Mythbusters part II - Your beauty questions answered

Hey Lovelies,


So i'm bringing you part II of the Mythbusters series and today we're going to concentrate on body products and knowledge. So lets get going.....


If I exfoliate it will bring my false tan off?

TRUE & FALSE: When you have a false tan whether it be done at home or in a salon the best way to keep it looking nice it to maintain it. So yes unfortunately that does mean that after the tan is applied you're going to have to look after it. Your skin naturally sheds at different stages which means if you leave you tan to naturally come off you may find it goes patchy. If you regularly exfoliate - this doesn't have to be vigorous exfoliation just as long as you're getting the top layer of dead skin off, your skin will fall off more evenly keeping your tan more even for longer. Another way to hold onto your tan better is to moisturise regularly too. By doing these two things you actually keep the tan for longer. 

I should shave/wax before putting on tan?

FALSE: You should always do any prep for a tan i.e. shaving at least 24 hours prior. When you shave or wax you open up the pores and the hair follicles, if you then apply tan you can run the risk of the tan getting into the pore/follicle and when these then close it traps the tan inside leaving lots of brown little dots on the skin. Not the desired look. Also waxing and shaving stimulate the skin, if you then apply a high chemical product such as tan you can cause allergic reactions within the skin. 

My body isn't dry, i should still moisturise?

TRUE: Prevention is better than the cure, whether you are dry, oily or normal on your face or body you should always moisturise. The more you do it the better but at least aim for 3 times a week to try and keep the moisture levels high in your skin. The skin on our bodies goes through a lot such as hands in and out of water, feet in different shoes or no shoes at all, arms in and out of cold weather and warm clothing. Really make sure you concentrate on particularly dry areas such as knees, elbows, feet and hands. 

I have cellulite there's no cure?

FALSE: There are different grades of cellulite from the odd bump here and there to a leg full of orange peel. Once it gets to a grade 4 it's hard to treat but there are some cures. Cellulite is fat cells that get trapped between sub-cutaneous skin cells (top surface skin cells) this then create the bumpy effect that we know of as 'cellulite'. The best way to get rid of cellulite is to detox, so increase your water intake to 2-3 litres a day and cut right back on all sugars, salt and high fat. If the cellulite is a low grade exercises can help. By toning the area you move the fat along. A great way is dry brushing the area and vigorously rubbing in special anti cellulite treatments into the area. The vigorous rubbing stimulates circulation and breaks down the fat deposits in the hope they'll be reabsorbed back into our system. You can completely get rid of cellulite but you have to work on diet, exercise and products. 

I wash regularly but i still have spots on my back, this is normal?

TRUE: You can be the cleanest person on this earth and still get spots. If you get them on you back (known as bacne) it tends to be a hormonal reason. Just make sure you're rinsing your shampoo from your body correctly to not leave any traces on the skin. That after exercise or a hot day you're showering thoroughly - try using a back brush to really clean the area, and drink more water to try and flush the skin. All these put aside it's perfectly normal and you're not doing anything wrong. The sun can help clear up acne but please use the proper SPF, if it really bothers you go to your GP and see if they can  provide you with any treatments. 


I shall be doing some specific mythbusters soon, such as one for nails, sun care etc please let me know if you want me to cover a specific topic. 

Much love

lizzie xxx

I HIT 50! Thank you...

Arrgghhhh.....i logged on to bloglovin today and found that i had hit 55 followers. Now i know people who have been on here a while and have thousands of followers or people who hit 800 in a month will think it's nothing much.....but on the other hand everyone who starts a blog will always be proud of their first 50 followers. It means alot to me that people are actually reading and following my blog. I am very new to htmls, layouts and making photography look as professional as possible but i really wanted to create a blog that was real, for real people that you could all relate to and i hope you continue my journey with me as i grow. 

Thank you so much! You make every second worth while.

Sending lots of love

Lizzie xx

How to fill your eyebrows - the 5 second quick way.

Hey Guys,

wow it's been a busy couple of weeks and February looks like my busiest month yet. Yesterday i was at a wedding fayre with my friend and saw an eyebrow stand. As a beautician this sparked interest instantly as i'm always looking around for the latest fad or gimmick on the market. Yes i'm not afraid to say it i'm normally stood watching, expression blank, thinking what a load of twoddle.

And so i worked my way to the front of the crowd, ready to judge and what i saw amazed me.

It's the latest thing in the eyebrow market and currently Vogues latest make up trend. It's called Cresty. It's an eyebrow powder and stencil that literally takes 5 seconds and you have perfect brows. Me and all my friends couldn't stop watching and i was very impressed. Here's how to use it.

 I got the charcoal kit as i like my brows a bit darker. You get the powder 2 brushes and 3 stencils. Thin, natural and thick.

This is my natural brow, i have no make up and no tint on them. As you can see i have some gaps in my natural shape.

Keep the top of the stencil flat and place the arch of the brow where you would like it. Then re-align the rest of the stencil so it fits as well as can be to the rest of your brow. (i'm using the natural stencil)

As you can see the majority of my brow is aligned with the stencil.

Get your colour (i dropped mine just as i was placing it down - how annoying) and the brush it comes with ready, while holding the stencil steady with your non dominant hand, rub back and forth over the stencil with the brush with your dominant hand until you get the coverage you desire.

This was my brow instantly after removing the stencil you can see the shape it gives. I then just touch up any other little bits i wish to with the slanted brush on the other end to get the full desired effect.


This is a fools proof way of doing brows if you aren't confident enough to free hand them. I like it because it's so quick on a morning rather than spending a good 5-7 minutes penciling them on and checking they're even. You can make them as natural or as dramatic as you like just by changing the amount of product you put on the brush.
I did have a video of me doing the brows but it wouldn't load - can anyone suggest to why that is?

I hope this helps anyone interested in how to quickly do brows, i shall also put up a step by step guide of how i free hand my brows for anyone who wants to know that.

Love to you all

Lizzie xx

HD Brows - Your questions answered......

Hey Guys, hope you're all well. I was listening to the radio the other morning and the presenters were taking the mickey out of some girls eyebrows and when they draw them on, they then went on to discuss HD brows and what they were exactly and nobody knew. A listener then text in saying they were 'Heavily tinted brows to make them strong and bold looking'........wrong. So i thought id share with you exactly what HD's are and what it involves =) 


HD brows are High Definition brows. They are a certain shape and done in a very specific way. It is the 7 steps to the perfect eyebrows. 

Here is the process:

1. Your therapist will have a brief consultation to have a look at your brows and explain the process. Please remember that 20% will go into the shape on first go, 60% will achieve it in a few treatments and 20% will never achieve the shape. 

2. Depending on how experienced/confident your therapist is he/she may draw a guideline shape to follow, the more experienced therapist will not need to do this as they can look at someone and see the shape instantly. 

3. They will tint your brows - Yes they will go outside your natural hair line to catch any little hairs above or below (especially if you have thinner eyebrows)

4. They will remove the tint and wax below your brows

5. The will measure your brows with thread to ensure they are equal

6. Next they will pluck out any stray hairs or hairs outside the line they don't want. They will also brush and trim any hairs to create a smooth line. 

7. They will thread above the eyebrow to ensure a clean line above and to blend any little fluffy hairs with the forehead. 

8. They will get you to look at the brows and check you are happy, then ask you to hold the mirror as they apply the HD powder from the pallet to suit your colour, they will fill in one of your brows and explain how to do it yourself as they do it. They may get you to do the second one or they may do both for you. 

The treatment takes around 45 minutes, the more regularly you go the quicker the treatment becomes as they will be able to follow the previous shape instead of having to create a new one every time. 

Despite belief HD brows aren't all about having thick dark eyebrows, yes the tint is darker but it fades a lot in 24 hours. A good therapist should look at your hair and colouring and decide what shade tint to go to suit you. The HD's are about very groomed eyebrows to enhance the natural shape not about dark slugs plonked on your forehead. 

If you have very thin eyebrows you may struggle to get the shape. We recommend you go every 4-6 weeks for them doing. Some of our clients have HD then book a normal tint and wax (waxed still in the HD shape) then book for HD again. Alternating can save money but i would recommend you go to the same therapist who did your HD's. 

You need a special HD tint test 24 hours prior to your first appointment. It's a stronger tint so you need a patch test to make sure you don't have an allergic reaction, you only do this once as the salon will keep on record that you've had the test. Be aware if you change salons you should be asked to do a test every time you go to a new salon. If you walk into a new salon and say you've had it done elsewhere and they do the treatment with no record of a tint test they have poor practice. 

I recommend you get the HD pallett after your treatment. They come in three different colours. Bombshell (blondes) Foxy (brunette) Vamp (dark to black) It is a powder to fill your brows in, they are completely smudge proof so especially like me with oily skin you wont find your brows half way above or below your face in the middle of the day. The kit is £20. My boss has had her pallet for 2 years and still going strong - beats any pencil. This powder transfers heavily so use as little as possible on a brush for the more natural look. 

Cost of treatment in the North of the UK ranges from £25-£35. This may vary depending on where you live. It seems expensive but you're paying for the labour. Where else will someone spend 45 minutes measuring, tinting, waxing plucking and threading your brows to get them perfect. 

Brows really shape your face and done correctly can look absolutely amazing. 

I hope this clears a few queries for you about HDs and that maybe you'll think about getting them in the future. If you have anymore questions leave them in the comments below and i shall get back to you ASAP. 

 Love Lizzie xx

**Please note these pictures are not mine. They are from google images and credit goes to the person who uploaded them.

Current Perfume Favourites - Jan 2014

Aloha Lovelies, 

Like any other girly girl I love my perfumes. To find the perfect fragrance is a tough job but once you find your loves you hold on to them. I'm not a snob when it comes to perfume i like high end and cheaper ones, i also like to wear very different scents i'm not a person who sticks to one scent i.e. all musky, all sweet etc. So here are my current fragrances that are on my dresser at the moment. 
Here's a brief over view of how my perfume is set out on my dresser.

 Miss Dior: I love this perfume, i have the pink one. I'm on my very last squirts but i can't bring myself to get rid of it. The bottle is so beautiful. I think i shall keep the bottle once im done and use it as decoration. The fragrance is light and slightly sweet.

 Victoria Beckham: Intimately Beckham: I am LOVING this fragrance at the moment and my go to day fragrance. It's great value for money and smells alot more expensive than it is. The bottles are good sizes too. I always get comments when i'm wearing this. The smell is slightly musky slightly sweet, but one i think everyone will like. 

 Clarins: Eau Des Jardins: (pronounced - oh de jar-dan) I first smelt this at work and love it. Its a very fresh summer fragrance. It's great value at £30.00 for 100ml. Keep a look at at christmas and throughout the year for the kits they bring out. They contain the full sized fragrance, shower gel and body lotion all for £30.00. You can squirt as much as you like for that price. 

Marc Jacobs: Lola: I was given this as a gift from my boyfriends mum as she didn't like the scent. It's a heavier scent so i tend to wear it on a night out, more musky. You only need a small amount. The only downside is the bottle. It looks great but the lid makes it quite hard to store is you don't have a large amount of room. 

Britney Spears: Fantasy: Another one of my great value scents. A perfect day time fragrance. It's light and fresh. Britney's other scents are very pleasant too. The perfume shop do some great gift sets in this too. 

Next: Live,Laugh,Love: My greatest bargain of them all. This is only £10.00 YES £10.00. Next do some amazing fragrances, their PINK scent especially is lovely. This is sickly sweet so some of you may not like it but i love it. My weird admittance with this is that it's my 'bedtime scent' I have a phobia of things smelling including me, my apartment, my car and anything around me. So yes i wear perfume to bed, weird i know. But with this being so cheap i use it as my excuse. 

Narciso Rodriguez: For Her: I smelt this on a family member and fell in love and honestly if i'd have smelt it from the bottle first i wouldn't touch it. It's a very strong scent so you literally need one or two squirts. A very heavy, musky scent. It's definitely a personal choice to wear this one. Don't judge it on first sniff. Spray a little and let it settle for a good minute then re-smell it and it totally transforms into a different smell. I love this. I only wear it on a night out, i got this from my boyfriend for christmas in a kit with a mini to put in my purse. They also have two pink versions which are very similar but nice too. 


What are your favourite scents for me to try?

Love to you all

Lizzie xxx

SkinCare Mythbusters - True or False

Hey Lovelies, I got chatting to a client about advanced skin care today at work and it dawned on me that actually magazines, TV programmes and other marketing all print stuff about beauty and skincare that we instantly take for gospel, even GPs don't know true skin care - so here are my top myth busters of skin care, some or all of them you may already know but if not here are some real truths about skin and how to look after it.

You don't need to wear an SPF in the winter?

FALSE: No matter where you live in the world you should wear a minimum of Sun Protection Factor (spf) 30 in the summer months and a minimum of 15 in the winter months. Even if its bouncing down with rain or dull and cloudy UV rays still penetrate the atmosphere and still cause skin damage. The worst time to not wear an SPF is when it snows as the white snow reflects sunlight even more, causing the rays to bounce from the floor up to your skin back up to the sky causing even more damaging effects on the skin. Whether it's in your make up, moisturiser or a topical spf put it on EVERY DAY! You'll be thankful for that extra time in the morning when your a pensioner and have the skin of a 40 year old. Sun damage is the biggest cause of premature aging within the skin. So what's the best anti aging cream you can buy? An SPF!!

I have oily skin I can't moisturise?

FALSE: I made this mistake for many years. I have such oily skin, and I'm not talking I have to blot once a day oily, I'm talking within an hour/two hours I have to practically re-apply my whole make up. That is until I changed my skin care. The worst thing to do is deprive your oily skin of moisture you just have to make sure it's the right kind. Your skin is lacking water not oil. If you put water and oil into a bowl they separate and the oil floats on top. Same for your skin if you have excess oil it pushes the natural water away. Look for HYDRATING moisturisers and go for lotions rather than creams or an oily formula as these are light weight. Hydrating means water based rather than oil based. Give it time....I'd say anything from 2 weeks to a month. Use the product sparingly and I guarantee you'll see a difference. Don't get me wrong I'm still oily but it takes a lot longer for it to show through make up, my skin is in better condition and my make up goes on better.

There's a reason to have a separate day and night cream?

TRUE: No this isn't a marketing ploy from skin care companies to get you to buy more, there is a genuine reason for separate day and night creams. In the day we need a product that is going to protect us from pollution and the elements, provide spf, maybe be an antioxidant and provide moisture. In simple terms you need a product that is going to be active and fighting, but when we sleep our skin heals itself, provides new cells, new collagen and works within calm waves. You need a night cream that is going to aid healing and work gently within the skins natural rhythm at night.

If my skins dehydrated I need to drink more water?

TRUE AND FALSE: So this phrase gets said to me every single day and I repeat myself every single day. So yes if you drink water your skin will become more hydrated BUT what people don't understand is exactly how much water you have to drink for this to happen. When you drink water all your vital organs take it first, yes it will reach the skin but by the time it reaches the surface of the skin there's not much water left, therefore you wont notice a massive difference on the surface of your skin. To combat dehydration you need good hydrating products such as moisturisers or masks and a combination of drinking water too. To see a difference in skin you need a consistent 2-3 litres a day of the clear stuff.

Cleanse, Tone and Moisturise are the most importantly things in skincare?

FALSE: It has been drilled into us for years to cleanse, tone, moisturise and so people do this religiously without thinking about what they are doing. Yes cleanse to get rid of any make up, pollution and oil from the skin to create a clean surface. Yes tone as this gets rid of any trace of cleanser and allows better penetration of products. Yes moisturise as this keeps the skin feeling soft......What are you missing??? TWO key steps to a routine, which without these there's almost no point in toning and moisturising. They are Exfoliating and Serums.
Once you have cleansed your skin use an exfoliator to gently buff away dead skin cells and excess product revealing healthy skin underneath. Dry skins with no exfoliation have a build up of dead skin meaning when you moisturise you're actually moisturising dead old skin instead of the healthy skin underneath. A bit of a waste of product. When a client with dry skin asks me to change their moisturiser as its not working I always ask them to either start or up their exfoliation first, 9 times out of 10 that's the solution. Oily skins create a glue on the surface of the skin trapping dead skin, old oil and make up onto the skins surface this makes the skin look dull along with the risk of creating blemishes and blackheads. No matter what your skin type exfoliate once to twice a week NO MORE! Any more and you sensitize the skin. Do it at opposite ends of the week like Thursday and Sunday for perfectly fresh, clean and healthy skin.
Next use a Serum. Moisturisers only target the top layers of skin while serums work on the lower layers of the skin. They do this by being a smaller molecular size (the size of the ingredients are smaller so they can penetrate through the skin layers better) Our skin renews every 4 weeks (28 days), so what's at the top of your skin was at the bottom 4 weeks earlier. If we target the bottom layers we treat how it rises, so we want anti aging, healthier collagen, more elasticity, more hydration. Treat the skin before it comes to the surface.


I hope you learnt a little something or you finally understand why you are told to do certain things. I have much more information like this if you want to know more. Or if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments below and I shall answer them in my next Mythbusters blog.

Enjoy having amazing, healthy skin

Night night

Lizzie =)

Mindfullness - Quotes, thoughts and calming techniques.......

Hey Lovelies, 

I'm going to be doing something a little bit different today. My blog is mainly centered around beauty, fashion, skin care and home decor which i love and i'm passionate about all these topics but when it comes down to the bottom of it all these things are well....superficial! 
Painting make-up on can't paint a smile on your face. 
Having heels will increase your height but can't make you walk any taller
Having a beautifully set out room doesn't mean everything in your life is laid out to plan. 

And i want all of you to know that everything i said above is OK, it's OK to not be happy all the time, it's OK to have insecure days, it's OK to not know where you're going in life. 

What's not OK is for people to be forced into depression, it's not OK for people to put you down and it's not OK for people to make you feel worthless. 

For many years i have suffered with anxiety and i have it under control now and i want to pass on some advice to all you guys out there to help you, even if it only brings a smile. Being in the blogging world we see day in and day out beautiful people posting pictures, perfect blogs and it's not unnatural to want these things, but we women seem to all have self esteem issues that mean we doubt ourselves or constantly compare ourselves to others. To make it worse when we compare we drive ourselves crazy looking at other girls/boys blogs wishing we had what they had, instead of taking a step back to look at the bigger picture which is "yes they are beautiful, yes their blog is perfect, yes their pictures are amazing" but remember SO ARE YOU! 

You'd be amazed the number of people reading your blogs thinking the same thing about you. It's good every now and again to think "ooo i really like that i'd like to recreate that" because this is growth but when we constantly obsess about how good we are or how bad we are we're on a road to nowhere. 

This quote is very true. Wonder why all the top CEO's are all cocky, arrogant people??? Because they believe in themselves. Being arrogant isn't a pleasant trait to have but having inner confidence speaks volume. You can walk into a room of strangers not say a word and know instantly who's the confident people of the group. It's also attractive when people are confident - you'll find you'll attract a lot more friends, work opportunities and potential partners by having some self confidence. If you believe you can't do something you never will, if you believe you'll give it your best shot and you'll hopefully succeed you're more likely to do it and do it well =)

Like above even the smallest things in life....if you believe you can you will =)

I saw this on a coaster last week and fell in love with it. I recently have had some big changes in my opinion of which direction I want my life to go and it may turn my whole world upside down but the fact of the matter is I have had these aspirations since I was a young girl and only recently did I realise only I can make them happen. But why shouldn't you make your dreams come true? Follow your heart and your gut instinct. If it all goes wrong at the end at least you can say you tried. My biggest fear is to get to 60/70 years old, look back on my life and think I never did anything with it, or I never chased my dreams. 

And last but not least! My favourite musical and my favourite quote ever. I want this tattooed on me. "Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise" Is just the most perfect words written in my opinion. To know that no matter how bad it gets, how many times you fail another day will come and you can try again, a fresh start to do whatever you wish to do. 

Things that help me:

- Keep a notebook (or somewhere to write things) when I either have really nice ideas or when I get anxious or panicky I write it down. It's like a release to write it down is to get it out of my head. 
- Stop and look at your surroundings - actually feel the wind on your face or the sun on your skin. Listen to the birds singing or the traffic going by, really take it all in. This is called being mindful. 
- if you're anxious look around you find something and tell yourself three facts about it. i.e. Tree: 1. it's really tall and brown, 2. The leaves are blowing gently in the wind, 3. The grass around the tree is long and soft. - It's impossible to truly think of things and remember what you were anxious about at the same time. It calms you down. 
- Exercise - not everybody's cup of tea but it relieves stress. 
- Try to get into a good sleeping habit, you'd be amazed what you can face after a good nights sleep. 

I hope this has given some of you some good ideas and a bit of hope. We live in such a negative world it doesn't hurt to spread some positivity.  Let me know if you would like to see more of these posts or of the techniques I have lots more that have helped me. 

Remember you're you and people like you for you!!

Love you all

Lizzie xxx