surface and I my London bucket list is getting longer by the day.

It's a very glam social lifestyle, you meet your mates in the week in central London for dinner or cocktails. This is great and very exciting but sometimes you just want a cuppa and a natter with your bestie watching the soaps, but you can't as you're an hour away from each other.

The main thing I've found in the past year is that London is big, exciting and at times scary and daunting. The best thing to do is embrace it all with a positive, ready outlook and you'll go on the ride of your life. If you don't you can be in danger of isolating yourself and becoming lost and lonely whilst it swallows you up.

London Fashion Weekend, Sommerset House

The Shard

Itunes Festival, The Roundhouse Camden

Wolf of Wall Street Premiere on Leicester Square

Gary Barlow at the Heart Event

Balham  - my first flat when I just moved

Tower Bridge by day

Lovers Locks in Shoreditch East London

Foster the People gig

My stroll around St James Park

Me with We Are Scientists, at The Fly Awards in The Forum 

Lamb Street - East London

Wembley Stadium

Capital's Summertime Ball at Wembley

Looking at Westminster

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The Brits...

.... The hottest party in the industry, and we didn't get an invite!!!!

Didn't stop us though, we had a Brit Party complete with red carpet and the four C's; Cosmo's, Chilli, Cupcakes and Cheryl on the door - The campest party on earth.

I thought that the whole event took a much cooler and stylish tone this year. Let's bear in mind I come from the era that sat in waiting for Gerri and her Union Jack dress but then cringed when Mel C confronted Oasis live on 'telly" ("come and have a go if you think you're hard enough" - remember that? - urgh)
This year there was no tack, just cool, and the Damien Hirst trophy symbolised this completely.

Anyway the Brit's caused much debate at the "Adam O'Neill Brit Party". Does James Corden need a co-host? - personally I think not, but I just LOVE him? Was Lana Del Ray too casual? For me, yes, she's stunning and I think she should have shown more of that off - her dress looked a bit like she was off to the office.  I'd have liked to have seen a bit more of the unique personalities that comes through in their songs reflected in their outfits.

Moving on, 1D - are they fit? (that was the boys) yes yes yes, the girls decided the song does sound like a Karaoke version, but who cares, we love them, they're gorgeous! And the pin ball stage was awesome! Speaking of Taylor Swift, she's clearly not getting back together with him - Swit Swoo.

We didn't recognise JT as the trousersnake he used to be, the new hair was very suave .... or too slick???  At least we all agreed that Emeli Sande stole the show - she is fantastic but then again I'm a massive Mumford and Plan B fan so the odds of me being happy were quite high.

Fitness and Finance

I haven't blogged since 2012, it was the year of doing new things and I was supposed to blog about all the interesting things I'd been doing....well the truth is I had too much fun doing them to blog, so......welcome to the worlds most boring blog...

I'm saving for a house and like many all my money went on rent, bills and the rest, so the most sensible thing was to go back to my folks and live with them. I'm now living like a 19 year old.... seriously!

I moved home and stripped back of everything, after six months of getting on the bus I decided enough was enough and I bought a car named Clive the Clio. Eight years old and bought off a guy named "Ferrari Garry"... a dealer who is a friend of a friend... you get the gist. So the car is running great guns and I absolutely love it,  in fitting with the life of a 19 year old I've been offering everyone I know a lift.

I've also stared running, A LOT. I got pretty fit last year so decided to sign up for the London Marathon, 27 miles and counting, I worked my way up to about 13 miles and then did absolutely nothing since January. Dreading how hard the training will be so I've started again. I've joined the Virgin gym so lets see what will happen..............

Blonde Vs Brunette

I've been meaning to start a blog for a while now and today is the day!!! I have been spurred on by the fact that I've had a drastic image change.... not that that's given me any sort of life enlightenment it just gave me my first blog ;)

 I'd been sporting the colour of poverty 'mousey multi-coloured' for quite some time whilst figuring out whether to go to the dark side or return to blonde. Once in the chair, in a split decision it was made, blonde and short - very short. In my head it was Frankie from the Saturdays although to be honest some days I do I feel more like Shirley from Eastenders opposed to one fifth of the Saturdays - this was cemented after a trip to Alton Towers when the, what was, sweeping side fringe resembled a punk style undercut.  A note to anyone going for a short cropped do  - buy strong hold spray, a good Umbrella and avoid roller-coasters.  

Jokes aside I have had to get reacquainted with hair products and put some effort in. So far my favourite hair products are TIGI Bed Head, Dumb Blonde this is a lightweight texturiser that gives texture but adds shine and doesn't dull the blonde, it's also perfect if you have thin hair like mine as it doesn't make it greasy. I'm also a massive fan of Beever Root Boost , again perfect for fine limp hair without making it greasy, I love Beever products and they're a Leeds based company which makes me even happier to use them! They also told me I need to make sure I give the blonder some tlc as it's prone to getting a lot drier than brunette. I'm loving Beever Daily Revive this acts as either a leave in conditioner or a de-tangler, it makes hair lovely and soft and is perfect for putting a bit of life and moisture back in after a weekend of over styling, or for a more intense condition try L'Oreal Mythic Oil, it's a great intense condition but if your hair is fine use it a few days before any events as it will leave it a little limp the next day.

I'm liking the do so far and interested to see how short is perceived. I clearly noted a difference when I went from Blonde to Brunette a few years ago. As a brunette I was taken more seriously by strangers, work colleagues and clients, simple mistakes went un-noticed, I could also wear more outrageous (and perhaps saucier) outfits while projecting a classier image. As a blonde I got served ALOT quicker at the bar, hence why blondes have more fun - they can get drunker faster! So lets see what life with short, blonde brings....