How To: The Winged Eye Liner

A lot of people go for a simple eye everyday, but I like to nominate my eyes as my best feature and sport a cat eye in pretty much every look I wear.  It has taken a lot of practice, so don't worry if you can't match your left and right, or you slap it on too thick, you'll get there.

First off you need to choose your product. There are four options: pencil, which I must admit I have never used for a cat eye but it'll do the job; a felt liner, which I class as a good starting point; a gel liner, which is my everyday go to; and eye shadow, which is slightly more tricky to get perfect.

The products I choose for each option are as follows:
Felt liner - Bourjois Liner Feutre (£6.99)
Gel liner - Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner (£7.99 - This gel comes with a brush but my top tip is to make a trip to the Real Techniques section and pick up a Real Techniques Silicone Liner Brush, £5.99)
Eye Shadow - Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette (Shade: Crave, £22. You could also use Blackout which is sold separately for £14)

Step 1: 
Apply a eye lid primer (Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion, £16).

Step 2:
If you're using eye shadow, wet the brush first. Using one hand pull your skin taught by pushing upwards at the brow bone. Then draw a line from the corner of your eye out wards to mark your flick. I allow some leeway for sharpening the flick at the end.

Step 3:
Start from the inner corner and use a long brush motion across the lash line until you meet the line you've previously made. This line can be as close to or as far from to the lash line as you feel comfortable with, if you want a more subtle winged liner look you should keep it thin but you can always go back and thicken it.

Step 4:
Depending on how thick you want to flick to be, draw a dipped line from the tip of the flick across to the line on the lash line. This should create the flick, you can fill in any gaps now.

Step 5:
Finally, work over the liner again to get the desired thickness and colour. If you make a mistake or want the flick to be cleaner you can use a straight edged brush and some concealer to neaten the liner. Apply mascara, my favourite being Doirshow New Look at the moment (£24), and the look is complete.

You can wear a winged liner on a naked base, or over a shadow, it's completely up to you!


Catch you later,

Ellie x

University Isn't For Everyone

During Sixth Form at my local secondary school, I felt like it was drilled into everyone that going to university was the best and only option. So much so that although I was adamant I didn't want to leave school and go straight back into education I was forced to complete a UCAS application and encouraged to attend open days.

The majority of the population deciding what to do after A-Levels have no doubt that gaining a degree is the way to go. But for me, I had a hard enough time getting through the final two years of school and I still feel like I'm the only one who doesn't want the student life.

I found that one of my teachers understood that I didn't want to go, and understood why. She would e-mail me job advertisements she found, tell me about apprenticeships she thought would suit me, all relevant to the areas I was interested in and the subjects I was doing well in in Sixth Form.

I've never had a 'dream job', well apart from the time when I was 10 and decided I could be a paramedic, thanks Casualty but it was a short lived dream. So I had no idea what I was looking for when it came to employment but just like when applying to university making yourself stand out is key.

Before I'd even started my final exams I had knocked together a CV, and been invited to an interview. The interview happened the day after I left school for good, and I lucky walked straight into the job. It's not a waitressing gig, it's not in McDonalds or KFC, it's a job I really like. Yes, they do exist.

My point is that even though we are told from a young age that having a mass of qualifications will get us a dream job, it's not true. I can't say my decision is the right one, or that I won't feel like I'm ready to try uni at a later point in life. But I don't mind a bit of hard work and perseverance to get myself to where I want to be at the moment.

Catch you later,

Ellie x

So Many Foundation, One Must Work

No one persons skin is the same, hence every make up stand in every chemist or department store has an array of foundations claiming to look natural, to match our skin tone, to last twice as long as it actual will, and to make our face flawless. Well, if you've found a foundation that does all of these things for you, you are a very lucky lady. I must admit I've come close, and heres how.

I start off with a primer, Rimmel's Fix & Perfect Pro to be exact (prepare for a Rimmel overload, they're my go to). There always seems to be some sort of offer on on this primer therefore I keep going back to it, it works well and I feel theres a big difference in the quality of my make up when I do apply it.

Now for the foundation, I have two main contenders for the perfect foundation. Urban Decay's Naked Skin is the more pricey option, at £27 per bottle I understand why many people on a budget stay away from brands like Urban Decay. This foundation is so light but very build able which is great when your skin has on and off days like mine. I can wear this for a more natural look, to cover up breakouts, or for a heavier look. It's also never let me down on the staying put front, I've worn this on nights out and come home with my skin looking as it did when I left the house. I wear shade 1.0 as I am very fair, the staff on the Urban Decay counter will recommend a shade for you.

My everyday foundation is Rimmel's Match Perfection, I like a good radiance foundation so firstly opted for Rimmel's Wake Me Up but found that it was a little too dewy for my liking and gave a slightly heavier coverage than I wanted. I use the shades Ivory and Light Porcelain mixed to get the right match. It's a good send of a product for £7 a bottle.

For an under eye concealer I use Rimmel's Match Perfect Illuminating Concealer, I think this retails at around £6, trust me it's worth it. For the odd spot and blemish I reach for Bourjois' Correcting Concealer Stick. I originally bought this from a rather dodgy looking pop up stall in a shopping centre, so I didn't hold out hope for finding it on an actual Bourjois stand but sure enough there it was at a reasonable price of £7.

I set this all in place with Rimmel's Stay Matte Pressed Powder, this is a miracle product and comes very close second to eye liner in the 'products I cannot love without' list. My only peeve with this powder is how long it lasts, like all make-up in a pan the middle usually wears away first and eventually crumbles. Top tip for getting the most for your money is to use the handle of a brush to crush the product into a loose powder, slightly messy but puts you on until you can run to Boots and make a repurchase. But don't worry, it's only £4.

To give my skin some colour I contour with Urban Decay's Naked Flushed Palette, it's slightly pricey at £22. It contains a matte bronzer which I use to highlight my cheek bones, sides of the nose and jaw, it also has a highlighter which I highlight under the brow with. Finally it has a slightly shimmery blush, I'm more of a matte colour girl so I opt for Sleek's Blush in my favourite shade Pixie Pink.

And that is how I get the best out of foundation. It's guaranteed that I'll wake up too late each morning and be too tired to follow the process, resulting in concealer after powder and no blush at all but when I take my time this way works for me.

Catch you later,

Ellie