MakePals by EmScissorhands

I'm back again! For the second time in 2 days!

The reason for this post is to bring you an idea that's been floating around in my head for a while now, and it's time to share it with the world!

 It's called 'MakePals'. It's a play on words you see, it's a Make-Up Pen Pal.

The general gist is that you are paired up with a MakePal based on some different factors, whether it be your location, your skin type, your age, and every 3 months, March, June, September and December, with the budget of £20, you send each other  a package of beauty products you've been loving!

If you're paired with someone with a similar skin type, you can share products you think help your skin, or if you're paired with someone from a different country you can share products from brands that you might not get in their country.

So, if this sounds like something you're interested in, or you just want more details, send me an email emilystansfieldmua@gmail.com and i'll send you the questions you need to answer to get you paired up with someone as soon as i can!

Lifestyle | Saturday Nights and the Single Woman

Welcome to another post for my Independent Ladies series!

I'm not sure if I mentioned that it was going to be a series, but it is.... Well it is now anyway...

Now before people get high and mighty on me, like you did with my 10 Things I've Learnt While Being Single post, this is not me a) Having a dig at relationships or b) Man-bashing because I hate all men everywhere. This is simply a post to uplift other women, support women, and put my womanly stamp on the world by telling you what I, a single woman, do with my life, okay?

So, it's Saturday night, you're not working this weekend, so you want something to do right? I work every other weekend, and i'm always picking up extra shifts, so when I actually get a saturday night off, I basically have no idea what to do with myself. I don't have a partner, so I can just arrive home and be all 'so what are we doing tonight?', because i'm not going to get a straight answer from my cats. (No I am not a crazy cat lady, I just like cats...). But do you know what, this literally means that the world is my oyster. Obviously it'd be impractical to jump on a plane and jet off to god knows where, because I start work at 7am on a Monday, but you get the idea, right?

Even when you decide you want to do something, you don't know what that something is. Do I want to do something alone? Do I want to ring round all my friends and see if they're doing things I can mooch in on? Do I already have plans? (Probably not), or should I make plans for future Saturdays I have off?? So here's a few ideas, that will fit into all the above categories. Brace yourself, it's gonna be wild.

Going out

Whether it's with your mum, your sister, your friend, what a better excuse for a catch up than going to see a movie? Or a pub dinner? Or even to the cinema? It doesn't need to be a wild do just because it's a Saturday night!

Going out out

Everyone knows the difference between going out, and going out-out right?

I'm always a fan of a night out. Especially now that the people I work with make the effort to invite me out (one guy even organised a whole night out for me when I first started so that I could get to know all my other work mates).

The best bit though? For me anyway... the getting ready. I love getting all glammed up, choosing my outfit, my accessories, my make-up. Then when you look at yourself when it's all come together and you have one of those 'Dayymmmm guurrrllll' moments? Yeah, they're my moments.

When you actually go out, you just have fun! I'm all about the fun. Life's too short to not make it fun. So if you want to wear heels that are sky high, that you know full well you'll take off 5 minutes into the first bar because you feet are killing, so what? Just do it!

The key is to make sure you're with a group of people you trust, and that you'll all look after each other, and the night will be what you make it!

How about just staying in?

No i'm not a prude. I'm not boring, or lazy. Sometimes, after a long week at work, I just want to put my pyjamas on, watch a DVD and order a greasy take-away. So many times people have thought i'm rubbish because they'll invite me out and i'll turn down the offer because I just want a night in. Am I bothered? Maybe a bit at first, but 4 wontons down and I don't even think about it anymore.

Why not get the girls (or boys) together and have a night in together?

Whatever it is, it's your Saturday night, so do whatever the hell you want with it? Go wild, stay in, invite the neighbours tortoise over for a movie night. Just make sure you're weekend is well spent, and you're looking fresh as a daisy for work on Monday morning!

Beauty | Make-Up, Specs, and all that comes with it!

Here I am sat in be at precisely 10pm, with a full face of make up, writing this post for you, because that's what it's like having 2 jobs. I'm a support worker by day, (and sometimes by night), and a blogger/make-up artist/hairdresser by night, and on my days off.... and sometimes when there's a lul at work and I can quickly write down a draft for a blog or snapshot a picture from Pinterest of a look I want to re-create...

That aside! As a member of the visually impaired party, I thought I'd share with you my top tips on how I wear my make up, to complement my glasses. 

Do you ever find yourself looking in the mirror in that moment between finishing your make up and putting your glasses on, thinking 'do you know what? I actually look alright today. I've got that doe-eyed look down, and my eyeliner flicks are on point!' ...Yeah me neither.... Kidding! So you're sat, really pleased with your face, then the glasses go back on, and your eyes look tiny, dark circles like you haven't slept in weeks, you question whether or not you've actually remembered to put mascara on, and that smokey eye look you went for makes it look like you've been bashed in the face with the wrong end of your Naked 3 pallette. (This is obviously a joke, there is no bad end of the Naked 3 pallette, every last bit of it is glorious!).

Well my friends, call me your Fairy God Mother (or just Em is fine...), because I am about to tell you about how you can fix all of these problems.

Step 1) Make sure you have a strong base.

Any dark circles, fine lines, or wrinkles you have around your eyes are about to be maximised by your face furnature. Make sure you're using a primer specifically designed for eyes, and those dark circles need to be neutralised with a yellow/orange based concealer. The darker the circles, the oranger the shade.

NB: Do not, absolutely never, BY NO MEANS use a red lipstick to conceal your dark circles. It doesn't blend. It suffocated your skin as it's designed for lips, not the thinner, sensitive skin around your eyes. Your foundation will not cover it all day/night. The make-up you put on over the top will definitely come of, and you will look like an idiot. An idiot!

Step 2) Use a bold eye line.

Keep it close to the waterline of the eye, but gradually getting thicker towards the outer corner of the eye. And if you're feeling daring, flick that liner! 

Step 3) Big Bold Brows.

A well defined brow is absolutely essential when it comes to wearing glasses. The bolder the brow, the more attention that will be drawn away from your frames, that way, it'll be your brows that frame your face, and not your glasses.

Step 4) Stick to neutral colours for your eye shadow.

Remember when your granny used to have massive specs, and all you could think about was how disasterous her blue eyeshadow looked? Yeah. That. Don't be that person! Stick to the neutrals. If you want to go smokey, use browns/pinks instead of blacks and greys. These colours will make your eyes look even smaller, and a bit like you've let your 7 year old sister play with your face. 

Step 5) Lashes - Go big or go home!

Even though glasses magnify things for you, one think they are great at, is making it look like the 3 coats of mascara you've just put on, may as well have been water. Out of all of these steps, this one is the most important for me. You must invest in a volumising mascara! Having longer/bigger lashes opens up your eyes. Add that to the magnifying you're already getting from your gigs and you actually will have that doe eyed look down to a T!

You could even push the boat out and go for some falsies if it's a special occasion. Word of warning though, if you go too long with the false lashes, you will end up pushing your frames further down your nise with them!

So that's it, my top 5 tips on how to wear eye make up when you wear glasses. Embrace the frames!

These are just the few I follow, but if you have any more, feel free to add a comment, or tweet me on @em_scissorhands !