How Much Do YOU Know About Fashion?

While chatting to some of my 'blogger mates' recently, there was talk about wanting to spread their wings with their blogging niche and try something different, but they were worried they didn't know enough about the subject. For example, one mentioned wanting to do more 'fashion' related blog posts, but wasn't confident she knew enough and was thinking of looking into a course, to gain a bit more knowledge before she took the leap amongst the #FBloggers!

Becoming a professional fashion stylist or designer requires a number of professional credentials and certified diplomas from the academia as well as professional associations, but whether you want to advance your already established career with added expertise and skills; would like to know more about the fashion industry simply because it’s your favourite hobby, or like my friend, you simply want to learn a little more about fashion, there are many fashion short courses available that do not require an undergraduate or other student degree and cover all the specific areas of fashion, with important locations worldwide. 

Major international fashion institutes like Istituto Marangoni offers many courses for non-students in their London school, and also attracts many international students yearly, having schools in Paris, Milan & Shangai to name a few! Many view this as an excellent opportunity to spend a holiday while learning more about their passion. Who fancies a couple of weeks in Paris? ;) 

Istituto Marangoni specialise in fashion and design, offering 2 week or 3 week short courses that cover the many of the essential aspects of the industry - including a 2 week course on Interior Design for professionals, which may certainly be of interest to those who already have a career in the industry and want to embellish their resume with new skills. 

Their courses cover a broad range of important themes - the history of evolving and contemporary fashion trends, visual merchandising, use of colour with lighting and the interior space, the stages from the design and creation process to product manufacturing, business marketing, branding and many other essential concepts.

So if you need me, I'll be off to Paris for a couple of weeks. 

When I'm back, expect some amazing fashion and home interior design posts! 

Who's with me? ;)       

xxx




*in collaboration with Mary Johnson

My Top 5 MakeUp Brushes & How I Clean Them

Makeup brushes are pretty essential to your makeup collection and using the correct ones can completely change your makeup application. I remember way back when I was a teenager and was using my fingers to apply pretty much my whole face. Or using the cheap little brushes that often came with the product. *facepalm* 

Some of my friends often tell me how confused they get with all the different types of makeup brushes and ask me what brushes I use most. And I get asked a lot how I clean them. I'm still shocked when people tell me they've never, or hardly ever cleaned their brushes. Ew. All that dirt, bacteria and makeup build up. But hey, admittedly, I was the same years ago!

I thought I'd do a post featuring my top 5 favourite, most used makeup brushes and then show you what I use to clean them. 

It was pretty tough choosing my top 5, as I use quite a few every single day. But I chose 5 favourites from the brushes that I use every day without fail, whatever look I'm going for.

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge (£5.99/Boots)

A dupe of the Beauty Blender, this is a multi-functional sponge for applying liquid foundation. I've been using these for about a year now and love them. I haven't tried the original Beauty Blender so I can't compare, but Real Techniques are a brand I trust and I love the flawless finish I get using these, I'd never go back to using a brush to apply my foundation.

Anastasia Beverly Hills 12 Synthetic Duo Brow Brush (£14.00/BeautyBay)

I use this every day with my dipbrow, I brush the brows through before and after with the spooley and the sharp angled brush is perfect for precise application. It works perfectly with the ABH Dipbrow, it applies beautifully and is really easy to blend.

Real Techniques Eyeshadow Brush (part of Starter Set 1406 £21.99/Boots)

I've had this brush, from the eye brush set, for years and still use it every single day. I'm a huge fan of RT brushes as they're great quality, clean really well and are reasonably priced. It's soft, applies my eyeshadow well and blends beautifully. 

Blush Brush [RT Bold Metals dupe] (£7.99 for set/Amazon)

These bold metals dupes are so good! They're a great budget price, lovely and soft and clean up nicely! It's my favourite blusher brush right now. I use it every day to apply blush and highlight.

Powder Brush [RT Bold Metals Dupe] (£7.99 for set/Amazon)

As I mentioned above, I love this set. I use this powder brush to apply face powder & bronzer every day. It's beautifully soft! I agree that good quality brushes are important, especially if you want them to last years. But that said, I actually prefer to use this over my more expensive brushes! And at such a good price, I wouldn't mind re-purchasing after a year or so if needed. I've been using these since Christmas and still loving them.

How I Clean My Brushes

It's so important to keep your brushes clean and sanitised. No matter how often you use them, dirt, oils and bacteria will accumulate on the brushes. Think about it, you remove your make up at the end of the day, wash your face and add skincare products in the morning, then apply your makeup with dirty brushes full of old makeup and bacteria to your freshly clean skin. Ew. I mean, I'm the first person to admit it's a bit of a chore to clean my brushes. But needs must. Continuing to use dirty tools will result in clogged up pores, spots and ruined brushes. 

There are many products you can use to clean your tools, but I'm going to tell you what I use. 

You should probably be cleaning them after every use. But I don't have the time to that, I'm lucky to get my 10 minute face on every morning before my screaming toddler turns his room upside down.

This little beauty is great for 'cleaning' eyeshadow brushes in between colours. If you're using the same brush to apply your eyeshadow, just swirl the brush into the doughnut after each colour, to remove the product before using the next colour. GENIUS RIGHT? You're welcome. And everyone has a hair doughnut or 2 lying around after the doughnut bun days! ;) 

Obv this isn't going to thoroughly clean the brush, but removes the majority of product from the brush so you can use another colour without worrying about the brush still containing the previous shade.

Halfway through the week, I spot clean my brushes with a quick and easy brush cleanser such as this one. Another favourite is the MAC Brush Cleaner, in fact it's probably my all time favourite for spot cleaning, but I'm trying out cheaper versions and I'm currently testing the B.Makeup Brush Cleanser (£3.32/Superdrug) I take an old cloth [I actually use old baby cloths/flannels] pour/spray on a little clean cleanser and swirl my brushes in to cleanse and condition the brushes. 

Then weekly, I'll deep clean them with baby shampoo. It's super simple to do, holding the brush downwards, run under warm running water being careful not to wet the area where the handle meets the head too much as too much water can loosen the glue and you may lose some bristles. Squeeze some shampoo into the palm of your hand and swirl the brush around creating a lather before rinsing under the running water until water runs clear. Squeeze the bristles slightly to remove excess water and leave them to dry on a towel. 

I do want to get my hands on one of those brush palettes to use instead of my hand, I think I'll be purchasing one of those soon.

What about you, how do you keep your brushes clean and in good condition?

xxx

Losing Weight with Gravitate : First Impressions

If you've been following My Weightloss Journey you'll know that I'm not at a happy weight right now and I've been taking small steps to make changes. But I'm the first to admit that I struggle with willpower, so I'm more than happy to except any extra help towards reaching my weight loss goals. Weight loss supplements are often frowned upon, or people do not understand how they work or are worried about what they may contain. Gravitate Nutrition supplements includes GMP standard, high quality, 100% natural ingredients and does not contain any caffeine or other stimulants as many other supplements do.  They have also just been 'approved' by the Diet Pills Comparison Site.
I've received their '30 Day Weight Loss Starter Kit*' to trial and share my results with you.

Gravitate was developed with three goals in mind:

1. To be the most effective non-prescription weight loss supplement available
2. To be safe, natural and side-effect free
3. To be simple and easy to take

They're so confident in their products, they offer a 35 day money back guarantee!

So, let me show you what's in the kit:

Gravitate Supersculpt which contains hunger suppressing, active ingredient glucomannan which is clinically proven to help lose weight by making you feel full and stop snacking. Glucomannan is new to me but I've read that it is a plant-based fibre found in the root of the konjac plant and has appetite surpassing properties. These capsules must be taken before meal times with 1-2 glasses of water.

Gravitate Dietvits contain a blend of vitamins and minerals essential to your body, which have lots of great benefits such as strengthening your immune system, giving your more energy and blocking carbs. These are to be taken once a day with water. Alongside the capsules, I received a weight loss guide booklet with help and advice to accompany me through the 30 days.  I'm looking forward to bringing you my results and honest opinion on Gravitate in a months time!
Wish me luck!

xxx



*received in return for honest review

Family Favourites from Carex

Carex first launched their anti bacterial liquid hand wash back in 1994, the first in the UK. Since then they've become the UK's number 1 hand wash brand, going from strength to strength launching more high quality products for all kinds of situations, needs and skin types.

I'm a big fan of Carex products, they're a brand I trust and am happy to have in my house, for my family to use, to keep them hygienically clean, protected and germ free. 

We were pretty chuffed to receive a box of Carex goodies for us to use and share with you.

Their Fun Edition hand washes are big favourites in my household. With their fun, yummy smelling fragrances, it hugely encourages my boys to wash their hands! They love the smell so they want to use the soap, and I'm happy knowing they kill 99.9% of bacteria. Winning! 

I actually wrote a blog post a few years ago about how much we loved them!! The chocolate orange one is my fave, yum!

The Care & Plus range are luxurious hand washes available in some lovely fragrances such as macadamia oil and vanilla, and argan oil and cocoa [which I'm really looking forward to trying!] They contain 3x more skin conditioners than the usual hand washes, keeping hands feeling extra soft.

Their Nourishing Bath Cream has been designed and developed to work in harmony with your skin, with a mild blend of cleansers to gently but effectively clean and natural skin conditioners to gently moisturise, it's a great family friendly bubble bath. Taylor has very dry skin, so I have to be careful what he uses. This is gentle enough to use in his bath and contains a blend of conditioners specifically for dry skin, plus it makes lots of lovely bubbles!

We also received some Hand Wipes in their yummy strawberry laces fragrance. Perfect for popping in your hand bag or changing bag for cleaning messy hands on the go. Effectively removing dirt and germs from sticky fingers whilst looking after and protecting sensitive skin, I'll be taking these on holiday with us for wiping away sand and ice cream from little hands!!

Do you use Carex products in your house?

What are your favourites?

xxx


*this post contains PR samples


Linked up to: Tried & Tested  //  Best & Worst

May Beauty Favourites 2016

These favourites posts come around far too fast, Summer has finally arrived [well, apparently...], let's hope it's a good one!  It was difficult deciding between all my favourites from May, I had so many great products I wanted to share with you, but after much deliberation I've managed to round it down to the usual 5. So, here are the 5 beauty products I've been enjoying using this past month...

Olay Anti Wrinkle Pro Vital Night Cream (£9.99/Boots)
I seem to have taken an interest in skincare aimed at more mature skin lately. Now, I do have fine lines, so I do like to use anti ageing products, but I've found the more mature skincare to make my skin feel absolutely amazing, possibly due to it working that little bit harder to combat dryness and help my skin feel more plumper and firmer. I look forward to using this at the end of every day, which makes it a big favourite! It feels so so good on my skin and smells lush!

Avon Brazil Beat Body Mist (£2.00) As I've mentioned before, I much prefer to use body sprays in the warmer weather, rather than a heavy perfume. This dragon fruit, white musk and water lily scent from Avon is just THE perfect Summer fragrance! It's the perfect mixture of fruity and sweet, a tropical island in a bottle! It doesn't have amazing longevity but a body spray never really does, it's easy to keep spritzing throughout the day though as it's a pleasure to sniff!! ;)

NuSkin AP24 Whitening Fluoride Toothpaste* (£10.00) I've tried whitening toothpastes before but always end up going back to normal toothpastes as I'm always worried about the amount of peroxide or similar in them, and how they're not protecting my teeth as well as others, but this contains fluoride so claims to fight cavities and protect teeth as good as any other toothpaste, plus it doesn't contain peroxide. It has a pleasant minty vanilla scent and is a pleasure to use. Both myself and James have been using it for the past 2 of weeks and seeing a few shades difference already! 

Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes Contour Kit (£25.50) I've been using this almost every day lately. It contains Boi-ing concealer for those dark circles, although I tend not to use this as prefer my usual concealer, plus 3 gorgeous shades to create the perfect contoured eyes. It also contains an illustrated booklet with tips and advice on how to use the kit best. Great little kit!

Garnier Micellar Oil-Infused Cleansing Water (£5.99/Boots) Micellar water has been my choice of make up remover since it came onto the scene and I was intrigued to try out the new oil-infused version when it was released. I've always been wary of using oils on my face, but I've since learn how beneficial it is so when my previous micellar water ran out, I grabbed the oil infused water and absolutely loved it. Firstly, it smells ah-mazing!! And it feels so so good on my skin. I love taking off my make up with it at the end of the day!


What beauty products have you been loving lately?
xxx




*This post contains a PR sample