Looking in the mirror highlights a horror that has haunted me ever since being a teenager. I would look at other girls my age and admire their flawless skin hoping mine too would one day gleam with perfection. Having blemishes is something that I have had to deal with for a long time, no high street brand or even prescribed treatment has cured my imperfections completely. This began to impact my confidence and self esteem, leaving me even more shy and quiet than what I was before! Although I am still searching for a cure, maintaining my skin condition to what it is now has taken dedication and a strict cleansing routine however, when I am in the public eye, I like my skin to appear flawless.

Working with many different make up artists on photo shoot's and at beauty pageants, I have been given some fantastic tips and advice that I have taken on board. Whether you have dark circles or blemishes, I have learnt three tips to help you achieve flawless cover that will allow you to smile with confidence.

My first tip is a secret that is not shared enough, if you think that the way to cover a blemish is to wear a thick layer of foundation, then you couldn't be more wrong. My favourite product on the market today and is green corrective concealer! Although the colour is not appealing, green works well at neutralizing red zones and helping you to get that desired even skintone. Use a small amount on red area's, blending well, before applying foundation.

The next tip I learnt is to find a foundation that matches, afterall, it is intended to even out those patches, not change your entire skin tone. A simple piece of advice but essential. If you need help selecting your perfect foundation, go to a store that has make up consultants available, they will be able to advise you on a foundation that suits your skin tone.

My final tip to achieving flawless skin is to use a translucent powder as it is used to help to set your make up in place and extending its wear. For those of you who suffer from an oily t-zone, apply the powder over your chin, nose and forehead to reduce shine.

Armed with three essential and very simple 'tricks of the trade', you now have the foundations to creating a flawless look. I hope you have a new found confidence in your walk, whether you are rocking the runway, or gracing the streets of your local town. It is a New Year so let's show the world a new you!

2012 has been a fantastic year for pageant industry, not only in the USA but right here in the UK too. With more pageants taking place than ever, I want to take a look at some of the biggest achievements of title holder this year, both here and across the pond. There have been so many magical moments and achievements, I couldn’t possibly mention them all but here are some of my favourites for the past year:

Olivia Culpo - Miss Universe 2012

Olivia was crowned Miss USA 2012 back in June and then went on to take the Universe crown. Standing 5ft 5”, Olivia proves that petit girls have what it takes too. The Boston University student stood out against 88 competitors from six continents; and even after having a slip on stage showed the judges that height is not everything.

Lydia Yhnell – Miss Galaxy Wales 2012

Balancing motherhood with pageantry, Lydia is an inspiration to anyone with children and ambition! Not only did Lydia find time to compete in the Miss Galaxy Wales competition and Miss Galaxy International competition but she also managed to complete her required number of appearances within a month of winning her title. Lydia placed 3rd Runner-up and won the photogenic award at the Miss Galaxy International finals back in July. Lydia is now directing the Miss Inspiration beauty pageant, which focuses on giving young ladies of any age, size or height a positive pageant experience. I think Lydia is a true inspiration and I wish her every success.

Olivia Kimber – UK’s Teen Dazzling Beauty

Olivia took the UK’s Dazzling Beauty crown in September after placing 1st runner-up in her heat and winning the semi-final competition. An ambassador for many charities, Olivia uses the loss of her dad in 2010 as motivation to keep his legacy alive. Raising money for not only the hospice that looked after her dad but also the Alzheimer’s Society and Christian Faith proves that Olivia knows being a title holder is about more than just wearing a crown and sash and looking pretty.

Laura Pucker – America’s Perfect Woman

Laura is no stranger to the pageant world and it’s her drive, ambition and determination that lead her to the crown back in August. Laura has taken part in a number of pageant and events across the years and this has given her a vast amount of knowledge in each competition. Laura uses this to create a wardrobe unique to her and perfect for her personality and figure. This gives Laura ‘the edge’ on stage. Her interview and public speaking skills are simply perfect and it’s these skills that gave Laura the ‘it’ factor that won her, her first national crown at America’s Perfect pageant and model search this year. Laura is a fantastic role model for all women out there.

Of course, I couldn’t round up 2012 without mentioning my beautiful sister queens. The Europe and United Kingdom’s Perfect Queens have achieved a mountain of goals this year. From setting up new charity campaigns to being signed by modelling agencies, from appearing in vogue to making hundreds of appearances. Each one of my PERFECT sisters is a role model in one way or another and strives to achieve their unique goals.

So with the New Year ahead of us, it’s time to look forward and this about what you want to achieve in 2013 and who knows maybe next year you will be one of my pageant highlight

As a fully trained MAC make-up artist for the past year I’m here to share all of my favourite techniques I have learnt along the way. As being the youngest person to work in my region (at 17!) for MAC I have had the privilege of learning from the best with trainers traveling back an fourth from London and America and event team artist doing make up for gorgeous celebrities such as spokeswomen Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj.

First things first you don’t have to be a make-up artist or have a make-up kit full of designer make up to achieve the perfect look for you! Practice make’s perfect, so whilst you have sorted out that amazing wardrobe, practiced your interview and been detoxing to get that beautiful beach body next follows your make up look for the pageant.

Here’s a step to step guide to ensure you have your perfect pageant look!

Skincare

This is often a part of the make-up routine people like to forget! Everyone has different skin types, from oily, dry and combination, whatever your skin type is you must insure you’re treating the needs of your skin. The first three MUST HAVE items I would have to suggest are getting a great make-up remover, exfoliator and moisturiser.

MY FAVOURITE!

MAC Pro Eye Make-up Remover has to be on my list of must have items! This genius make up remover will ensure every last smudge of make-up is removed, from hard wearing liners to waterproof mascara this is for you. It comes in a large bottle and lasts time and time again.

TIP: Place a small amount on a cotton wool pad and gentle wipe across the eye until the make-up is removed, then turn the cotton pad over and give a final wipe. There is nothing worse than waking up to panda eyes!

DON’T FORGET!

The best way to ensure you have that gorgeous glowing skin is to make sure your keeping healthy. This doesn’t mean cutting out your fav chocolate or your Saturday night take away; it just means ensuring you’re eating well, an apple a day keeps the doctor away!

TIP: You need to make sure you are flushing out the things that are bad for your skin. Drinking 2 litres of water every day will make sure you have that perfect hydrated skin that will glow all day long. My favourite tip is to buy a bottle of water, see how many litres it holds and keep a track of how many litres you’re drinking by filling it up throughout the day.

NEVER apply make-up over the top of make-up, always wipe clear and start with a clean base to avoid that caked-on look!

Beauty Make-Up

Everyone always gets confused with how much is too much?!

Beauty Make-Up will make sure you get that flawless look.

TIP: Even though you perfect look for a night out might be that fab red lip stick and dark smokey eye for pageant perfect make up either go for:

Natural eyes with a bold lip

This is something I think looks beautiful for interview rounds or fashion rounds! Just by changing that shade of lipstick you change your whole look!

TOP TIP: For bold lips ALWAYS have the same shade liner.

Step No.1 – Fill the outline of the lip in with the lip liner

Step No.2 – Shade the whole lip in with the lip liner, this will create a plump gorgeous lip and will bring out that perfect bold shade you have chosen. Not to mention weather doing a natural lip or a bold one using this top technique will make your lip colour last and last!

Step No.3 – Carefully colour the lips in with that stunning, unique bold shade

Natural lip and smokey eye

Celebrities LOVE this look, whether on the red carpet, photo shoots or magazine covers the Natural lip and smokey eye gives that seamless timeless classic look to anyone! Celebrity Nicole Scherzinger achieves this look flawlessly.

TOP TIP:

DO adapt eye shadow, blushers and lipsticks to suit your skin tone and be aware of the lighting from the stage.

DON’T wash the lips out by placing a colour exact to the skin tone or that nude your lips disappear on stage. Opt for a plum, peach or pink tone to give that plumped up lip that’s going to look gorgeous on stage!

You don’t want to overdo your make up, you need to be aware of how the lights are going to wash the make-up out and may need to compromise on a few colours to ensure this looks great on stage.

ALWAYS work with your own natural colour palette, so if you have more olive type skin tone peach and gold are going to give you that picture-perfect look, whereas if you have more warm tones to the skin keep it a little softer, with a champagne tone and a rosy completion. In supermarkets and cosmetic stores there are always testers of the products, DON’T be afraid to use them that’s what they are there for you don’t want pale skin on your new gorgeous glow from that spray tan and equally you don’t want to have a darker face than body, this is not attractive!

Just remember practice makes perfect! Always try out different kinds of make-up and don’t be afraid to experiment to make you stand out from the crowd

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For more beauty tips and advice contact me on

http://www.facebook.com/#!/rubybow

I am very proud to announce that I am your Crown Chicks Ambassador 2012 and on this website you can see all the blogs that I post and keep up to date with what I am up to with both pageantry and my boxing career. I am so happy to update you all that I will be attending another assessment with the coaches at the English Institute Of Sport in Sheffield which is where the Olympic squad train. This is my chance to shine just like I do on stage! This is where my career starts and the road to Rio in 2016 so fingers crossed! I will definitely update you all on how that goes in March 2013.

As you all know the PERFECT pageant is just around the corner and not long left to get everything together. This blog is mainly about how to get that runway perfect body ready for PERFECT and also other pageants that you may be entering in the future. This is what I do all the time to make sure I keep in shape for both boxing and when I am rocking that runway!

I do many different exercises that work different parts of the body and tone different parts. These

exercises can be done in the gym and some can be done at home too.

Sit ups – When you start to do these make sure you start off with a low number such as 50 sit ups.

Do this in the morning and at night. When you have done this for 5 days then increase the amount you do to 70 sit ups but if you are feeling confident then do 100 in the morning and at night too. When you do reach 100 sit ups then you will start to see that your stomach will be toning up and becoming runway ready! When you do the sit ups, to get the full effect make sure you do them when you wake up in the morning and also just before you go to bed. If you want to drop a few inches off your sides then side sit ups are perfect for you! These are when you have your legs off the floor about 7 inches and have your hands behind your head and touch your right elbow to your left knee and your left elbow to your right knee and do around 50 and then when you feel comfortable you can increase the amount you do. This exercise will easily drop a few inches off your sides and ensure your body is toned to perfection for that swimwear round.

Press ups – Press ups are great for getting rid of those bingo wings and also it will decrease the

chance of you having bingo wings too! To make it easier for yourself you can do women press ups but make sure you keep your bottom down and touch the floor with your nose and do around 20 morning and night then do the press ups for 1 week then increase it to 30 then do them for 1 week then increase it to 50. So, each week increase to another 10 press ups. If you feel that you can easily do these then try the manly perfect man press ups where you can start at 30 and increase 10 press ups every week, with these press ups you can ask a friend or a parent to but a fist in front of your face and make sure your head touches their hand to ensure you get the full effect of the press ups.

Running – With running you can either go on the treadmill for 15 minutes on level 4 and press the random button so that you don’t get shin splints from running on a flat surface for 15 minutes. Once you have been doing 15 minutes on the treadmill for 2 weeks. When you start doing 15 minutes on the treadmill have it on a speed where you are doing a slow jog and then as the days go on your can increase the speed. You can then increase the time to 30 minutes and keep doing that once every day and when you start doing 30 minutes put it on a speed where you are slow jogging then when you feel comfortable doing that length of time you can increase the speed. The treadmill is designed to tone up your legs and your bottom. They are also great machines to lose weight. But if you do not have a gym near you or do not have access to one you can run on the streets but make sure there are a few hills involved and you could have someone you know driving next to you for encouragement and so that they can measure how many miles you run. When you first start running on the streets do 1.5 miles for 1 week then do 2 miles for a week and a half then after that increase it to 2.5 miles and when you feel you can do that in around 30 minutes you can increase the distance. When you are running try your best not to stop and set yourself a time target for the amount of miles that your run.

Cross Trainer – Cross Trainers are fabulous machines and are the best for weight loss. Cross trainers tone up your stomach, legs and also your arms. You could go on the cross trainer for 15 minutes holding on to the handles. Once you have done that for 1 week you can then it to 30 minutes holding on to the handles and once you feel comfortable doing 30 minutes on the cross trainer try doing 15 minutes without holding on to the handles and put your arms by your side. By not holding on you are making it harder for yourself and it will tone your body up quicker because you have to use your legs more so therefore your stomach, arms and legs will tone up quicker for that runway ready body!

Food/Diet

If you are doing these exercises to get that runway perfect body you have to watch what you are

eating to get the full effect of toning up your body and dropping a few pounds (lbs).

For breakfast the perfect breakfast is plain porridge with no sugar on. This is because it releases

energy slowly throughout the day and you will not feel that hungry and will not want to snack before lunch. If you do not like porridge then either weetabix are great and also release energy slowly.

For your tea have some meat with some vegetables and only a very small amount of carbohydrates because carbohydrates is what puts the most weight on so ideally you want to eat hardly any carbohydrates. When having tea try and eat it before 6pm because by eating after 6pm the food you eat will lie in the bottom of your stomach which is where you put the most weight on and eating after 6pm you will not be able to burn some of your tea off doing your normal day to day chores etc. But if you eat before 6pm your body will digest most of your tea before you go to bed which means you will not put much weight on and in fact you are most likely to lose more weight by simply eating your tea before 6pm.

While doing this fitness schedule do try your very best to cut out sweets, chocolate and crisps completely so then you will be able to get that runway ready body ready for PERFECT or any other pageants that you are competing in. If you do not understand what some of the exercises are then do not worry! I will also be doing a fitness video which will demonstrate all of these exercises so you will be able to do them and have that all important runway perfect body!

If you are struggling with anything or would like more tips feels free to add my Facebook account Sasha EuropesPerfect TeenAmbassador Harris and I will be more than happy to help you! Good luck getting that runway perfect body!

Lots of love from your Europe’s Perfect Teen Ambassador 2012 and also your Crown Chicks

Ambassador 2012