The Storage Issue....

While I was at Uni last year, I had the unexpected luxury of loads of storage space. I also had an enormous desk, which ran half the length of the room, which meant that I could have my makeup set up at one end, my TV at the other and still have enough space in the middle for all of my stationary and uni work stuff.

I had Perspex cups for my brushes and pencils, a letter organiser for my palettes, and a brilliant setup with my airbrush system, with the compressor stored on a shelf above the desk, with the hose and gun coming down only when I needed it. It was perfect. Even though the majority of my products were stored in the drawers under the desk, (in easy reach) they were just thrown in drawer organisers and at the time I didn't feel they were that well organised. How wrong I was!

Having spent several weeks looking for somewhere new to live for my second year of university, I have realised that I will probably never have such good storage opportunities again, and this led me to look for a better solution.

I've spent all morning trawling the net for big train cases, that not only would allow me to transport my collection very easily, but that I could also work out of, storing my makeup in it all the time, but easily accessing products I use every day.

I drew a blank. I found this incredibly frustrating, as I’m sure the product I’m looking for exists out there somewhere! I ended up designing my dream train case, and now I’m wondering if there is anyone I could commission to make it for me, and how much it would cost....

Basically it would be a big trolley case, but instead of having stacking sections like most train cases seem to have, it would open out to reveal drawers.

The drawers would be divided up in different ways....

I'm well aware of how sad this makes me look! I'm hoping my fellow beauty addicts will understand!

Having designed this, I now NEED it in my life!! Does anyone know of a similar product?

Having googled around a bit, I've found a few cases that would work, but none of them are availible to me in the UK *sadface*

The Muriel Location Station is perfection, but only availble to you lucky Aussies! you can find it here

It goes from looking like this, to....

THIS object of ridiculous beauty!

I also found this beauty, but the website didnt show prices or how/where to buy!

How do you store your makeup??

What's in My Travel Makeup Bag?

I did a post on this last year, shortly before I went to Turkey with my family. At the time I wrote that I wouldn't be bringing any makeup with me on my subsequent trip to Uganda, which is something I later regretted.  My general makeup routine has changed quite a lot in the past year too, so I wanted to do an updated post on what I will be taking with me to Uganda when I set off this evening.

Much of my everyday makeup routine is made up of MAC products, and though I actually only have ten MAC makeup items and three brushes, most of them were carefully chosen to be part of my daily routine, so that I get maximum use out of them.

Face products: Bobbi Brown Natural Finish Long Lasting Foundation SPF15 in shade 0, Porcelain. (£29, here), MAC Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation in shade NC15 (£19.50, here), MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light (£20.50, here), MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Lightscapade, from the Reel Sexy collection (£21.50, here), MAC Blush in shade Fleur Power (£17.50, here), Benefit High Beam (£18.50, here), Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in shade 1, Fair (£4.19, here)

Eye products: MAC Paintpot in Rubenesque (£14.50, here), Maybelline Colour Tattoo eyeshadow in On and On Bronze (£4.99, here), MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack (£14.00, here), Sleek i-Divine palette in Au Naturel (£6.49, here), Maybelline Volum' Express The One By One Mascara in Black (£8.49, here)

I haven't pictured any lip products as I haven't quite decided which ones I'm taking, but I will definitely be taking some of my Revlon Lip Butters. (£5.99, here)

Going to be MIA

Just to let you know, that all posts after this one (in fact, incuding this one) have been written in advance and  scheduled because I'm leaving today, to teach in Uganda. If you are interested in reading about my time there you can, here. Blogging from Uganda is do-able but beauty blogging is far less so, as the only internet access I will have is via an internet cafe, and so uploading pictures is virtually impossible.

If you are interested in volunteering, the organisation I used last year can be found here. In my opinion they aren't all that great, but they are vary low cost compared to other programmes and they will get you a placement. A very good organisation that I have seen in action but is more costly (you really DO get what you pay for with these things) can be found here.

If you are interested in the specific project that I will be working at, whether for volunteering, donating, sponsoring a child, or just for more information, you can find their website here.

I am planning to have posts appearing twice a week, on mondays and thursdays. Hope you enjoy!

Muji/Travel Haul!

I know that this isn't strictly beauty related, but I love watching travel videos from beauty gurus on youtube, and I'm so excited about my trip that I couldn't resist posting this!

When I'm packing for a trip I love to organise all of my stuff, I'm a bit of an organisation freak! I have loads of different little pouches that I use for all kinds of stuff, from makeup to medicines.

The big white case is a medium Tarpaulin Cosmeic Case from Muji (£3.95, here) which I'm planning to use to transport my shower gel and conditioner just in case they leak in transit, as this is waterproof. It should also be pretty useful for transporting wet clothes/bikinis after trips to the lake and stuff. There is a custom in Uganda of never allowing people to see your underwear (even when you're not wearing it!), so once you have washed your clothes, there is a definite possibility of having to wait a while to dry them. 

These flat pouches are useful for so many things. The mesh ones I will probably use for my first aid and sterile kits, which are pretty huge. The kids at the school I am going to be working in often always have health problems, and trips to hospital with your students are frequent. Last time I was there I was one of the only qualified first aiders, and ended up taking about 10 children to hospital in 7 weeks. Having my kit to treat minor problems in these mesh pouches means that I can see easily what is in there, and makes everything quicker. They are Large Nylon Mesh Cases, also from Muji (£2.95 each, here). The floral pouch was £1.50 from Primark and will probably end up being used to transport my Tangle Teezer and hairbands.

I bought the Large Hanging Travel Washbag (£11.95, here) because I realised that despite having loads of pouches I don't actually own a washbag! We won't actually have bathrooms in Uganda per-se, but there is a little shower cubicle in the corner of each room, with a few nails in the wall, so this should be really useful as I will be able to keep all of my stuff off the floor, and at eye level. this has loads of compartments so I should be able to further organise everything as I pack! 

I learned some good lessons about travelling when I went to Uganda last summer, and many of those lessons related to what you should and shouldn't bring! As I was flying alone for the first time I was very conscious of the fact that I needed to look after my passport and travel documents. I had a little cardboard folder that was provided by the agent I booked my flights through, which I kept everything in. The problem was that it was only really designed to hold a couple of sheets of paper, not a bulky passport and other important documents! This Muji Purple Passport Case (£9.95, here) should be much more suitable, and has enough room for my passport, tickets, cash, cards, even my keys and a pen!

The last thing I bought in my little travel accessories spree is a free standing mirror from good ol' Poundland. Last year the only makeup I took with me was a limited edition Sleek palette that wouldn't be availible when I got back that I bought on the way to the airport. I thought that as I was doing charity work it wasn't a holiday and I wouldnt have any reason to get glammed up. Was I ever wrong! Every friday saw us go out to a local club to dance, and when I was staying with my cousin in the capital I went to some of the most glamorous places I've ever been! I ended up buying eyeliner and mascara while I was there as I didn't want to be walking into casinos and posh restaurants looking like a scruffy backpacker! Anyway, lesson learned. This time, I'm definitely bringing some makeup!! So I bought this mirror as they were in seriously short supply at the lodge, and they were not free standing. For £1, this will do the job nicely! 

explaining my absence and FOTD

hey lovely ladies!!

as previously mentioned i have been away travelling which is why my beauty blog hasn't seen any action at all for the past 2 months, but i'm back now and i plan to be blogging as usual, though there may be some slight interruptions as i'm starting uni next week, so there will be plenty to distract me! i wanted to share with you a couple of photo's from my trip and also (just to make it beuaty related!) to do a quick EOTD as well. i pruchased the MUA pro heaven and earth palette after seeing it on Fleur's blog, and i used it to create this look. it really is a beautiful palette and she was comparing it to the naked palette which i dont own so i can't comment but it is certainly very nice.

as always i had trouble photographing this look but i did my best, so please be kind about it! i am planning to get some help with my photography (ie, get someone to take pictures of my face for me) when i go to uni, but when i'm at home there is never anyone around to help me, so i have to try and take pictures on my own. product photography isnt a problem for me, but for F/EOTD's i really need someone to shoot for me.

face: barry m foundation cream in white, bobbi brown foundation in porcelain, ruby and millie blush stick (sorry i dont know the shade!!)

eyes: MUA pro heaven and earth palette, max factor liquid effect pencil in black, max factor false lash effect mascara fusion in black

lips: collection 2000 cream puff lip creme in Angel delight

just to finish, i want to show you some snaps of my trip! i was volunteering in a school, so working with kids every day, but i did take a little bit of time out to go on a gorilla safari and white water rafting on the nile!!

this is one of my best gorilla shots. we were standing only about 3 metres from this guy, and he was a big silverback male. gorilla tracking was the most amazing thing i've ever done, and so worth the effort of getting there!



this picture was taken at summer camp when the summer holidays had started. it's illegal to educate the children in the holidays so we were restricted to purely fun activities, which included face painting!!

i hope you've all had great summers, have YOU been away anywhere?

love, lucy xxx

Whats in my Travel Makeup Bag?

hey girls, so it's no secret that i'm going travelling at the beginning of next month, but before i go off on my volunteering trip, i'm going on a family holiday to Turkey, where i will be staying on a yacht.

i am hoping hat this trip will be a little more glamourous than my volunteering trip, so i will be bringing a few cosmetics items. below is a photo of everything laid out, with brushes ad tools in the top left, face products in the top right, eyes in the bottom left and lips in the bottom right. it looks like a lot but it all fits into a fairly small makeup bag (minus my ELF HD powder whihc comes in a huge box)

please click for a larger image!!

ok, so going from left to right, top to bottom we have:

the eco tools foundation brush (which i use to apply my white Barry M foundation creme as a base to my actual founation)
eco tools finishing kabuki (which i use for my 'actual' bobbi brown foundation)
a crease brush from my fraulien 38 brush roll
a retractable lip brush fro the same brush roll
a No7 'precision eyeliner brush' which i use for my brows
a generic flat shader brush
a No7 eyeshadow blendng brush from a setat christmas a whle ago
NYC eyelash curlers

Bobbi brown foundation SPF 15 in shade 0, Porcelain
Barry M Foundation creme in White
Bobbi brown Pot Rouge in shade 21, Cabo Coral (makes a nice lip colour too)
Ruby and Millie cheek colour in C33, Orange (but its actually red and doubles as a nice matte lip colour)
ELF HD Powder

Rimmel colour mousse in 006, Get Fresh
Ruby and Millie eye base
Max factor Smokey eye effect eyeshadow in Bronze Haze
Collection 2000 eXtreme 24 hour felt tip liner in Black
GOSH eyeliner pencil in Black
Max Factor False lash effect fusion; volume and length mascara in Black
Sleek Storm Palette

Ruby and Millie lip gloss in Clear
17 mirror shine lipstic in shade Plum Perfection
and Nivea sooth and protect lip balm with SPF 12

so thats my travel makep bag! too much? what's in YOURS?

all packed and ready to go!

Love, Lucy xxx

Follow my adventures in Uganda!

hey lovelies!

some of you may know, but next moneth i'm going to Uganda to work in a primary school for 2 months.

if you want to follow my journey and keep up with what i'm doing, check out my uganda blog at 123lucylovesbeauty.blogspot.com

love you all! xx

Girls, I Need Your Suggestions!

this is a little different, but this is something close to my heart.on July 11th, i'm going to Uganda for 8 weeks to work in a primary school as a volunteer teacher.

I am flying with BA and while their luggage allowance is ok (23kg, or 32 if you pay £40), i will be wanting to bring as much play and school equipment as physically possible, so my own stuff is going to have to be kept to a minimum. as i'm staying for so long, obviously i will be wasing my clothes so that is not such a worry, but cosmetic items cannot really be replaced once they run out.

this means that i'm looking for small and lightwieght versions of the essentials. I will be bringing a very small makeup bag just in case we go on any nights our or something (there will be other young volunteers there too!) but otherwise, it's simply essentials.

last year i did a trip to Tanzania for just 12 days and i brought SO much pointless stuff, but there were also some things i really missed (like a nail brush as i was working on a building site!)

so, i need your help. alternative, smaller, lighter essential toiletries and cosmetics???

just to get you inspired, and because i hate a post with no photo, here are some pictures of me in Tanzania last year at an orphanage called Upendo (Love)

Lucy, xx

P.S i will be creating a Uganda blog, updates on that to come if you want to follow my journey! xx