Simple and Glossy

I had to go and get some passport/ID photos done the other day, and I thought the make up I threw on was worth sharing as it really is one of those looks you can wear just about anywhere! 

(it's my go-to look for when I need to look really polished without making a statement)

I used Lioele BB Cream, which you might have noticed I've worn in the past few posts, that's not because I love it though, in fact now I've come back to after dabbling with so many other BB Creams and Tinted Moisturisers it actually falls rather flat. But the tube is almost up so I just want to finish it off! Usually I'd substitute it for Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser (as I truly love that stuff)

I decided to keep my eyes matte, something I never, ever do, but I was feeling a little inspired! I just used Mac Brule and Urban Decay Twice Baked over Mac Painterly. Some careful eyeliner and my new mascara finished the look! I usually swipe on some eyeliner in 10 seconds flat but I definitely took my time today making sure they were completely even - to be completely honest the extra time spent fixating on minuscule bumps didn't really make much difference!

A little bit of Hoola so I don't look dead, and then I finished it all off with a generous about of my all time favourite lip gloss - Buxom in Sugar. The slight tingling slightly plumps us your lips, the colour is perfectly natural, and I really think it's the gloss that makes this look something worth putting on here!

Non Beauty Favourites

I'm certainly not going to commit to these regular weekly favourite posts (because I know I'll fail) but I do love doing these random weekly(ish) updates.

The Thought Catalog
I've been seeing random articles from here popping up on my Facebook for months now but I only actually checked it out this week and I'm a little addicted to checking it when I'm bored. There's almost always something interesting to read and there really is a little bit of everything. It's a website full of articles written by.. well written by anyone on just about anything.

Photos from a different perspective
I saw this linked on Carly's blog and I actually really enjoyed browsing the photos. Some I'd seen before but there were a few I hadn't and I really enjoyed looking through them!

The White Queen
OK, so I am way behind on this. But I got the series on DVD last Christmas and I'm only now getting round to watching it and I'm totally hooked! Despite it being a TV Show it has the feel of a film and I'm totally loving it (may have watched 7hours worth in one day….)

Writing Thank you Cards
I must be getting old, but I used to hate it when my mum made me write my thank you notes after birthdays. But this weekend when I wrote out my cards I actually found really therapeutic and actually quite humbling, just how many people I had surrounding me that I wanted to thank. #grateful

Nail Polish Collection

I love looking at these, there's just something interesting about seeing what someone has, and, more importantly, how they store it! 

My nail varnish collection used to fill the top two drawers and now it fills around half of one and I'm so much happier about what I have. I hung on to tons of polishes in case I needed that crazy tangerine shade for a nail art look. But in reality I only used those colours once or twice and year and they simply weren't worth keeping when they clogged up my storage and stopped me being able to see the colours that I really loved using.

Like with my make up clear out I still have a few things I want to use up but I'm pretty damn happy with what I've got!

I recently put a dab of each polish on the lids and I'm not 100% happy with it, as although it's really practical for some polishes (like the Models Own packaging) I just don't think it looks pretty.

Old And New

This weekend I've been 'shopping my stash' as the blogger phrase goes! Since being back and organising my make up I've been loving playing around with some forgotten gems and the make up I ended up wearing yesterday was all about combining some old loves with some new favourites

Lioeli Waterdrop BB Cream
I'd actualy forgotten I still had this! After checking it was still in date, I instantly threw it on as I remember adoring this one summer and I think I wore it every single day for almost two months. Wearing it again I don't love it as much as I once did, but I still adore the dewy finish it delivers

Mac Creme Colour Base in Shell
After buying this I spent weeks trying to figure out a way I could wear it, as my original intention of using it as an eyeshadow base went down the drain since it creases after 5 minutes. I wore it as a cheek highlight today as I wanted a cream product to keep the dewy finish of the BB Cream and Cream blush. and it just looked beautiful and wore surprisingly well!

No7 Nude Lip Liner with ELF Runway Pink
I'm not really a lipstick person, and I can probably count on my fingers the number of times I've actually bothered with a lip liner. But these two trusty old products found their way onto my lips today and I was pleasantly surprised at the result! Both are creamy and the matte lipliner paired with a semi-matte lipstick created a great finish that I think was pretty modern despite being such a classic shade

Bare Minerals Hiking Trail
Everytime I've cleaned out my products this one has been in the 'maybe' pile, and yet has somehow ended up staying. The reason being it's a stunning colour. But I detest loose shadows, or any loose powders actually - they're just a faff. Today I used a tiny amount to lighten up my khaki shadow and it was such a pretty look I'm thinking about whipping Hiking Trail out more often.

Revlon Color Stay Eyeshadow Link in Kahki
A Beautiful colour that I loved playing with. But a corner smashed as soon as I took it out of the bag, and after it sitting in my make up drawer for 2 days it's somehow completely shattered!

LOreal Super Liner Perfect Slim
Loving it - it's just so easy to work with. I'm just waiting to see exactly how long it'll last since pen liners are notorious for drying out and the lid isn't as tight as I'd like.

I finished it all off with Mac Lady Blush, a dab of collection lasting perfection concealer and lots of Benefit They're Real Mascara!

Going Blonde!

I finally took the plunge! And I thought I'd show you how I got my hair to where it is now. I'm naturally a very dark brown, around a year ago I did a bit of an ombre, loved it. And every couple of months I seemed to push the 'ombre' up a little higher! I got to the point where I felt like I simply had to commit one way or the other, either go back to my natural dark tresses or go all out… :)

The Steps I took:
1. Deep Condition
I put a generous amount of coconut oil in my hair and left it for as long as possible. I usually do a few hours but I (accidentally) ended up sleeping in it this time…
2. Section it off
It's almost impossible to do your own hair without putting it into sections, I usually half it, then divide each half into 3 sections. It just makes it more manageable!
3. Highlight!
Just follow the instructions and make half the batch for highlighting. I prefer to take lots of small strands at this point and lighten them to give my hair some dimension. This definitely takes the longest, and I'd suggest you set aside as much time as you can 
4. Rinse
After leaving it for the set amount of time (mine was about 45minutes) I rinsed it off, just using water.
5. Towel Dry
Ideally I think it'd be best to wait for your hair to completely dry before doing the next step, but honestly I'm too impatient and towel dried is good enough for me! I also popped in a few more drops of coconut oil for the hell of it!
6. Bleach Baths
I know a lot of people condemn these as damaging, but this is just what I did. I took the other half of the bleach and mixed it with conditioner (roughly 1:1 ratio)
7. Apply
Then just smother all your hair with the concoction and wait. 
8. And your Done
Keep a close eye on your hair to check the colour, baring in mind that it'll often look lighten with the products on, and once your happy with it, rinse, shampoo and condition!

(I wasn't going to wear make up when I was spending half the day with goop on my head!)

 Things to Bear in Mind

- Things won't suit you the same

This seems obvious, but I wasn't expecting clothes to look so completely different on me! I love cobalt blue on me now, and I seem to be wearing black a lot more as it just compliment my hair so well

- Roots, Roots, Roots
you might not think your hair grows all that fast, but believe me, once you dye it such a significantly different colour it's gonna feel like your hair is growing 6 inches a week. argh

- Going Blonde is High Maintenance
generally if your going from dark brown to blonde your hair is going to want to pull red, and you'll often end up with an awful lot of orange. Toning becomes your best friends. But if you want a very warm blonde, like myself, finding the right balance of toning just enough to stop your hair looking orange, and not toning too much so that it becomes more neutral or ashy is a difficult fine line.

- Damage
There's no way to sugar coat this. If your lifting your hair so many shades your going to get damage. The amount of damage depends on how strong your hair was, as well as how quickly you lifted it. But no matter how careful, you'll insure some damage and you'll have to tackle. 

On the plus side, being blonde is fun! I know I'm not going to keep it forever, and I never thought I would ever go this light so I'm just making the most of it! I also don't have to wash my hair as much since the lighter hair doesn't get greasy as quickly, and when it does it seems to hide it much better! So that kind of makes up for having to use oil everyday to keep the ends looking healthy!