how to | fresh and radiant skin

Please excuse the fact that my hair makes it look as if I had just rolled out of bed, I hadn't.. cough. This is the make-up look that I wear most days, its simple, radiant and fresh. My secret weapons to flawless looking skin are both the Illamasqua Skinbase Foundation and the Nars Copacabana Illuminator, both of which I absolutely adore. I like to sometimes also like to use the Sisley Express Flower Gel beforehand which really perks my skin up too. If it's a really hot day and I don't fancy wearing much make-up then I will go for the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua which is my second favourite foundation, it doesn't give a great deal of coverage but has such a glowy finish. For my brows I've been filling them in with a lighter colour than usual, I can't bare using a warm toned brown on them so it always has to be an ashy shade. Flicked liner as always for the eyes with some smudged underneath the bottom lash line to create the illusion of thicker looking lashes. The lip and blush shades I choose were both a barely there almost unnoticeable pink to achieve an effortless overall look.

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how to: flicked liquid liner

I've been working at mastering the perfect flicked liner for a while now and have finally learnt the skills to get it right almost every time. In the past I've tried all sorts of cream, gel, kohl and liquid eyeliners but have been most impressed with the Collection Fast Stroke Eyeliner that I've been wearing for a few months now. The felt brush has the perfect balance between being flexible and sturdy with a pointed nib that creates the perfect flick every time. I found the liner super easy to use as the product is so pigmented and is wet enough to be easy to work with yet dries quickly and doesn't smudge. It creates a super dark jet black line that lasts throughout the day, so overall a big winner in my book. To create a base on my lids to draw the liner on I've been using Mac Painterly Paint Pot, it's a pinkish nude shade which gives just a hint of colour and really helps the black liner to stand out. Not only is it a great colour but it makes liquid liner apply so much more smoothly and because of this I've found it takes me half the time to draw on than usual, such a nifty little product. Last but not least to finish off my flicked liquid liner look I coat my lashes in Yves Saint Laurent False Lash Effect Mascara, it gives my lashes a great thickness yet leaves them wispy enough as to not weigh them down.

1. Apply the paint pot all over the lid by using patting motions, then paint on a thin line just leaving a small gap just at the edge.

2. Find where your lashes end and add a small line just there in the same angle as of your lashes and adjacent to your lower waterline. Once you work out the area to draw the mini line you will have the basis for the perfect look every time, this method always works brilliantly for me.

3. Join up the two lines and then fill in any space by following the end of your waterline and go over the larger line once more to give a darker look and to cover any missed patches.

4. Curl your lashes and add a couple of coats of mascara but keep your lashes looking wispy and flirty rather than too thick and heavy. I don't usually use any product on my bottom lash line apart from a small amount of mascara as I find it suits the look best.

how to: black and nude caged nail art

I'm back with some more nail art today and this time I went for something really different and that I thought up myself without inspiration pictures. I painted Barry M 'Nude' as my base colour and then applied tape vertically to my nails and then horizontally to create a grid pattern as you can see in the photo above. I then layered a black nail polish over that and started peeling away the pieces of tape as I did in this blog post. It did take a while to complete all of the nails but if you haven't got the time this look would look really great on an accent nail or two. If you are bored with the usual nail polish looks then get creative with some striping tape!

how to: pinstripe nails

1. APPLY TAPE STRIPS AND SMOOTH OVER THE NAIL 2. PAINT ON TOP COLOUR OVER WHOLE NAIL 3. GENTLY PEEL OFF STRIPS STRAIGHT AFTER 4. TIDY AROUND THE NAIL AND APPLY TOPCOAT

 NAIL TAPE WHEEL - EBAY | COLOR CLUB TOPCOAT | KONAD WHITE | MODELS OWN BETH'S BLUE | NAIL SCISSORS AND TWEEZERS

Most of my free time seems to be spent on creating nail art and scouring the internet for endless inspiration images at the moment. I recently came across a tutorial using striping tape and upon noticing how cheap they are on Ebay I instantly ordered a set, 10 for just over £2 including delivery no less! It does take quite a while to do two hands using this method (around an hour in total) but it's so worth it as the effect is neater than anything else, though you could always just do an accent nail instead. A few tips that I have are to make sure your base colour has been drying for a few hours before you go ahead with striping, also use nail scissors to trim the tape to size and lastly use tweezers to pull of the tape from one side to the other. I decided to paint the stripes on in opposite directions for each hand which I think turned out really well, I will definitely be trying out more designs using striping tape. Let me know if you are going to try this out!