How To: Create Winged Eyeshadow (without tape!)

In this tutorial I'll be showing you how to create the perfect winged eyeshadow without having to use tape, which can increase your chances of fine lines and damaging your skin. 

The lighting the day I filmed this totally doesn't justify the look, but if you follow the steps it will look like the original photo. One day I will be able to get some proper lighting rather than relying on natural light. 

What I used |

Eyes |

Mac 24-Hour Extended Eye Base

Mac Paint Pot in Painterly

Mac Eyeshadow in Wedge

Mac Eyeshadow in Satin Taupe

Bdellium Tools Blending Brush

Mac Pigment in Blue Brown

Sigma Small Tapered Blending Brush (10% off with code INNOVATINGBEAUTY available here)

Mac Fix +

Mac Eyeshadow in Soot

Sigma Pencil Brush (10% off with code INNOVATINGBEAUTY available here)

Sigma Tapered Blending Brush (10% off with code INNOVATINGBEAUTY available here)

Mac Eyeshadow in Brule

Mac Pro Longwear Eyeliner in Definedly Black

Benefit They're Real Mascara

Face |

Mac Sculpting Powder in Sculpt

Lips |

Mac Lip Liner in Boldly Bare

Mac Lipstick in Kinda Sexy

Connect With Me

Twitter | @Alexandraahowe

Facebook | Alexandra Elizabeth

Instagram | @Alexandraahowe

How To: Stacked Naked Wedding Cake

A couple of weeks ago I was given the task of creating a 4 tier naked wedding cake for a family wedding. Most commonly they are just Victoria sponge but for this one I made a different flavour of cake for each tier. I made banana for the 12”, Victoria for the 10”, carrot for the 8” and coffee & walnut for the 6”. This cake is easy enough to make even if you aren’t an experienced baker, it was my first ever time making a cake like this. You can make it far easier if you have the same flavour for each tier as you can just make a massive batch of the batter.

To figure out how much of each ingredient you need for the different sized tins this is how i did it;
For example, I have a recipe for an 8” tin but I need it for a 12”, I divide 300g of flour by 8, then times it by 12 = 450g of flour. Then just do this for all the ingredients. Sometimes you’ll just have to round it up or down for things like eggs.

What you will need;
Ingredients for your cakes and buttercream
4 cake tins (12”, 10”, 8” & 6”)
4 cake boards (12”, 10”, 8” & 6”)
Cake leveller or cerated edged knife
Piping bag with a large and small round nozzle
Palette Knife
Cake supports (you can purchase supports from your local cake decorating store or on amazon, you can also use bamboo skewers)
A selection of flowers (peonies, gerberas and gypsophila are popular ones)Presentation board/stand
Flower picks (you can purchase from your local cake decorating store or on amazon)
Cake topper
Icing sugar for decoration (Optional)

How to create the cake;

Step 1 | Bake 2 cakes per tier, making sure you line the tins well with baking paper to make it easier to remove them from the tins once baked.
Step 2 | Level the cakes with either a cake leveller or a cerated edged knife, so they’re all the same height. 

Step 3 | Place the bottom cake on each cake board, pipe a layer of icing onto the top and smooth out with a palette knife, then place the other cake on top.
Step 4 | Add 4 cake supports into each cake in a square at least 2 inches in from the edges.
Step 5 | Place each tier on top of each other.

Step 6 | Place the cake onto your presentation board/stand.
Step 7 | With a small piping nozzle, pipe along around the edges of each tier to hide the cake boards. To smooth these edges I just ran my finger along the buttercream to look that little bit more rustic.
Step 8 | Arrange your flowers onto the cake using flower picks.
Step 9 | Around the flowers add the berries using the buttercream like a glue. Arranging the berries in clusters tends to look most effective.
Step 10 | Add your topper.
Step 11 | Sprinkle icing sugar over the cake for the final touch (Optional)
Step 12 | Serve and enjoy the cake!

How To Balance Studying, a Job and a Blog

If you didn’t know already, not only do I write this blog but I am also studying fashion at university and I work at MAC during the weekends, so I have a pretty busy lifestyle!
I often get people asking me how I balance between all these and still do my hobbies like tennis and going to see friends. I can tell you now it’s not easy but it is doable so here are some of my tips that I would give to anyone else in the same position. 

Be Realistic
When thinking about getting a part-time job look into realistic hours, think to yourself ‘Are you already struggling with time management?’ If so maybe look into a few hours a week, if not you could go for a couple of days a week. 
If you have a blog, having a post schedule can be pretty handy but don’t be unrealistic, don’t aim to post every day of the week, maybe once or twice. That’ll be enough to keep your readers interested in your blog.

Give yourself weekly goals
I try to set myself weekly goals, so if I have a particular project going on for uni I will set days to aim to do certain parts of it. I may even set myself a couple of hours to go through press emails, updating my blog, replying to comments or even researching up new ideas for future blog posts. 
Having goals set at the start of the week will push you to be more motivated to get stuff done, rather than just being very here and there about it. I love my little to do list from Paperchase by Rifle Paper which I have staring at me on my desk all the time. 

Have blog posts and social media scheduled
Sometimes I will have one week that is jam packed and then the next I will have a lot more time. So during my less busy week I will try write up a few blog posts and then just schedule them to post during my busier weeks. This means I don’t end up with weeks of no posts coming up on my blog as this can cause a drop in followers and views. 
You can do the same with social media, for example I use Hootsuite to schedule tweets, as sometimes when I’m doing uni work I’m trying to stay away from it so I can focus better or I’m at work so I don’t have access to social media. 

Have time for yourself
Try to not make things become a chore, make sure you still get time for yourself. Sometimes I get my best ideas when I'm at the gym or just going for a walk through town. If I give myself a couple of hours a day just to do whatever I want, sometimes that'll be just watching youtube videos, giving my self a manicure or chilling with my housemates. I find that I become much more productive when it does come down to getting on with work.

If you’ve already put yourself up to be juggling all these things, you’re probably already a very organised person. But if you aren’t so much, then hopefully following the few pointers I’ve said above will help you that little bit more to becoming better with time management.  

My Summer as an Intern and Tips for Internships

For 3 months this summer I was working as a PR & Events intern at Umberto Giannini, if you haven't heard of the brand they sell hair-care and styling products in Boots and have salons across the country.
When I finished university for summer I thought I'd just be working as a waitress or something a little less glamorous and just have the weeks work experience I had planned at UG, but not long after finishing that work experience they asked if I would be interested in helping out with their latest product launch. Of course I said yes!
I had the opportunity to be a part of lots of exciting things from organising and hosting events at Boots head office and other Boots stores across the country and creating goodie bags for press and bloggers. Along side all the events and PR I did also do a lot of trend research so they could prepare and generate ideas for future Christmas gifts and styles for photo shoots.
I didn't feel like I was just an intern, I felt like part of the team. I thought being an intern would involve doing coffee runs and not contribute much because of what films represent them as.
I can't thank the people I worked with at UG enough for such an amazing opportunity and experience! It has definitely opened up my eyes to possible future jobs I would like to have and I got a real taste of the working world, getting up at 6am and getting home at 6pm commuting Monday to Friday was tough but so worth it!

My Top Tips for Getting an Internship

1. Contact lots of different brands even if they aren't advertising an opportunity. Don't be disheartened if you do get declined, you just have to keep trying!
2. If they can't offer you an internship straight up, ask for some work experience, even if it is just for a week. They will be more likely to contact you/accept you when an internship opens up.
3. Send them an online portfolio of any work you have done, whether it be creative or written. You can say you're good at this and that, but they'll want to see evidence of this. 
4. If you've already done an internship or some work experience or are about to, get as many contacts as you can whilst you're there as this can lead to a future internship/work experience with another brand or company.
5. Create your own contact cards, it's an easy, quick and professional way of getting your details out to people. I would recommend Moo.com I had some made by them and they are amazing quality and they often have some really good deals. 
6. Make sure your CV is up-to date and adapt it to fit the job you're applying for.

I'm looking forward to applying for more internships and experience in different areas of the fashion/beauty world and I hope some of you will find these tips helpful when you're applying for experiences too! If you have any questions feel free to comment below or tweet me.