NARS Blush Dolce Vita Review, Photos and Swatch

NARS Blusher Dolce Vita Review

I was a NARS virgin until Christmas this year! I always thought the brand was rather expensive and as a student, I need to be thrifty with my money! My sister bought me this for a Christmas present and MY GOSH! This is my absolute HG Holy Grail blusher! 

I tend to go for richer darker shades of blush since my skin is a bit too yellow toned to carry off light pink tones.

Colour:

Dolce Vita is a burnt mauve deep shade. The colour pay-off is RIDICULOUS! You literally only need to show your brush to the pan, you'll still need to tap off to avoid clown make up effect!

Application:

As I said, Dolce Vita is a very strong shade so use your brush very lightly in circular motions to avoid any strong lines. 

Packaging:

The packaging feels really hard wearing - I don't have any worries about slinging it in my handbag. It has a tendency for getting a bit grubby - the plastic is a kind of soft tactile plastic (does that even make sense?!)

Price: 

Nars blushes are £21, although they are available from ASOS in most colours and are included in student discount! Now and again ASOS do 20% discount, so definitely check out their make up and beauty ranges then for a bargain!

Staying Power: 

You absolutely won't need to reapply this later in the day. This is a warning! A few weeks ago I was out for drinks with the girls and I felt the need to reapply my make up. My wine induced heavy hand caused me to give myself a crazy pantomime dame make over, I used a million tissues trying to remove it! 

Summary:

I definitely think this blush is worth the price, with the amount you need to use per application, I think this might last me 'til I die. The colour is gorgeous, it lasts all day long! Just be cautious with the application! 

Let me know if you have any recommendations for other NARS products, I am really keen to try some new ones out! 

My Art (Uni Art Exhibition)

Hi Everyone!

Sorry it's been so long since I've made a post, I've been super busy getting ready for my Art exhibition! 

I'm currently in my final year of university, I'm training to be a primary school teacher. I specialise in Art so this double module was a lot of work! 

I thought I'd share my paintings with you, they are of my Dad, my Uncle and my Grampy. They are all oils on canvas, with OS maps bonded to the canvases. 

The inspiration behind my pieces was examining the stories you can read about people’s lives on their faces. The maps were meant to be symbolic of the journeys people take and how they show on our faces as the journeys continue. I looked at pictures of these celebrities who use fillers and botox to iron out their wrinkles and it made me feel a bit sad... It's like their ashamed of the lives they've lived! Smile lines are a testament to the happy memories and experiences we have had and those frown lines are proof of the trials and tribulations that have resulted in the wise experienced people we are. 

I wrote a poem to accompany the paintings: 

What can we tell about a face?

To gaze upon it and then trace

Every smile that left its mark,

Frown lines hint at times of dark

For times we've cried, for times we've laughed

For all the struggles and the graft

Etched yet deeper on the skin

So different from whence time begin

A wrinkle's more than just a line

It shows the passage of our time

Denotes the journeys we have taken

Ongoing voyages to awaken

A facial autobiography

Composed like stark cartography

I hope you like them! I'll be back posting as normal from now on!

Review: Lee Stafford Hair Mask For Hair That Never Grows Past A Certain Length Serum

Review: Lee Stafford 

Hair Mask 

For Hair That Never Grows Past A Certain Length Treatment

"If the earth's not nourished, you'll never grow beautiful flowers"

Don't you just love everything from Lee Stafford?! The colour scheme and the smell really appeal to my girlish side. I've been using his line sporadically for... gosh nearly ten years (I feel old!) when I used my friend's Lee Stafford Heat Protection Spray and immediately had to go buy myself a bottle. 

Background: 

I am always on a mission to grow my hair to what I call 'mermaid length'; I want to have my hair grow long enough to cover my chest. However, with eight years of bleaching, straightening, curling, back combing and giving myself bad hair cuts (the BIGGEST hair sins!) I knew that was an unrealistic goal. For the last year I've been trying to do everything right. I stopped bleaching, I only use heat on really special occasions (once a month tops) and I get professional trims every 7-8 weeks. I'm telling you this because I feel like all of the good things I've been doing to my hair have to be accounted for when I tell you that my hair HAS been growing longer than before, a fact that cannot be attributed to any one thing, including the Lee Stafford Hair Mask Treatment in this review. 

What it claims it does:

• Vital hair and scalp complex helps to reduce hair loss
• Improves follicle health which in turn increases ability of the hair to anchor to the scalp
• Soothing formulation reduces irritation and moisturises the scalp
• Addresses hair and scalp ageing at a cellular level
• Improvement in tensile strength to give body and texture by penetrating the hair reaching the inner cortex
• Improves volume and feel of the hair

Directions: 

The directions state that this treatment should be used in between shampooing and conditioning, massaging into the hair from the roots to the ends, leaving for 5 minutes. 

I really can't understand using this product in the recommended order... Using it on the roots after shampooing means that no matter how long I spend washing the product out of my hair, the residue causes my hair to be far too soft at the roots meaning it gets greasy after a day and hangs really limp. It definitely doesn't improve the 'volume' of my hair as claimed!

Stafford states that you should use an egg sized amount every wash 'until hair improves' then once a week to maintain the improvement. Now, this tub contains 200ml. Assuming that Lee isn't referring to quails eggs, this contains about three egg sized amounts. For hair my length (it comes down to an inch below my armpits), I really do need a medium/large egg amount of product to cover my scalp to the ends of my hair. If I was to use this every wash, I'd have to buy a new tub every week! 

What it actually does

The Good

• It leaves my hair feelings SO soft and silky. It definitely improves the feel of my hair, and smoother hair means its less likely to split
• As with all Lee Stafford products, it smells amazing. Even using a different conditioner after this treatment, my hair reeks of this when it's dry

The Bad

• I always experience a certain amount of shedding in the shower (is there a bleaker, grimmer chore than fishing out the matted disgusting hair from the plug hole...?!), but whenever I use this I experience a noticeably HIGHER volume of hair loss. I feel like applying a conditioner directly to my scalp (as directed) is lubricating the follicle to facilitate easier hair loss!

Packaging: 

I love the pink, but I HATE anything in a tub for the shower. I simply don't have enough hands for this to work. I have to unscrew the lid with one hand, scooping the product out with the other, then quickly, one handedly screw the lid back on trying not to drop the product or get any water into the tub. Did all the hair product retailers have a meeting and conspire to package ALL hair masks in these inconvenient tubs, in order to encourage clumsy showering ladies like me to drop the product and have to repurchase more often? Mr Loreal says "what's wrong with squirty bottles? They work for everything else in the shower...". "You FOOL Loreal, don't you know that makes it considerably easier for application! MWAHAHAHAHA" laughs Lee Stafford. 

Consistency:

Very viscous and thick, it feels luxurious.

Price:

£7.99 from Boots isn't too expensive compared to other hair masks, although since you need to use such a HUGE amount for each application, it makes it at least £2 per use! Maybe for ladies with shorter hair, or if it was only used on the ends it might be worth the price?

Over all thoughts:

Whilst my hair is growing longer than before, it's not growing any faster than the average inch every two months. It's one of the nicest hair masks I've used in terms of scent, consistency and resulting silkiness of the hair, although with the imminent post-use lanky greasiness and the ridiculous amount one must use, I don't think it's cost effective. I won't repurchase, although I'm still a big fan of the Lee Stafford range. 

What's your favourite Lee Stafford Product? 

*Disclaimer* I purchased this product myself. I do not do sponsored posts. All opinions are my own.

Review Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick Asia (As a Cream Blusher Contour)

Review Rimmel Lipstick Asia 

(As a Cream Blusher Contour)

Rimmel's Lasting Finish Lipstick in Asia is a very popular mauve toned nude colour; I've often found it totally out of stock in Boots and Superdrug. Two of my aunties hold this Rimmel lipstick as their Holy Grail lip colour, which isn't surprising. Asia's muted plum colour is universally flattering, deepening the natural lip colour. The formula is super creamy, being hydrating to the lips but staying on for at least four hours. 

Whilst this is hailed as an amazing lip stick, I use it as something quite different. I've tried many cream blushers and often find them lacking, they tend to dry out quickly, the finish can be chalky,  No7 cream blushes in particular annoy me with their flimsy plastic pan packaging. I've been using this for two years as my number 1 cream blusher. 

I reach for this when I'm going for a natural, no make up look. Since powdered skin looks very 'done', this gives strong, natural colour without losing the youthful dewy skin appearance. I usually pair this with a lightweight foundation (Garnier BB cream or Bourjouis Healthy Mix Serum) and a cream highlighter (ELF). 

I slick it on just under my cheekbones, dragging it half way across my cheek, blend it in (sometimes giving it two coats), and I'm done. 

Rimmel's Asia gives me such a natural colour, it produces such a realistic looking flush. The formula is creamy so it blends really smoothly, but doesn't appear shiny on the skin. Since the rubbing of your skin will cause a slightly reddened affect I'd recommend waiting a few seconds to check the final colour, so that more can be applied if necessary. 

The packaging is sturdy and chic, the metallic ring around the middle is a hint of high end. I keep one of these in my vanity table and one in my hand bag; it's perfect for a little pick me up half way through the day for both the lips and the cheeks. It's £4.99 at Boots so won't break the bank either.

Going without make up. Bare faced Freedom.

GoingWithout Makeup:

 Bare-faced Freedom

Considering I own such a lot of make up and talk so passionately about the subject, people are always surprised at how infrequently I wear it. There is something ever so liberating about going bare faced, and here's why.

As a teenager I definitely felt self conscious and wore make up to improve the way I look but I'd say that it was as much of a social norm habit. It wouldn't occur to me NOT to wear make up. And I wore a lot of it. I was your quintessential bleach blonde extensions, orange bodied, too much bronzer teenager. 

When I was 19 I met an Australian guy and decided to move to Perth with him. I would straighten my hair every day, wear my extensions and go around wearing my normal face of make up (foundation, concealer, bronzer, blusher, eyeliner, mascara and lip gloss). However, I started to notice that none of my new female friends did the same. Don't get me wrong, they were highly glamorous, the girls in Perth had an effortless beauty; beach chic in every sense of the word. Day to day, they wore little to no make up.



Initially I would feel panicked if we went to the beach bare faced, but gradually moved to the pub as the day went on.. I'd find myself in a bar wearing flip flops and a beach dress with tangled sea salt hair and not a scrap of make up. It went against everything I knew.

A year later and I was wandering around the grocery store wearing a Bintang grubby men's vest, board shorts, no shoes on my feet and absolutely no make up. And I felt more confident, attractive and desirable than ever before. I'd go on a night out wearing tennis pumps and no make up. I felt free. I felt like I had tapped into this secret and being beautiful wasn't about how much effort you put in, it was feeling confident in my own skin. I can't lie, the tan helped a lot!

I used to read these interview with overtly sexy female celebrities, all claiming that they felt most attractive when in their joggers, lounging around the house without make up. I scoffed "bah! you can't fool me, vain beautiful liar". Until I experienced this 'enlightenment'. 

I came home to England and my friends didn't get it. I actually started to feel that make up was a big deception. That by wearing it, I was lying to the world about how I really look. One of my friends told me I was being rude by going out without make up! 




Then I got acne....

I no longer felt this smug confidence about my bare face. I felt ugly. I didn't just 'feel ugly'. I had an absolute conviction that I WAS ugly. Acne is a fail safe way of making anyone feel really low and insecure. 

No longer was I not wearing make up because I felt satisfied with my naturality, I became afraid of wearing make up. I didn't want to do anything to my skin that might make it worse. Even though I probably needed it (the acne was quite 'in your face' and the treatments only enhanced the redness), I shunned any make up. Even eye make up was a no no.. I didn't want people to wonder why, if I was wearing some make up, was I not covering my offensive face. 

I did try wearing make up for a night out... But the treatments made my skin so dry that foundation would cake and crumble, flaking right off my face. It actually just made me look worse. There are so many online tutorials for heavy duty spot coverage, but I couldn't master it without the flakes. I would give up, scrub it off, cry my eyes out and cancel on my friends. 

Having acne and not wearing make up wasn't 'difficult' because I felt like I didn't have the option to wear it anyway. I did feel like it affected how people perceived me, but in retrospect, I think it was a change in my own attitude which caused that.

My skin has been clear for about a year now and my relationship with make up has changed again. I'm not afraid of make up, and I don't feel like a liar and a fake when I do wear it. When I do wear make up, I look at it like art. I can change my face with the use of a few powders, like temporary plastic surgery! However I still feel more than comfortable going out bare faced, I don't cringe and avoid people I know... I'm not ashamed of how I really look! 

I think that in the end, we are all born with these faces. Girls are lucky, we have so many different makeup products to choose from that we have the freedom to improve the way that we look. But looks aren't everything. If we can't accept our young faces without make up, how will we deal when wrinkles inevitably mark the laughter and anguish of our past as we age? 

If I put a full face of make up on every day, I'd spend more than 1 week per year doing my make up... That's 1.5 years in a life time of just applying make up. Life is short, I have better things to spend my time doing than putting make up on my face and worrying about how everyone else perceives me. Having the freedom to choose to go without make up is a real treat. 

Showing make up free pictures of me to the world doesn't daunt me any more

I challenge you to go to work/college/school/university for 1 day without make up, please let me know in the comments section how it made you feel! Please feedback how you feel about going without make up!