It's time to fake it

As we get older, our eyelashes begin to break easily and can leave your lash line looking rather sparse... and as the festive season is upon is, full, voluminous looking lashes are a must!

Eyelash extensions are a great way to achieve this look at the salon. This will involve individual false lashes being bonded onto your own, to create longer and fuller lashes that look natural. The lashes will last up to six weeks depending in the quality of them, but your beautician will tell you all this before hand.

For a quick way to give your lashes a boost, try using false eyelashes. These can be quite fiddly and difficult to start with... but practice does make perfect. When purchasing the lashes make sure you get a style that will suit the look you are going for, starting with a more natural pair of lashes if the great way to make your natural lashes look fuller, without an over-the-top look.

Have you ever tried fake eyelashes? What do you think?

Last Chance!

Don't forget you can get our fabulous multi-purpose balm for just £30, (normally £45). Be quick though as this really is your last chance on this fantastic offer. 

Simply head to the Face Matters website and enter code BALM30 at the checkout.

Oil Rush

Oil isn't just for your body and hair... it's for your face too! You might instantly think that using an oil will create a shiny complexion and may even cause spots to surface, but trust me, face oils are everywhere at the moment. Choosing the right one can help revitalise your skin and play a part in keeping it looking youthful. These can help tackle ageing, hydrate the skin and brighten up a dull complexion - it really is great skincare product to have in your routine.  

Many people are worried that these oils can be quite heavy and cause spots - think again! Most oils now are very lightweight meaning they absorb quickly into the skin and don't clog up pores. You can still use a facial oil with your skin is oily, many people tend to turn away from them but don't, using an oil based cleansing product on this skin type is perfect as oil attracts oil, meaning all the pore-blocking excess sebum produced will be picked up like a magnet. 

Don't just save your facial oil as an overnight treatment, although this is a fab way to use it, you can apply a small amount to the skin for an instant dewy glow, which is something that we all want! 

TOP TIP: Warm a few drops of oil into the palms of your hand, apply to your face sweeping outwards and upwards, and don't forget your neck and chest. Gently massage into the skin, being delicate and gentle around the eyes, leave this to sink in fully for 20 minutes and your skin will feel hydrated and leave you with a glow. 

Fight those spots!

Spots are formed because the pores in your skin are blocked with dirt or excess oils that are over produced! To stop your skin from breaking out you need to switch up your skincare routine to help fight against these horrible things. 

When looking for products you should look for these key ingredients;

• Glycolic Acid.

This helps break down the dead skin cells that block pores.

• Salicylic Acid.

Helps to dry out the affected area and reduces redness. 

Products with these ingredients can help you fight back against those unwanted spots, but remember to moisturise afterwards as these can be quite drying on the skin! 

TOP TIP: Don't pick your spots! Leave them be as picking or squeezing them will only spread the germs elsewhere on you skin resulting in more spots forming.

Our Bottle of Youth

Our Anti-Ageing Collagen Elixir, has been featured over on carmarthenjournal.co.uk!

The lovely Emma Bryant refers to our elixir as a bottle of youth! Why not go check out what else she has had to said over on the blog here.

Sixties Girl

The influence of the Swinging Sixties on spring/summer 2013's catwalk beauty was apparent everywhere from Louis Vuitton to Chanel, with graphic liner, pale lips and strong brows complementing the boxy silhouettes and short hemlines in the collections.

But this was a youthful and girlish take on Sixties beauty, with pouting nude lips paired with liner in the crease of the eye lids at Marc Jacobs, and silver eyes at Chanel looking like they came straight out of Andy Warhol's Factory. Glossy peach eyes at Louis Vuitton modernised the look, whilst the bold swoops of eye liner at Michael Kors were updated in aquamarine and acid green. And, for full-on Sixties style, the Moschino models wore their lips dripping with orange gloss and their eyes framed by Bambi lashes - an undeniable homage to that heady decade.

Keep the look classic, with a simple pale pink lip, lined eyes and lashings of mascara. Remember to set the look with a spritz of the Face Matters Collagen Spritz!

Softly defined eyes

Alexander Wang's Autumn/Winter 2013 collection Photo: GO RUNWAY

Alexander Wang may be a fan of 1990s grunge, but the make-up at his autumn/winter show was oh-so modern, a brilliant example of a subtly defined eye as reported by Telegraph's Beauty Editor, Sonia Juttla .

To achieve the look, the first thing to do is to even out the eye area with a brightening concealer, such as By Terry's Touch-Expert Advanced (£29, spacenk.co.uk). Blend the light, luminous liquid under the eyes and on the lid a little to soften dark circles and brighten the area. 

Then for easy-peasy eyeshadow, apply and blend Clinique's Chubby Stick Shadow Tint for Eyes in Lots o' Latte (£16, clinique.co.uk) on the lid and in the contour. It provides a soft, pretty sheen, nothing more than a gentle focus on the eyes. 

Then, to give your eyes defined focus, try Dior's Style Liner Intense Liquid Eyeliner (£22.50, houseoffraser.co.uk). Rest it on the lash-line and, staying as close to the bed of your eyelashes as possible, draw a thin line from the inner corner of the lid to the outer edge. 

Finally, set the effortless with our lightweight Collagen Spritz (£39, facematters-skincare.com). It's refreshing touch will bring you instant cool in a hot day like today and it will keep that beautiful makeup of yours intact throughout the day (Psst! - we're also giving one away on Twitter ).

There's no need to flick: the beauty of this look is in its subtlety.

Image: Telegraph

Get Supermodel Cheekbones

Cara Delevingne, Candice Swanepoel and Jourdan Dunn may all have incredible hair, enviable figures and skin to die for, but it’s those killer supermodel cheekbones we’re lusting after.

Knowing how to contour your face with a stroke of bronzer, a touch of highlighter and a sweep of blusher can make a massive difference to your make-up. If, like us, you haven't been blessed with a bone structure to boast about, worry not!

Check out Look's weekly Friday Night Beauty how-to video, where LOOK's Acting Beauty Editor, Sam Freedman, will show you how to cheat those amazing, catwalk-ready cheekbones.

For a really luminous look use the Face Matters Elixir all over the face to create a glowing look. Then once the makeup is completed set with the Collagen Spritz to make sure your make up doesn't budge throughout the day.

What To Do When… You Have A Sunburn

Sunburns are the wet blanket of island vacations, three-day weekends, and pool parties everywhere. And becoming a red-hot tamale can happen to even the most SPF-equipped among us after extended exposure to the great outdoors. So what to do when your skin adopts the searing hue of Elmo (minus the whole TickleGate)? With help from Into The Gloss, here's my round up of the best over-the-counter and homeopathic remedies to target peeling, redness, inflammation, and to soothe the burn of that mean, blaring sun.

Creams & Moisturisers:

Clinique After Sun Rescue Balm with Aloe Aloe is the most oft-recommended reliever for the sting of your new skin tone, but it can be drying and sticky in a way that’s almost as unpleasant as the burn itself. This balm offers the same benefits as aloe, with an added moisturizer to simultaneously reduce inflammation, calm skin, and diminish the chances and/or severity of peeling.

Face Matters Collagen Spritz Once the intensity of your burn has subsided, a moisturising spritz with botanical oils and collagen can help prevent peeling and cool off the skin. For those with aversions to the heavy and slightly gooey consistency of creams on sensitive burnt skin, a lighter product, like our Collagen Spritz, with a quicker absorption rate is the way to go.

Merle Norman Anti Redness Cream Believe us when we say this product works. Many therapies that claim to reduce redness still leave your skin noticeably rosy. But Merle Norman’s cream dramatically delivers on its name—wear it for the course of one night’s sleep to return fuchsia skin to a normal shade.

Natural/At-Home Remedies:

Cold Bath
Submerging your body in just-cooler-than-lukewarm water will help ease pain and reduce irritation. If you don’t have access to a bath or don’t relish the opportunity to “soak in a basin of your own filth” (as some may say), a gentle-stream cold shower will serve the same purpose. Avoid using soap when you're still newly burnt, as the detergent will only exacerbate your burn by further drying and irritating your skin.

Cold Milk Compress
Combine cold milk and ice cubes in a bowl. Dampen a washcloth in the mixture and hold against your burn. Rinse after to avoid a 'I live on a farm' smell. Added bonus: milk fat is anti-inflammatory and moisturising, and the cold temperature soothes the heat.

Green Tea Compress
A word-of-mouth fix: boil water and pour over one teaspoon of loose green-tea leaves. Cover and let sit until it cools. Then, soak a cloth and place on skin for 10 minutes to reduce swelling and sting.

Thin Potato Slices
In one of the lesser-known, perhaps stranger at-home remedies, some sources suggest blending raw potatoes until spreadable and applying to your skin to draw out the heat of the burn.

Your Other, Basic Options:  

Ibuprofen - Pop one or two after you realise what you've done (this usually happens after we get out of the shower following a day in the sun, but can also happen right there on the beach), to bring down inflammation and ease your discomfort. Those weary of swallowing pills can grind one up and add a bit of water to form a paste, which you can apply directly onto affected areas.

Water - Drink, drink, and drink some more. Your burn can leave you dehydrated, so on top of the eight glasses of water you are drinking daily (we all listen to our doctors, yes), keep on chugging.

And, as always, if you have any other remedies up your sleeve, share away!

Party eye make-up from Dior

A golden smoky eye by Dior by Stylist Magazine

Fancy experimenting with your eye make-up this party season? We asked Dior's make-up designer Violette to share her step-by-step tips for recreating this 'Baroque' eye make-up look. A glamorous, metallic update on the classic smoky eye, the warm golden tones are perfect for the festive season.

PARTY EYE MAKE-UP TUTORIAL: STEP 1

Create a cat's eye base by drawing a thick, dense smoky line across the eyelid with a matte black pencil

PARTY EYE MAKE-UP TUTORIAL: STEP 2 

Apply the darkest eye shadow over the entire eyelid, all the way up to the brows. Emphasize your pencil line to make it "shimmer".

PARTY EYE MAKE-UP TUTORIAL: STEP 3 

Blend outwards.

PARTY EYE MAKE-UP TUTORIAL: STEP 4 

Now apply the lightest eye shadow to the area defined from the eyebrow down to the middle of the eyelid.

PARTY EYE MAKE-UP TUTORIAL: STEP 5 Highlight the inner corner of the eye and the brow bone with a touch of gold shadow.

PARTY EYE MAKE-UP TUTORIAL: STEP 6 

Coat the upper lashes with a black mascara such as Diorshow New Look.

PARTY EYE MAKE-UP TUTORIAL: STEP 7 To finish, use a brush to apply mascara to the roots of the lower lashes, without taking it through to the ends. This intensifies the eye without weight.

Love this look - so stunning! Definitely going to work it next Friday. Just remember to set that beautiful make up, ladies! I would recommend a tiny bit of our Collagen Spritz and you'll look glamorous all night. 

Your face does matter

Check out this wonderful review on the Face Matters range by renowned beauty journalist, Alice Hart-Davis.

Apply perfect make up with your hands?

A make-up artist gets hands-on backstage at Alexander Wang  

For years, beauty experts have extolled brushes as the only way to achieve a flawless finish. But with s/s 2013 comes a new dawn in make-up application - make-up artists use their hands to buff, pat, tap and smear. But surely this defiant act can only result in misplaced, daubs in all the wrong places?

Instead, by warming it between their fingers, make-up literally melted into the skin, creating a lit-fromwithin radiance. At Alexander Wang, DKNY and Valentino, lips were stained, eyes shining and cheeks flushed with the kind of glow usually provided by 90 minutes of Bikram yoga. Luckily, Stylist Magazine is here to give us all the tips on how to get handsy.

DOWN TOOLS

Get hands on to create a fresh, natural daytime look. Feel your face as you read this...    

INDEX FINGER: This finger is directly linked to the brain and the most responsive to temperature changes (according to Melita Ryan, hand specialist in the neuro-physiologist department at the London Brain Centre). It heats up fast — good for blending — and exerts the most strength. Smudge Double-Wear Pencil, £16, Estée Lauder, into the lash line or press on eyeshadow (minimising the ‘pigment drop’ on cheeks that brushes can cause).  

THUMB: The fleshy part of the thumb is perfect for applying blusher, as it’s exactly the same size as the cheek area you want to cover with blush. After foundation, press the pad of the thumb into a cream blush (try Crème Cheek Colour in Rosebud, £20.50, Laura Mercier) and gently pat onto the cheekbone.  

HEEL OF THE HAND: Use the chubby part that hinges with the thumb (a bit like a chicken fillet shape) to contour. Apply Shade & Illuminate, £55, Tom Ford, into the hollow of your cheeks, then push and roll, ‘smooshing’ it to smooth out any visible lines.  

PALM: For the perfect face primer rub Face Matters Anti-Ageing Elixir, £85, between your palms to warm the product and sweep from the middle of the face outwards, working into the skin. Follow the same technique with a foundation.

MIDDLE FINGER: This long digit is perfect for dabbing on a lipstick stain without the others smudging it. Use also to pat liquid or cream highlighters like Face Sculpting Palette in Kick Start, £12.50, Topshop Make-Up, onto cheekbones, brow bones and the bridge of the nose. This motion helps reflective particles lie flat.  

LITTLE FINGER: The pinky works with creams or powders. “Use it to dab pale shadow into the inner corner,” says Andrew Gallimore. “I call it a fingerprint of eyeshadow.” Try Color Tattoo 24Hr in Eternal Gold, £4.99, Maybelline New York.  

RING FINGER: This finger has the softest touch — ideal for this delicate eye area. Charlotte Tilbury advises tapping around the eyes and temples “in a pitterpatter motion” to stimulate blood flow, plumping up the skin for an airbrushed effect. Try Hydra Life BB Eye Crème, £29, Dior.  

Let me know if you tried it and what you think. Are you sticking to your brush collection?

Can you holiday-proof your face?

Image by Michael David Adams

Hot summer holiday sun and heat is not always kind to your favourite make-up. Your holiday beauty bag needs to be like a capsule wardrobe for your face and hair - multi-tasking products that make the most of your sun-kissed skin and ocean-swept hair.   

So here is my checklist of base products you need to stay beach-beautiful throughout your summer holiday. Let me know if you have a favourite that you simply don't jet off without.

Base Tech

So for beautful beach-ready morning skin I start from the night before by applying the Face Matters Anti-Ageing Elixir, £85, - just the right amount of natural oils to retain the much-needed moisture in your skin and smooth imperfections. 

If going barefaced is more of a concern than braving a bikini, pack your daily skin perfectors alongside your beach cover-ups. Keeping your face in place is tricky enough in an office environment, let alone a sweaty, sunny one.

Bobbie Brown's Long Wear Even Finish compact foundation, £32, has combined technology that will last for 12 hours, so you'll no longer have to watch your perfect base slip away throughout the day. And it's not just foundation - LA brand Hourglass has created Superficial, £30 - a waterproof bronzer for those who can't bear to go without a bit of colour. The formula is also tough enough to withstand tropical and humid climates! Blusher, too, has had a makeover. Smashbox Halo Long Wear Blush, £23, has been formulated to work hard all day.

  

Finally, avoid dodgy streaks and flaking by using a setting spray to fix your make up in place. Our Collagen Spritz, £39, is perfect for this job - light and refreshing, it's a favourite among our holiday shoppers and always good to keep in your bag at all times! (psst.. we're giving 2 away on our Twitter page too!)

And now it's time to enjoy the sun sipping on a cocktail or two by the pool... perfection!