Today I wanted a more summer feel to my makeup with out using pastels on my eyes or coral on my lips as everone will be doing the 'on trend' thing. So i went with a beautiful mossy green eye pigment I've had in my collection for ages that got neglected when I discovered the Barry M Dazzle Dusts a few years ago. It's a loose eye shadow by stargazer that I bought when I was about 17. So that makes it7 years old now and it's still going strong.

I started with this as I didn't want any fall out to mess up my foundation. I used my mac fix+ spraying it into the lid of the e/s then mixing some of the green pigment into the fix+. to create a paste which I then painted on tho my lid just up to (but not into) the crease.

I then used some of the loose pigment (not mixed with fix+) on a blending brush and blended over the harsh line and along the crease.

The colour pay off with the paste mixture was so vibrant. It looked B-E-A-UTIFUL! if I do say so myself ;) I didn't use ant eye liner in the day, (although in the evening I did run my new Sleek Black kajal along my upper and lower water lines for a more dramatic effect.) But I did use lashing upon lashings of my MEMEME fat cat mascara. which is their dupe for the Benefit BadGal lash. (and not a bad one I might add).

I then did my base using my Bourjois 10 hr sleep effect foundation. I filled in my brown using my MAC 'Fling' eyebrow pencil. and added some of my MAC blushcreme in Britwit onto the spples of my cheeks.

I then finished off with my new favourite peachy nude from Boots natural collection which is a steal at £1.99 in the colour Rose petal. I seriously love that stuff.

Here is a closeup of how my eye makeup turned out;

So that was my FACE OF THE DAY. First ever one. Phew! Glad that's over with. Now I can move onto more pressing matters, like politics.....nah only joking. I wouldn't do that to you! xxx

Carmex Vs Kiehl's

For most people, one or other of these two famous lipbalms is their Holy Grail lip balm. I had been a devotee of the old vaseline for years. (since I started senior school a whopping 13 or so years ago-even though I still look about 12 sometimes!). However I eventually succumbed to the temptation of the much hyped about awesome twosome and purchased them both together to do a comparison; Here is my Review;

Carmex comes in either the pot version (as shown) or a tube version like the Kiehl's one. I like the choice and actually have both. The tube goes in my hand bag and is easy for one handed touch up during the day. I prefer the pot as it somehow feels more fitting with my pre-bedtime face/skincare ritual.
I love the refreshing soothing smell of this. I also love the non greasy consistancy. Applying lipstick over the top is a dream.
I had very chapped lips when I began using this as it was during the time of that fickle weather where the summer was on it';s way out so the heating was on but we were still getting the odd hot day and this worked wonders. My red lipstain came out for halloween and there was not a flake to be found upon my lips when I came to apply it. (not a dry toothbrush or a lipscrub needed either).
The price is very reasonable. (around the £3-£4 mark depending on where you go) and it lasts a nice long time. I've had mine for 6 months and use it religiously and only just hit the bottom!

Kiehl's on the other hand only comes in the form of a tube but I didn't let that put me off as I'd heard sooooo many great things about this product. It's a bit over priced at roughly £8 a tube so i was expecting miracles.
However what I founds wasn't that far from the petrolium jelly i had previously been using in the form of my 98p vaseline! I initially wasn't very impressed but decided to press on with it and give it about a month befor decided it's fate.
Unfortunatley it's fate ended up being the back of my reject drawer. It did virrtually nothing to improve my chapped lips. And it's greasy tecture made any lipstick I applied over the top justy slide right off. Seriously...who pays 8 quid for this time and time again?
On the plus side it does contain spf 4. But what good really is spf 4 gonna do? i suppose spf 4 is better than no spf but still, I'd far rather apply a little of my moisturiser with an SPF of 25 onto my lips and then slather carmex on top. That way I know my pout is protected.
I honestly don't think it's worth it. kiehl's have done some pretty decent things, But for me I think that in the case of the lip balm, you're only paying for a brand.

So the final verdict?

Carmex 9/10
Kiehl's 2/10

I feel the 2 is a bit generous for the Kiehl's but as it contained some sort of SPF and the carmex didn't i felt it had to score higher than a 1. Next time though I'd rather buy vaseline and a cheap suncream from poundland. saving me £6 and I'd have a higher SPF.

I'm a Carmex convert. It has taken up official residence in my beauty kit and is now a staple item in my collection. Carmex my wonderful friend, I salute you!

Beautiful things...

Celia Burtwell has devised this beauty of a foundation brush! It's small brush head is perfect as a cross between a foundation brush, concealer brush, highlighter brush, liquid blush brush.... it's just so multi purpose! Ahhh who am I kidding? It was the packaging that collared me! The beautiful detail of the handle. I'm such a sucker for the fine details. Surely you must agree, It's a pleaseure to have on display on the old dressing table.... if only I had a dressing table *sob*

Shockwaves Go Matt Clay and Hair Of The Day (HOTD)

Recently whilst doing the family shop in Asda, I strolled into the haircare/toiletries isle to replace my empty Vo5 matt clay when I noticed that shockwaves had an offer on! Making their version a whopping £2 cheaper. As I was already panicking about the subtotal of the contents of our trolley (I mentally add up as we go along to try and stay on budget).

usually when I find somthing I like and that works for me, I'm quite reluctant to stray from it. But I couldn't argue with the price so in the trolley it went!

What can I say? I Love this stuff! it turns a boring flat hair day into a wow sexy swishy hairday! It's amazing. Just a bit of this on fingertips twizzled through the ends of the hair and voila! Instant hair do, little or no styling required! What's not to love?

When I woke up this morning, my hair had no shape, no texture, no mojo! You couldn't even tell I have layers! About 45seconds is all it took to work some of this baby through the ends and this is the result;

I decided that my side parting was a little too boring as well so I flipped some hair over from the other side to grunge it up a bit;

I think you'll agree this is a little pot of magic. thankyou shockwaves, you hae banished boring hairdays for good! =)

Shockwaves products are available from Boots, Superdrug, tesco, Asda (most if not all supermarkets) I even found some of their products (a very limited range mind) in Lidl!! It's so affordable and you get a good quantity. But most of all it works!

I love my mark hill products from Boots, But I think shockwaves are the best drugstore hair care! I'll be coming back for more :)

Lipgloss collection!

Here is an over-view of some of my favourite lipglosses. top picture left to right; Bourjois, clinique, stila lip glaze, Mac lipglas-florabundance, too face fat Kiss

Bottom picture left to right; Pixi lipcreme in hepburn, L'Oreal glam shine, Barry M Glossy tube number 4, barry M Glossy Tube number 2, Jemma Kidd makeup school lip and eye gloss.

I'm honestly not a gloss person, and I'm really fussy about my glosses, but these I couldn't resist, so you know they must be goooooood :)

Non sticky, long lasting, nice smell/taste and great colour! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

MAC Blushcreme

On the left; Posey on the right; Brit Wit

For the longest time I have faoured the Posey blushcreme from MAC. I thought it gave me a really natural flush. But then I swatched the brit wit blushcreme (actually on my face) and it looed like I wasn't wearing anything. And I don't mean it looked like I had a pale white face, I mean it looked like it was my cheeks that were that colour! That's what you want you blusher to do now isn't it? I still love Posey but it's definitley taken a back seatg latley!

More lust-worthy goodies!

I want, nay, NEED these things.... *drool*

Designer threads!

I would need just a little less that £23,ooo to buy this lil' lot! But that doesn't stop me drooling!

Stubborn insomniac

If you want to wake me up in the morning do it with one of these;

preferably full of tea. White, 2 sugars. Then sit on the edge of the bed and remind me that it is going cold and I need to drink it. OR ELSE I WILL SLEEPILY SAY 'THANKYOU' THEN LIE BACK DOWN AND NOD STRAIGHT BACK OFF TO BEDFORDSHIRE. comprende?

It's fair to say I am not a morning person. It's not even due to the fact that I have a nearly 4 year old to run around after and a just turned 1 year old (who still wakes up to 8 times a night!!!)

Even before I had children I found it defficult to get up in the morning. It's almost as if I've entered into hibernation or some sort of comatose state.

I spend hours lying awake in bed at night when I'm supposed to be sleeping, thinking about all the things I'd rather be doing at that moment. Things I don't have time for in the day. Such as fils to watch, books to read, lists to write etc etc. Then come 7am, I suddenly find the bed and pillows extremely comfortable. The sunlight pouring through the blinds, soothing. Suddenly, I can sleep like a rock. (and believe me, it's like trying to wake a rock)

When I was at school, on a school morning I could sleep for hours. I'd drag myself out of bed at the last minute, Getting dressed partly in the car on the way there. I'd rush straight to the girls toilets upon arrival to do hair and makeup then over the the cafeteria to eat the breakfast I'd brought with me.

However, If for some reason I had the day off when I wasn't expecting it, i.e I'd successfully pulled a sicky or there was an inset day I'd forgotten about, I for some inexplicable reason couldn't sleep. I could not lie in no matter how hard I tried.

I have come to the conclusion that I can only sleep when I'm not supposed to. And can't sleep when I know I am. I know I can be stubborn, but come on this is rediculous! Seriously? Is my stubborness really run that deep that can't sleep because I'm 'supposed to', even when I want to?

What is the solution then?

Florals for Spring; Fashion Follower or Victim?

Here's the thing; florals are everywhere. This is a good thing because personally, I love florals. Not just for spring either. Florals are the epitome of femininity. I have always ensured I have floral clothing in my wardrobe through out the year. For me it is a staple. I have amassed so much floral fabric amongst my clothing that, if sewn together, it could probably resurface a football pitch.

So what's the problem then? Florals are EVERYWHERE. Which means that once you step outside your front door, it's like a floral assault on your eyes. Every woman (even some men), whether she gives the slightest hoot about fashion or not, is wearing a floral fabric of some nature (no pun intended).

The burning question? Am I a Fashion Victim or Follower?

I'm the sort of person who kids herself into believing that she is an individual when it comes to style and fashion. A Fashion follower; I wear the things I like. I don't wear the things I don't like. And I dress to suit my body. So if a certain trend or fashion is somthing I don't like or doesn't suit me, I won't wear it-unlike some fashion victims out there.....Micha Barton anyone?

Where am I going with this you might ask? Well, In my opinion, there are two kinds of fashionistas out there; Fashion victims and fashion followers. The latter being the category I'd like to think I fall into. (fashion victim is the afore mentioned slave to fashion who wears whatever the catwalks and magazines say she should, despite what she likes or suits her shape)

And god forbid you end up looking EXACTLY the same as your friends like those clones we've all seen haunting our local shopping centres.

Now, I suppose you could call it teenage rebellion. But I am now 24, so It's just petty rebellion. But because every man woman and child is now decorating their body with floral fabric; I don't want to- even though I like it. So maybe this makes me a victim of my own desire to be unique? who knows? But I don know that I'm loving this floral trend (not the fact that EVERYONE seems to be following it of course) So I have decided not to abandon it altogether but to find a new way of wearing florals. So I have been on the hunt for different ways to include florals in my spring wardrobe without relying on floral fabrics.

Here are some of the floral beauties I have found and have been sporting and will continue to wear for the remainder of this season; enjoy.

Shoes of prey = Shoe Heaven for those who actually have money!

OMG!! It's the age old dilemma every girl has had since the dawn of the fashion era. Just imagine, Elizabeth the first posing for her famous portrait (you know, the one with her hand on the globe while through the window you can see the spanish armada fleet has reached the shore?), So there she is in her favourite gown. The ruffle collar (height of fashion-think fringed triangle scarves with leather jackets today) is in place and she's got pearls in her hair (i dunno, maybe those stretchy plaited headbands?). But she can't seem to find the right shoes.

it's happened to us all. Saturday night, you're wearing your perfect new dress that hugs all the right places and flatters all the rest and you can't find any shoes to go with it. So you change into somthing else and make it your mission to hunt down the perfect pair.

it becomes obsession. You know what they HAVE to look like and you won't compromise. Wedge, platform heel so you have the height but support fo you can dance all night and still walk home even when you drank more than perhaps you should have. Sling back for adjustabilitty (feet swell in heels so this allows for loosening them during the night). Peep toe to show off that mannicure but you don't want a cork heel. The fabric has to be carried over the ENTIRE shoe or else it will loose all elegance and thus it's evening shoe stature. And it has to be Black suede/patent nude/other (delete as appt.)

You find yourself looking in the stranget places just incase. You know the kinda thing. George at asda, TK Maxx (LIDL!) even on holliday! It's never far from your mind.

Then you go to a restaurant and sitting over at the next table there is a girl, wearing YOUR SHOES!!! You ask her where she got them and she says the words you dread 'OH I can't remember, I've had them years!' Noooooooooooooo!!!

You mentally assess her shoe size. She's at least 2 sizes larger footed than you are. You can put up with that. You debate with yourself how offended she's be if you offered to pay her to remove the shoes from her feet and sell them to you. You way up in your mind how far it is to the nearest cash point. Then you realise you are standing staring at an empty seat because the girl had got freaked out by you silently staring at her feet (and drooling) and left the building. Damn!

Well maybe that's just me. But we've all had the desire for a way to create out perfect shoe exactly how we want it. But if only there were a way! Well que the sound of an Angels Chorus because there is!

It's called shoesofprey.com and it's a website where you can not only have fun playing around with the online design tool, but you can also BUY IT when you have finished. It costs about £100 - £160 ish depending on the design which is a lot of money. But these days people pay that in topshop or carvella etc. Ant this way it is CUSTOM MADE to your exact specifications. No compromises. And if it doesn't fit, send it back and they will re-size it till it's perfect -FREE!

WHAT A FIND OF THE CENTURY OR WHAT! I havn't bought any from there yet and I am not rolling in the Lizzies (geddit? cuz americans say 'rolling in the benjamins' for dollars because there's a pic of benjamin harrison on some and we have Good ol' Queen Lizzie on ours!-ah well nevermind! I though it was clever). But I am thinking that it would be a great Idea for when I get married!

Anyway, Here are some of the designs I have created; hope you enjoy!

I bought these two button front skirts from River Island recently. I have been
looking for the one on the left in particular ever since I saw a picture of
Vanessa Hudgens wearing her myne olive skirt last summer. I fell in Love with
it. Well the whole outfit actually. So I decided to make it my quest to re-
create it. Unfortunatly I don't have Vanessa's £squillions so I've had to make
do with the highstreet, Thus my quest for that skirt has proved rather
troublesome. I had all but given up hioe of ever finding one to meet the exact
requirements.The right type of floral pattern, onion (or is it tulip or
lantern?- I can never tell) shape AND high waisted. When Low and behold, I
found this beauty lurking on the racks of River Island. But Alas! it seemed it was not to be. Just as it looked like my mission was
complete, all hopes were dashed. They only had 2 sizes left. a 16 and a 14.
neither of which I am. So I asked the unenthusiastic shop assistant who informed me (in a manner
which gave the empression I had asked her to chop her leg off and eat it) that
as this was a new item, stock would be replenished with the next delivery. So for the next 3 weeks I re-visited the shop to no avail. Then to my horror,
I saw that the 2 skirts had been demoted to the sale rack. So I asked another
assistant who told me that they weren't going to get any more of them and my
best bet now lay with the website. Now I don't know about you but I hate (HATE) ordering stuff like that online.
I dodn't know whether I would need a size 10 or a 12. I suppose I could have
ordered it in both and returned the one that didn't fit but it's such a
palava. So I took the rist and committed to ordering the 10 on the basis that
if it didn't fit I would just have to shift the extra poundage. I could
ideally do with losing a stone and dropping to a size 8 anyway. I'm onlt 5ft 2
and I'm just about a size 10. but the shortness and cumbersome chest makes me
look wider. Anyway back to the tale. So 5 days later much to my great delight (and mild
surprise) the size 10 fit (yay!) and I am chuffed to bits with it. Best thing
is it was reduced from i think, £25 to £12. so even with the added £3.95 P&P
it was still cheaper than it would have been had I bought it instore.I have to say, I don't normally shop in River Island. Like Topshop, they do
have some lovely things But I just feel it's a tad overpriced for what it is.
I mean, H&M often has nicer things for less. And I sis find a highwaisted
skirt, even using the same material in republic for less money, but it didn't
have the gold buttons. Each one is different which, in my opinion, gives my
skirt the edge over miss Hudgens expensiveramo version :)

I also bought some strappy flat sandles in gold for £2 from Primark, Bargain or what! Not quite as good as her Gucci ones but I mean really, who can argue with £2? Then I tracked down a copy of her fringed Antik Batik shoulder bag from ebay and it's a pretty decent one at that! I think it was only £6. I got dome aviator style sunnies from Claire's accessories and then just a black vest should do it. I'm still on the hunt for the right type of gold pendant necklace but Jury's out on wht=ether or not that would be going too far and crossing the line over into saddo-ville! hmmmm....

I havn't worn the skirt yet. I'm waiting till the weather's a bit warmer as I want to tan my legs and wear it without tights as Vanessa did. I don't even like Vanessa Hudgens. But she has some really nice clothes. I will take a photo of the finished look when I have everything I need.

The Blue skirt on the Right has an elacticated waist which means it can be worn high waisted or lower if you so wish. Its perfect to wear with a tank and t-shirt tucked in and flats throughout the summer. it cotton too, so it will be nice and cool. It's not as fitted as the other one so it's that bit more casusal.

Hello and Introduction to Vintagestarglam

Hello Everyone, I have decided to create this blog because I have been toting my trusty notebook around with me forever and it has of late, become a bit full. Into it, I empty my head of all the fashion and beauty related ideas and finds I don't want to forget. But I need more space! MORE I TELL THEE! So, I have decided I need somewhere limitless where I can obsess away without boundaries. Thus, Vintagestarglam is born......

You can find more from me here; http://www.youtube.com/user/vintagestarglam

This is my beauty channel where I make videos on fashion and makeup advice to hauls and more.