Fitness Fridays: The beginning

Hello!!   Today is the first in my new little series, Fitness Fridays. I mentioned in my new year's resolutions post that I wanted to compete in a sporting event this year and so I have signed up to do Total Warrior. I'm hoping this will be really fun but after having a little browse at the pictures of the obstacles on there site I'm slightly terrified. I am definitely not fit enough!   I'm going to use this series to share my progress up until the event, I thought it would help me stay on track. Keep checking back each week for exercise ideas, healthy recipes and to see whether or not I'm going to end up laying face down in the mud! Wish me luck!

Winter Favourites

Hello!!   It's time for the seasonal round up of all my favourite things again. I'm hoping that Winter is just about over now and we can all start looking forward to Spring and Summer. I'm definitely ready for a bit of warmth!  

  I've found a few hair care gems over the past few months that have led to a lot of hair related compliments, even after a day or two too long without washing. The first is the Tangle Teezer. These have been around for ages but this is my first one and I honestly don't know how I've managed so long without one. I have quite thick hair that often got quite knotty after washing it. The tangle teezer stops all of this and manages gently glide through the hair without damaging it.   The v05 miracle illuminator heat defence is brilliant. Lilly Pebbles had mentioned this a few times and when my old heat protector ran out I decided to give this a go. I thought it might leave my hair feeling greasy but it doesn't at all and just makes my hair feel really soft and smooth. I always think it's hard to tell if heat protectors are really doing any good but I love the way it makes my hair feel so I'm more than happy.   The Charles Worthington texturising spray has been raved about quite a bit in the blogger world and celebrated as a much more affordable version or the Oribe dry texturising spray. I couldn't bring myself to pay for that one so I've no idea how they compare but I absolutely love the texture this gives to my hair.  

It's no secret that I love the Real Techniques make up brushes, I rave about them all the time. Over Christmas time I treat myself to the Nic's pics set. The Duo-fibre face brush has fast become a favourite of mine. It's perfect for blush as it blends beautifully and picks up just enough colour to give a lovely wash of colour.   I mentioned the Maybelline colour drama in the colour light it up in my last post. I absolutely love everything about this. I even love that it smells like a real crayon. As we start to move into Spring I might not wear this quite as often but will definitely be trying out some of the other shades.   The Maybelline brow satin in the colour dark blond is what I've been using on my brows recently. I was using the Soap and Glory Archery but prefer the colour of this one. It has a pencil on one end and powder on the other. I haven't used the powder too much but love the pencil side.  

The Elemis skin nourishing range is one of my favourite smells ever. I've tried the milk bath before and loved it but I have showers more than baths so the shower cream is perfect for me. You can smell it on your all day and it leaves the skin feeling really nice and soft.   The lovely Tanya Burr brought her book 'Love Tanya' out recently and I couldn't wait to pick it up and have a look. I think she's absolutely gorgeous and new from the sneak peaks she's put on instagram that the pictures were going to be stunning. It hasn't disappointed. I think this is a brilliant coffee table book as you can just pick pages at random and have a little read rather that going from start to finish. Well done Tanya!   I hope you enjoyed today's post. I enjoy putting these ones together. Keep checking back for more.

Seeing red

Hello!   Any one who knows me knows that I love my lipstick and see no problem with rocking a red lip to every occasion, day or night. I think a lot of people shy away from reds and I understand it can look quite full on but I just love the look and think it makes you look like you've made an effort when you really haven't. Today I thought I'd give you the low down on all the reds so it doesn't seem so scary any more.  

The ones for beginners

If your just starting to dip your toes into the red lipstick sea then it's best to start with something a little more sheer. For me the easiest way to do this is with a gloss or tinted lip balm. I personally like the Tanya Burr lip gloss in Vampire kiss as it goes on quite sheer to start with but can be built up to a stronger colour. The Revlon lip butters are a huge favourite of mine in general and the colour candy apple is a lovely shade of red. This is a hybrid between a tinted lip balm and a lipstick and I absolutely love it. Again, can be quite sheer but can be built up to a deeper red.

The ones for precision

 

Lipsticks that you can shove on, on the go, without a mirror are great but sadly they don't often come in reds so anything that helps with precision is great. Using a lip liner like the Rimmel exaggerate in Red Diva is great for lining the lips and then its just a case of filling in the gaps. Lipstick crayons are brilliant too, I love the Maybelline colour drama in light it up for this. It's a lovely consistency and colour and is so easy to apply because of the shape.

 

The ones that won't budge

There is nothing worse than putting your red lippy on in the morning and then looking in the mirror later to find it smudged on random parts of your face (I'm talking nose, cheeks the lot!) You definitely want something long lasting. I love the Rimmel Apocalypse in the colour Big Bang for this. Be warned, this is a full on bright red, but the doe foot applicator means its really easy to apply and once it's set it will not move! The Mac lipstick in Ruby Woo is another that likes to stick around. Both of these can be a little bit drying so I would recommend popping a little bit of lip balm underneath first.

The bold ones

If your feeling brave then you have to go bold! For me this is going for something a little bit different on the colour spectrum. I love the Revlon super lustrous lipstick in the colour fire and ice as it's a gorgeous bright red with a really warm orangey undertone. It is full on but looks really nice on the lips. I also love the Revlon lasting finish by Kate lipstick in 01 as it's a little bit darker and more vampy. This is great for a night out as it's really sophisticated and glamorous.

 

So there we are. I hope you enjoyed this post. As you can see from the amount of red lipsticks I own that I really do love them. I hope this helped some of you out, I hope to see a lot more red lipstick going out and about from now on!



Valentines make up look

        Hello!   It's nearly time for the most Marmite of all the holidays, valentines day. Me and the boyfriend have never been very big fans but I do love an excuse get a bit girly and wear some very pretty and feminine makeup. I thought I'd share what I'll be wearing just in case I get unexpectedly swept off my feet...      

 
I kept my skin light and glowy (as I always do ha) by using my YSL touch eclait foundation. I also used my Maxfactor CC corrector stick under my eyes to get rid of any dark circles and then went over this with the the Rimmel wake me up concealer to make my eyes look nice and bright.    

  I wanted to keep my eyes quite simple but with a little bit of sparkle so I used my Loreal la palette nude as this has some nice peachy shades and a mixture of shimmers and mattes. Unfortunately the colours aren't named but I used one of the peachy shades all over the lid with a medium brown through the crease and outer corner. I smudged the darkest brown along the lash line as thought liner would be a little but harsh for this look. I curled my lashes and applied a few coats of the Bare minerals lash domination mascara. Looking at the pictures I actually think some falsies would have looked nice, I would probably have gone with the Tanya Burr every day flutter lashes. I used my Soap and Glory Archery pencil on my brows, not a lot to say about these though as they are safely hiden away under my massive fringe.  

I used the Benefit Coralista blush from the Go Tropical palette. This blush gives a really nice warmth to the skin and has just enough shimmer. I haven't used the high beam or cha cha tine in this look but I really like both of these too. When it comes to valentines day I think it's best to keep lips simple. Most men I know aren't big fans of heavy lipstick and if your planning on having a few cheeky valentines kisses it can be a bit of an issue. I decided to go for the Loreal rouge caresse in the shade lovely rose. This is really hassle free as it's more like a tinted lip balm, the colour's really pretty too.   So there you go. I hope you all enjoyed today's post and have a lovely valentines day whatever your plans are. I have quite a lot of makeup posts planned foe the near future but would love to do some more fashion ones soon too. Please let me know if there's anything in particular you 'd like to see.

Contouring: The easy way

Hello! As promised, here is contouring take 2. This was definitely takes less time to do than the Kardashain way and with lots of handy contouring kits available it's really easy to master. This is what I would normally use to add a bit of shape to my otherwise pancake flat face.  

What's in the picture

 

-Tropic blushing sclupting palette

-Loreal glam bronze

-Barry M natural dazzle bronzer

-Topshop glow

-Tropic contouring brush

-Real techniques contouring brush

-Real techniques cheek brush

 

To contour this way I like to apply my concealer and foundation first so my skin's nice and even. I personally like to use an angled contour brush to apply the bronzer. Make sure the bronzer you chose is matte so it creates a shadow. You simply pull a duck face and such in your cheeks then start applying the bronzer top the hollows of your cheeks. Less is definitely more and blend blend blend.

 I then like to add a little blush to the apples of my cheeks and then use a highlighter along any high points on my face. Again, keep it light, you can always add more if you need to.

So there you have it! Nice and simple, this is definitely my preferred way of contouring as it's just a little bit easier. If you missed the first part have a look here to see it. Hope you enjoyed!

The YSL touche eclat dupe

Hello!

 Regular readers of TheRobynChristina will know what a big fan of the YSL Touch eclat I am. I've mentioned it in almost every post recently. This sadly means that it probably won't last too long and at around £25 a pop it isn't something I'm too keen to re-purchase. You can imagine how happy I was when I discovered the Loreal lumi magique stylo touche de lumiere (world's longest product name). It is almost identical, like literally the same product. YSL is actually owned by Loreal so they often have very similar products and of course are always much more affordable. The Loreal version is around £8.00 which I am much happier to pay.

The only difference I can really see is that the Touch eclat is slightly more pink toned which may work better for under the eyes than the Loreal version but apart from that they are very much the same. The beautiful packaging of high end products can sometimes sway me but with these two even that is almost identical. Basically I think I know which one I'll be reaching for in the future.

Contouring: The Kimmy K Way

Hello!!   My sister asked me to do a post on contouring a little while ago, even though she was blessed with much better bone structure than me. I thought I would split this into two posts starting with the very sculpted method, ala Kim Kardashian. Prepare for some pictures of my face looking a little bit weird.  

   

 

To create strange picture number 1, I used the Maxfactor yellow CC stick and the Loreal lumi magique stylo touche de lumiere (these products have very long names). I used these on all of the high points of my face and the areas that I wanted to catch the light.

 

 

I then used the Bourjois bronzing primer on all the areas where I wanted to create shadow. I applied this with the Real techniques contour brush. At this point you look like an extra from the Lion King but it's all starting to come together.

 

I then applied a small amount of my YSL touch eclait foundation to even everything out which I applied using the real techniques miracle complexion sponge.

And taa daa you have a more sculpted face! It's not showing up as well as I would have liked in the picture but it does create a really nice effect. I think this would work best on darker skin, paler skins have to go a little bit more delicately or risk looking like they've been tangoed. You could also go over this and add some more highlighter to make it extra glowy.

 

I hope this was helpful. I'll have a second contouring post up soon to show a slightly different technique so remember to keep popping back.