Blogust Day 21- Charlie's Chatter #4- August Favoruites

Okay so first things first, I'M SORRY! This post is a few days late, but unfortunately it couldn't be avoided. Secondly, I can't believe August is already over and September is here! Before I dive into my favourites of August I just wanted to say a big thank you to those that contributed to Blogust here on my blog and a big thank you to my readers that have been coming back day after day to see what I've been offering up for your reading pleasure! Soppy bits aside, let's dive into my faves!

First up in the beauty favourites is an old love; the Rimmel Match Perfection foundation. I've actually had a little bit of colour to my face this month so I've been having to mix it with a slightly darker foundation to get the colour that's right for me. This is such a fab base for the summer days when you need more coverage than a BB cream but you still want to feel like you're wearing nothing. It just gives my skin that super healthy glowy look, and I love it!

Next up is the Dior Diorshow Brow Fixing Gel in number 541, which is a sort of cool toned taupey golden tinted brow gel. I've been using this to set my brows no matter what I've been using to fill them in and it's been working really well. I know it's pricey for a brow gel, but it's a great colour, doesn't make my brows feel crispy and I really enjoy using it.

The Estee Lauder Lash Primer Plus has been gracing my lashes every day that I've worn make up this month. For some reason as soon as the weather gets a little warm pretty much every mascara I use decides to melt onto my brown bone. Not a good look! A thin coating of the primer, pre-mascara, ensures that everything stays on my lashes, rather than spreading all over my face.

Finally for the beauty products I've discovered a three product nude lip love. First off I start with The Body Shop Lip Liner in the shade Pink Brown. I then use the Estee Lauder Pure Color Lipstick in the shade Pink Parfait(for some reason this looks super bright in the photo, I assure you it isn't!). You could leave it there but I personally like to pop the Clinique Long Last Glosswear in Air Kiss over the top. It just blends the lip pencil and lipstick together nicely and adds a subtle sheen. 

I have two more favourites this month that aren't beauty related...This first one is of course Blogust! A lot of planning had to go into it as I was stepping up from 1 post a week to 5, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! I'm also really grateful to Rebecca, Bethany, Erika and Liz who contributed guest posts, I'm sure we'll be seeing them around here again in the future!

My final favourite comes in the form of a big life change for me. I got into University! After two gruelling years of the nightmare that is A Levels it's finally all over and I'm heading to Uni to study Law at the end of September. I'm totally chuffed to bits.

So, that was my August! What have you guys been enjoying over the last month? 

Blogust Day 20- #TBT Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra

Welcome back to #TBT! Today I'm coming at you with my FINAL instalment of this lovely little series so I'd thought we'd go out with a super iconic look from an uber iconic lady..I am of course talking about Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra.

Who:

Elizabeth Taylor. Actress.

When:

1932-2011

The look:

Defined brows, bold graphic liner, blue shadow.

Works best on:

The daring and bold! 

Okay, so Liz's look isn't exactly what you'd call wearable, but it is inspired by a look that it is believed would have been worn by Cleopatra.

It includes a strong, defined arched brow, blue shadow right the way up the the brow bone and very graphic liner.

As you can see from the picture above, the lips are kept a peachy nude and there is a little bronzer on the cheeks but the main focus here is definitely the eyes!

In order to recreate the look I would suggest the HD Brows palette, first use to powder to strongly define the shape and the make yours brows much darker and fuller looking. I'd finish off the brows with Benefit's Gimme Brow to further fill out those brows. Brow game needs to be strong here girls!

Moving on to the blue shadow, I'd go for a base of the Maybelline 24hr Colour Tattoo in Turquoise Forever all over the lid and right the way up to the brow bone. Then over the top go over with a light layer on translucent powder to keep everything in place.

Finally, the liner! Depending on how pro you feel with your liner you could either go for a gel or a liquid liner, however as the liner is so thick I would suggest going for liquid, as gel can become a little patchy when covering such a large area. Place a piece of tape from the bottom lash line up towards where your brow finishes to give you a guide to work by, when you remove the tape you will have perfectly crisp lines. Line the upper and lower lash line and make your "wing" more triangular than you usually would.

Add a black bob wig, some giant gold earrings and there you have it, Liz Taylor as Cleopatra!

I hope you've enjoyed my #TBT series as part of Blogust, I've really enjoyed looking through iconic looks of the past!

Blogust Day 19- The Wonder Oil

Today I had nothing scheduled so I thought I'd fill you in on a little beauty/skincare product that I've been using that last few months that has really helped my skin AND doesn't cost a bomb. Sounds good, right?

Olive oil. Yep, that's right, the stuff you'd usually cook with. I've been putting it on my face and in my hair and it's been working an absolute treat! 

Prior to getting my hair chopping I was using the Inversion Method to grow my hair, more specifically, to grow out my pesky fringe that seems to be taking FOREVER to grow out! For those of you that don't know, the Inversion Method in essentially tipping your head upside down and massaging your scalp with an oil for five minutes every day. This increases blood flow to your scalp and quickens up the rate of hair growth. During my week of the Inversion Method I was using olive oil on my scalp. Not only did it help my hair grow, it also conditioned my hair beautifully and restored shine. Fab. P.S Let me know if you'd like a more in depth post on the Inversion Method.

My second use for olive oil has been as a serum. In the evening, post cleansing I have been taking a tiny drop of olive oil and massaging it into my scream, before applying my evening moisturiser. It works just as well as any other serum and locks in moisture, leaving my skin feeling plump and hydrated. Just make sure you don't use too much!!

Finally, I discovered that olive oil is a BRILLIANT cleansing oil!! You can either use it for your whole face of make up or just focus on your eyes. I take a few drips on a cotton round and let it sit over my eyes for a few seconds. Alternatively your can massage it into closed eyes. Within a few seconds it breaks down and melts away the makeup and makes everything much easier to removes, INCLUDING waterproof mascara. 

So there you have it, the Wonder Oil of the kitchen that you need to put in your beauty stash!

Blogust Day 17- Music Monday #4

Hello and welcome to the fourth and final (sad face) Music Monday of Blogust. I can't believe it's already coming to an end. For my final instalment of music chatter I thought I'd speak about an album that's actually been around for a little while, but I still love and listen to all the time. So here we go, today is the turn of To Lose My Life by White Lies.

First up, a little info about the band; White Lies are a "post-punk" indie rock band from London. The trio have 3 albums to their name, with To Lose My Life being the first, released back in 2008. 

The album includes 10 tracks:

Death

To Lose My Life

A Place To Hide

Fifty On Our Foreheads

Unfinished Business

E.S.T

From The Stars

Farewell To The Fairground

Nothing To Give

The Price of Love

The music on this album ranges from some really rocky almost aggressive songs such as Unfinished Business, to much quieter sombre tunes such as Nothing To Give. Like I said, I really really love the whole album and listen to it very frequently, but my favourites are probably Death, Unfinished Business, Farewell To The Fairground and Nothing To Give. This is one of those albums that I know I'll still be listening to years from now as it's just that good. 

So that brings Music Monday to an end..I hope you've enjoyed my music related ramblings this month, I may even bring Music Monday back at some point in the future...

Blogust Day 1- Charlie's Chatter #1

SURPRISE! Hello to you all and welcome to August and day one of Blogust! This month I'm going to be posting every week day of the month- that's a whopping 21 posts this month, rather than the normal 4!!

To keep things interesting I'm introducing all different kinds of series here on CC&B.

On Mondays can expect Music Monday where I'll have a good old natter about music I'm loving currently and think you should discover too!

Every Tuesday of the month there will be an AuGuest post- I'm really excited about this one- I have four wonderful beauty and fashion bloggers that are going to be guest posting over here- we've got some great posts lined up for you all!

Wednesdays will be something random from me, probably a bit of beauty chatter or a product review- I'm a beauty junkie, I just couldn't help myself!

Thursdays for the month of Blogust are going to be #TBT- I'm going to be talking you through some one the most iconic beauty figures of yesteryear and helping you recreate their looks.

And finally, on Fridays comes the turn of Charlie's Chatter..This will be my chance to just have a good old chatter about what ever is on my mind that day...I've also got some pretty important changes coming up in the month of August which I'll be talking to you about at some point.

So there you have it, the plan for Blogust!

I hope you're all looking forward to it as much as I am..Let me know if you have any requests for throughout the month. Let's make August a cracker!