A (late) September Favourites!

Hey! Many apologies for a bit of a lull on the blogging front, I've just started back up at Uni for 2nd year and there's been so much going on with (re)freshers and my course loads and society duties but I should be back on track from now. Today I'm going to share with you some things I've been loving in September.

Quite a small amount of products this month, I've found a really good lot of products which I've been using everyday for the past few months and I've also been living on a tight budget so I haven't been buying as many new things as I usually do - hopefully should be getting something sorted and having a look around soon for some new buys though!

Origins Zero Oil Moisture Lotion: My skin has been a bit of a big oily mess recently so I decided it was time to do something about it! I picked this up after hearing a few good recommendations about Origins skincare and decided to give this ago. It's really, really great and I'm going to be doing a full review on this next week so keep an eye out for that.

Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation: I love, love, LOVE this foundation. It is seriously so good, I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a light, natural coverage. Read my full review of this here.

Naked Rescue Intensive Care Conditioner: It's always been so hard to find a cruelty-free conditioner for a budget price tag, but this is a new range that has appeared in Boots in the past few months. I've also tried one of their shampoos, which just smelt divine but this conditioner is the one I'm really impressed by and have been using alternately with my LUSH 'Retread'. 

Benefit Hoola Bronzer: It's getting into the autumn months and the nights are getting darker already! I've definitely been needing to crack out the bronzer to give my face some degree of colour. I love Hoola but it is getting a bit too dark for me. Any good recommendations for me guys?

No7 Amazing Eyes Pencil in '10 Brown: I've really been using this a lot recently. Black kohl can be quite harsh and dramatic sometimes, especially when you want quite a natural look as I often do. This one is really great as it's quite soft and easy to apply. 

MAC Eyeshadow in 'Jest': I've been reaching for this beauty so much recently, I did a post on this eyeshadow paired with MAC's wedge which I will link here. This is such a pretty and easy look to do in the morning, and one of my favourite combinations to use.

Rimmel Kate Collection in shade 01: This is a classic true red colour, and I've had this in my bag nearly all of this month. It's so great to whip out and make any make-up look appear more dramatic immediately. The formulation is great for a drugstore lipstick and I really, really like this.

Revlon Nail Enamel in 'Lilac Pastelle': The bottle on this is horrendously worn down because I bought it in a market for £1 (unopened). It's a beautiful light purple colour and really cute to wear.

China Glaze Nail Lacquer in 'For Audrey': I was saving this little gem for me to purchase when I finished placement and was finally allowed to wear nail polish again! It had been in my amazon basket for weeks and I finally ordered it this month. It's one of China Glaze's most famous colours and I can see why. I'm wearing it on my nails right now and I've been alternating between this shade and the Revlon 'Lilac Pastelle' all of this month. Love it!

That's it for this month folks! Next post should be up this week :)

MAC 'Jest' & 'Wedge'

I thought I'd share with you one of my favourite eyeshadow combinations for a really natural, neutral smokey eye. I have blue-grey eyes so I tend to go for brown/gold/pink colours as these tend to look the nicest on my eyes, and really makes them 'pop'.

I've had 'Wedge' for quite a while and use this often with my beloved NARS* 'Alhambra' Eyeshadow Duo but I recently purchased 'Jest' and these two colours just look so beautiful together. 'Wedge' is a really natural, light brown matte colour that is great for adding shape and definition through the crease. 'Jest' is a stunning golden-pinky-peach colour in a frost finish that is so, so lovely and has enough shimmer in it to catch the light.

I use a neutral cream eyeshadow such as MAC* Paintpot in 'Painterly' as a primer then sweep 'Jest' all over the lid. I then apply 'Wedge' through the crease and blend this towards the outer corners. It's a really natural but gives a great smokey texture and finish to my eye. It's so simple, yet so effective!

August Favourites!

I know, a very late August favourites but these are the products I have been really enjoying this month. I've been going for a very natural look this month as I've been on placement for nearly all of it and so, while I am allowed to use make-up, it's not necessarily been appropriate to wear a lot of it. 

Soap and Glory 'Hand Food': This has been such a life-saver this month! If anyone works in a hospital or has spent a lot of time in hospital, then you'll know about the spirogel that needs to be applied before entering or leaving a ward. This has been completely destroying the skin on my hands and this doesn't make it completely relieved, but is definitely helping to protect my skin and make it feel nice and soft. The smell is so nice too! I'm going to be doing a full review on this soon.

Real Techniques 'Blush Brush': I got this brush for my birthday and I've used it every day since to apply my blusher. It's tapered and so the precision is great, it doesn't deposit too much product on your face and is great for blending. It's so soft and doesn't have any fallout either. I love it.

Focus Dailies One-Day Contacts: This is a weird one, I know! I don't normally wear contacts as my eyesight is not that bad but I decided to get some for placement as if I am trying to see things such as ward signs from far away and I don't have my glasses on then it would give me a headache and I just generally thought it would be easier for placement. These contacts are so easy to use and I can wear them for so long without my eyes getting irritated or dry. 

No7 'Fanomenal Lashes' Mascara: I've done a review on this mascara already so you can check that out here, but I generally love this mascara and I've been using it everyday for the past few weeks.

Revlon ColourStay 'Smoky Shadow Stick': When I first got this, I really didn't like it. I just didn't think much of it and I didn't think it was gonna do much. Nothing particularly against the product, but I just didn't really see the point of it almost? But I've tried it a few times and eventually found a great way to wear it, and I can blend this in so well to wear in the day. I don't think it gives a smokey eye as such, but it does have a lovely effect and I have been wearing it a lot. 

MAC* 'Well Dressed' Blusher: This is such a great natural blush that I think everyone should have it their make-up bag. It's the perfect light pearly pink shade that is so buildable and beautiful to wear every day.

NARS* 'Alhambra' Eyeshadow Duo: I featured this in a haul a few months ago, and since then I've been wearing it so much! It is really, really stunning and NARS eyeshadows are one of the best on the market. Their quality is incredible and all the colours are beautiful. I have been wearing the peachy-pink shade of this duo the most and this looks lush with blue eyes!

MAC* Paintpot in 'Painterly' (not pictured above): This is a great natural beige shade that can be used as either a base for shadow or on it's own as a very neutral your-skin-but-better shade. Love it!

Burts Bees Lipbalm: This is a favourite every month really as it is my absolute, all time favourite lipbalm but this month I could not have lived without it! My lips have been so dry, the wards are so so hot and humid and this has been an absolute saviour. 

Topshop 'Whimsical' Lipstick: This is a really pretty peach-pink shade lipstick which is great for summer. Topshop have a great formula for their lipsticks and this is one of my favourite shades of theirs. They've brought out a few new shades which I shall have to go and check out!

Revlon Lip Butter in 'Strawberry Shortcake': When these first came out, I was obsessed with the Rasberry Pie shade of the lip butters but more recently I've been wearing this really cute pearly pink shade. There's not much I can say about the lip butters that you probably haven't already heard, but they are so so great. Definitely check them out!

Tangle Teezer: I've written a full review on this which I will link here, but I generally have been obsessed with this recently. It's great if you have thick hair that does get tangled easily like mine. 

Thats all from me! I will see you soon.

Review | Clinique Airbrush Concealer!

As an insomniac, I'm always on the hunt for a really great under eye concealer. I find a lot of them don't have a huge amount of coverage in them and mainly work to illuminate your under eye skin, which is great - except when you have dark circles to cover. I have tried Benefits Erase Paste, which was too cakey, and MAC* Studio Fix, which is too drying on my under eye skin. I used to use Collection 2000 Illumination Touch Concealer which worked pretty well and this is the one I was using when I found the subject of this review; the holy grail aka Clinique's Airbrush Concealer.

This is without a doubt, my favourite under eye concealer and something that I don't think I could go without. If ever I woke up and all my make-up had mysteriously vanished, this would be one of the first things I would rush out and by (btw, let me know below if you would like me to do that tag!). I've never given much thought to Clinique's make-up. I like their skin care but have never found myself drawn to their cosmetic range. It was actually a concealer that my mum was using and she said the shade was too light for her. I was using the Collection 2000 one at the time and I said mine was too dark for me. So we swapped and both ended up loving the each others concealers, funny isn't it?!

I have since repurchased this and I definitely would again. It gives such great coverage without caking or looking too heavy and also brightens up your eyes so much. It blends in beautifully and the shade I used which is 01 Fair is a perfect match for my skin. I use this under my eyes and blend it down around my nose where I get a fair amount of redness and it covers any blemishes up easily. Go and buy it right now! Go on, go!

Review: Mac 'Mythology' Eyeshadow

Today I'm going to be telling you guys about one of my absolute FAVOURITE MAC* eyeshadows. 'Mythology' is a beautiful burnt-pinky-copper colour with it's fair share of glitter. If you have blue eyes like me, you'll know that pink/orange shades are one of the most flattering colours to wear and I find when I wear this shade, it really makes my eyes 'pop'. I don't think I would wear this in the day as it is quite bright but I love wearing it in the nights, with a matt brown colour in the crease. You will need a primer with this shade, I often use a MAC* Paintpot in 'Painterly' or occasionally 'Indianwood' to create a really intense look. 

Taken at a funny angle sorry!

I bought this in the pot as I don't have a MAC Pallette but I think I might have to get one, as I'm creating quite a collection now!

 I find it doesn't come out as shockingly bright as it appears in the pot, but it is easily to build up to a lovely deep colour. It's a Lustre finish and has a slight gold sheen in it which you can see when it catches the light. 

MAC 'Snob' Dupes!

Around October time last year, I lost my beloved MAC* 'Snob'. I was visiting a friend in Exeter and I either lost it in a club or it fell out of my bag in the room I was staying in and rolled under something. Either way, I was without 'Snob'.

Being a poor student and being especially poor with Christmas and birthdays coming up, I really couldn't justify buying a replacement. So instead, I put it on my Christmas list and was tragically without it for nearly two months. It was a very traumatic time for me. I'm sure you'll understand.

Anywhoo, I knew I'd need some sort of blue-toned pink to compensate the loss 'Snob' left in my life, so I went on a little search for a dupe. I ended up buying two lipsticks which I felt matched the shade fairly well and these two were: Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in 006 'Pink Blush' (£6.99) and Natural Collection Lipstick in 'Pink Mallow' (£1.99). 

Here's what they look like in the tube:

As you can see, not very similar at all! But when swatched on my arm:

They look a bit more similar. Rimmels 'Pink Blush' is a lighter, sheerer and has warmer undertones. I've always stayed away Rimmel lipsticks, not because of the quality, but because the taste is so horrible! Natural Collection's 'Pink Mallow' is nearer the colour but, again, lacks the blue undertones that 'Snob' contains. It's lasting power is not brilliant but, for £1.99, what would do you expect? 

Now, I know many people love the shade of 'Snob' but find it hard to wear, because of those blue undertones. To those people, try either one of these lipsticks! I personally prefer 'Pink Mallow', because the colour is closer, it's cheaper and it has a nicer, creamier formula. 

FUNNY STORY (sort of):

I actually lost my MAC 'Snob' AGAIN earlier this year, and convinced myself that I was jinxed. I said "If I can't find it, I am not re-buying it again! It's just not meant to be!" 

I eventually found it hiding under my bed, hidden by my duvet cover. I never would have seen it, had I not caught a tiny glimpse of it in my mirror when adjusting my duvet. Sneaky 'Snob'.

Mini Beauty Haul & Announcement!!

This was fuuun :) I've been on a spending ban for so long, it was nice to treat myself to a few things - and finally pick up this NARS* eyeshadow duo I had been eying up!

John Lewis was the first place I hit - I swatched a few eyeshadows but this one had been calling out to me for a while. It's called Alhambra and retailed for £24, I paid £21.60 and John Lewis had 10% off beauty. It was between this and Isolde (which is next on the list) but I thought I would get more wear out of these neutral peach shades for the summer. Both shades are shimmery, but one side is a natural pinky-peach and the other is a golden peach shade. They compliment each other perfectly and are beautiful enough to use separately. I also tried out the NARS Laguna bronzer but it didn't look too good on me! Although that might have been the 8 hour shift in the heat!

NARS* Eyeshadow Duo in 'Alhambra'

I went to MAC* then as I really wanted a nice matt brown shade for the crease - I was looking for something like Cork, but then I tried out Wedge on the back of my hand and really really liked it. It's surprising as I'd never really liked the look of it online. Thankfully, the eyeshadows in MAC haven't gone up in price along with the lipsticks and they are still £12.

Finally, I popped into LUSH to check out their new make-up and to get a new pot for my Retread conditioner, as my mother knocked mine off the shelf and a big chunk broke off the bottom! LUSH handed me over a replacement pot to decant my conditioner into without delay, they are all so lovely. I had a look at their make-up line, but nothing particularly 'wowed' me and leapt off the shelf. There were a few nice lip colours but £14.50 is a lot of money and I don't have endless amounts of money. I buy a lot of make-up yes, but things I've looked at a lot and things that I know I'm going to use a lot. So nothing stopped me in my tracks, but I will have a proper look and try and get a few things to review them for you guys. While I was there, I picked up another massage bar as my beloved Therapy will be no more soon. I bought 'Peace' this time - it has a very earthy, woody smell, rather than the orange-cocoay smell of Therapy. I believe I paid £6.95 for it.

That's it for now, I should be picking up a few things over the next few weeks - if there's anything in particular you want me to review, let me know in the comments and I will try my hardest to get it done :)


EXCITING NEWS:

I know I'm a long way off, but if I can get to 50 subscribers, I will be doing a giveaway of either: a MAC* Lipstick or a Chanel Nail Varnish. Possibly limited edition! You will have to be subscribed to my blog to enter so make sure you do!

Khol Eyeliner | Topshop 'Coal' vs. MAC 'Smoulder'

Khol eyeliner is a staple in any make-up bag - it can be applied subtly in the day to define the eyes, or smudges to give a sexy smokey eye in the evening. That's why many people, including myself, thought it always needed to come with a hefty price-tag. But is this right?

I'd always heard so many good things about MAC 'Smoulder' Khol Liner, with reviews saying how it was ''the blackest black you'll ever use'' and how "creamy and easy to work with it was" so I decided to order it a few months ago. I was really excited for it to come and when it finally did, I was so disappointed. It's not bad per see, but I don't really consider it any higher quality than a Rimmel eyeliner and considering it retails for £14, I really expected a lot more! I tried to use it a few times, and each time I found the pigmentation poor and that it faded really quickly.

Then a few weeks later, I was browsing the Topshop make-up section in Oxford Street and happened to come across their Khol Eye Pencil is 'Coal' and swatched it on my hand. Imagine my astonishment when it came out a beautifully intense black and the pricetag was £4 - a whole £10 less than MAC's! This one has great lasting power on my eyes and, yes, it does smudge a little bit if you rub at your eyes but the main bulk of the liner stays put. If you were using this to create a softened, smokey eye, this is actually a bonus and the MAC pencil doesn't smudge at all. 

The Topshop pencil applies much softer, I often found the MAC pencil dragged across my eyes and was a little uncomfortable to apply in my waterline. 

Topshop - £4 for 1.27g

MAC - £14 for 1.45g

Left: MAC, Right: Topshop

As you can see in the above picture, the Topshop liner gives a much more intense black compared to MAC, and I had to go over the MAC Pencil a few times to fill it in!

Following one smudge with my finger

Both pencils have smudged but the Topshop one still has the bulk of the liner where applied, whereas the MAC one seems to have lost what little colour it had to start with. I don't know if the MAC Pencil I got was defective, or if the pencil itself is just extremely overrated. Let me know in the comments below if you have used either pencils and what you thought?

What make-up I took to Rome!

Hi everyone! So I thought I would do this post on what make-up I took to Rome because I thought it'd be quite interesting for you all to read. The reason for this being, I only went for three nights and decided not to pay the extortionate fee of £25 to check a bag in and instead, to just take hand luggage. This is all very well and good, except there is a limit to the liquids and therefore, the amount of make-up you can take with you. For those who don't know, you can only take a maximum of 1L, and each individual item cannot be more than 100ml and they must all fit comfortably into one 20x20cm plastic bag! For a beauty lover such as myself, it's a bit of a nightmare! But I managed to do it! My mother (who I went with) and I spent ages sorting out what we would take, what we could share - for example, I took most of the make-up and she took most of the skincare, because she has about a million samples already - and what we would have to do without.

So I thought it would make quite an interesting blog post, a sort of 'beauty-essentials' as you will because I took all these and genuinely didn't find myself wanting for more or wishing I had brought something different. I've split this post up into what I took in my little plastic bag, and then into what I brought in solid form to go with them.

LIQUIDS:

So first things first, we have my Chanel Vitalumiere foundation in shade B10. Of course I took this, I couldn't not! It's my absolute favourite foundation at the moment and it's just perfect for a holiday. It's super light and feels like you're wearing nothing at all, and lasts all day - even through a day of running around Rome sightseeing in 35 degree heat!

Next I took two concealers - Clinique Airbrush Concealer in 01 Fair and MAC Studio Fix in NW20. In all honestly, I had only planned to take the Clinique one but popped the MAC one in last minute, simply because I had a bit of room in my plastic bag! I used both of them, although I had to be careful to keep the MAC one out of the sun as it did start to go very melty in the heat, although in reality, this is quite a chalky concealer so it didn't really do much harm!

I also brought Benefit BROWzings in shade Light. For me, this was a no-brainer, although it is slightly annoying that this had to go in my bag as it is mainly a powder, but the coloured wax counts as liquid and I didn't want to take any chances and have to see any of my make-up thrown away at Security. I don't think I could have emotionally coped with that!

I also had to bring this mini bottle of suncream. This is just from Boots - it's the Soltan Factor 50 Spray Suncream. Yeah, not much to say about this really! 

I decided, after much deliberation, to bring my MAC Paint Pot in Painterly. I absolutely LOVE these, and I also have Indianwood, which I wanted to bring but decided that as Painterly is that lovely nude, 'your skin but better' shade, that I would use it more as a neutral colour in the day, and also as a base for other eyeshadows.

Sorry for terrible quality!

For mascara, I had no choice but to bring my favourite mascara of the moment which is the No7 Exquisite Curl Mascara. No7 in general doesn't really do it for me and I think this mascara is the first thing I have bought from them in quite a while but I do enjoy it very much. If you have quite straight lashes like myself, this works wonders!

On to the lipsticks! This was by far the hardest decision, as anyone who knows me will tell you that lipsticks are my biggest weakness - I'm forever buying them! I'm having to stop myself buying the Revlon Lip Stains at the moment even though I want them SO MUCH but I don't need them and I can't afford them. Sob! Back on track, I whittled my choice down to three in the end and one lipbalm. The three I chose to take were MAC 'Snob', MAC 'Impassioned' and Revlon Lip Butter in 'Rasberry Pie'. Of course, I also took my trusty Burts Bee's with me as well.

SOLID PRODUCTS:

Everything else I took had to compliment my liquid products. First on the list was to choose a blusher and I decided on Benefit Sugarbomb, because it's a brilliant summer blush - it gives a lovely flush on the cheeks and can also be used all over the face to bronze it up a bit. 

For the eyes, I took my MUA Heaven and Earth Palette. I've been absolutely loving this recently, and have really been enjoying creating lots of different looks with it. It's really versatile and can be used in the day, just to add a bit of definition or in the evening to create a smokey eye. I also took MAC Eyeshadow in 'Mythology' but I can't find this at the moment to take a picture of!

I just took a cheap powder, this Collection 2000 Pressed Powder. My reasoning for this was that I was going to get nice and shiny anyway so I didn't want to take a more expensive one, in case it broke or I left it in the hotel. I do quite like this powder, especially for the incredibly cheap price and I have more than one, so if something happened to it, it wouldn't be the worst thing ever. 

Make-up tooks wise, I took my trusty MAC Brush Kit as it has all your essentials really! I also took my eyelash curlers which are the Models Own ones from Boots. These only cost me £6 and I really think they are excellent! Please excuse the gumminess of mine, they need a good wipe!

And that's it guys! I also took my LUSH Therapy Massage Bar and Seanik Shampoo Bar and my mum took a lot of samples from Clarins for cleanser and creams. 

Thanks for reading xx