Saturday 3 October 2015

Lifestyle | My Beautiful Little Island

Hey my lovelies, so what you probably wont know about me is that I grew up on a small Island in the Western Isles/ Outer Hebrides. I thought I would do a quick little post on this picturesque Island that I am proud to call my childhood home...



Lochboisdale - South Uist (Part of Ben Kenneth)

Growing up on an Island you learn to appreciate a LOT of stuff! Most people would think it crazy not to have a choice of nearby shops to choose where you will get your weekly shop from, or cinemas, fast food chains, retail stores, pharmacy's, the list is endless. But for every one of these commercial buildings we have something entirely different, a small utopia if you will. Stretching only 124 square miles, and with a teeny population of under 1800 people South Uist is a stunning Island. I can hardly explain how beautiful the Summer months at home are. The sun glistening upon the many blue lochs dotted across the Island, the warmth of the sand on one of the many beaches surrounding the island and the smell of disposable BBQ's as everyone takes the opportunist moment with the good weather.


Kilbride Beach - South Uist

The Machair - South Uist

South Uist has a number of sites of archaeological interest, it is the only place in Britain where prehistoric mummies have been found! Pretty sure this is where I first found my interest in archaeology, which clearly didn't last long! Beauty Therapy,my current study, is a whole world apart from this.

It is also one of the last remaining strongholds of Scottish Gaelic. Unfortunately my Gaelic vocabulary is extremely limited, Although it was my fathers first language I was just not brought up with it in my house, minus the random word thrown in such as when you were younger and about to touch something hot and someone would shout "teth teth" at you. Although I don't speak Gaelic this doesn't stop the older generation asking "A bheil Gaidhlig agaibh?" which means do you have Gaelic, even once you answer no they will continue to speak in Gaelic no matter how many times you give your reply in English.


A South Uist Beach late Evening

My wee Dog Strolling along the Beach

For fun on the Islands when the weather is good most people will go down to the nearest Beach and sunbathe, go swimming in the sea, go pier jumping or go for a walk up a nearby hill. Almost every year in my childhood I would have climbed up the nearest hill to my house which is Ben Kenneth.Ben Kenneth is 275m in height and every year on the first Sunday of August there is an annual Hill Race. This is a pretty popular event for the islands and many people try and complete the race at least once. I've promised myself since the age of 16 which is the entry age that I would one day achieve this. Next year is 100% the year I will, hopefully...


A View from near the top of Ben Kenneth

The Journey over to Ben Kenneth is not the easiest or cleanest

Since moving from the Islands after I finished school, first to Aberdeen and now Glasgow I hardly manage to get home for a visit. I have a really bad habit of when I become homesick listening to Gaelic music over and over, its fastly becoming my new favourite playlist on my phone! Anything is on this playlist from Manran to Runrig, but of all the Gaelic singers my favourtie also comes from Uist (just not South Uist!) Julie Fowlis who has the best version of Eilean Uibhist Mo Ruin I have heard to date. If you are interested in hearing a bit of Gaelic music you can look this up, its a song written about Uist.


A View from Ben Kenneth - South Uist

Ben Kenneth looking down on Lochboisdale - South Uist

I have to admit there really is nothing like my Home. And I wouldn't change where I was from for the world!


Stay Beautiful,
Shona Marie xo


Friday 25 September 2015

Shona's Snippets | How To Guide on... Eyebrow Shaping

Hey my lovelies, so I've just finished up a bit of my college homework on eyebrow shaping and thought I would do my first little "How To Guide", I hope you find this useful...

Firstly there are a couple factors that need to be taken into account before deciding on the shape of the Eyebrows. 

These are:
·         The Face Shape – Do you have a Round, Oval, Oblong, Square, Heart Shaped or Diamond Shaped Face? 

·         The Natural Brow Shape – Depending on the shape of the original brow there is only so much you can shape and pluck. Usually it is best to leave the top of the brow shape as is unless there are any stray hairs that are just way off target!

·         Size of the Forehead – The size of the forehead should be taken into account as if you have a bigger forehead as I do it is best have thicker brows. Thinner brows would only emphasis the size of the forehead which no one really wants.

Measuring the Brow


Okay so now its time to measure out the brow and work out the areas needing plucked! 

To determine the length of eyebrows that will best suit your facial features there are three main areas needing measured:
  1. Where the eyebrows should start
  2. Where the eyebrows should end
  3. Where the highest arch in the eyebrow should be
Example of Measurement Points


The Start of the Eyebrow

To measure where the eyebrow should begin use an orange stick or anything with a straight edge (a Pencil, a thin eye makeup brush...) and measure vertically up from the side of your nose in line with the tear duct, any hairs outwith this area should be removed. 

The End of the Eyebrow

To measure where the eyebrow should end you then line the orange stick from the edge of the nose to the outside corner of the eye, any hair outwith this mark should removed. 

The Highest Arch

To determine where highest arch in the eyebrow should be look straight ahead, then take the orange stick from the edge of the nose up passing through the pupil of the eye. This is where the highest arch in your Brow should be, for most people it is their natural arch.

Things to Take into Consideration

There are a couple things to note which may change the normal measured length of the eyebrows. 

If you have an oblong face you should try to extend the eyebrow out past the measured end point of the eyebrow.

If you have closely set eyes you should take the start of the eyebrow out a small bit further making the space between the brows larger, this gives the impression the eyes are further apart.


Time to Start Plucking and Shaping

Okay so now you have the brow all measured out its time to pluck away! Personally I would advise you to pluck eyebrows just after a shower. If not use a warm compress on the area such as a couple of cotton pads dampened in hot water. This opens up pores allowing hair to be removed easier by the root and minimises discomfort.

Remember to work between Eyebrows so not to get carried away on one Brow and then be unable to match the shape on the other. You know the saying eyebrows are Sisters not Twins? Well remember they are not distant relatives either! No one wants to walk about with a dodgy set of unmatched eyebrows, they are so important to the overall look of your face its unreal!

Tweeze as close to the root as you can and pull quickly in the direction of hair growth. This allows for the whole hair to be pulled out and an all round cleaner, tidier appearance to the brow.

Once all the tweezing is over if you have an eyebrow brush at your disposal you can brush the brow up and any hairs that are longer and deviate from the brow shape can be trimmed. Unless you're feeling super confident I would avoid this step and stay safe as to not over trim the brow!

Finishing up

Now that you should have achieved that perfect Brow, you can, if you happen to have a soothing gel that has no other chemicals other than Aloe Vera, apply this to the Brow area to sooth redness and discomfort. And also close the pores.

Please remember you have just plucked your brows! This means No Makeup to the area for a good few hours, No heat treatments such as sunbeds! The pores have been opened and the area can become infected if you're not careful.



I hope this has helped anyone out who was a little unsure as to the best way to shape Eyebrows, even if you are already skilled in the art of Brow shaping there is always something new to be learned and I hope you managed to find a teeny snippet of valuable info...

Stay Beautiful,
Shona Marie xo



Saturday 19 September 2015

Lifestyle | Manicures, Movies and Munchies...

Hello my Lovelies, so as you can see from the Blog title this post is a bit of a mix. Basically its just a few little things from how I spent my day yesterday...


So it all started with an early morning and my first caffeine intake of the day as I woke for a full day in College. I hate to admit it but Fridays tend to be the worst day class-wise on my course. From 9am until 12:30 my class is Anatomy. This is the only class that doesn't involve any practical whatsoever and I'm pretty sure that's the reason I grudge it. Yesterday was a serious struggle for me, I had a maximum of 4 hours sleep and I'm pretty sure I saw every hour of the night.

If you're wanting a visual description I felt exactly like this on the inside...

Neeed more caffeine

Luckily the Afternoon went much better after having a Mocha from the downstairs College Cafe. Friday Afternoons are Makeup and Eyebrows, so I after 3 weeks of being on a ban from touching my eyebrows I finally had them tweezed, trimmed, shaped you name it! It felt amazing and made my weekend! No more walking about feeling judged on my unkempt eyebrows...

Friday Night


I spent my Friday night over at my Friends new flat. We ordered in Chinese Takeaway and stuck on Django -which I can honestly say to this day I have still not seen the whole film- and we both started catching up on everything that we had been up to since last seeing each other and finding out the gossip from back home (a small Island where everyone knows each other and each others business).

Munchies and Movies

Finally after a good few hours of chatting we got round to the real reason for my visit... I needed a guinea pig to trial a French Manicure on! This was my first ever attempt at a French Manicure and nicely enough my friend volunteered her nails. Unfortunately or more fortunately for her she is a Nurse and although I would spend the next hour on her nails these would have to be back to short, polish free nails the next morning.

My Set Up for the French Manicure

 So off to work I went filing, buffing, shaping and of course painting. I decided to take a lot off the length as she would be needing short nails for starting back at work...

Nails Before I got my hands on them
The Finished Product 


For my first attempt they turned out really well. I'll admit they aren't perfect! There are definitely a couple of slip ups but who can tell, and they will be cleaned off in the morning!


As the saying goes Practice makes Perfect and I'm sure I will improve with time and experience...


Stay Beautiful,
Shona Marie xo

Follow my Insta @Belle_Chic


Intro...

Hey my lovelies welcome to my new blog, hope you enjoy...


I want to keep this first post short and sweet with just a teeny bit about myself and what to expect from the blog.

So here it goes, my name is Shona, I'm Twenty One and have recently moved to Glasgow to pursue my dreams of becoming a Beauty Therapist. Beauty has always been a massive interest of mine. It all started back when I was old enough to first be trusted with nail varnish. Since then my love for beauty products and treatments has grown, my knowledge widened and my ambition for a career in Beauty strengthened.

The idea behind my blog is to share with you my journey to becoming a fully qualified beautician. So things to expect are:

~ My Trials of Treatments (however they may turn out -after all I am only just learning-)
~Reviews of Makeup or Skincare Products
~Beauty Hauls
~Fashion Hauls
~Advice
~ And I Might just Throw in a Sprinkle of My Daily Life


Stay Beautiful,
Shona Marie xo