My Tanning Routine

*waves*

So it's no secret that I'm a tanorexic, I'm obsessed with fake tans and being bronzed. That orange goo/foam/slop makes me weak at the knees. And let's face it, when applying fake tan, we contort our bodies into acrobatic positions we didn't think were possible! :)

Here is my tanning routine, because I get asked from time to time how I do it:

I try to dedicate half an hour in the evening to the process. I take a shower, exfoliate really well and de-fuzz (CHARMING!). After my shower, I moisturise my knees, tops of my feet, elbows, my hands, and the tops of my arms (dry skin). I use this lotion because it sinks in quickly and acts as a good barrier for the tan.

After the lotion has sunk in, I take my St Moriz in the colour DARK (I use MEDIUM if I want just a slight glow), pump a squidge onto the mitt and apply. I start with my arms and back because they're the hardest parts and they take the longest to dry. I swish it on in circular motions until it's well rubbed in. Then I do my tummy and legs. When tanning the dodgy areas (elbows, feet, knees) I wait until I only have remnants on the mitt and barely graze over the area. When I'm all done, I take whatever's left on the mitt and sweep it over the tops of my hands and onto my fingers of both hands. Then very quickly swipe the mitt in between my fingers and across the inside of my wrist. This works great for preventing those tell-tale tan streaks!

I then wait for 5-10 minutes doing the naked dance (very sexual) and then I hop into my amazingly sensual tiger print onesie:

                                                                      RARRR!



This prevents too much of the tan getting onto the bedsheets. Off to bed with me and when I get up in the morning I have a VERY brief shower to wash off the guide colour. I use a soft sponge, lather it up well, and gently sponge off the top layer. After my shower I moisturise really well. I recommend Palmers Cocoa Butter. Smells delish and deeply moisturises!

TIP: I've seen this body butter for sale in Boots/Tesco for up to NINE EURO! If you pop into Penneys you can nab it for just €3.50!

This is generally enough to provide me with a decent and healthy glow but if I want a darker tan I skip the Palmers and repeat the above again. (from 'After my shower, I moisturise my knees, tops of my feet' etc onwards)

This is my tanning routine, from start to finish. I have an entirely different routine if I'm going on a night out, where I use instant tan for photographs! I'll post that routine another time!

Have you any tips or tricks to share?


Laura

x

Letter To My 18 Year Old Self

Dear My Eighteen Year Old Self  

Hey! How are things? Well I know how things are, pretty all over the place right now. You've finished school, dropped out of college and you haven't a clue who you are, what you want, where you want to be, where you want to go. My advice is worthless because I know how head-strong you are. But you will still be head-strong at 25 so here is the advice:

• You will NOT always be able to eat what you like and not gain weight. Your metabolism is lightning fast now but it is going to slow down. Trust me. 
• You don't look good in red.
• STOP SMOKING. Yeah yeah you enjoy it, it's 'cool', but you will have a VERY tough time trying to quit at 24. Imagine the money you could save! QUIT! 
• Be a more careful driver.
• Cut down on the boozing, you can't afford it. 
• STOP TAKING OUT LOANS! When you finally find your feet, you'll have to knuckle down and pay these loans back, believe it or not! You'll still owe 5 figures at 25. And your wages will be cut and slashed every January. Believe it. 
• Get your wisdom teeth out the minute you feel pain.
• There will be a recession in 2008. You will regret this lifestyle.
• You'll 'fall in love' with a bad boy this year. He'll f*ck off with his ex. You'll cry. This will affect all of your future relationships. DON'T FALL FOR THE BAD BOY!
• Your dad isn't as bad as you think he is. His 'ways' will teach you that you can be self-sufficient.
• Your friends will turn on you because of your loyalty. They were never true friends. 
• If you're not happy within a situation, get the Hell out. This applies to everything.
• Your mam is the BEST person in the world. You won't realise this for another couple of years. You will regret what you've put her through.

I know these points will not make one blind bit of difference, because I know you don't give a f*ck.

Regards

Your 25 year old self.

PS - STAY AWAY FROM CITROEN!

Sleep Freak...

A non-makeup post. A random musing, if you will. Perhaps not so much of a musing but a funny story!

My other (and arguably better!) half is an incredibly light sleeper and he absolutely ADORES telling me in the mornings the funny/annoying/outrageous/embarrassing things I did in my sleep the night before.

On an 'ordinary' night I'll grind my teeth. Mr Princess has recorded this and it genuinely sounds like a dolphin, I'll attach a sound file to this entry if I can! His tactic in combating this albeit annoying habit is to throw me a dig really quickly and when I wake up to see what's after happening, he pretends to be asleep!

I also sprawl and stick my arse out so I take up as much of the bed as is humanly possible leaving him to cling onto the edge for dear life. He does not care for this. My other vice is chit-chatting in my slumber, I have never witnessed the evidence to this but I tend to believe him. What I tend to say makes nil sense, according to Mr Princess. PHEW! Imagine if I was telling him my deepest and darkest secrets, such as my hatred for protein and dead-lifts and such! :) (He's a gym-junkie with an addiction to protein shakes, yadda yadda yadda)

I tried finding an accurate diagram of how we sleep but I reckon the top left illustration on this depicts it most accurately, but not perfectly:

Poor Mr. Princess eh?

Am I the the most awkward girl in the world to sleep beside? Do YOU have any annoying sleep habits?


Laura

x

Bridal Makeup

Good evening! :)

I am REARING to practise all my newly acquired makeup confidence, so I dragged my sister into my bedroom and I worked my magic. Getting progressively happier with all my looks. What do you think?

Before:

During (Primer, foundation, concealer, contour, powder):

After:

And with some extensions thrown in for sh*ts and giggles:

 

 Laura 

x

Beginning the dream...

Hello to all and sundry,

The purpose of this blog is to document my journey to hopefully gaining an extensive knowledge into the art of makeup. Here is my story so far:

I've always had a penchant for makeup and beauty. Always interested in new products and reviews, via websites such as www.beaut.ie, www.makeupandbeauty.ie, www.buynowbloglater.com, and lots of other blogs also. So around three months ago I said to myself  'f*ck it Laura, book a makeup course'. So I did. €595 later and I was booked in for a Module 1 course with the L.A. Makeup Academy on Chatham Street (the top of Grafton Street), to commence on 2nd April 2012. Last week. This post will more or less be a review of my experience participating in Module 1. 

So into the L.A. Makeup Academy Agency studios I trotted on Monday morning last, the 2nd of April, lugging an awkward silly bag with me, containing my 100,000 makeup brushes, cleanser, toner, moisturiser, cotton buds, cotton pads, false lashes, etc. as instructed. Day one was nerve-racking. I did not realise how precious time is in that class. We were launched straight into the rules and regulations of the classroom by our tutor Jenn. Jenn is scrupulous when it comes to cleanliness and hygiene and being organised. Seemed a little anal at the start but at the end of the week I could see the method in her madness. On day one we were told that every single morning there would be a makeup brush inspection, where the tutors would sporadically check out brushes to ensure strict cleanliness. Our work stations were also to be spotlessly clean and tidy at all times. Jenn was assisted by a lovely girl, Amy, for the first two days.

On day one Jenn did a demo on a student showing us how to create the perfect base. This included cleansing, primer, foundation, cream blush, contouring, highlighting, powdering, and then a very very basic eye look of a wash of colour over the lids. Looked simples! When it came to the crunch however I soon realised that working on someone else is a LOT more difficult than working on your own face! We worked on each other, partnering up, and products were provided for us to work with, such as MAC, Make Up Forever, Inglot, Clinique, as well as some lower end brands too! We concluded the day by cleaning up and off we went our separate ways. Let me tell you, I was EXHAUSTED that evening and every evening during this week-long course.

Day two was recapping on the base again, and we moved on to a classic simple bridal look. This was what I created on a fellow student:

During this we also learned about individual lashes, and just how flippin' EASY they are to apply. Well I found them so easy to apply. Others struggled a little bit I think. Overall I was generally happy with the look I created and could feel myself gaining a little more confidence. 

Day 3 was an evening look. Again, Jenn did a demo showing us how to create a basic smokey eye for someone who was going on a night out. Jenn was assisted by Ailbhe on day 3 and 4. We were also shown how to apply false strip lashes. Something I found a lot more difficult than the individual lashes, surprisingly!

This was the look I created having watched the demo intently:

I was EXTREMELY happy with my work on that day. The student I worked on however had great skin and amazing eyebrow structure (JEALOUS!). 

On Day 4 we focused on a much much smokier eye, where Jenn demonstrated how to use an eyeliner pencil all over the lid, and smudge and blend it using other coloured shadows to create an uber funky smokey eye. She instructed us to re-create this look but that we could do it the traditional way using just shadows, which I chose to do. I hadn't the confidence to try the eyeliner just yet! 

I did not manage to get a photograph of this look as we were very pressed for time. Unfortunately. 

On Day 5, our last day, we had a guest speaker, a lovely woman by the name of Adrienne who has worked in TV3 for 11 years! Watching her demo, we went back to bridal and re-did this look, but threw in a contemporary spin, either smoking out the eyes slightly more OR by using a bolder/brighter lip. Lips are my downfall. Oh my God it is so so difficult for me to get the lip-line correct. It's something I have to work on. I didn't manage to get any photographs of my creation on this day either. Raging now. :(

At the end of Day 5 (after a horrendously rushed day!) I was presented with my certificate. Have a look:

 

I was and am so so proud! I realise this is only a minor award but we have to start somewhere, don't we?! Onwards and upwards is what I say! I intend to do the Module 2 course with L.A. Makeup Academy. I am so so excited and will be practising like crazy between now and then. I shall be posting the photos on here and will be looking for constructive criticism and ideas for looks. 

I highly recommend L.A. Makeup Academy if you are just starting out with makeup OR if you wish to acquire new skills. Although I knew most of the things we were taught (from watching YouTube, reading blogs, etc), it was great to put all these skills to practise and show the tutors what I could do. The hours were 10am to 4pm with lunch hour from 12.30 to 1.30. Let me tell you, the day FLIES in. You blink and it's clean-up time. Scary. I made fantastic friends while I was with the academy and I hope to stay in touch with them in the future. Some very skilled ladies let me tell you! :)

I have a full-time job and this is merely a hobby. A hobby I would hope to possibly further as much as is possible for me. And I love it. :)

You can read more about L.A. Makeup Academy here: http://www.lamakeupacademy.com/

If you have any questions for me about L.A. Makeup Academy just leave them below. 

Thanks for reading! :)

Laura

x

Makeup Brush Storage

Blogging, woah, this is weird ha ha!

Well today’s topic will be quick. I want to rave about my makeup brush storage. My beloved “Tool Turnabout”. This can be purchased in the U.S. of A. relatively easily from pamperedchef.com (http://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=15585&words=tool), however for us Europeans, eBay appears to be our only option. I nabbed this baby (second-hand but in brill condition) for 20 odd euro including shipping and haven’t looked back!

I cleaned it off with baby wipes first of all, then decided where I wanted all my different types of brushes to go. Then I went and bought the cheapest bag of rice grains I could find (€1.19 in Tesco!) and filled the different compartments with the rice to help the makeup brushes to stand. 

This is by far the best makeup brush storage I have found. The tool turnabout swivels so it makes it sooooo easy to find the makeup brush you are looking for. As you can see from the photo, I have plenty of variety and storing them on a brush belt, in a vase, etc, wasn’t ideal by any means! Also my MAC brush cleanser fits in the very centre section perfectly! 

How do YOU store your makeup brushes/tools?

Laura xx