500 products of summer (almost!) part 1: colours

Summer is here. I have officially decided.. The sun is out and so is the fake tan, as are the guns ;)

So I have cracked out a whole load of goodies and started using them regularly in my summer routine. This first part of a cracking summer two parter is filled with my picks for summer make up and colours including tan and my new favourite thing... scrunchies!

Let's start with the scrunchies as I know you are all dying to know...

Originally discovered my floral pink scrunchie is so pretty I fell in love, having wanted a velvet black one for so long you can imagine my excitement when I found the beautiful scrunchie range in Topshop. Like a child in a sweet shop. (or just me in a sweet shop) I have a scrunchie for every outfit now, black, red, pink, green you name it. But these two are my favourite for the summer - the green velvet one is to match up with my purple eye shimmer that is featured below and is from Boots.

Eyes are the window the soul...

...or so they say. I have a adapted a couple of new favourites recently for my eyes that are perfect for summer. They are the GOSH Forever Eyeshadow's in Beige & Grey they last all day and are waterproof so perfect for looking glittery by the pool! They have a gorgeous sheen that glows in the sun, and I have to say they bring the glittery girly girl out in me. I love the beige for day to day and the grey for evening with precise eyeliner for a perfect long lasting smoky eye.

The other product I am loving for my eyes at the minute is the B. Stunning Eye Shimmer in Royal - having raved about it previously you may recognise it - it is so soft and light you can apply as little or as much as you want. Purple eyeshadow was seen on catwalks by Holly Fulton and PPQ  for Spring/Summer 2014 - it is one of the top make-up trends for the summer. Up against the green shadows of Giorgio Armani (I need to invest in) and bright blues of Marc by Marc Jacobs.

Getting lippie...

Now red lipstick.. I won't get into it because I could go on for hours and I had to pick one red for this post and honestly I use more than that but this one is kind of perfect for summer. The new GOSH Lip Lacquers are lovely and girls with more tanned skin can go for the pinker shades however for us pale gingers, the best bet is the red shades, my personal favourite being the Dangerous Lips shade. They are pretty good for during the day when lipstick upkeep becomes a little boring - this is sleek and easy to apply, instant colour.

When I'm not feeling the red lippy which is rare to be honest but it does happen - during the day when work stops me re-applying (how dare it!) - I need something lighter and moisturising. Lanolips Lip Ointment with Colour is PERFECT for that. The lanolin (which most people have pre-conceived ideas about) is the purest of pure so it nourishes the lips and keeps them lovely and smooth for when the red lipstick does come out. The ointments with colour are so pretty and available in a range of shades, Rose being my current favourite and it is soft and summery - I dab a tad of red lipstick in so the pinkness doesn't drown out my pale skin. And it has SPF 15 in - holiday must have I think!

Nailed it...

As an admirer of all things glitter I have quite a few GOSH Glitter Matt Finish Polishes as they are so cool! I couldn't get my head around them when I first discovered them, I had a new matt glitter feature nail every week. My new discovery and one I find completely perfect for summer (not just because it matches my pools of blue eyes) is the Frosted Blue shade. They are really good to do gradient glitter with, just apply to a sponge and dab at the bottom or top of your nail.

My two most featured nail brands seem to be Maybelline and GOSH so it is only natural that my summer picks fall into those brands. I have discovered the Super Stay Gel Nail Colour polishes, on my quest to find an amazing clear top coat I picked up Crystal Clear which so far is my favourite ever! I also got myself a colour with Berry Stain which is a rich purple that I adore! (It even matches my handbag). The polishes really do stay for much longer than your everyday polish and the shine on them is lovely - so far so great!

Matching my skin to my wardrobe..

Is hard for me sometimes. I like wearing black now and again as it falls nicely with my hair, but I can end up looking gothic, then pale colours and whites tend to be a no go for me - and that is where I am struggling so far this summer. I haven't even been summer shopping yet (due to a lack of funds) and I am panicking about how much white and pastels are out there and look gorgeous yet I fear I can't wear them. HOWEVER.. I have my bottle of St Tropez Self Tan Bronzing Mousse (where one shade fits all - I love the way they show it on the site, click the link to see!) to hand now and have really gotten into the routine of application. I am feeling a lot more confident in my skin and may even venture into wearing something white soon! It goes on so evenly and perfectly (moisturising and exfoliation help here) with a mitt, and builds up over 4 hours so do not apply too much thinking it isn't dark enough (a mistake I have made before).

So there we have part one of the summer episodes on curiosity.. think before you colour ladies x

Oh and remember to click the names of the products to buy them or see more online info from stockists :) 

#beWOWd with Ken Paves & Color Wow

Wow. 

Known as the reaction any sane person has to the Color Wow Root Cover Up amongst Color Wow's other wow-worthy products. I got to go to a wonderful event this week to see the lovely Ken Paves, stylist to the stars (such as good friend of his Eva Longoria) and learn more about their gorgeous products. I have reviewed Color Wow products previously, the two from their recently new stylers range - the Speed Dry and Raise the Root (both brilliant products I can't find any fault with) - and one of their star products One Minute Transformation.

The lovely creative director of Color Wow, Kevin Moss, demoed a few of the products for us, the two that got the biggest reaction from us all, were the Root Cover Up and the One Minute Transformation.

The Root Cover Up, an incredibly innovative product, worked wonders on the models grey roots, and filled in some blonde highlights. The colours include Platinum, Blonde, 3 shades of Brown and Black. Unfortunately none for us gingers/redheads. BUT you could add in some blonde highlights/brown lowlights if you don't have roots so there is a root cover up for almost everyone really. (Apologies for the glare in the photo, I hope you can see the effect!)

The One Minute Transformation is another miracle working product, taking frizzy hair and giving it a sleek salon blow dried look in seconds. I've been using this product recently after a hard day in the sun; I have sunscreen on my scalp and no time to wash, humidity has gotten to my locks and made it incredibly dull - in comes the One Minute Transformation. (I unfortunately don't have a picture of this!)

Especially for the event I gave myself a Color Wow mani - using my friends gorgeous Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Nail Paint in Coconut and my black nail art pen. They went down a storm with the ladies from Color Wow.

I started reading one of the lovely gifts I received in my goodie bag on the tube ride home, Ken Paves You Are Beautiful with an extremely sweet foreword by Eva Longoria (who I love!). I got through a couple of pages and it is a lovely, inspiring book so far! I can't wait to carry on reading his book, with a brew and a biscuit, feeling beautiful!

I will also take away from the night the desire to watch Blue Jasmine - due to a hilarious scene Ken showed us and referred to for the rest of the evening!

I can't wait to try my new Color Wow products, so should you! xx

PS apologies for the lack of images but the glare from the mirror means my shots of the demos aren't very good at all!

the nail art update: roses, organisation & geometrics

I have a couple of really cute designs to show you from this week. I started the week with a messy & girly vibe and ended it on a neat & edgy note. I'd love to tutorials for both these designs at some point as they are both fairly basic once you break them down and easy once you have had a bit of practice, but I still got asked 'You did them yourself? How?' I'll get a few pointers and show you the tools I used (If you are someone who dabbles and has the tools these designs should be fairly easy).

pretty ugly freehand roses

Tools: A medium and small dotting tool, black nail art pen, GOSH Cosmetics Special Edition 009 Bright Idea, Spring shade 626 Kind of Pink, 012 Splish Splash and Cheeky 1813 Purplexed.

This design actually inspired my new logo (which I hope you like, designed and done by me! I am very proud of it). I've done a few roses designs in the past couple of years, this has to be my favourite though. A design I have actually seen a lot of nail artists do variations of. This is my turn on it, a shimmery gold background with deep pink roses - very messy style with simple black lines to make them look more like roses as appose to splodges! 

To do this design - you literally have to, on top of your base coat, dab a couple of random sized dots of a few different polishes (stick to pale pinks/deep pinks/bright reds for roses) in clusters. then use your nail art pen to create random out lines, creating petals then using a brush I brushed on little green leaves! - top coat and done!

random retro geometrics

Tools: Long thin brush, black nail art pen, a rainbow of bright polishes of your choice

This design is totally random - I wanted to do something completely new and as I had just gone through all my nail polishes to organise them I couldn't pick one feature colour to concentrate on or inspire me - so I picked a whole bunch and just went with it.. this is the result!

I used the brush to paint on the shapes (this took some patience and a very dry undercoat of white) It is important to have a reall dry undercoat with this as if you create a bump in your straight line you can use a small thin brush dipped in varnish remover to neaten it up. If you have a thick base (made up of several thing layers to avoid chipping) that is super dry you won't remove an obvious amount of the base colour! I created random shapes and added black lines with my pens thinner brush - and done :)

I decided to ransack my messy Soap & Glory bag this week and throw out any dried up old polishes - this I should do regularly really - in the process I came up with a new organisation plan :) 

I hope it stays this neat..

how to shower for dummies

Time to talk about how I wash myself - an obvious topic you all are dying to know about, I know. 

After a long 13 hour day out of the house there is nothing better than a hot meal followed by a hot shower. After a deep heavy sleep sometimes it's totally necessary to get up an extra 20 minutes early to wake your tired eyes up with a shower.

I love a good shower (I also love baths but I savour those hours with my book and a glass of wine for when I'm in the comfort of my family bathroom surrounded by mums candles and dads incense) and it is all about the products you use in there, are you actually washing yourself or just having a rinse? a body shower or a full hair-wash and leg-shave kinda shower? Either way my staple shower products at the moment consist of the below:

Haircare - Tresemme Salon Silk Shampoo & Conditioner

I start my shower by washing my hair - as most of you probably do - and I have always had good results with Tresemme. I have used every brand under the sun from Nicky Clarke and Color Wow to Herbal Essences and L'Oreal and I always come back to Salon Silk by Tresemee for some reason, it costs as much as Herbal Essences (another trusty hair brand I find) and normally I go for the huge bottles that last me forever. I have for the past year however used Lush shampoo bars and because it's not as easy for me to trek to my local Lush I have resorted in the past month to grabbing Tresemee again in Boots on my monthly store trips for work. Not to complain about Tresemee but the Lush bars last SO long I prefer them - they seem expensive for what you think they are at first, I wasn't 100% convinced - but they last about 3 months for me whereas a bottle of shampoo for almost the same price lasts 1 tops. Saying that I'm back on Tresemme and I love it :) My favourite bottled haircare.

Exfoliation - I love... Strawberries & Cream Exfoliating Shower Smoothie

This stuff smells like milkshake and sweeties - an obvious number one necessity when I'm picking out my body products. I've taken recently to completing my exfoliate, cleanse & moisturise routine on my body as well as my face. I want perfect soft skin for when I start my fake tan for summer regime (which will start soon) and for my month in a bikini in Thailand. So I've started the routine early determined to get myself smooth and buffed everywhere - this is working so far as this exfoliator is so perfect for me. It isn't harsh so it doesn't irritate my sensitive skin and it is just harsh enough to do a good job of buffing away dead skin. Perfect also for scrubbing away dirty night old instant tan!

Cleanse - De-Stress Body Wash by Aromatherapy Associates

I don;t always exfoliate in the shower but I always use this body wash - after a day at work where I am just about ready to collapse I love this (combined occassionally when I'm feeling really stressed and exhausted with the De-Stress Mind Bath & Shower Oil) to inhale in with the steam of my shower. It relaxes me so much and feels like magic unknotting all my knots, mind & body. I don't know an awful lot about Aromatherapy but I know I now love it. This particular scent is quite strong at first if you are not used to Aromatherapy but you get used to it after a couple of uses and you will find that you can't not have it in your shower. I tell you, I know I'm going to have to get more for my final year of uni!

Moisturise - Vitamin E In-Shower Moisturiser by Superdrug

Always use this - if I exfoliate or not. I reviewed it here against the Nivea verison with Cocoa Butter and it has actually become my favourite of the two. It's much less greasy and I can't deny I love the fact it's rich in Vitamin E (common knowledge this is my favourite beauty ingredient!)

So there you have it - you can now shower the Abi way (I hope it goes well for you all! ;) )

whats on my face?

I hope its not egg.. hahaha ew.

Today I bring you the staples of my make up bag that have made their way there in the past couple of months and intend to stay there for the summer.

First is this amazing new mascara, that gives me a really nice lengthened look for the day time without thickening too much like my favourite Retro Glam mascara. It is Max Factor's Clump Defy in the pretty 50th Superdrug birthday packaging. The brush is curved with little spindles/spikes that fit perfectly to my lashes - covering as much area as possible for quick application. The look it gives is really natural looking, but still making them look longer without that really false lash effect despite the range its from! 

Next we have the sample of Benefit's Pore-fressional that I got free with a magazine, probably Vogue but I'm not 100% today! It is a miracle mattifying balm that reduces the appearance of pores. And it works, really well. I love it and use it under my foundation powder one my nose and chin to stop my pores looking like craters. I am thinking of investing once I run out!

Another fab product that I adore is my new concealer - Stay Time 18 hour concealer from 17 - it is wonderful. It stays under my make up all day, it is a lovely shade that fits perfectly to my pale skin and blends in really well. It hides my red blemishes that are particularly bad this week! :(

Now for a bit of colour with a favourite that made it into my April favourites post - The B.Brilliant Morello lip gloss. Never been a huge lipgloss fan, I'm more into lipstick but this is lush. Whether I dab some on for the day or heap it on for the night - i Love it with a capital L.

And more purple - a huge trend on S/S 14 catwalks - with purple shadow. This is my B. Stunning Shimmer in Royal. Its a creamy eye shimmer so I can put on as little or as much as I want. I like wearing a little in the day now its summery, not so that my eyes look bruised but so they shimmer purpleyey. :) It also doesn't crease into my eye creases like a normal cream shadow which is both surprising and great!

So there they are some lovely bits that I currently LOVE and you should def give a try :) see you soon for a nail update :D

the nail art update: twisted manicure and matt glitter

Another weekly nail art update coming your way boys and girls! This week I have two cool and easy designs and a quick tutorial for a twist on the classic French Mani.

Firstly this is the design i did for my night out in Camden with my best friends from back home! I used my new GOSH matt polish, a lovely powder blue called Frosted Soft Blue that i LOVE!
I used a sponge to sponge on some pale blue polish and my glitter polish on top of a deep green to create a soft sponged effect. 




The next mani i did this week is my funky twist on the classic French manicure. Instead of classic white tips I chose to do a few layers of pink and purple shades. To do this i uses the below brush, long and thin in slow steady strokes to get a neat line.

Apply one colour at a time, two coating if the polish is needs it to create a solid colour. This layer is in Cheeky Purpl-exed.

Next layer is Models Own in Pukka Purple.

This next layer is Models Own in Dinky Pinky...

Another layer of Cheeky Purpl-exed..

When I first did this design I coated it with my pink tinted Cheeky matt polish and used two layers only...

Then when I did the tutorial to show you all, I used four colours as you can see above and ended up with the below..