Bank Holiday

My bank hoilday was pretty uneventful as I had to drop out of my trip to London for the Notting Hill carnival as I had train timing issues and work on Monday to consider but I still made the most of it with the usual Saturday mooch around town, with Starbucks in hand. On Sunday the boy was working so I took a little 'me' time, giving my nails a paint job of Rimmel's Summer Orange on my toes and Barry M Black paint on my fingers while catching up with Youtube videos, (an hour or so of LisaLisaD1, hell yeah!) Also, I have a new obsession with that show on Netflix 'Orange is the new black' which may have had some sort of subconscious power in my nail polish picks?

Sunday night was time to go out and play, and as often is the case, the getting ready was just as fun as the night itself. 

My prep went a little like this; 

A little ground work had to be done first, setting a base for the all beauty sculpting that would follow. The prep targeted three areas; face, lips and hair. Face prep came in the form of Clarins Instant Smooth- setting my skin and giving a cheeky tint to help my make-up on it's way to my desired bronzed effect. Hair was managed with a good spritzing of Bumble & Bumble's Thickening Spray for that extra oomph it adds so my fine locks and lips were wetted ready for application by the new Baby Lips Hydrating Balm. 

Next I got to work on my skin, and if the prep before hand was comparable to let's say, underwear- an essential first step but no one really sees it, the base makeup is your clothing, we're dressing our skin. I reached for some old faithfuls in the form of Revlon PhotoReady foundation in the shade Natural Beige- a long lasting, buildable foundation that I do think lives up to it's name and photograps well (but I'll let you be the judge of that, keep scrolling..) I applied this with the Real Techniques Buffing Brush and set this with a new powder I picked up on Saturday on a whim, Bourjours Mineral Radiance Powder in Vanilla, a full post will be up shortly but so far, so good. And I of course used my favourite bronzer, Bourjours Chocolate Bronzer in 51. I brushed this all over my face and down my neck, concentrating on my cheek cheek bones for a light contour. This bronzer builds so evenly that I don't think you can ever reach that muddy stage other bronzers so easily suffer from.

 

Following my whole outfit euphemism, just go with it, we're now onto accesories and my 'must-have' for an evening out are my Ardell Demi Wispies, I've used these for around years now, I remember having to hunt down these babies in a Sallys store before they finally made their way to Boots. They offer the perfect flutter, full and elongated to the outer corner and you can just about get away with pulling them of as your own. Best.Lashes.Ever. 

 

For a finishing touch I swished on another new purchase, Baby Lips in Cherry Me which gave just enough colour and it was handy to throw in my bag for easy reapplication later in the evening. I spritzed one of my favourite perfumes, Nina Ricci Ricci Ricci, a sweet scent that lingers on my neck and wrist and did a little 'spray and walk into' action and I was out the door. 

 Et voila! I wore a faux leather skirt: ASOS / Black cami: Topshop / Kimono: H&M / Sandals: Primark / Bag: Topshop/ Watch: Michael Kors and hurried 'only chance to pose' snap  courtesy of my younger brother (and stand-in photographer) and a cheeky Instagram shot to round things off nicely. 

Monday I had off of work so went into my work experience office and played journalist for the day. Working for free, in that gorgeous weather we had? I must be crazy, or very determined... Definitely the latter! 

Did you have a good Bank Holiday weekend?

Rachel xo