The perfect Valentines Day face...

I have put together the perfect flirty Valentines Day make up look! Whether it's a dinner date, cinema trip or chilling at home with a bottle of wine, this look is fabulous and fun and not 'too much'

For the base, I've mixed two of my favourite foundations, Lancome Teint Idole in 010 and Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation in Warm Sand. Added to that, is the Lancome Éclat Miracle to add extra luminosity and dewy-ness! 

My foundation brush of choice is Real Techniques from Superdrug. Not too pricey either! 

I mixed those together with my brush before applying all over my face.

Then to hide any blemishes, redness & dark circles I love Benefit Boing concealer. I like to apply this with a concealer brush, for me it gives better application and coverage.

The bareMinerals brush is especially good!

Now to add colour back in to the face, I have used bareMinerals warmth with their flawless face flat brush. I like to make a number 3 shape around the right then left side of my face. So start from the middle of your forehead, bring round to colour the cheekbones, then the jawline. Repeat as often as required to get the colour you desire. I also brush lightly over my nose and chin, as this is where the sun would naturally colour my face.

I like to add blusher next with my Real Techniques brush. For this look, I've used Bobbi Brown Sweet Sugar. To apply, make a big cheesy grin and circle on the apples of your cheeks.

After this, I powdered my face with Guerlain Meterorites. This adds a little extra glow & shimmer, so be careful where you apply - I dust lightly on my cheeks and nose.

Now for your eyes!

My colours of choice are the Naked by Urban Decay range, particularly the first palette. 

I applied the shade 'Toasted' all over my lids, a really cute metallic shade that isn't too dark.

To highlight the eye, I have dabbed a small amount of Benefit High Beam under my brow and applied lashings of Lancôme Hypnose Drama mascara to the top and bottom lashes. If you wanted even more drama and definition, you could of course go for liner, but I wanted an easy day or evening look.

My brows are coloured in with the 'Naked' shade of the Urban Decay palette. I've found this colour to be closest to my own hairs and fills in really well.

This lipstick is just so pretty, I wore it on my wedding day and just love it! It's Bobbi Brown Bikini Pink and is the perfect flirty pink hue that works from day to night and lasts too.

And there you have it, an easy to achieve, fun & flirty look for whatever your  Valentines Day plans are.

Chloe x

Beauty Buys

I just wanted to update you on some of my most recent beauty buys. These items I purchased the week of the my wedding in an almost panic that I wasn't happy with what I already had!

Base: I heard amazing things about Bobbi Brown's Skin Foundation and had tried a few testers and fell in love. It is super light and silky, a little goes a long way and gives great coverage. I wanted something that didn't feel too cake-y, and used Bare Minerals Mineral Veil over the top to set and take away any shine for the wedding photos!

Eyes: I purchased the top eyeshadow a few months back when I had a tutorial with Bobbi Brown in Canterbury. Then I had seen the two below on another shopping trip and fell in love. The first colour is Smokey Quartz, this goes well over light colours or blended to the outer corner of your eye and has a gorgeous glitter in it, best used with your finger not a brush.

The middle shade is Champagne Quartz which I used as my all over eyelid colour, this also has a nice sheen to it - I hardly ever use matte shadows. This can also be used as a lovely golden brow highlighter if you wanted to take the colour all the way up to really make your eyes pop and gives a gorgeous glow.

Finally the bottom colour is Ballet Pink which I used in the middle of my lid to emphasise the colour of my eyes, this also has a glitter to it which I lightly dabbed in the inner corner of my eye.

My mum has tried so many mascaras so I know her word to be true when she gives a recommendation! She has always trusted Lancôme hypnose and I've found their mascaras last, don't generally smudge or give you panda eyes at 3pm! 

I went for the Hypnose Drama Waterproof in case I cried! It lasted all day and didn't smudge - result!

Can you tell a trend to the brands I always buy?!

Finally, a purchase I've made since the wedding is the new Lancôme Vissionaire Cream. It says it is advanced multi correcting and feels almost like a serum because it is so light and silky. It was £59 at House of Fraser but I have to say it is money well spent! I use it morning and night, my skin feels more hydrated, has reduced redness and appears more plumped! Great!

Skincare products for me are so important, I see them as an investment and will hopefully mean I don't need Botox in later life!

What beauty purchases have you made recently?

Chloe x

A Bridal Makeup Lesson at the Bobbi Brown Counter

In January I booked a makeup tutorial at the Bobbi Brown counter in Fenwicks, Canterbury for last week.
I'd always known I wanted to do my own makeup for my wedding, as I feel like I am reasonably good at doing it, I just needed to learn about how to create the best long lasting base, what looks good in photos etc.
I also think that I'd rather spend a few hundred pounds on decent products I can use again, than have someone I don't know come in on the morning of my wedding and maybe not get it right!

The look that I am trying to achieve would be quite glamourous, more attention paid to the eyes than lips, I'd say my eyes (and my hair) are probably my best features so I want to highlight that.
I love Bobbi Brown products and really don't have enough of them! My makeup artist Anna was super friendly and chatty, found out what I was looking for and really got me involved in the choosing of colours etc - which I thought was fab, not some know-it-all MUA doing whatever they like.

First off Anna used an oil cleanser and hydrating tonic on my skin to get rid of any makeup on my skin already. Then I had hydrating eye cream and the vitamin enriched face cream, it was super soft and smelt divine!
Then came the Bisque Correcter - a product I've read rave reviews on so was eager to see what it was like on my skin. It was great to even out my skin, and dark circles or patchy areas.

The foundation Anna used was the shade Warm Beige and advised me that anything with an SPF higher than a 15 is going to really wash me out in my wedding photos!

A light skin powder was then used with a powder brush to hold it all in place!
To add colour back to my face Anna used the Golden Light Bronzer in a 3 shape - from the centre of the forehead round under the eye to highlight the cheek, then over the jaw line (repeat on each side!)

The blusher Anna used on the apples of my cheeks was called Pink Sugar - it had shimmer in it which I prefer, I don't like to look too matte. To just add a further flush of colour, she added Pale Pink to make my cheeks really pop!

Now my favourite part - my EYES!
To cover the entire eye, the Long Wear Cream shadow in Shore was used as a base - this would also be perfect just as an eyeshadow on its own. Then Bone Eye Shadow was used to cover the lid, with Rich Brown on the lower lid and Smokey Quartz dabbed on with a fingertip.

Anna then used the Black Ink Gel Liner on the upper lids to bring extra glam to my eyes! This looked so easy to apply with the Eye Liner Brush, and that has been a real issue for me in the past - trying to get the right liquid liner is such a pain!
Lash Glamour Extreme Lengthening Mascara was used to give me long lushious lashes!
Sable Eyeshadow was used to fill in my brows to frame my face.

And finally for my lips, I usually just wear a clear or pale pink glass, but Anna explained that opting for something darker will make them stand out a bit more in my photos - however, Bobbi Brown's mantra  is that you should pick a colour close to your natural lip shade for the best look.
This is a rule I think that really works and Anna told me it also applies to blushers too!
Bikini Pink lipstick was used with a dash of Bright Pink gloss over the top for extra shine!

So what do you think? I love the eyeshadow colours and think they work really well with green eyes - my eyes seem to really stand out! It was also unbelievable how long it all lasted - it was applied at 11:30 and looked super fresh come 8pm that night - so I have huge confidence in these products.

Above is the summary sheet of all the products Anna used in my tutorial and I honestly wanted to buy them all!

Here I am after a few hours wear, out in the natural light to really see what it looked like - I love it!

You can buy all Bobbi Brown products here.

Are you a fan of Bobbi Brown? Or what are your go-to beauty brands? I'd love to know!

Chloe x