How To Create The Cheryl Cole Smoky Eyes Look

Cheryl Cole has been voted the "Sexiest Woman in the World 2009" and has also been labelled "the nation's new sweetheart" and the reason for this is no surprise when you see pictures of her looking amazingly well groomed and perfectly presented. One of her greatest trademark features is her smoky eyes which can be seen here. She wears the look perfectly, not over the top but just cool and sultry enough. If you want to try and create the Cheryl Cole look yourself it is pretty straightforward and you will need the following products:

• Loose face powder
• Eye primer
• Good quality medium grey and charcoal eyeshadows
• A high-lighter
• Eyebrow pencil
• Black length building mascara

How To Create The Cheryl Cole Smoky Eye

• After applying a light foundation or eye primer apply your grey eyeshadow to your upper lid working from the centre of your eye to the outer corner and winging the colour out from your eye.
• Next, using the darker charcoal eyeshadow line this along your upper and lower lids, blending with an eyeshadow brush along your lash line, leaving no harsh lines.
• Using your highlighter apply this along your outer brow bone and then using your eyebrow pencil carefully darken your eyebrows along their natural line. Darker brows are required for definition when creating a smoky eye look.
• Using a lash lengthening mascara, apply two coats in black, allowing the first to dry before applying the second.
• Match this up with a nude, but glossy lip colour, and there you have it - the perfect Cheryl smoky eye look with glossy lips.

Earlier on today, I listened to an interview with Lauren Luke, the amazing lady who has become a celebrity in her own right making YouTube clips with great tips on how to create celebrity make up looks. Have a look at her Cheryl Cole video for more in depth detail on creating the Cheryl Cole make up look.

If you want to see more of Lauren Luke's great tips for celebrity make up they can be found in her great book on Amazon.co.uk with free delivery.

 

New Season Colour - Be Proud To Wear Purple

No one would suggest that wearing purple from head to toe is a great fashion idea, but accessorising or wearing one signature item in the classy shade can bring the romantic and mysterious side out in you. All shades of purple and particularly the punchy bright shades are the most on-trend fashion statement for this autumn. Rachel Stevens shows here just how beautiful a plum purple dress can be - she looks classily gorgeous in this sweetheart neckline gown.

Choosing One Signature Item Of Clothing In Purple

For the daytime, perhaps in the office, look for pretty feminine vest tops in purples, magentas or lilacs. Wear one under a crisp white shirt to bring out your naughty but nice side. A great idea is a classic black trouser suit with a white blouse or shirt, but make the difference by wearing some purple high heels - quirky is great.

Purple Accessories and Jewellery

Purple jewellery is an all time favourite - particularly Amethyst jewellery (which is the birthstone for February). Amethyst jewellery can be found in its more natural state shaped into boho pendants, or can be polished to a fine finish and inset into gold and silver jewellery. Purple accessories look best when teamed up with black, neutral or white outfits. I recently saw a photo of Alex Curran wearing some cool purple sandals with a summer tunic dress, which looked fantastic.

How To Use Purple Make Up

Purple make up should be used with care during the day - look for plum shades of eye shadow or lipstick or lip glosses with a plummy purple tint. Deeper shades of purple eye shadow and eyeliner can be used by sweeping purple colour over the eyelids and lining the eyes both top and bottom with purple liner to create a dramatic evening look.

How to Wear A Purple Dress

Dresses, particularly for the evening, look fantastic in all shades of lilac, plum, magenta, mauve and deep purple - there is something very mysterious about darker shades of purple. Accessorise with either black or silver shoes and bag.

For A Special Evening Out - Turn Yourself Into A Hollywood Princess

You don't have to spend a fortune to turn yourself into a red carpet goddess for an evening - put in a little effort ahead of time and you will feel like an "A" list celebrity for the evening.

How To Create Hollywood Hair

Hollywood loves the elegant, retro hair look. Try back-combing your hair at the roots to create body if you have straight hair or leave in waves if they are naturally there, then create either a side or middle parting at the front of your hair. Pull your hair back over your crown and back from the sides smoothing with a large brush, being careful not to lose any of the volume you created by back-combing. You can leave some tendrils of hair loose around the front for a softer look. Use hairspray to fix in place and if hair is long fix at the back with a jewelled clip.

How To Create The Old School Hollywood Make-Up

What could be more glamorous than to look as good as Audrey? To create this look you will need to:

• Use black eye-liner along your top lashes and wing this out past the outer corners of your eyes.
• Using a brown eyeshadow and small liner brush, apply this along your bottom lash line.
• Use black mascara to apply three thin coats to build up volume and length on your lashes, allowing each application to dry before applying the next.
  
• Create dramatic Hollywood lips by using a lipliner the same colour as your lipstick and lining around the natural line of your lips. Then using a lip-brush apply the colour in layers, blotting between each application. Two to three applications is recommended to create a total block of colour. If you can't get away with a scarlet lipstick, go for a dark raspberry shade.

How To Dress Hollywood Style

• Again you don't have to spend a fortune on a designer dress, look for a simply designed halter or strappy dress, without any fuss or frills, in either black, dark red, emerald or sapphire blue.
• Simple diamante jewellery at the wrist and ears will look sophisicated and elegant, along with a matching clutch bag

Try out this look for a special night out - I hope you have a great time x

Some Great Tips On How To Keep Your Eyes Looking Youthful and Beautiful

It is now said that 30 is the new 20 and 40 is the new 30 and so on, which I totally agree with, as generally all our lifestyles have changed and we are still partying way into our 50s! However, although we might feel like that on the inside our bodies on the outside don't always agree with this new phenomenon. It's pretty easy to hide those greys and get a new hairdo, but when it comes to eyes and skin it's a bit more difficult unless you are going to opt for Botox or surgery. However, here are some makeup and beauty tips which can take 10 years off your eyes and have them looking their young and beautiful best.

Preparation For Eye-Makeup

• Cleanse your eye area thoroughly using an eye makeup remover. Celebrity Beauty Tip: Use Johnson's Baby Wipes to remove eye-makeup and refresh your face.
• Apply your eye cream or invest in a lifting cream such as Avon Anew Clinical Eye Lift which retails at around £15.50. This helps to lift skin, as well as treating any puffiness and dark shadows.

Foundation And Concealer

• Apply foundation to your face and blend it in around your eye area. There are some great foundations available for mature skins such as Clinique Repairwear Anti Ageing Makeup SPF15 and Loreal Age Perfect Skin Supporting & Hydrating Makeup.
• Apply any concealer that is required - see the entry on "How To Get Rid Of Dark Circles Under The Eyes" if you have problems with shadows. I've mentioned in that entry about using a concealer such as YSL Touche Eclat which brightens and disguises imperfections as well as covering them.

Powder

• Where fine lines are involved, it's sometimes better not to powder, but if you feel that you need this "setting" agent then look for a powder with light reflecting qualities, such as Clinique Gentle Light Powder which uses it's light reflecting qualities to diffuse light away from lines and imperfections. Brush this over your eye-lids as a base for your eyeshadow.

Eyeshadow And Eyeliner

• Now apply your eyeshadow and use matte or semi-matte muted shades and blend in carefully over the lids. Apply eyeliner to the top and bottom eyelids just outside the lash line and smudge to create a smokey look. Using a darker eyeliner gives definition back to the eye, and dark brown is probably more flattering than black for a daytime look.

The above are great makeup tips, but I also think that following these health and beauty tips below are so important and also easy:

• Drink lots of water to keep your eyes and skin hydrated and fresh.
• Get as much sleep as you can to avoid tiredness lines.
• Don't frown - as my mum always told me - the expression might "stick" - now I get what she meant - lines!
• Don't pull your skin unnecessarily when cleansing, washing etc.
• Eat a good diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables.
• Don't smoke - smokers are much more likely to get lined faces.

Ageing happens to everyone, but it doesn't always have to happen soon, and we can do lots of things to keep it at bay!

If you have any great anti-ageing tips let's hear them here.

How To Make Your Eyes Stand Out

Women have been wearing eyeliner or kohl for thousands of years as they have always wanted to enhance what is one of their most beautiful features - their eyes. Knowing the best way to apply eyeliner can turn the ordinary into the beautiful and make eyes appear much larger. Once you know the basics its a very easy beauty regime to follow each day.

For everyday wear:

• Using a kohl or eyeliner pencil (which need not be black, but dark brown, grey etc) hold your eyelid taught, but not stretching the skin (we all know this is bad!) and apply the eyeliner from the outer corner of your eye to about two thirds of the way along the top eyelid. Keep a light touch for daytime.
• Eyeliner can be set using eyeshadow (in the same way that powder sets foundation - applying eyeshadow over eyeliner has the same effect). Preferably using a eyeshadow brush rather than one of those spongy little applicators, brush a darker coloured eyeshadow gently over the eyeliner.
• Finally, using the eyeshadow brush again apply the same shade of eyeshadow along the bottom eyelid beneath the lashes - again starting at the outer corner and working your way in to about half way across. Don't be too heavy handed here or you could end up with a slightly gothic look - unless that's your intention.
• Any mistakes can easily be tidied up using a cotton bud - I always keep a handy pot of these in my bathroom.

For evening wear:

• For the evening you might want to go for a more sultry and smoky look - here your eyes will be at the centre of the stage, so to speak, so don't overdo the lippy and blusher or you could end up looking more silly than sultry.
• Again, as above, line the top lid from outside to in with quite a bold line, and then using one of those handy cotton buds (which you are now keeping at your side in your bathroom cabinet) smudge the line.
• Then apply to your eyelid a darker coloured eyeshadow using a brush, blending it from a deeper hue near the edge of the lid up to the crease line of your eyelid where the eyeshadow should be faded out.

For a bold and dramatic look:

• Here forget the eyeliner pencil and opt for the liquid eyeliner - a lot of people are afraid to use this and I have to say that it does take a few practices before perfection is reached with a liquid eyeliner - but the end result is worth it for a special night out.
• Using your liquid eyeliner and again holding your eyelid taught, start from the middle of your eyelid and sweep a line to the outer corner of your eye - this line should be quite bold.
• Next starting from the inner corner of your eye (or slightly further out if your eyes are close set) sweep a finer line to meet the first one in the middle of your eyelid.
• If you find this look too harsh, it can be softened - once dry - by applying some eyeshadow to blend in the line against your eyelid.

All of these looks take a little bit of practice in front of the mirror to attain perfection, but who doesn't love playing with makeup - I know I do.