How to... Choose Foundation

Hello Fellow Blogees,

So quite often we are faced with the dilemma of knowing what foundation to buy, what shade of differing brands will suit our specialist demands etc. And at all costs, trying to avoid what we affectionately call: the Doritos effect. So hopefully by end of this post, we'll all be a little clearer on how to pick the best piece of kit none to man (or woman, in this case).

First of all, it's best to work out what kind of skin you have, so you can establish which foundation to by to compliment your specific type. This can be split fairly easily into 4 categories :

1. Normal (aka brilliant skin and you've been blessed)
There is no need for you to worry. If you're skin isn't flakey or oily, and feels soft to touch, you're basically winning at life and have no problems. Happy days for you!

2. Oily
Unfortunately, all that OMEGA 3 has paid off, and resulted in an oily complexion. Generally, if your skin is shiny before 12pm most days then, unfortunately, you have oily skin. Another way to tell is if your foundation tends to slip off during the day and a lot of re-powdering is required.

3. Dry
Again, unfortunately you have not been blessed with beautifully moisturised skin. If your skin feels uncomfortable or tight, or has darker patches, you probably have dry skin and need to moisturise a lot more than usual.

4. Combination
This is actually the most common skin type. T-Zone is normally oily and outer areas are usually drier.

Ok, so after you establish what skin type you are (deep breath), you then to colour match the foundation to your skin. It sounds a bit confusing, but it's ok, we'll go through it together!

So, first of all you need to work out what undertones you have. There are several inventive ways you can do this, which will give you a whole evening's entertainment. Believe me.

Numero Uno: If your veins appear more green, you have warmer undertones. If they appear more blue, you have cooler undertones.

Number 2: With a make up free face, place an ivory white towel around your shoulders. Tie your hair back, and with natural lighting, the towel should reflect what colour your undertones are. If the light reflected is yellow, you have warmer undertones. If pink, you have cooler undertones.

Number 3: This one is kinda open to interpretation, or which jewellery you prefer. However, if you feel Gold jewellery suits you best, you probably have warmer undertones. If you feel Silver jewellery suits you best, you probably have cooler undertones. If you're lucky and both suits you, you might have neutral undertones.

After you've worked that out, you can finally get onto the fun bit. Getting the foundation! If you have cooler undertones, go for a foundation with pinker tones in it. If you have warmer undertones, go for a foundation with yellower tones to it. If you're a lucky neutral person, you can go for either, or both and mix them.

If you're going for MAC foundation then there is a code you should be aware of. NW means Neutral Warm, but are actually for the pink undertones/cool people. NC meaning Neutral cool, are for the warmer tones/ yellow peeps. Confusing I know, but we didn't design it, so just work around it yeah!

So hopefully, following these steps, foundation shopping should no longer be a trial. If any of you buy any foundation using these tips, let us know how it works out!

Until next time...

LLB X

How to... Ombré Lip

Dearest Fellow Blogees,

This weekend we thought we'd do something a little different, and kick the Saturday off in style with  a tutorial post. At the moment, Ombre is a big big deal. Whether it's for hair, nails or lips, this new trend has smashed onto the scene, and we think it's here to stay. So we thought we'd show you to to be bang on trend with a super trendy,ombre lip. The celebs are all over this look, from Blake Lively to Jessica Alba sporting eye popping lips to make your mouth water. To gain inspiration, see how we did it:

Firstly you need to outline your lips with the darkest shade of whatever colour you want to ombre with. We used a black soft kohl pencil, but any lip or eye pencil will suffice. Follow the line all the way around the lips, creating an even and smooth line as you go.

Next we applied the red lipstick (if you're trying to replicate this exact look, we used Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish Lipstick in 022) to the main part of the lips. After that take a small lip brush and blend thoroughly the lip stick and pencil, until you begin to see the gradual blend.

And so there you have it! Easy to follow and cheap to do,what more could you want? Also a good, dramatic look for Halloween, if you're going for that kinda vibe. Mix it up with other colours and see what cool effects you can create.

Until next time,

LLB x