How to boost your skin!

This is going to be such a 'Duh, I already knew that' post, But that was always my response when people told me, and yet I never did it.

Want to know how to boost your skin? Good old Water! I know, 'Well Duh'.

I always used to complain about my skin, 'It's so dry all over, but so oily all over, and nothing ever sits right. help me', but would never actually do much about it, until one night I decided to google it. Turns out, lots of people have the same issue, well HAD the same issue, until they realized their skin was not dry, it was dehydrated.

So all this time that they're putting stuff on their skin to help dry skin, which was adding more oils to your skin, making it appear more oily, when what the skin actually needed was more hydration. I was so confused by this, but apparently there's a difference.

Normal moisturizers put oils back into the skin, so is for dry skin
Hydrating moisturizers puts water back into the skin, which is for dehydrated skin.

Seems so simple, yet took me a good while to wrap my head around it.

Other then buying serums and all that, the easiest way is to just drink more water, It boosts you health, skin, hair, everything.
Within a month of me drinking 2 liters a day, my skin was clearer, foundation sat better, my hair had grown and improved in condition and I just felt overall better.


So If you're having trouble with your skin, just try a boost in the amount of water you drink, See, sounds so simple, but it really does make a huge difference. Trust me, I was that 'yeah sure, alright then' person, now I'm a water convert!

I used Body shops vitamin E serum, and that's what helped me tackle it from the skin level.

I hope this helps anyone stressing over their skin like I was!

Winged Liner tips

I know quite a few people struggle with winged liner sometimes, myself included, And I saw a little tip the other week and decided to try it out myself and report back.

Now I know a lot of people say they use cello tape, but I always find it far to sticky, or not sticky enough and it smudges under the tape. The tip is along the same principle as that, except not as sticky, and smaller, so the stick is on less of the delicate eye area.

The little thing I am on about here, is french manicure tip sticker guide things. Yep. So simple.

 I actually found these ones in Wilkinsons for about 99p

And this is what they look like.

I cut mine in half, otherwise it wouldn't fit, and they you get twice as many uses.

I stick them one the outer corner of my eyes, making sure they're even, I then did my eyeliner, sticking to the curve of the nail guard. Which is another reason why I prefer these to tape, they have a slight curve which achieves the look I prefer.

And then just peel it off, and you're left with lovely little wings.

I definitely think this is a lot more effective and easier then using tape, and a lot less sticky so less damaging on the delicate eye area.

I hope this helps if you are struggling with eyeliner! Let me know if you try it :)

  

Eyeliner brushes

One of the reasons I'v always preferred pen liners is because I've never been able to get a clean enough line with gels, and liquids always have those stupid little flimsy brushes in them, that consist of about 3 bristles. NO. Just no.

But for how many pen liners I've tried ( I don't dare attempt to count, so lets just not go there) I think there's only around 3 that I would actually trust and repurchase.

If you read my last post about my resent eyeliner find, then you'll know I said I'd been on a hunt for some gel liner brushes, And I found some good'ens. I've got some from different price ranges and now I'm gonna tell you about them.

First up, Real techniques silicone liner brush. I don't really know how to explain this brush, in theory, yeah it's great, but it just doesn't hold the product, and you'll be dipping you brush back in the pot so many times that it's just not worth the hassle. You can get a smooth line eventually, and it is good for precise tips, for like winged liner, but I just think you can get better out there.

Next, Real Techniques fine liner brush, which unfortunately you can only get in the eye set now, which you used to be able to get singularly, Unless you want to order it from the Real Techniques website (which FYI works out cheaper, including postage, then it was to buy it on it's own. It's rambley to explain why, just go look and set your currency conversion to GBP and you'll see what I mean)
I do like this brush, and it's a really good standard eyeliner brush, But I can just never get this to go on as smoothly as my Zoeva brushes. It's quite a medium sized brush, I have bigger and I have smaller, and if you can get your hands on it, it is a good standard brush.

Third we have the most expensive in the bunch, Mac 210 brush. The first time I used this, My heart sank, I hated it, For £16.50 it just wouldn't go on smoothly, it skipped and it just seemed to have a mind of it own, and that was with using my illamasqua precision gel liner. I thought I'd just wasted my money with it, but a few days later I used it with my L'Oreal liner and it went on amazing, I did almost the whole eye with just one dip in the pot, So I don't know if I was just having a bad day the first time using it what, so I will keep trying, but if not, then I know it works beautifully with my L'Oreal liner. If you're wanting to splurge on an Eyeliner brush, then yes, try this, but it's not my favourite out of my new brushes. You can find it here 

Zoeva Classic liner is probably my joint favourite brush out of the bunch, along with the fine liner brush, they both preform basically the same, super smooth, pick up a nice amount of product, except the classic liner brush is thicker so will give you a thicker line, you can get a fine line with it, but it's not as easy as using the fine liner brush, which is a lot thinner, so will obviously be easier. It also has a bend in the handle so it's easier to use over the eye of which ever hand you're using. If you're looking for a gel liner brush, I'd recommend these two the most. Classic liner brush here and the fine liner here

The last one I got just as a thing to try, I've never quite got the nack of using angled liner brushes, but if you can, this is definitely one to try.   312 here


The brush at the top of the picture isn't a liner brush, it's real techniques accent brush, I use this one with a black eye shadow to set gel/cream liner. So though I'd include it.

L'Oréal Paris Super Liner Gel Intenza

Pen eyeliners are normally my favourite, due to their ease, but they are usually the hardest to find a decent one, what with them drying up, not being as pigmented as liquids and gels. So I decided to get some good quality eyeliner brushes, and go back to my hunt for gel eyeliner.

I'll do a separate review on the brushes I got soon, as they have definitely helped.

I have two gel liners that I'm going to talk about, but i'll do them in separate posts, the first is L'Oreal super liner gel intenza, and the other will be Illamasqua precision gel liner.

I only got this gel liner around a week ago, but i've worn it everyday since, So I feel like I can give a fair review, the only thing I won't be able to make a comment on is how long it lasts in the pot before drying it, but it's quite a wet/creamy formula, that I don't think that will be a problem, if it does though, I'll be sure to let you know and alter this.

I'm actually quite impressed with this liner, I always used to think that Maybelline was probably the best gel liner I was going to find on the high street, even though it smudged on me, even with an eye primer, but even though this one is slightly more expensive, it stays put a heck of a lot longer and doesn't smudge. It lasts all day on me and doesn't noticeably fade.

The only real downside to this liner is that even though it is super black and pigmented, because it is so creamy, it kinda goes on a little patchy, BUT if you leave the bits which are patchy for like 10 seconds, it'll dry enough that you can go over it to build it up without wiping it away. Or just do the other eye then go back and top it up, which ever is easier for you.
(You can buy it here)

I haven't included a picture of a brush, 1 because I don't like it and 2 because it's the same as every other free brush that comes with gel eyeliners.






In short, if you're looking for a good eyeliner from the high street, I'd definitely recommend this liner over the Maybelline.

If you've tried it, let me know what you think! :)

Until next time!