Aussie Dry Shampoo - Miracle Dry, Mega Instant

Like most people I know, I'm a sucker for a good dry shampoo.

We all have days where our hair looks greasy, but either don't have time to wash it, or, in my case - can't be bothered :)

I've always been a fan of Batiste and have used every scent they have, but more recently I realised that Aussie have just started doing some. Again being a sucker for all things new, I had to try some.

I always spray dry shampoo on at night time as I find it leaves plenty of time for it to settle into your hair and in the morning it has  a bit more volume.

The Aussie dry shampoo is definitely going to be my new 'go to' dry shampoo.

When you spray it into your hair, it's a bit like hairspray which I do find a little strange. But after a while it dries and gives the most amazing volume I've ever known! Not to mention how good it smells :) 

It's quite a small bottle (180ml) in comparison to Batiste and is also a bit more expensive (£3.33 on offer at Boots at the minute, usual price £4.99) but I do believe you get what you pay for with things like this.

Whats your favourite dry shampoo? Do you know of any other good ones? Let me know in the comments.

Becca xx

An apology and a review

Two things for you today.

The first is an apology, for being so slack with my blog recently. Life has gotten so unbelievably busy for me. I really don't know where time has gone and as a result this blog has been neglected.

But I'm back! Hopefully for a good few days, I have quite a bit planned for the blog, mainly reviews and a mini haul.

On with today's post. Recently I've been really struggling with the dreaded blackheads and nothing I use seems to get rid of them.

I went into Boots today and decided to try Biore Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser.

It looks disgusting I won't lie. A thick, black/grey (well charcoal I suppose, duh) liquid, that you're supposed to rub on your face. Well I'll give anything a go once. It also smells a lot better than it looks.

I use about 4 pumps, which might seem like quite a lot and I'll probably only use 2 pumps in future (after looking at the bottle now it's all settled, 4 pumps is waaaaay too much!)  Rub your hands together to create a foam and then wash your face. It feels amazing - my face has literally never felt so clean. It tingles and makes your face feel really cold which I love.

I must admit that even after just one use my blackheads look a lot clearer. I read the other day that Millie Mackintosh (from Made In Chelsea) has a rule to use all new beauty products for month - this way you can really make the decision about whether it's good for you. So this is what I'm going to do :)

Biore Blackhead cleanser cost me £4.99 but so far I'd have to say that it's money well spent.

Have you ever tried any of the Biore products? Or what do you use to get rid of blackheads. Let me know in the comments.

Becca xx

My top 5 summer songs.

Summer has finally arrived in the UK! How long will it last? Who knows. 

One thing I love about summer (and it's probably the only thing as I'm not too fussed on being warm) is driving round with my windows open and songs blaring. 

I decided to do a 'Top 5 Summer Songs' that I'm enjoying at the minute.



5. Rixton - Me and My Broken Heart

This song is, in my opinion, the summer song for this year. It's incredibly catchy and you find yourself just singing along to it. I know there's a lot of people loving it at the minute. You can listen to it here.

4. 5 Seconds of Summer - Amnesia

I know Heather will kill me for having them on here...but I love love love 5 Seconds of Summer at the minute. I've seen them twice (with Heather and she secretly loved them) when we went to see One Direction! Yes we are 21 and 23 but whatcha gonna dooooo?! :) This song is so lovely and quite deep I suppose. But it's perfect for long drives. You can listen to it here.

3. George Ezra - Budapest

What's not to love about this song? You could imagine yourself on a nice hot beach, cocktail in hand just chilling out and listening to this. Aaaah bliss. I know that's not strictly driving...but I could drive to the airport? You can listen to it here.

2. Haim - The Wire

I've been a fan of Haim for ages, but only recently bought their album. This is one of my favourite songs off it. It's without a doubt a great driving song, but also something that would be amazing to hear live at a muddy, british music festival. It's one of those songs that just makes you feel good. You can listen to it here.

1. One Direction - Story of My Life

I couldn't not put this in. Who doesn't like to sing their heart out to this song? It's one of those ones that you literally just let all your inhibitions go and sing like nobody's watching (even if they are). In fact there's a lot of 1D songs that could go in here. But you can listen/watch Story of My Life here.




What are your top summer songs? They can be new or old, let me know in the comments!

Becca xx

Beauty Scenario Tag

So I stole this tag from my lovely friend Heather's blog. As she mentioned, I too love tag posts and always enjoy reading other peoples.

So here goes...

Q1: You have to get rid of all your foundations and you can only keep 1 drugstore and 1 high end. Which do you keep?

To be fair I never really wore foundation until a few weeks ago. I always used BB Cream. So for arguments sake I wouldn't pick a drugstore one, but my high end one would definitely have to MAC Face and body. It is the best foundation I have ever used. At £21.00 it's not cheap for a 50ml bottle but I'll certainly be buying this again. It gives great lasting coverage and is build able. What more could you want?

Q2: You go for an interview and the lady interviewing you has some lipstick on her teeth. Do you ignore it and not tell her, or do you let her know?

I know this is really bad...but I probably wouldn't! I'm one of these people who gets embarrassed telling people something like that. If I know the person I'd tell them.

Q3: You're not feeling quite yourself and you need a pick me up lipstick! Which do you go for? 

I'm not really a lipstick kind of girl. I prefer lip glosses. I really like Borjois Effet 3D Lipgloss

Q4: You go back in time for a day to your teenage years, how would you do your hair and make up differently?

I would get rid of the side fringe. It didn't suit me and I certainly couldn't carry it off when it was greasy! This was a time before I discovered Batiste. I'd also tell myself to not go blonde...it did not suit me. I'd probably be a bit more daring with my make up. I really played it too safe.

Q5: You ask your hairdresser for a shoulder length Pixie Lott hair cut, but they hear you wrong and give you a pixie haircut. Do you, a) Smile, say thank you, leave, call your mum and cry hysterically, b) Cry in the chair and things get awkward, or c) Complain to the manager and demand a refund?

A all the way for me! I hate making a scene so I'd rather smile and pretend I like it then go away and cry haha!

Q6: Your friend surprises you with a 4 day city break and you only have 1 hour to pack! Which do it all palette would you take with you and why?

Ooo how exciting! Erm I'd take the MAC Neutrals pallet as it has all the colours you'd need for natural make up, and the sleek contour pallet (I'll do a review of this soon). It has contour, highlighter and blush so you'd be sorted.

Q7: Your house has been robbed, don't worry everyone is safe, but your beauty stash has been raided! Whats the product that you really hope is safe?

My mascara! I literally look about 12 years old without mascara.

Q8: Your friend borrows your makeup and returns it in awful condition. Do you, a) Just pretend you haven’t noticed, b) Ask them to repurchase it, or c) Secretly do the same to something of theirs?

I would probably have to go with C. As I mentioned before I really don't like confrontation. But then again I'd have to go with B as well. Why should I spend my hard earned money on stuff for someone to go an ruin it? :) 

I hope you enjoyed that and I tag anyone that reads it to do it too. If you do this, tag me in it so I can read your answers as well :)

Is there anything you'd like me to do a post on? Let me know in the comments.

Becca xx

Hello mouthwash

This is a bit of a random post, but I wanted to share my new find with you all!

Brushing your teeth is part of your everyday beauty routine (or at least I hope it is!) so why not have a new mouthwash to shake it up a bit?

On Saturday I discovered 'hello' mouthwash. It comes in three different flavours:

Mint

Mojito mint

Pink grapefruit

Being a mojito lover I naturally went for that. 

It's a weird flavour when you first taste it, almost a bit sour, but gone off sour. Keep swishing it round your mouth and you get a lovely tangy flavour. Once you've spat it out, the mint comes through so your mouth feels really fresh :)

It's on offer at boots at the minute for £2.99. 

It's alcohol free so I imagine it will be suitable for kids as well :)

Have you tried any of the 'hello' range? Let me know in the comments. 

Becca xx

Product review: Fudge Ends

Earlier this year I was sucked into the latest trend and got my hair dip-dyed.
As I wasn't too sure how it would turn out my hairdresser decided to just do a very subtle colour. After 4 months I loved it so much that we decided to put more blonde through it.

I love, love, love it and I personally find that dip-dyed hair looks so much better when it's curled than straight.

However the only downside to having part or all of your hair bleached is that it can become dry if you don't look after it properly. I think this is the only downside to it.

Naturally I have very curly hair which over time has gone into more beachy waves which I prefer. I don't tend to straighten it very often and I think I've used every product out there to, protect, straighten, curl, tame frizz...you name it, I've had it.

I recently was getting concerned that my hair was falling out and that it was too dry from the bleach so I've completely shook up my hair routine. I wash and condition it as normal, use a tangle teezer to brush through the hair, then put more conditioner in (I use Aussie Mega leave-in) and then I found the holy grail of hair products.

Please enter - Fudge Ends.

This product is a life save for dry hair and smells bloomin' amazing as well. Sweet and vanilla-ery (I've just checked and it says it smells of vanilla bean, which it totally does. It tastes so good you could eat it - but please don't.)

It comes in this really cute, almost test tube like, bottle:

You only need the tiniest bit, maybe a 5p piece size. I put the majority of it on the ends but then rub the rest of it through the hair. I can't begin to describe how silky it is once I've straightened it. As I mentioned though I don't do this very often.

I've only recently discovered Fudge hair products, well my brother used to use the gel and in all honesty I thought that's all they ever did. But I also bought some of their salt spray which I'll save for another post.

You can buy fudge ends from here and at £6.25 it's suitable for all budgets.

Have you tried any of the fudge products? Are there more that you can recommend to me? Let me know in the comments.

Becca xx

My top 5 fragrances...

If you know me, you'll know that I absolutely love perfume. I'm one of those people that spray so much of it it makes you sick! 

I don't like not smelling nice and if I have a day where I don't wear make up, I always have to wear perfume. It makes you feel so good even if you don't.

I have a cabinet full of perfume and even store some on top of my wardrobe. I'm not a girl that has a wardrobe full of shoes, I have a wardrobe full of perfume!

So anyway, I decided to pick my top 5 favourite perfumes that I'm loving at the moment.

First up is CKIN2U:

I love the smell of this, it's quite 'heavy' in comparison to what I normally wear however I spray this in a morning and can still smell it later on in the day. I've also seen this quite cheap in shops lately. I think somewhere was doing a 100ml bottle for £20 the other week which is a bargain!


Next up is Hugo Boss Orange:

My mum bought me this about 3 years ago for christmas (not this actually bottle, I've had replacements since then) but it's one of those fragrances that is quite light and, I know this sounds weird, but makes you feel really happy. As you can see from the photo I've used quite a lot of this...I'm not sure it'll last until Christmas!


Third on my list is Kate Moss:

I remember when this perfume first came out. I liked it because it was an affordable scent. It's quite floral, but not so much that you smell like a granny. Again, it's like the CKIN2U, in as much as you can spray it on in a morning and still smell it later on in the day. I've tried one of Kate's other perfumes (I think it's called Lola or Lula? I can't remember exactly) but I always come back to this one. I think you can normally get a bottle for around £15 so it's affordable for any budget.

Next is Katy Perry 'Purr':

Just like Katy this scent is fun. That's the only way to describe it. I mean the bottle is even shaped like a cat with a collar...what's not to love?!

Last, but not least, Chloe:

I feel so rich and luxurious wearing this (cringey right?) but my goodness, I never realised a perfume could make you feel like that! One of my friends at school always used to wear and she always smelt lovely. When I realised what it was I knew I'd never be able to afford it. However it was on offer once so I thought I'd treat myself. Then I treat myself to another bottle and as you can see I've not used much. This is my *special* perfume for special occasions. It smells of roses and is just so so so feminine. It's lovely.

What are your favourite perfumes? Do you like any the same as me? Have you got any you can recommend to me? Let me know in the comments.

Becca xx

My daily skincare routine

I know there's a lot of posts about skincare routines but I always find them really enjoyable.

I have combination skin - some days it can be oily, some days it can be dry, sometimes it can be perfectly normal, and then other days it's a mixture of everything! 

So reading other peoples skincare posts always gives me some ideas about what stuff I should be using.

So here we go!

In a morning, after I've washed my face, I wipe it over with the Garnier Micellar water. This is like Bioderma but for when you're on a budget. It's essentially £5 for a bottle of water...but I like it.

You can get Garnier Micellar water from boots (and it's on offer at the minute which is a bonus!) here

Next I moisturise with the No7 beautiful skin day cream for dry to very dry skin. It's a lovely creamy consistency and I can really feel my skin soaking it up. You can also get this from boots here

At night times, I hold my hands up and admit I'm not usually very good at taking off my make up...I sometimes sleep in it. Please don't dislike me :(! However I've now got into a better routine.

I start by cleansing my face with the Nivea sensitive Micellar 3-in-1 cleansing water, I find that it's gentle enough to use on my eyes as well. I then follow this up with the Nivea sensitive cleansing milk (I don't know why I use two cleansing products, but I find that it really makes my skin feel super soft) and then finally I put on Nivea sensitive night cream. It's quite thick and feels greasy but once it's soaked in my skin feels lovely and soft :) You can get these at boots here

What's your skincare routine like? Do you know of any other skincare products I could try? Leave a comment below.

Becca xx

*disclaimer: this post is in no way sponsored by boots or any of the other brands mentioned on here.*

The British Tag

I saw this post on another blog the other day and really liked the idea of it so I thought I'd give it a go!

1. How many cups of tea do you have a day? How many sugars?

Please don't recoil in horror all you British folk, but I'm not really a massive tea drinker anymore! I know, I know, I've let us down. However if I do have a cup of tea I only take one sugar in it. I like it quite strong as well. Proper builders tea :)

2. Favourite part of your roast?

All of it! You can't have a favourite part surely?!

3. Favourite dunking biscuit?

Custard Creams...mmmm

4. Favourite quintessentially British past time?

I don't know if it's technically quintessential, but I always get goosebumps when large crowds of people sing the national anthem.

5. Favourite word?

Codswallop

6. Cockney rhyming slang?

Ruby Murray: Curry

7. Favourite sweet?

Those fizzy bubblegum bottles. I love anything fizzy or sour.

8. What would your pub be called?

Probably something really traditional like, erm, 'The Horse and Cart inn'. 

9.No.1 British person?

Kate Middleton. No reasons needed.

10. Favourite shop/ restaurant?

Recently I've visited Jamie's Italian...I love love love it there! Or Giraffe is good. There falafel burgers are amazing. Me and my friend Heather went there the other week. You can find her blog here

11. What British song pops into your head?

Fake Tales of San Francisco - Arctic Monkeys.

12. Marmite?

Yes!


I tag you all to do this. Or leave comments below of what some of your favourite British things are!

Becca xx

July Glossybox *spoiler*

I've been a fan of Glossybox ever since I first heard of them, probably about 3 years ago? 

Due to various things I had to stop getting them, but now I'm back in the game!

I ordered my Glossybox on Tuesday and it was delivered on Friday. This months theme was America and it came in this lovely box:

I love the way glossy boxes are beautifully hand tied inside:

I always feel like a kid a Christmas opening these! Although I don't like surprises so like to get them opened quick. 

This month there was 4 full sized products, and this is what I got in mine:

Self explanatory for the Carmex...who doesn't love Carmex?!

Eye lid primer. I actually used this yesterday with the MAC eyeshadow and it stayed on really well. 

Lights, camera, Lashes 4-in-1 mascara. I'm yet to try this. I think this was the none full sized product cos it was tiny. 

Bella-Pierre lipstick. I'm not keen on the colour so I'll probably not use it. However it will be good to keep in my make up kit. Below are two swatches, one with flash and one without. 

Finally was this nail varnish by colour club. I think the colour was Glossy Seal. Again, I'm not keen on this colour at all and it seems very runny.  It might be OK on my toes though. 

Did you get a glossy box this month? What was your favourite thing in it? Let me know in the comments. 

Becca xx

MAC reflects pearl

I just wanted to do an extra post today cos I got an exciting teeny tiny package yesterday. MAC reflects pearl!

If you've never used or heard of this before it's amazing. You can put it on over the top of eyeshadow and it creates a gorgeous sparkly effect on the eyes. 

I'll do a proper post on it at a later date, but I just wanted to share it with you :) 

It cost £17.95 for 4.5g which I know is expensive, however it's so pigmented that this will last you years, if not forever!

Have you ever used MAC reflects glitter? Let me know in the comments. 

Becca xx

MAC warm neutral pallet

Lets take a moment to appreciate this pallet of beauty:

Ahhh, lovely. 

I'm not usually fussed on pallets, infact I very rarely wear eyeshadow. However whilst on the Pixiwoo course, we got discount at MAC all week...so naturally I had to take advantage. 

This pallet I think should cost £75, but I got it for about £56. I know it's a lot for a pallet, but think about it..each of these cost £12 each normally, so individually it would be well over £120 for them. 

The shades in it are (top-bottom, left-to right):

Hey

Warm breeze

Ginger snap

Dark brew

Dance in the dark

Brule

Vanilla extract

Honey lust

Amber lights

Saddle

Lemon tart

Creative copper

Butter fudge

Divine decadence

Unwind

Today I wore Brule as a base, then mixed honey lust and vanilla extract together over the top. It created a really nice coppery/pinky shimmer all over my eyes. 

There was also a cool pallette you could get, but luckily for my bank balance, they didn't have any left!

Have you tried the MAC pallets? Let me know in the comments. 

Becca xx

Pixiwoo Day 5: *sob* *sob*

Today was the day none of us wanted - it was the last day :(

It was quite a weird day in terms of the structure. Stacey was away in Brighton, Sam was at her daughters sports day (but came in later) so it was literally just Nic with 12 of us!

We were allowed to get straight on with doing the make up, as today was a free style day. We could practice looks wed done already this week or try new things.

I decided to try a smokey eye as I'd never done one (think Mila Kunis - in fact she was my inspiration!) and I was quite proud of how it turned out:

After lunch I then decided to try bridal again, but I went for purples this time. Again it was a sort of smokey look but with purples...if you can have such a thing?!

I also used mint green on the waterline but you can't really see it here. It makes the eyes pop a bit more though. 

Then it came to tidying away and saying our goodbyes :(

All week I kept saying I wouldn't cry...which I didn't until it came to giving Sam and Nic a hug. Well that was it. I turned to Heather and said 'I'm gonna cry' by which point she was crying as well! We had to make a quick exit, but then went and grabbed a coffee with Stacey (who was here on her own and we gladly took under our wing, she was sooooo lovely!)

It's without a doubt one of the best weeks I've ever had. Not only are Sam, Nic and Stacey incredibly talented make up artists, they're also so down to earth given their celebrity status (although they might not see it that way?!). 

My next stop is Uni, but I won't give up on make up. I have some plans in motion to hopefully get some more experience. So I'll keep you updated!

I really would recommend this course if you love make up.

Please let me know in the comments if there's anything else you want to know!

Becca xx

(All photos are copyright to me - please don't use without my permission). 

Pixiwoo Day 4: Period Make Up

There was a very sombre mood in the Pixiwoo studio today. Probably because we all knew the course was nearly over :(

However, we still had a full day to get through so we got started.

It was all about period make up today - and as Sam said 'no not make up you wear on your period' - but more make up through the ages.

Sam sat and talked us through all the different era's from the 1920's until the 00's, whilst Nic did a 1920's look on Stacey.

We learnt all about iconic actresses, models and singers from Marilyn Monroe to Cindy Lauper to Kate Moss. It was really interesting learning about make up techniques through the different era's and thinking about the fact that from one era to the next make up sort of stays the same...we all just tweak it in different ways.

I didn't really get any pictures of Nic doing Stacey's make up as I was too interested in the history of things (I'm a bit of a geek at heart!)

When it came to doing make up on other people, I decided to do an 80's look on Heather - but with a bit of a twist. We all know make up in the 80's was blue eyes and frosted pink lips, so I decided to do blended pink and blue eyes and a pink lip! There was a lot of colour going on.

I was really happy with how the eyes turned out, in fact the whole look in general. Below are some photos.

What is your favourite era? What do you think will be a big make up look in years to come? Let me know in the comments.

Becca xx

(All photos are copyright to me, please don't use without my permission). 
Heather's Blog

Pixiwoo Day 3: Drag

So today was another day I was looking forward to...drag make up! The thing I find with drag is, it doesn't matter of you're not good at make up, it's all about being expressive and a little bit over the top - which is good for me. 

Today's tutorial was taught by Sam, which was good as we got to see her artistic flair put to the test (not that she needs testing!)

One of the most difficult but fun things about drag is learning to block out the natural eye brows. You do this by using Pritt Stick! It's without a doubt the weirdest sensation when it dries on your brows. Then you need to go in and draw in fake eyebrows (once you've done your base etc). 

We learnt all about contouring and where to contour, it's different for everyone depending on how wide their nose is or what shape their face is so it really is a case of looking at your model and deciding what needs highlighting or shading on their face. 

Sam only demonstrated one half of the face as both sides would have taken too long. Me and Heather decided we'd go for lunch first and then we had the whole afternoon to practice. 

When we got back from lunch Heather went first and created a really cool look on me. I had pink eyebrows and then really dark eyes, I ended up teaming this with a lilac wig just for fun! 

For Heather I decided to do black, evil looking eye brows, with pink and blue eyes, silver lashes and glitter blue lips.  I wasn't completely convinced by it and knew something was missing. Nic came round to check how everyone was getting on, I told her my thoughts and she agreed that we could go even further with it. So we changed it from this:

To this:




It looked so much better and I was much happier with it. 




Drag is all about taking risks and both myself and Nic said I played the first look too safe. 

As with everything else I've learnt so far on the course all I can do now is practice. 

Have you ever played it too safe with make up, or ever done drag? Let me know in the comments. 

Becca xx

(All photos are copyright to me so please don't use without my permission)




Heather's blog

Pixiwoo Day 2: Bridal

Today was the day I was most looking forward to...bridal make up!

Not for my own personal use so much, but more the fact that people in my family are getting married and it would be so lovely to be able to do their make up for them. Also, and let's not beat around the bush here, if you can make it into bridal make up you're pretty much set for anything. 

The day started off the same as Monday with Nic doing a demo on Stacey whilst she talked us through everything she was doing. They always encourage you to ask questions, like they say they've been doing make up for 20 years so sometimes they don't know why they do something a particular way until people ask. 

We learnt all about using a seperate website for Bridal make up as well as looking up artists in your area so you can see what they charge and base your prices on theirs. 

A key point is not to put your number on business cards, let people email you and then they don't catch you off guard and you give them a price you don't really want to charge. 

Always offer a trial (so important!), sometimes brides won't want this, which is fair enough but be prepared that they might be fussy on the day. There's also information you need to find out such as what time of day they're getting married, what colour the flowers are etc. 

It's not your responsibility to sort the Bride's skin out on the day. You're there to do the make up not the dermatology. If they have bad skin at the trial, such as dry skin, advise them to get it sorted as best they can before the day. Don't make them feel rubbish about themselves though! Also important to find out when they're going to be tanning or if they're going to tan at all - so you can match their foundation to the rest of their skin. 

We then worked through the steps of applying the make up for brides. It's very similar to the natural make up we created on Monday. Always take a photo with the flash on, if it flashes back you need to change the make up (check for titanium dioxide remember) there's nothing worse than being shiny on pictures, it's even worse on your wedding day. 

Colour wise a lot of people want browns or lilacs so it's good to carry palettes with those colours in. 

Make sure the skin looks glowing and healthy :)

They key for bridal make up is: CONFIDENCE

We then had to apply individual lashes, they're so much easier than you think if you follow these rules:

Dip lash in glue

Step in, place on

Step away!!

Leave a gap between each lash so you can add more if necessary. 

Go over with eyeliner and fill in white glue bits. 

After the demo it was time for us to practice. 

I was working with Tilly who has lovely skin anyway so it made it so much easier. 

I also felt a bit more confident touching other peoples faces today (it sounds stupid but true!)

I was really pleased with the overall look. It was really natural and I used pinks on the eyelids. When I took photos as well they didn't flashback which was a bonus. 

Below are some photos, with flash and without. 

These two are without flash. The ones below are with flash:

I was really pleased with the finished look as she looked as though she was wearing make up but it was still really natural. 

They key now is to practice, practice, practice!

Becca xx

(All images are copyright to me, so please don't use without my permission) 

Pixiwoo Course: Day 1

Each day I'll upload a new blog and tell you a little bit about what we did on the Pixiwoo course. I won't give too much away incase anybody reads this and wants to go on it!

I was lucky enough to be going on the course with one of my best friends Heather (you can find her blog here: heatherlouisethomas.blogspot.com )When we woke up on Monday morning we were both nervous but really excited. Our hotel was literally a minute and a half walk to the Pixiwoo Studio, but walking there that morning felt even longer. 

We were a bit early so we decided to nip to the shop for a few bits, when we made our way to the studio door we were greeted by Sam who was so friendly and I knew from that moment that herself, Nic and Stacey would probably all be really relaxed and friendly...and I was right! 

Sam got in the lift with us, and I've never seen Heather look so star struck (Sam is a massive inspiration to Heather so I can only imagine how she felt)

We got into the studio where Nic was busy getting sorted, but just like Sam she was super friendly. Then we met Stacey, and you guessed it...really friendly! Stacey deals with all the organisation of the course so you always chat to her on emails, it's nice to be able to put a face to a name though. 

We waited for all the other girls to arrive (there was 12 of us in total) and then the day began. I remember turning to Heather and saying 'I feel so sick' but that soon passed!

So day 1 was all about natural make up and how to create a flawless looking base. 

Nic demonstrated on Stacey whilst talking us through everything she was doing. 

It's hard to put into words everything she taught us as there was so much to take in. 

We learnt all about different skin types and what products you should use on them. After the demonstration it was time to get into pairs and practice on each other. 

Now if you're like me and never done make up on someone other than yourself before, it's really daunting having to touch someone else's face, and ultimately end up doing something that you might like but they might hate. 

I was paired up with a girl called Polly, who was so lovely and kept telling me to have more confidence in what I was doing!

I think the bit I struggled most with was putting mascara on someone else. However we were taught that there's nothing wrong with asking your client to put their own mascara on. I know I would prefer to do it myself rather than have someone poke you in the eye. It's also really important to apply enough pressure on their face that they're confident you know what your doing. If you go too lightly (which I did to begin with) they might think you're really unsure of what you're doing - which isn't good. 

I stupidly forgot to take photos of the make up I did on Polly, but I was proud of it. 

At the end of the day we had a bit of time left, so Nic demonstrated how to put gel eyeliner on someone, then Stacey demonstrated the way she would do it. They also both demonstrated their ways of putting red lip liner on people. Red lips and eyeliner are harder to do than you think when you're a novice!

The day was over so quickly, and that's the way the whole week went. 

After we finished at 4pm me and Heather headed out in to Norwich for some tea, then back to the hotel to compare notes (eager beavers) ready for the second day!

This is one of the only photos I got of the first day.

I'll upload a blog everyday for the whole make up course. 

Becca xx

(All photos are copyright to me - please don't use without permission.)

Pixiwoo Course July 2014

This week I was lucky enough to be a student on the Pixiwoo course

If you’ve never heard of Pixiwoo but love beauty and make up…where have you been?! :)

Pixiwoo is made up of Sam Chapman and Nic Haste (nee Chapman). This is in no way a blog to express the inner fan girl in me, but, they are without a doubt two of the most talented make up artists I have ever come across. I can’t forget to mention Stacey Oakes, who works for them, but is also an incredibly talented make up artist. Pixiwoo also have their own range of make up brushes (Real Techniques) and they're fab!

I was first introduced to them by my friend who told me to watch their videos on YouTubePixiwoo

It was a 5 day intensive course based in their studio in Norwich. Classes started at 10am every day and ran until 4pm. It started off with a tutorial by either Sam or Nic and then the rest of the day was chance for us to practice on each other. Their was 12 people on the course in total, mainly from the UK but their was also someone from America and someone from Italy. It’s amazing to know that Sam and Nic’s work has spread right around the world.

The course cost £995 for 5 days, which I admit isn’t cheap but believe me I would have paid thousands more to be taught by them!

The next few blog posts will go through what I learnt on the course and some images of my work (all of which are copy write to me).

Becca xx

An introduction...

This is my first ever *serious* blog.

I’m Becca, I’m 21 and I’d love to work in the media one day. I’ll do whatever it takes to get into my dream career :)

I decided to start a blog for your entertainment (I hope you’ll like it!) and also it’ll be nice to look back on in years to come and see what I did :)

I’ve just come back from a week away in Norwich on the Pixiwoo Make Up course – there’s blogs to follow this week – but it might give you an insight into what I did there.

When I was younger I used to be an extra on the CITV programme ‘My Parents Are Aliens’. Waking up early to go to the ITV Studio in Leeds was always so exciting. Going into the hair and make up room was even more so. I think that’s where my passion for the media started. Ever since I can remember I’ve wanted to be a make-up artist. But then life gets in the way and plans change! But now I’m back and more determined than ever :)

Ultimately this is a beauty blog but I’ll post bits about my life and other fun things I get up too.

I hope you enjoy!