Hm. This is a bit out of my usual blogging comfort-zone, so bear with me.
I love eyeshadow. I love to draw attention to what I believe is good about my appearance. I've said it before, but I believe in accentuating and highlighting, NOT disguising and hiding. If you're focusing on the negative, I believe that you're already setting off on the wrong foot. Absolutely nobody looks perfect, and nobody should! It is human nature to have features we aren't crazy about, it's universal. Knowing this, knowing that nobody absolutely adores everything about their appearance, why are we so concerned about our minor flaws?
I guess what I want to write about today is perspective. Last year, what got me thinking about it was when Jennifer Lawrence was quoted as saying that she wanted to be "fit and healthy". It might seem odd, but I can't remember many instances of this before. I've heard of a hundred actresses talking about how they were losing weight, or gaining weight. I've read about singers talking about their curves and how they're not ashamed of them. That's not a bad thing, as such, but it's still fairly superficial.
Given that Christmas has just come and gone, diets seem to be rife among my friends at the moment. There was a smoothie diet, the 5-2 diet, carb-free diets and various branded plans. I despair - not because they're pointless, but because I don't believe in making drastic changes to your eating habits. It is impossible to maintain long term, which means that when you eventually go back to 'eating normally', some weight will immediately go back on. The fact is, if you just want to be slimmer for an event, then fine, go for a faddy diet plan, lost your weight, then stick it back on later. Personally, I could probably stand to lose a few pounds, but I'm not overweight, and more importantly, I'm not unhealthy. Rather than counting calories and excluding food groups, I value switching to slightly smaller portions, and a shifting the ratio of my healthy:unhealthy snacks/meals. Equally, as damaging as it can be to totally exclude a food group, I think it's just as bad to CONSTANTLY talk about the food you "can't" eat. The bigger the deal you make of it, the more it plays on your mind.
I realise that for the most part, this post was nothing to do with makeup. But I really hope that some of you enjoyed it, or at least found it useful. Maybe you disagreed with everything I said- is that you? Let me know what you think, in the comments, or tweet me at @CharleyShadow ! I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Thanks for stopping by, lovelies!
Seeya again soon!
Charley x
Tuesday 28 January 2014
Sunday 26 January 2014
Payday Beauty Gifts (from me, to me)!
Well, I got paid last week, so it stands to reason that THIS week, I would have some lovely beauty treats in my ammo.
I went shopping in Cardiff yesterday, and stocked up on a few staple items that I go back to again and again, including the Cucumber daily facial scrub, the essential makeup remover wipes (I usually go for the cucumber ones, but they were out of stock, so I grabbed the plain) and the cucumber eye makeup remover pads. Although I LOVE this range, I've not actually tried the pads before- first impression is that they're a tad oily-feeling (not a big fan of that) but they DO get the job done.
I went shopping in Cardiff yesterday, and stocked up on a few staple items that I go back to again and again, including the Cucumber daily facial scrub, the essential makeup remover wipes (I usually go for the cucumber ones, but they were out of stock, so I grabbed the plain) and the cucumber eye makeup remover pads. Although I LOVE this range, I've not actually tried the pads before- first impression is that they're a tad oily-feeling (not a big fan of that) but they DO get the job done.
As I was going for a night out, I picked up a Goody 'Simple Styles Bun Spiral' (top right of photo). It's basically a big metal coil with a diameter of 2-3 inches. You sling your hair back into a ponytail, wrap it/twist it into a bun, and twist the spiral into it, in a clockwise direction. I did mine with a pretty loose bun, and I've used a couple of hairpins to control any crazy flyaways, but this is literally a two-minute messy updo. THOROUGHLY recommend. I just know I'm going to use this on the daily.
As you can see from the photo, I also picked up a couple of cheeky Urban Decay treats, but I'm testing out the B6 spray for a few weeks before I go into any detail about that. I also want to see if any long-term use of the 'De-Slick' mattifying powder will have any repercussions on the drier patches of my face.
What have you treated yourself to this January? Let me know in the comments, or tweet me at @CharleyShadow :)
Seeya next time beauties, thanks for popping along!
Charley xx
Monday 20 January 2014
A Two-For-One Treat: I'm Going Bold!
Hello there lovelies!
Okie dokie, let's not mess about, the time has finally come for me to roll up my sleeves and crack on with a tutorial.
As I've been a bit naughty, and done three different posts with zero eyeshadow looks, I've decided to do a bit of a bargain for you, with a TWO FOR ONE tutorial, mostly using the Urban Decay Vice Palette (original).
The theme of today's two-for-one will be 'Ways To Go Bold'.
The basis of each look is the same, but when we get to that last 10%, I'm going to give you a couple of cheeky options to decide between to change it up!
So here are our options (try to ignore my crazy hair):
Right- I started with my Urban Decay Primer Potion (anti-aging), and covered my eyelids, browbones and undereyes.
Using my e.l.f. angled contour brush, I took 'Laced' from the Vice (original) and swept it across the crease, as a transition for the smokey magic that is to come!
After this, I applied a light layer of 'Desperation' - a smokey brownish-grey to the crease and outer V, and blended out to a soft finish using my e.l.f. eyeshadow 'C' brush. I LOVE this brush for blending and buffing out harsh edges- it is a DREAM to work with!
Using a dense eyeshadow crease brush (bought YEARS ago at H&M, not entirely sure if they still stock it, but I love it!) I dabbed a tiny dot of 'Black Market' into the crease and outer V to create a more slightly more defined cat-eye shape, then further blended out any harsh lines.
I took my e.l.f. small stipple brush, and used it to apply my e.l.f. HD blush in 'Headliner' for a soft, understated flush of colour on the cheeks.
This is the point at which we decide whether we're rocking a bold lip or eye. Thus far, the eye is fairly neutral, with no shadow on the inner two thirds of the lid.
Route 1: Apply 'Echo Beach' to the inner corner, and blend out to 'Nevermind' in the centre of the lid. Crack out the boldest, brightest lip colour that you have in your arsenal - I went for my Urban Decay (I know, surprise surprise) Super Saturated High Gloss Lip crayon in 'F-Bomb', a classic red. If you fancied doing this in matte, you could opt for the UD 24/7 lip pencil in '69'. Finish off your eyes with lashings of your mascara of choice, a dash of eyeliner (as IF you even need to guess which brand of eyeliner I used) and you are DONE!
Here are the final results of Route 1...
Route 2: First we need a bright eye colour to fill in that inner/middle section of the lid. I'm sure you know that the Vice Palette has a whole myriad of options, from a glittery hot pink ('Noise') to the most outrageous electric blue you've ever seen ('Chaos'). But I'm trying to move out of my comfort zone here, and I recently picked up the pressed-powder-insanity that is Sugarpill's Buttercupcake, a vivid matte, mustard-esque yellow.
I smudged on a little of my NYX jumbo eye pencil in 'Milk' for a solid, white base, and using a precision eye brush, I patted Buttercupcake onto the inner two-thirds of the eye, and blended into the edges of the darker crease/outer V colours. As ever, the mascara and liquid/pencil liner combo finish this look off beautifully. If you curl your eyelashes, I imagine this is when you would do so- my own lashes are fairly long with a decent amount of curl naturally, so I've never curled mine, and as such, am not much of an expert.
My go-to neutral lip choice of late is my Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balmstain in 'Honey'. This is a beautiful dusky pink with the perfect amount of understated shine.
So! After all that hard work- this is where Route 2 brings us...
The looks obviously aren't HUGELY different, due to them being based on the same fundamental products, but I love them for different reasons; I think a statement lip always looks glamorous; but who doesn't love a fierce eye look?
Which is your favourite? I'd love to know your thoughts!
If you have any 2-4-1 ideas you'd like to see, let me know! Two ways to rock glitter? Two easy Valentine's looks? Let me know, either in the comments below, or on Twitter using the hashtag #241- you can find me at @CharleyShadow !
I hope you enjoyed this post!
Seeya again soon lovelies!
Charley
xxx
Okie dokie, let's not mess about, the time has finally come for me to roll up my sleeves and crack on with a tutorial.
As I've been a bit naughty, and done three different posts with zero eyeshadow looks, I've decided to do a bit of a bargain for you, with a TWO FOR ONE tutorial, mostly using the Urban Decay Vice Palette (original).
The theme of today's two-for-one will be 'Ways To Go Bold'.
The basis of each look is the same, but when we get to that last 10%, I'm going to give you a couple of cheeky options to decide between to change it up!
So here are our options (try to ignore my crazy hair):
 |
| Route 1: Smokey eye with a bold red lip |
 |
| Route 2: Neutral lip with a bold smokey eye (yellow) |
Right- I started with my Urban Decay Primer Potion (anti-aging), and covered my eyelids, browbones and undereyes.
 |
| e.l.f. angled contour brush and 'Laced'. |
After this, I applied a light layer of 'Desperation' - a smokey brownish-grey to the crease and outer V, and blended out to a soft finish using my e.l.f. eyeshadow 'C' brush. I LOVE this brush for blending and buffing out harsh edges- it is a DREAM to work with!
 |
| Applying 'Desperation' with the eyeshadow 'C' brush |
Using a dense eyeshadow crease brush (bought YEARS ago at H&M, not entirely sure if they still stock it, but I love it!) I dabbed a tiny dot of 'Black Market' into the crease and outer V to create a more slightly more defined cat-eye shape, then further blended out any harsh lines.
I took my e.l.f. small stipple brush, and used it to apply my e.l.f. HD blush in 'Headliner' for a soft, understated flush of colour on the cheeks.
This is the point at which we decide whether we're rocking a bold lip or eye. Thus far, the eye is fairly neutral, with no shadow on the inner two thirds of the lid.
Route 1: Apply 'Echo Beach' to the inner corner, and blend out to 'Nevermind' in the centre of the lid. Crack out the boldest, brightest lip colour that you have in your arsenal - I went for my Urban Decay (I know, surprise surprise) Super Saturated High Gloss Lip crayon in 'F-Bomb', a classic red. If you fancied doing this in matte, you could opt for the UD 24/7 lip pencil in '69'. Finish off your eyes with lashings of your mascara of choice, a dash of eyeliner (as IF you even need to guess which brand of eyeliner I used) and you are DONE!
Here are the final results of Route 1...
Route 2: First we need a bright eye colour to fill in that inner/middle section of the lid. I'm sure you know that the Vice Palette has a whole myriad of options, from a glittery hot pink ('Noise') to the most outrageous electric blue you've ever seen ('Chaos'). But I'm trying to move out of my comfort zone here, and I recently picked up the pressed-powder-insanity that is Sugarpill's Buttercupcake, a vivid matte, mustard-esque yellow.
I smudged on a little of my NYX jumbo eye pencil in 'Milk' for a solid, white base, and using a precision eye brush, I patted Buttercupcake onto the inner two-thirds of the eye, and blended into the edges of the darker crease/outer V colours. As ever, the mascara and liquid/pencil liner combo finish this look off beautifully. If you curl your eyelashes, I imagine this is when you would do so- my own lashes are fairly long with a decent amount of curl naturally, so I've never curled mine, and as such, am not much of an expert.
My go-to neutral lip choice of late is my Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balmstain in 'Honey'. This is a beautiful dusky pink with the perfect amount of understated shine.
So! After all that hard work- this is where Route 2 brings us...
 |
| How perfect is that Revlon Balmstain for a neutral lip? |
 |
| I love the contrast of the yellow shadow and UD's jet-black 'Perversion' liquid liner. |
The looks obviously aren't HUGELY different, due to them being based on the same fundamental products, but I love them for different reasons; I think a statement lip always looks glamorous; but who doesn't love a fierce eye look?
Which is your favourite? I'd love to know your thoughts!
If you have any 2-4-1 ideas you'd like to see, let me know! Two ways to rock glitter? Two easy Valentine's looks? Let me know, either in the comments below, or on Twitter using the hashtag #241- you can find me at @CharleyShadow !
I hope you enjoyed this post!
Seeya again soon lovelies!
Charley
xxx
Sunday 19 January 2014
Makeup Confession: Foundation
Okay. Here it is, confession time...
*deep breath*
I hate wearing foundation.
I hate choosing foundation. I hate putting on foundation. In Winter, I hate being afraid to blow my nose BECAUSE I'm wearing foundation. In Summer I hate being afraid that it's going to melt off my face.
I do not like it at all.
On top of this, I'm like a chameleon- the colour and pigmentation of my skin appears to be in a constant state of flux. If it's a sunny day, I could be outside for 10 minutes and I'll go back inside a different colour than I went out. If I'm feeling a bit run down, my skin goes all ghostly and anaemic looking. When I DO buy foundations, I ALWAYS swatch them on my skin, but they NEVER seem to look the same at home.
I currently own three different foundations, two are Urban Decay Naked Skin liquid foundation in 4.0 (approximately my average colouring) and 6.0 (for Summer) and the other is a Body Shop Extra Virgin Minerals loose powder foundation in '208 Golden Vanilla'.
It's not that they're BAD foundations, or even that they look bad, I just hate looking in the mirror and knowing that what I can see isn't my skin, because it makes me feel like I'm wearing a mask, which is absolutely NOT the reason I love makeup.
I only tend to choose to wear these if my skin is doing its ghost thing, or I've been unwell and my colouring's all blotchy. Sometimes I'll wear foundation because I've done a really dramatic eye makeup for an event, and the rest of my face just needs to fall more in line with that, but I still resent feeling like I need to. *sigh*
There are girls on YouTube with complexions that seem beautiful and airbrushed before their foundation even touches their skin. I would love to have that. What I do have are three foundations that I resent owning, and two product-specific foundation brushes whose price tags made my eyes well up as I handed over the cash.
Don't get me wrong, they're good brushes. I especially LOVE the Body Shop brush for the powder foundation, but I wear the product so rarely that it seems cruel to have such a lovely brush and not use it. A male friend of mine recently blogged about owning too many shoes, and said he wondered if it was like in Toy Story, where all the neglected ones feel unloved. I feel this way about my makeup brushes. Do they peep out of my makeup bag, wondering if I will ever love them, being rewarded only by the briefest contact, when I begrudgingly sweep product I wish I didn't want onto my face with brushes I'm angry for owning?
I think I might be overthinking this.
Anyway, I hope that this confession/review/mental breakdown has been relatively informative. If you DO enjoy owning and wearing foundations, I thoroughly recommend that you try the ones I've mentioned, so that you can perhaps give them a better home than I have! Like I said, they're great products that totally serve their purpose, but my favourite everyday complexion-baby will always be my UD Naked Skin Beauty Balm!
What's your secret makeup shame? Please share in the comments below! I'm hoping I'm not the only beauty heretic!
*deep breath*
I hate wearing foundation.
I hate choosing foundation. I hate putting on foundation. In Winter, I hate being afraid to blow my nose BECAUSE I'm wearing foundation. In Summer I hate being afraid that it's going to melt off my face.
I do not like it at all.
On top of this, I'm like a chameleon- the colour and pigmentation of my skin appears to be in a constant state of flux. If it's a sunny day, I could be outside for 10 minutes and I'll go back inside a different colour than I went out. If I'm feeling a bit run down, my skin goes all ghostly and anaemic looking. When I DO buy foundations, I ALWAYS swatch them on my skin, but they NEVER seem to look the same at home.
I currently own three different foundations, two are Urban Decay Naked Skin liquid foundation in 4.0 (approximately my average colouring) and 6.0 (for Summer) and the other is a Body Shop Extra Virgin Minerals loose powder foundation in '208 Golden Vanilla'.
I only tend to choose to wear these if my skin is doing its ghost thing, or I've been unwell and my colouring's all blotchy. Sometimes I'll wear foundation because I've done a really dramatic eye makeup for an event, and the rest of my face just needs to fall more in line with that, but I still resent feeling like I need to. *sigh*
There are girls on YouTube with complexions that seem beautiful and airbrushed before their foundation even touches their skin. I would love to have that. What I do have are three foundations that I resent owning, and two product-specific foundation brushes whose price tags made my eyes well up as I handed over the cash.
 |
| UD Good Karma Optical Blurring Brush & The Body Shop Extra Virgin Minerals Powder Foundation Brush |
I think I might be overthinking this.
Anyway, I hope that this confession/review/mental breakdown has been relatively informative. If you DO enjoy owning and wearing foundations, I thoroughly recommend that you try the ones I've mentioned, so that you can perhaps give them a better home than I have! Like I said, they're great products that totally serve their purpose, but my favourite everyday complexion-baby will always be my UD Naked Skin Beauty Balm!
What's your secret makeup shame? Please share in the comments below! I'm hoping I'm not the only beauty heretic!
Tuesday 14 January 2014
My New Year Favourites!
Howdy!
Strictly speaking, some of these would be December favourites, and others would be January. Nevertheless, I've decided to take a sort of "as the mood takes me" approach to the whole 'Favourites' posts. As much as I love all of the YouTubers /bloggers I'm subscribed to, I sometimes feel like I'm watching the conveyor-belt round of The Generation Game, only instead of cuddly toys, it's reams of outrageously exotic products whose price tags have no correlation with my budget. For that slightly over-explained reason, I have no intention of keeping to any kind of schedule with my favourites or 'hauls'.
Anyway, over the course of the festive season, I did accumulate some cheeky little treasures that I highly recommend.
First up is the e.l.f. HD blush. THIS, is a total gem. There are (I believe) five shades to choose from. The one pictured is 'Diva', which -as I'm sure you can see- is hot pink. It's very bright, and CRAZILY highly pigmented, so you have to go in pretty lightly. Perfect for an eye-catching evening look, it couldn't be more aptly named. I also bought this product in 'Headliner', which is a vastly more daytime-friendly pale pink. I have a slightly more comprehensive video overview, on my Tumblr feed, which you can find here!
Our next guest is the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in 'Honey', which is a mouthful in more ways than one. I ADORE this product. For jazzing up your daytime no-makeup-makeup, or a subtle addition to a more glam evening look, I really feel like I've found one of those wonderful products that I'll buy time and time again.
At this point, I need to make a small revision to something I said in my first post. I said that I didn't feel that "makeup is a staple", and I don't want that to be misconstrued as "I think people who wear makeup every day are vain". I'd like to revise it to the following:
I personally don't feel the inclination to wear a full face of makeup every day. MOST days I will wear eyeliner and mascara; often I will accompany that with a little bit of blusher and lip balm, tinted or otherwise. SOMETIMES, if I have time and the mood takes me, I will make a real effort and do a full face. Like I said, makeup for me is a plaything, and how much I wear is directly in line with how 'playful' I'm feeling!
Anyway, onwards and upwards!
In my first post, I said that my favourite eyeliner as a teen was an electric blue one. As an adult, the love affair with bright blue tones has reached out and engulfed all things turquoise. Who wouldn't LOVE this Maybelline Color Tattoo in 'Turquoise Forever'? Even putting it on, I felt like a mermaid. It was a magical experience. This is the perfect cream base to several GORRRRRRRRGEOUS blue/turquoise/green powder shadows I own, and makes for a vivid look.
Next up, ladies and gentlemen...
Ahhhh, how could the mothership not get a mention? The wonderful people at Urban Decay clearly knew that I was looking for some wearable everyday eyeshadows when they were creating the glorious Naked 3 palette. It seems to have had something of a love/hate reception in the blogosphere, due to the rose-gold pigmentation of the shades. For me, TOTAL, 100% 'love'. I'm not that much of a brush-snob, so having the double-ended UD brush in the ultra-slender palette means that this baby lives in my handbag so that I can do my makeup quickly when I'm on the move! I was surprised that I was able to get such a variety of looks from this, considering that basically all of the shadows are pink-tinted neutrals.
Last up- Christmas gifts from Mr Charley. Whilst I strongly suspect that he walked up to Nails Inc. in Debenhams, swept the contents of an entire shelf into a basket and headed to the checkout, I totally appreciate that he knew exactly which counter to go to, and which shelf to sweep. I audibly squealed on Christmas day when I opened these:
These are hands-down, some of THE most beautiful nail varnishes that I have ever put onto my nails. Many of them have only needed one coat, and every single one that I've tried out so far has looked stunning when locked between the Kensington Caviar base & top coats (duo on the right).
That's about it for this little 'Favourites' post. I hope you've enjoyed! If you did, then I'd be much obliged if you'd spread the word and share the blog post with the world/social media!
I'd love to hear what your New Year favourites are! By all means, comment below or holler at me on Twitter ( you can find me at @CharleyShadow :)
I hope to see you again soon! Stay beautiful!
Char
-x-
Strictly speaking, some of these would be December favourites, and others would be January. Nevertheless, I've decided to take a sort of "as the mood takes me" approach to the whole 'Favourites' posts. As much as I love all of the YouTubers /bloggers I'm subscribed to, I sometimes feel like I'm watching the conveyor-belt round of The Generation Game, only instead of cuddly toys, it's reams of outrageously exotic products whose price tags have no correlation with my budget. For that slightly over-explained reason, I have no intention of keeping to any kind of schedule with my favourites or 'hauls'.
Anyway, over the course of the festive season, I did accumulate some cheeky little treasures that I highly recommend.
Our next guest is the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in 'Honey', which is a mouthful in more ways than one. I ADORE this product. For jazzing up your daytime no-makeup-makeup, or a subtle addition to a more glam evening look, I really feel like I've found one of those wonderful products that I'll buy time and time again.
At this point, I need to make a small revision to something I said in my first post. I said that I didn't feel that "makeup is a staple", and I don't want that to be misconstrued as "I think people who wear makeup every day are vain". I'd like to revise it to the following:
I personally don't feel the inclination to wear a full face of makeup every day. MOST days I will wear eyeliner and mascara; often I will accompany that with a little bit of blusher and lip balm, tinted or otherwise. SOMETIMES, if I have time and the mood takes me, I will make a real effort and do a full face. Like I said, makeup for me is a plaything, and how much I wear is directly in line with how 'playful' I'm feeling!
Anyway, onwards and upwards!
Next up, ladies and gentlemen...
Ahhhh, how could the mothership not get a mention? The wonderful people at Urban Decay clearly knew that I was looking for some wearable everyday eyeshadows when they were creating the glorious Naked 3 palette. It seems to have had something of a love/hate reception in the blogosphere, due to the rose-gold pigmentation of the shades. For me, TOTAL, 100% 'love'. I'm not that much of a brush-snob, so having the double-ended UD brush in the ultra-slender palette means that this baby lives in my handbag so that I can do my makeup quickly when I'm on the move! I was surprised that I was able to get such a variety of looks from this, considering that basically all of the shadows are pink-tinted neutrals.
Last up- Christmas gifts from Mr Charley. Whilst I strongly suspect that he walked up to Nails Inc. in Debenhams, swept the contents of an entire shelf into a basket and headed to the checkout, I totally appreciate that he knew exactly which counter to go to, and which shelf to sweep. I audibly squealed on Christmas day when I opened these:
These are hands-down, some of THE most beautiful nail varnishes that I have ever put onto my nails. Many of them have only needed one coat, and every single one that I've tried out so far has looked stunning when locked between the Kensington Caviar base & top coats (duo on the right).
That's about it for this little 'Favourites' post. I hope you've enjoyed! If you did, then I'd be much obliged if you'd spread the word and share the blog post with the world/social media!
I'd love to hear what your New Year favourites are! By all means, comment below or holler at me on Twitter ( you can find me at @CharleyShadow :)
I hope to see you again soon! Stay beautiful!
Char
-x-
Let's start as we mean to go on, shall we?
Right, so now I have a beauty blog.
If you haven't followed me on Tumblr or Twitter yet... well, frankly it's not that surprising, because I currently only have about 30 followers... but that's not the point. If you've not yet followed me, you probably don't know who I am. So let's start there.
My name is Charley, I've just turned 27, and I'm from Cardiff, in South Wales. I have a younger sister, who is hilarious and beautiful in equal measure, and a boyfriend whose patience astounds me.
'Why makeup?' you ask. Well, I'll tell you why. When I was younger, I was ALWAYS the shortest in the class, I had perpetually frizzy hair (that hasn't changed, to be honest), I thought my nose was too long, and a crooked tooth that I hated (I still have it, and our relationship hasn't improved much). I had a few issues with my appearance, and as I got older, a lot of them stuck with me. When the other girls started looking like young women, and I retained the build (and height) of a twelve-year-old... well that didn't help. BUT, there was a faint shining light at the end of the tunnel- I liked my eyes. I've always liked my eyes.
My mum had given me a makeup palette of hers to play with when I was younger. I remember that it had colourful layers of little sections you could pull out, to reveal a layer of even more shadows and blushers and wonderment. I was intrigued by the eyeshadows; bright cobalt blues; soft corals and bottle greens, but when I tried to put them on MY eyes, I ended up looking like a clown. I lost patience with a lot of it, but by the time I was about 14, I was pretty sure I'd mastered eyeliner. I bought liquid liners in every imaginable colour. My favourite was a metallic electric blue which - in hindsight - I believe was Urban Decay. It had been a birthday present from a friend, and I absolutely adored it.
Anyway, if we fast-forward a few years, we get to 25 year old me, stumbling across a makeup tutorial on YouTube, featuring the Coastal Scents Original 88 palette. Obviously by this time, I've amassed a respectable collection of eyeshadow quads and singles, several eyeliners, a couple of lipglosses/lipsticks, and a Sephora blusher (my friend introduced me to the wonders of Sephora when we were in Venice for a few days). I'd never really felt like makeup was a necessary part of my life (and to be honest, I don't feel that way now, either) but it was like a toy, and that Coastal Scents palette was calling out to me, so I immediately went online and bought it. This made me excessively happy, but all of the colours were matte and satin, so a few weeks later, when I got a £150 Debenhams voucher in exchange for my old phone at Vodafone, I skipped merrily over to the Urban Decay counter in search of shinier prey. What I bought was what I can only describe as the makeup equivalent of a gateway drug: the 'Smoked' palette. The colours, the shimmers, the silky-soft textures... I was hooked. Readers of my long-standing (and currently woefully neglected) blog 'Charley Says...' will know that at the time, I was so excited that I wrote a post about my makeup adventures.
So here we are. Two years, two UD Vice palettes, several face compacts, blushers, lip products, eyeliners (obviously) and half the Naked collection later, and I have so many makeup thoughts swimming around in my head, that I've had to release the pressure by unleashing them onto the interweb.
You may be thinking "that was a flippin' long story, there had better be a point to this". Well there is. Like I said, I STILL don't see makeup as a staple, I see it as a toy. If you like to play, you might just like this blog! For the life of me, I cannot talk you through a great skincare routine, how to minimise the appearance of cellulite, or the best conditioning hair-masks on the market, but by George, I can show you how to have fun with makeup, and sometimes - as an added bonus - the rest of my face might look good too! If you're liking the sound of things so far, check out my Tumblr account, where you'll be able to see posts and tutorials for the looks in the photos throughout this post, to tide you over until I've been able to throw a few more posts together!
Thank you for reading! Seeya again soon!
Charley
-x-
If you haven't followed me on Tumblr or Twitter yet... well, frankly it's not that surprising, because I currently only have about 30 followers... but that's not the point. If you've not yet followed me, you probably don't know who I am. So let's start there.
My name is Charley, I've just turned 27, and I'm from Cardiff, in South Wales. I have a younger sister, who is hilarious and beautiful in equal measure, and a boyfriend whose patience astounds me.
'Why makeup?' you ask. Well, I'll tell you why. When I was younger, I was ALWAYS the shortest in the class, I had perpetually frizzy hair (that hasn't changed, to be honest), I thought my nose was too long, and a crooked tooth that I hated (I still have it, and our relationship hasn't improved much). I had a few issues with my appearance, and as I got older, a lot of them stuck with me. When the other girls started looking like young women, and I retained the build (and height) of a twelve-year-old... well that didn't help. BUT, there was a faint shining light at the end of the tunnel- I liked my eyes. I've always liked my eyes.
My mum had given me a makeup palette of hers to play with when I was younger. I remember that it had colourful layers of little sections you could pull out, to reveal a layer of even more shadows and blushers and wonderment. I was intrigued by the eyeshadows; bright cobalt blues; soft corals and bottle greens, but when I tried to put them on MY eyes, I ended up looking like a clown. I lost patience with a lot of it, but by the time I was about 14, I was pretty sure I'd mastered eyeliner. I bought liquid liners in every imaginable colour. My favourite was a metallic electric blue which - in hindsight - I believe was Urban Decay. It had been a birthday present from a friend, and I absolutely adored it.
Anyway, if we fast-forward a few years, we get to 25 year old me, stumbling across a makeup tutorial on YouTube, featuring the Coastal Scents Original 88 palette. Obviously by this time, I've amassed a respectable collection of eyeshadow quads and singles, several eyeliners, a couple of lipglosses/lipsticks, and a Sephora blusher (my friend introduced me to the wonders of Sephora when we were in Venice for a few days). I'd never really felt like makeup was a necessary part of my life (and to be honest, I don't feel that way now, either) but it was like a toy, and that Coastal Scents palette was calling out to me, so I immediately went online and bought it. This made me excessively happy, but all of the colours were matte and satin, so a few weeks later, when I got a £150 Debenhams voucher in exchange for my old phone at Vodafone, I skipped merrily over to the Urban Decay counter in search of shinier prey. What I bought was what I can only describe as the makeup equivalent of a gateway drug: the 'Smoked' palette. The colours, the shimmers, the silky-soft textures... I was hooked. Readers of my long-standing (and currently woefully neglected) blog 'Charley Says...' will know that at the time, I was so excited that I wrote a post about my makeup adventures.
So here we are. Two years, two UD Vice palettes, several face compacts, blushers, lip products, eyeliners (obviously) and half the Naked collection later, and I have so many makeup thoughts swimming around in my head, that I've had to release the pressure by unleashing them onto the interweb.
You may be thinking "that was a flippin' long story, there had better be a point to this". Well there is. Like I said, I STILL don't see makeup as a staple, I see it as a toy. If you like to play, you might just like this blog! For the life of me, I cannot talk you through a great skincare routine, how to minimise the appearance of cellulite, or the best conditioning hair-masks on the market, but by George, I can show you how to have fun with makeup, and sometimes - as an added bonus - the rest of my face might look good too! If you're liking the sound of things so far, check out my Tumblr account, where you'll be able to see posts and tutorials for the looks in the photos throughout this post, to tide you over until I've been able to throw a few more posts together!
Thank you for reading! Seeya again soon!
Charley
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