in:  beauty,budget,Get The Look   |   October 18, 2014 - 10:34 pm   |  by:  Alysha Yates

Sleek MakeUp Launches New Collection

When it comes to make up palettes, Sleek is definitely my number one go to for sparkling sultry greatness. So when I heard they were launching a new range of beauty products, I was literally counting down the days until I went to the Sleek MakeUp Launch Party and finally had their new products in my hands.

And it was well worth the wait!

While I was there, I discovered three new beautiful palates that I know you won’t want to miss out on.

 

Precious Metal £9.99

Precious Metal is gold, glossy and all round good.  The colours are rich and shimmery so it promises you a radiant glow. It’s creamy dewy texture makes it easy to use for blending, so easy that if you wanted you could probably apply it with your fingers. Use Precious metal to highlight your face, lifting your cheek bones for more of a defined contoured look. This is also a multi-functioning palette, which means you get your money’s worth, using it as either eyeshadow or for a nice glistening shine on top of a bronzer.

In addition to the collection, Sleek have two brand new Eye and Cheek palates that are travel size so you can bring them with you everywhere. It’s really easy to open and close because of it’s snap shut magnetic mechanism, and it comes with a mirror and brush. Colours in these compacts also have a high pigment which makes them long lasting.

See You At Midnight £9.99

 

With inspiration from Sleek’s Romance i-Divine Palette, See You At Midnight has a range of deep purple tones and an option of either gold or brown suitable for all skin tones. Equipped with four eyeshadow shades and two intense blush colours, I would say this palate would be fantastic for an iridescent evening look.

Dancing Till Dusk £9.99 

These shades were influenced by Sleek’s Au-Naturel i-Divine palette and also have a mix of eyeshadow and blusher. Dancing Till Dusk includes browns and golds which work great for cheek and eye definition. Both coral and pink blushes are bold and bursting with colour, which work well for a fun and flirty look. I’d recommend using this palate for a cheeky night on the town.

As well as those, Sleek have a new range of lipgloss “Gloss Me” colours to try out – all of them luscious and totally wearable. Sarah Jane Crawford who hosted Sleek MakeUp’s launch tested and wore a gloss with red tones and looked amazing.

Along side the make-up, Sleek also have a new collection of “Sleek Loves Gel Nails” varnish available. I tried this out and the colours provide complete coverage and give you a silky smooth finish. My favourite was this beaut up in the forefront called Purplesque.

As all the glam goodies made their debut, Sleek gave us a fashion show in which  the new collection was used and put to the test. Here’s some looks from the show.

Gorgeous right?

 

Try them out and let us know what you think!

Tweet us @livelikeavip or find us on Instagram LiveLikeAVIP

 

 

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in:  beauty,budget,Get The Look,glamour   |   October 14, 2014 - 3:44 pm   |  by:  Alysha Yates

VIP Beauty: False Eyelashes Guide

From a sneaky subtle fill-in to a full on fierce dramatic look, there are always a pair of false eyelashes that can transform your own into flutter perfection.

Wearing false eyelashes is one of the best ways to frame your eyes opening them up. Falsies are amazing when they’re matched with all types of eye make up and are a great way to spruce up your look, adding a certain sparkle to your eyes.

A great set of lashes can go a long way and can appear quite natural if you wear the right pair. Here’s my break down of the best ones that’ll keep you batting those lids non-stop just because you look great doing it.

Ardell No. 109 Demi Black, £3.99

For those who prefer something natural and just want to fill the bare spaces in your lash line, choose Ardell’s No.109 natural lash falsie. Ardell is a great brand to buy because all their lashes are made from sterilized human hair so they look and feel completely natural. This pair will make your lashes look fuller and thicker and add a subtle pop to your look. They’re also great for everyday wear because they’re not too long and therefore don’t come off as big and dramatic. Grab a pair of these if you want Megan Fox’s look.

Red Cherry No.43, £2.99

 

If you want long, natural and wispy then go for Red Cherry’s luxurious No.3. These lashes are fairly long and full with wispy ends. They give off a semi-dramatic look because they start off slightly thick then branch off thinly and so they appear quite natural. They also have a clear base strip and a natural pattern at the ends, which again make them look more real. These are great for everyday wear and have enough drama for at night out. Go for Red Cherry if you want lashes like Kylie Jenner.

Eyelure Katy Perry Lashes Punk Princess, £5.95

This pair is bold and beautiful. From Katy’s Perry’s very own collection of Eyelure eyelashes comes drama and sass. Eyelure provides great quality eyelashes that last long so you can get away with reusing them a couple of times.  These Punk Princess lashes give you lots of volume at the base and then thinly spring out much like Red Cherry’s No.43, but are sure to give you much more in terms of thickness. Again, because of the wispy ends they tend to appear more natural than other dramatic lashes but they still give you the thick bold look you would normally go for on a night out. If Beyonce’s lashes make you blink twice, get this similar pair.

Try these out and let us know which one you like the most

Tweet us @livelikeavip or find us on Instagram LiveLikeAVIP

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in:  beauty,budget,Get The Look   |   October 10, 2014 - 7:25 am   |  by:  Alysha Yates

VIP Beauty: Berry Lips By MAC

Lips made from the deepest merlot red wine and a pout that’s dark and dangerous. Vamped up lips are back to give your look some bite this autumn.

From intense plum hues to blushing berry reds, our celebs are wearing splashes of colour from every dark fruit in their basket.

Vanessa Hudgens tries out a burgundy matte finish and looks to-die-for. The rich colour compliments her skin tone so well and makes for a great contrast to her blonde ends. Rihanna’s lips are purple and powerful and the deep plum colour really accentuates the shape of her lips. Cara Delevingne stains her lips with a red wine satin finish and looks ever so stylish and elegant.

All three lip styles are bang on trend and you can try them out, so go ahead and discover your dark side with MAC cosmetics. MAC offers an overwhelming, endless range of lipsticks to transform your lips into pout perfection, but I’ve handpicked the best looks for this season.

DIVA

Diva is a dark, sexy red tone that gives your lips that extra plump and looks great combined with a smoky eye. It provides a matte finish but it’s still quite creamy so it won’t dry out your lips. Wear this burgundy beauty with MAC Nightmoth lip liner.

CYBER

If you like edge and a lot of it then you must purchase Cyber. It’s a dark and daring blackish-bruised grape tone with a satin finish. With this lipstick, keep the rest of your make up toned down and simple because a splash of cyber is honestly all you’ll need. Match your perfect purple pout with MAC Vino lip liner.

HANG-UP

 

For a juicy berry stain pick Hang-Up. It’s a reddish plum colour like Diva but has more pinkish tones. This sultry shade has a cremesheen finish which gives it more of a shine than satin would. Cover your lips with this ripe cranberry red and finish it off with MAC Nightmoth lip liner.

LINGERING KISS          

                                                                                                                              

Part of MAC’s recent A Novel Romance collection, Lingering Kiss is a deep blackened plum shade. It can be described as a mix of all of the above. Lingering Kiss is plum red like Diva and it shares Cyber’s wine-like tone, but it’s not as dark and deadly.  It has hints of Hang-Up’s red hue and gives off a matte finish. Use this unique tone with MAC Currant lip liner.

Try them out and let us know which one’s your favourite!

Tweet us @livelikeavip or find us on Instagram LiveLikeAVIP

 

 

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in:  beauty,budget,Get The Look   |   September 30, 2014 - 2:52 pm   |  by:  Alysha Yates

Get The Look: Balmain Ponytail

It’s sleek, it’s sexy and it’s so hot right now. Since Kendall Jenner showed up alongside a Balmain army at the Vogue Foundation Gala during Paris Fashion Week, her center parted do hasn’t seemed to have left.

The dark-haired beauty has walked in many shows this season sporting many different looks, but her hair has stayed still slicked back without a strand out of place.

Iconic supermodel legends, Iman, Naiomi and popstar royalty Rihanna also featured in a stunning Balmain spread for W magazine, with all three beauty’s donning a similar silky centered parted hairstyle. Their whole looks scream sleek, strong, edgy and ready for Balmain domination.

And it seems as if our celebs just can’t say no to the new trend at hand.

Ciara (top right) showed up at Paris Fashion week with a Balmain inspired ponytail falling down her back. Even Kim Kardashian couldn’t resist the center-parted pony that her sister brought back this autumn. Jessie J also followed the Balmain trend with a tight all back, wearing it well.

There’s no doubt that this timeless hair do is here to stay. It gives off a sophisticated and polished vibe because it’s such a simple style. Drawing your hair back in a sleek low pony also helps to highlight your face structure, putting your cheekbones and jaw line on show.

This look is extremely easy and quick to achieve. Just get that hair super straight and trust me, you’ll be Balmain ready in less than 5.

(1)  Use a tail comb and give yourself a center parting.

(2)  Get some gel and a soft bristle brush and smooth your hair back. I would advise VO5’s Styling Gel Mega Hold in order to get that super slicked, sleek look.

(3)  With your hands, smooth your hair back into a low ponytail holding it tight.

(4)  Keep one hand clasped around the ponytail and use the other hand to take out a medium sized piece of your hair from the bottom of the pony.

(5)  Use this piece to wrap fully around the pony keeping it tight.

(6)  Secure your pony with a bobbing pin.

Get the look and tell us what you think! Tweet us @livelikeavip or find us on Instagram LiveLikeAVIP

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in:  budget,Get The Look   |   September 26, 2014 - 12:32 pm   |  by:  Alysha Yates

VIP Beauty: How To Do Negative Space Manis

Say goodbye to blocks of colour on your fingertips, and hello to hands full of nude half moons. Right now it’s all about having negative space on your nail beds accompanied by a splash of colour – your choice!

Jessie J’s nails look sleek nude, tipped with black and topped with golden crowns.

Nicole Scherzinger’s fierce fingernails mix negative space crescents with blocks of colour and they look hot both black and red.

It seems as if celebs have gotten their inspiration from the nail trends at Fashion Week.

Charlotte Rosson’s collection at New York Fashion Week featured chilling mint green negative space nails, that were eye catching and elegant. Slits of nude space were also used to divide up two tones of autumn oranges.

And the negative space continued in Misha No-noo’s collection with icy white nails beds, and pencil thin dashes of naked space in a line directly through the centre.

This new nail trend has certainly caught our attention. The negative space creates the illusion that the nail polish is floating on top of a nude nail bed. It also breaks up the nail making it appear longer and therefore more elegant. It’s definitely stylish and a trend we have to try out!

Here’s how you do it.

(1) Paint your nails with a clear basecoat. I would recommend OPI Start To Finish because it’s long lasting and acts as both a base and topcoat, so you’re getting double your money’s worth.

(2) Using tape, cut out a stencil of a half moon crescent shape (the shape of the stencil can change depending on what type of negative space you’re going for). Then stick the stencil wherever you would like the negative space to be on your nail bed.

(3) Choose a nail polish. I recommend OPI Sweetheart to stay on trend with nude fingertips. Paint your nail with polish above and below the stencil and wait until the polish is dry to peel it off.

(4) Give your nails a last shiny coat with OPI Start To Finish.

Try it out and tell us what you think! Tweet @livelikeavip

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in:  beauty,budget,Get The Look   |   September 25, 2014 - 6:03 pm   |  by:  Zoe Griffin

VIP Beauty: Union J Launch New Scent

Pop band Union J have released a fragrance….for the ladies! The X Factor runners-up have picked their favourite smells for this scent, Amaze Me, which means that if you wear it in their presence you need to watch out.

They seemed to enjoy spraying  it on to me at the launch party. By the time we’d finished taking photos, I was covered in it. Cheeky boys!

Amaze Me is a good title for the scent as I was pretty amazed by how nice it was. I mean, you don’t expect something a boyband create to be that good for women. They told me it’s sweet and citrusy, with some plums and red berries in it. It’s white flower, powerdy musk… and lots of vanilla. I’m not sure if I could smell the fruit, but I definitely smelled the vanilla, which to me is no bad thing.

The perfume (or could it be the presence of the little cuties?) certainly attracted a lot of gorgeous celeb ladies to come and party. There was:

Former TOWIE star turned Tumble gymnast Lucy Mecklenburgh

Lizzie Cundy

Casey Batchelor and Luisa Zissman

The scent is available to buy now at Boots (£20)

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in:  beauty,budget,Get The Look   |   September 23, 2014 - 1:37 pm   |  by:  Alysha Yates

How To Contour Like Kim Kardashian

The Kardashian sisters raised their cheekbones high and their faces, sculpted instantly. Together they helped to introduce one of the most influencing make up techniques of all time.

 

I think we can all agree that when it comes to contouring, Kim Kardashian takes the crown.

 

Kim spilled the beans when she posted a candid selfie exposing her methods for make up success to the world. Around the globe celebs have been highlighting their faces in order to achieve the same flattering effect.

 

 

Doesn’t Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna look stunning all contoured and highlighted? This is because contour and highlighting helps to enhance the structure of your face by both pushing forward and drawing backward specific features. It slims your face with the use of light and dark tones to make parts of your face look smaller or bigger, as well as lifting your cheekbones and giving your jawline a bit more definition. The whole point is to create a triangle of light (like the one in the photo below) on your face so light is focused on your eyes, nose, lips and cheekbones.

 

Yes! The secret behind the magic has come out and contouring and highlighting is no longer a trick only known by celebs and top makeup artists. Now everyone can join in on the glam and you don’t need a big fancy makeup kit to do it.  You can purchase the super affordable Sleek MakeUp Face Contour Kit for just £6.49. Inside the kit you’ll find a lighter shade and a darker shade. You should purchase the kit that isn’t extremely far from your normal color, but is a few shades darker and lighter than your normal tone. Just choose from between the light, medium and dark shade kit and get to work with it.

Now here’s your how to.

(Use the photo below as a guide for areas to highlight or contour)

 

 

(1)Complete your face with foundation, as you normally would do.

It’s important that the following steps aren’t done too heavy otherwise you’ll end up looking more drag queen than beauty queen. Apply lightly and add more if needed after.

(2)To start highlighting your face, with a brush use the lighter shade of from the Face Contour Kit to fill in the area underneath your eyes, just underneath your eyebrows, along the T-zone (down your nose and across your forehead) of your face and just above your cupids bow on the top of your lips.

(3)To begin contouring your face, use a soft fluffy eye shadow brush applying the darker shade to the crease above your eyelid.

(4)Use an angled face small brush and apply the darker shade to the sides of your nose, following its original line. If you don’t follow your own nose line and apply it in a straight line, your nose will end up looking unrealistic.

(5)Use the same brush to apply the darker shade gliding it around the upper hairline, just under the hollow of your cheekbones back out and on your jaw line. Follow the motion of a 3.

(6)After this you may want to go in and apply some bronzer on in the same places as stated in the above step

(7)Now blend the sides of the shades together.

And there you have it. High cheek bones and a sculpted face.

Here’s my attempt. It works right?

 

Give it a try and let us know what you think!

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in:  budget,Get The Look   |   August 18, 2014 - 3:02 pm   |  by:  Zoe Griffin

VIP Beauty: We Test My Cosmetic Lenses

If you could have eyes like any celebrity, who would you chose? I’ve just learned that looking like Megan Fox is slightly more achievable, even for people who have eyes so dark brown they are almost black.

I dye my hair colour a lot, injecting various shades of auburn lowlights and lighter brown dip dye but I thought I was stuck with my eye colour. I look at girls on nights out and feel the green eyed monster at their gorgeous green eyes and it’s incredibly frustrating. That is, until a friend told me about My Cosmetic Lenses, which is used by Marnie Simpson from Geordie Shore. Marnie has dark brown eyes but they appear blue on TV due to these coloured contact lenses.

I gave it a go for 24 hours to see how they felt. I must say I was impressed by the initial results:

I may have used them for flirting purposes…

You could really see a difference in these before and after photos. I felt so much more exotic!

During the day, people did notice. I go to running club and some of the girls started looking at me funny. It wasn’t because I was out of breath and panting, because that’s normal, but because of the lenses. One of the girls came up to me to ask what I’d done.

Later on, catching the tube home I was asked by a group of boys if I was from the Caribbean and they said I was the most beautiful girl they’d seen all day. Awwwwww!

They felt very comfortable – not as scratchy as I’d expected – and it wasn’t until I was ready to go to bed and my eyes felt tired that I remembered I had the lenses in and that I needed to take them out and store them safely. In that sense, they’re just like regular contact lenses as they come with solution and storage containers so you can re-use them. I’m not surprised Marnie is never seen without her range.

Have you ever tried coloured contacts? If not, you are missing out! I’ll definitely be using them again. With contact lenses in Marnie’s range at £19.99, it’s a quick and cheap way to get the celeb look you’ve always dreamed of.

If you try them tweet us your pics @livelikeavip and we’ll RT. Good luck!

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in:  beauty,budget,Get The Look   |   March 5, 2014 - 8:53 pm   |  by:  Zoe Griffin

VIP Make-Up: Bourjois Velvet Lipstick And New Mascara

I am a guest blogger for the fabulous online retailer Very.co.uk and they recently sent me on one of my favourite assignments so far this year. I got to test out brand new Bourjois make-up – lipsticks, nail varnishes and mascaras – before anyone else.

The velvet lipsticks rocked my world the most as I have never tried anything like them. Please read my post on the Very blog to find out why.

In the meantime, here are some photos from the night. If you read my blog post it will put everything into context.

 

You can buy these lipsticks at Very.co.uk in April. Very is a good place to buy them as they’ll be selling two shades that you can’t get anywhere else.

OR you could sign up to  the VIP list at Boots.com, which means you get to shop the range before anyone else and get the products before your friends -totes VIP!

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in:  budget,Get The Look   |   February 19, 2014 - 8:56 am   |  by:  Amanda Browning

How to Get Zooey Deschanel’s Loose Curls

Zooey Deschanel is probably my ultimate girl crush and ever since the Emmys I have been obsessed with the big, loose curls that she was rocking on the red carpet which thus resulted in my beauty mission to recreate these curls with a little help from BaByliss.

 

 

First thing’s first, when opting for a curling tong, it’s important to look at the barrel size as the larger the barrel, the looser the curl.  So, with that in mind, I went for a pretty large-barrelled curling tong by BaByliss.  Now normally when I curl my hair, I tend to use my GHD’s and if I’m honest it’s been a while since I ventured into curling tong territory.  That doesn’t meant to say that I ever had an issue with the finished-look of my hair after using curling tongs but more to do with the fact that due to my clumsy nature, I would often end up burning myself (either on my scalp, hands or fingers which is not a great look and at times can be pretty damn painful!).  However, it’s been a couple of years and I figured that I should let bygones be bygones and reattempt to forge some kind of professional working relationship with a pair of curling tongs.

 

 

So, which curling tongs won me over?  Well, after a lot of research…………..and I mean the kind of research where I was up until one in the morning desperately reading through reviews and watching tutorials on YouTube, I made my alliance with BaByliss 2289U Volume Waves Tong.  At £20 it seemed pretty reasonable plus it had five different temperature settings, a titanium ceramic barrel and its barrel size was 38mm – it was kind of perfect for what I wanted.

 

 

When creating loose curls in the past I’ve used hair rollers but never quite achieved the look which I’ve so desperately desired- plus the curls never really held for very long even if I used a heap of hairspray!  So, here’s what I did when attempting my Zooey Deschanel-inspired loosed curls:

1. I washed my hair using Aussie’s Aussome Volume Shampoo followed by Aussie’s 3 Minute Miracle Shine.

 

 

2. I put some of Trevor Sorbie’s Invisible Hold Mousse through my wet hair along with a couple of squirts of Organix’s Moroccan Argan Oil Spray (but only on the ends of my hair!).

 

 

3. I then rough dried my hair with a hair dryer and left it to dry naturally as this tends to give hair more volume when styling it than if you blow dry it or straighten it before curling.

4. Once it was dry, I sectioned my hair and began using the curling tongs which were incredibly easy to use.  You simply open up the clamp and wrap your hair around the tong’s barrel and release the clamp to hold your hair in place for a few seconds (the amount of time depends on the thickness of your hair) and then open up the clamp and release your hair and boom – one glamorous loose curl!

 

 

5. I then finished off with a spritz of Trevor Sorbie’s Firm Hold Hairspray which is nice and light and holds your hair in place perfectly which stops those curls from dropping.  It was that simple and that easy.  It probably took me about half an hour in total to do this hairstyle which isn’t too bad and I found it quite relaxing as I was listening to music at the same time.  The curls were exactly what I wanted and lasted all day thanks to the mousse and hairspray.  The only downside was that I did burn my finger on the tongs but that was because I was talking to someone at the time and not really concentrating so I have most definitely learnt my lesson and will no longer multitask when using curling tongs because someone (i.e. me) will always get hurt!

 

 

So, there you have it – an easy way to achieve Zooey Deschanel’s stunning Emmys curls, I will most definitely be throwing this hairstyle out there next time I go out with the girls!

Do you like loose curls?  Got any other tips on how to get this look? Let us know by leaving a comment!

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