Wednesday 31 December 2014

Happy New Year

First of all: Happy New Year everyone!  I hope you've all had a wonderful night and are prepared for a wonderful day tomorrow...  Or prepared for those hangovers from hell which is more likely!
As predicted, I stayed home for New Years Eve [by choice] my mum's been nursed on the couch as she's ill, my dad's been working his arse off all night, as usual, and my brother has been preparing himself to stumble back through the door at 5am for probably the past 5 hours.
I'm quite glad that 2014's over, I feel like I can forget events and people that brought me down in the past year and start a fresh. [How generic did that sound.]  Not the whole 'New Year, new me' because lets be honest; a tiger can't change it's stripes.  Or is the saying a Leopard can't change it's spots?  Both sound applicable.
So, this year is the first year that I'll ever make New Years resolutions [that will probably last a day and a half.]  However, I don't want to make resolutions like: I will cut back on chocolate.  Partly because I love chocolate and nothing will ever come between the love that me and Terry's Chocolate Orange have going on right now...  I want New Years resolutions that will be benefit me in the long run.
Let's see how many of these I can keep:

  1. Save money:  I want to be more independent this year as I'm coming up to 18.  I have a lot of things that I need to begin saving for, such as a car, car insurance and a Uni fund.  But also things I want to experience such as festivals and a holiday with my friends or my boyfriend.  So hopefully, I'll stick to this and stop buying that extra shade of Mac lipstick that's practically identical to the one in my bag but it has a 'frost finish' instead of a 'matte finish'.  [Guilty.]
  2. Be more organised:  This is a broad resolution, but I feel that it's needed.  I want to start making check lists and being tidier around the house as I always lose everything.  I want to get work in on time for deadlines and also keep up with work, because the more I think about it, the sooner I get it done the less stressed I'm going to be and the easier I'm going to find my exams.  So organisation is definitely on the list. 
  3. Be happier:  This is another broad resolution, but I need to remind myself that I should do things to make me happy.  Last year, a lot went on in my life that made me severely unhappy.  But now that I've got my head together I want to remind myself that you only get one life and you're living it for yourself [fuck you Edwina.] 
I'll write a few more tomorrow but I'm pretty tired right now and my boyfriends coming around tomorrow morning so I hopefully wont be asleep and drooling onto my pillow by the time he arrives...

Tuesday 30 December 2014

GRWM: New Years Eve Edition [YouTube]


If you're in need of a last minute, dramatic make up look for New Years Eve, check out my YouTube channel [click here to head over] Effortless, heat-less, and voluminous hair, dramatic makeup and a simple yet party-ready outfit!
This look is a lot easier than it looks to create, but will make you stand out!  Follow the tutorial and you'll be done in no time.
I hope that you enjoy the video.  Please like, comment and subscribe as I love hearing from you all and interacting with viewers and finding new channels is my favourite part of being a YouTuber!
Thank you

www.youtube.com/hollbarnes

Untitled #4

Untitled #2

Lorac Pro Palette Review


A lot of people have been asking me about the Lorac Pro Palette since I managed to finally get my hands on it [for a pricey cost!]  So it would only be logical for me to do a review about it.

I'm very impressed with the palette so far, as promised by other beauty gurus and online reviews, the colour pay off from the palette is out of this world.  Each shade is so pigmented, even when applied with a light hand!  The palette contains 8 matte shades and 8 shimmer shades.  This is a distinguishing feature compared to other palettes as they generally contain a majority of shimmer shades.  It's also handy that all of the matte shades are lined up at the top of the palette and then the shimmer shades at the bottom, so you can easily choose what section of the palette that you want to work with and it helps you to distinguish what shades would work best together.

Matte Shades [left to right]: White, Cream, Taupe, LT. Pink, Mauve, Sable, Espresso, Black




Shimmer Shades [left to right]: Nude, Champagne, Gold, LT. Bronze, Pewter, Garnet, Deep Purple, Slate

The colours on the left side of the palette are lighter and more highlighting colours where as on the right side of the palette they are darker and should be used as contouring colours.  Some matte shades have extremely subtle flecks of shimmer in them, such as White and LT. Pink but it is barely noticeable.  All shades are extremely blendable and a light hand is all that is needed to create a gorgeous, smoked effect with these eye shadows. 

When working with this palette, I would recommend eye shields to be worn when applying the eye shadow as unfortunately I have found that there is a lot of fall out with this palette.  However this can easily be cleaned up with makeup wipes, foundation or brushing the pigment away with powder.  But, due to the large amount of fall out a lot of the colours in the palette are wasted, causing you to hit pan very quickly!  [For the company, I guess this is no bad thing because it's probably means more frequent repurchasing from Lorac Palette lovers!]

The packaging of this product has it's pros and cons.  The material the packaging is made from is similar to Narz and Sleek packaging, thus having a rubbery consistency.  It gets dirty very easily and the eye shadow pigmentation sticks to the palette and it's very hard to clean.  But, it's a very compact and thin palette making it amazing for travel and fitting into small spaces!  The pans are all secure in the palette so there's no way for them to fall out and the cover is magnetic, so it can only be pulled apart by force meaning your eye shadows should always be safe and wont shatter.  The palette also has a large mirror, it's actually a really good mirror, not like a 'fun house' mirror that makes your face look disorientated.  So it's once again good for travelling and doing your makeup on the go!  The only other downfall is that the palette doesn't come with any sort of applicator so that will need to be bought separately.

If you're thinking of buying the Lorac Pro Palette, research the retailer you are purchasing from first.  There are a lot of retailers selling fake palettes so it's always best to buy from a retailer that you know and trust.  I paid £60 for this palette, which to be honest, is ridiculous considering it's about $20 in America.  However, I'd wanted it for a long time and I bought it through a retailer that I trusted who was only stocking the product for a limited amount of time and for me, it was worth it and I have used the palette every day since I received it!

I would definitely recommend this product, but if you're ever in America, get it whilst you're there because it's a nightmare to try and get hold of for a reasonable price in the UK if you're not willing to slurge like I did!

Introduction



Hi, I'm Holly.
I'm a 17 year old beauty blogger and youtuber [click here to visit my youtube] from Cheshire, UK.  I'm self taught artist and this is really just a hobby.
This blog is basically going to contain makeup tutorials, pictorials, reviews, clothing ideas and maybe a little bit of lifestyle for good measure!
I hope that you enjoy the blog, I'd love to have you as a follower!  You can also follow me on other social network platforms by clicking these links:
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