My Nail Art Collection

I have always been the horrible nail biter (I know, yucky habit). I have tried to get out of it; mum used to shout at me, slap me, I even tried the foul-tasting anti-nail biting polish that you put on the nail, but nothing ever worked. The only thing that stopped me from biting my nails were to paint them! And yes, I will still bite them if they are not painted, that's why you will never see my nails naked!

I love having cute nail designs on my nails! I have been doing them ever since I got hooked on the nail tutorial videos on YouTube. The people who do nail designs on there have inspired me so much, it made me want to have cute little designs on my nails 24/7. These are just a few that I have pictures of, hope it inspires you too =)

My cute Easter chick nails! Can't wait to do them again next Easter ^.^

   

I love floral nail art! They are awesome!

 

 I like to call this one "SAY HI TO THE BEAR". One of the cutest nail art designs I have ever done on my nails <3

Not my favourite but nice and colourful. I searched for 'easy nails' on YouTube and saw this one so I gave it a try. Nice and easy.

I was going to purchase the Nails Inc Bling it on Romance nail art kit, but then I found a really good duplicate of the bows on Amazon.co.uk for a fraction of the price! So I went to hunt for a similar nail colour and found a L'Oreal pinkish grey sort of shade (forgot the shade number sorry). It turned out almost exact to the actual kit. Sorry Nails Inc!

I love my tuxedo-moustache nails! I should do this again sometime, they looked pretty cool.

I got the idea of clouds and hearts on a Japanese washi tape. And then I found out nail art YouTubers' already had that idea.

 

Panda nails! Haven't done these for a long time, should try it again soon.

  

Yummy cupcake nails. Not feeling the cupcakes recently, but it was fun doing them.

Oh and just for the record, I do all of these myself on both hands, practice makes (nearly) perfect.

Enjoy,

ChauFace.

Think about Piggy first!

There are times when I want to try out a new product, but I have doubts; I ask myself, is it going to be any good? Am I wasting money? Should I just go back to what I usually have? Because it is always more assuring when I'm buying and using something that I know works.

So the main ways to help me decide are:

• Google, I like to Google reviews for the products. I don't take what they say for granted because at the end of the day everyone has different skin types, preferences and believe it or not there are fake reviews out there, where people have been paid to say things about the product when they actually haven't even tested out the product. So what I do is I pick and choose a few 5* reviews, a few 3* reviews and then ones that don't like the product at all; at the same time being aware whether the reviewer has same skin type as me and so on. In this way I can see a variety of views and it will help me decide whether trying a new product is really worth the money.
• Friends recommendations, I LOVE sharing beauty finds with friends, they will talk about products that I would have never thought of trying! Having a conversation about beauty products and makeup can allow yourself to open up to new things.
• Offers, they are great: introductory offers, buy 1 and get 2nd for half price and the best of all 3for2! 3for2 offers are most tempting and there's no harm in buying a new product to test out when you were thinking of buying 2 other products in the first place. The danger is buying 2 other products that you don't need just to try a new one. In this case, as tempting as it may be I will just buy the one I want to try out.
• Budget. Do I have the budget to try out the new product? Sometimes this is the easiest question and I will get the quickest answer.  It's important to remember that makeup is not everything, I would hate to have lots of makeup and not being able to pay for food or bills. So learning to budget is always a thumbs up! I have learned my lesson. Now I'm going let piggy heal. I promised I wouldn't break him again.

Thanks for your time,

ChauFace

Baby Products: Beauty Budgets

As you've seen on TV adverts, baby products are not only good for babies, we can use them too! So, here are a few examples of baby products I use for makeup and cleansing, and they work just as well if not better!

First up, cotton buds: they are so useful when applying makeup! Especially if you cannot afford expensive brushes, it is the number one alternative. It's cheap, you don't even need to buy a branded one and you probably have these at home already.

Johnson's Cotton Buds @Boots £1.25

What do I use them for? Well, apart from the obvious, I use buds to highlight the inner corners of my eyes to make eyes stand out a lot more; highlight my brow bone, so that the eye area looks more 3D; finally lining eyeshadow on my lower lash line. Cotton buds are a really good, convenient, hygienic and cheap alternative to a make up brush.*Thumbs up*

Johnson's Baby Powder @Boots £3.10

Baby powder is a awesome alternative to dry shampoo; it smells great, last for ages, and again so much cheaper! The only downside to using this is that when you use too much your hair does make it look ashy grey or white (worse if you have dark hair), so don't put too much! Do a bit at a time, tilt your head into the sink or bath tub and then put some of the powder in the palm of your hand and rub it into your scalp. This not only avoids a powdery bathroom floor (yes, been there done that) I also find that by tilting your head gives a better application of product into your hair and scalp. If you feel that you've put too much, just brush it out and it should all come out. Give this a try, you won't go back to the spray stuff.

Johnson's Baby Skincare Wipes @Boots 89p! (Usually £1.79)

Now, last but not least my favourite, baby wipes! I actually prefer Johnson's branded wipes than other branded baby wipes because I find them a lot stronger. And I think I'm addicted to the lovely smell of these bad boys! I use these to take off my make up every night before washing the rest off with facial wash and water. They are also good to have when you are applying eyeshadow to gently wipe away fall outs without removing all of the makeup. I find that using baby wipes is a lot more gentle, the sheets are bigger, softer and again CHEAPER than makeup removing wipes!

I hope this has given you an insight of multi-use of baby products! If you can think of anything else, please share.

Thanks for reading,

Chauface

Introduction: Confidence, Skin, Makeup & Mission

Hello lovely people!

So, my blog will contain things I love and I would like to share. Yes, mainly about makeup. I love exploring makeup! I have been wearing makeup since forever, the first thing I put on myself was a red lipstick when I was about 4 or 5. I used to take my Mum's lipstick and put it on my chunky baby lips, and yes I used to get laughed at by my family, yes they were very harsh laughing at a baby, it's lucky that I have grown up into a normal person huh?

My skin
I have terrible skin and few people have realised that my skin has gotten better since I started a relationship, I don't know if that was the reason, but for the past 3 years I have been more pleased with my skin than ever before. I still have oily skin, pimples and scars but it has come a long way. I tried to cover my face with so many products trying to hide it, but it just made the skin worse!

 In my early teenage years my Mum took me to see all sorts of doctors whom provided me with tablets, creams, and Chinese medicine (yuck). I found that Chinese medicine was a big help! But I just couldn't stand the disgusting bitterness (yuck yuck yuck!) I even found dead bees as part of the medicine, so that definitely put me off Chinese medicine for  life!

Since then, I have learned to look after my skin, drink lots of water, find the right products for my skin and all the things you can think of (without going bankrupt of course). I'm still not completely happy or confident with my skin, but I can say is that I have learned to live with what I have. More importantly, I am more comfortable talking about my skin than I have ever before. 

Wearing makeup
 The first time I wore eyeliner was in high school, and then when I left for sixth form I started to put on more products: concealer, foundation, mascara, blush etc. It was not until 2 years ago, that I started to feel comfortable with sharing my experiences with makeup. I guess it's because that I'm not confident enough to talk about makeup, or even applying makeup, I'm not a pro so I guess I didn't feel like I was 'qualified' to speak about makeup. I guess things change and people grow up ,and now that I feel that I know how to make myself more presentable that I can talk about it and share my experiences.

Mission
Like I mentioned before, I'm not a pro, but watching YouTube videos and experimenting in front of a mirror has been a big help for me. So I hope that my blog can help other people who are going through confidence issues like myself to nudge their shy-self to the side and experiment. If you don't like what you see after the experiment it's ok, it is whatever that makes you happy that is most important. Finally, I know that my reviews and the tips won't suit everyone but I hope that even if it doesn't help you much, at least you would've had a good girly read.

Stay tuned for the first post guys and take care!

ChauFace.

P.S I have overcome my childhood trauma, the red lips are back! 

Revlon Colorstay Foundation Combination/ Oily Skin & Blending Sponge

Everyone has different skin types, I unfortunately have oily skin and pimples (yep, everything a girl would hate to have). I usually apply my make up in the morning and finish it off with powder, then a setting spray. However, because of my oily skin, there are times where I need to re-touch throughout the day, sometimes it feels like I need to do the whole makeup routine again! Usually redness shows up around the nose, face and chin are shiny, you name it. So, out comes the makeup bag and reapplying and it ends up cakey and then I just want to run and hide because it looks so awful, nothing like how it was when it was first applied in the morning.

Revlon Colorstay Foundation (Combination/Oily Skin) £12.49 @Boots (Buy 1 get 2nd half price on Revlon Cosmetics)

But not anymore! I had read great things about Revlon Colorstay foundation, so I decided to try it out. It is by far THE BEST foundation I have ever come across, it gives a full coverage, matt finish and lasts pretty much all day, (apart from the odd day when I haven't had enough sleep so makeup isn't staying on my face). I still apply a tiny amount of powder to be safe (I think it might be my makeup OCD) but I think even if you didn't set this foundation with powder, it will still last all day. The only time that I saw this product slide off my face is probably in the evening, when I'm just about to clean my face, so it really is a great product.

As for the texture, it is quite thick so a little goes a long way. It does feel like you've just put paint on your face when you first put it on, but believe me, it will blend like a dream and it will feel weightless once you have finished blending it into your skin. It won't look cakey providing that you do not apply too much product! Also, because the coverage is so awesome, you don't need to apply concealer, so it is one less product to buy and apply. (Yea, I didn't mean for it to rhyme, I know it's lame.)

Since using the product, I have not needed to retouch my make up at all. In fact, I have stopped carrying my make up bag with me because I really just do not need that retouch anymore, not even with powder! My handbag is much lighter now thanks to this foundation!


The only downsides to this product, which actually doesn't bug me that much, but I can see how it can annoy some people out there; one is that the product doesn't have a pump, so you would need to be very careful when you tip some of this out of the bottle. Also, there isn't a massive choice of colours, 'Sand Beige' is what I use, it is slightly lighter than what I am, but it does have a yellow undertone which fits my skin tone and it doesn't look like I have put white a mask on. Revlon, if you are reading this: GIVE US MORE SHADES!

Cosmopolitan Blend Perfection Sponge £4.99 @Superdrug

I've found that the best way to apply this foundation is using a blending sponge. Clean the sponge with soap and use it damp when you are applying the foundation, I can assure you it blends the make up so well, you wouldn't want to go back to using a foundation brush (from my experience anyway). I know this is a just a cheap alternative to the Beauty Blender, but hey, this works and who isn't happy spending a quarter of the price huh? This sponge is quite hard to find in Superdrug stores, so if you wanted one you would probably need to order from their website, but there is a delivery cost. Or you can order from Amazon and it's only £3.99 at the moment, and FREE DELIVERY. Even better!

So, I hope you've had a nice little read, if you have tried any similar products please give me a shout so I can try them out too.

In the mean time, thanks and take care guys,

ChauFace