Festive Face

Chanel Lipstick in Gabrielle | Karl for Shu Uemura | Too Faced Candlelight Glow

Christmas calls for extra sparkle and more red. I'll be wearing one of my favourite red lipsticks Chanel Rouge Coco in Gabrielle, a slightly blue-based red that's incredibly moisturising. For some sparkle on my eyes I'll be plundering Karl for Shu Uemura Prestigious Bordeaux palette. This was limited edition so I'm unsure if it's still available anywhere. It has the most gorgeous shades of purple and golds. And on my face I'll be wearing Too Faced Candlelight Glow. Even though this is a powder it gives a lovely sheen similar to a liquid making it perfect for those with more oily skins.

Have a wonderful Christmas xx

Art: Coloured X-Ray Photos of Nature

(all images from My Modern Met)

I saw these beautiful works originally on My Modern Met and I just had to share them with you. Arie van't Riet is a radiation physicist and...

"One day, his colleague asked him to take an x-ray of one of his art paintings. It was a thin object and van't Riet had never done something like this before, but as he said, "it worked." This got him thinking about what other kinds of thin objects he could x-ray and flowers came to mind. He started with a bouquet of tulips. The analog image, or the silver bromide x-ray film, resembled a black and white negative. It was digitized, inverted, and then selectively colorized in Photoshop. "And then some people told me that's art," he humorously states, "and I became an artist.""(source)

Aren't they stunning? There's more over on the My Modern Met page, peruse at your pleasure.

A Mini MUA Luxe Haul: Velvet Lip Lacquer in Reckless & Funk, and Powerbrow

top- Reckless, bottom- Funk

MUA (MakeUp Academy) recently released their Luxe collection. These come with fancier packaging than the standard MUA offerings, eg. the lip lacquers come in frosted glass packaging giving it a slightly higher-end feel. The prices are still low-end though, the lip lacquer and Power Brow both cost £3 each, which is rather fantastic. 

The Velvet Lip Lacquers come in 5 colours. I chose Reckless, a cool-toned strong raspberry red, and Funk, a cool toned mid bright pink. Both are highly pigmented and one swipe is all you need. Which is handy because building them up isn’t so great. This causes them to be a bit flakey and doesn’t give the smooth, velvet finish that one swipe gives.

The lip lacquers dry down pretty quickly and they will feel dry on your lips. If it gets too uncomfortable a little bit of lip balm stops the dryness. It does take away the matte-ness though. They remind me of NYX's Soft Matte Lip Cream's  and they're a decent cheap and cheerful dupe of Guerlain's Rouge L'Extrait.

I’m really impressed with these. They’re long-lasting, highly pigmented and beautiful colours. You really can’t go wrong for £3 a pop.

MUA’s Powerbrow in Mid Brown is another great performing product. I don’t like to define my eyebrows too heavily and this product is ideal for a light application or a more heavily defined brow. Mid Brown is perfect for my colouring, I’m very pale with naturally dark brown hair. It also comes in Fair and Dark Brow. I use the crayon side to lightly fill in my eyebrows where needed and the highlighter sides adds a nice bit of lift to the eyes. I’d go easy on the highlighter side throughout the day though, it is a bit glimmery. 

Again I’m really impressed with this product. It’s easy to use and lasts all day and for £3 it’s definitely a bargain.

Have you tried anything from MUA’s Luxe line?

Pregnant with Disabilities: An Update

I’m now entering my 35th week of pregnancy. I’ve seen obstetricians and an anesthetist, and of course my midwife. Thanks to the extra care I’ve been receiving everything is going well. For a recap of why I need extra care please see this post. 

I won’t lie, it’s getting really difficult now. I’m incredibly uncomfortable, sleeping is hard and my pain is increasing. The mobility I did have is greatly reduced. However, I’m still coping okay. This is in large part thanks to the support I’m currently receiving from the NHS and previous support for chronic pain. My husband and family are also brilliant. I wouldn’t be managing as well without them.

So, the medical stuff. I’ve continued to take medication throughout my pregnancy for pain and IBS. Baby’s growth hasn’t been affected by this. Of course I still worry that it may affect baby after birth but I have been reassured that the medication I’ve been taking is safe throughout pregnancy when it comes to deformities (nothing was picked up on the scans either) etc. The older the medication the better. It’s notoriously difficult to carry out large scale studies of medication on pregnant women, so information gathered over years and years often provide doctors with a better idea of how medication will affect mother and child. Dihydrocodeine (which I take) is thankfully an old drug. Like other Opioids, it’s known to cross the placenta and can cause respiratory problems in baby after birth. I’ve managed to cut my dose right down and the doctors aren’t concerned about the level I’m on. However, if you need to take a bigger dose than me, you and baby will be closely monitored. So please don’t freak out in case you think you can’t manage a reduced dosage. 

I have several options available to me for birth. If my pain and discomfort becomes too unbearable I may be induced. Depending on you’re own disability this may be the desired option for you. Again, the pros and cons will be weighed up and discussed by you and your medical team. Due to my spinal damage I won’t be able to get an epidural, but to be honest I wasn’t that bothered about getting one (oh God, I’m sure I’ll regret these words). There is a range of other pain relief options available to me though. I discussed this with an anesthetist who really put me at ease and made sure I was aware of all possible circumstances; including an emergency Caesarean. Thankfully, there shouldn’t be a problem doing a spinal block on me. I just hope the need doesn’t arise!  

Any worries that I had previous to pregnancy have been allayed by the amazing treatment I’ve been receiving. If you are considering becoming pregnant but your disability is worrying you I highly recommend you ask your GP to refer you to an obstetrician. In my experience I’ve found that they’re the ones that really know about medication. I was given some bad advice from a midwife I saw early in my pregnancy which scared the shit out of me. I think it was mainly due to her own inexperience or indeed her ideology. I spoke about the issue (breastfeeding and medication) with the obstetrician and she wasn’t concerned at all about it. 

I’ll try and update after the birth. But at the moment I don’t have any concerns with the actual labour, well besides the obvious stuff! I should say I don’t have any concerns that my disability will make labour anymore difficult. So, all I have to do now is try to relax and wait.

If you have any questions about my experience or want to ask something I may have left out please feel free to contact me. I’m not easily embarrassed. 

Maybelline 24 hour Color Tattoo in Metallic Pomegranate

Let me start by getting my gripe out the way. The name Metallic Pomegranate. Okay it’s definitely metallic but it’s not the colour of a pomegranate. Pomegranates are jewel red, well to me anyway. I’d more accurately describe the colour as fig. Anyway, Maybelline 24 hour Color Tattoo in Metallic Pomegranate *sigh* is a browny-red tone gel-eyeshadow with flints of metallic sparkles through it. It is the prettiest colour, and perfect for winter. 

This is actually my first Maybelline Color Tattoo and I really quite like it, a lot. It’s easy to wear. I’ve been wearing a look inspired by this Winter Berry Daytime Look on Beaut.ie.  I’ve been applying Metallic Pomegranate with my pinky finger, which makes it easy to apply a light wash or a heavier finish. It also works good as an eyeliner. I’ve been using EcoTools Flat Eyeliner brush which is amazing, I’ll do a full review soon.

The texture is a cream-gel but thankfully it’s not too slippy on application, it blends easily and dries quite quickly so when it’s set it won’t budge all day nor will it crease. I’ll definitely be purchasing more colours.

I bought mine from Superdrug for £4.99  it’s also available from Boots 

Have you tried it? Any colour recommendations?