Beauty

My Go To Makeup: Brown Smokey Eye..

11:10

Every girl has a go to makeup look; It's that combination of eyeshadows paired with that certain lipstick, that she just knows works and takes no longer than 5 minutes to do. 
Mine is a subtly brown smokey eye, its probably the only look I wear on a night out because it works with pretty much every outfit. I do chop and change, but when in doubt this is what I go for. 


 This look is so easy and can be recreated using pretty much any eyeshadow palette as it only requires two matte brown shades and a highlight colour for your brow bone. This time round I used the Limited Edition Bobbi Brown Rich Chocolate palette which I have been absolutely loving at the moment. For liner I used the the Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner,  which is a great product for those of you who aren't completely comfortable with liquid liner yet, as the felt-tip end is really sturdy giving you slightly more control. 

 The trick to a good smokey eye is to keep everything else really simple. Your base should be flawless without being cakey and your blush or bronzer should be subtle, but still giving your face that lift and glow. Stick to a lip balm with a hint of colour and you're golden! 

 Lara x 

Acne

Acne: Story So Far..

08:23

Having suffered with acne for about three years now, my skin is never something I like talking about, let alone writing about it on the internet and including a picture of myself with no makeup on, but like they say there's a first time for everything. 

Before I hit the age of sixteen I had lovely clear skin, not a blackhead, scar or spot in site. However that summer my skin had a bit of a meltdown and decided now was the time for me to get acne (couldn't think of a worse time in my life if I tried). For a while I didn't really treat my acne, all I did was buy every face wash and scrub available on the high street that was geared towards spot prone skin, but none of those were helping, if anything they made matters worse. 

I then went to my local GP and got put on antibiotics, which I took for about a year and a half I think, but those didn't really do the trick either; it wasn't getting any better, and by this point my acne had spread to my cheek and chin area, were as before it was just confined to my T-Zone. 

Unfortunately I don't have any bare faced pictures of myself from when my acne was at its worst because as you can imagine, makeup was my best friend and the camera... was not! What I can offer you however is a picture of myself now. 

                                                                        An unedited, bare-faced, HD picture of myself taken straight after my workout! 


After having taken Trimethoprim (Click here to read my in depth blog post all about it) for 10 months, this is how my skin looks now. 

While on Trimethoprim my skin was beautiful, it was spot and blackhead free; my facialist was extremely impressed! But I couldn't be on medication for the rest of my life, so in June, my dermatologist and I decided that it was time for me to come off it. My skin stayed clear for a few weeks once I had finished my course, but while in Mallorca I noticed I was starting to get a few spots here and there, it was a bit disheartening, but I knew this would happen anyway. 

As you can see from the picture above I don't have any big red nasty spots on my face; the only red spots that you can see are actually scars, and I get those whether I pop a spot or not. Besides the scars all I have are a few little bumps on my forehead and on the side of my nose, and considering I haven't been on medication for three months now, thats actually pretty good going.

I would highly recommend Trimethoprim to anyone with acne who is a bit afraid to try Accutane. You may still get a few spots when you come off it, but the same can be said for Accutane, and the possible side effects of Accutane just did not seem worth the risk to me. 

Now I'm on the hunt for really good skin care that will keep my skin in the condition it's in now or better yet, clear it up even more. It's going to take time and a lot of trial and error, but its important to me that I only use whats best for my skin. 

To any of you suffering with acne all I'll say is, keep your head up and don't let it knock your confidence too much. The people that mean the most to you and are true friends, really won't care that you have a few spots on your face, and those who do aren't worth your time. Have patience, do your research and enjoy your life! 

Lara x