What's in my bag today...

I've a feeling this is going to become a regular feature here at Reaching For The Stars... i'm always swapping stuff and changing things and carrying funky things in my bag... heres what i took to uni and back, then to town and back today!!



Marc B satchel/tote/whatever bag


Tag for some japanese stuff i bought, bach rescue remedy, my keys (and a thousand keyrings haha) the huge pink thing is a cute little patent japanese character keyring so my keys are impossible to lose!, earrings, iPod, paracetomol and codeine tablets, gloves, hello kitty kinder egg toy!


hand sanitiser, hand food hand cream, hello kitty kinder egg, pink lanyard thingy-jig, stews keys (complete with amazing japanese keyring so he doesn't lose them!) diary covered in peppa pig stickers, river island purse


cute japanese phone-case-purse-thing, phone with phone charms


make up/everything bag with loads of junk in it, pens, usb stick, matching notebook and pen, mints, soothers, lip balm, lipstick, lipgloss, etc etcccc

it seems like a crazy amount but once its all packed away into its special little sections and compartments and packed in in the particular way i have it, it really doesnt seem to be that much!! normally theres sweet wrappers, receipts, etc in there but i cleared it out the other day so its worryingly empty at the moment!!

wanna know where i got anything from? comment and ask!!

xo

Sick blogger alert!

I'm currently holed up in bed after a second attempt at root canal treatment on one of my upper molars today. 45 minutes of injections, drilling, pain, crying, more pain... appears to have really taken its toll on me, i slept for 5 hours when i got home and im still in pain! To add to that, ive been put on antibiotics and they always exhaust me/make me really ill.. so i cant say im looking forward to the next 7 days! Anyway! obviously my current state means that make-up and photos are a no-no, so ive grabbed the 40 questions tag thats been drifting around, and added a few gorgey pictures to it to keep you all smiling!




SKINCARE

-How many times do you wash your face daily?
Two or three depending :)

-What skin type do you have? (dry,oily,combo)
combination :(

-What is your current facial wash?
a clean n clear daily exfoliating one, ive used it for years and still love it!

-Do you exfoliate?
gently every single day but really deeply about once a fortnight!

-What brand do you use?
I use a soap and glory face scrub for my fortnightly deep clean and the clean and clear one every day!

-What moisturizer do you use?
Baby lotion or elizabeth arden 8 hour cream

-Do you have freckles?
noo!

-Do you use eye cream?
no, i dont think i need one yet..

-Do you or did you have acne prone skin?
i've never ever had a problem with spots, im really blessed in that area! i think the most spots i've ever had at one time is probably about 3 or 4! they're rarely big, never gunky, and never really hurt! i'm fully aware of how lucky i am though so you dont need to tell me!

-Did you ever have to use Pro-activ?
No :)



MAKE-UP
-What foundation do you use?
NARS Sheer Glow, Mac studio fix fluid and revlon colourstay

-How about concealer?
Mac studio finish (or is it studio fix? meh.) for bad days and a rimmel recover one for the 'better' days :)

-Do you know your undertone color?
i have a really warm undertone to my skin :( it sucks!!

-What do you think of fake eyelashes?
I love the look of them and how many different looks you can create, but i hate applying them to myself, applying them to others is fine but i have sight issues in my right eye which means getting my lashes even is almost impossible!

-Did you know that you are supposed to change your mascara every 3 months?
Yes! however if it isnt dry, clumpy, and stinky i'm reluctant to throw it out.. ive never ever had an eye infection or anything like that and i sanitise all of my make-up regularly

-What brand of mascara do you use?
My current top 5 are:
1. L'oreal telescopic
2. L'oreal telescopic carbon black
3. Maybelline full'n'soft
4. Maybelline Colossal Volume
5. Rimmel Glam eyes

-Sephora or MAC?
MAC - we dont have sephora in the uk!

-Do you have a MAC Pro-card?
No but im applying for one soon :)

-What makeup tools do you use in make up application?
My fingers and my make-up brushes, i hate sponges and wedges and all that cr*p! its all about duo-fibres, flat tops, kabuki's and your fingers if you want a lighter application :)

-Do you use make-up base/primer for the eyes?
urban decay primer potion, til death do us part!




-For the face?
very very rarely, i have the gosh one but rarely bother with it..

-What is your favorite eyeshadow (color or shade)?
woodwinked by mac. love.

-Do you use pencil or liquid eyeliner?
both, and gel :)

-How often do you poke your eyes with an eyeliner pencil?
never! if you're doing it properly that should never ever happen

-What do you think of pigment eyeshadows?
too messy, too expensive, too messy....etc

-Do you use mineral makeup?
no, the idea doesnt appeal to me in the slightest!

-What is your favorite lipstick?
Mac's creme cup. hands down :)

-How about lipgloss?
barry m no 4 or macs underage

-What is your favorite blush to use?
NAR creme blush in penny lane

-Do you buy your makeup on ebay?
never. 99% is fake, why bother!

-Do you like drugstore makeup?
I love it! the thrill of finding a really good dupe for a high end product, or just finding an amazing product (hello maybelline ambre rose lipstick!) is fantastic! i however, HATE the testers and the state some of the counters can be in...




-Do you go to CCO's? (cosmetic company outlets)
i wish, i dont have one anywhere near me...

-Did you ever consider taking make-up classes?
I have and i did!! i qualified as a make-up artist earlier this month and im currently in the process of doing portfolios and building my website :)

-Are you clumsy in putting on makeup?
only if im in a rish, and its normally a blusher related blunder... i.e 'grandma cheeks'

-Name a makeup crime that you hate?
foundation that doesnt match, bad fake tan, bad eyeliner, 10,000 layers of mascara, too much bronzer, black eyeshadow all over the lid, do i need to continue?

-Do you like colorful shades of makeup (lipstick,eyeshadow) or neutral ones?
if i had to choose between them id choose neutrals but nothing beats a pop of colour!

-Which celebrity always has great make up?
cheryl cole. my god!

-If you could leave the house using just ONE make up item,what would you use?
foundation

-Could you ever leave the house without any makeup on?
i can but i very rarely do!

-Do you think you look good even without any makeup on?
no.

-In your opinion, what is the BEST makeup line?
i adore mac, like most bloggers... very few products have failed me over the past year or two!




-What do you think of Makeup?
I love it, i love the way it can completely change a person, i love shopping for it, researching it, working on myself, working on others, playing around with colour, shimmer and tone.. i think its a fantastic way for women to express themselves on a day to day basis and with people like alex box pushing the boudaries further and further every day, i think the best is yet to come!

xo

Mini Giveaway!

Look who i found lurking in the bottom of my Lush basket today!?



Yup! i lil lush satsuma santa! Feeling all sorry for himself because he can't be used at my house as we don't have a bath! He's very very sad and told me he wants to go to a nice new house with a shiney bath immediately, so he can fulfill his lifelong dreams of fizzing away in the warm water and giving a nice girl a bath full of giggles and citrus-ey fun!

Who wants him? As far as i know, most Lush products are 'in date' for at least a year, and he still smells lovely!!

All you have to do to win him is:

Be a follower of my blog and

Comment on this post telling me what you will call poor sad satsuma santa, he wants a proper name!! Also leave your email address so i can contact you if you win!

If you would like an extra entry then RT about this little giveaway on twitter or link to it in the sidebar of your blog! I've tweeted about it, so just RT the tweet ive written :)

the giveaway will end on Wedesday 31st march so you have a week to win him! He wants a new home ASAP!! oh and did i mention the winner is going to be chosen by stew? he has no idea who anyone is so will just pick the name he thinks is best :)

good luck xo

WLC Week 11! Thinspiration....

HIIIII everyone! being the complete clump i am i totally forgot that i was going to post on monday and wednesday... oh well! i did my little weigh-in and ive lost 2lb! super chuffed :) i have a lot of uni work to do today so as per its going to be quite a short post..

The challenge for this week is to post a few 'thinspiration' pictures on your blog or show them in your video :) the idea is that everyones pictures will be slightly different and it will give all of the other girls a little 'catalogue' of photos to look at!

Here are mine:






xo

Bigger, Brighter, Blonder...

Today i took the plunge, sauntered into the gorgeous lilac and silver room, sat down on the black leather chair for 3 hours, then handed over my card, pressed 4 numbers in and booked my next appointment...

Thats right! i went to the hairdressers, i couldn't really afford it but my hair was in desperate need of help, it was dull, plain, limp, lifeless (haha cheryl cole in that l'oreal advert!) and had about 1.5 inches of roots... it was getting me down a lot so i booked in with my favourite colourist today! We used lots of bleach and a more beige/caramel to tone the colour down a bit (i didnt want peroxide hair, obviously!). It doesnt look that different in pictures but its uh-may-ZING in 'real life!! Here are the results:






My hair looks really short in these pictures because its lifted so much at the roots :)

oh, and i almost forgot to mention im booked in for a 'wash house' treatment next tuesday, and a trim.. the wash house treatment is a new 'thing' offered by some of the bigger salons that carry paul mitchell. It involves a 10 min head massage, scalp exfoliation, and a scalp detox.. you also get to take home a product pack (the type of product depends on which treatment you go for). I'll be having the strengthening treatment and i'll be sure to let you know what its like! The treatment costs £13, ask at a local paul mitchell carrying salon for more information :)

ooooh yeah, im paying for the appointment by myself by the way, its nothing to do with paul mitchell or my blog or anything! I WISH!!

xo

Taylor Swift inspired smokey eye...

Another work look for you, i went for pastels last night so tonight is more of a dramatic, smokey, slight pulled out look :) it was incredibly difficult to focus as i was stupid enough to use a sleek eyeshadow on my inner corner. hella shimmer going on! once again, the shimmer is much less intense in real life and is perfect for my job! hope you enjoy reading and you like the look!


oh hai youtube in the background!

annoying non-photo-friendly shimmer but massive lashes :D ♥

stupid camera bleached out my cheeks but you can see how i've winged the eyeshadow out a bit here :)


Face: mac studio fix fluid buffed in with a flat top smashbox brush, rimmel stay matte powder dusted lightly over the top, no concealer, shock horror!!
Cheeks: sleek contour kit (both the contour and highlight) mac cremeblend blush in so sweet so easy, mac blush ombre in azalea blossom over the top :)
Eyes: mac greasepaint stick in black, mac e/s in shadowy lady and beauty marked, highlight and inner corner - light colour from the sleek curious pallette, rimmel liquid liner, urban decay 24/7 liner in zero and finally, maybelline colossal mascara with pulse perfection mascara over the top :)
Lips: a body shop lipstick in 01, thats literally all it says. annoying. its one of the slim silver ones though :)

thanks for stopping by!
xo

Work Pastels....

Its strange that since i qualified as a make up artist ive wanted to do less with my own face and more with other peoples!! Countless friends have been buffed, brushed and blended to my hearts content, but inspiration regarding my own face has been in short supply to say the least!! tonight i busted out an old favourite, my hello kitty too dolly pallette, and got to work.. (i'm also dashing to work in about 5 mins hence lots of photos and not many words!!)

a couple of things to note before you look at the pictures:
1. i work in a bar/nightclub so the heavy highlighter is a look less glittery and a lot more flattering under the lighting, same goes with the relatively heavy blusher...
2. my hair is in urgent need of a full head of foils, so its twisted and twirled and scrunched and pinned into a lovely messy updo that i made up myself this evening! quite chuffed with it!

hope you like it!







Face: NARS sheer glow foundation, a light dusting of no 7 loose powder, sleek contour kit (WOAH GLITTERY HIGHLIGHT. gay in photos, great at the bar...) and maybelline mousse blush in mauve!
Eyes: mac yoghurt, romping and stately black e/s on the lid (stately black in layered over romping to create that gorgeous pinky purpley look) and dazzlelight e/s as a highlight, rimmel liquid eyeliner and maybelline colossal mascara, oh and urban decay 24/7 liner in zero along the bottom lashline and waterline
Lips: naked but theyll be coated in creme cup l/s from mac when i get to work!

xo

Hair lust...

I completely forgot to write on my blog that i no longer have extensions in and they won't be back in for a long time! Clearly my hair wasnt strong enough to cope with a weave and half of it fell out when we took the weave out... then i glued them in, thinking it would be fine as i did it for years when i was younger, took them out as normal a couple of days ago, and once again lost a LOT of my hair! meaning that now i have very thin hair and a very tender scalp... POO. :(

I've been considering dying it myself for a few days, to a more caramel tone instead of all of the bleach i have in it, the thing is i want it multi-tonal, and that requires a hairdresser.. alas, at the moment, i dont have the funds to have it coloured, so heres a few hair envy pictures! mine willll be long and lovely one day!








SEVERE hair and figure envy :(







ahhhhh pretty pictures always cheer me up
xo

Quick WLC update and a few Q's for the WLC girls..

Hi everyone! Just a quick post to let you know that the layout of the WLC will be changing for its last two weeks! I'm going to hold my hands up and admit that for the past two days i have been completely off the rails, i had a mcdonalds on sunday and yesterday i kept nibbling on biscuits, chocolate, toast, etc... I've had enough of lacking in willpower and had enough of thinking 'well one biscuit wont matter'. Because of this, im re-starting my week as of today. This will mean that i weigh myself on wednesdays.. which will completely confuse the layout of the challenge! So what i'm going to do is post a blog on mondays with the challenge etc in and then put my loss in my sidebar of my blog :) (on the left, you should be able to see the little 'weight loss' box :). i hope that is ok with everyone :)

Also, ive got a few questions for everyone who is still taking part, if you could copy and paste them into a comment with your answers that would be great!

1. How have you felt taking part in this challange?
2. Do you feel that you could continue your weight loss journey 'on your own' and continue to be successful?
3. Would you be interested in the challenge being extended to a 20 week challenge?

Thank you :) xo

ps - you may have noticed that the list of WLC girls has shrunk somewhat. If you are no longer part of the list that is because you have emailled me to request to leave the challenge, or because i haven't seen a post from you in weeks. Those of you who are left are those who are always posting or in contact with me, i really appreciate it from all of you, thank you so much!

Make-up on a budget...

This blog was requested by Angelica. There are hundreds of girls all over the country/world who read blogs every single day and have a huge passion for make-up, unfortunately some/most of these girls don't have the budget for a lot of the high end make-up thats shown on a lot of blogs. After an email from Angelica, i decided to put together a blog post full on budget items that will suit anyone! All prices are from the boots or superdrug websites.

The Face:


Maybelline dream satin liquid foundation.
This is available in a huge range of shades and retails at around £8. Its fantastic because it provides a medium buildable coverage that can either be left on its own for a healthy, glowing finish, or it can be set with powder for a more matte finish :)

Rimmel stay matte pressed powder
This costs around £4 and is a fantastic all round pressed powder, i use the transparent powder as its suitable for my really pale skintone. There isnt much i can say about this, its a fantastic, non-cakey, well priced powder :)

Collection 2000 illuminating touch light diffusing concealer
This is a budget touche-eclat! Its amazing for undereye circles or to highlight the bridge of the nose/cupids bow/cheekbones. Best of all? it only costs a fiver!! ive repurchased this more times than i can remember and i'll always go back to it as the £23 touche-eclat certainly isnt in my price range!!

rimmel recover anti-fatigue concealer
I use this when i need something lighter than my mac concealer, but heavier than the collection 2000 one. It costs about a fiver and is fantastic for the under eye area and any blemishes :)

The Cheeks:


Maybelline dream mousse blush
These retail at around £6 and are lovely, they apply smoothly with fingers or a brush and blend out to a gorgeous finish, i go back to this blusher time and time again :)

George at Asda shimmer me!
These are a very new edition to the George make-up range, they cost £3 and are stunning, there are 3 shades available, all of which can be used as blushers or highlighters and they are also gorgeous when you layer them over a cream blush! looove this :)

The Eyes:


Sleek Pallettes
These are raved about everywhere and with a huge range of colours, 12 shades for a fiver and stunning packaging and colour combinations, who wouldn't want the whole collection! I currently own storm, curious and acid and i reach for them every day! The pigmentation is amazing and they're incredible value for money!

Rimmel liquid eyeliner and rimmel pencil eyeliner
The liquid eyeliner retails at £5 and the pencil liner retails at £3, there isnt really much i can say about eyeliners apart from these two both do 'the job' realy really well and they're a brilliant price :)

2true eyebrow pencil
This costs £1.85 and is a perfect colour match for my eyebrows! it lasts all day without losing any pigmentation and is fantastic for anyone with fair brows. I think 2true do a slightly darker pencil which would be just as good for someone with darker brows! i love this and for £2, if you dont love it, it doesnt matter!

Rimmel glam'eyes mascara and maybelline full n soft mascara
Rimmel glam'eyes retails at £7 and the maybelline full n soft isnt available in the uk but somehow i found it in my local tj hughes for £3!! both of these mascaras are fantastic. they seperate and lengthen and can easily be built up to more intense finishes! most days i use the full n soft as a primer before the glam'eyes and i love the look this gives! the glam'eyes also doesnt smudge (on me anyway) and lasts all day without flaking, smudging or crumbling :)

collection 2000 glam crystals glitter gel liners
Again, something that has been raved about time and time again! I have too faced and urban decay glitter liners and they're both absolutely pants compared to these beasts!! These are only £3 each and are a fantastic addition to anyones make-up bag, if you dont have the budget for lots of eyeshadows or liners then these are perfect for adding a bit of glitz for a night time look!

The Lips:


Maybelline colour sensational lipstick in 'ambre rose'
There has been hundreds of reviews on this lipstick and i love it just as much as everyone else! its the easiest lipstick in the world to wear and retails at around £7. Its a colour that would suit every skin tone :) if you dont like the look of it then all of the other colours are also fantastic!

Natural collection moisture shine lipstik in 'apple blossom'
this is only £2 and is a gorgeous nude pink colour, the whole range of lipsticks is lovely and there is a colour there to suit everyone :)

Vaselline rosy lips
for someone who doesnt want to wear lipstick this gives a lovely pink sheen to the lips and moisturises them at the same time, its great and is only about £1.50!!

Cherry carmex
My holy grail lip balm! this is only £2.50 and will completely banish chapped lips! if you dont want any colour on your lips then this is really, really good!


I've tried to cover all of the bases here but if you think there is anything i missed please let me know in a omment and i'll add it! I hope this was ok for you Angelica!!

xo

WLC week 10!

Hi everyone! another quick one, i lost 1lb this week which im sort of happy with, it'll do i guess! looking at my food diary, i need to cut down on chocolate and sweets and fill up with fruit and veg..something im going to work on this week ;) I was really really happy to see that most girls stuck to the food diary challange this week! well done!!

this weeks challenge is to tell me 3 things you think have changed about yourself since you started the challange, they can be physical or mental or anything you want!!

Mine are:
1. my jeans are falling off me, quite literally! i've had to resort to leggings/tights all the time as i dont want to buy new ones yet!!
2. i'm much more sensible about food choices, for example if im at the uni shop getting a drink, i now actively make the decision not to go past all of the chocolate etc!
3. i feel smaller and lighter, i can run and walk a lot easier and ive been finding that im short of breath a lot less! lovelyyy :)

can't wait to see your 3 things!
xo

WLC week 9!

This is going to be the quickest blog ever as i have a to do list as long as my arm to do tonight due to being ridiculously busy this week! oh and im now a qualified make up artist which means i need to get a website, portfolio, insurance, etc... mission!! Anyway this week i lost half a pound, pathetic i know but with how busy ive been im happy with a loss! no matter how big or small!

The challenge for this week is to keep a food diary, carry it with you EVERYWHERE, all the time and write everything (food and drink) down...

i know it seems like a tall order but actually looking at what you have eaten in black and white will make it a lot easier to control, how many of us have got to the end of the day and thought 'shit, what have i eaten today!'. It can be really hard to remember sometimes! Writing all of your drinks down will help you control your water intake etc so hopefully the food diary will be a really useful tool for you this week and for the weeks to come! i know a lot of you who are on slimming world or weight watchers will already do this so this week is an easy one for you lot!

Good luck this week!! Sorry i've been so crap lately girls, and thank you for all of your fantastic emails and messages, sorry last weeks post was so negative, i was feeling incredibly run down and tired and finding out that so many girls hadnt been bothering was the final straw! lovely to see you all in week 9 and good luck!!

xo

Aussie Photoshoot - Part 1

For those of you that don't know, i trundled off to London last weekend to attend a Photoshoot held by Aussie, in the past i haven't been able to go to any 'group' events due to financial/travel/uni reasons so i was really excited about this!

I'm doing this post in two parts, the first is photos i took/photos that emma and lisa took on the day, and the second will be all of the professional shots which i got in the post yesterday!!

Verity ponced along to london with me, camera in hand and buzzing about being the photographers assistant for the day, we managed to successfully get on the train and find our seats in derby, then we successfully got off of the train and onto the tube (after bottle necking with 2346838436579493 other people because most of the lines were closed!!!!) then we got off of the tube and....got lost.

yup.
lost.

this was particularly embaressing for us because we're actually not 'northern' at all!! I'm from cambridge and verity is from reading, both of us have visitted london more times than we could count, and we got bloody lost! Anyway after some phonecalls to friends we finally found the studio.

wow.

The studio was a HUGE white room filled with gorgeous clothes, a big bookshelf thingy with loads of cute trinkets on it, food, a bathroom (with shower? haha) and of course, a few huge lamps and a while backdrop, it looked absolutely amazing! After being handed a glass of pink champagne or two we started to mingle, sort out clothes and nibble on some yummy sandwiches!

Heres what was going on on the train:


Verity being a fantastic 'assistant'



YUMMY cupcakes:


Myself and rebecca nattering:


Being the idiot i am i couldnt resist making a fool of myself and choosing to use the more stupid prop in the box:



Make up time!



Lots of other stuff!










I had an absolutely amazing time, huge thanks to lisa and emma for putting the day together and pulling it all off without a hitch!! Professional photos coming at some point later in the week when i've managed to resize them all for blog purposes!!

xo