Illamasqua makeover review

Bonjour my lovely bloggers,

Yes I have been absent for some while, and I apologise for that deeply, but I am finally feeling inspired to start this up again! So, as the title suggests, this post is all about Illamasqua. If you haven't heard of them (i'm sure you have) they are a higher end makeup brand that specialise in unusual and striking colours. A lot of makeup artists favour Illamasqua along with Mac, Urban Decay etc and I can see why. They are quickly becoming one of the top makeup brands and definitely my favourite.

One of the reasons I have been a little preoccupied recently is that it's been my 21st birthday. I decided that I wanted to feel really special and have my makeup done professionally. I have been feeling a little down about myself recently, and this is another reason that my blog has been neglected, I got stuck in a rut but this really gave me a boost and inspired me again. I decided I wanted a heavy, smokey look as the club we were going to is a rocky/grungy club. I booked into Illamasqua's concession in Debenhams (Meadowhall, Sheffield) with a girl called Zoe, who is utterly incredible. She talked me through everything she was doing and kept asking my opinion on products and what I would like her to use. This really put me at ease as I felt I could let her know if I wanted anything changing, which is something i'm always worried about with makeup counters. I was really happy with the finished look and had loads of compliments on my makeup.


Here is a few shots of the final look

The picture on the left is my naked face and the right is after Zoe got her hands on it !!!

Products used : 

Eyes- Stealth cream, obsidian,wolf, forgiveness and feint eye shadows, infinity gel liner and mascara.

Brows- Brow cake in thunder and an angled brush

Skin- Hydra Veil primer, skin base and powder blusher in Alure 

Lips- pencil in Honour and lipstick in Shard.

I absolutely loved my look and as Illamasqua's tag line says "Makeup for your alter ego" I really felt like someone completely different! The makeover cost me £30 and this was redeemable on the day against products. I ended up buying the brow cake, honour pencil and lipstick in shard, and have managed to create great looks with them myself. 

Check out Zoe's work here 

Instagram- ZOELEANNEPEPLOW

and on Facebook too!

What are your favourite Illamasqua products? 

Ruby xo

Moments That Mattered 2013

Hello my lovely bloggers,

I know I have been very neglectful of this blog, but I promise i'll try my hardest to get this blog going. I have been looking for inspiration for months and I have been feeling really down about myself over the last few months, so when Georgina at She Might Be Loved posted her blog on 'Moments that Mattered' for a http://www.lloydsbank.com/ competition I saw it as a brilliant opportunity to look back over my last year and remember the important moments that got me to where I am today.

So here it goes.....

My year has been full of ups and downs, which I guess is how most years go. One of the moments that really changed things for me, hit me like a train in spring last year. I have been so lucky in my life to never really have to deal with severe illnesses and loss. It is something I have always taken for granted I think, so when I found out my Grandad had lung cancer I was heart broken, as anyone would be. My family are all very close, we all live within 10 minutes of each other and some of my favourite memories of being young were with my Nanny and Grandad. Although this sounds like a really sad memory, it has actually turned into a really positive memory. Following this news our family made a real stand to make the best of life, to not take for granted the time we all have together. So this year my memories are fully of lazy afternoons stuffing our face with cake and tea, of a perfect christmas, boxing day and new year spent with the whole family ( again stuffing our face with food!!!) He has had a lot of treatment and things are starting to look up!

me and my grandparents a few years back :)

Now on to slightly less important but memories that made me smile!

One of my favourite brands, Tatty Devine posted that they were looking for their SuperFans to celebrate their fifteenth birthday. Fans were asked to email in or nominate others to explain why they believe they are superfans...or why they love Tatty Devine. I entered, in the tiniest hope that I could maybe win, but more to just tell Tatty Devine how amazing I think they are. Mainly, I love them because they are super innovative and creative, they still hand make their jewellery in the UK and they are an incredible example of how important and interactive social media can be! I had no hope that I would win, I earn close to minimum wage so I can't buy every single Tatty Devine item that I would like to, and I never ever win anything. Then one day it came, that amazing email saying I was now a SUPERFAN! Only 25 lucky fans got this title, and my gosh were we lucky. We received a limited edition super sparkly platinum brooch, the chance to make our own charm bracelet, a tote bag and the best thing any Tatty fan could get......a HANDWRITTEN card from the founders!!! I was so overwhelmed, I may have done a little cry....maybe. ;)

My last thing, was less of an actual event than a very important decision. It all stems from a few years ago, when I had a real life effecting experience within a job. I was working caring for children which is such a huge huge passion of mine. Anyway, the end of the story is I had an awful experience in the setting, my confidence was hugely shattered, and I struggled to even leave the house. This is how I ended up working at Lush. I needed a job and I luckily got hired. I cannot thank my Lushie coworkers enough. I love them to pieces and they don't quite understand how much impact they've had on my life. They have built my confidence so high and truly shaped me to be the person I am today. And this is my moment....I finally had the confidence to decide I am going to go into teaching properly. I am going to follow my dream, believe in myself, and do what brings me more joy than anything.

So there it is, my moments. It's been a hard few years, but 2013 finally felt like the beginning of a change of luck for me.


Hope you enjoyed reading all about my strange little life!



Ruby xo


-http://www.lloydsbank.com/