Cleaning Your Brushes ♥

So, if you've been reading my blog you'll be aware that a few weeks ago I got a brand new AOM makeup brush set!! :), however after lots of experimenting and lots of makeup my lovely brushes were starting to get dirty and were in good need of a clean! So heres a little mixture that I've used for years on all of my brushes, expensive or cheap, and it works every time!


Most blogs/sites you read recommend buying a professional brush cleaner. Some up market cleaners are expensive, MAC's isnt to expensive, RRP being £8.00. Although it's not over priced, you should clean your foundation brush after every use, and your others every couple of weeks depending on how often you use them! Therefore that £8.00 will eventually add up.

Here is my quick, easy and inexpensive way to clean your tools :)


You will need:

• Your dirty makeup brush
• A Plate
• A Towel
• Any anti bacterial washing up liquid
• Virgin Olive Oil.

ANTI BACTERIAL Washing Up Liquid- Yes, washing up liquid. It does not need to be anti bacterial, however the whole idea of washing your brushes is to get rid of the germs and bacteria that are on your brushes. If you fail to wash your brushes reguarly, all your old makeup is just being spread around your face every time you apply your makeup. This can lead to spots!!!!

VIRGIN OLIVE OIL - The Olive Oil is to condition your brush. By stripping your brushes with the washing up liquid you are drying them out therefore it's vital that you recondition them. Hence the olive oil :)

Okkkkkkk here we go.....

• 
  Start by squirting some of your washing up liquid on to your plate
• Next add some olive oil, however do not add as much oil and you did washing up liquid. I would say add half the amount of oil you did you washing up liquid
• Now take your dirty make up brush and making circular motions mix your brush into the mixture.

As you can see, the foundation has easily removed it self from the brush and on to the plate!
Next take a bit of tissue paper and blot off any excess water.

Now to drying. You MUST MUST dry your brushes up side down. If you dont, the water will seep through to the glue that holds the brush together. After a period of time, the water damage will result in a broken brush! So, to prolong the life of your brush, make sure you when leaving your brush to dry you leave it upside down!

Now your probably thinking well how the bloody hell do i do that?! So from the picture above you can see that I simple take a section clip, slip my wet brush into it, and ta daaaa :)

This technique is actually something that Oil painters use. Oil painters brushes are just as important to them as our makeup brushes are to us ay :) So make sure you take good care of them!

Thank you my lovelies and remember if your not a follower, it only takes a click of a button :)
Love to you all
Lauren xoxox

JFX Music Video ♥

Hello my lovelies,



Just want to start by aplogizing for my lack of posts these past weeks! Been so busy recently but I promise I'll start posting more frequently!


After the London Fashion Week Party some weeks ago, I met some fabolous people that I've kept in contact with, because of that, I was asked to be in a music video for some new artists called JFX. It was AMAZING. It was filmed in a club in London, and half the day in makeup, and the other half drinking in the bar whilst being filmed :)


Although the shoot was running about 2 hours behind schedule, still had a wonderful time. I took some pictures of my makeup that was done by the artists.

The artist used mac eyeshadows, not to sure what shades though, which i'd asked! She used bobby brown gel eyeliner, and falsies mascara.

Heres a picture of me, some of the other models, and JFX music just before we did our last shot.

The single 'Heartbeat' will be released on the 1st of Novemeber! :)

Sorry this post has been a rather boring one, but will be posting some more stuff in the next week :)

Lots of love

Lauren xoxox

Fashion tv - London Fashion Week afterparty! ♥

Helloo my lovely followers.

I'm still very excited about this post so sorry if I start to ramble! As part of London Fashion Week, Fashion tv were launching a new makeup book. There after party is very exclusive and your only allowed in if you work within the industry. My friend's boss managed to get me in by saying I was a stylist for Juicy! I can't explain how incredible it was! I was surrounded by some of the most influential people in fashion! The free bar also topped off a brillant night haha :)

I forgot to take a picture of the dress that I wore, but will post it up once I get it back from the dry cleaners! However, heres a picture of the shoes that I wore - bought specially for the occasion and I absolutley adore them!

I got them off ASOS for £39. I'll post the link at the bottom. They were surprisingly comfortable, however, I'm usually a size 6, but I found this shoes a bit to big for me, so bare that in mind when buying them.

As a guest at this party you get given a goody bag. My friends boss (the PR for the event) kept 4 back for us, however she had to leave early to get to Burberry's afterparty and forgot to pick up our good bags, meaning some of the models took them :( so gutted, considering there was £100 worth of beauty products in it! However, instead, they gave us a full brand new makeup brush set, worth £500!!




I absolutley love them! I will do a review on them once I've used them!

Lots of love
Lauren xoxox

Foxy Locks Extensions ♥

Hello my lovelies :)

Near the beginning of this year I started wearing clip in hair extensions. I bought my first set from a little shop in my local area, and absolutley loved them. After a lot of wearing, straightening and curling it was finally time to buy some new ones.

Although I am a big fan of both Imogen's youtube channel and blog, I was a bit hesistant to buy hair off the internet incase the colour didn't match.

BUT

I am SO glad that I did! I could not be more in love with a product! It was such fast shipping, think I ordered on the Saturday and they were here by Tuesday. They came beautifully wrapped and I can't explain how much hair there is!

Sorry this picture isn't the best. I have used them alot! I'm the one on the right. As you can see you wouldn't even notice I've got extensions in! There so thick - i love them.

www.foxylocksextensions.com - Take a look. Imogen has loads of colours, and if your not sure about your colour, she's more than happy to answer your questions :)

xxxxxx

Eyeko ♥

Sorry I haven't blogged in so long, been a pretty busy few weeks! Broken my Blackberry so got no way of uploading pictures for all you lovelies! :(

However :)

I ordered my first few bits and bobs from Eyeko last week - Eyeko Graffitti Eyeliner Pen.

RRP: £2.50

I got two, one in black and one in purple. They are GORGEOUS. I absolutley love them. The colours are great and there so easy to use. The nib on the pen is rather thick which I think makes it easier to apply.

Eyeko have some great deals on at the moment, so definatley check it out! If you enter my code

E10858

You'll get a free gift!

Once my Blackberry is fixed I have loads to blog about!
Peace love and tea my friends xxxxxxxx

Barry M Lipgloss ♥

As you know I love my Barry M nailvarnish, so after loosing my new victoria secrets lip plumper on holiday (so gutted), i had to go and buy a new lipgloss. Other than their nailvarnish and eye dust, ive never really payd much attention to Barry M's other products. However, this particular shade was so eye catching it was hard to miss!

Not only is the colour amazing it smells like bubblegum! I have to stop myself from licking my lips!

I wore it out for the first time last night and it is definatley one of the best lipgloss's I've ever purchased. It's not to sticky yet it stays on for a very long time. I will definatley be hitting Superdrug soon to get some more of these!

RRP: £4.25

What a bargin!

Preparing for Summer!

This has got to be everyones favourite time of year! Although the excitment is unbearable, we need to prepare! So, off I went to my all time favourite shop, Superdrug :), and starting collecting my summer products!


So who's seen that advert with the new garnier scrub brush :)? After seeing the advert for the first time it was a definate must. My friend bought it before me and said it was amazing, so I had to try this out for myself.

This is incredible! After only using it three times, I can actually feel the difference in my skin. It feels a lot smoother, and has reduced my black heads. It's really easy to use, you simply twist the head, squeeze and scrub. Garnier say it "Works to unclog impurities from pores and visibly reduces surface sebum levels" I really rate this product, and it something I will definatley be using religiously throughout the summer. Girls you need to remember during the summer the amount of make up you wear increases, well it definatley does for me, therefore this product can help to keep your skin flawless and healthy :)

RRP: £4.49

Another product I bought was Vaselines healthy hand and nail conditoner. It was buy one get one free which was a bonus :)

Ive started by putting this on every night before I go to bed. This has definatley made my hands softer and my nails stronger, plus it smells lovely :). As i've got very sensitive skin I'm always really worried about putting new products on my skin, however, vaseline is a brand I trust, and my instincts were right, this product hasn't made me itch once!

RRP: £1.99

Definatley get down there now and stock up while its BOGOF!

Random :)

This is a bit of a random post but ahh well :) It was my birthday on Tuesday wahoo. So on Friday I popped out to get a few last minute bits for my celebratory weekend. I decided that I wanted to get my nails done, since growing my nails I've stopped putting the acrylic ones on and just stick to painting them :) So I popped into my local nail bar and discovered that they paint and shape nails for only £5!

My dress for the weekend was a stone grey colour and decided that I should get a really bright colour. Therefore choosing China Glazes' bright orange!

I adore the colour and will definatley be going back to get them to repaint them :) So many people commented on how lovely and eye catching the colour was!

After getting my nails done, I popped into my favourite shop Superdrug. I've read loads of reviews about GOSH lipsticks and decided it was time to finally purchase one especially at the fantastic prices!!

This colour is gorgeous and lasted all night! It's easy to apply and I felt so mosturized after application. I'll upload a picture of the colour on my lips later on. I really recommend GOSH products there fabolously priced and go a long way!

RRP: £6.00

Anyone else tried any GOSH products? What do you think?

Lauren xoxox

My Top 6 Hair Care Products

I wanted to share with you my favourite hair products with you. These products are would never dream of washing/styling my hair without!

REMEMBER - change your shampoo + conditoner every 2/3 weeks as your hair starts to get used to the product.

Although I do change my shampoo every 2 weeks, my favourite has to be LOreal Paris Elvive Full Restore 5 Shampoo&Conditoner. Not just because Cheryl Cole is the face of it, because it tackles weak, limp, lifeless hair and it smells incredible! It leaves my hair feeling so soft and silky.

Heat can be one of the main causes for split ends. Therefore it's so important to protect protect protect! I'm always trying out different heat protectors as im forever straightening my hair. I definatley think this is the best. It smells lovely and a few sprays goes a long way. I'm also really hesitant to put heat protector on my hair when its dry as some protectors make your hair look greasy, but I found with Aussie that due to the lightness of the spray it doesnt leave your hair looking greasy at all!

I WORSHIP this product! This product has literally done miracles on my hair! My hair was in such awful conditon due to bleaching and heat but this mask restore my hair. I have extremley sensitive skin and this particular mask actually makes me itch but I love it that much that I'm prepared to put up with the itching! I won't wash my hair without it and recommend it to everyone!

I promise I'm not sponsored by Aussie I just love their products! This particular product is a leave in conditioner. They say "It's a leave-in little miracle that conditions and nourishes hair so it's tangle free and protected from everyday wear and tear" plus it smells gorgeous!

I've been using this product since the end of last year, I'd never actually heard of this brand before. It was my Mum that bought this for me so not too sure where you can buy it from but I'll post it on here once I know. This product, again, as done miracles. It makes your hair extremley shiny and is extremley good if you have coloured hair as it's rebuilding the strength that you lost from the damaged done by the colour/bleach.

Finally, if you haven't realised yet, I colour my hair blonde. As blonde is so hard to maintain its vital that you use some sort of product to protect your colour from fading and becoming dull. Therefore I used Elvive Colour Protect. This spray is weightless and again smells great (I love great smelling hair products). I simply give the top of my hair a few sprays before blowing drying my hair.

What do you guys think? Do any of you use any of these products? Or do you have any better ones?

Love
Lauren xoxox

All Hail Barry M Nail Varnish! ♥

It wasn't until I was aimless walking around boots till I spotted Barry M's Nailvarnish. I've used some of their eye shawdows and glitter before yet never there nailvarnish. However after taking a proper look I was stunned to discover the amount of colours they have!

To begin with I bought bright orange and a lilac pinky colour. Later that week I went back and bought baby blue and green! (never seen green nailvarnish before!)

Barry M's range is perfect for the summer, and in the last few days I've changed the colour of my nails near 5 times!

I simply cannot praise this nailvarnish enough! Below is a picture of my lilac Barry M nail varnish that I applied on the 23rd of May and look how well its stayed on! no chips! (Please excuse my feet, they are very dry and hard due to gymnastics!)

Barry M are doing 2 of £5 - Girls get yourselfs down there!

LUSH ♥

I suffer from very dry lips and finally decided to do something about it. I've tried all the vaslines, blistex etc but nothing seems to work. After reading a review on ImogenFoxyLocks, I decided to purchase LUSH's 'Bubblegum Lip Scrub'. All you need to do is give this stuff a quick sniff and you won't be able to resist buying it!

It's so hard to resist a sneaky lick once this is on your lips! You simply rub it in, and ta da beautifully soft lips!

RRP: £4.50

GOSH Nails.

For aaaages, people have been recommending GOSH products. So over the weekend I went and bought their nail varnish. After spending ages trying to decide what colour to go for (as there were SO many to choose from) I decided to be boring and go for black :(

Sorry about the awful quality picture, and very badly painted nails. I was in a real rush!However, once I used it for the first time, I didn't even need to apply a second coat once dry! Definatley going back to buy some more for summer, they had some lovely pastel colours which will look great on holiday :)

RRP:£5.00
From Superdrug