Makeup - Venom Bodypaint

I've seen a lot of this bodypainting done by different people, so I thought I'd give it a go myself! Venom is a character in the Spiderman series published by Marvel comics and is a parasite that requires a living 'host' (usually a human body) to take the form of and survive.

I took pictures as I went about creating this look, so I shall post up a 'step by step' a bit later on! It looks impressive as a whole, but is relatively easy to recreate.

Hair Growth Update - April

Looking back at my March hair update, I thought it was about time that my April update popped up! To be honest, I didn't think my hair had grown that much since my last hair post. However, looking at the pictures (especially those comparing the side and the back) it has! My hair is getting quite thick now, it's still wavy and still completely out of control, although it is long enough to get my straighteners in there in an attempt to try and flatten it down! Thank goodness!

As you can see from the March and April pictures, there is definitely more hair on my head! The back is getting longer and slightly straighter with length, the front/ top has got more volume (and more hair) to it and the back near the nape of the neck is growing more and getting slightly less curlier as it goes.                             

I'm still using Lee Stafford's Hair Growth Products - Shampoo, Treatment Pot and the Conditioner and I definitely think it's making a difference compared to if I'd been using just ordinary shampoo and conditioner. The treatment pot that you use between the shampoo and conditioner definitely nourishes the hair and I definitely notice a difference in the feel of my hair if I don't use it in between, instead just using the shampoo and conditioner, so I'd definitely recommend them as a trio.

United Makeup Artists Expo

The United Makeup Artists Expo (UMAe) took place last weekend up in Islington in London. I hadn't heard of this expo before, but when we were given information on it during my course with DFMA it looked and sounded great and I am so glad that I went!

Over the weekend various brands set up their stands at their exhibitor spaces in the business design centre, (where the expo was held) selling their products, many being sold at discounted prices. I was so pleased to get my hands on a Dermacolor Camouflage Creme Palette consisting of 12 colours from Charles Fox's stand at half price! Dermacolor products are renowned for being highly pigmented and they are extremely good at correcting and covering any blemishes or even severe acne on the skin, so it was a wonderful product to pick up! As well as the palette I picked up some Stargazer lashes at £2 each and some special effects products that I'd used on my makeup course from PAM's stand.

Another little gem I picked up from the expo was Illamasqua's Hydra Veil. Illamasqua is one of my favourite brands, all their products are so wonderfully put together and their promotional makeup images for their current and new ranges always look stunning. Going over to their exhibitors space in the business design centre was like walking into a really glam living room, there were even little glass dome display cases on side tables, which was a cute and quirky way of displaying some of their makeup products.

After convincing myself not to buy everything on show, I settled on the Hydra Veil and their Skin Base Foundation in 01. I chose to get the skin base foundation in white, because it's very useful to mix in with other coloured foundations if you want them a tiny bit lighter or not as strong coverage. It's a kit must have! As for the Hydra Veil, it is a little pot of heaven. It's a jelly like formula and all you need is one spatula of this smoothed onto you face as a base layer before applying foundation. It'll smoothen out any problem areas and hydrate your skin in one, acting as a primer and a perfect base to then apply your foundation onto. Ta daaa! It's a wonderful product!

I had an incredible time at the expo, the highlight had to be going to a talk from Mike Smithson. Mike is an American makeup artist and has done so many different project, but his best known for his work in Avatar, Austin Powers, Lone Ranger and Star Trek. When he was talking he was very humble about how he started out and where he is now. There were images of his work being displayed on a screen behind him and it was all perfectly done with incredible attention to detail, he really is an extremely talented man. UMAe was one amazing and inspiring event, I would 100% recommend it to anybody who is interested in makeup!

Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia (APL) - Symptoms

Something I realised the other day was that I hadn't actually done a post about the signs and symptoms that come along with having Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia, (which is shortened to APL or APML... let's be honest I don't know if anyone can actually pronounce the full name, haha!)

Before I was admitted into hospital last year in June, all I'd experienced was feeling completely run down and generally feeling rather rubbish. I'd been helping out the art teacher at the school where my Mum works, so I'd be up in art all morning breaking for lunch and then back up in the afternoon and finishing when my Mum was ready to go home. It was your average school day. But thinking back, even standing for too long caused me to feel worn out and by the end of the day I was completely drained. Mother nature was doing her monthly rounds and I was losing a lot more blood than usual, but I honestly didn't think anything of it. Standing for long periods of time was causing me to feel breathless and being on my feet for just one school day was completely wearing me out. Looking back, I probably should have realised something was wrong, but I didn't. I'd only just finished my second year at uni and had pulled several all nighters to get my work completed for my portfolio deadline, so I assumed I was over tired. I'd also had a persistent headache/ sore throat, which is why I was sent to A&E to begin with because the doctor thought it was a nasty case of tonsillitis.

I was given a lot of information and booklets to read in hospital once I'd been diagnosed and admitted. Once I'd read the basics, (I didn't read all of it and I still haven't. To me cancer was cancer and I didn't really want to know how bad it was, which is also why I never asked many questions.) But once I had read the basics, it all started to fall into place and I understood.

'The signs and symptoms seen most often in APL are:

Anaemia (lack of haemoglobin), causing:
- Fatigue and limited capacity for exercise.
- Breathlessness on exertion.

Low platelet counts and low clotting factors, causing:
- Bruising within the skin.
- Bleeding from mucous membranes (e.g. gums), from wounds or from the gut.
- Bleeding into the brain.

Low (normal) white cell counts, high numbers of abnormal cells and high metabolic rate, causing:
- Persistent infections.

- Fever - This is often present even in the absence of clear signs of infection.'

These are the main signs and symptoms printed out in my little APL booklet from Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research and when I read them I did do the whole "Oh yeah, that makes sense now" for the majority of the list. I had a lot of unexplained bruises on my legs that wouldn't go away, I'd been feeling overly tired doing the slightest thing, spitting up blood after brushing my teeth.. and my Mum had thrown a packet of sweets at me in the car, (I was supposed to catch them, but they'd hit me smack bang on the head which she actually found really funny, ha!) The corner of the packet had cut me, only the tiniest amount, but it took at least 20 minutes for it to stop bleeding completely.

Obviously, there is so much information online nowadays for symptoms and signs and all of that, but this is what it says in my little booklet, which is from a registered charity, so it is a reliable source. I'd always say though if you're concerned about anything, definitely go and get it checked out by your doctor.