Ba Bye 2016, Hello 17.

2016 has come to an end; definitely the most eventful year so far, at least for me it was.

My 2016 was out of the ordinary, I'm amazed by what 2016 has put me through, can't lie but my 2016 was groundbreaking! So much happened that it almost feels like my entire life was put into the past 365 days. Time flew by so fast, but I can't say that I'm not ready for 2017, cause I surely am!

The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals. Set your mind to what you want to see in your new year, cleanse your soul and create a fresh and new start to your whole life by setting a purpose. God gifted you a new beginning that others didn't have, take advantage of it and don't let your past control you. The past is in the past, it's dead, but you're not. Let go of what makes you bitter, let go of what makes you fade away into the shadows of your own body, let go of what brought you to your knees. Let it ALL go. 

Expectations.

Expectations. The deadly imagination of yearning for something, hoping for it, resulting in utter disappointment and misery. We expect a lot from people, especially the ones we love and care for. We expect the impossible hoping that it can be possible. We expect our dreams and thoughts to turn to reality.
We expect anything and everything, whether it's from friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, family, life, strangers and I can go on and on about the ones we expect perfection from, but in the end, expectations aren't to be relied on. We always respond negatively, we become angry and then we make an attempt to control. We try to force our expectations to the point where we manipulate it.

My Current Favorite Makeup Products.

Hello again, lovies! As you can see from the title; today i'll be sharing with you my current favorite makeup products. Some are new finds and others are holy grail and thought i'd have to tell you guys! So, without further a do let's get into it!

--> Morphe 9B The Blushed Palette.

Literally, my go-to blush palette for clients and for myself. It has every blush colour you'll ever need, from a neutral to cool to warm shades. It contain 9 shades including both shimmer and mattes. Very blendable and not patchy in the slightest! Definitely a must have!

Top 5 Perfect Fall/Winter Lip Shades.

Hello again my lovies! In todays'  quick blog post i'll be sharing with you my top 5 lipstick shades for the fall and winter! What I chose includes a variety of shades from nudes to reds to dark chocolatey browns as these shades are definitely on trend this year! There's a mixture of affordable and higher end brands as well as different formulas.

So here are my top 5 picks ..

My Top 3 Must Have Eyeshadow Palettes.

Hey lovies! Today i'll be sharing with you my main 3 eyeshadow palettes that I can't live without! These palettes have everything I could ask for in an eyeshadow palette, from colour selection to texture to blendability.
Each palette is completely different from one another. You can find all 3 at Sephora and Ulta as they're more higher end brands. 
If you would like a post on my drugstore/affordable picks let me know in the comments! x

Let's start with my first and absolute favorite palette purchase! This palette is my HOLY GRAIL! And it's the Original Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette.
--> This retails for 49$

Darling, It's Just A Phase.

I know I know, I won't even start with the excuses cause I have none actually, but I guess I'm here now and felt like talking to you guys.

I'm currently at a point in life where my emotions are all over the place, it's like a broken compass trying to move north while the arrow is set south, it's the feeling of uncertainty and finding yourself lost in a dark forest trying to find an easy way out when knowing that you'll have to walk a million miles to reach your happy place ; the place of satisfaction, peace and fulfilment. I believe that no words can express what lies in a human beings' heart and soul, but then again we can't help but express our inner feelings and thoughts otherwise the human race will go bananas.

Here's what I came here to say ; darling, it's just a phase. Believe it or not, no matter how shitty your life is right now and you feel like nothing is going according to plan, THIS IS JUST A PHASE! I believe that in order to reach to your desired destination or your happy place you have to go through hardships and battles so you can appreciate the sunshine and rainbow at the end. These battles create a stronger version of who you are, it builds a tough canvas that can handle catastrophes and griefs. However, we can't help but let our sadness and grief to break us into fragments and let ourselves fall into a dark hole and accepting it ; but NO! NO ONE SHOULD ACCEPT IT!

I always say that after Allah, we have control over our lives. When you fall, you get the hell back up otherwise people will walk all over you and we don't want that, do we? 
I fall all the time, it's like the ground and myself are best friends now, BUT I stand up with my head held high and I walk on that floor with high heels not giving a crap about it clicking! 
I know that it's easier said than done, but we all gotta survive in this cruel cruel world while wearing our boxing gloves to punch every hardship up their nose making them bleed to death .. *Woaw there calm down Lama*

It's just a phase. Always know that. It won't last any longer if YOU let it!

Man it feels good to get things off my chest.

Since I'm back again, beauty and makeup posts are coming your way InshAllah. Let me know exactly what you want to see from me and i'll gladly do it.
Feel free to follow me on all my social media aaaaaand that's it!

See you soon my lovies x 
-Elle H.

Makeup Collection: Primers, Foundations & Concealers + Reviews.

Hello lovies!<3 As requested from one of my dearest friends her name is Rowan Medhat, she has a Youtube channel and does great entertainment videos so check her out!

So, I decided to start a new series on my blog which is my '' Makeup Collection " 

This will be split into parts depending on each category of makeup products and i'll be posting them every now and then. Also I'll be giving by opinion on each and every product and mentioning my favs and hates.

PS: As every blogger/youtuber doing these kinds of things, there has to be disclaimer which is I'm not bragging nor showing off my makeup, just trying to help all of you makeup lovers and giving you recommendations on what to buy and what not to buy (all in my honest opinion ofcourse) 

So let's get started!

PRIMERS:

If you don't know what a primer is, it's basically what you apply underneath face makeup and each primer has it's own purpose. 

For example: -Making makeup last

-Smoothing out the face

-Preventing oils from coming onto the surface of the skin

-Hydrating dry skin

-Giving a glowy and dewy appearance underneath foundations

-Pore filling

And so on .. To choose the right primer you have know your skin first and what it needs. If you have oily skin choose a mattifying primer, if you dry skin choose a hydrating primer or something with a glowy finish, if you have large pores get a pore filling primer etc..

With primers I feel like it's essential overall in making your makeup look 10 times better! 

Here are the ones I currently own and my opinion on each one:

From left to right: -Nivea Men After Shave Balm in Sensitive (I took the label off): Before coming to the conclusion that I'm a complete psycho for using an AFTER SHAVE as a primer here's the gist: This was originally started by the famous "Nikkie Tutorials" on Youtube who tried this and got blown away by how her makeup applied so smoothly and lasted like any other expensive primer! What makes it the perfect primer is that the second most used ingredient is Glycerin which makes things stick on to it! Which means that makeup can stick on to this primer and make it last all day long! So head to any nearby pharmacy and get this hidden gem and save yourself some money.

-ELF Mineral Infused Face Primer: This is one of my favorite inexpensive smoothing primers, it has a soft silicon texture that will smooth any fine lines and bumpiness of any acne that you might have. It will make your makeup last for fairly a few hours but if you want the extra push then use the primer I've mentioned before or set your makeup with setting spray.

-ELF Illuminating Face Primer: Now out of the bunch, this is not my favorite. Essentially, this is an illuminating primer which will give you a glowy look to your skin, but what I dislike about this is that it has specks of gold glitter which just gives the most unflattering look to the skin. It's chunky and just looks unnatural so I would definitely skip this one.

-Bourjois Happy Light Luminous Serum Primer: This is my favorite hydrating primer for when I have drier skin. It's my second bottle and I'm almost out but i'll surely be repurchasing it soon!

-The Body Shop InstaBlur and The Benefit Cosmetics Porefessional Primer: These 2 primers are pore filling and I love them both equally! The body shop one is less expensive and it's a complete dupe for the benefit porefessional. They both have a thick silicon texture and the perfect way to apply them is to press it into the skin right on the areas where you have large pores.

FOUNDATIONS:

-Maybelline Fit Me Foundation Sticks, shades Coconut & Classic Ivory: My favorite product for cream contouring! I've never actually used it as an actual foundation but I can assure you it's perfect for cream contouring as it's so blendable and creamy.

-Loreal True Match: This was my very first foundation purchase and it's one of my hoily grail foundations! I haven't used it in a very long time just because I like to test out other foundations but it's one of those products that I would recommend to anyone in a heartbeat! It has a satin finish (not too matte not too dewy) and just sits beautifully on the skin and gives a natural finish even though it has medium coverage building up to full!

-Bourjois Happy Light Luminous Foundation: Now this is a product where I can't fully say it I love it or not. Positives: It has a dewy finish so its perfect for normal to dry skin, it blends so well and has medium coverage. Negatives: Doesn't blend well with a brush, will oxidize over any primer except it's matching one!

-Loreal Infallible Stay Fresh Foundations, shades 120 and 200: My current favorite and most used foundation! I use it whenever I feel like having foundation on or any special occasion. It has a satin border line dewy finish and gives medium coverage when blending with a beauty sponge or full coverage when using a brush! It lasts a pretty long time and looks great in photos.

-GOSH X-Ceptional Wear Foundation: Well, all I can say about this foundation is that it's not my shade, at all! It's waaaay too pink for my skin tone and I just never used it unfortunately.

CONCEALERS:

Starting of with my current OBSESSION, the LA Girl Pro Concealers. I own the 3 corrector shades (orange, green and yellow) as well as the shades natural, pure beige and beautiful bronze. The formula of this concealer is to die for! It's super creamy and blends like a dream! It covers under eye circles, acne, acne scars and any imperfections on the skin. It doesn't crease if you set it with powder and it's the perfect concealer for the baking technique. The dark shade can be used for contouring but a trick I do is I mix it with foundation to custom match different skin tones whenever I do makeup on clients! And a huge bonus, it's super affordable!!

-Mavalia Concealer by Mavala Switzerland: This is a pretty good concealer for blemishes and pimples, it sets down matte so it would be quite dry to use under the eyes. I used to use it a lot whenever I had breakouts and I would still recommend it to people who suffer with acne and acne scarring. 

-NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer, shade Honey: From the name, this is a creamy concealer that has the same creaminess as the Maybelline fit me concealers (which we'll get to next). The shade I have has a peachy tone so it's great for colour correcting the under eyes if you have a bit of darkness and blue tones, but if you have extreme darkness then use the la girl orange concealer! Definitely want to buy more shades in the near future!

Here comes my holy grail concealer the Maybelline Fit Me (shades 10 & 20) Won't talk too much about them, I will always keep repurchasing it!
A new favorite Maybelline concealer as well is the Instant Age Rewind shade Light, I have nothing bad or negative to say about it, it's just as amazing as the fit me concealers!

Here's an overview of everything I talked about.

This is everything! I hope you found this post to be helpful! Thank you so much for reading, don't forget to follow me on all my social media to be updated! And i'll see you soon in my next blog post! - EE x

Makeup Tutorial: Easy Pop Of Blue Spring Look.

Hello lovies!<3 So today I have a spring look for you all! I wanted to keep it fairly simple and wearable but still have a pop of colour, so this is the look I came up with. It's fresh, no contouring and very easy to re-create! So hope you enjoy x

Let's get started!

EYES:

Ofcourse, starting with a primed base, we're going to set the base with a bit of powder, as we won't have any colour on the lids just the winged liner.

Then, with a small fluffy brush blend a medium brown eyeshadow into the crease.

Using tape as a guide, draw a line to start creating the wing.

Drag the liner to the upper lash line and connect the wing to the line on the upper lash line.

Using a bright blue pencil liner, line the lower waterline and lower lash line.

FACE:

After applying your face primer, conceal your under eyes with a brightening concealer and highlight the forehead, cupid's bow and chin.

Blend using a beauty sponge for a natural finish.

-If you're using foundation, apply it first before the concealer.

Set the concealer with any loose powder.

Using any highlighter, highlight the tops of the cheekbones.

Use a shimmery peachy blusher as your blush to create a glowy look.

Back to the eyes: Using a clean pencil brush, smudge the blue pencil on the lower lash line to diffuse the colour and create a nice gradient effect.
Apply 2 coats of your fav mascara. (false lashes are optional)

And these are the eyes DONE!

LIPS:

Line your lips with a neutral brown shade and apply a nude gloss on top.

Here's the finished look!

PRODUCTS USED:

-Elf mineral infused face primer.
-LA girl pro conceal, shade: natural.
-Ben Nye banana powder.

-Lorac Unzipped Gold palette, shades: Undressed and Undeniable.

-Mac Painterly paint pot.

-Jordana Easyliner retractable pencil, shade: bliss.

-Maybelline master precise liquid liner.

-Maybelline falsies mascara.

-Benefit Sugarbomb boxed blush.

-Colourpop Super Shock Cheek, shade: Smokin' Whistles.

-NYX butter gloss, shade: creme brule.

-MAC lip liner, shade: soar.

-All brushes and sponge are from BH cosmetics.

-Sephora Eyelash Curler.

And that's it! Easy right? Well, I hope this inspired you somehow and helped you out. Anyways, thank you so much for reading! Don't forget to follow on my social media. See you next time. -EEx

Makeup Tutorial: All Matte Eyes And Purple Lips.

Something I've been obsessed with lately is an all matte eye and matte lips, so today i'll be showing you how to create this look which consists of a matte lilac on the lids paired with matte browns and a sharp winged eyeliner combined with a bright purple liquid lipstick. So here we go.

EYES.

Starting with a primed base, grab a fluffy brush and a soft light brown eye shadow, we'll start to blend it into the crease as a transition shade. Then slowly we'll deepen up the crease with a medium brown eye shadow.

Using a light lilac shade, pat it onto the eyelids using a flat eye shadow brush.

With a dark chocolate brown, we're gonna apply it into the crease all the way into the inner part of the eye using a pencil brush and then blend. Keep adding colour and blending until reaching the desired darkness.

Add more of that lilac shade to further intensify the colour.

BLEND BLEND BLEND.

For the wing, start with a line in the outer corner using the tape as a guide.

Drag the line to the middle of the upper lash line.

Continue drawing a thin line to the inner upper lash line. And remove the tape.

FACE.

After a primed face, use a highlighting concealer under the eyes, forehead, cupids bow and chin. You can use foundation before this step, but I decided to skip it.

Blend the concealer with a beauty sponge.

With any loose powder, bake the areas where you applied concealer. Baking is where you add a hefty amount of powder on the places where you have concealer and leaving it for a couple of minutes. This will prevent your concealer from creasing and creating an airbrushed look.

While I leave my concealer to bake, I used a dark stick foundation to cream contour the cheekbones, temples and jawline. And blended using the same sponge.

To set the cream contour, use an angled brush and a cool brown contour powder to further contour and set the cream.

Oh and I filled in my eyebrows!

With a big fluffy brush, dust off the excess loose powder! Apply a peachy blush and don't forget the highlight!

BACK TO THE EYES.

Line the waterline with a black pencil and using an angled brush and the same medium brown eye shadow we used in the eyes, line the lower lash line.
Apply 2 coats of mascara. False lashes are optional.

LIPS.

Any lip colour will go with this look, but I decided to switch things up a bit and use a bright purple liquid lipstick.

Look is complete!

 Products Used.

-All tools are from BH cosmetics, except for the Body Shop Angled Eyebrow Brush.

-Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette.
-Tarte Energy Noir Palette.

 -BH Cosmetics Carli Bybel Palette. ( The second highlight shade as my highlighter )

 -Kat Von D Contour Palette. (The first contour shade)

-Ben Nye Banana Powder. (for baking)

-Mac Painterly Paint Pot.

-Benefit Porefessional Face Primer.

-Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer, shade: Light.

-Maybelline Fit Me Foundation Stick, shade: Coconut.

 -Benefit Roller Lash Mascara.
-Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner.
-Colour Pop Gel Pencil Liner, shade: Swerve.

-NYX Powder Blush, shade: Terracota.

-Colour Pop Liquid Matte Lip, shade: Zipper.

-Mac Fix+

Hope you enjoyed this post and hope it helped you in some way or another. Don't forget to follow me on all my social media. Aaaaand i'll see you in my next post!
-EE x