I HAD AN ALLERGIC REACTION AND IT SUCKED

Pretty self explanatory title, right?

Here's what happened - Napoleon Perdis make-up artists came into my workplace and offered all of the staff make overs. I'm serious! I thought they were joking too, I waited for the catch but... there wasn't one! I was SO excited, you have no idea, I've been desperate for a lovely make-up session, and I was hoping to learn, finally, how to contour like a boss.

So I ran from work when I clocked off, hopped up into the chair, and was practically bouncing at the thought of having my make-up done professionally. I'm a major nerd, so I was SO ready to learn some new tips and tricks. One of my favourite make-up artists (who has done my make-up for a few events) was trained by Napoleon Perdis, so I've always had respect for the brand and the training.

The lovely girls helped me take off my work make-up, and used a cleansing oil all over my face which was actually quite scary - evidently, ONE make-up wipe doesn't remove my whole face. NOT EVEN CLOSE. So I'm going to be looking into some new cleansing methods, folks.

Then my lovely make-up artist applied a primer and we got to chatting. She applied my mascara first, as Napoleon believes it not only gives the formula time to dry, but it means you definitely get time for a second coat. Now I like to do my mascara next-to-last, simply because I do it whilst my foundation sets, before I use a setting powder. But I thought hey, ok, let's see how this method goes.

Now my eyes are NOTORIOUS for FLIPPING THE FREAK OUT the minute ANYONE but me tries to use ANY sort of eye product on them. You can imagine the struggle for Mumma Sparrow back when I did dancing, and eyeliner was a mandatory part of costume. Essentially my eyes turn into Niagara Falls and water all over the place, meaning you have to work super quick to get liner/mascara/falsies on before whatever shadow work is messed up. So when my eyes DID begin to water, on cue, I didn't think much of it.

My lovely make up artist talked me through the products she was using, explaining their benefits and qualities. Were my eyes stinging a tiny bit? Yeah, maybe, but I put that down to them settling from the whole, someone-other-than-me-doing-make-up-thing. Then we got to the good bit, the contouring! I realised that my main problem with contouring is I do stripes rather than swipes, if that makes sense? Rather than buffing and creating ROUND shapes on my face, I do rather sharp, 80's-style diagonal lines, and that's not a good look folks, not at all.

She then used an eyeshadow as a liner (a technique I love myself) to create a softer, natural look, and again, eyes watering, unhappy with me, but again, I ignored it. She applied another coat of mascara. Then she set my look, and I ended up buying a mini-kit with the contour trio and primer (because my Nude Airbrush Mineral primer had run out that very day), and went back to work to show my girlfriends.

The minute I walked in everyone asked if I'd been crying, and if I was all right. And, yeah, my eyes were watering and a bit stingy, but I thought they were still just settling. As I was chatting to a couple of the girls, that stinging turned into a real irritation, they hadn't stopped watering, and I was starting to feel quite hot. I cracked and used a Johnsons' make-up wipe to start taking off my eye make-up, figuring once it was off I'd just fix my face with my own Australis powder and be off to dinner.

I WAS WRONG.




My eyes went into a full-blown allergic reaction, and I had to detour from dinner and instead go to a chemist, who was very lovely but very concerned. She recommended I wash my eyes out thoroughly and use eye drops to calm the irritation, and keep taking Telfast (which I'd been taking already for a cold/hayfever situation). The eye drops worked pretty quickly, considering, and even though they still hurt like hell, my eyes stopped watering and started to clear slightly.


I pretty much went home and went straight to bed, hoping by morning I'd be back to normal.
Welp. I was, and I wasn't.

My eyes were A LOT better when I woke up, but they were a bit gummy, very puffy, and still quite sore. Also, that cold/hayfever thing? Yeah, that had reared its ugly head overnight and left me with NO VOICE. So unfortunately I had to call in sick to work, but I'm glad I gave myself time to recover properly.

When I returned to work the following day, my colleagues, who had seen me after the session, said I did look a lot better, but my eyes were still quite puffy.

I have NEVER in my life had an allergic reaction like that to a mascara or eyeliner. EVER. I couldn't believe it, I was so shocked, and it was honestly a little frightening. I haven't been back to Napoleon Perdis yet to tell them about my reaction, simply because I haven't had time, but I will, just in case it helps them with future clients. I'm not mad at anyone or upset with the brand, if even I didn't know I was allergic to something, how could they? I've been going through the ingredients of the NP mascara versus those of my favourite mascaras, and so far I think it might be either the rice bran extract or the bamboo leaf extract that set me off. Apparently in this case, natural ingredients weren't the right choice!

The lesson here is:
If a product (especially an eye product) begins to sting, irritate, or make your eyes water (more than normal), TELL YOUR ARTIST IMMEDIATELY. Who knows, if I'd mentioned it earlier, she could've switched mascaras, or at least taken it off, which may have lessened the severity of my reaction. I know I'm very lucky it wasn't any worse, especially considering how sensitive the eye area is. I also think I was just too excited to be thinking clearly!

If you want to see a photo of how my reaction played out, visit beautybyasparrow on Instagram, or look for the tag - #beautybyasparrow. (I thought I'd leave it there rather than repeating it and making you all see the redness and horror).

Until next time my little birds,
check your make up ingredients!

Tweet tweet xx

Grow baby, grow!


Hello my little birds!
So I've started a process that I want to blog about and share with you, simply because in my own research and YouTubing I haven't found a clear, billboard like, HUGE sign saying "YES THIS WORKS" or "NO IT DOESN'T". I've only really found "SORT-OFs" and "FOR ME, YES". 

It's called the Inversion Method and I'll admit, when I first read about it I was a little sceptical, and scared. Oil? In my hair? But oil make grease? Greasy hair bad? How...? Then I watched this little clip on YouTube by Evin Yalcin and heard that you actually don't have to use oil, but you can rely on your hair's natural oils instead. I find my hair can get quite greasy on its own, so the idea of putting more oil in there isn't very appealing. 
Essentially you flip your hair upside down, looking down, and give yourself a scalp massage for four minutes. At first I was a bit half-hearted, I mean, standing with your head almost between your legs rubbing your head isn't a daily activity, you know? But then I remembered something about myself -
I LIKE MASSAGES. 

So even if this method doesn't end up working for me, I'm getting a lovely mini-massage each night, and I'm ok with that! 


The reason I want to grow my hair out is two fold. For starters, at the moment it doesn't feel entirely healthy - my ends are splitting, I know I've done too much in terms of colour and bleach to it this year already, and it's just a bit of a hot mess to deal with.
Also, I'll admit, I haven't totally gotten over my love, my obsession... the chocolate brown hair.
I mean the gloss, the depth, the shine, how healthy it looks.... ah!
I already know, however, that I can't do another thing to my hair colour-wise until it's healthy again, and I was considering lobbing it all off, but that won't really repair any of the damage I've done. Also, I don't want short hair! As much as I adore a bob/lob, I know they don't really work for me. I'd feel silly chopping it all off since I've been growing it since August last year. 

 
On the left is my hair circa 2013, when it was still mostly blonde and the longest I can remember it being. On the right is my lob from August 2014. I did love my lob, and at the time it was exactly the style I needed, but it's taken a long time to grow out.

I've been looking up home remedies and other solutions for growing long, beautiful hair, and I've discovered three main themes.

1) OILS & PRODUCTS
2) FOOD
3) WATER

OILS & PRODUCTS
Obviously everything you put on your hair will affect it, its growth, and its strength and condition. I've spoken in the past about using John Frieda products to protect my colour, but I haven't been taking good enough care of my scalp. That's right folks, dandruff. Ick, I know, but it has to be said, and it's one of the main downsides to colouring your hair - a dry, flaky scalp will often ensue. Whilst various shampoos, including caffeine and coconut milk shampoos, are suggested for stimulating growth, I feel I need to get my dandruff situation under control first. Which leads us to oils! Aside from the inversion method, all of my favourite YouTubers rave about coconut oil and its benefits for your hair. Recently Kayley Melissa spoke about using coconut oil as a scalp treatment for conditioner, and said that it was far more effective than any other shampoo she'd used. Other top rated oils include Argon Moroccan oil, jojoba oil, rosemary oil, olive oil, and other essential oils too.

FOOD
You are what you eat, and to get healthy, beautiful hair, as well as healthy, beautiful skin and internal organs (woo! internal organs!), a diet full of rich, nutritious foods and proteins is highly recommended. Eggs, avocado, fish, fresh fruits, and vegetables, are all vital to growing strong hair. I'll admit, my diet is in desperate need of an overhaul (one too many coffees and cakes I'm afraid), so I've already been moving to these changes anyway for my own health. Now as an added bonus, I'll have beautiful hair to boot! A lot of beauty bloggers and YouTubers also recommend taking a multivitamin or hair supplement to boost growth, but I want to try adjusting my diet first before I start adding in any sort of extra pills or potions.

WATER
Water. Water, water, water. Seriously. The human body can't do jack without it. It's important for fostering hair growth as well as cell renewal and all those other lovely things our bodies do for us to you know, keep us alive. The human body is 70% water! It's so important to hydrate, and being exposed to fake air and heavy indoor heating has really taken its toll on not just my hair, but my skin and general health as well. A good tip I find is to keep a bottle of water with/near me at all times. Even just watching TV, working, or blogging, if I have water near me, I'll drink it without even thinking about it. Before you know it you'll have downed your 8 glasses (or 2 litres) without even realising!
Tea is also a good way to get water into your system, and a great idea for winter time when drinking cold water is super unappealing.

So here we are - I've been using the Inversion Method for three days now (it's Monday), so I'll be back on the blog this Saturday to give you my results. An inch to four inches in a week? My hopes aren't high, little birds, but I am a bit of an optimist. Make sure you're following beautybyasparrow on Instagram for updates and inspo!

Until next time,
Tweet twee xx

Finding a Foundation: Bare Minerals

Hello my little birds!

I have been FLAT OUT these last two weeks, barely had enough time to ruffle my feathers back into shape!

This week I decided I would FINALLY get around to trying a few foundation samples I've accumulated this year. Aside from the fact I've still yet to get to Inglot to grab my YSM (CAN'T WAIT SO EXCITED AHHH), my Bobbi Brown is (finally! Wow!) running out and I really need a new foundation that will last for work, play and even the little rests I get in between


L-R: Clinique Anti-Blemish Solution, bareMinerals BARESKIN, L'Oreal Tru Match, Revlon Colour Stay

Right off the bat, none of these foundations are the right colour for me. I'm painfully aware of how freakin' pale I am (which will become that touch more obvious over the next few paragraphs), however most foundation samples you receive come in the warm neutral/beige variety, so there's no room for being fussy. So whilst colour is irrelevant, the main thing I'm looking at in these samples are three factors 

FORMULA 
Is the liquid sticky? Creamy? Bubbly? Watery? Weird?
FEEL
How does it go on? Smooth, easy like paint? Sticky and claggy like glue? Patchy? Greasy? Dry?
FINISH
Once it's all on, buffed, smoothed, set, how does it actually look on? Colour aside, of course haha!

First up was bareMinerals Bareskin foundation, a sample from the wonderful Mecca Maxima.
The description reads
"bareSkin liquid mineral foundation has a built in brightening serum packed with Vitamin C so that skin looks luminous at all times. This foundation creates a seamless natural effect with adjustable coverage, so that the perfect amount can be applied. Lightweight in texture, this hypoallergenic foundation it formulated without oil, silicone, parabens or fragrance so it is suited to all skin types. Beautiful bright natural foundation is only one step away."

I opened the packet and immediately realised how off the colour was, for me. 

There appeared to be enough in the sample for one full face of make-up. I used my Real Techniques Expert Face Brush , however BareMinerals released a patented brush specifically for this formula which you can see here. Now whether using their brush would have had a different effect, I'm not entirely sure, but from my experience I found one or two big issues. 

FORMULA
The foundation was bubbly and seemed a tad watery; I was worried it'd dribble off the foil and onto my lap. The idea of the brush is that you directly pour the liquid foundation into the bowl-part of the brush, so that would explain its consistency. 
FEEL
Ooh. Ooh that was nice. Like brushing silk all over your face! So, so soft, so smooth, gorgeous texture, lovely to buff on. 
FINISH
DEWY. SO, SO DEWY. 

You can see how shiny this foundation is on my nose and chin alone. Look at that sheen! I'm not entirely sure why youthful make-up is associated with dewy, wet finishes. In my experience, if young skin is dewy or shiny, it's about to break out HARD. I figured that using a powder (my Rimmel of course) would counter-act the dewy-ness, but I was wrong. 

You can see above that the sheen has died down a little, but it's still quite shiny around the mouth and chin, and along my cheekbones. I couldn't quite believe how bad the colour match was - sometimes neutral/beige colours can be negotiated with to suit my face, however, this shade was all kinds of wrong. The foundation also felt weighty on my face - no where near as heavy as my longwear foundations, but I COULD feel it, and that says enough in itself. I quickly took this foundation off immediately after application, and beneath I could see my skin beginning to grow red. I didn't pay that much attention, simply because my skin is sensitive and reacts to new products the same way some two year olds react to green vegetables. 

Overall, whilst the foundation felt nice going on, it didn't look nice overall, and I already know how my skin reacts to dewy formulations - pimples, pimples, pimples. Oh, and pimples. 

A solid 6/10, but alas, no winner here!

I'll keep you all posted as I go through my other samples these next few weeks 

Until next time,
Tweet tweet x
P. S. I'm now taking requests! Fed up with foundation? Sick of skin care? Had enough of hair? Comment and let me know what you'd like me to look at, try, review and share on the blog! xx

Logies 2015: My Favourite Looks AND a re-creation!

The TV Week Logie Awards have been and gone, full of frocks, shocks, and of course, gorgeous tans and perfect make-up!

Right off the bat, have to say my unrivalled favourite look of the night was the glowing, glamorous, GOLD winner Carrie Bickmore in Paolo Sebastian.



From the gown, to her hair, to her lip colour, to her beautiful acceptance speech, this gal didn't put a foot wrong!

Beauty-wise, aside from Carrie, three other girls caught my eye and made my jaw drop. Scherri-Lee Biggs (channel 9), Rebecca Judd (channel 9) and Lucy Nettlefold (channel 7) stole the show with their looks, and I loved each of them for different reasons. 

Lucy Nettleford. WOW.

Where to begin? For starters, that gold, winged smoky eye is incredible. A slight twist on the grey/black tones I'm used to seeing on the red carpet. THE CONTOURING. The contouring on this girl! It's incredible! And that brow game! Every part of this look is ON POINT and perfect. I love that her hair was pulled back to show off that gorgeous shadow work, but curled and soft over her shoulders. 


Bec Judd

Ah, who doesn't love Bec Judd? And her MUA, Chantelle Baker, who SMASHED IT. Honestly there's not a thing I'd change about her make-up. Beautiful contouring, full brows, smoky browns to set off her gorgeous tan, and a pale pink lip to leave her coral Jaton Couture gown as the star. The only teeny tiny thing, really teeny tiny, is the hair. I loved the cut of her gown, the v-neck and the coral lace, but I feel like leaving her hair all down covered too much of it. I would've opted for a low, sleek side sweep, perhaps a bun or braid, something soft enough to compliment the sharp lines of her gown, but a little less overwhelming. 



Scherri-Lee Biggs 

OH MY GOD THIS GIRL. THIS GIRL AND HER FACE. WHAT EVEN IS THIS. HOW. HOOOOOWWW. 

Lips? Perfect. Brows? ON POINT. Contouring? UNBELIEVABLE. Lips? So on trend it's ridiculous. Lashes? Big and beautiful! Hair? Wonderful! 

I can't even deal with this, oh my GOOOOOSSSH.

SERIOUSLY ARE YOU EVEN A HUMAN?

I asked my Instagram followers what look they'd like to see, and Scherri was the pick! So today I attempted to re-create Scherri's look (by Jade Kisnorbo) in my little bathroom sitting on the floor.


Not too bad!

Scherri has a long face, whilst mine is quite round and for want of a better word, fat. Likewise Scherri has these beautiful almond-shaped eyes, whilst again, mine are quite round. The shape of the liner and the effect of the shadows was never going to be exactly the same. I also blended the bejesus out of the shadows as I was going to uni and a cafe, not a red carpet haha!

I loved the smoke and drama of Scherri's look, but I had to make this wearable for a daily outing. For that reason I also avoided false lashes, which would have really emphasised the darkness and drama of her eyes. 
The lip shade is perhaps a step down from hers, however I am LOVING Bitten by Sportsgirl right now and any chance I get to wear it, I take! 

For my hair, I knew I wouldn't have time to achieve the volume and texture of Scherri's hair, so I left my damp hair in a French braid overnight, and combed my fingers through the waves before I left. 

I also love that this look gave me a chance to use my AC On Tour palette PROPERLY. As I suspected, this palette was wonderful for helping me to capture the drama and severity of Scherri's contouring, and for a look that is so fabulous and formal, the powders worked like a charm!



Some nice contouring work happening!




To replicate the look, I used a hodge podge of different products. For my base I used my Cetaphil moisturiser, Face of Australia matte eye primer,  and Nude Airbrush primer. To re-create the smoky shadows, I used the Too Faced Natural Eyes palette, and the Chi Chi Glamorous Bases palette. The Maybelline New York Hyperglossy liner allowed me to create a fine line with great shine, and a teeny tiny wing like Scherri's. Maybelline also helped me to conceal the bags under my eyes (they're Gucci) with the Revitalise concealer, and I used the Australis 4 in 1 concealer creams to cover up redness. Today I played it simple with my Maybelline NY Dream Pure BB cream, and my Rimmel Stay Matte powder for setting. I used the Chi Chi Rose blushes, after I'd had some fun with my AC On Tour palette. I tried to re-create Scherri's big, black lashes with the Australis Mega Lash mascara, topped with the Spotsgirl Fibre lash mascara. 

I tried my best and I felt pretty glamorous today, must say! 

Stay tuned, I'll be posting more recreations of my favourite Logies looks later this week!

Until next time,
Tweet tweet xx

Shaking the Foundations

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL, PEOPLE.

I haven't had a chance (or the moolah) to get my Holy Grail foundation, my adored, my beloved Inglot YSM Creme foundation for MONTHS now. And as anyone who has ever struggled to find the perfect foundation will tell you, those months you go without,  they are the worst!

So these months wandering the wilderness of the Priceline aisles and Mecca, I've come across a few wonderful, and a few not-so wonderful, substitutes. The process of choosing these foundations, and using them, has taught me two things -

ONE: WOW. WOOOOOOOOOW. WOW THERE ARE A LOT OF FOUNDATIONS. SO MANY FOUNDATIONS. JEEZ.  and
TWO: I AM SO PALE.



















Above are swatches on my arm of my current foundations in natural light and shadow. No prizes for guessing which shade is my 'tanned' one!

From wrist to elbow, the foundations I'm currently using are Dream Pure BB Cream by Maybelline New York, Revlon Nearly Naked, Bobbi Brown Long Wear Finish, Australis Stay Put in Nude and Natural Beige.


Maybelline Dream Pure BB Cream with 2% salicylic acid has been a favourite of mine for a while now, since I graduated from my old fave, Dove tinted moisturiser. This is a product I use on days off, when I'm heading to the beach, and quite often in summer. I find the finish is light enough to not feel cakey, and the colour is a good match too (I use the light shade, no surprise). I still find I need to conceal under my eyes, and redder blemishes, so this isn't the 'one stop shop' it claims to be. I'll often use a powder on top too, just for a little more coverage and a less dewy finish. With SPF 15+ and a moisturiser-like texture, this is my pick for easy days relaxing or shopping.







Revlon Nearly Naked foundation  is a liquid formula designed for light coverage and a 'natural' finish. I received a sample pack of these foundations in a copy of Girlfriend aaaaggeees ago, and when I used the little testers I found 'Shell' most closely matched my skin tone. Something must have happened between then, and me buying the product, because 'Shell' doesn't match my skin tone so well these days. Whether I chose the wrong shade (I was tossing up between 'Shell' and 'Ivoy') or the colour mix changed slightly, I'm not sure, but I do know that there's other parts of this product that I don't like.
For starters, liquid foundations on dry skin are a nightmare. Your poor skin is so desperate for moisture it'll suck up your foundation, meaning clogged pores and a not-so-flawless finish, and I find the formula to be quite sticky. I have to give it a solid five to ten minutes to set before I pop on any kind of powder. Where my skin dries out the most, around the nose, it turns patchy quite quickly, and I find I do need to re-apply.
That being said, once the foundation is set, and if I'm having a good skin day, it does sit quite nicely, and doesn't leave a dewy finish. It's similar to my Stay Put foundations in that it does indeed STAY (perhaps that's why it's so sticky?), but it's a product I rarely reach for these days, as I know it'll just leave me frustrated.

Bobbi Brown Long Wear Foundation is by far, one of the most expensive products I've ever bought myself.
One frantic afternoon before a shift at work, I bustled into Mecca and essentially cried "HELP ME!". I'd run out of my Inglot, had no BB cream, and needed to look work appropriate (i.e. NOT like a troll from a Disney film). I was so panicked and stressed about not having any decent make up, I bought the foundation, primer AND concealer to boot.
Oh my little birds, how I wish I'd waited.

There's something in this product, whether it's the formula, or my skin, or my primer, or the weather (??!?) that makes it turn CRAZY on my nose. The rest of my face remains set and flawless, but my nose, for whatever reason, turns into a blotchy trainwreck. Lately I've been using it simply because the colour match is so perfect, and that's upsetting too. For a foundation to match so well, and then to leave a part of my face patchy, it's just disappointing. I've found, however, that using my Rimmel Stay Matte powder and Australis finishing spray, that I can stop the nose-patchy business, most days. Warm Ivory is an almost identical colour match for my skin, and in winter, when there is no fake tan or mass amounts of bronzer, having a good colour match is even more important.
To the right you can see a close up of my arm swatches. Bobbi is the third stripe and even from a distance it's clear which product is sitting a little better. Above it is the Revlon foundation, but believe me, it looks a lot more yellow on my face than any other product does.




Now y'all know how I feel about my Australis Stay Put 16 Hour foundation. I have raved about this product, I didn't use anything else this summer, and I've tagged it about a million times on Instagram. I think, though, I've also mentioned the issues I have with this product, and the main one, the big one, that I can't ignore or excuse, is the colour match.

To the left is the shade 'Nude', and whilst you can see it's in the same colour wheel as the other products I've discussed, it's still significantly darker than my Bobbi or Revlon foundations. It's the lightest shade Australis currently have on the market, and lemme tell you, being too pale to wear the lightest shade of something is a real bummer. In summer I could get away with it, as the liquid/creme foundation buffed down fairly well with my Rimmel powder, but once the weather turned cold and the sun started to hide away, I was one cake faced little lady.

For events, or nights out, or functions, I'll still use this product, as the more dramatic lighting calls for a stronger foundation, but alas, I've shelved my fave until the summer comes back.

Finally we have another Australis Stay Put 16 Hour foundation,
 the first one I ever bought, in Natural Beige. Considering I often describe my skin tone as beige, you can imagine how bummed I was to discover this was NOT in fact my perfect match, outside the Priceline lighting. This is in fact my 'tan' foundation; a lot of beauty bloggers have a different foundation they use when they're wearing a fake tan, and this is mine. Simply looking at the swatches above, you can see why. It's SO DARK. It's so, so dark! I wouldn't even call it beige, I'd call it... not beige? Tan? Natural Tan? Yeah that sounds better, because that's the colour all my friends are, naturally, during summer (while I'm over here wearing my broad brim hat and reapplying invisible zinc, because I'm the pale whale). Again, I love the finish of this product, and I love that it does what it says, it STAYS PUT. Especially in summer, when sweating is a bigger factor, it's great to have a product that doesn't smudge or roll off during the day, especially during a long haul shift followed by a party (something I did quite a few times over summer 2014).

BB cream and powder
Australis Stay Put in Nude 
Bobbi Brown in Warm Ivory

I'm planning on buying a new Inglot foundation as soon as I use up my Bobbi Brown (I HATE wasting products I've spent a lot of money on, so even if it's not 100% right, I'd rather use it than waste it), and I'll be posting lots of pics to Instagram, and on here, as soon as I do. Y'all will probably hear me squealing in delight, because as Loz Curtis says, when you find your Holy Grail, there's literally nothing better.
Funny story: the last time I went to Inglot (March 2013, I KNOW RIGHT?), I walked in and asked the lovely counter girl for the YSM foundation. Then I MIND BLANKED and FORGOT what shade I was. Completely forgot, I'd been using this foundation for THREE YEARS and I FORGOT.
The lovely counter girl took one look at me (wearing my BB cream, by the way) and said "Yep, 41."
I AM A 41. THIS GIRL HAD NEVER SERVED ME BEFORE. Inglot, I don't know how you train your staff or what you do, but YOU DO IT WELL. It was insane. And also insanely wonderful, so big thanks to Inglot girl if you're reading this and remember me from two years ago (probs not, but worth a try!).

That's it for me little birds, as always, if you disagree or want to share, please feel free to comment!

Until next time,
Tweet tweet xx

AContour Review: I'm sad!

Ughhh I hate to write a bad review

Not that this is a bad review, as I'll explain below I don't think this is necessarily a bad product, for a lot of different reasons, but I need to be honest, even if it does make me feel bad!

From the get-go I need to emphasise how much I LOVE Australis cosmetics, from their ethos, to their packaging, to the fact they're Australian made and owned, down to their colour variety and price point... Ah so much love!

Alas, the AContour palette didn't stir up quite the same feelings in my heart of hearts.


The packaging is typical Australis black and pink, sleek and exciting. I was so, so happy to find this in BULK at Priceline I can't even begin to tell you, and down to $16.50 from a cool $20? Score!
Australis themselves say; 
"Define your features and shape like a pro with these six powders designed to contour and highlight the face, taking your daily make up routine next level! This palette is formulated to provide a natural, healthy glow for any skin tone offering a contouring trio and a highlighting trio."

 A cool concept, and one I was very eager to try out. The palette is made up of six shades, three light, and three dark. My first attempts had me choosing the VERY wrong shade and having to do some damage control with a make-up wipe. The trios are powders, which I'll admit did surprise me, because for whatever reason I thought it was a creme palette. 

Ah, brand new make up, how I love thee! 

I've been using shade six to create shadow, and shade two for highlighting. Below are swatches on my arm in both natural light and shadow to give you an idea of what they look like against my skin tone. 
 

The powders are extremely pigmented. Holy sh*zballs, are they pigmented. That saying, less is more? Well almost-nothing is more with these bad boys. Buffing has become my technique of choice when using this palette, as unless you've buffed, you have a very zebra-line-ish looking face.

Which brings me to the pros and cons of this palette.
I wouldn't say it's a bad product - the quality is excellent, and up to the high standards I've come to expect from Australis products. Vegan friendly, make-up bag sized, aesthetically pleasing, compact and cute. The powders haven't upset my skin which is a miracle on its own, and I can absolutely see why so many bloggers and YouTubers have fallen in love. It's handy - you've literally got all the shades you could need for any skin tone, and there's even a little how-to on the back in case you're unsure.

That's my face with some AContour powders happening - look at my nose in particular!

 THE PROS
Easy to use, nice size, sleek packaging, and I can imagine that when I have a bit of a fake tan happening and a slightly darker foundation, the shades would absolutely help me in my contouring. I also think that for a function, or an event, where make-up can be that little bit heavier, these powders would be a godsend. Great for dancers, and performers; for clubbing, and for formals and socials, where there will be more dramatic lighting and a greater need for sculpting and highlighting, I would absolutely be reaching for this palette!

THE CONS
Remember the whole, extreme-pigment-and-buffing thing? Does anyone really have a spare ten minutes in their make-up routine to be doing that extra legwork? I know sometimes I don't, and the great thing about my Maybelline Dream Sun bronzer is that I literally whack on a little bit and it does the job. The AContour powders need that touch more effort and technique, to stop them from looking garish and, dare I say, drag queen-esque? I'm all for a glam contour and Kardashian-esque sculpting, but I can't be sitting in front of my mirror buffing and negotiating with powders every morning. I got stuff to do, people to see, places to go!
Speaking of places to go, as much as I'd like to say I have a full, busy, buzzing, and fabulous social calender, I really only go out maybe twice a month, and only one of those things will be a formal/dramatically lit event. Realistically, that greater need for highlighting and sculpting would only really come around three, maybe four times a year for me (seriously guys I have no life).
Now in summer I do tend to rock a fake tan, and have a bit more of a social life happening, so I can sort of foresee myself LOVING this palette in spring/summer 2016, when I'll need to look my selfie/photo best. For now though? Again, maybe three, four times this autumn/winter I'll need a heavily contoured look, at most.
The other thing about a cream palette, or cream-based products (such as the Maybelline FITme sticks) is that they're buildable. Whilst I love that Australis have delivered a strong, pigmented and good quality powder, for me, it doesn't leave a heap of wriggle room. I don't find the powders to be buildable, and as I said, having to buff a colour down to match your foundation/skin tone is a lot of extra work in the mornings.

Bottom line - this is NOT a bad product, it does as it promises, and it doesn't upset my skin or ruin my make-up. That being said, I expected to love and be wowed by the palette, and that hasn't happened either. I honestly think a cream-based palette, or a good, stick foundation with a light concealer works better as a contouring kit than six shades (most of which this pale whale can't even use).

What do you think, little birds? Used the palette and love it? Swear by it? Hate me for even uttering a bad word against it? Please let me know in the comments!

Until next time,
Tweet tweet xx

Back to Basics (and a bit of balyage too)

I bit the bullet and went into my hair dressers last week. The re-growth situation was out of control and Mumma Sparrow let slip at her appointment that I was considering chocolate brown and my hairdresser suggested I come in straight away for a consult before making any major colour changes.

And boy am I glad I did!

I always try to arrive early for my hairdressing appointments, just to make sure I’ve given my stylists all the time I can to get my hair right. I’m also one of those people who prefers to be super early for something than running late, and usually I need to take my hair out of its bun/pony tail/braid and brush it out before my appointment starts.

The colour wheel I'm sticking with
Baby Sparrow - natural colour!
I sat in the chair (same one as last time I think?) and got a good look at all the colours available in the Nak soft colour range. Re-growth is a real pain for anyone, but I’ve reached my point over the last few months where as much as I love my blonde, and I love being a light, almost platinum blonde, I can't deal with REGROWTH. OH MY GOD. NO. Over it, so, so over it. I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching (oh that sounds really douchey, I’m sorry) the last few months and it’s lead me to wanting to be as honest with myself as I can and, funny as it sounds, I want to get back to something like my natural colour, something I haven’t seen in, oh, about five years?




This time around a different team member took my appointment and I’ve got to say, he’s brilliant. All of the team are, and no matter who does my colour it always comes out looking superb, but the end result was so, so perfect, I couldn’t be happier. The base/root colour was a mix of 6.7 and 7.7 with 10 Vol, worked down and painted by hand. The light, almost white blonde my gorgeous girl Prue perfected during the pink period was left alone, and became the ombré tips to the darker shade.




The other wonderful thing about ditching the blonde foils and highlights is the time is cut in half! Anyone who’s ever had their hair colour treated or lightened to blonde will tell you that about three magazine’s worth of time is taken up with waiting, waiting… waiting…
This time around I was sitting only for about half an hour, forty minutes, before I was taken up to wash.

While my colour was being done my hairdresser and I had a good chat about life, relationships, and of course, hair. I was a little concerned about my colour, simply because I’ve done a lot to my hair over the last six months, but he reassured me that going darker would look great, but also wouldn’t do any more damage. I’d mentioned earlier on the blog that I’ve got very, very thick hair, and that has been my saving grace throughout all my colour changes. Whilst he had noticed some breakage, my stylist reassured me that my hair was ok, and would recover. He also talked about how porous some hair can be, and that I’m lucky mine isn’t too much so. The big problem with taking your hair down from a bleach-blonde shade to anything remotely darker is that your hair can turn green. Depending on how porous the hair is, what shades of blonde are involved, what type of dye, what amount of Vol is in the hair – it can all lead to a big, green-ish, unhealthy mess. Luckily when you’re working with an experienced colourist using good quality products, those disasters can be easily avoided!
Blonde hair mid. Jan 2015
Pink hair Feb 2015














As you can see in the above photos, although my hair looked pretty, the texture was quite dry and damaged near the ends, so it was really important to stop bleaching and colour treating my hair for a little while.


Let me tell you guys, it’s hard to feel attractive when your head is piled up with dye and you’re wearing what is essentially a high quality garbage bag.




Once the dye was washed out, my hair was thinned a tiny bit on the right side of my head (the heavier side of my part), as to the left of my part, my hair is that tiny bit thinner, and so much easier to handle! Having the two evened out has helped A LOT in the last two weeks alone. Then my hair was blow dried, and given a slight wave/curl, and voila! Done!




It’s actually quite a subtle change – I wasn’t greeted with the shocked gasps and screams that came with my first attempt at balyage, nor the squeals of going to back to blonde, but a lot of people do love it (including yours truly) and I couldn’t be happier, honestly. This colour is going to be so much easier to maintain, so much easier to style, and it’s got the right hint of blonde to be going along with. Stepping down to a darker shade for Autumn/Winter is also pretty exciting, and I feel a lot more confident going along with this season’s trends now that I have the hair to pull them off.

 




Until next time my little birds,

Tweet tweet xx
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