Back to School Make Up For Pale Skin!

With September just around the corner and school soon back in full force, I've had a few emails asking me about make up products which are Pale Skin friendly but pass the 'teacher test'. Many schools either have a strict no make up policy, or 'discreet make up only' rule, which vastly differs from when I was in school and used to turn up with thick black eyeliner on everyday... *cringe*.

I wanted to keep the products in this post as affordable as possible, not every pre-teen or teenage girl can afford a make up bag full of high end products, (I know I couldn't) I've tried my best to take that into consideration with these products. The goal with these products are to go as undetected as possible, and look as natural as possible to avoid that hellish experience of being given a packet of face wipes and told to take your make up off.

Foundation - Mac Prep & Prime BB Cream, Extra Light £24.00
Foundation is the product that most of us can't live without, but the most likely area a teacher will catch you out. I'm guilty as hell of wearing slightly too orange foundation whilst I was in High School (Dream Matte Mousse anyone?) so for a base product I recommend a tinted moisturizer or BB Cream such as the Mac Prep & Prime BB Cream in Extra Light. Now, I know I said I wanted to keep these products affordable, but I've yet to find a really good drugstore BB Cream, So if you're going to invest in a product - try this one, At £24.00 it's the most expensive item on the list, but a little goes a long way.

Concealer - Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer £22.00 or Collection Lasting Perfection £4.19
An option for all price ranges. I think both are great products, with the collection lasting perfection concealer being a bloggers favourite 'dupe' of the pricier Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer. Both offer a medium - full coverage which can be built upon, and by teaming a light foundation with a higher coverage concealer, you'll have full coverage on the areas that need it, meaning you'll have a lighter finish.

Powder - Rimmel Stay Matte Powder - Translucent  £3.99
Powder can be a girls best friend, or your worst enemy if you go overboard. I like to use the Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Translucent to set my concealer and my T Zone. It's a staple product to my make up bag and so super affordable.

Blusher - MUA Cosmetics, Blush Perfection Cream Blusher - Dolly £2.00
If you haven't tried any of the MUA Cosmetics blushers before, then do it! For only £2.00 this is a great natural blusher than when applied with either your ring finger or a stippling brush will give you a gorgeous natural hue to your cheeks, without looking over the top.

Brows - Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil - £2.99
To enhance your natural brows, I'd recommend the Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil. When It comes to passing the teacher test, less is more here. I wouldn't advise going in with a full power brow, but some soft strokes and brushing through your brows will give you a natural full finish.

Eyeshadow - Make Up Revolution Salvation Palette, What you waiting for? - £6.00

What I love about the Make Up Revolution Salvation Palette is that it's affordable, has great wear-ability and you get so many shades for you money. My advice on this palette, is to keep it simple and matte with a dab of shimmer in the centre of your lids blended out for a wide awake look. 

Mascara - Collection Colour Lash Mascara - Brown  £1.99
I've chosen a Brown Mascara for this product list and one which doesn't clump, or give too much volume. The Collection Colour Lash Mascara is a bargain at £1.99, and as it's a brown product, will not be overly harsh on pale skin to give the make up game away.

Lips - Carmex Lip Balm - £2.69, Body Shop Born Lippy Tinted Lip Balm - £3.00 Clinique Chubby Stick - Free with Glamour Magazine (July) Or £17.00
For lips, I've included 3 different products, you have a basic moisturising lip balm, such as the Carmex Lip Balm, what I like about this product as it can almost pass as a clear lip gloss, but is a balm if you're questioned on it. The Body shop born lippy tinted lip balm is a low key lip balm but offers a smidgen of colour to even out the tone of your lips and keep them conditioned and finally i've included the Clinque chubby stick if you're feeling spendy and also as a reminder to check the free gifts that often come with magazines! Sometime's you can get pretty lucky.

I hope this post was useful and thanks so much to those who requested it. I hope it helps you prepare to head back to school! Are there any products you'd recommend to those heading back to school? Let me know in the comments! 

Em xxx

#BLFW Bloggers Love Fashion Week - Pre Party Recap.

Bloggers Love Fashion Week is back! If you haven't seen the #BLFW hashtag floating around on twitter just yet, then brace yourself for the influx of posts, tweets and messages surrounding it. 

Bloggers Love Fashion Week is an event created by Danielle from Bloggers Love in which brands, bloggers and fashionistas can connect and meet in a trendy environment. This is the second BLFW event and I'm super excited to be a V.I.B this time! Bonded by the love of all things fashion and beauty related at Bloggers Love Fashion Week you can expect to make new friends, pick up new skills and check out new collections from known and up and coming brands alike. 

I headed to The Pre Party Monday night to meet some new faces and say hi to some familiar ones. There were some great stands at the event including a Photography booth run by the talented Emily Darcy Adams, a Blogger Speed dating booth organised by the beautiful Zaineb from Zeena Xena (founder of Blogging Gals) as well as a vlogging booth and blogging tips booth to gain some great advice!

There were some gorgeous collections on show from the likes of Ellie Air, Vania Couture, Syreeta Badu and Eleanor Linden and a fabulous selection of sweet treats on offer. I had a great time at the pre party and am so excited for what's in store next week at Day One and Two!

Are you attending Bloggers Love Fashion Week? Let me know in the comments and hopefully I'll see you there!

Em xxx

Save or Spurge #1: U.D Electric Palette Vs. MUA Poptastic Palette.

 

I've started a new series on My Pale Skin called 'Learning To Love Colour' and I'm hoping to break out of my 'boring make up' shell and experiment a little more with make up looks and be a little more daring. I recently picked up the Urban Decay Electric Palette, and had fun experimenting with it.  The Electric Palette is a thing of beauty, but if you're not sure if colour is right for you, then why not try out a dupe for a fraction of the price?

For today's Save or Splurge post, I'm seeing how the MUA Poptastic Palette measures up in comparison.

Splurge

Product: Urban Decay Electric Palette

Price: £38.00

Shadows: 10 

Save

Product: MUA Poptastic Palette

Price: £4.00

Shadows: 12 

Now the MUA Poptastic Palette isn't a like for like dupe of the Electric Palette as some shades differ, but it does offer a selection that are fairly close.

As you can see, the shades aren't perfect carbon copies but they do come fairly close... although with a downside. The MUA palette shades feel a lot different - the shades are much chalkier, have a coarser level of glitter throughout and do give a fair amount of fall out. I also found that they applied unevenly where as the Electric Palette shades apply so much more smoothly with barely any fall out.

One of the big differences I noticed between the two products is in the application and blending. The shades in the Electric Palette are more pigmented and blend out with minimal effort to create smooth transitions, where as with the Poptastic palette, you will have to work that little bit harder to get the colours to blend.

There's quite a big difference in price between the two palettes, with the Electric Palette coming in at almost 10x the price... which leaves me with the question - Is it 10x better?

Packaging - Yes. The Electric palette has the most satisfying magnetic 'click' when it closes, it feels a lot sturdier and well made. The Poptastic palette feels cheap and flimsy in comparison.

Colour - I'm not sure if I can say the colours are 10x better, but they are richer.

Application - As a colour newbie, I did find the Electric Palette much easier to apply. There was less fall out, and they blended more easily. However, does that justify a 10x price increase? I'd say that it depends on what look you're creating. If you're after a really smooth bright eye look, you'd find it a lot harder to get the same look using the Poptastic palette. If all you're after is a simple pop of colour, then I'd save and pick up the dupe.

Both of these Palettes have positive and negatives, and are both welcome additions to my collection. However, if you're really looking to add colour to your life and I had to recommend just one palette, in this instance I'd say to splurge and pick up the Electric Palette as it's worth every penny. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on these palettes! Have you tried either? let me know in the comments.

Em xxx

Why Life Is too short for matching socks... & other blogging musings.

Running a daily blog, numerous social media channels, being a girlfriend, friend and working a full time job all at the same time means something has to give at some point. For me that thing is matching socks, ironing and making my bed. Granted the previous sentence makes me sound like one hell of a slob, but I can safely say I'm only part slob.

Since I switched to posting daily on My Pale Skin, I've had to make some adjustments to my life, daily routine and schedule. When you work around 50 hours a week and then spend a further 30+ blogging, you learn (or attempt to learn) how best to manage your time and how to make time work for you rather than make yourself race against it.

Essentially, the decisions I'm in control of, in life, boil down to a few questions...

1. Will it make my life easier?
2. What could I be doing instead?
3. Will I get longer in bed?

Now, i'm not saying these three questions will change the world, boost your blog readership or make you queen blogger... but what they can do, is help you to reevaluate how you spend your time to make life easier and more productive. So as an example, let's try out those 3 questions - against the question and scenario of "Should I pair my socks?"

1. Will pairing my socks make my life easier?
In theory, if you like to show of your little sockles, pairing them will make your life easier. However, if like me, you constantly live in jeans and biker boots or ankle boots and can't remember the last time another human being (minus your bf/gf/roommate) even saw your socks, then why waste that time pairing them all up when you can be doing something else instead...

2. What Could I be doing instead of Pairing my Socks?
Writing a blog post, scheduling tweets, editing photos, taking your make up off... the list goes on...

3. Will I get longer in bed?
If you put your laundry away before you go to bed, then the answer is yes. The earlier you get your chores done, the earlier you get to bed. If i'm super tired and putting laundry away at midnight, and i have the decision of pairing a mountain of socks or getting to sleep earlier... sleep wins every time.

Now, i'm not saying you should judge every decision you make in life by these questions but instead to use them in situations where they could be applicable. If you're a long time reader of My Pale Skin, then you'll know that I often struggle to "get out more" and i'm doing my best to learn 'how to friend' as an adult. Sometimes you need to go against short term goals to reach the long term goals and if that means sacrificing a lie in on a Saturday to go to a blogger meet up, or going out for a few drinks after work instead of participating in the blogger chat that night, or vice versa, then don't worry about what the 'norm' is and do what works for you!

One of the things I often forget is that in order to truly write about and appreciate life, you have to live it for yourself and not just read about it. I've been trying my hardest to make the most out of life, and organize around it instead of making my life work against my organization. So far, this seems to be working, I haven't missed a day since I begain blogging daily and these 3 little questions have helped me.

So embrace the random things that life throws at you, go against what the 'norm' is and do what works for you. If that means an extra ten minutes in bed and socks that don't match? Do it. If that means staying in to talk to online friends rather than 'real life friends' do that too! 

If you had an extra 20 minutes each week to do something, what would you drop, and what would do with that time? Let me know in the comments as i'd love to hear!

Em xxx