Viva Glam - Nicki and Ricky!!!

MAC Viva Glam is one of the best good causes around. Every year, MAC releases a new lipstick, lipgloss or in the most recent case, a lip conditioner to raise money for the MAC AIDS fund which has to date raised hundreds of millions of pounds for those affected by HIV and AIDS around the world. Every penny of the sale value (minus the VAT) goes to the fund, which is not only very generous but also extremely helpful to the people who this money is going to. Previous spokespeople include Ru Paul, Elton John, Dita Von Teese, Pamela Anderson, Missy Eliot and Lady Gaga to name but a few. This year, it is the turn of global superstar Nicky Minaj and Pop Star Ricky Martin.

The lipstick is an amazing, very summery bright pink, and Ricky has released a lip conditioner - perfect for all ages, all races and all sexes.

I know that many of you may roll your eyes at this and think "more money being sent to third world countries...what about our country?". While it is easy to think of these third world countries when thinking about HIV and AIDS, we also have to think about our own...HIV and AIDS can affect anyone of any age, anywhere in the world. The AIDS epidemic that started in 1981 in San Francisco killed more people than American Soldiers were killed in the Vietnam war. Here is a poem by Gene Valentine called, "I Still". It was introduced to me by MAC Liverpool's Viva Glam specialist and my beautiful friend Jenna Maloney. It is about a white woman in her 30s, who contracted HIV without knowing. She then met the love of her life and was shortly after diagnosed. He left her and she remained devasted. If you do one good thing today, please make sure you buy a Viva Glam lipstick. There are lots of colours and textures to chose from and your money will be greatly appreciated.

I Still

I still...

miss you even if you don't miss me.

Think of you even if you don't think of me.

Wonder whether you really were my

special friend or just

another man playing pretend?

I won't believe that it was a lie, that all

the love,

passion, lust, tears,

laughter, and joy you gave me were untrue

but where are you

now? I'm still here

waiting, wondering where you've been and

do you still call

yourself my friend?

I still...

question if you really cared when I became sick and if so,

why were we over so quick?

Need you to hold me and tell me how you'll be there 'til

the end.

Long to hear your voice again.

It's been 333 days and 999 pills.

The virus is at bay now,

but like all enemies

I know that it's lurking in the

shadows of my t-cells.

I wonder did this virus touch you

too? And if so what will

you do?

Did the meds make you sick?

Did you take as many pills as

I or was it 999x3?

I wonder did you sleep well or were you in my same hell?

I still....

miss you even if you don't miss me.

Think of you even if you don't think of me.

Want you to be my friend even if you can't make love to

me again.

I still...I still...I still...

My Guide to Bridal Make Up

As we enter 'Wedding Season', a lot of brides will now be debating about how they're going to have their hair and make up. Both are extremely important as, along with your dress, the way you wear your hair and make up is an extension of your style and personality. As well as this, they will be photographed a million times, and those photographs are the ones that will be shown to children, and grandchildren. Whether you decide to do your own make up, or have somebody do it for you, it is important to know what kind of look you want to achieve. Here are some are some tips and tricks from me on how to achieve a flawless bridal make up.

I always stress that the make up be as timeless as possible. Anything that can be defined as current 'trend', should be avoided. Trends such as strong brows, pink cheeks or super long lashes all fall into this category, as they will look very dated in the future. There are some beautiful examples of flawless and timeless make up from the past, such as Grace Kelly, or Princess Margaret, who both wore immaculate make up on their wedding days, but yet, still looks beautiful now.

Of course, if you wear your make up in a certain style, then it would be advisable not to veer from it too much, as you still want to look yourself, but adjustments can be made so that you still have pink cheeks, or so that your lashes are still defined, but still look classic and timeless rather than trendy. A perfect wedding make up is one that you cannot pin down to any decade or era but what that simply enhances the brides natural beauty.

Often, their wedding day is the only time in a girls' life that they will have their make up done. Therefore, it is important to trust the artist that you are hiring for the job. Look at their pictures, website, portfolio, anything that you can get your hands on. Make sure that they are offering a decent service, and come with recommendations. Usually, artists are passed through friends or families. This is also why trials are super important when it comes to your bridal make-up. This is the time when the artist will pick you to pieces - what your style is like, how you usually wear your make-up, what your skincare is like, if you have anything that you want to focus on, how you will wear your hair, shimmer or no shimmer, the list is endless. This is the sign of a good artist though, not just a nosey person! Usually the best artists are those who just charge one price, which includes the trial. They have the experience and the clientele to have the confidence to just charge one price, as they are usually always booked by their clients after their trial. They usually require a deposit at the time of the trial. BEWARE - you should never give a deposit before a trial. You haven't a clue what the artist is going to be like and so therefore shouldn't hand over any money until the trial.

Do not be put off by high prices. A good artist will charge you for their time and expertise, and will often include lashes in the price. An artist will be coming out twice for the trial and the day and will usually hang around until everything is ready to begin - to make sure that any necessary touch ups are made. I always say that you pay for what you get. This is an experience which you may never have again and the right artist can make you look and feel amazing. They often make their service really luxurious by using the best products and brushes. 

That is not to say that you cannot achieve a beautiful make up if you are doing your own. But once again, preparation is important. Have a practice, try out different styles and products to see which ones work best for the look that you are trying to achieve. Lots of professional make up artists offer lessons, in which you learn how to create a stunning look for yourself. These are perfect for brides who are getting married abroad. MAC offers lessons which are also redeemable in product, which is brilliant as you are learning how to use the things that you are buying.

REMEMBER - its not just your wedding day but it is also in essence a photoshoot. The camera usually removes about 20-25% of the make up so it is important to take photographs to see how it looks against the flash. A make up artist will know all the correct products and application techniques to ensure that you have a flawless photographic look on your big day!

Here are some beautiful examples of gorgeous timeless make up, the top one being Ivana Trump sporting beautiful make up on her wedding day, and the last two being from my own portfolio.

Girls being taught make-up at school - which side of the fence do you sit on?

I've recently read an article in The Daily Mail, which has absolutely infuriated me. It was about a school in Leeds that now offers make up lessons to their pupils, aged 14 and upwards. This has obviously caused outrage. To me, this just seems that society has become so delusional and over-obsessed with the 'over-sexualisation' of young girls, that they cannot see the benefits of a young girl trying to improve, or actually learn the beginnings of, personal presentation.

The article says that parents "don't send their daughters to school to learn how to put make up on but to receive a decent education". The Daily Mail has a predominantly conservative bias. Therefore, I find it quite ironic that the conservative party and our prime minister David Cameron, are encouraging education over vocation, and yet, are making it increasingly difficult for our generation to receive and education that goes beyond that of A-level. These subjects, it would therefore appear, are becoming more and more relevant in our classrooms. The classes are being taught outside of school time and with parents' permission, and so therefore are not disrupting their education and are furthermore, keeping the kids off the streets, quelling what is a very prominent and realistic problem in today's society.

Further to what I have mentioned above, it is also true that not every child is academic and so could flourish in a class such as this. It is a well known fact that a child behaves better (and even some adults) when they enjoy the subject that is being taught or discussed. Boys are taught 'woodwork' or football, but yet these lessons do not seem to be seen in the same light, when they too are vocational. Parents, and apparently the government, according to the article, are worried about seeing young girls in an overly-sexualised manner, which is currently being promoted by society. They are so worried that in fact, it is almost as though we are reverting back to the days when women were forbidden to improve or enhance their physical selves for fear of what society would think. Did the fight for equality even happen?

The article goes on to say that make up is something that should be taught in the home, however this is clearly not always possible. Many mothers, including my own do not have the first clue when it comes to skincare and make up, so how exactly is it going to be passed down? To go back to the idea of how much society has 'moved on', many mothers are not always a constant figure in their childrens' lives, or simply don't have the time. More women work longer hours, as well as having jobs in which you cannot wear a lot of make up, so how is the child expected to learn?

"It's far too early" is the cry from some mothers in the article, however it is my belief that this is a completely unrealistic viewpoint. At age 14 a young girl is not only very aware of her appearance, but is also developing a personality that will resemble that which she will develop into adult years. Not only this, but children are now having to make very important decisions and choices at a very young age. I know that at the age of 14, I was already contemplating what I wanted to do when I was older, in terms of what degree I was to study, where I would study it and what subjects and grades I would need in order to achieve it. I was 16 when I picked out my career path that I was expected to follow for the rest of my adult life. To say I've veered from that is an understatement, so why can we not add a bit of variety to school life in order to broaden a young girl's horizons and opportunities?

When this kind of thing isn't taught at home, young girls are getting it exceedingly wrong, with the final look being that of a beheaded oopma loompa, or worse, Groucho Marx, and thus becoming the talk of the adults who are failing to correct them. The schools are hiring professionals, and being a professional make up artist, I know that I would cater to my client. I would never teach young girls how to do their make up like Jordan, but more how to look after their skin by choosing the right skincare products, as well as how to enhance their natural beauty through the correct use and placement of make up. The basics, in other words. What they chose to do with make up once they are adults is completely up to them, but at least they have a foundation to fall back on, or for some, a springboard for self expression, or a very successful career.

What I find completely baffling is that they can make choices about what they want to do for the rest of their lives but not how to present themselves in such an image conscious society. Surely knowing how to present their hair, make up and nails will only benefit them in such a society? For me, it has provided a job and a lifestyle that I adore, and one that is filled with so much opportunity.

Don't get me wrong, I am not discouraging an education in any way. I myself have a good degree from a red-brick university but given the choice, I have chosen to follow my passion of make up. It would be fair to say that being academic at school, I probably wasn't given the choice but was more expected to go to university than take up a career in make-up. Should I have had these lessons made available to me at school, maybe I wouldn't have wasted so much money gaining a degree that I may never use. At least I had the choice though, something I'm sure David Cameron and his coalition government is going to ruin for our younger generations.

Sorry for getting so political girls, this is just a topic that I felt I had to discuss!!

HD Brows

Brows are becoming more of a trend now than they have ever been. Sadly however, this trend has created 'The Scouse Brow', a trend which simply encompasses Liverpool's tendency to make everything bigger. In most ways this is a plus, and in fact is one of the things I love most about this city, however I cannot bear this current trend!

Luckily though, not everybody is a fan of this current trend. Naturally, I am quite fair, and so therefore my brows are too. They are also quite sparse and it had been years since I had had them professionally shaped. It is also incredibly difficult to find somebody during this trend, who you can trust to give you a nice shape and not a 'scouse brow'.

I had heard about HD brows through the grapevine a couple of years ago. Only certain salons offer it and the technicians have to specifically trained. It is a 7 step programme which includes tinting, waxing, threading, trimming  and plucking. The video above shows the founder of HD Brows explaining the treatment and effects.

I get mine done by Liz at Skin Deep Salon in Huyton. She is lovely, and my brows have really started to get a nice shape to them. As my brows were particularly bad (they used to grow in every direction possible plus have a very strange gap in them), she said that it might take a couple of treatments before they started to follow the shape that she was creating. I've had them done 3 times now and I go back every 2-3 months to have them reshaped. I pay £25 but I know that some places are cheaper and some more expensive. I think it is important to find somebody that you trust to do them as well.

Here is a before and after picture of my brows the very first time I had them done.

Since this picture, they are more defined and the shape is a lot more noticeable now. I am really pleased with them and would recommend the service to anyone. If you are looking for somebody in your area, the HD Brows website allows you to type in your post code and find somebody in your area that offers the treatment. It can seem quite expensive but when you consider the time and money that it saves in brow pencil I think it is a worthy investment, plus it completely changes the way your face looks. I cannot recommend it enough!

Crest Whitening Strips

We are such an image conscious society nowadays that you cannot find a beauty salon in the Liverpool area that does not offer botox, fillers, chemical peels and teeth whitening to name but a few. I have myself had my teeth whitened at a beauty salon, which not only didn't work, but according to my dentist, was also very dangerous. In fact, the same salon left my mum with a condition called 'Burning Mouth Syndrome' because they didn't protect her gums during the treatment. However, I simply cannot afford to pay £350 to get my teeth whitened professionally, and if I'm being honest, It's not a treatment that I am in desperate need of. However, I have been recommended the Crest Whitening Strips by a few people now so I thought I would give them a go.

They're fairly cheap; I paid £21 for 28 packs of upper and lower strips. You place the clear, sticky strips onto your teeth and leave it on for 5 minutes. I've done my first packet today and it was really easy. It felt slightly weird to have these plastic strips over my teeth but then they were only on for 5 minutes. I haven't experienced any sensitivity, although some reviews that I have read said that I would so I will let you know if I do once I have been using them for a significant amount of time. I know there are plenty of other alternatives to getting your teeth professionally whitened such as the kits that you can buy from beauty salons, however due to my first bad experience, I think these whitening strips are the best option for me! I'll give it a couple of weeks and then I will let you know if I think that they're making an improvement to the colour of my teeth!

What to do once you have found the perfect foundation!

Now that you have found the perfect foundation, you have to know how to get the best out of it. You can do this in a number of ways, but mainly you have to focus on skincare and application technique. There is only so much that a foundation can do. If your skin isn't prepped underneath then no matter how good the foundation is, or how much it matches your skin, you won't get it completely flawless.

A dry skin must be well moisturised before applying foundation. If it isn't, it's going to drink up the foundation which will cause it to disappear from your skin, or if your skin is really dry and flaky, then the foundation will flake off with it. I usually spend about 5-10 minutes prepping the skin, which usually entails me massaging the moisturiser into the skin until it is completely soaked in and the blood is flowing to the surface, giving a glowing and healthy effect. Once this is done then applying the foundation is easy. Usually, I will only use a primer on a dry skin if it is moisturising primer. I love the Laura Mercier one for dry skin, as it has 3 different kinds, moisturising, regular and oil free. You use less foundation as well because it blends so much more evenly with this primer underneath. Failing that, I will use a moisturiser in place of a primer. I love MAC strobe cream, which I tend to use alone underneath foundation on a dry skin.

For a normal/combination skin, I tend to use something like MAC Studio Moisture Fix as it is a nice thin moisturiser and therefore you can apply make up directly over it. It also has a time release system so will keep your skin moisturised throughout the day. I might also use some MAC fix plus to help keep the skin refreshed and moisturised. I will tend to use a thin layer of primer, such as MAC Prep + Prime Skin or Laura Mercier Foundation Primer. If your skin is more on the oily side then maybe use an oil control moisturiser in place of a normal one, or alternatively a more oil controlling primer such as MAC Face Protect Primer or Laura Mercier Oil Free foundation primer.

If your skin is really oily then use an oil control moisturiser such as MAC Oil Control Lotion, and then an oil control primer, such as the ones mentioned above. Not only will this help your foundation to go on more evenly and flawlessly but it will also help to keep it on and keep it looking beautifully flawless all day!

How to find the Perfect Foundation!

The question that I get asked most often is, "What foundation is right for my skin?". This is a question that can't be answered quickly and easily and in most cases requires you to try the foundation for more than just 5 minutes when buying it. Trying the foundation initially however is VERY important but there are also many other things that you must take into account when buying a foundation. So many people are uneducated in these things and it is for that reason that many people find buying a foundation so difficult.

Here are some of the most important things that you should consider when you are buying a foundation.

• What type of skin you have;

This is one of the most important things to consider when you're buying a foundation. You have to buy a foundation that will sit well on top of YOUR skin. If you have dry skin, you are going to want something that is going to add moisture, luminosity and radiance to the skin. A foundation is meant to enhance the skin and make it look its best. It is for this reason that you should either never use, or only use sparingly, a powder on top of a dry skin. Powder will dry up any moisture on the skin (hence why it mattes a dewy foundation when it is applied on top), and it will only make the skin look flaky and dull. There are powders that work well on a dry skin such as MAC Mineralize skinfinish which does not have a matte finish and is baked with water to prevent it from drying out the skin.

The same kind of things can be said for an oily skin. If you have an oily skin then you are going to want to use a foundation that is going to dry up the oils on your skin, and stop it from looking greasy and shiny. This is the job of a matte foundation, most of which contain Silica, which helps too absorb and disperse oils across the skin. It is a general rule of thumb that most matte foundations tend to have more coverage to them because people with an oily skin will tend to suffer more with spots as the oil blocks sebaceous glands on the face. However this is not always the case, and MAC have brought out Matchmaster, a matte foundation that has a sheer to medium buildable coverage. You will also need a setting powder if you have a very oily skin as this will help to eliminate oils immediately and throughout the day. It is also another rule of thumb that people with an oily skin should not moisturise. However I am not of this school of thought and will be following this post with one about skincare, and how to make the most out of your perfect foundation once you have found it.

If you have a normal skin then you are lucky enough to wear pretty much any foundation that you want, providing that you use the correct skincare, and that the foundation reacts to your skin well. Some foundations can dry out a normal skin, some can make it oily and it is for this reason that you need to be aware of the types of skincare that you are using. The same can be said for combination skin; skincare is very important.

• What you want your skin to look like;

This is an umbrella question really and encompasses the following things; the finish, coverage and colour of your foundation. The finish is whether you want your foundation to be matte, or have a sheen or a dewy glow to it. Generally people with an oily skin will go for a matte, and people with a drier skin will go for a dewy/satinfinish. It is important that you know what you want because the artist will not be able to tailor their service (and your foundation) to your needs. Sometimes the finish doesn't solely rely on the foundation but also on what is added later such as powder and blusher. I have oily skin but I do like a dewy glow to my skin. Therefore I use a matte foundation, it combats my oils and therefore the foundation lasts longer on my skin as the oils aren't pushing it off. I then add shimmery powder blushers and highlighters to achieve a sheen.

The coverage of your foundation is generally one of the things that is the most misunderstood. Coverage involves how much of your skin that you want to cover. Some people have freckles, pimples or other skin imperfections that they wish to cover and so therefore, something with a full coverage is what you would want to go for. Other people chose not to cover up their freckles and so therefore something with a sheer to medium coverage might be more desirable. Other people have amazing skin and so therefore only want the colour or tone evening out. Again, something with a sheer to medium coverage will take care of the colour whilst letting their natural skin show through.

The colour is the final thing and is usually one of the things that is decided through trying various foundations. Once you have got the texture of the foundation right then the colour is the last thing that you worry about. Some people prefer to lighten their skin, some people stay the same colour, and some people go darker. The colour of your foundation not only depends on the colour of your face, but also the colour of your body. Everything needs to look even at the end of the day.

What is the most important aspect of finding a new foundation however is trying it. Try it in the store, as for a sample, take it away and try it at home for a couple of days. Try it with different skin care and see which gives you the best results. Finding the right foundation is the holy grail of make up for most people and so it is so important to know what you are looking for, so as not to be disappointed. Once you understand your skin and you have a good skin care routine then finding the right foundation should be easy!