Wimbledon Fashion Round Up

Wimbledon starts on Monday and if like me, you aren't interested in what happens on the court, you may be interested who turns up and what they wear or you just may not be interested in Wimbledon at all. However I fall in the former of the two. I like seeing who is watching the game courtside and what they are wearing. In anticepiation of all the fashionable men and women we will see courtside, I have some of my favourite outfits from Wimbledon in previous years.

Kim Sears (Or is she Kim Murray now?)

Natalie Dormer

Gwendoline Christie

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Princess Beatrice

Jack Whitehall

James and Pippa Middleton

Leslie Mann and daughter Maude

Amber Le Bon

Sir Trevor McDonald

Who are you looking forward to hopefully see sat courtside? Can Andy Murray regain his title? Let me know your opinions below.

Father's Day: DIY Gifts for Dad.

With Father's day coming up, it's time to get our thinking caps on and decide what would be a nice gift for dad or any other deserving father figure.
I have compiled a list of all of my top 5 favourite DIY gifts for Dad from Pinterest including the one my brother and I are making for our dad.

The Chocolate Bouquet. 

If your dad has a sweet tooth but doesn't like flowers, then he'll love the chocolate bouquet. This is the one my brother and I are recreating for our dad. It's perfect because it is customizable to your dad's taste. If he only likes one type of chocolate then you can use that. If you look on my father's day Pinterest Board you'll see many different examples of a chocolate Bouquet

The Handmade Tie

Maybe your dad is fashion forward. Or maybe he collects funny ties?
Again, this is another DIY gift that is completely customizable. You can use any fabric your like. If dad likes Star Wars, Doctor Who, Marvel Superheroes; or whatever it is he likes, the internet has a fabric for you.
FYI, I am not affiliated with the Etsy store that I've linked to, I just think they have awesome fabrics.

The Funny Father's Day Card

Maybe your dad isn't a presents person, or maybe you can only afford to send a card? Then why not try a funny card. Or if your Dad likes funny cards, you could collect a couple, maybe on the same theme, and put them into a nice picture frame. If it wasn't such a pain to take a picture frame on a plane, this would be a great present for my dad.

Awesome Dad Cup

Maybe Dad drinks lots of tea and coffee or wants to show off his parenting skills to the other guys at the office. Or you would like to show your dad how much you appreciate his parenting skills. However, you can customise the design on the cup to whatever you want. If you are the artistic type you could design Dad a one of a kind masterpiece on a cup. You could even make a matching set if you wished.

Monogram Photo Collage

If you wanted to present Dad with some of his favourite family pictures, why not create him a monogram photo collage? Even if you aren't very crafty, it is easy enough to make, all you really need is a wooden letter, photographs and glue! If you wanted you can paint the letter a solid colour.

There you have it, my top 5 DIY gifts for Father's Day. If these aren't your cup of tea, then please feel free to check out my Father's Day Pinterest Board. 

What are you DIYing for your Dad for Father's Day? 

Let me know in the comments below!

Father's day: Famous Dads.

I love seeing pictures of parents with their children as I like to see which parent the child takes after. Maybe I am just nosey like that.
So, in honour of Father's Day this weekend, I present you with some awe worthy pictures of famous dads.

Ben Affleck and his daughter Violet.

Prince William and Prince George

Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka & Twins, Gideon and Harper

Kiefer and Donald Sutherland

Jay-z and Blue Ivy - Also how cute is this picture?

These are some of my favourite pictures of famous Dads and their children. Who is your favourite? Let me know in the comments below.

Off Topic Week.

This week we are going off kilter. Instead of focusing on beauty, we are having a look at Father's Day.

From what I gather, Father's Day is pretty much held on the same day around the globe, unlike Mother's Day. When Mother's Day rolls around again in March and May (yes I will do off topic week twice for Mother's Day).yes I will do off topic week twice for Mother's Day).

For Father's Day week, I will be sharing DIYs that I think would be great for Dad. This includes the one my brother and I are recreating. There will be pictures of famous dads and their children, I like to see pictures of kids with their parents. To round the week off I will be posting on Sunday instead of Saturday. This post will be about my dad and is an open letter to him. 

So I will see you tomorrow with the first Father's Day post. 

Maddie. 

24 Things I Want To Achieve Before 25

1. Apply for my Masters Degree in Creative Writing.
2. Learn how to apply eyeliner.
3. Finish my novel - I have 16 chapters left, you can read my writing blog here.
4. Travel more.
5. Write more short stories.
6. Write more in general.
7. Reconnect with old friends.
8. Do some freelance work.
9. Sell at least one short story.
10. Grow my Twitter following.
11. Read and comment on at least 10 blogs a week.
12. Spend more time with my family.
13. Grow my blog followers.
14. Grow my YouTube channel.
15. Improve the quality of my YouTube videos.
16. Eat breakfast at least three times a week.
17. Learn to contour my face better.
18. Step out of my comfort zone with makeup.
19. Try to be more independent - I have lost some of my independence since I got ill.
20. Eat healthier
21. Continue to lose weight.
22. Grow my nails.
23. Take my medication regularly - not great at remembering to take pills.
24. Get my sleep pattern back.

Brushless Makeup Challenge

I don't know about you, but when I first started out using makeup I never had any brushes or tools. I didn't realise that brushes and sponges were actually needed for a good makeup application. Even as I delved further into makeup, I wouldn't admit that they were needed. I felt they were an expense I didn't need and boy was I wrong!

I have a condition called fibromyalgia. As part of this condition, my hands get very sore. My fingers get stiff and very sore, so smearing makeup on my face is not a good idea, especially with joints that threaten to jump out of their correct position with one wrong move. So I caved and I purchased some makeup brushes. To be honest, the story of my epiphany is best kept for another time especially as an epiphany on the usefulness of makeup brushes is not best placed in a blog post about a brushless makeup challenge. I have been planning videos that I want to film for my youtube channel and I decided that it would be useful to those who were in my position and don't want to buy makeup brushes or don't think they are useful. This is how we have now ended up with the brushless makeup challenge.

The whole point of the brushless makeup challenge is to help those who for whatever reason don't have makeup brushes. I feel that bloggers and youtubers need to realise that a lot of young people look up to them and if they are constantly talking about expensive products it can get upset when you can afford what everyone else can. Believe me, I've been there. I still can afford everything I want but I have made peace with it but as a teenager it can be very difficult to understand this. The brushless makeup challenge shows that even if you can't afford cheap brushes or sponges, you have two of your most important tools at your disposable - your hands.

If you would like to see the first video from the brushless makeup challenge, then look no further.



If you take part in this challenge, you can use the hashtag #brushlessmakeup on Twitter or Instagram; or if you upload a video tweet me a link and I'll create a playlist so we easily find all the videos.
I look forward to seeing all of your videos and looks.

Maddie

May Favourites!

As May has come and gone, I have filmed a video on my favourite products from May. For those of you who don't know, I have a YouTube channel and I'd be grateful if you could on my favourite products from May. For those of you who don't know, I have a YouTube channel and I'd be grateful if you could subscribe to it. These are all products I have either discovered in May or I have rediscovered in May. This month, my favourites are skincare heavy as I have been focusing on my skin recently after it went all sorts of crazy after I had my medication changed. Between medication changes and insomnia, my skin started breaking out, looking haggard and I looked exhausted; it was crazy. I will do a more in depth post/video about my skincare and how I dealt with my skin freaking out as I think it will be helpful to those who are going through something similar. I could talk for days about skincare but I won't in this post as it is about my May favourites.

You can watch my May Favourites below:



Products mentioned:
Clearasil Ultra Rapid Action Pads
Avon Clearskin Blackhead Clearing Daily Astringent
Botanics Ultra Calm Skin Calming Day Cream
Cadea Vera Young Night Cream
Argan Oil Night Repair Serum
Lush Charity Pot
Benecos Hand Cream for Happy Hands
Astor Big and Beautiful Lovely Doll Mascara
Makeup Brushes (Blog post coming soon)

FOTD: Bronze Eyes

Here is my first ever face of the day. Apologies first of all for the fact all three of these images are selfies from my iPhone and that I'm glaring in the last picture. I was waiting for a bus, on my way to go and meet a friend for coffee. I'm using coffee in the loosest sense possible, neither of us drinks coffee. It was very nice to catch up with her and I will have to do it more often. Anyway, I love this makeup look, I love bronze eye makeup with my blue-green eyes. I feel like it brings them out more, it also compliments my brown frames very nicely.

Products used:

L'oreal True Match Foundation in Rose Ivory
MUA Pro Base Concealer in Yellow
Maybelline Pure Cover Mineral Concealer in Natural
Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light Bisque
Maybelline Matte Maker in Classic Ivory
Sleek Blush in Pixie Pink
MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter in Iridescent Gold
MUA 5th Birthday Eye Shadow Palette
Rimmel Wake Me Up Mascara in Black
Bee Natural Lip Balm

I know that it comes across as a lot of base makeup but I was trying out several new products and wanted to see how they would last and if I was able to get them to work with everyday makeup. So far, I like them but I will test them a little longer before I post a review.

What Is In My Makeup Bag?

My everyday makeup is very simple, very natural looking. Yet my makeup bag is full of products including some I don't wear every single day but they are kept there because I like to have choices. I may decide I want to have a bold lip instead of nothing but lip balm. I don't know about you but I am a nosey person, I like to see what people have in their makeup bags, handbags, suitcases, etc. I'm just nosey. I like to see what people like and see what I can gather about them from their products. Like I said nosey. I'm sure it's the journalist side of me, always wanting to know more. 

So as my first introduction to YouTube, I decided to create a stop motion video of the products in my makeup bag. I hope to have a video uploaded on my YouTube channel twice a week, possibly more but we will have to see how I manage my workload. 

Products mentioned:

Astor – Big & Beautiful Lovely Doll Mascara

Revlon – Colorburst Lacquer Balm in Whimsical
L'Oréal Paris – Color Riche Eye Primer Base
Maybelline – Matte Maker in Classic Ivory
Sleek – Blush in Pixie Pink
Topshop – Smokey Eye Palette in Golden Aura
Astor – Heidi Color Last VIP Lipstick in Bubbly
Revlon – Colorburst Matte Balm in Shameless
L'Oréal Paris – True Match Foundation in Rose Ivory
Maybelline – Pure Cover Mineral Concealer in Natural
Benefit – The Porefessional
Bobbi Brown – Corrector in Light Bisque
The Body Shop – Eye Shadow Brush
Beliance – Lash & Brow Brush
Real Techniques – Shading Brush
Real Techniques – Detailer Brush
Real Techniques – Contour Brush
Real Techniques – Buffing Brush
Real Techniques – Pointed Fountain Brush
Victoria Jackson – Contour Brush

Welcome to Maddie & Beauty

Welcome!

My name is Maddie and I have a confession.
I love all things beauty, except for hair. I'm not great when it comes to hair. I wash it, brush it then I get on with my day. I don't have the patience to sit and curl it. If you have short hair and can curl it, I raise my hat to you.

Enough about my inability to do anything with hair. Maddie and Beauty is not about my dislike for hair styling. It is about my love for all things beauty. However the blog isn't going to be restricted to just beauty, there will also be fashion and lifestyle posts.

I will be posting on Maddie and Beauty three times a week. This will happen on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. You can also find me on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Leave me a comment below and let me know what you would like to see on Maddie and Beauty.