Another fun updo

Start at the bottom of her head. Take a part from ear to ear and pull it up into an elastic as shown below.

Make braids on both sides of her head. For example look below. Under the braids make a small part and pull her hair into an elastic.

Do the same thing to both sides. Then take all the remaining hair and all the small ponytails and put them into 1 ponytail in the middle of her head.

Take the ponytail and on the last time you are ready to pull it through the elastic leave the ends still in the elastic.

Below is a picture of the top of her hair.

Smokey Eye FOTD with Nars & Illamasqua

Today, i thought i would play around with some of my new shadows...

In real life, this looks really dark and smokey, the flash has bleached it out alot. So, i guess you could either wear this in the daytime or the evening. :)


Face
♥ Mac select cover up concealer on blemishes
♥ GOSH touch up concealer in no. 2 under eyes
♥ Benefit erase paste in no 1 in corners of eyes to brighten
♥ Bare Escentuals mineral foundation in Medium Beige, using the Body Shop Kabuki for application
♥ Bare Escentuals "Faux Tan" to contour & bronze using Mac's 109 brush
♥ Mac MSF in Porcelain Pink using 109 brush


Eyes
♥ Mac's Blackground paint pot as a base, only on outer corners of the eyes.
♥ Nars Pleasures Of Paris palette col. Abyssinia in inner corner of eyes
♥ Nars PofP col. Fez in center of the eyes
♥ Nars Mekong single shadow in outer corners and blended under the eyes.
♥ Mac Retrospeck as brow highlight
♥ Loreal Voluminous mascara
♥ 2True waterproof eyeliner along top lashline

[Fed up of photos turning out rubbish]

Lips
♥ Illamasqua Obey Lipstick
♥ Mac Baby Sparks Dazzleglass on top


I had so much trouble with taking a photo of myself today. I just hated all of them & almost gave up.
In this very last photo it's my "URGH I GIVE UP" face :)
and in another i think i look pretty fed up.
I like this look, but none of my cameras really gave it ANY justice. I used 3!
I used my webcam last, just so you could see it zoomed out a little bit, and with my hair :)
& i actually prefer the webcam shots albeit a little yellow...

I lovelovelove these nars shadows. They look amazing on.
♥

Hair History.

It has become apparant that alot of you are very interested in my hair & how fast it took to grow and how i keep it in good condition (although i still stand by the fact it isn't..)

I have recieved alot of emails asking me those questions, so i thought i would do a blogpost on my hair history...colours, styles & cuts...no matter how embarassing ;)

I appologise in advance for the really cringey posey photos. haha. You can pretend you don't have any in your photo collection but I know you'd be lying!

Okay, so, starting from the very beginning...

This is me aged 1. I have quite thin mousey brown hair..and not much of it. :) A few months after this, my hair went very blonde..no photos of that on my computer though.



Think i was about 2 and a bit in both this photo and the one below. As you can see, i developed some serious frizz and ringlets, and they were blonde. This was the stage in my life where i formed a phobia of having my hair washed or brushed. I absolutely hated it and kicked up such a fuss when my mum told me she was going to brush it. I have a video of that somewhere haha.

Why did my mum dress me like a little boy...

Think i was around 4 here and was about to start school. The ringlets have dropped and my hair is coming through alot darker..but still blonde at the ends. :)

This was on holiday with my brother and cousens when i was 6 or 7. I had a bob cut, and fringe put in. Urgh, looking back i cant believe i liked this hair cut. I had it like this up until about year 6 (10/11) when i decided to let my hair grow longer...and i didnt get it cut for years... *gasp*

This is about the second year of secondary school. My hair is mid-length and still its natural colour, i have a side swept fringe, but before this i did have a center parting...

This photo made me laugh. I dyed it darker, and cut in a proper boxy fringe, it was still kindof long but i had mega choppy layers put in around my face...hmm...who votes that a box fringe does not suit me? *raises hand*After that, when i was 16, i cut off all the stringy long bits of hair and went mega short, with loads and loads of layers...about a week after this photo...i dreaded cutting my hair short and wanted it back to long...although i did love the volume i created by having all the short layers. How damn posey is this photo...cripes. haha

When they layers started growing out...not long after the photo above..i dyed it a weird reddy colour..this is known an my "ginger" phase...imagine how bad it was when the colour started coming out and the sun hit it...yikes.

This was after a holiday, im nice and tanned and my hair had been trimmed a little and the dye had gone..and the sun had brightened it up a bit. The last three photos were all around the same time. Obviously i was feeling incredibly insecure with my shorter hair.

This is my 17th birthday, hair is alot longer, layers are longer and i dyed it a darker brown. I really like my hair dark, but im so pale i dont know if i can pull it off so well. I also got a random blonde streak put through underneath on one side...you can kindof see it. Look how young Jack looks...haha. bless him.

Aged 18/19, and my hair is ALOT longer as well as my fringe. This is my natural hair colour again, besides the blonde streak..which is making its tiny appearance on the right near the bottom. haha I quite liked my long fringe but it was hard work to style and very rarely sat right.

This is earlier this year, i had my hair cut, had it semi-permanently dyed darker and some highlights put through the front.

This was a few weeks ago, hair is MUCH longer, layers are longer and i have trimmed my fringe a fair few times since the photo above. Highlights are still visible but the semi permanent dye has gone and its now my natural hair colour. :) I definitely love my hair the most how it is now.
When it's left to dry naturally though, it does resemble the first few pictures. I get ringlets and waves. :)

Its really weird seeing the photo of me at the top of this post and then the last one..haha that's properly weirded me out.

My advice to any of you trying to grow you're hair is to keep it protected from any heat...as this does damage the ends and will give you major split ends, thus major breakage will occur.
& to only get TRIMS. If you go crazy and keep taking too much hair off (unless you want a mega change or your hair is in really bad condition) then it will never grow. I never had my hair cut much in the space of time i had it cut short. I would just trim the ends myself every few months.
Although, if you are really bad at cutting hair, i wouldnt advise you do that haha.

So there you go, if you have any other questions, leave them below :)

♥

Toddler Puffy into Ponytail

As must of you know and I still continue to complain about how thin her hair is so this hairstyle came about one of my friends has a little girl that the sides of her hair above her ears was cut really short. So we did this style to help her.

Start on one side of her head and make a small part above her ear and make similar to the headband. On one side of her head I did 3 puffy braids and on the other side I did 2. I always do a far lateral part that is why they are uneven.

This is the side with 3. I made the 2 sides meet in the middle.

This is what it looks like from the top of her head. Very cute and simple. My toddler doesn't sit still very long as most toddlers don't.

100th Post - Awards

Eee, this is my 100th post, so in honour of that. Have some awards...

I was given 2 pretty awards recently.
The first was from the ever so gorgeous, Stef
Please check out her amazing blog. I love it. She has so much amazing makeup and her blogposts are SO informative. She knows all there is to know about Mac, including the finishes and colour combos. She is also so bubbly and friendly.


How cute is that award?
There were no rules around this one. :)

The second award was given to me by the adorable Sarah (haha i still call you Lou though) & also the gorgeous Jennifer & lovely Kate


The rules around this one were to give 10 random facts about me,
Hmm..
Here goes:

1. Ever since I was about 10 i have LOVED Ant & Dec. For those of you who may not know who they are, they are presenters in the UK. I find their slapstick sense of humour hilarious & reckon theyre quite cute. haha I was going to keep this one a secret but i wanted some reasurrance from those of you who secretly love them too...anyone?... :)

2. I suffer from Panick Attacks, It's not a nice fact about me, but i really want them to be made more aware. I still believe nobody i know truley understands them. Even Jack doesnt, which isn't very reasurring. I've had them since i was around 14 years old. I don't know why i get them, or when i'll get them. But i constantly live in fear of them. They haven't been as bad lately, which is promising as im hoping to just grow out of them. :) If you have any further questions about panick attacks or are curious, try google or leave me a comment.

3. I'm the fussiest eater you will ever come across. I stick to the foods i know and love, and i'm very unadventurous when it comes to food. I really want to go travelling but i know i'd starve as i'd hate everything. I really wish i wasn't so fussy, but i am. Some foods i dont like...chinese, indian, garlic, onions, mushrooms, any form of meat from the bone, any type of fish, noodles, peppers, chilli, kidney beans, any form of quiche, sun dried tomatos (ABSOLUTE YUCK)...my gosh i could go on and on..

4. I get travel nausea. Cannot stand boats, or cars for long journeys. Planes are okay, as long as i can't feel any turbulance. I get queasy on a ferry across a tiny stretch of sea...Jack laughs at me as the boat hardly rocks at all. I'm probabaly just being a complete drama queen and imagining it. haha

5. I am secretly quite a nifty little singer. I don't mean that in a big headed way, im certainly no Beyonce Knowles or Whitney Houston. But, i do not let ANYONE hear me. The only time i will belt my little heart out is if im alone in my house. I think my dad overheard me in my room once and has never shuttup about it. He keeps urging me to sing in front of people or audition for something but i am WAY too shy. I really wish i wasnt, and i could just whip a tune out. aha

6. I'm really sentimental. I keep everything. Not junk, but tickets, photos, small souveniers & i stick it all into a diary i've had since i was 10. I dont write in it daily, but i write important things, or things on my mind, people that are peeing me off, people i love, things i've done, things i've remembered. I have 2 padlocks on this diary as it's SO private. I wouldn't let a soul read it these days. Obviously when i was younger it was just filled with people i fancied and events at school like being asked out for the first time & things boys had said to chat me up. It's so funny reading it back, and the petty arguments me and friends used to have. I'm so glad i've kept this diary, and im hoping i can keep it going for a long time, i still have about half the book left :)

7. I'm tiny. For those of you who havent ever met me...(and if you have i'm pretty sure your first words were "oh my gosh...you're tiny") then yes, i am small. I'm more "petite" as i'd say im in proportion. My dads fairly small and was a skinny bean pole when he was younger, my mum is tiny and my brother is tiny. We're like the borrowers. haha. Jack is also always holding up my feet and laughing at how small they are..and my longest finger is still smaller than his little finger.

8. I'm a chronic sleep talker. I also used to sleep walk when i was younger but i dont do that anymore thank god. I have mega long conversations to Jack on the phone, and will wake up thinking he never called me, when in fact i just talked to him when i've been sleeping. We've even had arguments before where i have sworn he's never called me, and have to resort to checking my call log, only to find he did in fact ring. Alot of people, My brother, Jack and my Dad included, like to take advantage of the fact i talk utter garbage in my sleep, by purposely asking me ridiculous questions, to get ridiculous answers back. :) Luckily we have no camera footage..yet.

9. I sometimes talk in a little girl voice. It's actually what got Jacks attention in sixth form. Don't ask why, but when me and my friends were being stupid, we'd put on little girl voices, and we'd often forget we were actually in public and that people could hear us. Jack overheard one of our silly conversations, sounding like 4 year old girls, and thought it was cute. haha. I wonder if he'd be with me if he wasnt eavesdropping ;)

10. Funnily enough, i couldnt think of fact number 10, i turned to Jack for some help. And he said that I come out with the worst one liners... I once said that Brazil was in Spain, during a conversation I implied that Tudors had telephones and during a conversation about seagulls asked if they laid eggs. :) I think im lacking slightly in the common sense department. If he can think of anything else, im sure he'll post in the comments below. haha. Those were just a few he remembered. :)

And i tag each and every one of my lovely followers to do this too if you feel like it :)
Thanks so much girlies for awarding me

♥

Gymnastic Hair

We have been watching a lot of the TV show Make it or Break it. It is about Gymnastics. My daughter Aurora takes gymnastics as well and love one of the girls hair. So this is where this hairstyle comes from.

My pictures don't show this very well but the lowest section of her hair is pulled up to the middle of her head and secured with an elastic. Once this is done make a part down the middle and french braid each side.

The picture below shows best the middle section of hair I was talking about. The french braids only go down about halfway.

Then take the 2 french braids and the middle hair and put in an elastic.

Then I made 3 separate braids

After you have the 3 braids I folded them upward and curled the remaining hair. Then put a bow.

Updo

Make 2 diagonal parts across the bottom of the hair. Then take the middle section and secure with an elastic.

WE have a very far side part in the front of her hair. Take the front hair and pull it down to the ear and secure with an elastic.

The picture above and below are the hair in the front of her head pulled down to her ears.

Take all the remaining hair and pull it into a ponytail. Don't pull the hair all the way through.

I use the remaining hair to pull around the elastic to hide the elastic. We then put in one of our favorite bows to give it the finishing touch.

Grease Is The Word.

If you follow me on twitter or listened to me complaining about my hair at the Body Shop event (haha sorry), then you will know that i have had major issues with it being greasy as soon as i'd washed it.

This did happen on the morning of the Body Shop event, much to my dismay...

It just wouldn't stop being greasy.

I tried...

• Changing Shampoo & Conditioner
• Not using any Conditioner
• Batisting it out...that didnt work. No amount of dry shampoo would lift it.
• Not using any products before blowdrying

and yes, you guessed it...none of the above worked.

Here are some GLORIOUS photos of my lovely greasy head.
You may vom if needs be.
I know i dont like seeing people with greasy hair haha



These photos were taken literally 2 minutes after blowdrying.
Sorry if the photos were crap...its hard taking a photo of the top of your head.
The greasyness is in the crown and some in the fringe.

My hair has been SO limp, even backcombing didnt achieve any volume.

So ladies..the diagnosis is...
Product Build Up
*grrr*

My mum always used to tell me about product build up, and i'd be like
"yeh yeh, but thats what you shampoo you're hair for"
O_o

I seriously would have given up all hope and bought some expensive hair treatment or gone to the hairdressers if it hadn't have been for Arlene (Dressjunkie)
She advised me to get the Boots product build up shampoo & linked me to her REVIEW.
Please read it, its waaay better than mine :)
She had the same problem and voilaa, this little beauty of a product sorted it all out.

It was £2.93 in Boots & looks like this...


I dont often see many hair products that offer to remove build up product, and actually, when i was scouring the shelves for this..i saw nothing that claimed to do the same thing.

I have just done the test & washed my hair twice with the shampoo & nothing else.
No conditioner, no serums or lotions before or after blowdrying.
*gasp*

The results are far better than i expected.
I dont have any grease in my hair, it feels SO soft and sleek. It actually feels as though i've had my hair washed and blowdryed in a salon.

I seriously cannot thank Arlene enough.
and remember girls, don't ever underestimate the "own brands"
♥

O.P.I : Mod About You

A few people asked what nailpolish i was wearing last week at the Body Shop Bloggers event.
I was wearing this gorgeous milky pale pink, which i purchased after Laura (Lollipop26) had raved about it.
It's a really feminine colour but i also love the fact it makes your feel more tanned than you actually are! haha

The shade is called "Mod About You"

♥

The Pleasures of Paris.

I have never been to Paris.

shock horror.
In fact, i've never been to france...how weird is that?
Everyone's been to France!

Anyway, I don't personally know the Pleasures of Paris, but when scouring the Nars counter last week in Selfridges, i fell in love with the Palette "Pleasures of Paris"


It is gorgeous.
I've looked at Nars palettes before & theres always one or two colours i know i would never wear.
But when i saw this one, i loved every single colour.
I restrained myself last week, but when i saw i had more money in my bank than i thought i did, and after i'd been working so hard for my dad, i thought i'd treat myself yesterday in Space NK.

*grins*


Colours in Palette:

Top Row L-R: Nepal, Violetta & Demon Lover
Bottom Row L-R: Fez, Abyssinia & Cordura

Swatches in natural light:

L-R: Nepal, Violetta, Demon Lover, Fez, Abyssinia & Cordura

As i've said before, Nars shadows are such good quality. I do prefer them to mac.
The swatches above were done with one swipe.
I also noticed that the matte shades are so creamy to touch. They're not cream shadows, but the consistency is so smooth.

I heart this palette

P.s. It's also Limited Edition, so grab it while you can ladies. The Lady in Space NK said it had been flying off the shelves and was really popular.
♥