Glitzy Secrets Review & Make-Up/Hair Tutorial

I was contacted a couple of weeks ago about doing this review; and I just couldn't say no! This is

something I could not pass up so replied and sorted out the details. I'm splitting this post into 2 sections, the first being the review, the second being a Hair and Make-up Tutorial so you can achieve the elegant Grace Kelly Look yourself.

Review

This review is also inspired by the release of the Grace of Monaco biographic film (you can read Glitzy Secrets blog post all about Grace Kelly here). So after having a little look on their website, I absolutely fell in love with the Vintage Ribbon Head Band, it was gorgeous and elegant. 

The item is beautifully designed, and the elegant diamonds add a beautiful dimension when a light shines on the headband. This headband genuinely makes me feel like a princess. The beautiful design is set upon a wire headband, which is quite comfortable, it doesn't have any groves so I'd recommend some bobby pins to secure the head band in place if you plan on wearing it for a long period of time. The item is a little heavy, so if you decided to do maybe a beehive sort of style hair you could balance the headband on that to take a little weight off, however it isn't so heavy that you want to take it off. 

I got TONNES of compliments when out at the Brighton Vintage Fair last weekend, a lot of people said I looked beautiful and where asking where I got this beautiful headband from. I mainly chose this one due to the elegance and the curves of the piece, I wanted something a little different that wasn't straight and would look gorgeous and this product lives up to it all.

Its also very heavy duty, when sorting my hair out, my friend accidentally dropped the headband when passing it to me, but it was absolutely fine, although I wouldn't suggest dropping it, ours was an accident!! 

Overall I love this headband. I would recommend to anyone, whether it be for everyday, for an event or even for a bride getting married to get one of these hair accessories from Glitzy Secrets - you definitely get your money's worth and the quality is absolutely amazing!

Hair & Make-up Tutorial

With the headband I decided to go for a very traditional look, that of which was iconic with Grace Kelly's look. She often had the bottom of her hair curled and the top straight, and brushed backwards.

1. Naked Face. So basically you want to start with a naked face, and clean hair, I normally set my hair to get curls but for this tutorial I'm curling them with clean hair, if your hair is slightly silky like mine then just use some dry shampoo for texture if you prefer, however I opted for none. 

2. Pin Your Fringe (Optional) I wanted to make the headband stand out as much as possible, so I decided to pin my fringe back, I just back combed my fringe and pined it back with 2 bobby pins in a cross on top of my head, I also use this cross to help secure the headband later on. 

3. Curl First of all take about a 1/4 of an inch of hair, I decided to have thicker curls for this look as this was much more iconic of the Grace Kelly look.When curling only curl about half of your hair (as shown) to create this look - You will get thick curls which you can choose to brush out for extra volume at the bottom of your hair.

4. Seperate Now you want to just brush through the girls with your fingers to separate the curls to create a "bush" of curls on the bottom of your hair. 

5. Make-up I've gone for a very simple and elegant look for this style. I used my Collection Lasting Perfection foundation in Ivory for a base on my skin. For my eyes I used 2 eye-shadows, one being the Natural Collection eye-shadow in "Candyfloss" blended across the whole eyelid, and a champagne coloured eye-shadow from my palette again across the whole lid and blended to create a simple nostalgic look. I used a pencil eye-liner, sharpened to a point and drew a thin line on the top of my lid, just going to the point of my eye and stopping; I then went over the waterline at the bottom of my eye and met the two lines of eye-liner up in the corner of my outer eye. I then added my Rimmel Scandal-eyes mascara and to finish used my Maybelline Watershine Lip Gloss in "Cotton Candy".

6. Final Touches. I then add my headband, pushing the hair from the side of my face back behind my ears, I then secure the headband at the sides hiding the pins inside the curls. Using the pins on top of my hair I then secure the top of the headband to make sure it doesn't slip or fall down. And you are done! 

When I actually completed this look and looked in the mirror, I genuinley cried. I've never looked more beautiful in my whole life, and I've never cried about the way I look in a positive way. This headband and style would be something I'd consider wearing if I were getting married - the headband's elegance and beauty just adds a gorgeous yet simple effect on the whole hairstyle.

You can buy the Vintage Ribbon Headband here for £32 and much more choice of other accessories over on the Glitzy Secrets Website.

Lots of Love

Emma Victoria

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Blogmas Day 8: Snowflake Nails

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Today I thought I'd do a cute little nail tutorial the pictures aren't complimentary to what I've done but I shall try my best to explain to you best I can!
I decided to just do sparkly nails, as snow is always sparkly in the sun, right? On my thumb nails I decided to do a snowflake (like I said you can't see it too well, only vaguely). 

The products I'm going to be using are: Rimmel Clear Nail Varnish, Barry M Diamond Glitter Nail Polish, and Barry M Matt White Nail polish along with the Barry M Nail Art Pen in Silver.


Step 1: Base Coat
Apply one coat of the clear nail polish, this just gives a protective layer between the coloured polish and your nail. 

Step 2: Apply the White
Next you want to apply the white nail polish, I did 2 coats just to make sure my nails are fully covered and the white is nice and clear. I then leave these to dry for about an hour or so just to make sure they are fully set!

Step 3: Glitter & Snowflake
On the other 4 nails that you aren't putting a snowflake on, put several coats of the glitter on to make sure you get decent coverage and its super sparkly! While these are drying then use the nail art pen to draw a snowflake (I know its not the best picture in the world but you can get a rough idea from the picture on the right!). Once this has dried then add 2 coats of the glitter polish on top of your snowflake. If you wish you can add some silver dots on the other nails to represent snow like I did!

Step 4: Protect
To fully protect the nails, just add your clear nail varnish just to protect your nails from chipping and leave to dry - and voila!

We are done! I hope you enjoyed this little post!

17 days till Christmas!

Lots of Love

Emma Victoria

xoxoxox

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Lip-tastic!

I have various amount of lip products in my small little beauty box in my room, I like to try out different lipsticks, lip gloss' and lip balms and here I am, sharing what I find works best for me! Some are lip products I would re-purchase and some are one's I'd just chuck in the bin!

1. Lip Balms
The first section we will be looking at is lip balms. Now, I have to admit I am an absolute sucker for for Carmex product's and personally I would recommend these 110% of the time, they have a beautiful smell, work wonders on your chapped lips to repair them, also they are so cheap (I mean only £2.69 from Boots, bargain or what?!) and the packaging is fabulous, so chic! However, DISASTER STRUCK! I ran out of Carmex and I didn't even realise, I was currently travelling to Cardiff and waiting for my connection at London Paddington, so off I dashed to a pharmacy which sold a tonne of lip balm products! So I bought several to try out while on my travels! 

The first product I bought was the 'Nivea Lip Care Pearl & Shine'. This balm is tinted pink and packaged in an easy roll up tube. When first applied it makes your lips feel fantastic, however if you have very chapped lips like I did at the time, then this generally begins to bunch round the dry skin on your lips... Attractive? I think not.  This balm smells yummy and does look nice even if you want to go out and don't want any gloss or lip stick on. I found with this that the actual balm doesn't really last long on your lips and you do need to keep re-applying this to get a real effect from it. Overall, a product I would re-purchase if they don't have anything else really in stock. Now I am going to make a huge assumption here and guess that most of you have tried, used, or are currently using Vaseline products Vaseline have quite a few different smell lip balms
such as Rosy Lips, Aloe Vera, Cocoa Butter, and Original. I have Aloe Vera and Cocoa Butter. I personally prefer the Cocoa one as it generally smells better! I do find that this little pots of Vaseline never seem to become empty, I have probably had my Aloe Vera one since 2005, and yes I'm still only half way through! I also use Vaseline not only for my lips but for theatrical make-up for when I do photoshoot's. If I do ever want to buy the original, when my pots actually become empty then I would go to Superdrug and buy 'The Little (Blue, Pink or Green) Tin' as this is only 99p and its basically just the same product!

2. Lip Gloss

I do love myself many lip glosses and sadly if I showed all of them to you then this blog post would probably never end, so what I decided to do in the end was to go into my small beauty box and travel beauty bag and pick out the lip gloss' from these. On the left is one of the lip gloss' I really do rave

about! I adore the colour, the texture, the look, just everything about this lip gloss makes me super happy! This is the Maybelline 'Watershine Gloss'  I have this in the shade 'Cutie Pie'. The packaging is kind of like an ombre fading from bright pink into a baby silver pink. This is so easy to apply even if you are standing on a packed train and have barely any room, it is still possible! This has a small wand to apply with and it screws on the top of the lip gloss product. I have had this product for a while and I've not had to replace it yet which makes me super happy! I bought this product about 9 months ago now in Lloyds Pharmacy for £5.99. I use this product all the time, its my ultimate gloss and I would definitely replace this gloss when its finished! Unless I can find another gloss which blows me away then this will be the top of my list for a long time!

The next product I bought was in the little box of stuff they wanted to shift out of their stock, I rummaged through this box and found this 'Colour Sense' lip balm in 'Cherry Kiss', now to my complete surprise this was also in the clearance part of make-up in Morrisons. I managed to buy this for 50p. I love the smell of cherry products, however when I opened this product while on the train, I was seriously taken a back... First of all you do get the smell of cherry, but it was a very odd smell of cherry. I can definitely see why they had this in clearance and for only 50p. However, if you can by pass the smell of this balm, it is quite nice and feels great on chapped lips. It lasted ages on my lips, and it made them feel very smooth even when the product wasn't on! So, if smell honestly doesn't bother you then you should definitely find this somewhere, but if you are like me and have a sensitive little nose then I wouldn't purchase this. I occasionally use this now when I don't have any other products on me, but I am struggling to shift this product out of my beauty box and beauty travel bag.

The last product I am going to show you is a lip gloss from L'Oreal. This is called 'L'Oreal Glam Shine' and I have this in number 81 'Gold Toffee. I love the colour of this lip gloss, I'm not usually someone to go for this shade of colour as I like bold and bright colours on my lips however, this is an exception this lip gloss is so yummy. I also find that the smell of this lip gloss (I know I smell lip gloss, I'm weird!) reminds me of the smell of Chanel No.5. I am a huge Marilyn Monroe and 1950's fan so for me this is like heaven in lip gloss form! The coverage of this product is really good as well! It doesn't clump on chapped lips like some products and the shimmer gives you that extra little sparkle you need sometimes, even if its just a touch up! It is also really easy to apply, the heart shaped wand helps you to guide the lip gloss on all of your lips not just the easy bits! The only negative I have about this product is that there is just so little of it in the actual bottle! Its 6ml, but just seems so much less! L'Oreal please make this in a bigger bottle I'd love you if you did! 

3. Lipstick's

Okay, I have lots of different types of lipsticks, and this is probably the bulk of the blog post! 

This may take a while! The first 2 products I am going to show to you are from Barry M. Now, I know some people I am friends with actual hate Barry M products but I however love them! They aren't too expensive and I find they work perfectly for me! On the left is the Barry M lipstick in shade 158. I find that this lipstick comes out in quite a red/pink sort of tone. When I went to buy this one I actually thought this was a red lipstick, and I didn't test these 2 out that day as I had loads of products over my hands already! So I bought it and tried this out at home, and I was really pleasantly surprised! The colour isn't too harsh but it is still bright! On the right is the pink Barry M lipstick in shade 157. Now, I personally like to call this one 'Blossom' as it reminds me of Blossom from the Powerpuff Girls! I adore the colour of this lipstick, I've worn it several times and its definitely a contender for my favourite lipstick! I bought these two lipsticks for £4.49 each for either Superdrug or Boots! The next 2 lipsticks are from Maybelline; these are the 'Super Stay 24 Colour' lip products.

Now, I do use this products quite a lot, I mainly use this when I wear my Rockabilly dresses as I don't like to carry too much make-up in my small clutch bag! The coverage of these lipsticks last ages, but I wouldn't say 24 hours. I find that these last for about 8 hours without doing any touch-ups what-so-ever. This lipstick is dual ended; one end is the end with the actual lipstick, It has a wand to paint the lipstick onto your lips, the paint is very slack and you have to leave it to dry until you apply the gloss. (When you leave it to dry do not put your lips together, otherwise they will stick together, and this is not a nice experience!). I have these 2 lipsticks in 'Red Passion' which comes out as a harsh and bright red, which I love; I also have it in a deep pink colour 'Raspberry'. I would really recommend these if you want to avoid constant touch ups, but it can be a right pain to get off even with make-up removal wipes, and they can often stain your lips as well! You can but these for £8.99 each.
The next product is a lipstick from Mary Kay. I bought this lipstick a little while ago when I went round a friend's house for a make-up party with my mum and her mum. I saw this lipstick and knew I had to buy it! Its lasted me ages and smells devine. This lipstick is part of the 'Signature' collection, the coverage of this lipstick is amazing and makes your lips feel super soft as well! I bought this for  about £7.99 and I would really recommend this product. With this company you can also become a sales representative and work on commission and have beauty parties of your own! That just makes me very happy, if only I had the time!! The next product was actually a product I got a while back when I bought a pair of BeYu glasses. While at the opticians, they 

told me that this company had started giving out free samples of their cosmetics to appeal to a new audience. Now I was so happy when I got these, it was just a bonus for my day. Brand new glasses and a lipstick and eye shadow pencil! This is colour 'Rouge à Lèvres' and this is basically a glitter lipstick giving you that extra little shimmer on your lips. This comes out as a baby pink on your lips and is so easy to work with an everyday outfit, office outfit or even for a night out! This is a product I would recommend for Valentine's Day if you have a significant other, but if you are like me and are a single cupcake then this is also perfect for everyday wear! 

I have saved my favourite lipstick till last and that is the Estée Lauder R52 Re-Nutriv Lipstick in Aegean Coral. My mum originally bought this lipstick back in the 1980's but found that she didn't like it that much and she doesn't use it. So after I had a rumage through her make-up bag looking for my eye liner I found this and asked if I could borrow is, so she gave it to me! I have had this now for a year and I have nearly finished it. I am struggling to find somewhere that still sells this beautiful lipstick. The casing is so elegant and beautiful, and even once this is finished I will fill it with another lipstick. This is so chic and vintage and it describes me in a lipstick. The colour is a deep and rich pink, and feels amazing on your lips. It is the perfect lipstick to wear with an elegant knee or calf length dress. The coverage again is outstanding. Never have I fallen in love so much for a lipstick! My mum can't remember how much she bought this beauty for, but if I do find anywhere that does sell this exact lipstick I would pay any money for it! The elegance and sheer class of this lipstick makes me so happy. It is one that will sit proudly on my dressing table when it is assembled!


Emma
xoxo