Make Up Monday: Beauty and The Beast, Belle's Make-up look

Seen as the new Beauty and the Beast is around the corner, I thought I would talk about Belle's make up and recommend a couple of products for creating this look.

Belle, although french in the original Disney movie, has the look of an English Rose. An English rose, to me, appears natural but rosey and glowing! Here's a run down on how to achieve an English Rose make up look:

1. Use a light base -  A BB cream or a light foundation (I recommend No7)

2. Conceal under the eyes with a concealer lighter than your skin tone (I recommend Mabelline Age Rewind Concealer)

3. For the eyes, use a beige or brown close to your skin tone on the eyelid and a darker brown to cut your crease. Use a pencil liner as you don't want anything too striking or bold and line your top lash line lightly. Use a lengthening mascara and corner lashes for a Disney Princess effect. Keep your lower lash line bare as this creates a wide eyed effect. Or if you feel you need the balance, apply a soft brown shadow on the bottom lash line with a brush of mascara.

4. Lightly contour the cheeks and tap a bit of pink blusher on the apples of the cheeks. ( I recommend NYX, darker skin tones go for a peachy tone, lighter skin tones go for a light pink)

5. Use a highlighter to highlight your cheekbones! (I recommend MAC Soft and Gentle)

6. The brows need to remain natural looking and bushy for an innocent look. Use a powder slightly lighter than your natural brow colour (if your brows are black or dark brown) and fill in the gaps without drawing a completely new shape. ( I recommend Barry M's Eyebrow kit)

7. And of course, apply red lip stick to the lips. (I recommend Gerard cosmetics)

Although my skin tone is darker than your average English Rose, I tend to use this make up look a lot as it's a neutral pretty look.

My favourite products for creating this look on me are: 

- Gerard Cosmetics - Red Lipstick in Fire Engine

- NYX Showgirl Eyeshadow, which is a warm orange colour so it's good to blend this with your browns if they appear too dark.

Thanks for reading! As always, let me know if you have any questions!

If you would like to see a make-up tutorial, have a look at my video below :)

Read this if you think Valentines Day is a con

I can not stand it when people turn their nose up at valentines day. What is there to hate about the day? No one is forcing you to book an over priced meal or buy elaborate gifts. The day is not about spending out on material things, it's about romance. The world is full of so much evil and darkness, why ignore a day which promotes spreading love?

'Romance: a quality or feeling of mystery, excitement, and remoteness from everyday life.' - Dictionary

I am such a romantic. Even when I was single and had pretty much accepted that I would live out the rest of my days as a spinster, I still thought the idea of valentines day was lovely. I loved seeing old fashioned romance advertised and promoted across the world. I loved that people put the extra effort in to make their partner feel special and appreciated. I know they say every day should feel like valentines day in a relationship, but unfortunately it's unrealistic to be romantic 24/7. Life gets in the way! There are a list of priorities that come before a candle lit dinner. So valentines day acts as a designated day where you as a couple both put the effort in to being loving, generous and thoughtful. It's a day where you both click pause on the world and focus on each other.

I do think women care about romance more than men. It comes from a part of us that remains innocent and vulnerable. We want to experience the love our childhood princess's felt in the videos we used to watch. We want to feel special, loved and appreciated. There is something so heart warming about seeing a man doing something incredibly thoughtful for the woman he loves. It shows a vulnerability. He wants to please the woman he loves, and he has taken the time and effort to think of a way that would touch her heart, and that to me, means the world.

'Romance is the glamour which turns the dust of every day life in to a golden haze'

A romantic gesture does not have to be extravagant or expensive. Pick your girlfriend up her favourite sweets to put a smile on her face? Or some pretty flowers (or even a plant!)? Make her something if you are an artist or DIY savvy? Make her dinner and pamper her for an evening? It's not about the 100 red roses or a designer bag, I mean that's lovely if you can afford it but it's the little things that count. Often it's more about the heart felt words hand written in a card or the touching photo collage of your relationship so far that mean everything to a partner. But with all that said, why shouldn't girls do something for their boyfriend too? A lot of boyfriends look after their girlfriends every day. They buy the dinners, they treat them to the cinema. Perhaps it's the girlfriends time to show their appreciation? Valentines is about showing that you both love and appreciate one another.
So follow your hearts and enjoy a day full of love and happiness  xxx

Make up Monday: Look tanned in the Winter!

Most of us want that bronze 'just been on holiday' glow, but anyone who lives in the UK will know the struggle. Our summer is so unreliable, it's pretty hard to get a chance to sun bathe!
Some of you may be thinking, 'hey, aren't you naturally tanned?' I am mixed race after all! But my skin tone in the Winter is quite wishy washy. Without my much needed vitamin D, my skin turns green... yes green. I can only think it's because medium skin tones often have yellow undertones, so in the winter I do actually resemble an olive.
I always thought self tanner was only for pale skin tones. I'd feel silly putting fake tan on so I never did. Instead I just flaunted my green legs while my friends looked lovely and bronze.
But that all changed when my mum came home with a body lotion with self tanner in it. I'd always known about these, but once again I just assumed brown/ green people couldn't use products designed for paler skin tones. My mum raved about this tanning body cream and told me to give it a go, so with nothing to lose,  I did. The moisturiser gave me a subtle bronze glow after a few days of use which made me look like i'd been out in the sun. I looked like a healthy brown girl again! Goodbye olive legs!

I went out and bought my own self tanning moisturiser and discovered that Dove had designed the lotion for different skin tones (fair to medium & medium to dark skin), my mum had got the fair - medium version, so I decided to pick up the medium-dark. The darker version worked better with my skin tone, giving me a deeper tan. Because it is a slower way of tanning (it takes a few days to see any difference), there are no streaks! and the colour is build-able. By slowly building up your tan, you skip the whole 'oh crap, i'm orange' stage, because you can slowly see how the tan is working with your skin tone so you can stop at any point.

If you're scared about buying a self tanner that develops overnight and you're against sun beds (like I am), try using 'Dove Derma Spa Summer Revived' It's sold almost everywhere (Boots, Tesco etc) and is currently on offer at Tesco! (Was £5 now £3.50)

If you're not much of a reader, try watching my Youtube review!

-Robyn x

Theatrical Thursdays: Vikings

When my boyfriend told me to watch a TV show called 'Vikings' a couple of years ago, my initial reaction was 'oh, erm.. no thank you.' that era was boring to me. I've come to realise that history in general is boring to me unless it's told in a story like form. I watched the Tudors and The White Queen and suddenly found myself researching the royal line, connecting the dots and educating myself on the ruling history of the United Kingdom. The exact same thing happened when I watched the Vikings!

First of all it's shot in such an epic cinematic way and directed by the same man (Michael Hirst) who directed The Tudors! The soundtrack is by none other than Hollywood's best, Hans Zimmer (composer for Inception, Interstellar, Pirates of the Caribbean & more). They also use a band from Norway called Warduna who's music is based on Nordic Spiritulism, there's a lot of chant like singing and repetitive drums in their music which brings a tribal element to the scenes. So the budget must have been pretty big and it shows.
The show is supposed to be set in Norway but is actually filmed in Ireland. Thanks to the way the colours are edited, the setting is believable. It has a cold and eerie feel, just as you would expect rural Scandanavia to look.

Ragnar Lothbrook and Lagertha

Let's talk costumes! What comes to mind when you think of the vikings? Funny metal hats and big fur capes? (probably not the correct term). Well this show has vamped up the interpretation of a Viking. Although the shows costumes are 'historically incorrect', they look so much cooler! The Vikings are portrayed as savages, a little rough and caveman like next to the sophisticated (but weak) French and English people. They wear leather armour rather than chain mail and although they wear those fur capes, you can see they are wolf skin pelts sewn together which is sightly horrific but authentic. The styling is amazing. I just find the whole re-invention of the viking's portrayal fascinating! Both men and women wear their hair plaited in different forms. The men often shave the sides of their heads leaving only the top part of their hair long and in a plait (a bit like a horse's tail). They're big on tattoos too, they look tribal and dirty which makes them appear scary, and scary is what they were! They did invade the UK, killing thousands of innocent people after all.

The story line focuses on a real viking legend - Ragnar Lothbrook. The story of Ragnar was told by old norse poets so the story line isn't a modern creation. The old tale of Ragnar and his sons is brought to life in a sympathetic and personal way. Ragnar wants nothing more than to broaden his horizons. He wants to find more land, raid more countries and venture in to the unknown. The Vikings are pagan and their lives are dictated by their Gods. They rely on signs in the form of dreams and visions, they even have a strange oracle who relays messages to them directly from the Gods.
If they feel the Gods are on their side, they take chances without hesitation. They live their lives to please their Gods, so when they die, they enter their heaven (Valhalla) without fear. Religion plays a big role in the show, especially when they encounter the English who are devoutly Christian.

All in all the show is epic, original and educational. It really opens your mind up to exploring history. It's an underrated show which should be on par with Game of Thrones, so my advice to you is to check it out! You do have to get through a few episodes to get a feel for the show, but once you get past that initial barrier, you will become as obsessed as I am!

Find seasons 1-4 on Amazon TV!

- Robyn x

Fashion Fridays: Comfy is cool!

Love or hate the Kardashian/ Jenner crew, you have to admit they do look good! I'm particularly inspired my Kylie Jenner's fashion sense because she has nailed the whole 'curvy and I know it' look.

Curves are cool and I think the Kardashians and Kylie have played a big part in making curves a trend. Most of us girls now go to the gym not to slim down, but to build butts! We want that hourglass look because it's sexy and womanly but also empowering and strong! So if you're putting the effort in to buildings curves, you want to wear clothes that show off your hard work right? Now there's a fine line between looking confident and looking cheap but  90% of the time Kylie Jenner gets curvy fashion right. That's why I look to her for fashion inspiration, as well as her sisters Khloe and Kim Kardashian.

I thought the legging trend had died out, I used to have a whole draw full of leggings and long tops but to my dismay I threw them all out or used them for painting attire because they just weren't socially acceptable anymore but recently, Kylie Jenner seems to be wearing leggings ALOT.  Sometimes inappropriately (camel toe) but most of the time she pulls them off in a sport luxe kind of way. Now this is great for us, because leggings are stretchy, comfy and soft so they are perfect for day to day casual wear, especially on those days where you feel a little bloated and can't face doing up the button on your jeans.

To pull of 2016/17 style leggings you need to find a pair that are high waisted, and then pair them with a crop top. Crop top and leggings? fashion crime?! Not anymore! Gone are the days of wearing long tops to cover up your 'kind of see through' leggings. You need to find a thick pair so you are able to wear them like trousers. 

I went on a mission to fill my draw up with cool leggings and I achieved! High street stores have caught on to the sport luxe trend so places like New Look have stocked up on leggings and sporty attire in different varietys because we no longer just wear that stuff to workout. 

I found a thick pair of fleece lined, high waisted leggings and they are the comfiest things i have ever put on. I actually had to say 'these are delightful' to myself in the mirror when I tried them on in store (does anyone else do that?)

Because they were lined, they were thicker than usual leggings so they looked like trousers which meant I could get away with wearing shorter tops and not risk flashing my underwear or developing a camel toe (TMI)! They were so comfy I had to buy two pairs! They were around £10 each which is a bit pricey for leggings, but these are not normal leggings! 

I then went on a mission to find cool band T's that I could wear cropped or semi long because I LOVE that look! I'm so happy that the whole indie/rock chic look is back in fashion because once again, it's a comfy trend and I love the edgy twist. I found that most online boutiques stocked graphic/ band T's, but my favourite was from Lasula.co.uk.

Top: Lasula
Leggings: New Look

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't wear this outfit to lunch, it's more of a lounge wear look which is acceptable to wear for errands too (well that's just my opinion).

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Thanks for reading :) x