Friday Favourites: Body Brushing

As the cold draws in on us and we wrap up tighter, our skin can start to look dull and tired under all those layers of clothes. This is simply because our circulation gets slow and sluggish and the skin finds it harder to get rid of waste.

This is where BODY BRUSHING comes in. It will revive tired, dull skin and help get your circulation going to leave you with glowing results. Although an unusual feeling, the benefits far outweigh the 'strangeness' of how it feels.

Some of the benefits are:

• Helps combat cellulite on the stubborn areas (I do it for this alone, never mind anything else!)
• Removes the top most layers of dead skin
• Gets the circulation going, bringing more oxygen and nutrients into the skin.
• Stimulates skin renewal for super soft skin
• Helps the body's natural detoxification process
• Improves metabolism

For maximum impact, its best to do body brushing before a shower or bath and always brush in the direction of the heart. Obviously if you have any sensitive, broken or sore skin, avoid those areas, otherwise you will be in pain!

What type of brush to use?

A soft natural fibre brush is best. The best I've used is the Elemis Skin Brush which is just under £20 and is made from pure natural cactus bristles. Works a treat!

For a lovely treat, slather yourself in a moisturising body oil after your shower for baby soft skin.

Friday Favourites! Sealing Gel

After a short hiatus, Friday Favourites is back and this products gets a well deserved mention. I've only just discovered it, but I am so loving it, especially for the drama its creates!

The gong goes to Illamasqua's Sealing Gel, which can be used for a variety of purposes to create a quick drying intense colour paste that lasts forever. I mean forever...you even need elbow grease to remove when you're washing off your make up.

Being a fan of eyebrows, off course I used it to create some uber sculpted defined brows that will wow any brow fan!

Ignore make up, focus on les brows!

To do, I mixed the sealing gel with a dark navy blue eyeshadow (blue brows are high impact drama) and using the Illamasqua eyebrow brush, I drew on my new brows. If you're going to follow suit, you only need a few drops of the sealing gel and only mix in a small corner section of the eyeshadow pan, so that you can preserve the rest of the eyeshadow for future use.

Illamasqua's Never Eyeshadow

Go ahead, enjoy some high drama brows! Halloween is round the corner, perfect time to let out your alter ego x

Friday Favourites: Hot Cream Wraps

As the weather moves into autumn,  a much loved past time of mine becomes Friday Favourite. I have long practiced the hot cream wrap in colder weather because of its cocoon'y' feeling that leaves you feeling all warm and relaxed after. Also its something I always suggest to my clients who can't keep up with regular pedicures because they are short of feet loving time.

So what is the hot cream wrap? 

Well, its usually for cosy, 'me' time nights in front of the telly. 

What do you need?

Foot cream here is Body Shop's Peppermint Intensive Foot Rescue

• a rich luxurious foot cream
• cling film
• three hand towels
• warm chocolate fudge cake and a glass of milk (optional)

I usually recommend this after a nice hot bath as well so your all warm and snuggly. 

What to do?

• snuggle up in your favourite PJ's  
• lay one hand towel on the floor to place your feet on
• slather each foot in the foot cream paying good attention to any dry areas
• wrap each foot in cling film, as this will create heat which will soften the feet, skin and cuticles and allow the cream to penetrate and really moisturise
• wrap each foot in the remaining hand towels to keep the warmth in.
• sit back and relax for 30 minutes or more
• eat cake!

Feet should be wrapped snuggly like so!

When you're ready, remove wraps and feet should be lovely and soft. At this point, you can also use a hoof stick and push back your cuticles for extra perfection. If there is any remaining cream on your feet, massage in and put on some fluffy cotton socks. Voila - there you have it, a hot cream wrap!

PS - really good for wintry dry hands as well!

Friday Favourites: Eye Primer

This week, it was a unanimous vote that a make up item should win Friday Favourites. After thinking long and hard, looking through make up bags, the one product that turned up in every girlies bag in Bella Queen headquarters was EYE PRIMER.

Often overlooked and underused, eye primer is important to every girl worthy of her eyeshadow. It is the glue that holds your eye make up together and keeps it looking fresh and uncreased all day. It neutralises the colour of your eyelids and allows the true colour of your eyeshadow to show through. It can even improve the vibrancy of your eyeshadow colour. 

It is usually presented in a small compact or pot like eyeshadow and is typically of a creamy consistency. The best way to use is to apply directly on the eyelid after eye cream or moisturiser. A small amount goes a long way, so after applying with a small synthetic brush, blend in well before applying eyeshadow on top in your normal fashion.

Our top three eye primers are:



MAC Paint Pots - these come in a variety of colours including neutrals in small clear pots and you can get them in a matt or pearlescent finish.









Urban Decay Primer Potion - a favourite of many that comes in a bottle with a wand applicator. It dries instantly and you can put on your eyeshadow straight away. Beware that its packed full with silicones,which is what creates the silky finish. Available in neutral colours.





Shiseido Hydro-Powder Eyeshadow - these are cream eyeshadows that transform into long wearing powder finishes, therefore ideal to wear in combination with a powder eyeshadow. There aren't really any neautrals in the range, but you can match your eyeshadow colour to them to create an explosion of long lasting colour.

Do you wear eye primer? Are any of our top three in your make up bag? Let us know your favourite!

Friday Favourites

Its that time of the week again where the ladies of Bella Queen headquarters get together and decide which beauty product or item gets the Friday Favourites vote. This week there were tense discussions which involved quite a few phone calls in the name of research and we ended up with the vote going to....drum roll please! The muslin cloth!

If you're in the know about beauty, then you would know what a muslin cloth is, but of the ladies we spoke to

at least 80% didn't know what a muslin cloth was, didn't use one or thought it was something for babies.

For decades muslin cloths have been used for babies because they are soft and kind to skin. So makes sense that they would be a good product for an adults skin. We certainly thought so! They help keep your skin soft and healthy during the cleansing process and while they don't replace your usual exfoliating product, they will help give you skin a boost and deep clean by removing grime from pores and sloughing away dead skin cells from the surface of skin.

Also the circular massage motion you use with them, stimulates the blood capillaries to supply your skin with more oxygen and nutrients. It's a sure way to ensure your skin is polished and glowing.

So to get the most out of your cleanser and up the ante of your cleansing routine, throw in a muslin cloth for good measure. Just don't forget to throw it in the washing machine after every couple of uses to keep it at its best.

Friday Favourites

A Friday Favourite that should be a staple in every make up bag!

The eyes are said to be the windows to the soul. What better way to frame and open up the eyes than to curl the lashes? Shu Uemura eyelash curlers are a tried and tested favourite of many a make up wearer.

Tip: Curl lashes before applying mascara or you risk damaging them. For added umph to your curl, blast the clamp with a hot hairdryer for a few seconds before curling.

Do you use eyelash curlers? What's your favourite one?

Friday Favourites

In the course of my job, I speak to a lot of women who:

a. Don't own a nail file or
b. Own a file but its an emery board or even worse a metal nail file.

In my crusade to enlighten the masses about basic nail care, this weeks Friday Favourites is the Leighton Denny Crystal File. Mr Denny himself describes them as the Rolls Royce of nail files, but I go one better and call them the Maybach of files.

These crystal files are made from toughened glass and lead crystals which is what gives them this cloudy look. But never mind that, with these files you can see saw away your nails to dust and they actually work to seal the edges of your nail. So no more microscopic snags and tears that can hook on to clothes and hair. There's also no abrasive feeling to them so no more gritting your teeth when filing.

And with a lifetime guarantee on the surface of file, you'll have a file for life. Its available in two sizes, including a cute little handbag version, complete with protective case.

A world class file worthy of this weeks Friday Favourites title.

Prices from £12 - £15. Available from http://www.leightondenny.com/  

Friday Favourites

Did you enjoy last week’s Friday Favourites?

This week the accolade goes to Rimmel’s Professional Eyebrow pencil. With three shades (black brown, dark brown and hazel) at just under £3, its a bargain!

This is eyebrow pencil has been a staple on and off for over ten years, depending on how flush the bank balance is. It got a lot of use during college days, but as my taste got more high end, I switched to the likes of the Chanel, Shu Uemura and Dior eyebrow pencils. Although, those pencils are gorgeous, I’ve come back to my trusted favourite.

The pencil is standard with a brush on the cap, nothing too special, but I find that its soft on my skin and doesn’t drag, which is something I’ve experienced before with some of the luxury brands, whose pencils don’t always glide easily. It has good coverage and fills in the gaps in my brows nicely. As a child I had very bushy eyebrows and in my teenage years I over plucked majorly. So now, I do use a pencil to extend my brow and I feel this one doesn’t give a stark and overly obvious brow line. It looks natural, has good staying power and lasts till bedtime, no matter how much running around I do!

Brows are such an important part of make up and the Rimmel Professional Eyebrow pencil does such a fine job in helping us girlies frame our faces, that it thoroughly deserves this week’s Friday Favourites trophy!

So over to you, are you a brow pencil or powder person? What’s your favourite eyebrow brand?

Friday Favourites

Friday Favourites is all about celebrating your favourite beauty product or tool and saying why.

For the inaugural Friday Favourites post, the humble make up powder puff is honoured.

Now, a powder puff is a tool that is sometimes unregarded and doesn't always get a lot of praise, not like a foundation brush or maybe eyelash curlers would. But here at Bella Queen headquarters, powder puffs rule.

Its get our vote simply for the fact you can used it to obtain a flawless finish to your entire make up look and achieve the ultimate shine free finish.

Once foundation is on, the powder puff can be used to gently press on loose powder to lock in your foundation all day. The best ones are feel very soft and have a luxe fluffy finish with the satin band that you can hook your fingers on to. Wins our vote every time!

The ones on show here, we picked up from the Becca Cosmetics event in London last night.

So come on, let us know what product or tool wins your vote for the accolade of Friday Favourites!