♕ About Me ♕

Hello everyone! *waves*

I'm Ariel, a 27-years-old make up enthusiast (aspiring make up artist), a real life mermaid & Disney lover based in Catania, Italy.

I'm here to share my love for make up and all things beauty. My blog Ariel Make Up was born at the end of March 2013 and I've never expected for it to become such an important and essential part of my world. 

Here you can find mostly my make up looks, but please note that I'm not a professional. As of now, I rely only on my skills and on the technique I managed to learn by myself throughout the years.
My looks range from wearable to artistic: I love to be free, creative and able to express myself and my personality through makeup.
I tend to do/wear very colorful looks - while nude & neutrals shades are not exactly my cup of tea. Also, "the brighter, the better" - to quote my friend and fellow blogger Misato.
Currently, my main makeup series includes The Mermaid Series (focused on mermaid makeup), the Disney series (dedicated to Disney inspired looks) and the upcoming Pokémon series (aka Pokémon inspired looks). 

I also love to talk about beauty products I use - both skincare and makeup stuff. I tend to write reviews only for the products I tested thoroughly - which takes me months, to say the least. Anyway, I like to write first impressions post meanwhile - the "Part of my World" series - as I think they're very useful, since they allow me to describe my initial consideration. Haul posts are useful as overviews, in case of new collections or a big purchase.
From time to time I include some random posts like tags (which are always so fun to write), empties (aka all the product I've used up) and seasonal favourites/most played!

I'm quite fond of natural/organic products, both for ethical and healthy reasons - but I'm definitely not an expert about ingredients. Nevertheless, I also use traditional makeup (if it doesn't cause me any reaction). But, when it comes to skincare I only use organic products.

Some useful infos about my skin/hair/eyes/etc:

Skin: very pale and cool toned (just recently got colour matched at MAC and my shade is NW15), with freckles only on my face (cheeks & nose). I do not tan during summer - I'm between type I and II on Fitzpatrick scale. My skin seems to be unable to tan - no big deal though, I like being a snow princess :p

My skin is very sensitive in general, especially to sun (I have to use SPF 50+ lotions during summer) and chemicals - like dimethicone. They can give me problems like itchiness, watering eyes or, in the worse case, irritations. (Also see the "Eyes" section below). Sometimes, though, my skin seems to tolerate them. So, when I try out new products that contain these ingredients, I do patch tests to see if any reaction occurs. Overall I need to be careful. 

My skin also ranges from normal to dry during Autum/Winter and from normal to combination during Spring/Summer. That's why it takes me a quite a long time to properly test and review the majority of beauty products: I need to try everything with different temperatures. (Another reason is that I want to give the best opinion and write the best review I can, and I can't definitely do that it in just a couple of weeks. That's where the first impressions series comes in). 

I don't get many pimples, except during my period and, even then, they're just a few.

Eyes: I have blue/green eyes (they change shade, depends mostly on the weather and lighting) and they're quite sensitive to chemicals. When they don't tolerate a product, they usually water uncontrollably - but sometimes they burn like hell. I have to pay great attention when trying out new eye products that contain ingredients like petrolatum/dimethicone. 

Because of this I tend to gravitate around natural-formulated products most of the time - higher tolerance margin, less stress for me - but sometimes I find "traditional" makeup products that I can safely use (like Too Faced Shadow Insurance, a silicone eyeprimer, or Makeup Geek's eyeshadows).
My lashes are medium to short, thick but almost invisible since they're not curly and won't stay curled even if I use an eyelash curler. That's why I am a big fan of false lashes ;D

The skin around my eyes is usually normal, though some dryness can happen from time to time. No major wrinkles right now.

Regarding my under-eye... I don't really have dark circles (I know, lucky me!), that's why I don't need any specific concealer. 

Hair: until October 2015, my hair was a natural bronde shade. Not really blonde, not really brunette. Hairdressers over the time used to tell me it was a dark blonde - but that's in the past; on October 2015 I decided to dye my hair red (copper red to be more precise), which was the shade I was born with but changed when I grew up. 

I'm not that good with DIY when it comes to hair, so I get it professionally dyed. I have to use an ammonia-free dye (yes, I'm sensitive to ammonia too, this time seriously - can cause me breathing issues). Apart from that, I use all natural/bio products for my haircare. 

My scalp is slightly oily, especially during summer. while my hair itself is normal, shiny, not too thick nor thin. 

Lips: I have very dry lips no matter what. I've resigned to the fact that's simply genetic. (I use lip balms on a daily basis and drink a lot of water. And yet...)

I have no particular sensitiveness on my lips, meaning I can use safely both natural and traditional lipsticks. Due to their dryness, I prefer creamy, nourishing formulas.

You can find & reach me on:

Instagram: @arielmakeup

Twitter: @arielmakeup

Pinterest: @arielmakeup

Bloglovin: @arielmakeup

(I am not on Facebook - I don't like it - nor on Snapchat - Instagram Stories in more than enough XD)

Mermaid kisses and starfish wishes ♥