Back From My Travels!

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately, as I mentioned in my last post I've just been on holiday to Turkey for a couple of weeks which was a really good break.

I thought I'd show you a couple of MAC lipsticks which I got at Duty Free.

I bought So Chaud on the left and Vegas Volt on the right.

I initially wanted to get Lady Danger lipstick but they were out of stock and the sales assistant recommended this instead. I really love the colour, I don't mind that I never got Lady Danger because this is the perfect orangey red that I've been looking for.

It's matte but unlike some matte lipsticks this isn't drying (I use lip balm to prep my lips before hand though). It stays on all day and is incredibly highly pigmented. 

To give the lipstick a bit of depth and to make it suit me a bit more I use a red lip liner around my lips and blend it into the lipstick. The sales assistant at MAC did this with Cherry lip pencil and it looked great. I've been using Rimmel's red lip liner which is just as good.

Vegas Volt is a really bright orangey pinky coral. It's an amplified lip creme formula so it's really intense but you could always pear it with a bit of lip balm for a more wearable bright lip which is what I do. I think it's a really nice colour for summer.

Thank you for reading, there will be more frequent posts now that I'm back home xxx

MAC Pinch Me and Fleur Power

 Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of interesting posts! I have just started my new job and so I've been really tired and working late nights. Today I have a day off though and thought I'd tell you about my latest MAC purchases.

I ordered a couple of blushers as I've been wanting to get some nice blushers for ages. I love the range of colours MAC have and their products never really fail me or wear off through the day.

I decided to get a blush that was more on the pink side and then a peachy coral colour. It took me a while to narrow it down but here's what I got - 

MAC Fleur Power (left) and Pinch Me

Fleur Power is a pinky coral satin formula and a really lovely blush. It's my favourite of the two beacuse it's really highly pigmented and I love how this makes me look glowing and healthy.You can really build this up or apply only a wash of colour. This looks good with a whole load of make up looks.

MAC Fleur Power

Pinch Me is also gorgeous. It's a sheertone formula so you get a completely different application from this. I love the colour, it's a dirty peachy coral without being too dark for my fair skin. This gives a sunkissed healthy look and really warms up my face. I can tell this is going to be a summer staple.

I plan on doing a few more face of the days using these products so you can see how they look on.

Also a welcome to my new followers :)

xxx

Subtle Everyday Smokey FOTD

 I wore this look to town with friends at the weekend. The camera doesn't seem to pick up all the of the make up as this is a bit darker and more noticeable in real life.

I didn't want it to be over the top though as it's only a day look but I still wanted a bit of definition to my eyes.

I applied painterly paint pot to my eyelids as I wanted everything to last through the day. Then I lined my upper lash line with quite a thick rough line of brown eyeliner and smudged that out with a cotton bud.

Over the line of eyeliner I applied a chocolate brown eyeshadow from Rimmel in another thick line and then blended with a MAC 217 to soften.

I applied the eyeshadow to my lower lash line quite low under the eye and blended with a cotton bud.

Then lined my upper waterline with my eyeliner to make sure no skin was showing through and to make my lashes look thicker.

I applied mascara top and bottom but only one coat and made sure there were no clumps.

I decided to keep the rest of my face really simple only applying bronzer to contour slightly and wearing Rimmel's Nude Delight lipstick on my lips.

Maybe I will apply a bit more make up next time so it shows up on camera properly!

xxx

FOTD: A Very Natural Make Up Look

This is just a really natural make up which I wear most days during the week if I'm not doing anything special.

FACE - I used my Lily Lolo mineral foundation and concealer as usual, applied their mineral blush in Clementine. Then under my eyes I applied my Clinique Airbrush Concealer. To finish off the skin I used Estee Lauder Lucidity Loose Powder which I love.

EYES - I used Painterly Paintpot from MAC on my lid, lined my upper lash line with Brown Down Eyeshadow from MAC on an angled brush. Then I applied what was left on the brush to my lower lashes and blended for some natural definition. I lined my upper waterline with Collection 2000 Lasting Finish brown eyeliner and applied Volume Million Lashes from L'oreal. 

I also curled my lashes before my mascara which I think makes a real difference to your eyes and highly recommend!

BROWS & LIPS - On my brows I used MAC Brow Set in Beguile. And on my lips I put a bit of tinted lipbalm on.

FOTD Life's a Beach

Last night I played around with a bit of make up and here's what I ended up with...

I hardly ever go out wearing bright colours on my eyes but I'm starting to get into wearing blues and purples.

Eyes -

• MAC Paintpot in Painterly
• MAC Amber Lights Eyeshadow in socket
• NYX blue eyeshadow
• MAC Vanilla Eyeshadow on browbone and inner eye 
• MAC Brow Set in Beguile
• L'oreal Volume Million Lashes Mascara in Brown
• Collection 2000 brown eyeliner on waterline

Face - 

• Clinique Airbrush Concealer
• Lily Lolo Mineral foundation and concealer in Blondie
• Estee Lauder Lucidity Loose Powder
• Lily Lolo mineral bronzer in South Beach
• Revlon blusher in Tawny Peach
• MAC Hush Cream Colour Base on cheekbones

Lips - 

• MAC Honeylove lipstick
• Revlon Peach Petal gloss

Disappointing Products!

The title says it all really, here are some products which I have found to be disappointing and not live up to expectations!

• First up is Revlon's Powder Blush in Tawny Peach

This gives off hardly any colour at all, and it's not easy to blend. You might as well not wear any blush at all because it will look the same!

• MAC's Carbon Eyeshadow

I love MAC eye shadows but this is a real disappointment. It's a matte black but I find this really hard to blend, and when you blend it out it goes patchy and grey. I would love it if it was a creamier more pigmented eyeshadow.

• Another Revlon product... This time it's their matte eyeshadow in Aubergine

I really like the colour of this shadow and that's why I bought it. I dislike it because it's the same as Carbon by MAC, can't blend it properly and it's nowhere near pigmented enough.

• Finally we have Lily Lolo's Mineral Matte Finishing Powder

I had high hopes for this product to keep my skin nicely matte throughout the day, but it doesn't! It minimises the look of pores well but gives me a 'dewy' finish because my skin is so oily. I still wear it a lot and just blot with tissues because I like that it's a mineral powder that I know isn't going to break me out. Be wary of applying too much though as it can look slightly mask-like and cakey.

So those are my disappointing products... which products do you find to be a disappointment? 

FOTD- Natural Everyday Make Up

Today I decided to do a natural everyday look combining the spring trends into it.

I used Painterly Paintpot from MAC all over my lids, then Jaan eyeshadow from my Athma palette over that.

I then used Vanilla from MAC under my brows to highlight and a small ammount in the inner corners of my eyes.

I put a little bit of Arena eyeshadow from MAC on my lower lashes, lined my upper waterline with Collection 2000 brown eyeliner, smudging a tiny bit on the corner of my lower lashes with an angled brush.

I then curled my lashes with my Tweezerman curlers, and applied one coat top & bottom of Estee Lauder Projectionist mascara.

For my brows I used MAC Brow Set in Beguile and Omega shadow on an angled brush to define the ends of my brows a bit more.

On the cheeks I used Barry M blusher in number 5 and Lily Lolo mineral bronzer in South Beach to contour slightly.

Clinique Airbrush concealer is under my eyes and as always I'm using a very sheer layer of Lily Lolo mineral foundation and the mineral concealer where needed. Then finally Lily Lolo mineral matte finishing powder which I recently bought.

On my lips I have Vaseline Lip Therapy tinted lip balm.

Hope you like it! It's such a gorgeous day today, when the sun is shining I always feel really good :)

Spring/Summer Make Up Trends for 2011 & Coral NOTD

I've been flicking through some magazines recently and the Spring/Summer make up looks this year seem to be quite 70's, with neutral brown smokey eyes, nudes and corals. But at the same time acid brights are in too so there's something for everyone.

Bright corals (images from Google)

Neutral eyes and soft lips

Acid brights at Christian Dior  

I really like the neutral/coral trend as I tend to stick with neutrals anyway and I love coral... So I am loving this years' make up!

I like seeing acid brights on other people but just not on me. If you're looking for some inspiration, Nic at Pixiwoo has recently done a really good acid brights tutorial- watch it here.

Another good thing about the neutrals/coral trend is that I have a lot of products for it in my make up bag already! I've picked out some things I'll be wearing this spring...

My MAC Athma Palette from the Mickey Contractor collection arrived the other day- it's the first time I've ever bought anything from a MAC collection. This is a really nice wearable palette and has a couple of nice shadows which are great for neutral eyes and aren't overly sparkly. The other two colours are a dark reddish brown & a matte black

I especially like Jaan (above) and Vivah (below)

I'll also be wearing MAC shadows (left to right) Era, Arena, Amber Lights

Era is a nice neutral with a lovely sheen to it, Arena is a good peachy colour and Amber Lights is a daring shimmering gold/orange, which looks similar to Vivah in the picture, but Vivah is more brown

Barry M coral blusher & MAC Hush CCB for peachy glowing skin.

Peachy pink, nudes and coral lipsticks

(left to right) Rimmel Tell No One, Vasaline lip tint, MAC Shy Girl, Rimmel Nude Delight, MAC Honeylove

• Tell No One- a bright, long lasting coral
• Vasaline Lip Tint- gives a sheer flush of pink while moisturising your lips
• MAC Shy Girl- a new lipstick which I got along with my Athma palette, it's a lovely peachy/pink nude colour
• Rimmel Nude Delight- a nice sheer nude although it doesn't stay on very long
• MAC Honeylove- a matte nude, can look too heavy and dark on me so I sheer it down and use lipbalm with it

Today to escape from the dull wintery weather I painted my toenails in a bright coral from Barry M. 

I used this colour on my nails when I went on holiday and loved it. Barry M polishes are really good and I really like the finish they give. They're also one of the very few I've tried which don't chip on my nails.

Excuse my ugly foot and lazy nail painting effort..!

Another polish I have which ties in with the trend is a nude polish- Frozen Fantasy from Estee Lauder. I got this with a free gift ages ago and haven't really used it that much, but I think it's a perfect colour for spring especially if you don't want bright nails. 

So there's my take on the spring trends! Take care x

MAC Cham Pale, Stylishly Yours and Mickey Contractor Collections

I've been drooling over the MAC website today and have been looking at the Cham Pale, Stylishly Yours and Mickey Contractor collections.

I love the skin colour eye pencils and the paint pots in the Cham Pale Collection, and along with everyone else out there I'm dying to get my hands on Virgin Isle Cream Colour Base! (Which is out of stock..grrr am I ever going to get my hands on it?!)

The Mickey Contractor collection is also rather interesting, as this Mickey fella is MAC's Director of Make Up Artistry for India and has made a collection of his ''must haves''.

His main focus is natural skin and gorgeous eye shades. I am in love with the Athma x4 Palette which is in the collection. So much so that I have just ordered it!

So here's what I'm liking out of the three collections. (All pictures in this post are courtesy of Google)

Mickey Contractor Collection- 

The Athma Eyeshadow Quad- Lovely wearable colours

Swatches- (left to right) Jaan, Folie,Vivah, Carbon.

Fluid Line-

Swatches- Ivy, Siahi. Gorgeous colours!

Gana Powder Blush- I think this would be a lovely highlighter

Stylishly Yours Collection-

Infamous Virgin Isle CCB-

Moive Star Red CCB- Could be an alternative to Virgin Isle although it's pinker..?

Cham Pale Collection-

Chromographic Pencil NC15-NW20- Have been after a skin coloured pencil for ages.

Paint Pots-

 Swatches- as this isn't my picture it's hard to tell what the colours are. I have ordered the last colour though which is Dangerous Cuvee and is a shimmery grey.

So they are my stand-out products, have you bought anything from the collections?

2010 Favourites!

Hello everyone, this will be my final post of 2010, and what better way to do it than share with you my favourite products of the year!

 

St. Ives Invigorating Scrub- I use this every morning to exfoliate my face and my skin is always soft!

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel- I love this product, the best moisturiser I have ever used! You can read my review of it here.

 

Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation, Concealer & Bronzer- This year I started to use mineral make up, and what a difference it has made! It looks so natural and lasts all day, is really quick to use but you don't feel like you have anything on! Most importantly though, it's good for your skin and it's cleared up my acne!

MAC Prep+Prime Finishing Powder- This is so finely milled, it keeps my shine away and makes my pores smaller.

Tweezerman Eyelash Curlers- they make my eyelashes look amazing!

 

MAC Brow Set in Biguile- I have fair brows and this really helps to define them. (sorry for the blurry pic!)

Clinique Airbrush Concealer- The best under eye concealer I've used, it doesn't cake or fall into fine lines like most concealers I've tried!

MAC Pro Palette- I love all these shadows, such high quality and I use all of the colours

 Soap & Glory Flake Away body scrub- My best friend got me this for Christmas. It makes my skin so soft and smooth, and smells divine! 

Umberto Giannini Sex Bomb Mousse- I really like this mousse, it makes my hair huge! But doesn't weigh it down or make it feel greasy and horrible like other mousses I've tried. I also love the packaging!

 Estee Lauder Projectionist Mascara & Clinique High Impact Mascara- These are my favourite mascaras of the year, and I'd buy both of them again

Nail polishes- (from left to right) Rimmel Chip Resistant Top Coat, Rimmel 60 Seconds Rapid Ruby, Barry M Grey (don't know the proper name or number!) Revlon Lilac Pastielle, Revlon Vixen.

 

MAC Powder Blush in Harmony- This is matte and brilliant for contouring on most skin tones!

 Rimmel Shake Up Pink Lipstick- I really love this colour and wear it most days, you can sheer it down or build it up for full on pink!

MAC Cream Colour Base in Hush- this is really nice highlight colour and also really nice on the eyelid.

Barry M Blusher in No.5- This is a really nice peach blush but comes up very orange on camera! It lasts all day on my skin

MAC Honeylove Lipstick- This is a nice matte nude, but make sure your lips are moisturised and aren't chapped otherwise it looks awful!

So they are my 2010 Favourites. Happy New Year everyone! 

xxx