Anyone who follows me on Instagram, or who knows me in real life, knows I have a new addiction.
For those of you who don’t know about Nyx, they’re an American brand that recently headed over to the UK, they have one or two key selling points for me. One, they’re cheap. Not pound shop cheap, but most of their products come in under £10. Which of course means it’s easy to buy everything in every colour, because that’s their second selling point. They have a fantastic range of colours.
So while this season everything is about beiges and browns and nineties nudes, Nyx has these and a whole lot more. I have pretty much every colour of eyeliner they do. From red to yellow, blue, green, black, brown, silver, gold, purple.
I also love their Liquid Suedes – the staying power of these lip colours is brilliant, and again I have them in all the shades – black, blue, green, purple, pink, red and orange, through to softer tones of brown and those fashionable nudes.
They make it easy to make a statement, or simply stick with everyday wear – their mustard yellow ‘Butterscotch’ has become a staple in my make up bag (I’m already on my second purchase), as has Vortex – a soft buttery brown.
And for this Halloween they’ve been booking in people for spooky makeovers – or as we head into party season, for Christmas sparkles. Me being me, can’t resist a stop by for a play, so off I headed with a friend to get our glam on.
I know, like I needed an excuse.
Now I know a makeover can sound terrifying. It’s taken me a couple of years of getting to know brands and people, and experience beauty halls to put myself in the hands of others. But truthfully, if you take the plunge – whether you’ve never worn make up before, or feel your look needs updating, or even just get your hair done and need to change the colours you use, chat to the staff on the counter, get to know them a little bit and trust your gut.
Gone are the days of the beauty counter manned (or womanned if you prefer) by a heavily made up harridan determined to get you to purchase everything on the stand. Now people are approachable, nice, and not pushy at all.
For me, it’s now an excuse to have a look at something new, to try more bright colours, different styles, to maybe learn something. For my friend, it was the opportunity to look a little glam after a horrid day. So her update was simple but effective.
Beautiful natural shades that suited her skintone perfectly.
As for me. Well it was never going to be something toned down, was it?
60s winged black eyeliner, tinged with red, two tone glitter on the lids, and a fiery set of shades from their new brights palette (now going on my shopping list).
OK, so it’s not really a look for the office, and I’ll never get the eyeliner quite right, but it was fun, it was glamorous and it was free. Yes, free.
Now all you have to do is find your excuse to visit the beauty hall.
