Alexandra Russell

Trends come and go but the trends for 2018 are putting me in my ELEMENT! This year is said to be all about glitter, rhinestones, gold and about that glowww! These are some of the best components of makeup in my opinion and I have been following these trends for ages.

We all know that Rhianna came out with her makeup line 'Fenty Beauty' in September 2017 and she has created an amazing line that has had incredible reviews across the internet. The product that stands out to me the most is the gold/yellow highlighter- Trophy Wife. This highlighter is so unique and the results look amazing on. I do feel like this highlight is better for a darker skin tone in order to get the maximum shimmer and potential. Also with a darker skin tone you can go OVERBOARD with the highlight and really make it pop, but I personally would only use a little bit on a fairer skin tone. The killawatt highlighter is very versatile and can be used on the eyes, lips face and body. Rhianna herself has said how she loves using it on her collar bones to really  make them stand out. Well done to Ri-Ri as she has really captured and set this gold trend for 2018.





Now to talk about my favourite part... GLITTER.
I personally love using glitter especially for a night out, it really makes the eyes pop and makes you feel ready to party! I always use loose glitter with eyelash adhesive in order to get precision and maximum pigment. Glitter can be used in so many ways, my preferred way is used as a glitter liner. I do this look with all different colours of glitter and sometime I even add glitter on my crease line to create a cut crease look. Glitter is definitely the way forward and will forever be a trend in my eyes.




Finally... the star of the show... the glow.
I can not think of one person I know that does NOT use highlighter. To be over highlighted has been a growing trend over the last year or so. So many brands have brought out new and genius products in order for us to get the maximum glow. An extremely popular one at the moment is the 'Iconic London Illuminating drops'. These drops can be used before makeup application so that a subtle glow is showing through the makeup or can be placed on top of the makeup to really get that exaggerated, extreme glazed donut look. Or if you're like me I apply it before and after my makeup and then apply a powder highlight on top!

I know its been a hot few moment since I last posted on this blog (February 2016 to be exact!) but my plan is to really focus on this blog and get it to something that I can be really proud of. I have created an Instagram account for makeup which  I will add a link for you all to go check out. I am also planning to hopefully start a YouTube channel. I have wanted to do it for years but never actually done it. I don't plan on posting on there any time soon but I am starting to plan and film so that I can upload some content that I am happy with. If anyone has any advice or anything that will help please contact me through any of my social medias.

So here's to new beginnings and hopefully regular uploads!

It is coming towards the end of February and I have had a very busy month (including my birthday!) so I have decided to review some of my favorite beauty and non-beauty products which I have purchased this month. 
I am going to start with the beauty products-
As you know my hair is always in bad condition so i bought Aussie Hair Care and it is amazing! It smells so good and really makes a difference to my hair. I have the re constructing repair shampoo, conditioner and 3 minute miracle mask. They contain Macadamia Oil, Jojoba seed oil and Avocado oil. OIL,OIL,OIL! Oil is so important for damaged hair it helps add oil that your hair lack and needs to look and feel smooth. The repair mask contains Mint, this helps smooth the rough cuticles and adds shine to your hair.

As we are on the subject of hair I have two more products from Tressemme. first is the heat protection spray which makes such a difference especially if you use heat on your hair a lot like I do. Secondly is the Keratin smooth treatment. This works by washing your hair and then applying the serum when hair is damp, you can either dry it with a hairdryer or let it air dry and then you straighten your hair and it gets rid of frizz hair for up to 3 washes! I really love these products.

Next onto makeup. I love trying drugstore products as well as high end. I recently bought the collection primers. The pore minimizing primer and the eye reviving primer. The face primer does what it says! My pores are hardly visible when i have this on. It also makes my face feel so smooth however the eye primer isn't as good as other primers I have used but it does the job.

Moving on to the high end side of makeup products my latest love is Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow! I know everyone uses it but it is so good and so versatile I love it! Recently I have been using it for eyeliner as well when I create a smoky eye look and it lasts all day! Its also very easy to create and illusion with, you can make your brows thicker or change the shape so easy with this product and an angled brush. 

Now this next one is a very strange invention. It's the Lush cosmetics 'Oral Plessure Toothy Tablets'. You place the tablet in your mouth when brushing your teeth and it adds a sparkle to your teeth and makes them look Hollywood ready! 

Now onto the Non-Beauty products-
Firstly is one of the BEST inventions ever! A SELFIE LIGHT. If you are like me and love taking selfies buy one! It makes your selfies flaw every time. It clips onto your phone, camera or laptop and give you the best light. It has three lighting intensities depending on how bright you want to look! It's so easy to carry around and just amazing!

Onto the best thing by far this month! My new camera! It is a Sony Alpha A5000. It has a flip up screen so you can see what you're taking a picture of or filming yourself. I know most beauty bloggers and vloggers have this camera but that is because it is so worth it! 






















Finally my fave song i'm feeling right now! It's Woah- by Moosh & Twist. It is such a sick song and gives me that Friday feeling even if it's Monday!

That is my February Faves I hope you enjoyed reading this and go out and get some of these products!

I have gone off track of what I originally set this blog up for, makeup! So I want to give you guys a full makeup look. This is my day to day makeup looks. It is super easy and simple. I mainly love bold brows and full lips. They are my main features as I feel they are the most important. Brows frame the face and let me tell you. There is nothing more satisfying then someone complimenting your brows. LET THEM SLAY!
Technical difficulty...
I filmed a full tutorial for you guys HOWEVER it stopped filming halfway through! So I am going to talk you through what I did and used and give you a view of the final look.

I always start with moisturising and priming my face. You want your primer to feel tacky and sticky, this makes the foundation go on so nicely.
I switch up what order I do my makeup all the time. Sometimes I do my brows and eye makeup first. Sometimes I do my foundation first, it really depends on how I feel and how much eye makeup I am going to wear. If I wear a lot of eye makeup I complete the eye shadow, eye liner and brows first, go to my full face of makeup and then my mascara afterwards. No particular reason, just that's how I like to do it!
As brows are important to me i love to make sure they are the best they can be! I change the thickness of my brows on a day to day bases. If I feel like I want the Cara Delevigne look I FILL them brows in! I always like to conceal round my brows and highlight my brow bone. Also, I like to brush my hair upwards for a fuller look.
HIGHLIGHTING FOR DAYS! I don't wear highlighter every day but when I do I want to be looking like a disco ball! I think highlighter is so beautiful when done correctly and can make your skin look dewy and healthy. My ultimate go to highlighter is Mac 'Soft and Gentle'.
Finally my fave feature. Lips. Since Kylie Jenner's craze lips are such a huge aspect of makeup. Everyone loves a bold lip however I feel to wear different shades you have to have confidence. A dark colour lip can be hard to pull off, but if applied correctly and worn with attitude it can truly slay. I always line my lips before using lipstick to fill in. I also always mix different shades together to get new colour instead of buying loads of new ones! (I am a true cheap skate)

Hello! I am trying a 'new me' where I am more positive and most importantly, ORGANISED. I am probably the most un-organised and messy person ever, so I am trying to work on that. I've started by most importantly tidying and sorting my room out! This is really important for a clear mind as your room is the first thing you wake up in and the last thing you see at night, if this is tidy you are more than likely going to wake up in a better mood. The next step was to try and wake up earlier and try and have a routine. I never have breakfast and I know how bad this is for you but I am trying to change! Another tip that is helping me is having a planner and writing a 'To Do List'. This is so helpful as you feel a sense of achievement when you tick off something you wanted to do. The planner is to help me remember what I am doing and when I am doing it (I am useless at remembering things!) I also write blog ideas in the planner as well as clients and general appointments. I am thinking of designing the inside prettier as I love to decorate objects. I will do a blog post on this if I decide to do so. If anyone has any tips on how to be organised and generally more positive please let me know!

I'm sure I am far from the only one who wants to rave about LUSH products. I love them! I like the fact that they are 100% natural, from the packaging they are in to the product itself and they are completely against animal testing which i think is such an achievement that they are so successful doing all the right things for the environment. So let me talk about one particular product I am loving at the moment. It's the 'Mask Of Magnanimity'. This is an exfoliating face and body scrub/mask and works wonders. The ingredients include honey, African Marigold Oil, Peppermint Oil, etc. and i am going to talk about a few and the benefit on your skin.

Honey, honey how you thrill me! This is a WONDER product for your skin especially is you are acne prone, it works as a 'shelter' for your spots as it is anti-bacterial so will stop any bacteria getting into the spots. Also its great to help lighten acne scars you may have. It also acts as a moisturiser as the honey locks most moisture into the skin leaving smooth skin. Honey acts as an anti-aging product, which is a bonus for everyone!

Peppermint, not only is peppermint a life saver when you need gum it is also a major savior when it comes to naturally improving your skin! It works as an anti-flammatory which is so important when  you have a breakout and the spot is risen, painful and is embarrassing! Another feature of peppermint is it helps fade redness. We all have those days when we want a makeup free day, but there's nothing worse then your skin looking red without any foundation so this will help towards a more neutral skin tone.

Hair Disaster! As I have said before my hair has not been in the best condition as previously I have always dyed it and bleached as generally neglected it! It was in better condition as I have a 'protopak' treatment by Matrix. It is a Reconstruction treatment adding protein back into your hair and let me say it worked wonders! It improved my hair for a good 2 months however I borrowed my friends straighteners to curl my hair before a night out and they had a scratched plate (I didn't know till after). The  result was my hair getting burnt and fried together; literally felt like barbie hair! I knew I had to get EVEN more chopped off so that's what I did. I LOVE IT! So much healthier and much more sophisticated.                                                                  

 This is my hair when wet, I    did an elasticity test on it and it stretched and broke off, that is a sign of unhealthy hair!  (On the right)




My healthy hair now!

Hello there! Sorry I haven't posted in a while have been very busy recently! To make up for it I will be posting a few times over the week. This post is about skin care. I have suffered with acne for 2 years now and it is the most horrible feeling knowing that your skin is not flawless and doesn't look like every models skin, but with hard work and routine it has really improved. I am going to tell you my 'acne story' but i am no where near 'flawless' skin and i know that but i am a lot happier with my skin now than i was 2 years ago. I have recently had a flare up on my skin but this is to do with me being so busy recently that i have been skipping steps when cleansing my face and sometime skipping it in general and going straight to bed (WORST THING YOU CAN DO). It also has to do with what i have been eating recently as it's Christmas and all the quality streets are out my diet has NOT been at its best therefore reflecting in my skin.I should mention that my skin is combination skin type, in the winter it is especially dry, this is to do with the weather and if I get a cold in the winter my nose and lips get really dry like they are at the moment. So here is my current skin routine and some home made remedies I love love love to use.

Firstly I remove all my makeup with micellar cleansing water which I personal love as it removes my makeup so effortlessly and I feel so refreshed afterwards.                                                                                                                

I then move on to exfoliating my face i don't use a branded one I use honey, sugar and lemon and this really works well with removing any dry skin. I DO NOT exfoliate everyday as this is harsh for your skin, i do this about 2-3 times a week.

At the moment i am using two different cleansers; one in the morning which is a light cleanser by simple. Then at night I use the BEST cleanser I have used which is the Bobbi Brown hydrating cleanser. I love it more than anything, its so nice on my skin and it doesn't feel drying to my skin at all!

Next on to toning my skin, yet again i use simple toner. Toning is such an important step, especially for oily skin as you need to strip away any oil off your skin and it leaves your skin less greasy.

Finally I moisturise my skin. Again in the morning before applying my makeup I use the Simple light moisturiser, At night I use the Bobbi Brown moisturiser which again is an amazing product i leaves my skin so soft. it is a heavy moisturiser so at night it is lovely to use, I personally wouldn't use it in the morning if I was going to be applying makeup after.


This was my skin in June 2013 at the time this was 'clear'. Looking back on this makes me realise how far my skin has come and the pain i used to have compared to now. Acne doesn't just look horrible the pain i used to have with my skin like this was horrendous. They were big lumps under my skin that were painful to touch. My skin is not in anyway clear at the moment but a massive improvement.




And this is my skin today, a major improvement but still on the journey to improval!

This week one of my favourite beauty you tubers, Carli Bybel, posted a video about shaving your face.  My exact thoughts were probably the same as you are thinking, why would a woman shave her face?! But she really changed my opinion and opened my my to this and there are so many amazing benefits to doing this beauty tip. Firstly, your make-up will go on SO much smoother which is always such an amazing feeling for your skin to look more flawless! It is also an amazing exfoliator as it is removing all the dead skin on the top layer of the skin. But the most beneficial pro for me is no dark facial hair! I have naturally dark thick hair and it also shows on my face which is such an insecurity of mine, I've tried waxing my face and threading but personally it wasn't worth the pain as it grew back fairly quick and is an expense to get done! Below I am going to show before and after of my face. I have to clear up with you lot that the hair DOESN'T grow back thicker and darker it grows back exactly the same! (The first two pictures are before and the other two are after)

I know this is a late post about Halloween, I've been crazy busy and haven't had time to post but here I am! I had so many ideas I wanted to do for Halloween but I ended up being an 'angel'. I know scary right.... but I did a cool neck piece inspired by Jordan Hanz. I added my own touch by applying liquid latex cuts and a wax cut. I also added red contact lenses which are so scary to put in your eye and take them out, so worth it though! I paired the make-up with a peach dress and white heels. My hair was in a sleek bun so it didn't distract my make-up.
 My friend wanted help with his make-up as the only costume he had was a robin costume, so to make it more Halloween like we made him 'zombie robin'. It was interesting doing the make-up on a boy because you can define their jawline and cheek bones so much more! Again I used liquid latex and wax to create gashes on his face.

As I have been dying my hair so much I have had to sacrifice the length. At the moment my hair is above shoulder length and I get bored of having the same hairstyle all the time so I have experimented to see what I can do with it at the length its at. There is a few styles and I will show step by step tutorials on how to achieve them. They are all super easy and I am always getting complimented on them, it is also good as my hair is a shorter length.




                                                                 

                                                                   

Something I have to talk about because it gets me SO angry. The look people give me when I say I study hair! Hairdressing has a 'reputation' for being a 'dumb' girls trait but it is not as easy as it looks. A lot of maths and science goes into hairdressing for example, when you cut someone's hair you need to have the precise angle otherwise the whole cut will be off balance- angles are a major part of cutting hair. When training to be a hairdresser you have to learn anatomy and physiology (A&P) this is the bones and muscles of the body; you also need to know the science of the actual hair and what reactions could occur to the hair. Hair dressing is a very creative trait to do and is mainly practical but everything you do as a hairdresser links back to science. As a stylist I have to make appropriate decisions best to benefit my clients hair. I do love doing hair as it is such a huge thing in people's lives, if you have nice hair you feel good about your self and gives you such positivity. It is an amazing sense of achievement when someone walks out the salon and you know you have made their day that much better and you can see the confident glow of the client. I just wanted to break down the 'scenes' behind hairdressing as I do get judged when people ask me what I'm studying at college. Sorry for the rant but I do feel passionate about what I do!!

I am currently getting ready for Halloween- my favourite holiday out there! I love it so much but I don't understand why?! The first time I went trick or treating was when I was 14- I got some strange looks of people like 'aren't you a bit old?' which I was but where I live I have no neighbours so I'd never been trick or treating. Maybe that's why I love it so much now because I didn't really celebrate it when I was younger? But anyway the main idea for this post if Halloween make-up! I LOVE LOVE LOVE DOING HALLOWEEN MAKE-UP! The second it turned October I started planning what I'm doing for HaLloween this year. So I have many ideas- some funny some serious ideas. (I would love to dress up as a nun for it I just think the banter would be brill!) but seriously here is some ideas of what I'm going to do for my make-up this year- this is just me and my friends playing around with make-up but please tell me if you like it or ways to improve!

Hello bloggers!
So this is a new thing for me so don't judge as  have no idea what I'm doing, but it will come to me (hopefully)! Basically I want to start a blog about all things make-up and hair and general beauty hacks that will come in handy to you. I feel like I should give you a basic outline of who I am and what I do, so here we go:
Name: Alexandra Russell- (my friends call me Alex)
Age/Birthday: 17 years old, 21st February 1998
Studies: I am currently studying Level 3 Hairdressing at NVQ level. However I don't want to be a hairdresser (strange I know) I hope to be a make-up and hair artist for fashion and hopefully one day film.
Location: I am a Southampton,UK girl and have been all my life!
Social Medias: I'm obviously going to drop in my instagram and twitter ;)
  instagram: _alexandraruss
  twitter:@alexandaruss_
So that's the basics about me (I'm not that boring in real life trust me!) I just want to give you a bit of info about me that's not too much that it's going to bore you haha. If you have any question please ask me- there is no such thing as a stupid answer as every teacher says!