Kayleigh's Blog: Beauty

Beauty

Skincare Products That Actually Work

15:00

Beauty

3 Simple Hairstyles for short hair

15:02

Beauty

Daily Skincare Routine

15:00

Hey everyone!
A while ago, in my Summer Morning Routine post, I promised to publish a post on my daily skin routine and voila, here it is.

The first thing I do in the morning when it comes to my skincare routine is make sure I have no makeup from the night before on my face at all. To do this I use my facial wipes which you can buy from any pharmacy/ drugstore. After that I will rinse my face with water. This rinses any of the residue from the facial wipes and making the face feel fresh. From there I begin with my skin treatment.

This starts off with washing my face. Recently I was getting a lot of blackheads and thankfully I picked up a Clean & Clear Blackhead Clearing Soap. This is a blue bar of soap and it's really easy to clean my face with it. It feels very moisturising and I can often see instant results. It's one of my new favourites.

If I don't have any blackheads then I will skip this step and go onto my normal routine which consists of using Young Solutions Face Wash and Young Solutions Tone Down Oil Controlling Toner. These have been my favourite brand for years and I don't think it's going to change any time soon. The face wash isn't too harsh on my face and definitely gets rid of any dirt. I never skip the toner because while toning, it also acts and a moisturiser. My face can get really oily sometimes and this can moisturize my face whilst controlling the oil.

After that, I am done for the morning. I then will put on some make up. With all these products, I never have to worry about wearing foundation, in fact I don't even own a bottle of foundation! However I do use concealer even now and then but other than that I don't have to use anything to cover up my skin. This is why I love my Young Solutions so much!

Some days I love to use a face mask. Although my family get a little creeped out, I love to use an all natural face mask. This normally consists of one egg white, a teaspoon of honey and a little bit of cinnamon. These ingredients do wonders for my face. I mix all the ingredients together and smother my face with it. In about half a hour (Or the length of one episode on Netflix... ) I wash it off and my face feels so smooth and fresh.

Later, after my shower, I will make sure all my make up is off. For this I either use Coconut Oil or facial wipes. Coconut Oil is an amazing product that helps to get all your make up off. After this I will then use the same Young Solutions Face wash and Toner. After that I will take Young Solutions Tee Tree Night Blitz. This contains, you may have already guessed, Tee tree oil. Tee tree oil is also an amazing thing which helps to prevent acne.

That's it! That's my secret to having good skin! I highly suggest picking up coconut oil and tee tree oil because those are the product which you can find anywhere and are the best. I would also recommend doing the face mask 1 to 2 times a week. I wish you all flawless skin. Don't forget that even if you don't have that great skin, it's all natural and you shouldn't feel pressurised to get rid of it or cover it up. You're all beautiful! :)

Love you all

Beauty

Summer Morning Routine

13:49

Beauty

The Beauty in Travelling

05:53

Beauty

Matric Dance Prep

21:06

On Friday 17 April something really exciting happened. It was my Matric Dance. For those who still don't know what that is - it's prom but we just call it a Matric Dance. From what I've heard, there are a lot of people who have their dances coming up soon so I thought I'd shed some light on what needs to be prepared and things I learnt from experience.

1. Sore shoes

I remember from last year how much pain my feet were in after a night of wearing heels. This year I didn't want a repeat of that so I took measures to make sure I wouldn't have sore feet the day after. Firstly I practiced walking in them for weeks before to adjust to the height... They were massively high. Nothing to what I would wear daily. I think this helped a lot because it was a lot easier to walk in the during the night. Also I sprayed my foot with hairspray, yes hairspray, to stop it from slipping around in my shoe. Another thing is to please just be careful, accept that they aren't the easiest pair of shoes to walk in and don't be afraid to ask for some assistance in walking during the night. Just don't hang on your date, or anyone for that matter, the whole time ;)

2. Your Dress

This was probably the hardest thing for me. Trying to decide wether I was going to buy or rent or have one made took forever but after deciding to rather save money and rent, I headed off to Cinderellas to pick up the perfect dress for me. That was the next task... Finding the dress. To be honest, it isn't that easy or quick. It takes time to find a dress that is the right color and fit for your body but don't stress because you'll find it. If there's one thing I've learnt is that you should stay clear of satin or shiney material similar to satin because when it comes to taking photos, the dress doesn't flatter your body, this is because of lighting that causes the dress to reflect in some areas but not in the others. If you do want satin then make sure it has an over coating like chiffon to stop this effect on your photos.

3. Makeup

There are a few things I've learnt from past experiences and one thing that is important is that whether you're doing your own makeup or having it professionally done, make sure it isn't too dark. Some people have really pale skin (ie. Me) and having dark make up doesn't look very nice at all. But you don't have to worry because if you do have pale skin then you should embrace it, there are colors you can wear which will bring out all your good points. Same goes for those who are more tan. There are colours that suit you best too. All you have to do is make sure you know those colors. These you can find anywhere on the Internet.

4. Hair

Your hair is quite important as if it isn't done correctly it may hide the best qualities about your dress. If you have a strapless dress, wear your hair down to avoid your neck looking too long. If your dress has one strap, wear your hair to the other side to even it out. If you have a halter dress or any other kind of straps, wear an updo or half updo. This is really important to remember. Another thing is that it doesn't matter wether you do it yourself or if you have it done professionally. Know your strengths and weaknesses and work according to it.

5. Your date

Your date is also one of the main important parts of the dance because you're going to be spending the whole night with him. You obviously don't want a date that is going to leave you nor be too clingy. You don't have to take someone that you like, you can just take a friend. You could even go alone or with one of you girl friends, you'll have a great time either way so don't feel bad about it.

Overall, your night is going to be absolutely special. No matter what happens, whether it be something bad at the time or something amazing - its going to be a night to remember (que High School Musical dancing)

Hopefully this helped. If you have any other ideas or any questions then please comment down your question or idea and lets get a real conversation party started in the comments ;)

Beauty

Mandy's Wax Strips

17:09

Hello everybody,

Today I'm going to be reviewing a product I got earlier this week.

My Matric dance is coming up (for those of you who don't know, that's Prom) and I thought that because it's a special night and I want to look my best, I would go to the extend of waxing my legs. I have never had the experience of waxing any part of my body besides my eyebrows so this was something pretty big. I mean I've heard that it can be quite painful :0

I didn't want to have to go to a beauty place where they do it for me because if for some reason I didn't like it at all, I wouldn't be able to stop when I like to. This is what lead me to go out and buy my own wax strips.

After looking through the numerous amounts of different brands and types of waxing I finally decided on one in particular.

Once I arrived home I read through all the instructions (twice) to make sure I knew what I had to do. This particular box came with 6 strips which were double sided.

I was instructed to rub the strips together for 20-30 seconds to warm them up then place them in the area, rubbing over them in the same motion in the direction of the hair. Then you are supposed to immediately pull the skin tight and rip it off in the opposite direction.

I did just as directed and it barely hurt at all. This is why I was so impressed with this product. It was almost painless and removed all the hair, and didn't leave any large amounts of wax.

I couldn't believe how lucky I was to have such a good experience with it since it was my first time waxing at home.

If you're wanting to wax and are nervous then here are the tips I learnt that could help you:

1. Don't be scared!

I know even when I was getting my eyebrows done, I was nervous. Don't be tempted to believe that it's going to be the most painful experience ever. It really is unlikely as if all the directions are followed you should be perfectly fine :)

2. Make sure all the directions are followed.

It is critical that the directions are followed in order to insure a safe waxing.

3. A little redness is alright.

You may notice that the skin may go a little red. Don't worry because this is normal, it should start going back to normal after a couple hours.

4. It may become itchy or irritable.

This, again, is normal. I noticed that about 10 minutes after, it became irritable. I resisted to rub or scratch it and it soon went away.

5. Test patches are essential.

You may notice that once you get your box of strips, it says to do a test patch. This is when you only wax a small area 24 hours before actually waxing the whole area. This is to make sure your skin doesn't have a reaction to the strips and is vital for the health of your skin.

To anyone who is wanting to start waxing or is looking for a more painless waxing then I really recommend using and if Mandy's products.

Good Luck :)

Beauty

Sorbet French Manicures

21:50

For Christmas I was lucky enough to receive a nail kit from Sorbet. For those of you who don't know, Sorbet is a beauty company who do manicures and pedicures and just your lovely pampering services. They have also made products so you can pamper yourself at home.

The kit I got was for a French manicure. It comes with a really cute baby pink and white bag to carry your two nail polishes which are Sorbet's Milky Way and Sorbet's Blush. I am obsessed with it and thought I'd share it with you. Sorbet's kit is so easy to apply and is long lasting. It also adds that finishing touch to your nails to really make you feel amazing.

I am not a nail expert so I am not able to just paint the white tips on as precisely so I also bought some guides to help me out which are from Nailene. They come with 96 guides and feel like they last forever.

I am so happy with how they turned out and they are perfect to wear practically anywhere. They also don't take that long to dry and PRO TIP! If you dunk your fingers/toes in cold water right after painting them, they dry a lot quicker! ;)

It's really easy to apply:

STEP ONE: Make sure your nail is clean/ there is no nail polish left on.

STEP TWO: Peel and stick the Nailene guides onto your nails where you want the white tips to be.

STEP THREE: Paint the space you left with Sorbet's Milky Way nail polish and wait for it to dry.

STEP FOUR: Peel off the stickers carefully.

STEP FIVE: Paint over the whole nail with Sorbet's baby pink Blush nail polish.

STEP SIX: (Optional) Top with a top coat and you're done!

If you were to compare prices, the nail polish bottles are quite big and they have a lot of nail polish in them so they last a while and the guides are also really cheap. In comparison to going and having them professionally done, it works out to be A LOT cheaper and they look amazing either way.

I still like going to get the professionally done but I think that by using the kit, you're saving a lot more money! Either way they are both amazing and I just love to look at my freshly painted nails. I feel so girly and dainty. ;)

If you have a dance coming up or you just want to spoil yourself, I recommend buying the kit because it means that if sometime in the future you want to do it again... You can!

Just remember that although you may have the guides, it takes practice to get them perfect. My first time using the kit was a little messy but don't worry, after about 2 or 3 tries, you get them looking almost perfect! :)

Hope I helped you save a bit of money!

Love you all

Beauty

Split Hair Horrors Solved

19:39

Split ends.... Ladies am I right in saying that these can be a HUGE trouble in getting rid of. I know sometimes I find myself sitting for ages with my tiny nail scissors, trying to get rid of every single one because I don't want to have to cut it. If you're like me and you have long hair and really don't want to cut the ends because either you don't have time or you simply don't want to have to go through the time it took to grow it to that length... then these tips are for you. For those of you poor souls who don't know what a split end is... it's not something you would want to have.

A split end is when a piece of your hair splits into two pieces at the end of your hair. Once a piece has split it could carry on splitting all the way up to the top of your head. This could result in your hair looking really frizzy and ragged and just awful. I'm not saying that if you have a couple of split ends, you should freak out and run to the nearest hairdresser... What I am saying is that every now and then it is good to have a trim to keep your hair healthy but if you have a hard time with split ends that you don't want to have to keep on trimming... then you have come to the right place.

Ok, so you have understood that you could have split ends that you want to get rid of... but how do you do that? Well here are a few tips you can try to get rid of them which are really inexpensive and easy to do.

1. Go to your local grocery store.

Ok that seems simple, but what do you do at the grocery store? Well then you ask around for some help for a shampoo that helps with stopping split ends. Or if you think you can handle looking through all the shampoo bottles then you can just start searching. I am sure you'll be able to find one but asking someone for a recommendation can promise success at a much higher rate :)

2. Twist it.

Yeah you read that right. Once your hair is dry, simply take you hair and twist it after it's just been washed. The split ends should be the pieces sticking out of your twist. Then you can quickly snip them off and you're done :)

3. Check your brush.

Most people don't know it but your brush can do some pretty hard core damage. If you do a lot of back combing or teasing, your hair can get damaged a lot more easily. Using a brush with wider teeth to brush your hair can help avoid split ends.

4. Shine a light.

Shining a light up onto your hair will help you to identify the splits a lot more easily. This will make it quicker to cut them all rather than cutting what you think is all of them, when in actual fact you have like another random 10 pieces which split again and again before you notice and have to start cutting them all over again... A light could help you by seeing a lot more than in natural light.

5. The hair dryer can be an enemy when tackling the battle of split ends. If your hairdryer is on a really hot setting which is not suited for how thick or thin your hair is, it could make your split ends even worse. If you have thin hair like me, you should have the heat really low. For people with thicker hair, a slightly higher temperature would be best. You should never have to use the highest temperature. unless there are only two options. (namely high or low)

I hope these tips helped you and I am wishing you split end free hair. Look after your hair Ladies!

Love you all