Lush Baby Face

Oops, I forgot to say I already used lush babyface yesterday evening. You know those evenings when it's late, you have make up on but you are just to tired to take it off and you go to bed without washing. Then you stay awake feeling guilty and in the end you get up again to wash it off. The result is the same but you wasted half an hour.

With baby face this isn't necessary, it's even fun to wash your face! (sounds silly I know). You make it a bit wet and rub your face. You can even use it on your eyes, it won't hurt. Then just rinse it off and it's done!

It's a cute cleanser with a neutral smell, I think this is a keeper.

Photoshoot + High Tea

Yesterday I had my first real photoshoot as a make-up artist. Well not really, there were 2 shoots with in total 4 people. The first was really easy. It was about a group of people that made a mountainbike route to collect money for charity. It was really fun to work with these people. The second shoot was with Karen and Stijn, a couple that wanted extreme make -up. That was a lot harder to do. I had to come up with a design on the spot and make it on her face. But in the end it was ok and I still want to do more shoots. Next one is on March 15!

Today I had a family high tea for my birthday last week. As usual my mom made way to much food. She had: 3 kinds of sandwiches, meat pie, scones, euhm dunno the name dough with sausages in it, brownies, cupcakes, apple cake and some more. Of course I wanted to try it all, everything was so yummy I am still eating it. Not smart I know but for once it is ok. Hmmm I think I'll make me another sandwich with salmon. Tomorrow back to my diet! I would like to go under 60 kg by easter break. That's about 1,5 - 2 kg and I have a month to do that. Doable if there aren't more high teas :)

Oops, more lush :)

I admit, I'm getting already addicted to lush. I use Imperialis everyday and my skin feels a lot better. A few days ago I couldn't sleep so I had a bath with a dreamtime bathmelt, really relaxing. And my hair never was as soft as with jungle conditioner. So I ordered some more :) This is the last batch for at least a month, I first have to use things that I have.

I really wanted to buy a henna bloc. I thought it would be like 1/3 of this size. I still have dyed hair so I'm not sure if I can even use it well but I'll try.

From Jungle I got silky smooth hair but it looked fluffy, that's why I wanted to try Fluff-Eaze.

Babyface is one of those things people seem to love so I had to have that one too.

I love the idea of shampoo blocks, and when you buy two you get a tin for free, just couldn't resist. I got Ultimate Shine and Godiva.

The look of fever is to die for with that little kiss, hope it works too.

The you've been mangoed bath melt is a bit over the top to use in one time, I will cut this in 3-4 pieces, I do like the smell but it is too much.

I also got a lot of samples, yeeey more jungle! I also got the charity pot, sympathy for your skin, I should Coco (sorry I don't like coconut) and Red Rooster.

Tonight I have 2 photoshoots (with 4 people!) so I can't try them. The first shoot starts at 17.00 and is for an event with mountainbikes. The second one starts at 20.00 and is about extreme make-up. These are my first real shoots and I'm exited!!!!

Non Pareil Boutique Order

On february 14 I ordered from Non Pareil Boutique for the first time and about an hour ago the mailman was trying to get my order into the mailbox :) Everything was very well wrapped, I also adore their business card, it is beautiful and feminine.





This is what I got:

I was amazed at the quality of the packaging for such cheap make-up. Oops I now noticed I also got a lip liner that isn't in the picture. Except for the 4 colour palette, everything is from NYX, the 4 colours are from Kleancolor.

Here is my review:
Amethyst Lipgloss: I first noticed the smell, not smelling cheap at all. I prefer another way to bring on since I can't use this applicator on a lot of people but that's a detail. It isn't sticky at all, just feels good. It isn't blinding you with it's shine but it is a good product.

Lipliner Citrine: I don't get the name because citirine is yellow and this lip liner is a great dusty pink. It's a beautiful basic colour that anyone should have and it's easy to bring on.

Trio Nude/Taupe/Brown: Another must-have. These are the perfect colours for a naturel look or just to use everyday. If you could only buy one trio this should be it and it will be empty before you know it because you will use it almost everyday. The colours are chosen just right. I will use this a lot, even in my work.

Pigments: I got mink and sky pink but they aren't that different from each other. Pink is more well pink and mink is more brown. They are beautiful though. These are 1,25 dollars now, the ones I use are 6 dollars. I'm not sure if they are the same size thought but certainly not 4 times more. The thing I would change are the pots, they aren't that practical to work with.

Lipstick: I love the fact that you can see the colour without opening, this idea deserves an award!
Sparkling plum: Great Glam-colour
Hestia: The find of the season! It is dark red on the outer sides of your lips and almost black to the middle.
Prefect: A bit too brown for me
Aphrodite: total misser for me, a kind of grey-purple on my lips
Herades: a perfect everyday-colour, I will use this a lot!

Glitter Liner Silver: This isn't really what it should be, the brush wouldn't come out like it should and not as glittery as I hope, nice for accents though.

Kleancolor eyeshadow palette: Nothing to say about this, this is a nice product with nice colours for a great price!

I think this was a good order and I will order again!

The Black Market

Yesterday I went to the black market too. It are a few halls with mostly foreign people selling their wares. I wanted to get some hair accesoiries and maybe something more. A few years ago it was always very crowded and there were lots of nice things to buy. Well not anymore. All the clothing just screamed cheap, the shoes were for drag queens, messy and greasy stuff. It wasn't good at all. The funniest thing was the fact that there was this great drag queen show :)

I also bought Turkish strawberries but I didn't like them, but the olives were divine :)

20something

Yup Yup, since yesterday I am 20something too. I keep saying that now I only have 10 more years to mature but I think that will never happen :) My birthday was a lot of fun. I celebrated it with two close friends who had their birthday too and we invited more friends. We baked pancakes (it had to be a low-budget party) and we played games. The night after that we went out to a custome party where we all went as a gipsy.

I also have an interview on www.20something.nl but this is in Dutch. You can find this article here: http://www.20something.nl/schoolwerk/elke-studeert/ For people that speak Dutch this is a fun and new website and really worth checking out on a lazy day.

Well this is all for today since dinner is ready ;)

Shopping!

Serena asked for a picture of a man wearing make-up in my last post. Here it is

This is my uncle who is always very nice and even takes off from work to come help me in class. In this picture he is wearing foundation (he has very red cheeks), blush, mascara, eye pencil, consealer and lipstick. This is make up meant for tv or pictures but if you would see this man on the street would you notice he is wearing make-up?

Today I went shopping for hairstyling equiment. I bought a straightener and a curling iron from babyliss. The price was a lot less than I thought I would spend, they were less than 60 euros for both of them.

Then I went to some other stores and got this

There is dry shampoo (to spray in your greasy hair and make it looks like it's washed, it really works!), two kinds of gel, some hair clips and a tooth brush to remove dead skin of the lips.

More hairclips

More hair clips, roses for the hair, satin ribbon to braid with and a sewing kit. You never know when a model bursts out of her skirt!

My day

I don't feel like doing anything right now :) I had to go to a kind of hospital with elderly people that are mentally ill to practice my pedicure. We have to do this every 2 weeks and sometimes it is a lot of fun to work with these people and rewarding but today was aaarggh. The first woman was the worst, I wasnt sure if she was sleeping or awake (thank god she was still breathing) but she was kicking me all the time. It is hard to work this way but I also worried about hurting her because she wouldn't hold still.

In the afternoon we had make-up for men which was fun. My uncle went with me as a model, he even went to the city with make-up on. Respect for man who dare doing this ;) It wasn't like a dragqueen or something, just the make up men wear on tv.

But after that we had more hairstyling and it isn't something i'm good at, certainly not with fake hair on weird looking dolls :)

Now I'm going to watch Cooking for Kids with Louis, always makes me smile :)

New Jewelry

I haven't made a lot of jewelry lateley but yesterday I made a new set. It isn't completeley finished yet because I didn't have a clasp anymore for the necklace. I tried playing with textures, colours and shapes. There is onyx, freshwater pearls and lava in it.

My Etsy Wants

It's about time I would write another wishlist since my birthday is in a few days. I will be 20 then. Yeeey! Only 10 years left to grow up hihi.

Angel Wings are something unique, most of the time they look like something for a 13-year-old but I really like these. They aren't so small that the angel wouldn't be able to fly but they aren't all over the tshirt either. They aren't like those demon wings and they aren't trying to be cute. I like these. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19030878

I make jewelry myself but no rings and this is a ring I like. I adore the combination of pearls and crystals and the assymetric style in here is nice. It isn't in your face but a stylish ring. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18854416

I'm sorry for the big picture but this wall decal is sooo sweet. I have to have this one day. It would make me smile everytime I see it. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17707295 You should check out the rest of the shop too, those designs are amazing!

This last one is really clever. It is a gift certificate with a lipbalm inside. That way you can already give a small gift and the one who gets it gets to try a product. Nice packaging too! http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14807889

Tag + lush review

Whoops I only noticed now that I got tagged in January by http://monacodesigns.blogspot.com/, she has really cool pictures on her blog. These are the rules:


- Link to the person who tagged you
- Post the rules on your blog
- Write six random things about yourself
- Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them
- Let each person know they've been tagged

My random facts:
- My mom won't let me go with her to the supermarket anymore because she ends up buying 50% more than when she goes alone
- I have 82 silver coloured lobster clasps which is stupid since I work with sterling silver, not silver plated
- I first wanted to name my dog Elly, like the first letters of my name (Elke) and my mom's (Lieve). It became Tessy, Elly is too sweet for this dog, Tessy is a much more fun name
- I had 8 years of French lessons and I forgot like 97% of it.
- When I read beauty blogs I always go searching for make up on ebay and end up buying nothing. Then at 1 am I check it out again and buy for 50 dollars
- I collect scraps of sterling silver hoping someone can melt it into a ring for me

Hm so now I have to tag 6 other people, I don't want to bother others and I don't read a lot of English blogs so I have to think about that

Next more lush reviews. I got a sample of herbalism cleanser. It is ment for oily skin but I used it on some impurities on my forehead. I don't really like the smell, it smells like the thing I use to keep musquitos away. It also felt very weird and my sink looked like an entire army used their camouflage over it. I won't buy this.
I will buy the dreamtime bath melt. They send this instead of the dreamtime balm. I took about 1/3 of it and put it in my bath tub. The smell is great and relaxing and when you get out of bath you don't need bodymilk because the melt will leave it's butters on your skin but not an annoying thick layer. THis is definateley something I will buy again

Lush Jungle

As promised I tried the jungle conditioner yesterday. It wasn't as easy to bring on than a liquid conditioner but I think it is just something I have to get used to. I first used a lush mask, then a normal shampoo and then the conditioner. There are less knots in my hair, it is shiney and smooth but it seems like I didn't completey rinse out the product when I thought I did. It looks a bit like I didn't wash my hair for 4 days in some places. But I will try it again so I can give an honest opinion. So far I like it.

I also ordered some make up, I discovered www.Nonpareilboutique.com and they sell NYX, a brand a lot of people seem to love. So of course I had to try, I call those things business investments ;) I ordered 2 pallettes of eye shadow, a glitter eyeliner, a lipgloss and 5 or 6 lipsticks and it cost me under 40 dollars with 10 dollars shipping included. Now I have to wait for it.

Lush Cosmetics

I loooooove bath and beauty products. It's so great to go in bath with a ton of new products to try out in delicious smells. That's why I gather a lot of products. Most of the time I prefer to buy sample sizes. That way I can try something out first but I also don't have to clean out the entire product before trying something new. I like to try lots of different things.

I also love bath and beauty shops. I read a lot about lush lately so now I wanted to try. There are two Lush stores in Belgium but I rarely go to those cities and I didn't want to go just to buy some shampoo or something so I ordered online. Nowadays the British Pound isn't as strong as it used to be so I had an exchange rate advantage when I ordered in the UK so I did.

They were really fast, I ordered on Friday or Saturday evening and paid with visa, Wednesday morning it arrived, nicely and securly wrapped too. Inside there was this smell of something, I openend up the box and it seemed to be filled with popcorn as a protective. Very cute and funny but my products were also covered in small pieces or corn which was not that funny.

One item was missing and for the other one they send me a bath melt instead of the balm in that scent. But I send an email and they said they would send the right items and I could keep the wrong ones. And mistakes can happen of course so I'm happy about the service.

I got Aqua Marina cleanser, it's not milk but more like a blob of cleanser. You take a small piece and mix that with water. But there is seaweed in this product and it smelled like fish. I tried it two times and the smell just horrifies me, I threw this product away.

Next there was this asian style named hair mask (I really cant remember or pronounce the name). It was made with fresh ingredients like avocados and eggs. The smell isnt great, a bit too much cinnamon. I applied it to dry hair, let it rest for 20 minutes and rinsed. The next day my hair was more soft and shiney and I got compliments but it had some more knots as usual.

To solve the knot problem and to make my hair more straight I ordered Jungle. It's a conditioner but in a solid block. I haven't tried it but I will tonight.

I also got Imperialis daycream, the smell is alright. It does take a while to absorb, it's not very fatty but it stays on the skin for about 10 minutes. This is a fine product that I will keep using (at least until I run out of it)

Next there was sakura solid perfume. This is very solid, it is rather hard to get a bit out of it, well enough to smell it. I do like the smell.

Fair trade Foot Lotion was next. Finally a foot lotion that isn't white! It is a very cute pink. It does smell like peppermint and spearmint, I guess almost every foot lotion does that.

The other two products where a kind of balm with lavender that makes you sleep good and a tablet to put in hot water to steam your skin above and then use as toner. These are the products they will send me later.

I also like the fact that when you return 5 of their packages you get a free mask. Isn't that nice?

Styling Hair

As some of you might already know, I'm training to become a make up artist. I've have had lessons since September so that's about 5 months now and every day I'm getting more fond of it. In a few weeks I'm having my first photoshoots. At a lot of places the make-up artist is a bit the person that has to do it all, make up, hair and styling. I was never really good at doing hair but I guess I have to learn :) I'm saving to buy those big curling things, I only have a small one now.

Something that already gave me a lot of ideas are these videos from Ford Models: http://www.youtube.com/user/fordmodels?gl=NL&hl=nl&blend=1 There are a lot of different videos about styling, make up and hair. I just did a friend's make up and now I have a lazy saturday ahead so this is what I will be wathing today and hopefully be able to make it too one day.

I'm back!

I've been soooo sick and busy that I forgot about you, my readers but I'm back, trying to blog to relax :)

I had a driving lesson today again so I really need to relax. I would like to take my exam in a few months so I took a lesson to see what else I still have to practise. It wasn't a big disaster but I'm just not fond of them. My own car is 20 years old and you can imagine its a lot different to drive than the teachers car that was just 3 weeks old. So I really had to get to know it first. I didn't hit anything or anyone so that's postive I guess :) I do know now that I still have to practise a lot more in the city where the exam will be. It's about a 30 minute drive and I just never go there but I will now.

I also ordered my first lush products a few days ago. I heard people bragging about it all the time and since I looooooove taking long baths and beauty stuff I decided to check out what it is all about. I mostly ordered products that looked like fun to me. Like this pink blob of stuff with seaweed around it. You should take a small piece and mix it with water to use it on your face. We'll see. I ordered on friday and I heard from others it usually arrives in a day or 5.

I got these cool things today to. I belong to some Dutch jewelry maker's forums and I bought swarovski colour charts for the people that wanted one, so now I have 13 or 14 of these charts. I wanted to send them today but the office shop was closed so I couldn't get any bubble wrappers. They are really cool.

I'm gonna put a mask on (with sunflowers and carrots) and go watch some tv. Have a fun night!