PROM/FORMAL MAKEUP

My formal was back in May and when trying to decide where I wanted to get my makeup done, it clicked to me that I am totally capable of doing my own makeup and from previous experience with my semi formal, I would probably like the end result better if I am the one who does it. So I decided to do my own makeup and I got heaps of compliments throughout the night on how much everyone liked it so I was happy that I did end up doing it myself. You can read about and see pictures from my formal if you click here.

I decided to do this tutorial for you girls because I think you can save yourself a lot of money, effort and time by doing it yourself! I hope this tutorial gives you the confidence to do your own makeup for formal or gives you some formal makeup inspiration and ideas. This look is exactly what I wore to my formal which is a silver/black smokey eye with glossy red lips so keep reading to find out what products I used to achieve this look. 

FACE

Full Coverage Foundation without SPF/ Chanel Mat Lumiere

Concealer/ MAC Studio Sculpt

Translucent Powder/ Maybelline Shine Free Loose 

Bronzer/ Chanel Soleil De Tan, Terre Ambre

Blush/ Chanel 64 Pink Explosion

Highlighter/ MAC "Soft and Gentle" MSF

EYES

White Base/ NYX "Milk" Jumbo Eye Pencil

Frosty Silver Lid Shadow/ 88 Neutrals Palette

Shimmery Steel Crease Shadow/ 88 Neutrals Palette

Matte Black Crease Shadow/ 88 Neutrals Palette

Steel mixed with Black Lash line Shadow/ 88 Neutrals Palette

White Waterline Liner/ Calvin Klein "White" Eye Pencil

Winged Liquid Liner/ Kleancolour Liquid Eyeliner

Black Tight line Liner/ Prestige Carbon Black

Top Lash Mascara/ Maybelline Falsies Flared

Bottom Lash Mascara/ Maybelline Illegal Lengths

False Lashes/ Revlon "Flirty" Lashes

LIPS

Red Lip Liner/ Maybelline 50 Red Liner

Glossy Red Lipstick/ Revlon "Candy Apple" Lip Butter

I hope this was helpful for you girls who were planning on doing your own makeup for Prom or Formal
or have a special occasion to go to which requires formal makeup :)

REVIEW: BETTY CROCKER CANDLES

I was hesitant as to whether or not I was going to blog about this and if so whether I would put it on my cooking blog or on here. I decided to put it on here because a lot of you beauty girls also have other girly interests, one of them being candles, as I have found out through Twitter and Instagram. So I decided I would put this review for the Betty Crocker Candles onto here, my beauty blog! I understand if this isn't something your interested in reading about but I have a heap more beauty related reviews coming up soon to look forward to and I really hope those who requested this enjoy! Plus I have blogged about candles a little bit on this blog before when I did a review for the Dusk candles.

So I was in my local Bargain City browsing through all of their Halloween bits and pieces to decorate my house with when I stumbled across these amazing candles! What first attracted me was their adorable packaging and delicious scent selection but what really made me most excited is that they were Betty Crocker! I love the Betty Crocker cake mixes and frosting so thought it was so awesome how they came out with their own candles because even if they are only half as delicious smelling as their cakes, they will still be an amazing candle! What really sold me was that they were only $2 each, okay they are a small (85g) candle but $2 for such delicious scents is a pretty fair price especially for us Australians who struggle to spend less than $30 on a good quality candle!

As for how long they burn for, I got about 26 hours burn out of them while continuously trimming the excess wick after each use. They burn very nicely, not releasing any black smoke (if the wick has been trimmed) and not flickering. Okay so now onto what everyone is probably most interested about and that is how strong the smell is! So this really depends on what candle as the fruity scents had a much stronger smell than the sweet scents but they overall have quite a strong scent that will be enough to scent up a room with just one. For a stronger scent, of course just light more than one of the same candle and that will give you a much stronger smell.

Moving on to the scent selections that Betty Crocker offers, these are all of the ones I have found but there could be even more! I have categorized them into what kind of scents they are because I think candles are a great way to get festive for holidays and seasons. I have also included a picture of the package you should look for as well as the colour the actual candle is, in case you have a colour scheme your trying to find decorations for.

Summer Scents: Peach Cobbler, Fresh Cut Melon, Mango Smoothie and Pineapple Sorbet.

Fall/Autumn Scents: Pumpkin Pie and Cinnamon Bun

Baked Goods Scents: Blueberry Pie, Cherry Pie, Apple Pie, Strawberry Shortcake and Raspberry Tart.

Sweet Scents: Creamy Vanilla, Red Velvet Cake, White Chocolate and Chocolate Brownie.

Christmas Scents: Mint Cookie, Candy Cane and Gingerbread. 

(These are such a great way to decorate your house around Christmas time for a more festive feel and make it smell like your constantly baking Christmas goodies)

Overall Favourite Scents: Blueberry Pie, Red Velvet Cake, Strawberry Shortcake and Fresh Cut Melon...and well..really all of them but those in particular!  

I admit I went a little candle crazy and bought two of every scent I could find as well as multiples of ones I really liked and the Christmas ones (to decorate my house around Christmas time) but you could totally be a normal person about this and only buy the scents which interest you. 

I hope this review was helpful, a know a lot of people see them in the store but don't end up buying them because they aren't sure how long they will last but I personally think they are really good quality for the price you pay. The burning time is comparable to some Glasshouse and Dusk candles that I own and the scents are incredible. Definitely pick up one next time you see them or at least stand there for a couple of moments appreciating how delicious they smell. 

Thanks for reading, let me know if you have tried Betty Crocker candles before and what you thought of them or if you plan on picking some up now to try out :)

REVIEW AND SWATCHES: COVERGIRL "DYNAMITE DRAMA" QUAD

I was browsing through my makeup collection for something new and interesting to use when this CoverGirl palette really stood out to me. I thought it was an interesting mixture of colours and wanted to show you some swatches and let you know what I think about the quality.

This quad includes four stunning and interesting colours. The first colour is a deep burgundy/chestnut shade that looks beautiful in the crease and has a gorgeous shimmer to it. The second is a gold colour and I was excited about this shadow because I don't have many gold eyeshadows that are a solid colour like this one. The third shadow is a creamy white, perfect for highlighting or wearing on the lid with the first shadow in the crease. Lastly, it includes this gorgeous green shade and I admit I don't wear green eyeshadow all that often but this is just such a pretty lime colour it inspires me to use green shades more!

You can tell from the swatches below that these eyeshadows have a very buttery consistency and are very smooth and pigmented. They glide onto the eye really nicely and are long lasting without any creasing! I was surprised at how well they shadows stay on because usually buttery eyeshadows easily crease but I wore these for a whole day and they were still on perfect at the end of the day.

Re-finding this palette in my makeup collection has inspired me to go out and buy some more of these great quality palettes and hopefully I can find some more gorgeous colours!

Thanks for reading and let me know if you have tried out these CoverGirl eyeshadow quads before.

HEALTHY HAIR CARE ROUTINE

These are the products I use that keep my hair as healthy as possible even though I use bleach and heat on it. The most important steps in a healthy haircare routine are shampoo, deep/leave-in/regular conditioner and heat protectant so I'm going to be talking about the products I think do the best job for each task and a couple of extra products I enjoy adding to my routine.

Shampoo:

I don't really pay too much attention to the shampoos I use because I find that they all work similarly. I do really like the John Frieda ones especially the "Go Blonder" and "Sheer Blonde" range because although they remove all of the excess oil, they still moisturise the hair and leave it feeling soft rather than dried out. I also love all of the Palmolive shampoos because they provide a really deep clean.

Conditioner:

I used to be very picky with my conditioner and could only find that the Macadamia Deep Repair Masque would give me results I was happy with. Now I have found a much cheaper alternative that is fairly comparable and that is the Palmolive conditioners! They are seriously so moisturizing and nourishing.

Deep Conditioner:

Now that I have stopped using the Macadamia Deep Repair Masque as my conditioner, I only use it as my deep conditioner maybe once a week to give my hair a moisturizing boost. This has not only saved me money but also decreased the amount of protein that my hair is exposed too because too much protein for your hair can be a bad thing and leave your hair feeling a bit like straw.

Leave-in Conditioner: 

I think it's important to have a product that you put into damp hair once you get out of the shower and I personally love an oil. My favourites have become the NAK Aromas Oil which is an Argan Oil and the Macadamia Luxurious Oil Treatment which is a Macadamia Oil. Since I don't brush through my hair while it's wet, putting something like this in my ends helps detangle my hair when it comes to brushing it out when it's dried.

Dry Shampoo:

Everyone has those nights when your too tired to wash your hair and you wake up the next day regretting it because it looks kind of oily. The solution to this issue is dry shampoo and I used to use the Batiste one until I found a much cheaper alternative! The "Girlz Only" brand are only $2 for a bottle of dry shampoo and sometimes you can even get them on sale cheaper! They work fine for me as I am a blonde but if your brunette it may leave a slight white powdery residue to you may want to look into the Batiste tinted dry shampoo range.

Heat Protectant: 
It's crucial to use some sort of heat protectant when blow drying, straightening or curling your hair but it's hard to tell if the one your using it working or not which is why I am useless when it comes to choosing heat protectants. The one I am currently using is the Schwarzkopf Heat Protection Spray and I find that although it takes a while to dry and is very wet in formulation, it does protect my hair.

Those are the products that I use in my haircare routine that keep my hair looking and feeling healthy.
Let me know if you have tried any of these products before and if you love them as much as I do.

EXCITING NEWS! MY VIDEO IS ON THE MAYBELLINE WEBSITE!

I recently made a video review/demo featuring the Maybelline Dream Nude Airfoam Foundation and it is now being featured on the Maybelline Australia website as the monthly instructional!! I am very excited about this as you can imagine and am so proud to have my video featured on the official Maybelline website! It's just another one of those things that I never even imagined happening in my life but making videos has allowed me to do. I really hope you can support me by checking out the video.

 

MASSIVE LASHES USING FIBER MASCARA/LOVE ALPHA REVIEW

I have naturally short and sparse eyelashes and am too lazy to wear false lashes everyday so the way I get my lashes looking large everyday without spending a lot of time is with a micro fiber mascara.

There are two steps in this mascara set. The first step is the transplanting gel that is basically like any other mascara and this is going to help the natural fibers attach to the eyelash and add the visable length. The other step is the natural fibers that attach to the transplanting gel to add length and thickness. It isn't too much effort to apply this every morning, it's almost just like just adding a couple of extra coats of mascara.

These massive lashes aren't going to break the bank because this mascara duo is only $13.50 from eBay or $15.95 from Body Rapture Cosmetics and that includes free shipping within Australia.

This method of getting massive eyelashes doesn't cost too much, take a lot of time or make applying your makeup in the morning any morning difficult.

 If your unhappy with the length and thickness of your eyelashes and don't like having to use false lashes, this is definitely something I recommend for you!

 

REVIEW: REAL TECHNIQUES BRUSHES

The discount code I have to give you is QAB322 and it gets you $10 off if you spend over $40 or $5 off if you spend under $40 at iherb.com

Let me start off by admitting that I have absolutely fallen in love with Real Techniques brushes and they have become my personal favourites. What they are is a series of amazing quality brushes created by beauty YouTuber Samantha Chapman that are now available worldwide. What this review will talk about is my opinion on all of the brushes I own, if the sets are worth the money, my overall favourites as well as the best places to buy these brushes from so keep reading.

Core Collection ($44.99 in Priceline, $17.99 in America and online)

1. Contour Brush

This is actually my favourite brush from the set because I find that it really seamlessly creates a more defined cheekbone look that is really natural and wearable.

2. Pointed Foundation Brush

This is a brush that I haven't really found a use for just because I typically dislike using these traditional foundation brushes and prefer the buffing brush. I think it's nice for setting your foundation with powder in smaller places on your face like under your eyes and between your eyebrows. 

3. Detailer Brush

 I love using this for concealer as it is a really tiny brush so it doesn't pick up or distribute too much product. If you find this brush is too small for concealer, it can also be used for precise lipstick application.

4. Buffing Brush

I use this brush pretty much everyday to apply my BB cream or foundation because it makes the product really bendable and is much quicker and more effective than using your hands or the stippling brush Real Techniques offers. 

Starter Set ($39.99 in Priceline, $17.99 in America and online)

1. Deluxe Crease Brush

This is perfect for applying crease colours because it blends the colour in really lovely. 

2. Base Shadow Brush

I love applying my base lid shadow with this brush because it is the perfect shape and works really well with the Deluxe Crease Brush. Those two brushes used together create the perfect neat eye look.

3. Accent Brush

I actually use this brush for concealer when I don't use my detailer brush but it can also be perfect for deepening crease and outer corner eyeshadow when other brushes are too big.

4. Pixel Point Eyeliner Brush

For me, I have found this brush to not be precise enough for eyeliner application because it is quite wispy but it's great for inner corner highlight or deepening a crease colour. 

5. Angled Brow Brush

This is the perfect angle for doing eyebrows and the little brush hairs are very stiff and seperated which means it picks up powder product really effectively. 

Individual Brushes

1. Blush Brush ($22.99 in Priceline, $8.99 in America or online)

I'm not sure about using this brush for blush just because it is so large but it's perfect to use with setting powder over the top of foundation.

2. Stippling Brush ($22.99 in Priceline, $9.99 in America or online)

I wasn't dissapointed when I relieved this brush in the mail but I was surprised because it is much smaller and stiffer than I expected!

Side notes:

* These brushes are made with taclon which is completely cruelty free and perfect for all makeup consistencies whether it be cream, liquid or powder. A very versatile material for brushes that is extremely soft!

* I have experienced no fall out at all with any of the brushes I own which is more than I can say about some of the more expensive brushes I own. The quality is great for the price and is way better than some brushes I have spent much more money on.

* The brushes come in a brush stand which is perfect for traveling or standing up on your vanity while you do your makeup.

* The best place to buy from is iherb.com and that is because they sell the Real Techniques brushes for American RRP and with a discount code they wrok out even cheaper! The discount code I have to give you is QAB322 and it gets you $10 off if you spend over $40 or $5 off if you spend under $40!

Thanks for reading! I hope this was helpful if you have been interested in the Real Techniques brushes and if were thinking of maybe picking some up, I say go for it!

BARBIE DOLL HALLOWEEN TUTORIAL! MAKEUP AND OUTFIT!

Outfit:
Top: Supre
Skirt- Melrose Avenue
Shoes- Lipstick

Purse- Equip

Makeup:

Bloom prep and primer primer
Chanel Matt Lumiere foundation
Maybelline Dream Nude Airfoam foundation
Bloom translucent powder
Chanel Soleil De Tan bronzer
Chanel Pink Explosion blush
NYX Baby Blue Jumbo Eye Pencil
NYX Strawberry Milk Jumbo Eye Pencil
Blue and pink cosmetic glitter
MAC white Eye Kohl
KleanColor Liquid Eyeliner
Maybelline Falsies Flared mascara
Red Cherry Lashes
Maybelline precision eyes black liner
YSL RV Fetish Pink
MAC She-Zam Dazzleglass

Accessories:

Nails- OPI Koala-Beary and OPI Happy Anniversary

Bracelets- Equip or Diva

Phone case- eBay

Watch the video for more details :)

IMATS 2012!

I had such an amazing time at IMATS meeting a heap of my fellow Australian beauty YouTubers and so many of my amazing viewers who were so kind to me! You know we had to take a cheesy photo in front of the magical IMATS sign and so I'm including that first. Above is makeupwithpoppy, DOMMsmiles and xoFemmeBeauty. 

 

One of the highlights of the day was meeting Chloe Morello! She is so gorgeous and I love her videos so it was a pleasure to catch up with her a couple of times throughout the day and get some photos!

I finally got to meet my good friend Alee! We talk all the time online and it was great to finally meet her! She is just such a beautiful and lovely person who I hope to meet many more times!

I got along so well with the beautiful Caroline from xoFemmeBeauty! She was so lovely and great to talk to! She made the day really fun!

I was so happy to meet Madina!! She is such a sweet and beautiful person that I speak to all the time so it was great to finally meet her and spend some time together.

The hilarious Brittney and Shell! I can't help myself but constantly laugh around these two because they are just so freaking funny. It was amazing to finally meet Brittney as I love her videos and it was lovely to catch up with Shell again as I have met her in the past before.

Some lovely girls who watch my videos who I ran into and got a photo with!

Another viewer that I managed to get a photo with on my camera! I was kind of dissapointed because I actually didn't take that many photos with people who I met, I was just so caught up in the moment!

The beautiful DOMMsmiles and I ran into a lovely viewer.

I was so happy I ran into Ash4Makeup because I adore her videos!

The gorgeous BeautyConsultancy!

A lovely viewer who also makes singing videos under the screen name missellenamy and plans to start making beauty videos soon!

My travel buddy! Claire is from the Gold Coast and I'm from Brisbane so we only flew down for the day and caught planes back at similar times so ended up "traveling" together which was nice!

Caroline and Dom!

Dom from DOMMsmiles! This girl is amazing! She is absolutely hilarious and I had a great time hanging out with her!

Towards the end of the day, I finally got a photo with Jodi. It was a pleasure to meet her because I adore her videos, she is so helpful and beautiful!

I had an absolutely amazing time and hung out with so many talented and beauty girls who also make videos as well as a heap of you girls who watch my videos! If you took a photo with me on the day, I would love for you to email it to mail@jordysbeautyspot.com 

SPRING/SUMMER CLOTHING HAUL AND OUTFIT IDEAS

I recently picked up some clothing items to prepare for the warmer weather and thought I would share them with you so that maybe you could get some spring/summer outfit ideas. I purchased them all recently and shops/prices are included so if your interested in any of the pieces you can definitely still go out and get them.

I picked up a new bikini for beach trips and pool visits and I am in love with it! It is definitely a "me" bikini as I adore white, gold, sequins and ruffles! Everything from the new Playboy Swim range is beautiful but this specific set stood out to me the most.
Bras n Things, $80

Hot Pink Shorts- Supre, $25
Denim Mini Shorts- Target, $35
Black Button Shorts-Target, $30
Black Tie Material Shorts- Target, $25

This plain black peplum top is from Ally for $20.

This pink peplum top with cut outs is from Ally for $30.

Green Skater Skirt- Dotti, $49.95

White Lace Skirt- SES, $15

Thanks for reading, I hope this inspired all of you girls from the southern hemisphere for spring/summer outfits!