My First YouTube Video!

EEEEEK!

Here it is guys - my first EVER YouTube video!





Let me know what you think and if you do the tag, leave a comment below!

Vicky xoxo

OOTN/FOTN: Blue Is The Colour

Long time no speak! I'm finally back with a mammoth list of posts to do - the first of which being an Outfit of the Night from last week which marked my work Christmas party.

Excuse the headless shot... let's just say many alcoholic beverages had been consumed by this stage! Damn you cocktails!

I absolutely adore this Zara dress that I picked up in the summer, everything from the colour to the shape is perfect and this was its first outing of many! I teamed it with black tights (it was fff-reeeezing) in London and black ankle boots after I discovered my beautiful glittery shoes tipped forwards when I walked! Badly balanced shoes + alcohol + cobbled streets + work the next day = accident waiting to happen!

I kept my makeup pretty simple and re-created the look below...

Face

Illamasqua Matte Primer

NARS Sheer Glow in 'Mont Blanc'

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in '51'

Chanel Loose Powder in '20 Clair'

MAC blush 'Peaches' and 'Well Dressed' mixed with Illamasqua 'Ambition'

MAC 'Vanilla' Pigment

Eyes

Urban Decay Primer Potion

MAC e/s 'Brule' (lid)

MAC e/s 'Omega' (crease)

MAC e/s 'Carbon' (through the brows with Omega)

Elizabeth Arden Gel Liner 'Black'

MAC 'Reflects Gold' Pigment (lid)

Illamasqua Medium Pencil 'Vow' (waterline)

Girls Aloud for Eyelure 'Nicola' lashes (cut up and placed in outer corner)

Lips

MAC lipliner 'Dervish'

Revlon Matte Lipstick 'Smoked Peach'

Chanel Rouge Allure Lipgloss in '57' (later in the evening)

Don't forget to enter my giveaway *here* :)

Oh and look out for my first YouTube video, coming your way tomorrow camera permitting!

Have a lovely weekend!

Vicky xoxo

[CLOSED] Christmas OPI Giveaway!

In a bid to find some sort of comfort in front of the camera pre-YouTube debut, I decided to film this giveaway video for you! All details are in the video :) Enjoy! Remember, if you have any YouTube requests, leave them in the post below YouTube: You Choose!

FOTD

Face
Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation
Chanel Loose Powder in 20 Clair
Illamasqua Blush in 'Ambition'

Eyes
MAC Omega and Carbon through the brows
Urban Decay Half-Baked, Smog, Darkhorse and Hustle
Illamasqua Beguile Pigment
Illamasqua Masquara

Lips
YSL Vogue Volupte in 'Lingerie Pink'
Revlon Pink Pop lipgloss

Have a lovely evening!

Vicky xoxo

YouTube: You Choose!

You may remember a few posts ago I said I would have a YouTube video up that week... to cut a long story short I got a new job the next day and didn't think I'd have time to film to I put it off.

It turns out I'm not as busy as anticipated with work and therefore can finally take the plunge and join the YouTube beauty community!

 image from weheartit

I've highlighted the word community because for me, that is one of the key elements and as such, I'd like it if you'd leave me suggestions for the sort of videos you'd like me to do whether they're tutorials, hauls, reviews, vlogs, etc., etc.! Also, if there's a Tag you'd like to see me do - let me know :)

Hopefully I'll have made a decision and have a video filmed and uploaded by the end of the week!

See you all soon!

Vicky xoxo

TAG: Childhood Memories

Can you believe we haven't had a single trick or treater tonight? Well we haven't so I have the unfortunate task of eating the sweets, it's a tough job polishing off this amount of Haribo but someone has to do it!

Anyway, whilst eating my weight in Haribo I came across this tag on Sophie's blog and I knew instantly that I. Had. To. Do. It!!

In Soph's words:

The 'rules' for this tag are fairly simple. State the year you were born and your era and list 10 things you remember from the main bulk of your childhood.

So here we go...

I was born in September 1990 and here are some of the things I remember from my wonderful 90s childhood!

1. The Spice Girls

Girl Power! Who didn't love the Spice Girls in the 90s?! Sporty, Posh, Scary, Baby and Ginger certainly 'Spiced Up Our Lives' during the 90s and my childhood. My favourite was always Posh Spice, mostly because we share a first name but even to this day, I'm still a huge fan of Victoria Beckham! I spent hours learning the dance moves and words to all the Spice Girls songs and yes, I did dust them off during the reunion tour! 

2. Pokemon Cards

Many a lunch and play time were spent swapping Pokeman cards in between playing games of marbles over the playground drains (ok that sounds more like I lived in the 40s than the 90s...). Charmander was always my favourite, I had about 4 of his cards because I never wanted to swap him <3

3. Dennis Wise and Gianfranco Zola

Chelsea have always been a huge part of my life and growing up, the two men above were a massive part of my childhood. I could go into detail of the players I adored growing up but for me, Zola and Wise were the ultimate.

4. Kids TV

Kids TV was beyond awesome in the 90s! One of my favourite shows was Noah's Island but nobody seems to remember it! It was about animals that were en route to the zoo when their ship got wrecked and they all ended up on an island that was run by a Polar bear named Noah. It was amazing!

Other favourites were: The Queen's Nose, The Snorks, The Smurfs, The Hair Bear Bunch, Wacky Races, Arthur, The Faraway Tree, The Worst Witch, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Power Rangers and SO many more. Seriously, I could list my favourite shows ALL day. Kids TV isn't what it was!

5. Aliens

Aliens. We all had one. We all thought if we stuck them together they'd make a baby. They never did. 

6.  Walkman Cassette Players

These bad boys were the height of cool when I was little and the only way to listen to your cassette tapes of songs you'd recorded off the radio! You couldn't skip tracks, you just had to fast forward and hope for the best. Ah the good days!

 7. Videos

Much like the humble cassette tape, videos were the be all and end all in the days before disks became popular (or were invented - maybe they were invented and we didn't have them?). I'll never forget the days I spent watching my favourite Disney films (classic Disney, none of that remastered nonsense!) on video tape. I still have them all in the loft - heaven knows how I'll ever play them again!

8. Baby Born

Yes I had a Baby Born and yes I thought you fact you could 'feed' it was the best thing ever! Considering I was never much of a baby person, I loved this doll! I think it's still in the loft, I'm such a hoarder! 

9. Aesop's Fables

I loved books when I was little and I learned many of them by heart - most of which were Aesop's Fables. I used to read them with my Great Grandad.

10. The Park

Note: All images taken from Google.

I spent a lot of time in the park and generally playing out when I was a child. The swings were always my favourite even though I hate heights and always have - work that one out! Even now whenever I go past a park I always get the urge to go and play on the swings. I'll grow up one day I'm sure...

So there we have it - some of my childhood memories. I honestly have so many and I'd love to share them all! 

I tag everyone; I'm really interested to see what you all remember from your childhood so please comment below if you decide to do this tag!

Do  you remember any of these things?!

Vicky xoxo

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween lovely people!

I'm not especially big on Halloween but I do like to unleash my inner witch on occasion.

Here's my inner witch hamming it up...

Let me know what Halloween plans you have!

Have a safe Halloween guys!

Vicky xoxo

If I Were A.. Blonde?

*continues singing...* Even just for a day!

I would look like this:

I had some free time this afternoon and a blonde wig crying to be used (because we all have blonde wigs just lying around at home right? Right?!!) so with Halloween tomorrow I decided unleash my inner blondie! Fear not, I've already locked her back in her cage and told her she was NEVER be released again!

If you're wondering, I have Show Orchid lipstick on and I still love it as much as ever.

Hope you've had a lovely weekend!

Vicky xoxo

Cherry Bakewell Cupcakes

After a productive start to the day yesterday I decided to carry that through into the afternoon and bake these little marvels:

Cherry Bakewell Cupcakes inspired by the Great British Bake Off which somehow I managed to miss yet I bought the cookery book, hence how I found out about these lovely little treats.

I'm a bit of a baking enthusiast if I'm honest and seeing as I have quite a bit of time on my hands at the moment, it's a nice way to spend an afternoon. I'm aiming to make a proper pie one day next week, like a pie for dinner? But I'm not sure what sort I want to make... answers on a postcard please!

On a different note, having too much time on my hands has resulted in me deciding to pursue on thing I said I wouldn't: YouTube!! Quite a lot of people both online and in real life have suggested I do YouTube and get involved with the beauty community as a way of sharing things I love and I've always kind of put it off, being too shy etc., but I've now decided I'm going to give it a whirl!

I hope to have my first video up next week and suggestions of what you'd like to see would be brilliant so please feel free to comment below or send me a message or email :)

Have a lovely weekend :)

Vicky xoxo

Liebster Blog Award

I was nominated for this award by the lovely Charlie from Charlie's Wonderland so thank you Charlie!

This award is for blogs with less than 200 followers and is a great way to find new blogs to follow, I've followed quite a few this evening that I wouldn't have found had it not been for this award so hopefully you'll find new blogs to follow too!

The only rule is that you have to nominate five blogs with less than 200 followers so below are the blogs I'm nominating :)

Beaute Thoughts
Shopping Bag Full of Dreams
A Girl and Her Makeup
Fitz N Bitz
The Beauty Bandit

I hope you enjoy the blogs above as much as I do :)

Have a lovely week.

Vicky xoxo

A Cinderella Story

Everyone knows the story of Cinderella and her stunning glass slippers and now, taking influence from Miu Miu, there's a whole host of gorgeous glitter heels on the High Street at the moment allowing us all to indulge our inner Princess.

Disclaimer: Prince Charming not included...

 

Linzi Shoes -£30

It was love at first sight with these shoes and I wore them for my 21st - not the best idea! They're not the most comfy of shoe and they don't like cobbled streets but they're sooo pretty!

Dorothy Perkins - £42

I saw these shoes in a magazine a few weeks ago and finally saw them in person yesterday on a trip to Westfield. I tried them on and knew I had to have them, even better - they were 30% off so came in at under £30 - bargain!!

Are you a fan of the glitter/Princess shoe trend?

Hope you have a lovely weekend :) 

Vicky xoxo

You Minx!

Did anybody else say the title 'You Minx' in a Carry On movie voice? No? Just me...

Last week I spent a morning learning how to apply Minx nails and as I'm not a nail technician or manicurist, nor am I training to be one, I learned from an application only perspective.

To begin with, we undertook basic nail prep which included but was not limited to:

• Sanitising the nails
• Basic cuticle prep
• Applying a base coat to ensure longevity

Once the nail was prepared we set about selecting and applying the Minx.

 As you can see, Minx comes in a huge variety of colours and designs. What you see above is only a small indication of the vast Minx foils.

Applying the Minx is a tricky process initially; cutting the Minx to size and trying to achieve perfect application is definitely fiddly however as with most things, practice really is everything.

I've tried to keep this quite short so if there's anything I haven't covered or you have any questions, please ask :)

Have a lovely week.

Vicky xoxo

What's In My Travel Makeup Bag?

I'm off to Ireland tomorrow for a weekend in Dublin so I've spent the afternoon deciding which makeup to take with me and here's what I settled on :)

Face

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream in Light

Nars Sheer Glow in Mont Blanc

Natural Collection loose powder in Translucent Cool

MAC MSF in Petticoat

Eyes

Illamasqua Masquara

Avon Mega Impact liner

Lips

MAC Impassioned 

MAC Angel

Barry M Lip Paint in Pink Ribbon

Skin

 Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream

Oilatum Natural Repair

Have a lovely weekend :)

Vicky xoxo

Work it Out: From Face Chart to Fierce

As you can see from my profile, I'm a trained makeup artist so I thought I'd give you a little insight into my work (and my portfolio!) by showing you how a look for a photo shoot translated from a face chart to a final image.

From This.....

To This...

Now, I'm the first person to admit I struggle with face charts but I am trying to stick with them, it's always good to have an idea of what you want to do.

I'm not sure how interesting you'll find this post but I thought it'd be nice to share a little snip from my book.

If you have any requests for posts, please let me know and I'll get around to them :)

Have a lovely Sunday!

Vicky xoxo

Blog Award: Tell Me About Yourself

So, it's a Saturday night and I'm housebound with a rotten cold when I get a message from the lovely Leona at Shopping Bag Full Of Dreams telling me she has given me my first blog award! Super excited so here we go....

Here are the 'rules' of the award:

- Thank and link back to the person who awarded you

- Write 7 random things about yourself

- Spread the love to 20 other bloggers

So... thank you Leona! I love your blog so it's super nice to receive this award.

Fact One: I am absolutely obsessive about sport. I'm an avid football fan (Chelsea) and a bit of an anorak when it comes to boxing - they're definitely my two favourites. Over the past year I've also really got into hurling (it's an Irish sport) and golf to the extent where I'm tempted to take golf lessons....

Fact Two: Las Vegas is my dream holiday destination. I've been fascinated by the lights, the history and the 'glamour' of Sin City since I was a little girl.

Fact Three: I'm obsessed with shoes and I will not feel complete until I have a pair of Louboutins in my collection.

Fact Four: Snatch, featuring Brad Pitt, is one of my favourite films of all time.

Fact Five: Pretty self-explanatory - I am an only child.

Fact Six: I absolutely despise birds but I adore penguins!

Fact Seven: I love the theatre and I am determined to see Wicked on Broadway. I saw it in London a few years ago and it was the best musical I've ever seen.

So, there we go, those are my facts. Pretty boring but I never claimed to be interesting ;)

I Tag:

* http://zaffirobleu.blogspot.com/

* http://shanicesays.blogspot.com/

* http://huskiii.blogspot.com/

* http://confessionsofamakeupaholic2011.blogspot.com/ 

* http://www.fitznbitz.com/

* http://lainspiration.blogspot.com/ 

Sorry that isn't 20 people! I found it really hard to select people who hadn't done it before! If I've tagged you and you have done it and I've missed it then I apologise!

Have a lovely weekend!

Vicky xoxo

Haul: Illamasqua Theatre Of The Nameless

As I mentioned previously, I went to Illamasqua on Friday; I only went in there for a lip gloss but it didn't take long for the Theatre of the Nameless display to catch my eye and, with the excuse of 'buying for my kit' I picked up the following:

Powder Blushes (l-t-r): Ambition (<3); Morale.

RRP: £16.50 each

Both are absolutely stunning and whilst Morale looks the scarier of the two, it applies as a beautiful rose pink with a shimmer finish and is truly stunning. Ambition is a neutral shade with a shimmer finish and is currently my favourite of the two, I've been looking for a product just like this for so long and as always, Illamasqua have produced one that has exceeded all expectations. I have a feeling they'll end up in my makeup bag rather than my kit!! 

Top: Morale; Bottom: Ambition (apologies for poor swatching, I can't get the hang of it!)

Pure Pigment in Beguile.

RRP: £15.50

I adore the Illamasqua Pure Pigments and when the MUA pointed this shimmery little beauty out to me I instantly snapped it up. It's a beautiful light shimmer that you simply have to play with -- use it to highlight, mix it with other products, wear it on it's own, turn it into an eye-liner with Illamasqua Sealing Gel; the uses are endless and the effects beautiful.

Masquara in Raven.

RRP: £15.00

The main rival to 'Ambition' as my favourite new product. Potentially the best mascara I have ever used. Illamasqua claim this little beauty will:

                   lengethen, define and dramatise to extremes...

A bold claim that is made by many but fulfilled by few however the Masquara certainly ticks every box. 

Masquara takes longer to dry than other mascaras which the MUA helpfully informed me was to prevent clumping. The 'wetter' formula also enables you to layer the mascara without ending up with sticky spider lashes. 

The brush is big but not too big (Collection 2000 Big Fake Lash I'm looking at you) and you're able to get into the inner corner of the eye and the thickness of the brush certainly helps to build volume.

Obviously, with my own Masquara I'll be using the brush provided however, with the Masquara in my kit, I will of course be using dispoable mascara wands which, if the product and application are good should make no difference but I'll keep you posted on that one...

There are more than a few other things in the collection that havve caught my eye and that I will no doubt go back to purchase.

What do you think of the Theatre of the Nameless collection; have you tried it? I'd be interested to know your thoughts if you have.

Have a lovely week.

Vicky xoxo

Twenty One...

So.... it was my birthday on Thursday and I turned 21!! I'm not really big on birthdays, even 'big' birthdays -- I really don't like the attention!

I thought I'd share a few pictures with you - I did take a decent picture of my eye makeup but it's still on my camera so I'll update this post with that picture later.

For anyone who is interested here is my Face/Outfit OTN.

Face

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream in Light

Illammasqua Skin Base Foundation in 04

MAC Light Peach Colour Corrector

Chanel Loose Powder in  20 Clair

Eyes

MAC Paint in Bare Canvas

MAC Electra

Urban Decay Naked Palette 'Gunmetal'

Urban Decay Naked Palette 'Creep'

Illamasqua Masquara in Raven

Ardell 109 lashes

Illamasqua Pure Pigment 'Beguile'

Cheeks

MAC Sculpt contour powder

MAC Blush in a mix of Peaches and Well Dressed

MAC Vanilla Pigment

Lips

Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss 'Rouse'

 Tan

Fake Bake 

Nails

OPI - My Private Jet

Perfume

Paco Rabanne - Lady Million

Outfit

Dress - Warehouse

Belt - Warehouse (with dress)

Heels - Linzi Shoes in Romford

Clutch - New Look

Bracelets - Pandora and Tresor Paris

I also went on a little makeup shopping trip, mostly for my kit but I picked up a few new Illamasqua products that I hope to post about tomorrow :) 

Have a lovely weekend

Vicky xoxo

MAC Deep Truth

Okay, I must have seen this eye shadow a hundred times before in MAC yet until the other day I'd never even bothered to swatch it; "hmm, pretty" I'd mumble before looking at something else.

Recently though, I have been on the hunt for 'the perfect deep blue eye shadow'; described by MAC as a 'true dark blue', it is a frost finish and it goes on smoothly and blends beautifully.

with flash

Excuse the brows, I have a threading appointment tomorrow...

As you can see, I couldn't wait to try it on so I decided that I'd slap it haphazardly all over the eye and hope for the best and do you know what? As sloppy as it is, I bloody well love it.

I think this shade would look particularly beautiful on darker skintones and equally striking on very light skintones.

I implore you to check out this eye shadow next time you're in MAC as it really is an absolute gem and a great alternative to a black smoky eye.

Vicky xoxo

High Roller

I have a love/hate relationship with velcro rollers, it's as simple as I love them and they hate my hair. Until recently I could spend hours (literally hours, I have a LOT of very thick hair) carefully coiling my hair onto velcro rollers, waiting patiently for the curl to take and then unwrapping my hair from the rollers with the enthusiasm of a child on Christmas morning only for my hair to look exactly the same as it did before I spent the best part of an afternoon attending to my mane.

However, I was browsing Boots about a month ago when I stumbled (quite literally, somebody had left the box on the floor) across *these* Trevor Sorbie rollers. The voice of experience told me to leave them whilst the voice of "oooh look how many and all different sizes! For only £15!" said: BUY THEM. So I did.

I forgot to take a 'before' picture so just think 'flat'.

Fitting nearly a whole box of rollers in my hair left me feeling very pleased with myself!

I varied the size of the rollers I used, keeping the largest ones for the crown area to create maximum volume. I kept to mid-size to large rollers as I knew there was no way, even in hair roller heaven, that these babies would curl my hair. That, unfortunately, requires serious amounts of heat and patience.

Before I placed the rollers in my hair, I ran my GHDs through each section of hair to provide the heat the style needed to set. The hair cools around the roller and takes shape that way.

Ta-da! Volume AND bouncy hair! After taking the rollers out my hair looked as though it'd just been blow-dried at the hairdressers; I always love my hair after it's been blow-dried at a salon, mainly because I don't have the time nor the patience to do it myself. However, the rollers gave me the same effect and I most certainly have the patience for them! Kate Middleton hair, be mine!

One more grainy webcam shot just for fun :)

Are you a hair 'high roller'?

Vicky xoxo

OOTN: Back to Black

On Saturday my friend held her 21st birthday party as a joint event with her twin sisters who turned 18. I didn't take a camera but I snapped a few pictures on my BlackBerry to share with you all.

This picture amuses me greatly...

I know you can't really see my makeup very clearly but I'll break it all down here anyway :)

Face

Soap and Glory 'Glow Job' moisturiser

Illammasqua Skin Base Foundation in 04

MAC Light Peach Colour Corrector

Chanel Loose Powder in  20 Clair

Eyes

MAC Paint in Bare Canvas

Inglot shimmery white (not sure of the name - can't get it out of the palette!)

MAC Electra

MAC Expensive Pink

MAC Hepcat

MAC Sketch

Urban Decay Naked Palette 'Creep'

Max Factor False Lash Effect mascara

Ardell 109 lashes

MAC Reflects Gold pigment

Cheeks

MAC Pearl Cream Colour Base

MAC Sculpt contour powder

MAC Dame Blush

MAC Petticoat MSF

MAC Vanilla Pigment

Lips

MAC Angel

Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss in 57 Insolence

 Tan

Fake Bake (not impressed with the application - will post later!)

Nails

Barry M Pink Flamingo

Perfume

Paco Rabanne - Lady Million

Outfit

Dress - River Island

Heels - New Look (old season)

Clutch - New Look

Bracelet - Pandora

Have a lovely week!

Vicky xoxo