dolling up a little one

My beautiful niece turned 7 over the weekend, and celebrated with a glamour party with all of her friends. My sister set up a (fake) tattoo parlour, hair curling, coloured hair spray, a nail salon and a makeup spot for the kids to explore, with someone manning each section. Can you guess which I was in charge of?

I gave the kidlets choice when adding some sparkle to their party looks (and don't worry, everything was sanitized and no sticky fingers smooshed my makeup-phew!) They liked having the power to decide what they could wear, and I think overall it went well.

Biggest hit was definitely the BYS Diamond Shadow palette in Miami Beats*, which is chock-full of glitterific pastel shades (the kids went nuts for the pink, lo and behold) The essence Swirlpool blush also went down well, the sheen this gives is a sight to see, one of the prettiest blushes I own for sure. No love for MAC's Full Of Joy blush, the kids aren't fond of lavender it turns out. You learn something new every day!

The only ones who went for the Clinique Strawberry Fudge palette were my older niece and her friend, who weren't excited by the glitter and wanted to wear ladylike shades. The Gold Rush shade in the bottom left hand corner is such a stunner, FYI.

I gave all of the kids the choice of two Vera Wang perfumes (Princess and Glam Princess) and four lipglosses (which I applied onto the back of my hand and then onto their lips with a sanitised brush) The only one that wasn't chosen was the Mirenesse shade, they all wanted brighter pink shades so this fell by the wayside. Hello Kitty's Baby Lip looked great on, and as always my love for the essence stay with me glosses knows no bounds.

What would a 7 year old makeover be without a ton of shimmer? The new L'Occitane Pivoine Delicate Shimmering Powder* comes out with the nicest little 'puff' and the kids thought it was awesome (I think it is awesome as well!) The Vani-T Diamond Dust in Moon & Stars* is something I use on my cheekbones, and when I was finished with them the kids were all glowing like little rays of golden sunshine!

What would you do if asked to make over 30 children?

How often do you shimmer up your makeup routine?

*Marked products were provided, but used in this makeover because they are lovely and suited to occasion perfectly. Honesty, always.



Shades of Grey

More inspired by the dreary Melbourne weather I'm enjoying rather than the saucy trilogy penned by E.L. James, this look is full of soft grey tones and is a fresh winter look.

I applied my Bourjois Healthymix (nice and moisturising for dry winter skin!) with my Rae Morris Radiance* brush, and dusted a little Maybelline Dream Matte powder to tone down the dewy look of it.

As usual I used MAC Painterly paint pot as an eyeshadow base, then whipped out my deep grey Inglot shadow (matte 339) to use all over the lid, and used the matte vanilla shade (matte 351) to blend and highlight. I also popped a bit of MAC Nylon onto my inner corners. I used my L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow in All Night Blue to line my upper and lower lashline, and I think it was a subtle touch that led to the cool-toned look. I finished the eyes off with my Australis Lash Length Extension mascara* and filled in my brows with my BYS brow pencil*.

The cheeks were kept glowy with MAC Full of Joy blush, which is a pale lavender toned pink blush that gives a gorgeous sheen to the face. The lips were given the once over with Face of Australia's Lychee Crush lipstick* (which I really like the look of in these photos!)

What is your winter makeup look?
Have you read 50 Shades of Grey? I've read the first two and my oh my the writing is woeful, but the storyline did grab my attention and I don't regret reading them. I'll get around to reading the third one one day.

*Marked products were provided for consideration. Honesty, always.