Photoshoot Make-up

In February of this year, I went for a photoshoot to help build up my confidence.

The shoot took around two hours, in which I had 3 clothes changes.

I decided to do my own make-up for this shoot instead of using the make up artist.

I had around 200 photo's taken, but for today's post I thought I would add a few of the best ones, that I had edited myself, the photos were taken by my friend - Jonathan Foster, who owns La Bella Vita photography.

And I will share with you the make-up I used for this shoot.

Face - Maxfactor Whipped Creme Foundation in Natural £9.99

Benefit Perk Up Artist (I used the 'cover' as a concealer) £23.50

Benefit Dandelion Blush £23.50

Benefit High Beam £19.50

Eyes - Benefit Brow Zings £24.50

Make Up Academy Pro Base Eye Primer £2.50

Make Up Academy Palette Smokin' in Boudoir £6.00 

Soap & Glory Supercat Liquid Eyeliner £6.00

Benefit They're Real! Mascara £19.50

Eyelure Naturalites Volume Plus Lashes 100 £5.39

Lips - Rimmel Exaggerate Lipliner in Red Diva £3.99

MAC Matte Finish Lipstick in Ruby Woo £15.00

I don't think I did a bad job, seen as it was my first time doing my make-up for a photoshoot, however, I did take an hour and a half applying it to my face, as I wanted it to look perfect.

I had a really great time and even did some racy shots for my fiancée, which I won't put up here, but when the photos came back I was overjoyed.

My confidence was given a huge boost seeing the photos and the racy ones boosted my confidence even more, and Mark loved them.

So here are the rest of the photos:

 I'm so pleased with the outcome!

If you are Midlands based you can book a glamour photoshoot with Jonathan at La Bella Vita on his website 

Have you had a photoshoot before?

Did you use an MUA or do your own make-up?

Celebrate the new revolution with Makeup Revolution!

As a beauty addict, I'm always on the lookout for new products at affordable prices.

So when a friend on Facebook introduced me to Makeup Revolution I was straight on their website to see what they had to offer.

Oh My Good God.

Makeup Revolution offers 300 affordable products that are to die for.

From velvet lip lacquers to neon eyeshadows, liquid blush to every colour nail polish you can imagine, Makeup Revolution has the lot.

And the price range is amazing too, the cheapest product starting from just £1 and the most expensive product being £12, I could very easily blow my wages on the whole range.

Excited about this new website, I decided to order some new products to test out and then I will review them on here.

I ordered three Salvation Velvet Lip Lacquers in shades:

- Keep Lying For You: A gorgeous grape purple £3.00

- Keep Crying For You: A lovely nude peachy pink £3.00

- You Took My Love: A beautiful fuchsia pink £3.00

These velvet lip lacquers promise a 'highly pigmented, bold matte finish which stays in places for hours' which I am so excited for, as mentioned in the last post I wrote, I adore matte finish lipstick.

Next I ordered 2 of their Scandalous single eyeshadows in shades:

- Go! An acid green £1.00

- Pink It Is: A bright fuchsia pink £1.00

I can't wait to use these eyeshadows I have an idea to use them as eyeliner on my eyelids for a pop of colour this summer.

And last but not least I ordered their Vivid Blush Lacquer in O Boy, which looks to be a beautiful cotton candy pink which costs £3.00.

I'm so excited to receive my first order and I'm beside myself to try out the products on myself, especially the velvet lip lacquers.

The entire order, including £2.95 delivery charge clocked up to £16.95, which I was really happy about.

The range is also available on Superdrug's website and is set to hit shelves at some point soon.

I can see this company being as big of a hit with beauty addicts as MUA was, if not bigger.

Anyway, I will save the fawning and drooling for when my order arrives!

You can buy products from Makeup Revolution here from their website.

And Superdrug's website.

Makeup Revolution also ship orders to different countries, see website for details.

Have you tried and of Makeup Revolution's products yet?

Top 5 Summer Lippies!

With summer approaching, I always find myself reaching for the bright colours on my eyes and lips.

This summer season, I thought I would branch out with my lip colours, seen as the only two shades I wear are nude or a 50s red which I've been having a love affair with for the last god knows how many years!

So, the last month or so I have been buying different colours and experimenting with them and I have come up with my top 5 lipsticks for the summer.

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lipstick in 05 Ole Flamingo!

 First of all, I loooove the packaging. 

And the doe-foot applicator is amazing for applying the product to the lips.

Ole Flamingo! is a gorgeous bold fuchsia colour, which applied once is a soft fuchsia but you can build the boldness up with a few more coats.

And you don't have to worry about stickiness when building the colour up, this liquid lipstick glides on beautifully! I use about 3-4 coats of this to really make the colour pop.

The product dries completely matte and once it has dried there is no budging.

I use make up wipes and then micellar water to take my make up off and the last few times I have wore this shade I have used up to 3 cotton wool pads soaked in micellar water to get it off my lips, so the staying power is excellent.

I didn't find it drying on the lips and my lips looked smooth all day.

Here is the swatch of the lipstick and how it looks on my lips (Huge apology for the quality of the photos of my lips, my camera batteries have run out and I have been too lazy to recharge them!)

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks retail at £8.99 at Boots, you can buy here.

 Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in 245 Audacious.

 This is a colour I have been dying to try out for some time and I just haven't had the guts.

But one day in Boots I just decided to pick it up and try it.

I love big chunky lip crayons and have quite a few in my make up bag.

Audacious is a creamy coral/orange colour, which at first I was quite worried about how it would look on my lips, but once I applied it, it was a different story.

This glides onto your lips effortlessly and leave your lips looking velvety.

The colour pay off is wonderful and I will say that this lipstick sometimes shows up dry areas on the lips, but that can be remedied by using a lip scrub beforehand.

In terms of longevity, it does last a while, but I love the kind of lipstick wear you can take a drink or kiss someone without it showing on them, and this does leave marks on anything your lips touch.

Revlon Colorburst Matte Balms are available at Boots for £7.99, you can buy here.

MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer in Reckless.

As mentioned in previous posts, I had been looking high and low in all Superdrug stores for this shade in the Luxe range for months and I finally got my hands on one! (Woop)

And it was definitely worth the wait, I was overjoyed at the colour of this lipstick!

Just lately I have been watching a lot of Mad Men, which is set in the 60s. The women in the show all wear the classic red lip with mascara and I had been searching for the perfect 60s red lipstick, and Reckless is just that.

I reviewed 'Funk' over Christmas last year, if you want to read the review click here.

So saving me another few paragraphs on describing the packaging, colour pay off and longevity of the MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquers, I am just going to say this: I'm totally head over heels in love with this lipstick.

You can buy MUA's Lip Lacquers in Superdrug stores or on their website here.

Avon Perfect Kiss Lipstick in Fuchsia Flirt.

I usually order from the Avon quite a lot and saw these lipsticks and thought 'why not?'

These lipsticks boast full-coverage with natural oils and triple action smoothing complexes that give you smooth kissable lips.

I decided to go with the shade 'Fuchsia Flirt' and go with something different for the summer.

This lipstick glides on lovely, and true to Avon's word they do leave the lips feeling smooth and moisturised, but the staying power isn't too good, I found myself re-applying this lipstick after around 3 hours after putting it on.

But that doesn't rule out the fact that my lips were lovely and moisturised and made my lips look full.

You can purchase this lipstick here for £8.50

Avon Ultra Colour Lip Brilliance Lipstick in Vermillion.

Another lipstick I purchased in this months Avon order was their Ultra Colour Lip Brilliance Lipstick in Vermillion.

The packaging for the lipstick is adorable, their typical bullet shaped tube in a rose colour.

And I loved the pattern in the lipstick too.

This shade is a burnt orangey/red with a touch of sparkle, which I think is perfect for any sunny day this summer.

The lipsticks are also packed with Vitamin E and Jojoba.

When I applied this for this first time I fell in love, effortless application, and the colour on the lips is to die for.

There is maybe just a little bit too much sparkle for me, but you can easily take that away if you blot.

Colour longevity is a little longer than the Perfect Kiss Lipstick, but that was only after I had eaten and it left a coloured ring around my lips.

My lips felt very moisturised and smooth while wearing this and it was really comfortable to wear.

You can also purchase this lipstick from the Avon website here for £4.00.

What are your favourite colours for the Summer?

Hello, Hello, It's good to be back, good to be back...

It has been a very long while since I last blogged.

And truth be told I haven't been all that bothered to write up as I lost my passion for it a bit. 

I have been concentrating more on my photography and since the weather has been nicer, I have been taking many trips out and about to practise my photography.

But I woke up this morning and thought: "You know what? I really miss blogging" 

And seen as this blog is a beauty and lifestyle blog, I thought I would share with you all today, the trips and photography I have been doing since March.

For some reason, I have twice been to Stratford-Upon-Avon and Barmouth. 

So, I will post up the photo's I have taken both times in collages.

Stratford-Upon-Avon, 20th April.

I had never been to Stratford-Upon-Avon before and I have always wanted to go. 

And who knew, it was only £7.40 on the train from Birmingham Snow Hill!

I met up with my parents and nephew - Logan at Snow Hill Station, my mum ready with a picnic for our day out and we jumped on the train.

When we arrived we had our picnic on the Riverside looking over the River Avon and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

After that we just strolled along all day, took a boat ride along the river and went inside the RSC.

There were so many buskers about which made it even better to walk around the town and we went and sat in a beer garden. We walked up to the church and I visited my hero's grave which was pretty surreal.

Stratford-Upon-Avon, 17th May.

The second time I visited Stratford was with my best friend and photographer partner - Rachel.

It was such a gorgeously sunny, hot day that all we wanted to do was sunbath by the river, listen to the buskers, we went on the boat and ended up at the pub.

It was a beautiful day and as always we had so much fun and a great laugh together.

 The weather definitely called for summer dresses last week and it was so relaxing to lie in the sun, chatting.

Barmouth, 4th May.

The last Bank Holiday weekend we had me and my fiancé Mark, decided to take a day trip to Barmouth.

We wanted to escape Wolverhampton for the day and head to the seaside.

The road trip there was a lot of fun, and the drive into Barmouth was spectacular, rolling hills and valleys, farms and little cottages which tempted me more to pack up and leave the West Midlands for good!

 We had a brilliant day together, we lay on the beach with a picnic, I went for a paddle in the sea, we walked miles along the beach and then settled down on some benches over looking the harbour with some well earned fish & chips.

Barmouth, 24th May.

Again, we visited Barmouth this weekend with my little nephew Logan.

This was his first trip to the seaside and I couldn't wait to see his little face when he saw the sea!

We arrived there and the weather was bleak, but it didn't seem to dampen Logan's spirits, he was in and out of the sea, making sandcastles, digging with his spade and grabbing huge handfuls of sand and throwing it back into the sea. We did a little shopping and he bought himself some sticks of rock, an ornament for his bedroom and we bought him a net to search in the sea for crabs.

He had a brilliant day and wouldn't stop going on about the huge jellyfish we came across on the harbour.

To be fair it was the size of a dustbin lid so even me and Mark were quite surprised at it!

 So as you can see, I have been very busy!

Other things that I have done lately, have been changing my style yet again, I went to see Courtney Love the 18th of May, which was unbelievable! I've been wanting to see her since the 90s, she a very big influence on me and one of my heroes.

I've been having some brilliant catch ups with Rachel and last night to top my weekend off, myself and Mark went to the cinemas to see X-Men: Days Of Future Past, which was excellent! I also have a biggest lady boner on Michael Fassbender now, who plays Magneto, I recommend you all go and see it, because apart from the eye candy it is a very good film, with a lot of things explained in it from the first one. That is if you are a comic book/Marvel/X-Men fan like myself,

 So, my friends!

That is all for now, I will try and post as often as I can from now on, I have some really great beauty products to review and I'm sure there will be other places that I visit and photograph that I can share on here.