paint me a happy face

Throw a ticker-tape parade everybody. I'm baaaaack!

I finally managed to climb over my writer’s block and, boy, does the view look good from here!

I had an idea for a post that has been bouncing around my head the last few days but I’ve scrapped it because it involved the telling of anecdote of someone I’ve known in real life and it just didn’t feel right to blog about it. I think some things are better said in person rather than written down.

So what shall I write about instead?

Well, whenever I feel down one thing is guaranteed to cheer me up and that’s make-up.

Yup, slapping on the warpaint and painting a happy face lifts up my spirit. I love the ritual of make up; putting it on, taking it off. In fact, I probably enjoy taking off make up more than putting it on. There’s something very satisfying about wiping off your make up and cleansing your face.

As a make up fan I want to give you the best tips I’ve picked up along the way to share with you, dear reader. They are:

1. Dry kohl pencil? Dip the tip the pencil into a moisturiser and test it on the back of your hand. Voila! Your kohl pencil has been revived! Now, I don’t have sensitive skin but I do have sensitive eyes so make sure the face cream you dip into is perfume-free/for sensitive skin if you have sensitive eyes too. I was foolishly inspired by the scene in Pretty Woman, to heat up all my eye pencils with a lit match. Don’t do this! I ruined all my pencils. I know there’s a make up guru who advocates this technique and he does it in a way that I didn't (I basically melted the pencils and they cooled down and re-hardened so as to be unusable). However, I find my moisturiser method works much better, so there!
2. How to apply moisturiser to your neck. Put the cream on the back of your hand and roll your hand in an upward motion from your neck up to your chin. Make sure not to tug the area at all. Most people don’t pay attention to the neck area but it’s delicate and needs care and attention. Also if you have a giraffe neck like me, it feels nice to have smooth skin.
3. Chapped lips? Mix a little olive oil with sugar and use it as a scrub on your lips.
4. Got brown eyes? Green eyeliner looks great. As does turquoise and electric blue.
5. Quick cat eye – draw a line on the outer corner of your eyelid. When you get to the end of your eye flick the line upward. Draw a line on your lower lash line (also just on the outer corner) and join the line all the way up to the tick. That will give the perfect feline look.
6. Small eyes? – smudge the crap out of your kohl eyeliner that you’ve drawn on your lower lash line with the most smudging on the outer corners, getting thinner the further toward the inner corner. Don’t bother to line your eyelids – it will make small eyes even smaller.

Well, those are my best tips. If you have any tips feel free to share!