I’m delighted to bring you a fabulous guest post from my lovely friend Jo today! As a very clever and wordy lady she doesn’t need a long introduction from me so I shall pass this blog entry over into her capable hands, enjoy!
~~~
Hello everyone! I’ve never guest blogged anywhere before and I’ve never written about make up before, but with the help of the lovely Bee, I’m hoping I can pull off both!
The first thing you need to know about me when it comes to make up is that I’m blonde. And I’m not talking choose your own shade, but still have nicely defined dark eyebrows and eyelashes blonde. I’m talking naturally so blonde you have to tilt me right into the light to even notice I have eyelashes blonde. Here is the obligatory no make up pic to illustrate said blondeness (and no, those aren’t
hints of ginger you can see!).
I’m not complaining about this genetic luck out – liking the colour of my hair was just about the only thing that got me through those awkward teenage years – but it has meant that I’ve always been a bit scared of make up. Put anything on this face and it’ll show up like a crayon scribble on a white leather sofa. Or so I thought until I was put right by Bee!
Before Bee helped me discover how to play to the strengths of my colouring, fear of making myself look like a clown, or a child who’d raided her mother’s make up bag, had lead me to veer towards really light colours. For one reason or another, the majority of my eyeshadows were some kind of gold or bronze and my bottom drawer was filled with discarded mascaras that were just too harsh.
Because of having such light skin with rosy cheeks pretty much constantly (and bad memories of being teased for going red all the time when I was a kid!), I thought blusher would only make me look more ridiculous, so never owned one!
Well, all I can say is thank goodness I met Bee and found out that as well as being an amazing knitter, she knows more than a thing or two about what the hell I should’ve been doing with my face all these years. We went on a great giddy shopping trip during which SEVERAL sensible and actually useful purchases were made and I also discovered that hanging out with Bee at beauty counters gets
you free stuff!
So here’s result number one: a daytime look that’s quick and easy enough to do on a work day, and doesn’t include even a hint of gold eyeshadow or clear mascara.
Here’s what I used…
Good old faithful items I already owned:
Clarins Oil Free Colour Tint (Souffle de Teint) 01 which I don’t think they even make any more, but it’s a nice light base that doesn’t make my face feel like it’s a cake that’s just been slathered with butter icing.
Collection 2000 Illuminating Touch Concealer in 2 Natural, under my eyes and on all the odd red or blemishy bits I want to cover over. I’m convinced this is actually magic and seems to work better on me than much more expensive concealers like Touche Eclat. Plus it’s only £4.99 from Superdrug. This makes me very happy.
Benefit Lemon Aid on my eyelids – the place where I seem to have quite a lot of weird blemishy bits. This is just the right shade and consistency for me and is a good base for eyeshadow.
Body Shop All in One Face Base 03 which I’ve been using as my base probably for longer than some of the people reading this have been alive. Most of the time I use it without any foundation underneath and touch it up maybe once a day. It’s great.
And the exciting new stuff:
MUA Eyeshadow Palette Dusk til Dawn – I used the light creamy shadow all over the lid and a little round into the inner corner, then used the two pinky/beigy shades to define. The texture of these is just right, very easy to apply and you can build the colour up steadily without fear of the ol’ crayon on sofa scenario.
MUA Mascara Shade 4 which appears to be just the right shade of brown for me, with a good solid brush, next to no gloopiness and it stays on all day. It’s hard to put into words just what an amazing breakthrough this is for me. Add to that the fact that it costs a ridiculous £1.00! Staggering. In fact, what am I still doing here? I need to go out and panic buy this now in case they decide to discontinue it!
MUA Blusher Shade 1. My first blusher! And it’s turned me into a convert. Bee’s been shouting about the wonders of this blusher for a while and I can only agree.
And last but not least lips, Loreal Color Riche Serum in Beamy Plum. Wearing lip colour during the day is quite a departure for me; I’ve just never been bothered with more than a slather of Vaseline or tinted lip balm if I’m feeling cheeky. But when Bee thrust this little beauty at me in Boots and said it was my perfect colour, I took a leap of faith and now look.
I’m so pleased to have a proper grown up make up kit I don’t have to be ashamed of. Thanks so much for your expert advice, Bee! And in my next guest post, you’ll see that once I got going with my new toys, there was no stopping me. I also tackle the most feared of all feared make up items – eyeliner!
Thanks for reading and I’d love to hear any other ‘blonde and scared of make up’ stories if you have them.
Jo x