Festive Gold with a Berry Lip

Howdy!

I have finally done it - I've made and uploaded my very first YouTube tutorial, where I show you how to get the below eye look.

I'll be honest with you- I know my photos aren't amazing. I'm aware that the camera I filmed the tutorial on isn't the best, but personally, to me the person in the video/photo is more important than the quality of the picture. I've seen YouTubers and Bloggers alike who have amazing super sharp HD cameras, but it's done nothing to improve either patchy makeup or a poor explanation. I don't mean to be mean - my point is I've always thought that if your content is sub-par, no amount of fancy technology is going to help you.

Anyway, I created a fun, festive look that I think would look great against lots of different skin tones and eye colours! I've shown this with a berry lip, but of course you could pair this with a nude or a rosy, more natural pink :)

Here's a very quick breakdown of the products used.

-Urban Decay Primer Potion (Anti Ageing)

-NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil (Milk) as base on lid and browbone

-Urban Decay Original Vice Palette - 'Laced'  (crease/transition),  'Penny Lane' (outer half of lid),  'Blitz' (inner half of lid), 'Anonymous' and 'Laced' mixed (to blend out dark colour above crease)

-Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette - 'Toxic' and 'Coax' mixed (very outer corners of lids)

-Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette - 'Blackheart' (outer V & blended above crease)

-ELF Cream Eyeliner (Black)

-Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Liner in 'Perversion' (Applied over cream liner)

-Eyelure Volume Lashes (No. 100)

-LAQA & Co Lip Lube (No name on product, but I believe it's 'Menatour')

-Naked Flushed Palette Highlighter (Brow and Cheekbone highlight)

I'd love it if you'd like to pop over to my little corner of YouTube and have a nosey at my tutorial, and any shares, likes or feedback will be hugely appreciated!

Have a beautiful day lovelies!

Charley xxx

Goody Bun Spiral

Hi there, Lovelies!

I actually already gave this the very briefest of overviews in my 'Payday Beauty Gifts' post, but it's such a great product, I felt like I needed to share the love a little more.

The Goody Bun Spiral looks like this...

So you're basically looking at a pretty sturdy coil of metal with a diameter of around 2-3 inches, this one is a sort of dark, gunmetal colour, but it also comes in a lighter gold-ish colour that's better for blonde hair. The base of the coil has two little purple-ish nobbles on the ends.

You can do a basic bun in one of two ways:

You can sweep all your hair back as if you're doing a ponytail (high, low, middle, side- whatever takes your fancy), but just twist it all into a bun, then twist the bun spiral into it, in a clockwise direction and with the purple nobbles facing your scalp. That's fairly straightforward!

The way that I choose to do it is to actually secure my hair into a ponytail first, using a hair elastic, THEN sweep it around itself to make the bun and add the bun spiral in the same way as before. I also muss the bun up a little, for a dishevelled look, but use a couple of little hair pins to control any chunks of misbehaving hair.

The only reason that I do choose to style in the second way is because my hair is quite fine, flyaway and is cut in layers, so for me, the bun itself isn't quite dense enough to make me confident that the spiral would stay in. That said, I do usually use this right after I've washed and dried my hair, so my hair is obviously quite shiny at that point and provides a lot less resistance.

After this, all I do is ad a quick couple of spritzes of hairspray - I favour TRESemmé 'Freeze Hold' spray to tame my crazy flyaways and I'm good to go! This is a great way to quickly- and I really do mean 'quickly' -  style your hair for work or play, and it's equally at home as part of a more formal look!

I'm going to a wedding in a couple of months, and I'm thinking of going for a full head of tight-ish curls, then using the bun spiral to create a soft, messy updo. I will definitely be road-testing this look before then, so I'll keep you posted on how that goes, and perhaps do a quick photo-tutorial if you're interested? If you are, or you'd like to see a variety of looks done with this, let me know! You can comment below, or tweet me at @CharleyShadow - I'd love to hear from you!

Have a beautiful day!

Charley xx

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):

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'.

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!

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

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-

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-