Moonage Beauty

It all started with the ''Boy George Fashion and Make-up Book'' . The book was bought for me by my mum who has the ability of finding the most eccentric thing in a charity shop ( other finds have included all the Jem and the Holograms merchandise you could ever want and a black silk bomber jacket with an embroidered clown on the back which I LOVED - I'm often surprised that I didn't get bullied more at school) . 

Probably not a safe bet giving a 9 year old girl in the mid nineties a book about how to achieve the drag queen style looks of a 1980s pop star right? WRONG - I loved that book ( i still love it but my sister somehow got hold of it and refuses to give it back). What really excited me about that book was the emphasis on transformation and creativity. Growing up during the mid nineties (a time dominated by Calvin Klein style minimalism , poker straight hair and brown lipstick) this book in all its streaky pink blusher, fake dreadlocks and glittered glory offered something that was glamourous, silly, fun and creative all at the same time. I was hooked.

This book triggered a love of make up which meant most of my saturday mornings were spent loitering in Superdrug seeing how far I could stretch my pocket money and Saturday afternoons were spent combining frankly psychopathic shades of orange lipstick and lime green eyeshadow and painting my nails in rainbow colours. My love of make up and hair stayed with me throughout my teens through my musical obsessions with Goth, Bowie and Riot Grrl ( Think lots of stargazer white pressed powder and disastrous home dye jobs) and then becoming inspired by proper old school glamour in my late teens ( This wasn't a long lasting obsession as girdles and high heels are a right faff).

Love this guy

In my early twenties this passion soon took a back seat to university, self employment and proper relationships. Feeling too busy and too skint to really get back into make up and beauty I stuck with old favourite looks ( black liquid eyeliner, mascara and not much else) and stopped taking joy in the glorious ritual and creativity I had always associated make up . And honestly I sort of felt embarrassed by my love of beauty and make up; hanging around with earnest fresh faced students it suddenly all felt a bit opulent and frivolous.

Here I am! 

And then BAM …I was pregnant. Post- Polly (my bonkers little baby lady) I have once again found real joy in make up and beauty. Like most new parents I enjoyed an incredible baby-moon spent mostly make up free, in pyjamas eating my way through a enormous amount of biscuits. But after a few weeks it was great to wash my face, put my eyeliner back on and re enter the real world; it made me realise how joyful ''scrubbing up'' can be. I also  found when your life is spent splitting time between looking after a small person and making money taking some time to enjoy the rituals associated with beauty (whether thats giving your face a wash before bed or going for full on slap) is really wonderful. Plus all those nappies and calpol = mega boots advantage points.

Buoyed my reignited love of make up and beauty I decided to start this blog, I want to make a beauty blog that was fun, creative and honest . I am in no way an expert but this will just be about looks and products I'm getting exciting about  as I dive headfirst back into the world of beauty.  I'm also pretty obsessed with colour palettes, packaging and general design geekery so expect some of that too along with lots of pictures of inspiration women and men and the occasional rant about how loving make up doesn't make me a bad feminist.