Bear with me!!!

Hiya lovelies 

I hope you are all keeping well and have had a fab Christmas!

I just wanted to do a quick post to apologise for my lack of posts lately! I have had rather a manic few weeks and didn't want to put up half-arsed (for want of a better phrase!!) posts. 

I have got several posts planned and will hopefully be able to churn them all out once I get new year out of the way! There will hopefully be some new reviews, make up looks and a look at what beauty bits I received for Christmas! 

All I ask is that you all bear with me for the time being!! 

Hope you all have a happy new year! 

Lots of love

Xoxoxo

New Make Up

Hiya Lovelies :)

Here's my second blog post of the weekend.

I thought I would talk about a couple of new (to me) products I that I have tried recently.
They are both incredibly affordable!!

Up first is the Miss Sporty So Matte Perfect Stay Foundation.

This foundation was really cheap from Superdrug and I thought I would try it as I didn't have a matte foundation and was relying on lots of powder to mattify my other foundation.

I bought the palest shade they did to go with my skin tone and it does match very well!

The formula is rather wet and runny when you dispense it so a little of it does go a long way! It does thicken a little as it dries and it does have a lovely matte finish. I couldn't say whether it does last 14hrs like it says on the bottle but it does last a long time.

For a cheap high street foundation I would say it is an incredibly good product and if you're strapped for cash would definitely recommend buying it!




The second new product I tried was the MUA extreme volume Mascara in Black. I wanted to try this as I have been so amazed with the standard of other MUA products.

I wanted to try and volumize my already long eyelashes so they looked fuller and this mascara was incredibly affordable.

For a mascara I would also say that it smells amazing! (Is it weird commenting on the smell of a mascara???)

The brush is really large and pulls up your lashes adding volume. The formula itself however is rather thick and gloopy and you really have to work it into your lashes!!

I also found that being a glasses wearer, this product did have a tendency to flake off into my eyes when I wear my glasses with it!! :(

As a really cheap mascara I was impressed with it on the whole, but will probably stick to wearing it when I don't wear my glasses!!


hope you enjoyed this and found it helpful!

Keep Smiling!!

xoxo

My November favourites!!

Hiya lovelies :)

I am SO sorry I didn't post anything last weekend, I had such a manic weekend I didn't get time to write a blog post. :( So to make up for it, this week I shall do two blog posts, the first of which are my November favourites!

I thought I would share with you some essential items I loved throughout November, and will continue to use all winter long!!

First up is my lovely Lavendar Cosy Microwave Warmer by Intelex that I purchased from Amazon.

 Now I chose this cute little hippo because it looked adorable and is also slightly more original than a bear or a puppy or whatever. I find that at this time of year, as the temperature drops I really feel the cold and find it so hard to warm up. This little fella (That I have named Hector) is perfect for warming me up. All you need to do is stick him in the microwave for a couple of minutes and he's lovely and warm and ready to cuddle. Also he is filled with lavender which when warm smells lovely and can help you get off to sleep. I would thoroughly recommend getting one of these if you do feel the cold as it's a bit nicer than cuddling a hot water bottle. I also find it is useful for when you get stomach cramps as the heat tends to ease the cramps. I love this little fella and will continue to snuggle with him until it starts to warm up again.


My next favourite item is my brand new iPhone 5 Case that I also found on Amazon. I decided that it was time to embrace my inner girly girl and get this beautiful case for my phone.

 I absolutely love this case as it's very girly but is also very vibrant at the same time and cheers me up on dull wintery days. My only concern was the lace getting dirty, but I coated it a couple of times with clear nail polish and that seemed to do the trick. Also the pearls do fall off sometimes when my phone is at the bottom of my handbag, but I just glue them back on with nail glue. The case itself was so cheap that you could always buy another one when this one gets dirty or ruined and they have plenty of choice on amazon so there is a colour for every girly girl.

Up next from amazon I have been loving their vintage looking jewellery this month, especially the earrings. There were so many bargains to be had and all with free or extremely cheap shipping.

They came all the way from Hong Kong and I had to wait a little while for them to come but I love them!

They mostly came with little rubber butterfly backs which can easily and cheaply be replaced if lost.

I got several different earrings which will go with many outfits. I cannot wait to wear the leopard print ones at Christmas!!






Next, is a Perfume and body spray that I used to use when I was in high school. I recently needed some in a hurry and grabbed it when I was in Superdrug and since then have completely fallen back in love with it.

 The So...? Kiss Me perfume and body spray is extremely affordable and smells divine. It has an almost vanilla scent to it which is so subtle and not too potent. I LOVE it and I spray all my scarves with it also so when I put them on they smell lush!

Next I have particularly enjoyed burning candles in my room all November as they produce a lovely smell and also provide a little bit of extra warmth. Usually I would have been burning very christmassy candles which would smell gingery or of cinnamon, but I have been loving my Bahama Breeze Yankee Candle so much lately.

 It smells so fruity and lovely (and coordinates perfectly with my bedroom!!) and has lasted me for so long!! (I think I purchased it around Easter time) Candles are a MUST this time of year!!!

The next bunch of items are my skincare regime that I do morning an night.

I find that as the weather gets much colder, my skin dries out which is never good and in trying to combat that you apply lots of moisturising products which in turn can cause the rest of my skin to get clogged up and nasty breakouts occur. These Simple skincare products are fab for my skin as they are so rich with moisturising properties that my skin doesn't dry out, but they are also not overly oily so I don't get clogged pores. They are such affordable products and work so well!!

I also find that at this time of year that I am using a lot more heat on my hair which dries it out and makes the ends split. In order to prevent this I have been using these conditioning products after washing my hair and before blow drying it.

They are both by Herbal Essences and smell lovely. The Bee Strong leave in conditioner helps to strengthen your hair and prevent breakage whilst the  Beautiful Ends cream helps protect the hair against split ends. Everyone should have luscious locks in winter!

Finally, I have been loving red nails this November. As it gets colder and tans (however little) fade I find a bold red nail looks brilliant. It compliments pale skin tones like mine especially well.

Mine are Gelish and have been on a few weeks now (that's why they look like they've grown out a little!!) but I love them and especially the fine red glitter top coat that was also used!

So there are my November favourites! I hope you have enjoyed them!

Take care

xoxo

My Favourite Brushes!

Hiya lovelies :)

Hope you're all keeping well! I've been full of cold all week!! :(

Just thought I would do a quick post about my favourite make-up brushes that I use all the time!

Please excuse the state of my brushes, I have used them today and they are in need of a clean!!

As I have very limited funds, most of my brushes have to be fairly cheap and affordable! (If I had enough money for MAC ones I would buy them by the shed-load!) and although they are heap brushed I find the quality has more often than not impressed me!

My first four brushes are probably the first proper make-up brushes I ever brought. They are by Barbara Daly make-up and I got them in a set from Tesco.
The set initially came with an eyebrow brush as well, but that broke and went to the great make-up bag in the sky!

These brushes were incredibly affordable (I think they were about £13 for the set) and I've had them for about 3 or 4 years and they have hardly shed or become misshapen.

The brushes feel so soft and feel lovely on your face.

The smallest of the 4 brushes I presume was a lip brush but I never had any need for a lip brush so instead I use it as a small eye brush for applying the darkest colours to the outer corners of my eyes.

The eye shadow brush is a brilliant all-rounder brush for your eyes, its so fluffy so is fab for blending, the flat faces on the brush make it excellent for packing colour onto your eyelids and the tapered end means it is also fab for working colour into the socket lines.

The foundation brush is your generic foundation brush, there's nothing particularly special about it but it does it's job and it does it well and also feels lovely and soft on your face.

The big fluffy powder brush has to be my favourite from the set. I use it for applying powder to my face and also for blending blushers and bronzers into my foundation. It is so soft and is amazing for blending. It hardly ever sheds its bristles so you don;t have to worry about spreading unsightly bristles all over your face.


The next load of brushes I got in a set from Superdrug in the January sales a couple of years ago (can't remember how much for, Sorry!!!) The set was much bigger but as I sorted through my brushes over the years I have thrown out the ones I don't particularly like or don't use.

These brushes aren't the same quality as the ones above, I got what I paid for but they are still fantastic brushes and also hardly shed their bristles.

The eyebrow brush and comb are just your generic brush, it does what it should, I was just grateful for it after my Barbara Daly one broke!

The angled eye brush is fab. It is so soft and you could use it for applying eye shadow, eyeliner or applying colour to your eyebrows. I use mine to apply the brown powder from my MUA brow kit to my eyebrows and it does the job perfectly!

The flat eye shadow brush does a fab job of packing colour onto your eyelids.

The blush brush if perfect for applying blusher to the apples of your cheeks. Because it isn't such a large fluffy brush it allows you to start small with your colour and build it up if you feel the need to do so.

Up next are my AVON brushes. I saw these on sale in various AVON catalogs and figured I must give them a try. They were fairly affordable but a little more pricey than the sets above because you have to buy them individually. They brushes are made of synthetic black fibre and haven't shedded for me yet.

The angled brush is the one that I use for applying gel eyeliner to my eyes. I like that it has a long handle so you can have a better grip of the brush.

The flat eye shadow brush with smudger tip is another of my most favourite brushes because the flat brush is another good one for packing colour onto your eyelids whilst the smudger tip is good for smudging it under your eyelids or even smudging eyeliner along both lash lines.

The angled  powder brush is lovely and soft and is very good for contouring your face.

The foundation brush is just another generic foundation brush that blends the product really well into your face.

The powder brush is lovely and soft and I like to use it for applying blusher to my cheeks.


The next brushes in my collection are ones that I saw when shopping at Lakeside and just had to buy when I was shopping in the huge Primark that they have there. I think the brushes cost me about £6/£8 and they are just fabulous!!!

There is another brush in this set which is another small flat eye shadow brush that I do use for applying concealer, but I seem to have misplaced it!!! :(

The fluffy blending brush is brilliant!! I love using this to blend out eye shadow that I have already applied to my eyelids.

The rounded, pencil type brush is good for working eye shadow through your socket line with its stiff bristles.

The big powder brush is another big fluffy brush but I love it because of the diamantes on the handle, you have to apply powder in style!!!



My next brush is possibly one of my oldest brushes that is still going strong (the wooden handle did break but I glued it back together!!) I bought it from Poundland I believe when I first got into makeup years and years ago!

 I love this brush so much! I like to use it for applying bronzer as its so fluffy and creates a beautifully bronzed face!
















Finally, a few weeks ago I bought a mahoosive 30 piece brush set off amazon for about £11 and although the quality of some of the bigger brushes isn't the best (some shed quite badly!!), overall I am incredibly impressed with this brush set and cannot wait to get stuck in and try all the brushes out!!

Hope you've all enjoyed reading!!!

Keep smiling and stay beautiful!!!

xoxo

Autumnal Make Up Look

Hiya Lovelies :)

How are you all?

I thought it was time that I had a play with some makeup and created this lovely make up look. It's using lots of shimmery coppers and browns which remind me of all of the beautiful autumnal colours we are seeing in the trees at the moment.

Once again sorry for the poor quality of the photos, I had to use my iPhone again as I still haven't gotten around to charging up my good camera! Maybe next time I post pictures or do a make up look I will use my better camera so you can all enjoy higher quality pictures! It's also a grey miserable day here in England today so the lighting wasn't idea for the photos either!!

So I was having a look through my make up drawer to see what I could find to have a play around with today and found the MUA Professional Eyeshadow Trio in Chocolate Box which gives three shimmery chocolatey brown shades.

 So I started by applying my Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation in Ivory and concealing my face using my MUA Professional Pro-Base Conceal & Brighten Kit in Porcelain- Beige.

I then set my base using my MUA pressed powder in Shade 1.

Then I did a little contouring of my cheek bones using MUA's Bronzed Perfection Bronzer by sweeping it under my cheekbones.

I then filled in my eyebrows using MUA's Pro-Brow Ultimate eyebrow kit using the wax to shape the brows then the darkest brown shade powder to fill the brows in.

I began work on the eyes.

I took the MUA Trio and used the lightest shade on a flat eyeshadow brush and packed it on all over the eye lid up to the socket line. I then blended it with a clean fluffy blending brush to remove any harsh lines.

I then took the middle brow tone on another flat eyeshadow brush and put it on the outer third of the eyelid and also ran it through the socket line and blended with the same fluffy make up brush I had used before.

I then took the darkest of all the three shades and blended into the outer corner of the eye to give it some depth and once again blended it with the fluffy brush to soften any harsh lines.

Then I took an angled eyeliner brush and applied the three shades to the lower lash line. The lightest shade on the inner third, the second tone on the middle third and the darkest shade on the outer third.

I then lined the upper water line with my Bourjois Contour Clubbing Waterproof pencil in Atomic Black.

I then took my Collection Extreme 24hr Felt Tip Liner and lined my eyes, not doing anything too dramatic or full on to avoid it taking the attention away from the eyeshadow. 

I then curled my eyelashes and applied a coat of Barry M's Bold Black Waterproof Mascara which is my favourite mascara at the moment!

I applied this to the upper and lower lashes. 

This is the finished effect I created on my eyes.


I then swept a little of Yes Love's Blush in shade 2 (which I got for a Euro on a french market!!) on the apples of my cheeks.

I then completed my look with Fashionista's Lipstick in Touch Up that I spoke about on my last blog post. I chose this because it gives a beautiful natural colour to the lips as I didn't want anything too full on.

And here we have it, my finished autumnal make up look using the MUA Chocolate Box Trio. I hope you like it!! :)

 See You Soon!!

xoxo

My Lipstick Collection

Hi Guys!!

Hope you're all well!
As I promised, here is a look into my always expanding lipstick collection.

Apologies for the quality of the photos, I was using my iPhone and the light was fading rapidly (bloody British wintertime!)

I shall start with my AVON lipsticks as I have so many!! I love AVON Colortrend lipsticks as they just glide onto the lips and the colour payoff is brilliant. Also they are incredibly affordable, especially if you manage to catch them when they are on clearance! The only downside... they don't taste particularly nice but who eats lipstick anyway...

First up are 2 gorgeous lipsticks from the limited edition Colortrend  Kiss 'n' Go collection. They are all jungle/ wilderness themed which means the packaging looks amazing with a bright pink leopard and zebra print pattern on the lid.

First up is the shade Jungle Fever which is a stunning corally-red lipstick.

I love this shade because it's a little more subtle than a ruby red or scarlet tone lipstick, yet it still packs a punch!!












Next is the shade Lioness which is a slightly shimmery nude colour lipstick.

This shade is gorgeous because it is incredibly subtle but you still get a little bit of shimmer with it. I imagine this would look really lovely with a dark smoky eye where you don't want anything too full-on on your lips.











Now onto my regular Colortrend Kiss 'n' Go lipsticks. Be prepared, there are quite a few!!!
The first three I ever bought are called Rich Ruby, Passion and Flirt.

Rich Ruby is a beautiful red lipstick which is more blue/purply toned than scarlet toned.

I really like this red lipstick, the colour looks fab with my pale skin tone.








Next is Passion which is a lovely pinky-coral toned lipstick which is fab for summertime.

This is a lovely bright colour for summer. It's funky and feminine and very bright!







Next up is Flirt which has been a favourite of mine all summer. It's a slightly shimmery orangey-coral lipstick.

This lipstick was perfect for summer and looks fab with a bit of a tan. It's not too bright or too orangey. I just love it!









Next up are my more recent AVON purchases! (Sorry there's so many to go through!!!)
I tried to go a little more autumnal with these shades so I had some lipstick to match the season.

First up is Glisten which is a shimmery reddy-coppery shade with a little hint of glitter.

I love the autumnal feel this coppery lipstick gives and the addition of glitter is perfect if you're going on a night out or to a party.









Next up is gleam which is a lovely shimmery reddy-pink shade and like Glisten also has the addition of glitter.

Once again this shade is perfect for the party season but what I also love about this shade is that it is a very subtle lipstick and the red isn't too overpowering.








Up next is Beige Star which is a lovely shimmery nude lipstick. The shade is slightly darker than lioness.

This shimmery nude creates a beautiful neutral lip that would also look good with darker eyes.











For my last two colours I kind of went a little crazy but I HAD to have these colours!

First up is Doll Pink which is a lush bright pink lipstick.

I love this barbie pink lipstick, it's a colour that certainly packs a punch!!







Lastly from my AVON lipsticks is a lovely bright red lipstick called Poppy Love.

This is a gorgeous vibrant red lipstick which would create a classically beautiful make-up look when presented with a neutral eye with cat-flicked eyeliner.









Nearly there guys! You're over the hump and on the home stretch now! As well as AVON I have a few other brands that I love buying lipstick from.

MUA is one of my all time favourite make-up brands. Everything is hugely affordable and the quality sometimes matches the high end make-up brands.
I have recently ventured into trying their lipsticks (at £1 I didn't see any harm in giving them a go!!) They are creamy and apply beautifully!

The first lipstick I bought was Nectar (Shade 16) which is an orangey-peach tone.

I have loved this shade all summer long and it's another one that looks really good with a tan!







Having loved this lipstick I recently purchased one of MUA's matte lipsticks in Peachy Keen which is a matte peach shade

.I cannot wait to wear this subtle peach lipstick out and about (It only arrived in the post today!!) It looks and smells lovely!







Whilst on the MUA website (I'll put a link at the end of the post!) I also came across another affordable brand called Fashionista and decided to give them a try. I bought three shades and am very impressed with them all. They feel really moisturising and the colours glide on easily.

The first two are neutral, nude shades. The darker of the two is called Style Guide.

I like that the lips are still neutral but the colour gives a darker colour to the lips.






The lighter nude shade is called Touch Up.

Although is looks similar to Style Guide, this shade gives a more natural fleshy tone to your lips.





Also I got a shade called How Do I Look which is a lovely rosy pink colour.

This colour is just beautiful and for a pink lipstick, gives a sheer glossy finish.




I entered a competition and won one of Collection's DeLuxe lipsticks. The colour is gorgeous and gives a beautiful glossy finish. The shade is called Speakeasy (04) and is another lovely rosy pink colour.

I love that this pink tone is more of a purpley-pink. Its a lot more pigmented than the fashionista pink shade so the colour is more intense.









Last Christmas I was given a Boots No.7 gift set which featured a lipstick from the Moisture Drench range.
The lipstick is in the shade Cameo.

This shade is a lovely shimmery pinky-plum colour which gives a subtle pink shimmer to your lips.









FINALLY!! (sorry for the long post guys!) After hearing so many good things about this product from beauty bloggers and friends this summer, I caved in and got a Bourjois Colour Boost Lip Crayon in the shade Orange Punch. I was slightly wary given the bright orange packaging but the actual colour of the lip crayon is less orange and slightly pinky.

I love that you can vary how intense the colour is with this product. Gloss it over your lips for a slight colour or build it up for a more intense corally-orange. I just love this product!










Well there you go guys, I hope you enjoyed a glance at my lipstick collection. I shall keep you all posted as it grows and expands. If there is anything you recommend me trying or any of my other make-up that you want to see let me know!

As promised here is the link to the MUA Website (Happy Shopping!)
http://www.muastore.co.uk/

and also you can buy AVON products online at

http://avonshop.co.uk/shop/default.asp?

Collection and Bourjois products are available at Superdug and Boots (where you will also find No.7)

Stay Happy and Keep Smiling

xoxo