Thought of the day

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With or Without ... Be true to yourself

Do what you love - whatever it is that makes you happy, and do it often

Hey yall!

So you know how I love makeup right? I do, i DO, I DO ... honestly it still blows my mind how it can completely change how you look and feel. For example there'll be days when I'm like "Uhhhhh life is blehhhhhh".... and then for the heck of it, I'll do my face and straightaway, the person looking back at me from my mirror looks like she couldn't possibly have a blehhhhhh day in her life, and immediately my day becomes all sunshine and bubbles. It's pretty powerful and it's definitely one of the great things about makeup. 

As nature intended

With the help of my pots and paints

Lately though I've been loving this other buzz. The one where I go around without a thing (besides moisturiser) on my face. Honestly it's a little scary and ... a little liberating. Scary because I've always had hangups that makeup has always been able to fix, and liberating because suddenly those things don't seem to matter all that much anymore. 

I'm not saying I've giving up my pots and paints. Heck no, they're wayyy too much fun. I guess I'm just exploring alternate ways of being, and liking it.

What does it mean though?! Could I really finally have gotten to that point where I accept myself with all my imperfections. Where I say 'Hey love, don't sweat the small stuff. You're great just as you are. You're worthy and valuable and you matter no matter what you look like, what you've done or where you are in life." 

 ... that felt good. Really good.

And that brings me to my message today - 

Be true to yourself, you're more than good enough just as you are. Do what you love - whatever it is that makes you happy, and do it often. 


Love you!
Amiena

TUTORIAL - GOODBYE DARK UNDEREYE CIRCLES

It is a truth, universally accepted (amongst the makeup obsessed, that is), that there is nothing more loathsome than the dreaded DARK UNDEREYE CIRCLE, ... and that's why I'm going to share my banishing routine with you.

Step 1. So so sooooo important - Moisturise and apply your Primer.

Step 2. Now gently, with your ring finger, tap an orange corrector into the shadows under your eyes. Orange is going to balance out those awful blue/purple undertones.

Step 3. Gently dab your favourite foundation over your corrector, and rest of your face, with a stipple brush or beauty blender. It's REALLY important to dab on your foundation as brush strokes will displace your corrector.

Step 4. Now select a concealer a shade lighter than your skin tone. Draw a triangle under each eye, and blend it out with a beauty blender. This will banish any lingering shadow and highlight your under eye area.

Step 5. Finally lightly dust a translucent powder under your eyes, and over your T-zone to set your makeup.

Dark circles? What dark circles?! This method completely gets rid of them and keeps them gone all day.

So try it out and let me know if it worked for you. I promise, it's full proof!

Products used:

Moisturiser: Olay Complete All Day Moisturiser

Primer: Loreal Lumi Magique Pure Light Primer

Corrector:NYX Above and Beyond Full Coverage Concealer in Orange

Foundation: Loreal Infallible 24hr Foundation in 300 Amber

Concealer: NYX HD Photogenic Concealer in CW06 Glow/ Eclat

Translucent Powder: MAC Prep and Prime

Geek Chic - Makeup for Girls with Glasses

Hey Beauties

Two weeks back I got fitted with new frames and ... they're so lush (big cheesy smile) and that's why this post is all about how to do MAKEUP for GIRLS with GLASSES, and be Geek Chic. 

I'm near sighted with a high script and have been wearing spectacles since I was about 2. Growing up I was so horribly self conscious about them, that as soon as I was able to, I switched to contact lenses and its really, only recently that I've allowed myself to 'accept' that its actually cool to wear glasses in public. Hurrah!

Thing is, my near sighted high script means that my eyes look a lot smaller which is eeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!!! a huge NO NO, so I do what I can to minimise the effect. If you're far sighted then it's likely that you have the opposite issue - your eye look bigger.

And that brings us to these tips which I've been obsessing about, and now want to share with you.

EYES
Focus on your eyes. Pretty self explanatory right? But really, it really is all about the eyes. For us myopic girls, the whole exercise is a desperate attempt to make our eyes appear bigger to counterbalance the effect of our high script lenses. 

Anyhoo, here's what I do once I've applied my foundation, and done a bit of highlight and contouring;

Undereye 

 
Invest in a good undereye concealer. It is without equal your most essential makeup purchase, and your best friend when wearing glasses. 

Gently pat on undereye concealer and set with translucent powder. Very important especially in the hot summer months when your concealer's melting off your face within minutes. 

Highlight the area under your eye to brighten your face. I highlight in a triangular shape that extends along the sides of my nose to the edge of my eye.

Eyelid
Keep things simple here and use a shimmery (NOT glittery) eye shadow in natural shades such as nudes, champagne, soft golds or bronze. 

Glittery, bold coloured lids (bright greens, blues, pinks etc.) will compete with your frames and could have you looking like you stepped out of the 70s ... which depending on where you're at, may or may not be a good thing?

Top Lash Line 

Black gel or liquid liner against your top lash line ending in a cat eye does wonders for opening up your eyes, and making them appear bigger and wider. 

Also don't feel like you need to keep your gel liner super super thin. With glasses I tend to double the width of my gel liner. I'm not talking Amy Winehouse wide, but enough to be noticeable.
 
Rule of thumb - the thicker your frame, the thicker your gel liner.

Water Line

Line your waterline with a white or champagne eyeliner to make your eyes appear larger in an instant. I use a champagne liner as white's a bit too stark on me. 

(p.s. I am in love with my champagne eyeliner. I use it for any number of things - to conceal blemishes, brighten the inner corner of my eye, highlight the bridge of my nose, and the bow of my lips. One word - Miracle Worker)

Lower Lash Line
Line the outer three quarters of your lower lash line with a dark eyeliner - navy, burgundy and brown eyeliners favour everyone and are less harsh than black.

Lashes
Mascara and lots of it. Two coats if you please, on both your top and bottom lashes and ... you're looking for all the world like a deer caught in headlights. Precisely the look we're going for!

Aaaand Eyes are done, lets move on to;

EYEBROWS 

Eyebrows help frame your face, so observe their natural shape, weed out any stray hairs, fill them in where needed and keep them clean. 

CHEEKS

Add some fresh youthful prettiness to your face with a peach or rosy pop of blush onto the apples of your cheeks.

LIPS

 
Glasses, especially the bold, larger framed ones in fashion right now, can make you look a little top heavy as they draw all attention to the upper part of your face. Restore the balance with a gorgeous bold lip. Think exciting reds, bright pinks or kissable corals. mwah!


So these are what works for me, and I hope that you find some of them useful. I've come to really love my glasses, high script and all, and find them such a fun accessory with which to change up my look. Especially now that I know how to get the most out of them. Yayyy glasses!

Let me know what you think, whether any of these worked for you, and oh! please drop me any other glasses makeup tips. I'd love to have them.

kiss kiss 
Amiena


 

 





 

Cousinly Love

Meet my cousin Mariam Omar, beautiful inside and out. Such a huge heart, generous to a fault with a laugh so infectious, I invariably find myself  doubled over with giggles, tears streaming down my face within 10 minutes of her walking in the door.

So Tuesday happened and Mariam popped in for a visit. We got playing with my potions, lotions and makeupy stuff, and oh my goodness, I got the opportunity to show her how to let that blessed inner beauty she's filled with, shine out for all the world to see.

Best part of the experience? Seeing her eyes go wide and the incredulous expression on her face when she saw the result...  priceless.

Xxx
Amiena

Step by Step guide to Highlighting and Contouring

Hey Lovelies!

Okay so you know how everyone thinks that highlighting and contouring is hard? Well ... that's just plain not true. You could do it with your eyes closed!

Honestly it's super simple and once you have the right products (you only need 3 - a Foundation about 3 shades darker than your skin colour/ Bronzer, a Highlighter & a Blush) then this must-know makeup technique becomes a walk in the park. Seriously, if I can do it, then you definitely can too.

See the diagram below? All you have to do is follow it and apply the products as shown. It's as simple as that... sort of like colouring by numbers!

STEP 1: Apply your dark foundation/ bronzer to the brown areas;

STEP 2: Next apply your highlighter (I dab it on with my fingers) to all the yellow areas;

STEP 3: Then apply your blush to the pink bits.

Finally get out your big fluffy blending brush and BLEND BLEND BLEND!

Honestly, this (the blending, that is) is THE most important step when it comes to highlighting and contouring. You need to keep blending until you can't see any lines or where one colour starts or the other stops.

And watch those sculpted cheekbones emerge.

Look at you ... you're a Brazilian goddess!

So....what do you think? Think you can do it? You KNOW you can! Go on, get sculpting and have fun with it.

Until next time, Love ya lovelies!

xxx

Amiena

Subscribe if you found this helpful, or drop me a comment and let me know how you're getting on with it. Xxx

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas !

Oh my! With Halloween done and the stores already dressed up in baubles and tinsel, I swear it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I become crazily excited getting Harris' gifts that I almost pass out with pleasure. Just as good is squirreling them away in the dark recesses of my cupboards, then snatching stealthy hours to wrap and set them out for when he wakes on on Christmas morning... it's the best BEST thing ever! 

Added to that, my guilty pleasure: Christmas songs and Chris Rea's husky voice on repeat with Driving Home for Christmas ... .

What's the 1 thing you love most about Christmas? And what's your favourite Christmas song?