Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Hope you are all enjoying the festive season, and having fun experimenting with lots of different skin and make-up techniques.

We thought we would bring you our top five things to take with you in your handbag, whether you are staying at friends and relatives for Christmas, or out and about in the festive season:

* Vaseline
A must for the cold weather, protecting the lips, and can be used on dry skin on the face/hands anywhere. And so cheap and small for a handbag must have!

* Dry Shampoo
If you are staying away, you may not have time to wash your hair, and central heating can play havoc with your hair do. Spray a bit of dry shampoo, (James Brown is a good make) and your ready to go!

* Face mask
The alcohol consumed at Christmas can dehydrate the skin very quickly. A travel sized face mask will bring your skin back to live the day after. If you don't have time to leave it on for the suggested amount of time, use it as a face wash instead.

* Versatile moisturiser
Something that can be used on face, hands, legs. Travel size miniatures from any of the brands are perfect for this - I save my Liz Earle samples throughout the year to take away with me.

*Mascara
You may not have room for all your make-up or time to spend slaving over your face when the turkey is cooking and potatoes are boiling over, but a quick stroke of mascara will instantly glam up any look.

Merry Christmas to you all and Stay Beautiful during the festive season!

Stace & Mags x

Body Shop make up party

Body Shop make-up party

A few weeks ago we hosted a Body Shop make-up party. This was a great chance to try out all the make-up products and order some good bargains for Christmas presents.

Couple of highlights:
* Shimmer cubes
Love the spearmint colour, these are amazing value as you get so much in one little cube, and each pot has four cubes, excellent value!
* Eye shimmer
This amazing product brings liquid eye liner to life. When applied over liquid liner, the colour changes from black to a shimmer colour which appears to change in the light - perfect for Christmas parties!
* Lip and cheek stain
This is a great two in one, which makes you look like you have just stepped in from the ski slopes (without having to be cold!). Just kissed lips and bright alive looking cheeks, great for winter chic.
*Brushes
Body Shop brushes are my new make-up must have, they are so soft and glide over the skin.

This party was a great chance to get friends together before Christmas, and we had a great time applying make-up to each other and trying out all the products! Highly recommend a Body Shop at home party!

If you are new to Beautiful You, view our older posts in Seasons, or click on older posts at the bottom of the page, and enjoy!

Stay Beautiful!

Stace & Mags x

Spot the difference

Spot the difference

No one likes to talk about that dreaded S word…but unless you are really lucky, we all get them from time to time. And it always seems to be that really important Christmas party you’ve been waiting for when you wake up in the morning with the biggest, reddest spot ever…There is no miracle cure, but there are things you can do, so hopefully by the evening you will hardly notice it at all!

First things first, I dab a thick layer of whatever clay face mask I have lying around the bathroom, directly onto the spot. Liz Earle Intensive Nourishing mask usually does the trick. I leave this on for as long as I possibly can (half an hour if you have the time).

I then rinse this off with cool water and cleanse with Clinique Anti Blemish clarifying lotion (an absolute life saver if like me you suffer from outbreaks alot…but more of that another week!)

Imagining this is the morning before the big party, I then dab some Liz Earle spot on to the spot. This can be applied throughout the day, even after make up has been applied.

Come the evening, I would apply my foundation as normal, and then use a cover up, such as Laura Mercier secret camouflage (the stars use this for their dodgy looking days too!) and blend with a brush until I can no longer see the spot. Sweep some bronzer over the whole face and your ready to go!

If all else fails, choose a part of the face to over accentuate. (Deep red lips for under the mistletoe encounters??), grab your party shoes, think happy thoughts and have a great time!

Have fun at those Christmas parties this weekend, and Stay Beautiful!

Stace & Mags x

It's all about the eyes!

It's all about the eyes!

Semi permanent eye treatments are all the rage at the moment, I'm a celeb runner up Kim Woodburn famously had her mascara 'tattooed' on before entering the jungle. The treatments are great for holidays when applying and re-applying mascara is just too much like hard work, or for the Christmas party scene when forgetting your mascara is just one disaster too many for those inevitable nights when you leave the office for the pub and stay out all night.

Read on to find out more about these treatments...

* Eye brow tint
Benefits: Adds depth to pale brows, tints grey hairs, matches your hair colour and frames the eye. Perfect if you suffer from almost non existent eyebrows and find yourself constantly drawing them in.

* Eye lash tint
Benefits: Lengthens and thickens lashes, conditions the eye lashes, adds definition to the eyes. This treatment lasts up to 4 weeks, so will cover you right through to the new year!

* Eye lash perm
Benefits: Removes the need for eyelash curlers, opens the eyes. This lasts for 12 weeks, and is one of our faves, no more fiddling around with the eyelash curler, and the opening effect this has on your eyes can also knock the years off! Perfect for this time of year!

(all tints and perms require a patch test)

Our good friend Jess is currently studying all things beautiful at college and is offering these services in the area of Salisbury at a discount rate! Contact us at info@beautyu.co.uk for more information.

Enjoy those Christmas parties, and remember...

Stay Beautiful!

Stace & Mags x

It's Christmas time!

It's Christmas time!

Here at Beautiful You we are feeling the Christmas vibe already! With Christmas decorations going up, Christmas foods all around and many Christmas parties round the corner, we have been busy planning our Christmas party skincare and make up routine.

If you're new to our site, it's simple, we want to talk about all things beautiful! Check out our Autumn posts in the Seasons section, or our top tips at the bottom of the page, and let us know what you think at info@beautyu.co.uk.

Party skincare routine

Before the party
Preparing your skin for that party season you've waited for so long is the key. Remember, the face is your canvas for the make up so it needs to be in its best condition. The three steps of cleansing, toning and moisturising are very important to improve any areas of concern that you have and by sticking to that routine you may say goodbye to the breakouts, blemishes, fine lines and even dark circles. The moisturiser that I use at the moment is Hydra Floral by Decleor; first application made such a difference to my thirst quenching skin. No wonder people say that it ‘provides continuous drip-feed hydration’.

I know Christmas is the most expensive time of the year, but if you have a few spare pennies, it would be great if you could treat yourself to a relaxing, more penetrating and cleansing facial that will make your skin look even better. For range and prices of facials check your local beauty salons.

On the day of the party - two things to remember: sleep and hydration!

You need to remember that adequate amount of sleep before the party (at least 8 hours) will be crucial to you feeling well rested for the big day. In addition, drink plenty of water; this will not only help your complexion by hydrating the skin but also will help your stomach to feel fuller so you won’t eat more than you need, and will help you from getting dehydrated if you by any chance overdo on the mulled wine.

Christmas party eyes

I really like to focus on my eyes at Christmas. This year, Lancome have introduced a version of Hypnose which is called 'Drama' and aims to magnify the lashes by 12 times, it is perfect for extending the lashes for Christmas parties.

Christmas is the time of year to go over the top with everything, so I like to use colours, and sparkles as much as possible. Glam Crystals from Collection 2000 are a must have in my Christmas party handbag, I like to layer some crystals over my eyelid like an eyeshadow before going out, and keep it in my handbag for re-applying more heavily throughout the night. And costing less than a fiver you can afford to get them in more than one colour!

For a more sophisticated party look, I apply a thick layer of Laura Mercier eye liner, smudging it slightly with a thin brush. I then choose a colour that will compliment my eyes. At the moment I love Lancome Colour design 'Best dressed' as it brings out the green in my eyes. I take a small precise eye shadow brush and apply a thin line under my eyeliner to frame the eyes, and then apply small strokes to the eye lid, using very little powder to begin with and building up the colour, adding depth with a darker eye shadow. This look lasts for a whole night of partying, frames the eyes beautifully, and looks amazing in those party photos that are sure to do the rounds in the new year!

Look out over the next week for info on eye treatments from eye brow tints to eye lash perms.

If your heading off to a Christmas party this week, have fun and remember Stay Beautiful!

Stace & Mags x

Why it’s good to use a toner?

Why it's good to use a toner?

Facial toners should fall in the middle of each skincare routine. They should be used after cleansing and before moisturizing. Some dermatologists say that if you cleanse your face regularly twice daily you don’t need to use a toner. I can tell you from experience though that toners keep my combination skin at bay - it's clean, fresh and toners help remove the excess oil from my T-zone.

Recently someone asked me why the need for a toner in her daily routine? It’s simple; a good toner removes excess oil from the skin and whisks away impurities that usually lead to blemishes and breakouts.

There are toners containing alcohol and people with problem skin usually reach for it as it dries the skin faster. You should look for a product specifically designed for you, preferably without alcohol. If you suffer from oily or acne-prone skin, toners containing salicylic acid, glycolic acid, hydroxyl acid could be of your choice. However, if the amount of alcohol is too high it can provoke production of more oils which in turn means more blemishes, blackheads and clogged pores.

Benefits of using facial toners:

• Remove dirt and makeup residue
• Complement the cleansing process
• Refine pores and tighten pores temporarily
• Make skin feel fresh and clean
• Remove excess oil from the skin
• Refresh tired complexion
• Whisk away impurities
• Increase blood circulation
• Restore your skin’s natural pH balance
• Improve skin tone
• Speed up cell renewal

Useful tips:

• When applying toner avoid the eye area
• If your skin is sensitive look for a rosewater facial toner
• Never rub your skin when applying facial toner
• A toner containing alcohol can dry out your skin
• Always apply the toner to a cleansed face

I would urge you to use toner every day when you cleanse your face. It can only help your skin!

Stay beautiful!

Beautiful buy of the week

Beautiful buy of the week

No 7 Liplicious Gloss from Boots (RRP £9.25 12ml)

I, like every lady who is breathing on this planet, loves my Lancome juicy tubes. They are great for parties, sparkly and always stay in place, but the high price tag (RRP £13.50 15ml) means keeping my strawberry flavoured tubes for the weekend.

Liplicious gloss, by Boots No 7 is a great everyday alternative. It lasts a long time, is non sticky, moisturising and the marshmallow one tastes fab! I always stock up when Boots have the £5 No 7 voucher deals, that’s the kind of math I like to do!!!

Body Shop Party

Body Shop Party

A few weeks ago we co-hosted a Body Shop Party, as a close friend has recently become a Body Shop consultant. Having not used the products since I was a teenager, I had no idea what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised to see the Body Shop range seemed to have grown and become sophisticated with age.

A personal favourite, which I went on to purchase was the Nutmeg and Vanilla Hi Glimmer body glaze. A great body cream for adding sparkle for those Christmas parties coming up. It really moisturised and sparkled, without drying out the skin. This will definitely be a repeat purchase!

The coconut set smelled good enough to eat, and I have enjoyed using the shower cream and scrub, resulting in lovely smelling soft skin.

The peppermint foot set, with spray scrub and lotion, was great to sooth aching feet after a long day at work, and is helping towards getting my feet into tip top condition for the party season.

A pleasant surprise was the Buriti baby set. Meant for babies, the lotion is incredibly soft and applying after shaving my legs left me with baby soft skin.

And last but not least was the Cranberry Christmas set. From the minute you open a product from this set, it immediately makes you think of Christmas. The hand lotion has nicely set up camp on my office desk for the run up to Christmas!

A Body Shop Party is a great excuse to get some friends together, have a good time and try out some new and lovely smelling products. For more information about hosting a Body Shop Party email us at info@beautyu.co.uk.

Next month we are hosting a make-up party, so watch this space for all the best Body Shop make-up buys!
Stay Beautiful!
Stace & Mags x

Beautiful buy of the week

Beautiful buy of the week

Each week we will bring you what we think is the best beautiful buy of the week.
This could be an unmissable special offer from QVC, an instore high street offer or a spend or save product that we have discovered.

Today, it's an alternative to a luxury favourite of ours.

Herbal Essences Hello Hydration intensive mask
(RRP £3.98 200ml)

Philip Kingsley elasticizer has always been our saviour, pumping elastic and shine back into our over processed hair, but the steep price (£23.50 150ml) means saving it for every other week or holidays. This new mask from Herbal Essences is just amazing at adding shine and silkyness to long hair. And it even worked on just coloured, hair sprayed and curled hair, renewing it back to its former glory!

Cannot recommend this one enough!

Remember all our old posts are still on here! You can find our review of glam live in the 'Seasons' section under 'Autumn'.

Stay Beautiful!

Stace & Mags x

Beautiful You visits The Glam Show

Beautiful You visits The Glam Show

We attended The Glam Show in Earls Court, London at the weekend, in association with Nicky Hambleton - Jones, from Television's 'Ten Years Younger'.

The show offered the latest trends on the catwalk, the newest brands showing us their wares, and a chance to talk with like minded people.

We spoke to Nicky Hambleton - Jones about the bridal collection that was showcased - Stace is getting married next year so this was of particular interest to us! Nicky commented on how beautiful the collection was and that her very own wedding dress came from the collection.

One of the highlights of the day was the talk given by Eryca Freemantle, make-up artist to the stars.
She discussed the importance of blending make up, how we should all be cleansing, toning and most importantly moisturising to provide a good base for our make up. She described our skin as a "bank", the more you put in the more you will get out. She also recommended a staple of hers, the Astral cream (RRP £3.99) from Boots.

The emphasis was really on make up being fun and self expression and how we should trial new things. Eryca recommended not using pencils, and to use brushes to enhance eyebrows and eyes. To save us all money she let us into an industry top tip; use blusher as eye shadow and vice versa – they are the same thing! She also told us to never apply make up straight to the face, build it up directly so once putting the powder on your brush, you should then tap some of it away on the back of your hand. Your foundation brush can also be used to wipe away the excess.

The Q & A session produced some thought provoking questions:

1. What do you recommend putting under your eye shadow to ensure longevity?
   - Concealer or foundation
2. Primer to use or not to use?
   - Although there was life before primer, they do work, and keep make up in place.
3. Red lipstick, what are the rules?
   - Know your undertones and you will get the shade of red correct.

Eryca finished with two further thoughts, foundation is her product of choice and is what makes her feel beautiful. And her lasting thought that echoed through her talk ‘because you’re worth it.’ Yes we know that’s from a famous advert, but makes so much sense!

Eryca Freemantle is really someone to watch, and with her new range of make up out soon, we really can’t wait!

Stay Beautiful!

Stace & Mags x

Some of our favourite things...

Some of our favourite things...

Welcome to Beautiful You! This is our first blog and we are really excited about it!

Over the next few months be prepared to read about beauty tips, products, reviews, events, practical demonstrations and general chat about anything beautiful!

We would also love to hear from you with any feedback, questions or anything beautiful! Contact us at info@beautyu.co.uk

To start us off we have both picked our top, desert island beauty product. These are things that we do not leave the house without applying, and always pop a spare one in our handbag.

‘My top item is mascara, and not any mascara but Lancome’s Hypnose. I was surprised Stace didn’t pick this as her top item, as she also is a fan! There are days you don’t feel like putting make-up on, but I would never leave the house without applying mascara. Without mascara I look washed out and ill, just one application makes the whole difference. My eyes are accentuated, and even without full make-up I’m ready to face the world!’ – Mags

‘My top item is Laura Mercier’s Black Extreme Eye Pencil. I only discovered the pencil this year, but I struggle to even leave the bedroom without applying this, and I always carry one in my handbag. It acts like a liquid liner in a pencil and nothing has ever highlighted my eyes this well. I cannot live without this!’ – Stace

How funny that we both picked eye make-up, didn’t see that one coming. There has to be something about drawing attention to the eyes that makes us both feel beautiful.

Look forward to getting to know you and chatting about beautiful things!

Stay beautiful!

Stace and Mags x

Discussion Board

Discussion Board

Coming soon.

Videos

Videos

Coming soon.

Tips

Top Tips

Some of our top tips for skin care:

• Always wash your face, morning and night (especially at night, even after long night out); do it twice after wearing make up – the first wash removes the make up when the second wash penetrates and cleanses the skin.
  

• Cleanse, tone and moisturise! It’s up to these three simple steps to keep your face clean and healthy. Once you get yourself in a nice routine, you’ll start seeing results in no time!
  
• Exfoliate your skin, do it once weekly on average, (during summer you can exfoliate up to twice a week, when in winter months you can do it even once bi-weekly). Exfoliation makes your skin appear youthful and radiant.
  
  
• Use your ring finger to apply moisturizers and/or concealers under the eye area. Muscles in that finger are not as strong as in other part of the hand and will help keep you from damaging that delicate under eye tissue. Also, always remember to pat, never rub!
  
  
• Don’t touch your face with your hand during the day. This can cause breakouts from the dirt/oil that collects on your hands throughout the day.
  
  
• Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! Drink lots of water, this helps your body to eliminate impurities and make you skin look plumper and healthier.
  
• Change your pillowcase every two days (use one side one day, and the other the next). It reduces the amount of time you sleep in your own face dirt/oil (we do sweat during the night!). It may be a bit of an overkill to do it so often; however, if you suffer with acne or skin breakouts, this is an easy way to keep your face clean even during a night!
  
• Sleep is the best beauty therapy! No wonder every fashion and beauty guru talk about ‘beauty sleep’. Eight to nine hours of sleep would be great, especially if a first few of them were before midnight! If you can’t spend so much time in bed, try to sleep as much as you can! You will feel rested and more energetic, but also will look better!

These are just a few beauty tips for now! Read that, apply to your daily routine and stay beautiful!

Seasons

Seasons

Winter is all about Christmas and New Year parties, big furry winter coats, scarves and gloves. Taking care of the skin in the rough winter cold and central heating, protecting your hair with a hat. Parties give us a chance to experiment with some exciting make-up looks you might not normally dare to.

What are your favourite things about Winter? Let us know at info@beautyu.co.uk or tweet us @beautyu

About Us

Looking good and feeling great in your own skin is so important. There are lots of fantastic products on the market to help you achieve this; however, not all of them work for everyone and some are cheaper than others.
Here at Beautiful You we aim to help you make good choices and try to help you avoid the hassle of poor buys.

Trying new beauty products is what we love, and here we will share our experiences with you! If you would like to contact us, you can email us info@beautyu.co.uk, or find us on twitter, tweeting as @beautyu
Who is behind Beautiful You?

We are two girls, living in the south of England who have a beauty product obsession, and after spending endless hours talking to each other about beauty products we loved and ones we didn't love so much, we decided to start Beautiful You.

 

Stace

"My big passion is make-up. I love experimenting with new product ranges and colours, and perfecting the natural look. During this time when every penny counts, I have been searching the high street for beauty alternatives that match up to the luxury brands we have all come to know and love.

Outside of beauty, I love to travel, enjoy baking and cooking for my husband, and have a little cat called Coral, who you will know if you follow us on Twitter as I endlessly tweet about him!"

Mags 
"I talk skincare wherever I go, whomever I meet…basically all the time. I used to have some skin problems that now are under control and am raving about the solutions that work. My friends call me a beauty-products addict but I just love beauty stuff; like to try new things and pass on some hints and tips that I discover. I try to stay on top of skincare news so I know what’s new in town and what I should rave about.Other than beauty, I recently disovered a hidden talent for baking, and now bake as much as I can in my spare time. I also love to travel, and shopping is of course my other big hobby!"

We look forward to getting to know you and having fun!

Stay Beautiful!

Stace & Mags x

Updated on 2nd January 2012

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