CHARLOTTE LAUREN // MAKEUP ARTISTRY

Whilst I was on holiday I realised makeup was somewhat useless and anything I put on my face completely vanished with in the hour! That being said when it got a bit cooler at night I did like to put on a little bit of makeup so I could wander about with out scaring the children! haha So here is what I used and the products I found lasted through the heat.

So first off for my face I use The Body Shops All-In-One BB cream (£12.00) and Extra Virgin Minerals Powder Foundation (£15.00). I love the BB cream it's one that matches to your skin tone, although when you first apply it I find it goes quite orange and then seems to calm its self down! haha and to give it a bit more staying power I then apply the powder foundation over the top, this powder is very lightweight so it doesn't look cakey or over done and just makes the BB cream last a little longer.

For eye makeup I find it sticks a lot better if you use something to prime to the eyes, such as a primer, urban decay do amazing primers like the Primer Potion (£16.00), or things like a cream eyeshadow such as the Maybelline EyeStudio Colour Tattoo (£4.99). These will make the eyeshadow last longer and prevent it from creasing. The eyeshadows I reached for a lot were two from the Stila In the Light Palette (£25.00). The colours "kitten" and "bliss" were my go to!

My two favourite waterproof products were the 100% waterproof mascara by Rimmel London (£5.29), this helped keep my eyelashes curled all day (which is a hard task with my poker straight eyelashes) and it didn't smudge all day! For eyeliner I found myself loving the Stila Smudge Proof Eyeliner (£13.00) in damsel, when it says 'smudge proof' that's exactly what it means! Once it's on your eyes this stuff isn't going anywhere, perfect for the hot weather!!

For lips I kept it quite simple, using Niveas Sun Protect Lip Balm (£3.29), which works wonders! No.7's Lip Liner in nude (£6.75), my favourite shade of lip liner of all time, it's a 'my lips but way better' sort of shade! And lastly Mac Lipstick in Creme Cup (£15.00), which is a lovely pink/nude shade which leaves a subtle shine on the lips.

I hope you enjoyed this and have more of and idea of what makeup works in the sun. One last thing before I go, I've been working on my facebook page 'Charlotte Racz MUA' and it would be great of you could check it out and like it. Feel free to message me for appointment if you live around the Manchester Area!! I'm also having a giveaway when I reach 100 likes so it would be worth a like even if you live far away haha thanks for reading :)

Charlie xo

FLASH // NO FLASH
I feel like everybody has their own way of contouring, how much product to use, where to place it and which type of products. So today I'm going to be sharing a way of cream contouring that I've found works best for myself and clients! I'd choose cream contouring over powder as it gives a more natural result. Also sorry for the bitch face in the first picture the flash was to bright to actually open my eyes hahaha

source
So first you need products I recommend getting two shades of your favourite concealer, the highlight shade needs to be two shades lighter than your natural skin tone and the contour shade should be two shades darker. The products I used where a little to greasy for my liking, I would say a product like mac select cover up concealer (£15.00) would work wonders for this.

The point of highlighting is to bring features forward so apply it to all the areas that the sun would naturally catch and the areas you want to enhance and contouring pushes the darker parts of your face back so apply this to parts of your face that you don't want to catch the eye. In hairdressing and makeup the "perfect" face shape is an oval, so with contouring you want to make your face look as oval as possible (my face shape is round by the way!).

HIGHLIGHTING
1. So I start off putting a thin strip of highlighter down the centre of my nose and a small circle right on the end if it, this is going to help make my nose appear smaller and thinner (I hate the shape of my nose so this helps a lot haha)
2. I then apply it above my nose in the centre of my forehead as the sun would naturally hit this part of my face.
3. To brighten up the eye area (the inner corner of my eyes are ridiculously dark!) I put this in a triangle shape underneath them, winging it up to my temple and down to the apples of my cheeks, this helps lift that area as well making you look more awake.
4. I put a small bit just above my lips on my cupids bow to make my top lip appear fuller and dab a little on my chin.
5.Once I've done that I apply this on my brow bone (at the highest point underneath my eyebrow) and above my eyebrow at the arch, I then blend a bit of it upwards to give the impression of a higher arch.
5. To make my face shape more oval I apply a line of highlighter under my cheek bone below where you would contour with a dark shade and this helps to elongate that part of my face.
6. I didn't do this but you can also add highlighter on the laugh lines around your mouth if you feel they are a problem.

CONTOUR
1. I then apply the contour shade, which unfortunately you can't see quite as well, down the sides of my nose. I do this in very thin lines as if you cover all of your nose it will actually end up making your nose appear bigger!
2. Around my hair line on my forehead, focusing more on the temples. This will give my circle face shape more of an oval look.
3. Under my cheek bone, this just makes your cheekbones look more prominent and thins down your face.
4. Around my jaw line and the sides of my chin, this will get rid of any double chin business and elongate the chin making it appear oval.
5. If you have thin lips or the top is larger than the bottom then you can also add a bit of contour under your bottom lip and it will add a "shadow" making it look fuller, but my lips are quite bottom heavy so I didn't do this part!
6. You could also add a small horizontal line above the circle shaped highlighter on your nose, this will give the effect of a button nose but I personally don't like how this looks on me!

BEFORE // AFTER
Once you've done all of that you want to blend it all together, my favourite brush to use for this is the real techniques buffing brush (£21.99) from the core collection and just blend until everything is seamless, a good tip is to take a photo of yourself with the flash on and then the flash will pick up any harsh lines that you can't see normally. Once it's all blended you can see where to add more of needed or if you're happy with how it looks you can just finish your makeup as normal setting the cream contour with a powder or makeup setting spray.

And their you have to how to contour like the professionals! I hope you enjoyed thanks for reading :)
Charlie xo

I recently went on holiday and like many other people I am one to over pack! So I thought I'd write about some of the things I took that actually come in handy, I probably could have taken half of the amount and wouldn't of missed anything!

So first is face wipes, I wouldn't recommend these specific ones as they weren't the best but I used face wipes every single day, either to take off my makeup at night as they are much more efficient to pack than a bottle of cleanser or I use them around the pool just to freshen up. Face wipes aren't the best for your skin so make sure you wash your face at night aswell!

Next are travel size shampoos and conditioners, I went for a week used these every other day and still have a bit left in them (I also so two shampoos every time I wash my hair!) so you shouldn't need much more than this and it saves up so much room and weight in your suit case!!... and then you can pack even more unnecessary things!

If you're going somewhere hot this is really important, Aloe Vera works for burns, insect bites and just soothing any irritations. I got a bit burned on my back and little on my face and I applied this at night and the redness was gone by the morning and it wasn't at all sore, definitely a must if you burn quite easy!

Another thing for the sun is lip balm with an SPF, my lips burn like nobodys business and with this they didn't burn at all! It doesn't do the best job of actually moisturising your lips but then again it doesn't say that it will haha

And the last things are just palettes in general, they're so much easier and take up a lot less room than packing say four single eye shadows with large packaging and also you get more variety taking palettes! Also if you take a concealer palette it wont matter about what shade you take if you get a tan because you'll have a lot of options.

And there you have it, some of me travel essentials! Let me know what you always pack if your going away. Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed :)

Charlie xo

It feels like forever since I've written a blog post! I've been in Tunisia for the past week and had all of my posts scheduled so I haven't been online much and when I did try everything was written in Arabic and also backwards! So I had no chance haha but now I'm back and I'm going to share the makeup products I bought at duty free!! AKA my favourite place on earth.

So first I have Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation (£33.00), this was around £29.00 in duty free. I've been wanting this foundation for ages and mine is in the shade 10 Beige which I think is the lightest and I love it!! It's so light on your skin and the colour is very neutral it's not too yellow or too pink, it gives your skin such a lovely even look, it's light coverage but it gets rid of any discolouration on your skin and leaves it looking very dewy.

Next I have Benefit Coralista Blush (£23.50), this was £19.50ish in duty free. I have had my eye on this blush for so long but for some reason just never picked it up and once I saw it in duty free (I went a little crazy) the discount went to my head and I got it haha. This blusher looks amazing with a tan and I think it would still look lovely on fair skin its a pinky coral shade with a really nice shimmer to it!

This product is Mac Lipstick in Flat Out Fabulous (£15.00), around £12.00 duty free. It's a retro Matte finish which im not entirely sure how that's different from the matte ones but it's lovely all the same, I'd say it was the same texture as Ruby Woo which I know alot of people don't like, but personally I love it as it will last all day and when I'm working I don't really have time to sit down let alone try and re-apply my lipstick so this works perfect! I wore it today and was working on two weddings from 8am until around 2pm and I didn't re-apply once and it lasted all day!

And last but certainly not least is this Chanel Lipstick in 317 La Precieuse (£26.00), this was £21.00 in duty free, I have been wanting a red Chanel lipstick for so long its unreal and everyone whos close to me knows this so I was in duty free and my eyes almost popped right out of my sockets when I saw this! It's so so so so so pretty I am in love with the colour... even if I only used the sample one because I can't bring myself to spoil how pretty it looks all new and flawless, I will do a full review when I pluck up the courage to actually put it on my lips! haha

And that's all of the things I bought from duty free, I think I can say that I enjoyed makeup shopping just as much as my holiday... actually maybe a little bit more :/ I have a problem I know hahaha Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed!! :)

Charlie xo

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