Casual Fat Plait

ok, so this is a follow on from my beach waves tuorial, which this uses as a base style.

strt with your beachy waves. use my technique or any other, as long as your hair has some texture!

roughly gather your hair on one side and split it into two sections. keep some small wispy bits at the front to frame your face.

start the fishtail plait. take a small setion from the outside of one of the large bunches, and add it to the inside of the other one. repeat each side untill you run out of hair.

i'm really bad at explaining how to do this, but just have a go, and if your really cant make sense of my instructions then there are lots of tutorials for fishtails on youtube!

tug at the finished braid to make it really fat and messy. you can use a tail comb to pull out random strands if you want, or just use your fingers.

use some grips or clips to secure any loose strands at the back

And you're done!

click on any of the pictures to view full size

Lucy xx

Beach waves, Quick! (Picture Heavy)

ok, so this is my first tutorial and the first pictures i'm posting of my face! eek... please excuse the fresh out of the shower, no makeup look!

ok, so this is basically an age old trick for getting wavy hair. put it in plaits and go to bed right? i used to do this all the time, but the problem is, i like to wash my hair every morning, and having it in plaits means i can't! soooo i like to do this instead.

start with relatively dry hair, prep it with heat protectant and any styling produts you like to use, like mousee or gel. personally i dont like to use these things but i do LOVE beadhead cocky which is volumising and heat protecting, so thats what ive used here before blowdrying.

section your hair from ear to ear, and clip the top half out of the way. split the bottom section in half and secure one side with something.

start plaiting th section you have left, which should be a quarter of your hair. i do quarters bcause i have thin  hair, but if you have thicker hair you might want to do more sections. the bogger your sections, the looser your waves will be.

secure the end of the plait and start on the other side. once you have done the whole bottom half, unclip the top half and split it in two, and plait both sections. you should have 4 plaits.

grab your straighteners, and clamp them down hard on the top of one of the braids.

slowly move them down the braid (i wouldn't recommend sliding them down it, unclamp and then clamp again slightly lower). do this for all the braids

undo the braids, and losen the waves slighly with your fingers

spritz with a little bit of dry shampoo to mattify and mess it up a bit. volumising powder is better for this but is waaay more expensive than good ol' batiste!

once you've done that, style as desired!

Lucy, xx

Sally Hansen Mega Shine 9 days later!

hey guys, today i have some pictures for you of my nails after nine, i repeat NINE days of wear with the sally ansen mega shine topcoat. they are obviously not perfect, but the chips have only appeared in the last day or two, and they are mainly my fault. any nail tech will tell you that in order to look after your manicure (and nails in general!) you mustn't use your nails as tools. well, i do that. quite a lot. and all of the wear to my nails has been because of it, so bear that in mind!

the top one is my left hand and the bottom is my right hand (i'm right handed, so that one gets more wear!) please please please excuse the horribe cuticles, they are in such a state right now and i had just got out of the shower when i took these pics so my fingers were all shriveled and gross.

the shade of polish i'm waring is my new fave, its by Barry M and its called Red Black and its number 115. its such a gorgeous shade, almost blood coloured, not bright at all, a really deep dark red... i love it so much!

what do you think of Barry M polishes? Whats your favourite shade?

Lucy, xx

Disclaimer: these products were  bought by me with my own money

Sally Hansen Mega Shine topcoat

yeaterday i decided i really needed to get my hands on a decent top coat, so off i went to boots in search of sally hansens mega shine, which was recconmended by Fleur on her youtube channel in her august faves i think.

they happen to be buy one get one half price in boots at the moment, so i also picked up the insta-dri topcoat for when i'm in a rush.

i tried the megashine topcoat lasdt night, i and i have to say, i'm really impressed. the idea seems similar to seche vite in that you paint it on while your polish is wet (though you can use it dry too) and it dries quite quickly. it stays squidgy like most polish for a while, but it wouldnt be marked by a finger print, one if you dug your nail in. by morning it seems really stong and sturdy, and my nails feel well protected.

will keep you posted on how the insta-dri works, but i havent tried it yet!

have you tried any of the sally hansen range? what do you think of them?

Lucy xx

Disclaimer: these products were bought by me with my own money. photos taken from boots website.

Barry M giveaway in The Sun

hey guys, just wanted to let you know that the sun newspaper is giving away a Barry M makeup set to every reader of todays Buzz magazine. seems too good to miss!

Included in the set is a nail paint, a lip gloss and an eyeliner pencil, all in limited edition shades, and apparently worth over £9

Lucy xx

ELF all over colour sticks review

i recently did a big order fomr ELF (http://www.eyeslipsface.co.uk/) and the items i was most excited about in the order were the all over colour sticks, which i ordered in every shade.

i had first seen these in LOOK magazine, with the shade 'toasted' being compared to 3 other clour sticks, including the nars multiple. the elf one won. so i decided to try them. as is common with elf, the website swatches were terrible, and toasted was waaaaay too dark of a brown for me, but would do as an emergency cream shadow when used with a brush.

my favourite shades for cheeks are persimmon and . spotlight makes a really nice highlight colour and lilac petal gives a nice sheen to the lips along with pink lemonade

the formula its self is ok, they are bit hard, so best blended with a warm finger, but once they are on the stay for a long time and give a nice subtle colour.

have you tried these? do you like colour sticks in general?

Lucy, xx 

Elegant Touch nail polish stickers review

hey guys! a few days ago i mentioned in my 'bargainous beauty haul' post that i had picked up some elegant touch nail polish stickers from savers (they cost me about £3), to try and get the minx chrome look.

as i didnt pay much for them i was expecting them to be a bit of a nightmare to put on and not come out very well, but i'm actually really pleased with how they came out when i tried them tonight. they are simple enough to apply, and probably take less time than a normal manicure. my nails are in a terrible state from wearing polish non stop for a few months, so i'm hoping this will give them a bit of a break, though i didnt get the smoothest finish i dont mind that.

if you click the pic to enlarge, you will see it looks like there is a chip on my ring finger, but its actually just a refelction. i was a little dissapointed when i proudly went to show them off tonight my mum and sister said they were chavvy! what do they know anayway....

what do you think? are they chavvy? have you tried these or real minx?

i will keep you updated on how long they last for!

Love Lucy

Disclaimer: i bought this product myself with my own money.

Lush vanillary solid perfume review

if you follow my blog, you will know that i recently purchased the lush vanillary solid perfume, which was about £6 in my local lush store. 

it was reconmended by a friend and in the shop it was the nicest one of all that i sniffed (though i was sorely tempted by imogen rose)
when you first put it on, it smells a bit wierd, i can't describe the smell, its very sweet and a bit overpowring. but after a while it starts to mellow out and becomes really quite nice. its a transitional scent, you could wear it for day or for night, though i think i would be more likely to wear it in the daytime.

what do you think of Lush Vanillary? have you tried any other lush perfumes?

Love, Lucy