Friday 18 October 2013

3 Beauty Tricks with Cocoa Powder



When we say cocoa powder, we usually think of chocolate cake and triple chocolate fudge cookies. Of course, cocoa powder makes for a really simple and affordable beauty product for many different uses, including as a mask!

I'm going to show you three really simple ways to use cocoa powder in your beauty/makeup routine. Don't forget to treat yourself to a bit of chocolate after.


1. Contour

Cocoa powder is the perfect brown colour for most skin tones to use as a contour. It's not too orange and just dark enough to create a shadow in areas you want to recede in your face. Cocoa powder is also very pigmented, so use a densely packed brush and a light hand. Add this to below your cheeks, on your temples, your jawline or even the sides of your nose for a bit of a bronzed touch and a chiseled face.

(Before)

(After. My camera doesn't do justice to how pigmented this stuff really is.)



2. Brow Powder

Since cocoa powder could irritate the lids of our sensitive skinned sisters, a safer way to use it on our eyes is on our brows. The chocolate colour is perfect for those of us who have darker hair. Tip: Use an eye primer on your brows before adding powder for stronger pigmentation and lasting power.





3. Dry Shampoo

Greasy locks? Normal dry shampoo giving your gorgeous dark hair a grey cast? Why not use cocoa powder? It smells great, soaks up the oils on the roots of your hair and doesn't live a white residue. You can use this with either a face brush to dab on the roots of your hair or rub a small amount into your scalp. For a full tutorial on how to make your own DIY Dry Shampoo (featuring cocoa powder), click here!






So there you go! Three easy ways to incorporate cocoa powder into your beauty routine. It's cheap and it's pretty effective. I've noticed that the cocoa powder as bronzer lasts on my combination skin for a good couple of hours (4 or 5). Because it's so pigmented, you won't really notice the fade until later on. Brow powders seem to always fade on me (I need a brow pencil!) but for those who have normal/dry skin, it will probably hold up pretty well.

Hope you all are having a wonderful day! I'll see you in my next post.








Have you tried cocoa powder in your beauty routine? Let me know below!

Friday 11 October 2013

Review: Geo Bella Violet and Eyecandy's

Hey guys! I've got another review for you - this time it's on a pair of circle lenses I purchased off Eyecandy's.





Quick Pros:
♥ Comfortable
♥ Gives dolly-eyed effect, despite being 14mm
♥ Quick shipping

Quick Cons:
♥ Colour is only brightest in direct light


I'll be going to Armageddon at the end of the month and I'll be cosplaying, thus I bought a pair of violet lenses for my cosplay. I also needed another pair of circle lenses because my other black ones aren't that great - big, uncomfortable and have transparent speckles in them (I think they were meant to mimic 'eye sparkles' but it didn't show up that way).

Let's talk about Eyecandy's first. I really liked their service and their wide range of circle lenses. The ordering and billing was quick and easy, plus they had options for credit card payment rather than just Paypal. The shipping was quite quick in my opinion. They came in less than a month. My lenses came with a free lens case and plastic tweezers(yay!), which is part of an offer they're doing right now. This means I don't have to purchase another lens case seperately.

The lenses are awesome. They are soft and comfortable to wear because they have a small diameter (14mm). I really enjoy wearing these lenses for days when I'm going out too, because they're so light. They can go for quite a long time before they start to dry out, but that's usually when I'm supposed to take them out (about 6-8 hours).

The colour is the most vibrant when light is coming from a direct source (e.g. a bright sunny day or from a desk lamp). In darker lit places the lenses just come off as almost black. My eyes are naturally dark, so they do come off darker than in the pictures Eyecandy's provides. They have a black rim around them which gives your eyes a doll-like or anime-like look.

Overall, I really liked Eyecandy's customer service and I am enjoying my contact lenses very much. I will definitely purchase from them again.

If you're looking for a pair of bold violet circle lenses, these are for you!









Have you shopped from Eyecandy's? Or other circle lenses from the Geo Bella Violet range? Please let me know!