7 Beauty Mistakes You Will Not Make Anymore

Oh, the number of mistakes one can make when applying beauty products! Being the beauty rookie that I am, I'll probably give make-up artists a heart attack. Luckily in our digital age help is always on hand - the countless YouTube tutorials and beauty blogs are here to save the day.

Chances are that you are making the same errors too so I scoured the web to help us get the most of our beauty products. Here's a list of the 7 most common mistakes and how to rectify them:

1. Applying foundation around your face. This is a big no-no. Always start at the centre of your face and work outwards. In this way you will avoid tide lines and product in your hairline.
2. Patting eye cream on before going to bed. Combining eye cream with sleep can cause puffiness. Therefore it is best to apply it in the morning when the congestion can drain away as you are more likely to be standing up for longer periods afterwards.
   
3. Finding the right B spot. Blushers are a tricky lot (hence my stern avoidance of the bunch). Yet they do make a huge difference to how we look. Apply blusher between two imaginary vertical lines - one from the centre of your pupil down to your cheek and another from the end of your eyebrow.
4. Going OTT with hair products. There's nothing worse than mastering a cool new look and then ruining it by using too much hair product. Use these size guidelines to avoid having to re-do your hair-do: shampoo & conditioner - strawberry; mousse - apricot; serum - grape; and oil - blueberry.
5. Not wiggling your mascara. If you really want to get those luscious lashes from the billboard ad then do as the make-up pros and wiggle your wand at the base of your eyelashes before combing through to create volume.
6. Overdoing the nail polish. Using too much of le vernis can cause it to chip so stick to three swipes per coat. Apply one sweep down the centre and then one on either side for an even effect. Oh and if you can invest in a good nail polish - my fav is Chanel Le Vernis which I blogged about earlier. 
   
7. Spraying perfume on your neck. I was really surprised to find out that the best place to apply your favourite fragrance is the collarbone and in the crook of the elbows rather than the neck and wrists. Well now we can smell fresher for longer.

There you go. 7 mistakes you and I will no longer make. 7 ways to get the most out of our beauty products. 7 tips to look good. Take a note and let me know how you get on.

Exclusive: A Day Inside a Fashion & Beauty PR Agency

As the name of the post suggests, I don’t usually write much about personal events and experiences, but considering that the purpose of this blog is to share useful information about looking good, feeling good and doing good in all aspects of life, including career development, I thought it will be very selfish not to.

The day was Thursday the 8th of August and the agency - TALK PR. TALK PR is more than a fashion & beauty PR agency. It specialises in fashion, luxury & lifestyle, beauty, grooming & wellbeing, and technology, innovation & play. Basically it’s the dream workplace for someone like me!

Our schedule was packed with presentations and informal chats with team members from all of the above mentioned areas of expertise as well as a special talk from the founder & editor of La Petite Anglaise Ella Catliff and a group brainstorm session where we had to come up with an event idea for the launch of a new Stella McCartney Adidas collection.

Some of the brands TALK PR works with.

There was so much information given out that I had to take in a significant amount of delicious nibbles (provided by TALK of course) to boost my brain power! 

Here are some bits of information and tips from the day which have stuck with me:

• PR is all about relations - your contacts are gold dust.

• Sometimes PR is also about finding a story where there isn’t one.

• In fact PR is about a lot of things - from event and reputation management, to media placements and crisis communications.

• That is why consistency across all communication activities is key.

• PR content has to connect with an audience without adding to the existing noise of the 5000 daily marketing messages people are bombarded with.

Clearly there are no dull moments in fashion & beauty PR. It is a challenging and varied profession which draws many people from a wide range of backgrounds. 

If you want to find out more whether this is the right career for you I would definitely recommend going to a TALK PR Open Day (the next one is on the 31st of October 2013) and reading Sophie Sterling’s post who also attended an open day in 2012.

Beauty Products and Toxicity

We're all aware that the beauty products we use are made up of a long list of ingredients, some of which we can hardly pronounce. And the fact that over the years there have been plenty of media panics about the various stuff that goes into cosmetics does not make things any easier.

So what do we do? Do we abandon all manufactured beauty products and go DIY/all natural? Or do we ignore the hype and keep on using what we know works best for us?

Well I've been digging around the internet and found some useful scientific information to help you make the right decision. Here are a few things which you should be wary of:

Photo by Aih.

• Eyelash serums: requiring application for up to four months to see results, these serums can permanently darken the skin around your eyes and turn your irises brown. A safer option would be using eyelash extensions.
• Tanning beds: frequent trips to the solarium have been scientifically proven to raise your risk of melanoma and cause premature ageing (i.e. wrinkles and brown spots). Avoid the UVA rays by using a spray tan instead.
• Parabens: the most common preservative in cosmetics, parabens are often blamed for breast tumours, however scientific research has not found any direct links between the two. If the p-word still bothers you, look for products which use vitamin C (ascorbic acid) or vitamin E (tocopheryl acetate) as preservatives instead.

Photo by alli

A final word of caution, no matter how "chemical-free" and "natural" your beauty products may seem, they can become toxic beyond their expiry date. Make sure yo change your foundation and lipstick after a year, your blush powder after two years and your mascara every three to four months.

Stay safe

x

Multitasking Beauty Products

Although I tend to be pretty much a low-maintenance person when it comes to make up and beauty products, I must proclaim my love for products which perform more than one function and allow you to save time and money.

Image courtesy of audfriday13 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Therefore I was really happy when I found out recently that the popular BB cream was to welcome its successor, the CC cream, in the coming months. As many of you may know, the BB cream stands for Blemish Balm cream and acts as both -  a foundation and a face cream with a sun protection factor (SPF). Many brands jumped on the BB cream bandwagon due to its huge commercial success about a year ago. Now, the leaders of the beauty products industry are taking one more step forward by creating the Colour/Complexion Correction cream, which is affectionately called the CC cream.

What's new about this 'all in one' beauty product? It combines even more benefits for your skin. In  addition to the BB cream's function as a tinted cover-up for troubled skin, the CC cream will also include anti-ageing ingredients as well as foundation pigments and SPF. The new anti-ageing properties of the cream make it a must have product for women of all ages. Why? Because a recent research study found that French women looked on average 7 years younger due to the fact that they start using anti-ageing creams when they reach 15-20 years. That's five years earlier than British women, who only start using such creams when they see the first signs of ageing after turning 25 years old, which can be a little too late.

Image courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net [P.S. this is not me]

If you were wondering when you could get your hands on this beauty miracle, the first CC cream is rumoured to be launched next month (April 2013) by Olay at a price of about £25-30. It seems like a pretty good deal for a multitasker like myself.

Until next time,

Miranda

Chanel nails

This morning I remembered that I was in possession of a small luxury - a Pearl Drop Chanel nail polish my mum gave me a couple of months ago. I also remembered fellow blogger Maria's fascination with the brand's Peridot colour about which you can read here. With this in mind I decided to give it a try, after all I'm not a big nail polish fan.

Surprisingly all went well. Despite my clumsiness and tendency to pain my whole fingers, application was fairly easy. The polish dried so fast I didn't even have the chance to mess it up (that's what happens usually). The colour is lovely. Fits well with the minimalist, futuristic metallics trends. It is subtle, yet elegant. A worthwhile investment. 

What's your favourite nail polish? Drop your comments below :)