Brightening Tired Eyes

If I've had a late night then my eyes are normally a huge giveaway - bags, dehydration lines and circles for days, not cute! I've pulled together a few of my fail-safe tips and products to brighten up tired peepers, whether you've had a bad nights sleep, binge watched Netflix into the early hours (guilty!) or been out partying and indulged in a cocktail or two!

Prep

My first step is to re-hydrate, pick a heavenly eye cream to inject moisture and radiance back to the eye area. The Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream is my holy grail pick, it's made a huge difference to my skin! With hyaluronic acid, coconut, cucumber, rosehip and lemon peel oils, it brightens, tightens and helps to diminish my dark circles. I'm just about to purchase my 5th pot, it's seriously the best! For an intensive treatment, try popping on an eye mask instead, I love the sound of the Starskin Eye-Catcher Smoothing Coconut Bio-Cellulose Second Skin Eye Mask!

Conceal 

Next up, apply a thin layer of a brightening concealer to reflect and bounce light away from the under the eyes, or try a corrector to neutralise dark circles. Then, build up light layers of concealer and apply a translucent powder over the top to seal in and stop creasing - the Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder is a divine pick!

Brighten

Opt for light reflecting, shimmery shades that lighten and brighten up the eyes like the Nars eyeshadow duo in Alhambra, a dreamy champagne gold and rose eyeshadow pair. A dot of highlighter in the inner corner and blended into the centre of the lid looks gorgeous too, it really helps to keep things fresh and dewy! 

Lastly, lining your waterline can make such a difference to tired eyes, pop on a creamy nude like the H&M Soft Eyeliner Pencil in Pale Nude - or try a white liner like the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk to really open up the eyes.

What are your top tips for tired eyes?

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MY FAVOURITE MAKE UP BOOKS

Over the years I've accumulated quite a collection of make up books. When studying make up artistry I bought some for reference and inspiration and i've loved flicking through them ever since! Here are four of my favourites:

Makeup is Art: A great coffee table book full of beautiful and inspirational photos. This is my favourite make up book that I own as the skill, photography and tips are simply amazing. It's great for professionals, to use as reference and for anyone interested in make up.

Favourite parts: Make up brush guide, invaluable industry advice and the incredible avant garde make up.

Rae Morris Makeup The Ultimate Guide: The name pretty much says it all, it really is an ultimate make up guide from one of the worlds most creative make up artists. This book has an amazing, detailed contouring/face map guide and a huge section devoted to eyes, covering every eye shape and type. Rae's make up looks are simply stunning and this comes in at a close second as my one of my favourite make up books.

Favourite parts: Ten minute makeovers, the pinterest worthy photos and the visual eye colour charts.

Jemma Kid Make up Masterclass: This is such a great book for learning the basics of make up. It's full of beauty tips, basic make up looks and colour palettes for your skintone. It also includes a great basic make up section including lip shapes, blusher shapes and how to create different brow shapes.

Favourite parts: Basic make up looks, detailed colour charts and great lip section.

Bobbi Brown Make up Manual: This pretty book covers everything from make up and skincare to diet and health. It gives detailed step by step photo tutorials and provides clear descriptions. The end section of the book is great if you are interested in make up artistry, It provides recommendations for what to include in your professional make up kit and a brief overview of editorial make up, TV and film make up and fashion make up.

Favourite parts: Step by step photo tutorials and the who's who in make up section.

What are your favourite make up books?

HALLOWEEK DAY #1 - THE LEAD UP TO HALLOWEEN

It's cold and blustery outside and so I'm spending the evening inside with fairylights twinkling and candles burning whilst decorating my home with pumpkins and spooky things ready for halloween. I've started to add little halloween touches to my style and make up for this week which is getting me so excited for halloween!

For my nails, I painted them with two coats of Barry M Nail paint in matte black which gives a great, spooky and almost leather looking effect to the nails. On my ring finger I applied a coat of Essie Vanity Fairest before painting a little black cat face with Orly rage rose gold features and a red heart nose with Nails Inc St James.

On my feet I'm planning to wear my Zara embellished flats with a dark purple slouchy top and my topshop black leigh jeans for subtle halloween style. They have such a cute little face and seem perfect for halloween.

To add a vampy halloween hint to my make up, I've pulled out some purple eyeshadows to smudge under my lower lash line. My favourite is MAC nocturnelle which I wore a lot last year with spidery lashes (See the look here). For something a bit more subtle then MAC Quarry eyehadow is a pretty muted plum brown or for something really bold then MUA purple eyeshadow is a bright electric purple.

What do you think of these little halloween touches?