Want that Party Season Glow?

Has winter taken its toll on your skin yet? Is your makeup feeling as dull and flat as the weather outside? Bring a little light into your life and revive your face with a little strobing. Not sure what this is? Basically, it's the opposite of contouring (Who could ever get it right anyway!). Instead of receding features to enhance them as contouring did, you focus solely on highlighting or "strobing" the high points of your face, where the sun would naturally hit. And with so little sunshine these days who doesn't need a little extra help to make themselves feel luminous. So light up your life by adding a little party season glow to your face.

This look is all about dewy, glowing skin and the best place to start is ensuring you gently exfoliate your face 1-2 times a week  to rid yourself of any tired or dull skin. Always apply a good replenishing moisturiser after and leave this penetrate the skin for at least ten minutes before starting your makeup.

Strobing usually takes place after you have applied your foundation however this time of year every little helps so you can begin the process with your primer.  Try Bourgois Paris Happy Light Luminous Serum Primer,(€15.99, Boots). This lovely little primer will prepare your skin for a flawless foundation application while its light reflecting properties will peep through to enhance your natural glow.

Many people prefer to use a cream or liquid based highlighter as they give a more dewy effect however, for those of you with oily skin its best to stick to powder formulas. For those with paler skin try using a Champagne coloured highlighter, try NYX Liquid Illuminator, Born to Glow, (€10.00, Boots). Medium complexions can opt for a pinker/peach shade, use Rimmel Good to Glow in Picadilly Glow, (€6.50, McCabes Pharmacy). If you have dark skin look for a highlighter with an orange or burgundy undertone, try  Inglot AMC Face & Body Illuminator 62 (€20.00, Inglot Stores).

The trick to keeping this look fresh and not making yourself look like a Christmas decoration is to keep all other powder products you use on your face matte, this includes blush, shadows and bronzers.

 

How and where do you apply it? you may ask, well its simple really, think of the sun hitting your face, stick to the high points... cheekbones, chin, cupids bow, brow bone along the nose and for a little extra dab some into the inner corner of the eyes. Not having a great skin day?, maybe stay clear of the highlighter in that area as you do not want to draw attention to it, other than that it's sooo much simpler than contouring and really does leave you feeling more radiant and fresh faced plus it's not half as aging as contouring.

Foundation Fool?

Choosing the right foundation can be really tricky but getting it right really pays off. Here are my top tips to choosing the correct foundation for you and your skin type.

 

 

Tone

Identify your skin tone, is it warm or cool? Not sure how to do this?

• Look at your skin as a whole, most Irish skin tones are cool with a pinkish undertone, some of us are neutral with neither a warm or cool tone dominating the other, fewer are warm toned with a yellow undertone.
• When looking at your face avoid focusing on the cheek area as regardless of tone a little redness can sometimes come through here.
• Look at your wrists, if your veins look bluer chances are you have a cool skin tone with pink undertones.
• Greeny veins are usually spotted on people with a warmer skin tone and have a yellow undertone.
• Blue/green veins you’re probably neutral neither warm nor cool.

Once you’ve identified your skin tone, you can start to look for foundations with either warm or cool undertones. Most brands have a good selection of both and many are now realising that a some of us are neutral and are producing some really great neutral toned foundations.

•   For cool tones look for words such as: Porcelain, Ivory.
•  For warm tones watch for words such as: Warm sand, beige.

Some brands have lettering systems for their cool and warm tones such as MAC who use NW for their cools and ironically NC for their warm tones. YSL use BD (warm) or BR (Cool) or B (Neutral) to distinguish between their foundation colours.
Be aware of your skin type too.  Is your skin, oily, dry, combination? All of these play a huge factor as to what foundation to use.
If your skin is:

• Oily avoid foundations with serums added oils. You’d do well to consider a matte finish foundation or using a mineral based foundation.
• Dry skin can often be hard to cover as foundation can often cake onto dry patches. Try using a gel/silicon based foundation, avoid mattifying or powder based products.

Many foundations are aimed at the most common skin type which is combination skin, normal with a possible oily T-Zone, so shop around, ask for samples and don’t just go with whatever the girl at the counter tries to sell you. Bring home a few different samples from a selection brands, wear one a day. This will really help you make an informed decision.

•    Does the foundation settle well on your face?
•   Is the coverage what you are looking for whether it’s full medium, sheer or buildable?
•  What’s the longevity like? Has it just slid off your face or do you still look fresh at the end of the day?

While there are many foundations out there on the market today from budget to blowout I do recommend trying one of the professional foundations at least once. Makeup Forever, MAC, Armani, their formals are incredible and tailored for specific skin types and tones. So while you might not want to spend that kind of money every time you need a foundation you may do well to keep it in your makeup bag for when you need to look your best, big meeting, event, occasion etc. High street brands are really great these days too and once you’ve identified your skin tone and type you’re sure to choose one that will suit.  

The not so Intrepid Traveller

For once I’m praying my little girls wake up a little early this morning? “Em, Why would you want that?” You may ask. Well it’s my very first time to leave them for more than one night and I want to kiss their little faces before I head off to the airport. I know you’d think I’d be thrilled to be heading off for three whole nights without the kids and husband. Maybe by the end of the trip I’ll be hankering for just one more night away, but as I sit here writing this I can honestly say, I think I’d prefer to be in music class with my kids, something we do every Friday morning. It’s usually my husband who is up at the craic of dawn, fumbling about in the dark trying to finish packing as he heads off on yet another business trip and so to say it felt a little alien for me to be the one doing the fumbling this morning is a little bit of an understatement. Bleary eyed I stumbled to the bathroom, washed my face and brushed my teeth. Applied my makeup (in 2 minutes, it’ll never last!) and quickly got dressed. Still no sign of the kids stirring…this never happens! So I fumbled about some more, louder though this time and accidentally on purpose woke the kids. Little feet padded across the hall floor and sleepy eyed princesses entered the room. “Are you still here mama?” “I am so give me as many kisses and cuddles as you can now, cause I’m gonna miss that face!” Wet kisses and neck strangling hugs later my taxi arrives and I’m off. What now, I feel a little lighter physically (no nappy bags leaving the house will do that to ya) but a little heavier in the heart. Not having the nappy wearer with you will do that to yaL. Anyway, departure gates call, coffee and magazine in hand and you know something I’m beginning to feel a little, dare I say, excited?! Guilty, but excited. Guilty because I’m an Irish mother and I think it comes with the title of being a mammy. Guilty because I feel a little self-indulgent to just head off to Spain for three days by myself (to a friend btw).  But excited, because it’s something I think I should do, something my husband thinks will be good for me. Find a little bit of the old me again, regain some of my lost confidence which inevitably happens when you become a mam and have been out of the work place for over three years. Not long to landing and I’m going to give myself over to the experience, as a good friend said to me “Mammy guilt is completely normal, just leave it at the airport!” So here goes, page one of a magazine I’m going to read cover to cover cause I can.

Brace Yourself

Growing up I always had a big gap in my front teeth. I didn't mind this so much as my Dad used to say it meant I was a good singer. Unfortunately this is not true but it made me feel a bit more Madonna-esque and so I never really felt I wanted to get rid of it. I  it, it was part of me. As the y
ears went by however the gap began to close, more teeth coming through and wisdom teeth crowding my mouth meant I lost my gap for good. As the gap closed I felt a little bit of my identity disappeared with it. I know that sounds a little melodramatic but its the little things that make us unique and one of my little things was now gone. As more time passed I noticed that my once naturally straight teeth were beginning to crowd each other slightly, both top and bottom. Not noticeably at first, but since the birth of my babies they have become more and more crooked. I'm no expert but I'm assuming this has been caused by stress and night-time teeth grinding with the worry of bringing up two young girls! I suppose I've been lucky, I've had straight teeth right up until now so I've never even really had to think about having braces. Although when my sister and brother got them growing up I was a tad jealous, ridiculous isn't it? I also wanted glasses, but oh no I've been blessed with 20/20 vision as well! Joking aside I could never really justify getting braces for my now slightly crooked front teeth, I mean braces are expensive, they also can take up a lot of time in your life, regular orthodontic check ups etc. and so I resigned myself to the fact that I would always have just a slightly crooked smile. Which I'm happy with, really I don't mind at all...but wait whats this, the answer to all my prayers. Yes. At home braces!! My quest for straighter brighter teeth may just be possible (I know I said I was happy with crooked teeth but who am I kidding I want a bright white Essex smile as much as anyone else does!). Then I heard of YourSmileDirect.ie. They are an Irish owned cosmetic Dentistry company who launched in the UK recently with amazing results. They have now rolled out their services in Ireland and lucky old me gets to try them out. They offer straighter, whiter Hollywood-worthy teeth for up to 75% less than other practices without compromising on quality or care. Basically by cutting out the middle man (sort of, read their t&c's) you cut down on cost. The service they offer are at home braces and teeth whitening. Once you log onto their website and go through their consultation forms an impression kit is sent directly to your home. This comes with full instructions. Once you've taken your own impressions you call the company and they'll come pick them up and send them off to the lab. So simple and easy, I didn't even need to go to the post office for a stamp! A team will then assess the impressions to make sure you're a suitable candidate for their braces and so the process begins. Luckily I suit the profile and am now currently waiting on my brace to be sent back to me. The brace itself is similar to a gum guard but much thinner and fits snugly. It is changed very 3/4 weeks as the teeth move and usually worn for 4-6 months depending on how much correcting needs to be done to the teeth. I'm excited to get started and will post again each month with picture updates too. I may not get my gap back but a straighter brighter smile will always makes you feel more confident and en Vogue ;).