Party/New Year's Makeup

Not everyone goes out partying on New Year's Eve, especially if they are young but even if you spend New Year's at home with your family it can still be a good excuse to put on a bit of makeup and have fun.

I've always loved the 1950's Pinup Girl makeup look but thought it may be a little too 'sexy' for my age so I used it for inspiration for a 'softened' pinup inspired party look! :)

I'm really happy with how it turned out with the paler eyes and bold lips. The eyelashes are really cute too, not full length and complete the look nicely. The lashes are 'accentuate' from Lash Republic and were enclosed in the December 'Lust Have It' box.

Check out my tutorial on how to achieve this look HERE

I hope you liked this look and I hope everyone has a safe and fun New Year's Eve :)

Glittery Sparkles and Christmas ...

There's just something about Christmas that brings out all the sparkles, glitter and shiny things around the house but why stop there? Sparkle up your makeup a little by adding some cosmetic glitters to your eyes and even your face if you like. You can have a very neutral eyeshadow look and just pop a little glitter on the lids or glitter eyeliner on the outer corners to bring that Christmassy look to life :)

A sprinkle of fine glitter on the higher part of your cheek towards your temples can also look very effective but be careful if you're planning on taking lots of photos because glitter can give a strange look when the flash goes off!

I've found that to get glitter to stick to your eyeshadow you can use special fixatives such as Inglot's Duraline, simple eyedrops or a touch of water but another way is to use a sheer liquid glitter eyeliner such as the NYX 'Crystal Silver' or 'Crystal Hip' (these don't often contain a lot of glitter particles). Pit it over your lid and then before it dries add your glitter of choice and it will stay on for ages once it's dried. So don't throw out those liquid glitter eyeliners you think look too sparse because they can come in useful.

Be careful when using glitter near your eyes, only ever use cosmetic glitter as it's shaped a different way and is very very fine. NEVER use craft or body glitter anywhere near your eyes.

Always be sure to wipe or brush away any fallout, yes you will have fallout with glitter, it's assured :) hahaha

A little silver, gold or clear glitter near your collar bones or shoulders (very little) can give a lovely look for New Years as well.

Take a peek at my 'Sparkly Christmas Makeup' tutorial to see just how easy it is.

Don't be scared of what other's think, it's Christmas and what better way to feel festive than by being just as sparkly and a beautiful glittery ornament ..... well maybe not that sparkly but defs enought to make you feel good    :D hehehehe 

Modiva Professional Curling Irons

Modiva Professional 32mm Curling Iron
Photo property of Modiva

Some of you may know that I already had the 25mm Curling Iron from Modiva and that I love it to bits!!

Modiva have now brought out the 32mm and 13mm Professional Curling Irons to add to the range and now they are all in sleek white, the 32mm being more suited to mid to long hair and the 13mm for mid to shorter hair.

The 32mmIron looks exactly the same as the 25mm but bigger, it has the 360 deg swivel cord, heats to 210 deg Celcius, has a 100% tourmaline barrel, clipless barrel, heats quickly and comes with a heat protective glove (bonus).

I have always found the Modiva Curling Irons to create wonderful long lasting curls and highly recommend them.

The only drawbacks are the high heat setting but of course you just don’t leave them on your hair for too long, judge for yourself and your hair thickness, usually between 7 – 10 seconds. 

Price - $89.95 (au)

Heat Protective Silicon Mat

Modiva now sell Silicon Heat Protective Mats to set your curling iron on to prevent any surface from overheating and getting burnt.  The mat is covered in tiny bumps to prevent your Curling Iron from slipping and can be used with any of your heating products.

Price - $7.95 (au)


You can see my tutorial and review 

15% Discount


If you are interested in purchasing one of their Curling Irons for Christmas you can use the coupon code 'lilcammo93' at checkout for a 15% discount and if you order before 2.00 pm on 22nd December, 2011 and live in Australia you will get free overnight express shipping guaranteed to arrive for Christmas.


Visit Modiva Professional for your clipless Curling Irons in Australia :) - http://tinyurl.com/ModivaCurlingIrons

NEW Sigma ‘Extravaganza Face Kit’

18K Gold Brushes anyone?

Ok, now I know that this kit won’t be for everyone .... but ‘WOW’, isn’t it pretty :)

I think that this face kit would be great for the girl that has almost everything and is wanting some ‘luxury’ in her makeup bag. With four face brushes that have 18k gold plated ferrules and natural bristles they come together with a deluxe carry case which is perfect for travelling and they just scream LUXURY!!! :)

Brushes included:

F90 – Fan Brush

F92 – Blush Brush

F94 – Kabuki Brush

F95 – Powder Brush

Of course you will have to pay for these babies and that price is $210.00 which makes them a little out of reach for the average teenage girl wanting to buy a few good brushes, hehehe but something we can all dream about.

Visit Sigma Beauty HERE for great makeup brushes.

Christmas Gift Ideas

Hi everyone, I just thought I'd share a few ideas that I think would make excellent gifts for either yourself or someone else this Christmas.

Of course there are many many more great gift ideas out there but sometimes it's hard to come up with something a little different :)

Cute Nail Art for Beginners with Meliney.com incl GIVEAWAY!!

If your interested in Nail Art then you will love Meliney.com which specialises in the 'Konad Nail Stamping' System and also carries many decorative nail art supplies and tools.

I recently had the chance to play around with the 'Konad Stamp' set and to my surprise it actually works quite well, even for someone like me who's never really had a chance to do my nails very much due to 'school rules' and who also has teeny tiny nails (think 10 year old size!!) hahaha.

A basic set will cost you about $17.99 and includes:

Stamper and Scraper
Special Nail Polish
Image Plate

and then you can build upon this at your leisure and skill level.

So how it works is you...

* Make sure your nails are clean and dry, they can be bare or already have nail polish on.
* Find the image on the plate you want to apply to your nail and paint over it with the 'Special Nailpolish'.
* Quickly scrape the excess off the plate and stamp the image with the stamper.
* Position the stamper on your nail where you wish to apply the image. Roll the stamp across your nail firmly and in one motion and you should have your image on your nail looking lovely :)

You can then decorate the design or just add a topcoat of clear polish to finish it off.

Now there are a couple of things to note here, one is that practice makes perfect!!! Yes it does take a few times to get the hang of it so I'd suggest playing with bare nails to start with until you feel confident in your new found skills. The next is that the positioning and timing are VERY important, if the weather is hot the polish will dry quickly so you won't be able to transfer it as well.

These are very fun kits to play with and I'm hoping to play more now that I'm almost finished school. There are lots of different patterned plates, polishes and accessories available to suit any style. I think these kits would make great gifts for Christmas or Birthdays for your best friends.

Meliney also has a YouTube Channel where you can watch some excellent tutorials for nail art, not only using the Konad Stamp but using other techniques as well.

Check out Meliney's latest tutorial which also includes a great GIVEAWAY

Check out Meliney.com's Store - HERE
and Meliney's YouTube Channel - HERE

NEW Vegan Makeup Brushes - Sigma's 'Mr & Mrs Bunny' Kits

Many people prefer to use vegan products and makeup brushes are no exception. Sigma has now added to their family of 'Sigmax' brushes by bringing out the 'Mr & Mrs Bunny' Collection.  There are two kits, one is a Travel sized kit and the other a full sized Esential Kit. Mr kits are in the classic black colour and Mrs kits are in a pretty pastel blue with pink ferrules.

Brushes included in the Travel Kit are:

E30 - Pencil Brush

E40 - Tapered Blending Brush

E55 - Eye Shading Brush

E65 - Small Angle Brush

F30 - Large Powder Brush

F40 - Large Angled Contour Brush

F60 - Foundation Brush

Travel Kit sells for $59.00

Brushes included in the Essential Kit are:

E05 - Eyeliner Brush

E30 - Pencil Brush

E40 - Tapered Blending Brush

E55 - Eye Shading Brush

E60 - Large Shader Brush

E65 - Small Angle Brush

E70 - Medium Angle Brush

F30 - Large Powder Brush

F40 - Large Angled Contour Brush

F50 - Duo Fibre Brush

F60 - Foundation Brush

F70 - Concealer Brush

Essential Kit sells for $109.00

* All images are the property of SigmaBeauty

Beautiful Wavy Hair with VS Sassoon 'Wave Envy' - Review

I received the VS Sassoon 'Wave Envy' back in September and have been trialing it over the past couple of months :) You can see how it looks in my 'Let's Illuminate the World Together' video that I made for the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign.

Once again I'm not disappointed by VS Sassoon, I find all their products quite easy to use and well priced.  The 'Wave Envy' is NOT a curling tool, it is a WAVING tool and this is exactly what it does.  All you do is section off your hair, clamp it in the 'Wave Envy' near the scalp and hold for about 7 seconds, once it is done you move the tool down your hair until you reach the ends, interlocking the waves as you go to get a nice flow of waves!! :)

It does take some time to do all your hair but the results are really worth it, these waves hold beautifully for a long time and all you really have to do is apply a 'heat protector'.

The 'Wave Envy' has a cool tip so it's easy to hold on to, it has three heat settings and a swivel cord so you don't get all tangled up.

I actually love the effect that the 'Wave Envy' gives but as always don't recommend using heat on your hair too often. (I will have a video up shortly using this tool and will link it here)

The VS Sassoon 'Wave Envy' retails for around $52.95 which is pretty good value for money

Maybelline 'Fit Me' Foundation and Pressed Powder

Recently I've been using the Maybelline 'Fit Me' range Foundation and Pressed Powder in shade 125.

Packaging:


Let's start with the packaging shall we, the foundation is packaged in a glass bottle that looks pretty sleek but I personally find it a bit difficult to get the right amount of foundation out, the formula is quite thin so I tend to tip too much out, a pump would have been a great inclusion for this foundation. The packaging on the pressed powder I found was great, it contains both a mirror and sponge applicator underneath the powder compartment and the lid is 'see through' so you can see what's in there :)

Foundation:

This is a sheer to medium coverage foundation that applies smoothly and I find it doesn't 'cake' over time. It's great for dry to normal skin types and even without using a primer it gives a lovely finish without accentuating large pores or inconsistencies. You can also build up the coverage by layering without it looking 'built up' and it will still feel lightweight. I find it blends really nicely and allows your skin to show through yet still be covered. You can apply it with your fingertips, brush or sponge and still get a nice finish.

There are quite a lot of shades to choose from, I find the shade I chose is a little dark for me right now so I may get the lighter shade as well, that way I can also mix the two shades for when my skin 'tans' a little in the summer. The foundation also contains an SPF 18 which is a great bonus :)


As with most foundations, if you have dry skin you should work on that first by moisturising before applying your foundation and if you have oily tendencies, perhaps a foundation geared towards your skin type would be a better purchase. I have a combination skin so I do find I get a little oily on my T-zone through the day but nothing a little powder can't fix and probably nothing more than I do with some other foundations, although it could be the humid weather we have been having lately too.

I do find that this foundation changes colour slightly in the beginning so if you can 'test' it and let it 'oxidize' for a while before purchasing that would be great so that you get the right shade. It doesn't change too dramatically on me but each person is different.

Pressed Powder:

I have no problems with the pressed powder, I've been using it quite a lot and have found it to be light and easy to use. It applies smoothly and evenly and is a great tool to use for my T-zone when it gets a little oily. As with the foundation, there is a great range of shades to choose from. I do prefer to use a brush with mine instead of the sponge as I like the finish better but the sponge is a good thing to have for touch ups when you're out and don't want to be carrying too much around with you.

**********************

Overall, I think for the price you pay you are getting a pretty good product, these are not marketed as 'high end' or as 'full coverage' and will not suit everyone. Like anything, if you can try it before you buy it you shouldn't be disappointed. This is not my 'favourite' but it does the job :) The only downside would be the size of the product itself, I would have preferred it a little bit bigger.

** Unfortunately I couldn't take my own photos because my camera was being stubborn, the photos in this post are the property of Maybelline.com.au