GlamGlow skincare - why putting mud on your face makes you sexy...

Mud... on your face? Gross, right? Don't be soft. I am not actually chatting about real dirty mud here, I am of course talking about the wonderful innovative 'mud' skin care treatment range from GlamGlow. They are marketing this to be a really big thing in the world of skin (an asset that we all own), so I think it would be silly to not give this a go.

GlamGlow has been hailed by celebrities such as Alexandra Burke (hmm...), Jordan Dunn (who?), and Rebecca Ferguson (babe) as a must have/must try skin care treatment. It was initially created for behind-the-scenes use in Hollywood, as a way to help all of the celebrities look camera ready. So yeah, if it's good enough for Hollywood, it's obviously good enough for me to have a crack.

The lovely and very fabulous lady Bonita, who does my nails at The Nail Base in Widnes, very kindly gave me a few sachets of GlamGlow mud to give a try. I was given 'Youth Mud: Tingle Exfoliate Treatment' and 'Super Mud: Clearing Treatment'.

So both the Youth Mud and the Super Mud are very similar in consistency; they are a thick, grey, clay like texture, which sounds pretty gross, but actually feels really nice on your skin. There is definitely something really satisfying about slathering your face in mud. Now, this can be quite messy, as I found it stuck to my fingers quite a lot, so it's maybe best to apply it over the sink... although my mum did go mad when she found mud all over the sink. Both sachets actually had a very generous amount of mud in each, which was also great considering how scantily companies usually give out samples - don't get me started on the sample sizes of Pantene Pro-V conditioner.

Bonita advised me to use the Youth Mud first (the black sachet) and then the Super Mud (white sachet) to finish up. This Youth Mud is a 'Tingle Exfoliating Treatment', which as well as offering multi-level exfoliation, also absorbs impurities and tightens and tones the skin. I assume the tingling is the treatment toning your skin, but I'm no skin expert so I'm actually not really sure... but whatever, it actually feels pretty nice. The tingling is a bit of a strange sensation at first - it feels a bit like putting lip plumping gloss on your face - but once you get used to it, it is quite a fresh feeling. Now, this treatment does make your face pretty stiff when it's sat on your face, so it is quite difficult to talk, smile or move your face in general; don't do what I did and try and eat an Indian takeaway with this mask on, it was not easy and not very pretty.

My wild Saturday night with GlamGlow

Youth Mud is also supposed to penetrate into deep layers of your skin, relieving and softening fine lines and wrinkles. As I am only 20, I obviously don't really need to use anti-aging products, but I guess prevention is the best cure. I was always put off using anything that was marketed to be anti-ageing, as I was convinced I would wake up the next morning looking about 5 years old. But no, silliness aside, using a product that works deep into your skin (regardless of what it is trying to do in there) does feel great and a does do a lot of good.

I left the mask on for around 15-20 minutes, and then washed it off over the sink. Even though the mask did go all hard and stiff on my face, it was pretty easy to remove. I just needed to apply water to rub it off, and then whack some makeup wipes over it to clean off the excess. After the treatment, my skin felt sooooooooo soft (count the 'o's, it was actually that soft), and really tight, fresh and glowing. I felt bloody lovely.

Next, onto the Super Mud. Although it does sound like a really bad super hero, it was a very nice treatment. It is a detoxifying mud mask that is intended to fight off all of the yucky skin problems we all have to endure. Super Mud declogs your pores, by pulling all of your face gunk out to the surface - you can actually see this as it dries, which is a bit gross, but actually really cool.

I look like I have a skin disease... but first, let me take a selfie

 Super Mud can be used as a full face mask, but it can also be used to target problem areas. I had a lovely pimple on the side of my face, which near enough disappeared after using this treatment. It took away all of the redness and inflammation, which was super great. Here are a few closer shots of the mask in action:

  As you can see, congestion is being pulled from my pores, especially around my nose. I left this on again for about 15-20 minutes, and removed it in the same way I did the Youth Mud. My skin again felt really soft, really fresh and really clean. It had also evened out my complexion and energised the overall tone of my skin. This is indeed a really great home treatment that does really work!

The only downside I found with this product is that a few days later I did find a few spots surfacing on my skin. I think this is only down to the fact that Super Mud dragged the impurities to the surface of my skin, so this may have allowed a few pimples to form. No big, I did the treatment again, but left it on for a good 30 minutes to rid the buggers and all was well again. I think the first time I did this treatment, I didn't actually leave it on for long enough, so the congestion in my pores was not fully removed.

You can purchase both of these treatments from the official GlamGlow website. Super mud is £44.99 for a 34g tub containing 17 treatments, and Youth mud is £44.99 for a 50g tub, which will probably get you around 25/30 treatments. You can also purchase these treatments from any local salon that stocks high end goods and products - GlamGlow does not provide any old salon with their product, so you will have to go to the very best to find it! I know that The Nail Base (of course) sells the products and is starting to do facials with GlamGlow. I will post their Facebook page below so you can keep updated if you are interested!

I have also posted a few links to the GlamGlow website if any of you keen ones want to read more about it!

Thanks for having a read everyone, I hope this was useful!

Tah x


Youth Mud:
http://www.glamglowmud.co.uk/glamglow/products/glamglow_face_mud_mask50/

Super Mud:
http://www.glamglowmud.co.uk/glamglow/products/glamglow_supermud_mask_34g/

The Nail Base:
https://www.facebook.com/theglitterranch?ref=ts&fref=ts

Easy guide to the perfect face makeup...

Hello again!

This is beginning to become a regular occurrence... Once again I'm sick of tirelessly writing about phallocentrism (the world's obsession with penises), so I have found myself wanting to blog about something a bit more lady-friendly.

Forget about this silly obsession with the male genitalia, for however long I can remember, girls have been obsessing over one thing and one thing alone; achieving flawless face makeup. Now I'm going to try and make this blog as simple and as accessible to everyone as possible, but I'm not going to lie to you all, the better your tools and materials, the better the end result will be.

I have always struggled to find the perfect foundation for my skin, and I have literally tried them all and never found one that I was really happy with. They were all either too thick, too thin, too gloopy, too orange, too white or rubbed off as soon as anything came into contact with my face. This Christmas, I decided to ask my mum to help me invest in a nicer and more professional brand. After trolling through Debenhams, I came across the BareMinerals counter and asked the lady to match some of the makeup to my skin tone - I fell IN LOVE. It literally feels so silky and so beautiful, and the coverage for a powdered mineral foundation is astonishing.

So for Christmas, my mum and dad bought me the BareMinerals starter kit, which looks a bit like this:

It includes 3 applicator brushes, a primer, a foundation, a bronzer, a veil, which is basically like a setting/blending powder, and 2 help guides (one is a DVD - how high tech). This all cost £45, which I think is pretty damn good for what you are getting, both in terms of quality and quantity. I think this was a special Christmas offer, but to my knowledge, the kit is usually priced around £50-60, which is still not too shabby. I can seriously recommend an investment!

Essentially, if you have good tools, like the BareMinerals starter kit, then you are well on your way to achieving flawless face makeup.

Where to begin? Well, make sure your skin is clean and thoroughly moisturised before you start - you can't create a masterpiece on a shit canvas! I also use Benefit's pore minimiser, see below, which is great if you have a holey crater face like mine. You don't need to apply much, just a light coating of there areas you feel your pores are most visible, e.g. nose, forehead, t-zone etc.

After applying my pore minimiser, I then use the BareMinerals primer in my starter kit. Only a pea sized amount is necessary to cover your whole face - you don't want to cake it.

That's skin prep done! I know it's a mish, but if you want to look flawless it takes a lot of effort. Next onto contouring - yawn, I know, but if you want to accentuate (or fake) your cheekbones, it is essential. Everyone's face shape is different, and we all want to accentuate and detract from different areas, but I think this diagram is simple enough to apply to everyone:

Basically, the lighter shades are areas you want to highlight, and the darker shades are areas you want to define - a good contour job can work miracles in terms of sculpturing your face. Here is my own personal attempt....

Yes, I look silly and gaunt and ridiculous, but a girl has to do what a girl has to do. I used an old foundation which I found thick enough to fake it as a concealer. I have quite a big forehead, which is why I chose to use the darker defining shades more in that area. To create the darker shading, I blended the foundation on my hand with Primark (yes Primark) bronzer, which I think cost me no more that £2. After a good blend, this is how may face was shaping up:

Notice how my cheekbones are quite prominent and the area above my brow is prepped to create a good arch when I fill them in - this will however come in another blog, sorry!

Now for the application of my BareMinerals makeup. It is hard to sufficiently describe application in words alone, so I filmed short snippets of myself putting it on; think a lot of buffing and brush strokes:

Next for bronzer. The application is again similar to the foundation, but we want to concentrate on the darker areas we previous contoured. I find the best way to apply this is using a sweeping number '3' motion down the side of my face. Here is a video to demonstrate:

Finally, we need to apply the veil to seal the makeup, and then we're good to go! I always spray a cheeky bit of hairspray on my face as well just to make sure it's all concrete!

So thanks for reading guys, I hope this helps some contour novices out there; it really does make a world of difference! My next blog should cover the rest of my makeup regime (brows and eyes) so keep a look out for that! x

How to cheat your way to the perfect henna tattoo...

Hello all!

Sorry I have been away for so long, I have been extremely busy getting back into the routine of University and lazy/drunken student life. So, in a terrible fit of essay procrastination, I decided I would write a cheeky little blog entry about something I have become a weeny bit obsessed with over the past few months: henna tattoos.

So, my obsession began in September when I went down to Nottingham to visit my good friend Amelia. I had wanted a henna tattoo for such a long time, and after doing a bit of research, I (strangely) found that there was a woman in Nottingham who did henna tattoos in the main shopping centre. This was the beautiful result of her labour:

She literally did that freehand in like 5/10 minutes and it only cost me £10; I was in awe really! I watched this woman at work, thinking: 'Man, this is easy! I could definitely have a good crack myself!'... haha, no. It is NOT easy. AT ALL. I think I must have taken for granted the fact that this woman was obviously of an Asian persuasion, and I am a cocky white girl from a wool province of Liverpool. So I had ordered some henna cones from eBay (I think they cost me around £5 for 6), and after several embarrassing attempts (which I am not even willing to share with you), I gave up. THAT'S IT. I will never be cultured.

But fear not! After a few weeks crying into my dirty henna stained hands, I finally stumbled across a solution: henna stencils! Oh my god! Perhaps the greatest gift the Asian continent has ever given to the hipster white girl. I discovered this glorious invention in Urban Outfitters, where I was waving a pottery henna hand ornament around the shop, moaning about the fact I was unable to achieve such an affect. A lovely woman with a gorgeous pixie haircut obviously thought I was embarrassing myself, and came over to me and told me about henna stencils! What a doll!

And here they are:

 You can get loads of different styles and patterns from different sellers on eBay, all ranging from about £2-£4 inc p&p. They are a bit fiddly, but once you get the hang of it, they are quite simple. You peel off the stencil, stick it on your hand, or wherever you want to paint, with the sticky side down and then you're good to go. I squirted out some henna from the cones and painted it on with a small makeup brush, as I found that was the best way to fill in the stencil. I found some of the hand stencils were quite small and didn't fit my hands, so I had to modify them slightly by cutting off the fingers (the ones on the stencils, not my own....) and sticking them on individually.

The application of the henna is really easy (and smells a bit like hair removal cream), but you have to let it partially dry before removing the stencil; henna is incredibly easy to smudge, believe me! But here is how it came out after my first attempt:

See! It looks flawless!... Apart from the remainders of my freehand attempts.... It even fades to a really nice colour too:

Henna does flake and crumble off after application to leave a more faded appearance as above, so don't panic if the paste comes off. The crumble is a pain though, my bed is now permanently covered in fake tan and henna crumbs. It is also important to carefully clean your henna stencils too if you are wanting to reuse them. The best way I found was to place them back on the stencil sheet and gently wipe off the remaining hard paste with a makeup wipe; that way you don't lose too much of the sticky back!

So, there we go guys! All is not lost for us henna failing white girls. We can look ethnic and interesting (and indie) now too with a bit of extra help! Please feel free to leave me any feedback, or ask me any questions about this or any of my other blogs.

Happy henna-ring!

P.S. I have ordered some loose costume glitters to experiment with my eye makeup, so I am starting to feel that for my next blog! Keep an eye out for that x