My Beauty Inspiration: The Kardashians

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Some of you may have picked up if you've been following my blog for a while, or are one of my twitter buddies, that I'm an avid Kardashian fan. That being said, I thought it would be fun to do a post on what I've learnt from Armenian beauties! Being from Middle East descent myself, I feel I can relate to their look so often take inspiration from their beauty hints and tips. Having said that, here's what I've learnt from obsessing over the Kardashains...

Firstly, strong brows! Kim K has the most beautifully bold brows. Getting treatments such as HD Brows takes the hassle out of growing and grooming your brows yourself; tinting, threading and waxing your brows to perfection! A great way  to instantly thicken the look of your natural brow, as I do, is to pencil them in. I use 17's Brow Sculpting pencil lightly then brush them through with a brow comb. When maintaining my brows I often concentrate my plucking around the arch (without making them too thin) whilst leaving the inner brow, keeping this point the thickest part. The Kardashian sisters are known to get their's professionally waxed and tweezed on a regular basis.

The girls flawless make up looks have lead on a never ending search for 'mattifying this' and 'anti-oil that' in the constant battle to achieve a shine free, immaculate look! For starters, primers are key. Brands such as MAC and Revlon sell color correcting foundation primers in a variety of shades including purple, yellow and green to be used according to your complexion. Kim was famously pictured applying a bright yellow colour correcting primer to balance out her skin tone before applying foundation. I more so use primers to keep my foundation in place and in an attempt to keep my oily skin at bay. I was recently recommend Witch's Anti-Blemish Skin Clearing Primer, which has helped a lot in keeping my make up in place during the 9 to 5 work day!

Long, luscious locks! Well known for constantly sporting a head full of hair extensions, the Kardashian's are definitely my hair icons! I often wear Head Kandy's 16-18" or 20-22" to achieved a thick head of glossy hair. Kourtney has shared on her blog of how she gets her extensions sewn in, often known as a weave. But for ease and every day use, clip in extension are a quick alternative with minimal damage. To achieve their high shine style, I use a generous combination of Moroccan Oil and Macadamia Oil, a great combination to heal split ends quick and give hair an instant boost. I've noticed a huge difference to my hair's health ever since using these two products when washing my hair, and its grown a significant amount too! 

Lastly, the Kardashians have taught me to always be beautifully bronzed and smooth as can be! To exfoliate and remove fake tan, Kim Kardashian visits a Korean spa in downtown Los Angeles for a body scrub. However, we can't all afford such luxury! Lush's Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub helps me keep oh so smooth, buffing away all the bad toxins. And when I fancy topping up the tan at home, I use Garnier's Summerbody in Deep, building a natural warm glow. As well as this, the girls are famously known for their extensive laser hair removal. Go to a clinic such as Sk:n Clinic for a run of treatment sessions, or even invest in a hair free future and get your own home laser removal system like the no!no! (which I'm considering getting myself)!

So who are your beauty icons? Where do you draw your inspiration from? I want to hear all your beauty hints, tips and tricks too!

Garnier Pure Anti-Blackhead Deep Pore Wash

Garnier Pure Anti-Blackhead Deep Pour Wash - Superdrug

I would never describe myself as having 'problem' skin so have never really had to go to a lot of effort to maintain my skin. I suppose I'm lucky in that respect, nevertheless I do have oily skin which needs to be tamed to avoid shiny situations! 

I get the odd spot and used to notice that my pores were quite clogged on my nose, but never came across a product that tackled either issue to a notable standard. I picked Garnier Pure Anti-Blackhead Deep Pour Wash pretty much on the off chance, seeing as it was on offer in Morrison's, but I haven't looked back since!

Roughly two months into using the face wash (either in the mornings or when showering) my nose is now completely clear and unclogged! And I can confidently say I haven't had a single outbreak (touch wood!). I would usually be guaranteed a spot around my time of the month (apologises to any possible male readers), which I thought was an inevitable fate. However, this hasn't been the case since using Garnier's face wash.

The product itself is a light exfoliator, gently scented with cucumber, giving you a fresh and zingy feel. I love how clean and bright it makes my skin feel and look, and generally I feel more confident about my bare skin since noticing the effects. I definitely recommend for anyone with a similar skin type to myself.

Has anyone else used Garnier Pure Anti-Blackhead Deep Pour Wash? I've stocked up on a few more bottles as they're reduced down to £1.15 in Superdrug!! What's your go-to skin care product?

January Beauty Box

I was so excited to receive my first Beauty Box in the post yesterday, it just made a good day even better - for the first time in a while! The theme of this month's box was 'New Year, New You' which I really like the idea of. The whole box is themed around rejuvenation and 'starting over' which I think we could all do with a dose of after a heavy Christmas and NYE!

To start off with we've got Phyto's PhytoBaume Color Protect Express Conditioner designed to detangle and improve manageability. It's created for coloured hair, which is a shame as I don't colour my hair. I really wish they would have sent out samples of the regular express conditioner by Phyto. Howvever, after reading descriptions of the product online; "Grapefruit Extract & Hibiscus Flower Acids seal the cuticle to give lustrous, shiny hair and Mallow Extracts & Castor Oil nourish and protect" it sounds like such an intense conditioner, so I think I'll give it a shot anyway. I've dyed my hair extensions too, so may be nice to use on those to help lock in the colour and keep them soft!

Next we have Deep Sea Spa's Salt Brushing, which contains anti-oxidising Vitamin E, Coconut oil to nourish and of course Dead Sea salts. This 'salt brush' is meant to 'deeply hydrate, repair and soothe your body and mind', which sounds right up my street. And as it's their best selling product, I'm really excited to try it out!

Caudalie's Nourishing Body Lotion is a useful little sample tube of a very milky, lightly scented moisturiser. Illegibly, it's suppose to encourage micro-circulation and help prevent premature skin ageing - a prospect I am very wary of! I am very sceptical of products that I put all over my body, as I have sensitive skin. Therefore, I think I'll keep this tube in my bag as a handy moisturiser on the go, and hopefully it'll keep my hands looking young at the same time!

Next, a tiney tiny sample of Lierac's Comfort Peel. Anything with the word 'peel' in scares me a little if I'm honest. But nevertheless, this 'renewing cream' is meant to provide you with a 'new skin effect', which sounds pretty brilliant. It's another wrinkle preventer, but I can't seem to find anything about it on Feel Unique's site, so I'm presuming it's like a peely face mask? Please let me know if you work this one out, otherwise spose I better just slap it on and hope for the best!

This Works Clean Skin Daily Wash is so nice! I used it in the shower today on my face and it just smells so clean and I could really feel a difference in my skin after using. It's consistency is lovely as well, when you squeeze it out the bottle it's like a foam but it's actually quite creamy, it's hard to describe! It has frankincense in it, which I was really just amazed by, I've never heard of a product that has that in it! Fancy! This would definitely be a product I would repurchase after I run out of my sample.

And last, but by no means least. This is the product I'm probably most excited about, Lierac's Creme Mesolift Anti Ageing. The cream claims to be “THE ultimate anti-fatigue cream for the skin, based on THE mesolift cocktail used by doctors to energise, replump and illuminate the skin." You're never too young to start defending yourself against wrinkles, and as a 21 year old girl I'm keen to ward off any premature signs of ageing. I believe taking the steps now will make a huge difference in the future, so I'm really excited to start using this product as it sounds amazing and smells nice too!

Overall, it's a lovely selection and I really like the idea behind this month's theme. But it doesn't wow me, and most of the products aren't the kind of stuff I would normally be inclined to pick up. The products are all high end, but no full size items this month which is a disappointment, if only I'd signed up for the Christmas Beauty Box. All the same, I am looking forward to trying out all my items and giving myself a well needed pamper!

Garnier Summer Body

So, it's definitely winter isn't it? In a bid to bring a little sunshine to my life, I've pulled out the fake tan! 

Pictured above is the last time I used Garnier Summer Body back in September for my 21st. Now, I'm not an avid user of fake tan, I don't like that organgy look and I suppose most people will tell me I don't even need it, but I do enjoy a touch of the fake stuff every now and again! I think the tanned look is slimming, and seeing as I'm never going to look pale, I might as well embrace my olive complexion! 

Being part Lebanese means, as I mentioned before, I have a little colour to my skin already. Therefore, when I do use fake tan I don't like to go the whole hog and layer on the instant stuff as I find the colour on top of my skin colour far too over bearing. I also don't enjoy the smell of instant tanners, the smell of rich tea biscuits just isn't the one. 

This Garnier gradual tanner is the most perfect tanning product in my eyes. There is nothing gradual about it - say I put it on after I shower before I go to bed, I will wake up in the morning tanned and ready to go! The colour just develops so quickly that there is no need to reapply. One appliance of this moisturising tan will give me an all over brown glow, which is just the amount of tan I like to have (unless its a real tan). You can get this tanner in two types, dark and light. I always go for the darker option because of my olive skin and because I know for sure that the colour always turns out perfectly for me. I would recommend for paler skins that if you want a subtle glow that you should go for the lighter option. 

The product has apricot exact in it, which gives it a gorgeous fruity smell - so much better than old biscuits! The cream is also so easy to rub in, you just need to make sure you wash your palms and in between fingers thoroughly after applying. Also, because it is a moisturiser as well, I always get the silkiest feeling skin after using it! I do suffer with sensitive skin and do come up with eczema every now and again, but this is one of the few scented products that doesn't aggravate my skin, so I really do recommend it for others who suffer with similar issues.

There are a couple down sides to the product, which I think are pretty minor. Obviously because it is a cream, you can't see where it has been applied as the colour doesn't appear straight away like an instant tan. So, it's important that you are thorough when applying the moisturiser, and apply it liberally all over. Another issue would be that the cream can sit in your pores for a good few hours after applying, making you feel clammy. So I'd recommend keeping yourself cool with little clothing on whilst waiting for it to dry!

These are just minor issues, and have not deterred me from buying and using Garnier Summer Body for the last 3-4 years. Yesterday I put some on for my friends Christmas party tonight (which I'm very excited about!), and its looking good this morning!

Fantastic product, and no brown bed sheets in the morning - perfect!