MW Goes On A Road Trip With Her Fab Five

Hello Whirlers 

Hope all are well! Weather has been fantastic lately, so myself and the girls took a trip down to Brighton!  Day consisted of make up shopping, Las Iguanas, strolling through The Pavilions Gardens, a walk along the seafront to see the beach and the Pier and rounding up with exploring through the North Laines! 

Here are a few photos from the day:

Drive down on the motorway.

As usual a round of mocktails.

Starters: I had some mushroom soup thing.

Our usual round of nachos! Mmm.

Main dish: Blazing Bird

This is a photo of what we`re like when we`re unaware there is a photo being snapped. Frooti  being anti-social and on her phone, and there`s me - posing to myself lol.

Fab Five <3

Frootibeauty <3

MakeupAtoZ

*cough*tourist alert *cough - I mean look at Choccy's camera around her neck!

I love this shot by Choccy!

#hollaholla

Sun starting to set

Hope you enjoyed the photos as much as we did taking them.

Have you been to Brighton? Where would you recommend going? We always seem to opt for the beach and Pier!

xo

P.S. Make sure to like my Facebook Page.

P.S.1. Also, are you following this blog? If not, click here to do so.

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MW's Three Shades of Contouring

Hello,

Today's post is on the Sleek Contour Kit (SCK) - which I absolutely adore. If you don`t have one in your make up collection, I genuinely don`t know what you are doing with your life! Go buy one and embrace the wonderful life of contouring!!

There are fifty three shades available of the SCK:

LIGHT | MEDIUM | DARK

Retailing at around £6.49 on Sleek's website or in Superdrug where if you buy in-store you can also get 10% off with a valid student card.

There tends to be a wary approach by girls when it comes to contouring, especially as it is such a daunting colour being applied to their faces. Not wanting to look stupid, unfortunately, girls back away from the SCK, but its SUCH FUN, I promise.

Looking at these three palettes side by side, the darkest can look pretty frightening, however, hopefully this post will put a little more confidence in you girls who are afraid to contour because they don`t want to put such a dark colour on their cheeks.

In general, these SCK are amazing. They last all day, a light powder that is buildable and the perfect shades of matte brown. What I love about these SCK, is that the kit lasts for such a long time! I use the light highlighter on an everyday basis and it doesn`t even look like it has been touched. Little product that goes a long way - perfect. I`ve used other contour/bronzing kits, and this hands down beats them - I always run back to this. One thing, like any other powder based product, I have to wait for my moisturising cream/foundation to settle before I apply the SCK - otherwise I get dark patches on my face, which looks awful. However, at £6.49, you can`t go wrong with such a fab kit.

First, I`m going to share swatches of the SCK side by side, heavily applied and then, blended, so you can see that even the dark SCK isn`t so bad on medium skin colour.

(Just to keep you aware, I wear NC30/35 Mac Foundation/Concealer.)
This is the heavily applied swatch of the SCK:

Blended swatch: 

Each shade in more detail:

LIGHT

The problem with light matte brown on my skintone is that, even after heavily applied it is JUST about visible. With contouring and bronzing, the key rule is to build up the colour until you`re happy with the end result, but if after heavily applying and I`m still not happy with the end result - its no, no from me. That being said, I adore the light highlighter on my skintone - makes me look so much more radiant and its what I use on a day-to-day basis, actually.
This is obviously perfect for lighter skintoned girls - so, if you are one of the girls who is afraid to contour and light, then buy this, and fall in love with contouring. Build confidence with a light colour and once you`re happy and love it - move upto medium!

MEDIUM

I think Medium is the perfect colour for my skintone, it creates the perfect balance of darkness and light. It looks like a natural colour on my skin tone. This is a great colour, that you can build up and create a darker shadow - which is fantastic when you`re feeling a little more daring.
If you have similar skin tone to myself, then please buy this kit and experiment with contouring. Start off with a light application and build it up until you`re happy - you won`t be disappointed with this colour.

DARK

GAH. ARGHHHH. This is quite literally my favourite EVER SCK. I`m quite daring when it comes to contouring and I apply it SO heavily so I can have that really chiselled effect. I do make it look more Edward Scissorhands than Kim Kardashian, though but I don`t care - I love applying it and I have such fun doing it. In the swatch, it does look scary, but once blended it looks completely fine. I apply the dark brown matte and the light highlighter together and I love the end result - such a contrast but looks so good!
On days when I`m too lazy to contour, I apply the dark highlighter on my cheeks for a nice bronzed effect - looks great on medium skintones!
If you`re medium skintoned and love contouring and bronzing - then use the Dark SCK - you will love, and not look back!

Wow - sorry thats a really lengthy post, but I love the SCK and I had to share!

If you want to know how I contour and bronze, check out my photo tutorial here.

and, if you want to see a video, check out a recent video tutorial here.

Let me know if you use it, and if you don`t - then go buy it and let me know what you think - so comment below. I always reply :)

xo

P.S. Make sure to like my Facebook Page.
P.S.1. Also, are you following this blog? If not, click here to do so.
P.S.2. I`m over on Twitter and Instagram under username @mangowhirl, so search and follow, please :)

MangoWhirl and MissBeautyAdikt's January Favourites

Hello Whirlers,

Here is another video from our day together. We opted to do a January Favourites.

This is over on MissBeautyAdikt's YouTube Channel, which is here.

Hope you enjoyed it!

If there are any questions, comment below!

If you haven`t already subscribed to her channel, then do so. Make sure you check out her blog as well, its great! 

MangoWhirl

xo

MangoWhirl's Contouring Session with YazMakeUpArtist

Hey Whirlers!

Miss Beauty Adikt popped over for a visit and we decided to do videos for our channels!

On my channel we FINALLY have the contouring/highlighting video:

1. Find the hollows of your cheeks, and using the darker matte shade, use that to create the contour. As you can see from the video, Yaz built it up, so it was a gradual process of applying, then blending, and applying until she created the perfect contoured effect on my face.

Don`t forget to apply the same matte shade to your jawline.

2. Find the high part of your cheeks which would hit the light, and apply highlighter there, again, building it up.

3. Smile. At the apples of your cheeks apply blush.

And, you`re done!

If there are any questions, then comment below or email me. 

Hope you enjoyed the video, and let us know if you would like to see more! :)

Mangowhirl

xo

MW's Top Tips - How to Embrace the Hijab

This is a new feature that I want to try out, we`ll see how it goes. Its going to be my top tips on styling an outfit, to organising your wardrobe, to whatever you guys want - so email me your requests to mangowhirl@gmail.com

:)

Today is National Hijab Day, so to support this day, I have decided to do my first top tips on how to embrace the hijab!

I`ve been very closed about my hijab story, something which I am still not prepared to share on my blog. However, the transition period for me to embrace this beautiful step took 1-2 years in total - it does seem like a lot, doesnt it? But, I believe because of how I prepared myself for this step I`ve never felt insecure in my hijab, never felt the desire to remove it nor felt 'ugly' wearing it, Alhamdulilah.

So, read on for my tips! :)

1. Prepare your wardrobe in advance

When I say in advance I don`t mean a day before, I`m talking a year or so! This way, you`ll have four seasons worth of attire ready in your wardrobe when you`re about to make that next step.

• Start investing in looser clothes, maxi skirts, longer tops, maxi scarves, oversized cardigans, etc.
• If you wear vest tops at the moment, start to slowly wearing capped sleeves only in public, then gradually to 3/4 sleeves, etc - this way, you`ll slowly adjust to wearing longer sleeves. This gradual process will be great in the summer, when you`d be more inclined towards wearing vest tops because of how hot it is. If you`re wearing longer sleeves in warmer weather, you`ll adapt to this, and won`t feel overwhelmed once you`re a hijabi in the heat. And, the same for transitioning for skirts/shorts. 
• Accessories play a big part for wearing the hijab - longer necklaces, cocktail rings, bangles, etc. These will be the items that will stand out as a hijabi.
• Get all your hijab pins before! Different sizes, different colours, etc. Organisation is key.

I liked this approach because when I put the hijab on, I already had ideas about outfits, I had everything ready. I was organised about the step so I didn`t feel overwhelmed. Also, people weren`t 'shocked' that I put the hijab on as I was already fairly conservatively dressed. 

2. Start wearing scarves draped over your neck
I`m claustrophobic, so I started doing this from early on when I first started thinking about wanting to put the hijab on. I would match all my outfits to the scarf, but just have it draped around my neck in different styles.
Not only will this adjust you to the extra weight of a scarf, but it will get you into the habit of covering your chest - which is great even for a non-hijabi as we all like to cover our awra. 

Plus, scarves are a fab accessory to your outfit!

Check out celeb inspiration on scarves:

3. Wear the hijab around the house

After you do Salah, instead of taking the hijab off, keep it on - sooner or later you`ll forget you`re still wearing it until you catch yourself in the mirror.

Not only this, but your family will slowly adjust themselves to you wearing the hijab. 

4. Snap yourself hijab happy!

Take photos of yourself wearing the hijab. Familiarise yourself with your face shape, get an idea of what sort of scarf style will suit your face, experiment with different styles and materials. If you take photos, you can see yourself what looks good and what you`ll feel confident with. That way, when you leave the house wearing the scarf, you won`t feel self-concious as you would have got an idea of what suits you and you`ll have a visual image of what others are seeing..

5. Hijab is JUST a cloth
Most importantly, always remember that the hijab doesn`t define you as a Muslimah. 
Your deeds and thoughts are what define you. 

I don`t appreciate sisters who think they`re better than non-hijabi sisters - we have no right to judge someone because they sin differently to us. We also don`t know what they`re doing behind closed doors, nor can we see into their heart.  They could be more pious than you and I, but they could be faced with struggles. Everyone struggles differently, we`re not allowed to judge.
So, as long as your heart is pure, the hijab should be an easy transition...one day.

I hope my tips help and insha'Allah you will take this beautiful step. 

I understand putting the hijab on is a very difficult step, but just remember, Islam wasn`t given to our beloved Prophet in one day, it was given in small parts...so, putting the hijab on? Take baby steps, don`t overwhelm yourself. :)

If you would like to talk about this step on a more personal level, then please email me, I`m here to talk...well, email :)

If you would like more of these tips, let me know! 

xo


P.S. Make sure to like my Facebook Page.
P.S.1. Also, are you following this blog? If not, click here to do so.
P.S.2. I`m over on Twitter and Instagram under username @mangowhirl, so search and follow, please :)