Face Up to Summer!

Summer brings, for me at least, a laissez-faire attitude to make up. Minimal and light always appears to  be more fitting when the sun is out and my wardrobe is comprised of pastels presenting the opportunity to embrace my inner Diaz. I often opt for one of the ever growing options of bb creams from the high-street. As John Geddes says, “…summer softens lines that winter cruelly shows…”. Well with 20 something skin the case is less that summer soften the lines and more of the case of it softening blemishes. Something about that extra does of  vitamin D , seems to agree with most temperamental skin.  That being said on those certain special occasions, which always involve me breaking free of the field and hauling myself away from the real housewives of Beverly Hills, I like to be slightly more polished. Whilst I would never claim to achieve flawless, I can achieve enriched … just not to the same extent as those housewives.

My ‘ever slightly refined face list’ is always comprised of: Foundation, Concealer, Powder, Bronzer, Blush and Highlighter. Whilst this may sound like a product when applied in moderation it can give a light look. All of which featured in my products consistently at my fingertips.

I begin with my favourite summer and spring foundation of the year, Bourjois healthy mix foundation. I prefer the slightly heavier coverage than its sister product the healthy mix gel serum, even if it is summer. I have been crushing on this product for months as it gives a real glow to the skin without being too much. Its light, natural looking and I actually think has improved my skin underneath.  Applied with the much acclaimed real techniques buffing brush, it covers and blends in mere minuets.

Then I follow this up with under eye concealer. There are many things I would love to change about myself and almost at the top of that list is the purple bags under my eyes; built up from far too many all night study sessions. As a result high end heavy duty concealer is always a corner stone in my make up bag! Fake it by Benefit. It slides on effortlessly and can be layered up to give industrial level coverage.

Rather than swiping it under my eyes I place it all along the lower lash line in vertical lines. I find this the best way to get maximum concealment whilst having no obvious dichotomy between my foundation and concealer. To blend it in I use a Beauty Blender, using a patting motion along the lines and then a swishing motion for one final blend. Then I set with whatever powder I have to hand.

My favourite thing to ever discover in terms of make up is contouring and this love story only increased in wonder when I purchased Chanel’s Sol de Tan. A cream-gel bronzer which melts in to the skin, it is bliss. I used to apply it with a M.A.C contouring brush (168) but I now prefer the smaller domed shape of the Real Techniques contour brush, it reaches in to hollows much better and therefore gives a more natural, blended contour. I apply it under my cheekbones, temples and jawline. I take it 3/4 of the way down my cheekbone and keep most of the colour further back. The picture of it below is it pre blending!

To add some colour and balance out the glow and bronze, I apply a blush above the contour line on my cheekbone.  My current go to being peachy keen by M.A.C its bright and playful. Applied with a sigma stippling blush brush. I add a little to the apples of my cheeks but keep colour about 2 fingers width away from from the edge of my nose.

 

To round off the look I add some highlighter on the highest points of my cheekbones and under my brows. I like a cream based highlighter rather than a powder. I find powder highlighters often too glittery and artificial looking. Here I used Watts up.

Thats my summer face routine complete. It takes about 8 minutes but is oh so worth it. So I shall leave you with a picture of me looking slightly like a sloth but a sloth with improved skin!

Love Livs xxx

A golden ticket to a gloriously understated golden glance!

“The golden age is before us, not behind us.”- William Shakespeare

All that glitters is not gold, however a hit of gold glitter eyeshadow never goes amiss in the summer season. As mentioned in my ‘products consistently at my fingertips’, I just can’t get enough of a glowing golden eye in the summer. A personal go to for any day that involves me breaking out of the field and enter the glimmering city walls of York.   The sheep may not appreciate the soft glow of this look, but the town sure does. Soft and understated but undoubtedly glorious.

With 3 colours, conveniently placed next to each other, in Urban Decay’s Naked 2 pallet, a simple golden eye can be achieved. The subtle gradient of colour (pictured right to left) adds a warmth and depth to the look , which, a simple wash of a gold pigment (half baked) could not achieve alone!

*Firstly, the eyes are primed with Bare Study, a golden and shimmer paint pot by mac. This gives the shadow something to cling to, brining out the gleaming gold.

*Then bootycall is placed with a shadow brush all over the lid and in the crease. I also placed some in the inner eye area (the hollow  between your tear duct and nose) using a pencil brush. Whilst I am normally not a huge fan of inner eye highlighting, it actually really works for this glowing look.

* Half baked is then patted, rather than swiped, over the outer 2/3rds of the lid to intensify the colour . This keeps the inner part of the lid light and bright! Then I blended it in to the crease on a pointed crease brush. I prefer this look to be heavily blended, as I personally feel, the subtle gradient of colour depth is more flattering than a starker contrast.

*Then coppering is added to the outer corner. I do this with a pencil brush (If i wanted a stronger look I would apply it with an angled shader brush to have more product placed on the outer corner.). As the coppering is really only applied to give a warmth to the eye it is not overly dramatic.

*To give the eye a clear shape I use a square flat liner brush to press the coppering shadow in to a < shape on the outer edge of my eye. I line up the brush from the outer corner of my eye up towards where my eye brow ends. The second line is then placed on the bone above the crease (the eye socket) from the edge of the first line, facing towards the inner part of the eye. This technique allows a slightly stronger shape to the eye and even when blended down, as it is in this look, a cat eye is still alluded to.

*Using the same square flat liner brush I placed half baked and coppering under the eye, so that to gleams!

*With the cat shape already suggested by the shadow, liner is used to highlight it even more so. I used the Eyeko pen for the liner on the lid as this product allows a really thin line to be drawn. I then used gel liner on a liner brush for the flick as the consistency of the gel is slightly better to work with because you can control the pressure you place on the brush far more then with the pen. I also find the brush has a more fluid movement, which is better for the flick.

*With a lashing of mascara theses golden glories are finished! Understated but undoubtedly glorious.!

*For me brows are a must! . I brushed the brows upwards using a spoolie, the tip of the spoolie was then used around the edges of the brow to direct the hairs in to a more defined shape. A few short strokes of ‘brows’ by topshop to fill in any small gaps and one final comb through finishes off the ‘arches of the soul’.

*Pared with a rich peachy nude (Posh tone by M.A.C) completes this look!

Look complete I’m able to head off in to the lustrous city to  exchange some golden glances and exchange my golden tickets for some Bucks!

Love Livs xxxxx

The lists. The life. The loves… of a girl called Livs.

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”
― Plato, The Republic

But how does one introduce themselves to their blog?!? How do you sum up everything you could possibly want to say in a introduction? How do you say ‘Hi, this is me and by the end of this post you will totally know my being and my soul?’

Well I suppose you just don’t, but keeping in accord with my usual life, I had to begin with a list.

*Who am I?- I’m Livs! 

-I’m a 19 year old university student, who has wanted to do a blog for forever and a day but never really felt she had the time or confidence to do one. However,  after being uprooted from an idyllic seaside town in the South and placed in, quite literarily, a field, up North the lack of phone signal and being the owner of a postcode where ASOS don’t deliver,  the impulse to connect with civilisation provided enough motivation to start a blog. Well that and a growing addiction to SATC, leading me to the delusional belief that I am Carrie Bradshaw  (whatever her soul is made of hers and mine are the same, or at least the same love of shoes and vintage)   … but, if writing this introduction has taught me (let alone you) anything it is that I am no Bradshaw. More basics…  Im currently at Cambridge Uni and have just finished my fresher year complete with the fresher 15, an over inflated opinion of my own maturity and some massive dreams. Oh and an every growing sense that I haven’t done enough yet, that I should of done more and that i’m never going to settle in life, but apparently thats all normal for a 19 year old. There is loads more that makes up me, well you would hope so, but that can wait.

*What do I love? – Make up, Make up, Make up … and lists.

-I love make up, a cliche with no real impact but its true. Whilst ASOS may not deliver, Birchbox still do and that little pink package of joy is the highlight of my month despite what tampax may advertise. Like so many teenage beauty junkies I have read hundreds of  books and magazines, watched 1000s of you tube videos and played with make up on anyone who will let me. Whilst i’m no professional, I would humbly like to suggest I know quite a decent amount and there is nothing I would like more then to discuss products, styles and looks with others. Why be on the outside of a community when you can be in it? Constantly inspired by my favourite Catcher in the rye quote “If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she’s late?”, I will always sit at my vanity that little bit longer. That being said I sit at the vanity putting alot of effort in to looking fairly mediocre but ‘meh’ Salinger’s sentiment stays the same.

-Then theres the lists, I would say I make about 10 lists a day. I just love them and have books of  lists for things like my morning make up routine (modified daily), lists for my goals (daily, weekly, monthly, life’ly’), shopping lists, wish lists and even lists of list I should make.  Whilst this may sound a tad neurotic its actually great because I can look back and document most of my teenage years through lists and some times the subtexts of these lists provide more incite than a diary extract. The changes in goals or even the way I do my hair can say something for the relationships I was forming at the time, the person I was aspiring to be. That and lists keep me calm.

*Why now? -There are one hundred and eighty days till I turn 20.

-In one hundred and eight days my teenage dream years shall be behind me; it was this very thought that prompted a ‘quarter life crisis.’ Starting a beauty and lifestyle blog has been on several lists for about two years and if your not going to do it during an underwhelming ’quarter life crisis’ then when are you?

*Blog what? Well I was thinking all I really can offer is me, me and my life.

-I want to share with you; the loves the lists, the lessons, and the life of me. I shall probably blog alot on make up because well make up is a massive part of my day. If i was reduce my current life to, you guessed it, a list it probably should be this: Makeup, reading, baking, shopping, philosophy, decorating, philosophising life and self evaluation.

Im not an expert on anything and I most defiantly haven’t got my life together or sorted to any reasonable level to offer wisdom, but if i just blog my musings and thoughts on, well whatever. Then maybe someone somewhere will empathise and get it and then ‘boom’, a girl surrounded by lists and make up brushes, sat in a filed alone doesn’t feel  lonely.

*wrap it up already.

-I really hope the beginning is not the most important part of the works, as this was not all that good. I shall only hope practice makes perfect and that I can get some form of voice from this point on. Like everything iv’e probably been that bit too keen and tried that bit too much. You have probably ended this introduction with a first impression that screams: “I have no idea who this girl thinks she is, or what she’s about, or even what this blog is about” But please stick with it as i’m pretty sure things will improve seeing as ‘things to improve on this blog’ list is now a page long! So I shall leave you with this ...

Love Livs xxx