Excuses...

Hey guys!

I've been having a moment of personal madness lately: I started a new job around a month ago and it's kept me so busy/tired that i've neglected my blog!

So i'm going to get straight to it with my...

November Favourites!

Cream/powder eyeshadow combos -
Ok so i'll admit it. When I first started watching Youtube Beauty Gurus, I was a bit sceptical about the whole 'use a paint pot/cream eyeshadow first and apply shadow over the top' thing.

I mean, I tried cream eyeshadows before and they creased and were horrible etcetc, and now i'm being told that using them will stop them creasing? No Way!

But, like a dilligent advice follower, I've tried it out and I have a few drugstore combos that are GORGEOUS! And it seriously works!

First up - Jemma Kidd Stardust Creme in 02 Comet. It's a gorgeous frosted silvery brown with a hint of sparkle, applied underneath Maybelline Expert Wear Mono in Iced Fudge. It's a VERY pigmented, highly shimmery molten silvery brown, with almost a pinky-lilac undertone. Easily in my top 2 drugstore shadows. Reminds me of a MUCH NICER version of Loreals' Metal Plum.

Another combo I love is GOSH Waterproof creme eyeshadow in Love That Gold! underneath Natural Collections' Asteroid - a warm, shimmery brown, with their Crushed Walnut in the crease. The GOSH makes the eyeshadow appear much more pigmented and it lasts all day!

An observation I have had is that a lot of Boots' Natural collection eyeshadows are good dupes for Boots' No.7, and at around £5 cheaper in comparison, they are well worth a look. For example, NCs' Asteroid, is almost the exact same shadow as No 7s' Truffle. Infact, after testing my theory, Asteroid actually ticked more boxes (pigmentation, last-ability). It's my suspicion that the brands are made in the same factory, by the same people, for the same company... just different packaging.

Onto the face.
I've been road-testing some foundations lately, and after spending around the £10-15 mark on most, I found one in my local Tesco that beats them all. Barbara Daly Oil-Free Foundation in Porcelain is great! And at around £6.50 a pop, it's a bargain too! It's a medium-full coverage liquid foundation, in a cute little glass bottle. The lid unscrews to reaveal a spatula type affair... good to use to dab a small about all over the face as I do (and then blend in with fingers or sponge).

I had been recenly watching a video by gossmakeupartist on Youtube, where he explained that a lot of time, foundation doesn't last on the face because the base compound of the product doesn't mix with those in your moisturiser... for example if you use a water-based moisturiser and then apply an oil-based foundation, it wont last, because as we all know, water and oil do not mix. And as I have an oily t-zone, i use an oil-free, water-based moisturiser. So finding an oil-free, water-based foundation has really helped. I've also been using Bourjois Mattifying compact with my GOSH Duo Fibre brush to set my base.

Nails...mmmm....!
Now i'm in a new job I can wear nail varnish every day, so I have been dilligently changing my colour around 3 times a week with the exitement!
My current faves: Barry M Nail Paint in 304 Mint Green. I bought this when it first came out in the spring, but I love it so much, i'm breaking the winter rules and wearing it now!
No 7 Stay Perfect nail colour in Totally Teal, and Milan. The teal is the perfect colour. Full stop. It's dark enough for fall/winter, but with just enough interest for people to say 'wow, i've never seen that colour before!' and fawn all over you - which (in nail terms) I love, LOL! Milan came free with a gift i got from No 7 for spending over £25 or something, and at first I thought it was a bit... Blah, but in reality it is the perfect minimum effort, maximun effect polish. Love it on toes!
Bourjois 1 seconde innovation in no.28 is a glorious shimmery gunmetal grey that I bought last winter. It's another polish that requires minimum effort and looks great - especially on shorter nails.

Right... i've exausted myself now, so i'm off to bed!

Oooh, and santa is bringing me a new camera so expect high quality photos, and maybe even tutorials! Yay!

Payday Wishlist...

Ok, so Friday I get paid, so expect a haul!
Here's what i'm running out to buy:

GOSH Velvet touch primer
GOSH Foundation brush
GOSH Angled blush brush
(I've heard many good things about all of these from other blog/vloggers, and so I thought i'd take advantage of the 3 for 2 offer...)

Bourjois delice de poudre bronzer
L'oreal lash cerum
L'oreal double extension mascara
(the last two are a winning combo recommended by the lovely glossgoss on Youtube
Clean and clear warming facial scrub (Again, recommended via Youtubes Lollipop26)

Annnnd, yet another bottle of cacharels' Amor Amor.

Roll on friday...

October already?!

Hey guys!

So wow, I got my first ever follower today lol!
It's strange, I have a personal blog, plus facebook etc but I havn't told anyone I know that I do this blog, so i'm relying on strangers following, rather than friends following out of obligation! So yes, i'm stupidly exited to get a follower!

Anyways, this weekend has been manic, so i've not managed to get out shopping - so no haul :(
But, I have a looong list for Friday (raiding the GOSH counter again), and i'm feverishly awaiting the MAC website update so I can get my hands on Style Black.
I really want Cinderfella, Gilt By Association and Young Punk, and this is the first MAC collection i've been exited about for a long time!

Ok, well that's about it for today xx

September Faves (and Sunlove drama!)

So before I get on to my Sept faves, i'd like to voice my support towards gemsmaquilliage (on blogspot and youtube) regarding the DISCUSTING Sunlove Twitter account. It's the brands official account and the way whoever runs it speaks to customers or potential customers is dispicable. Rude, racist and obnoxious.

I was literally about to order some of this product, but now feel that I wouldnt care if it was my holy grail tanner, there is no way on earth i'd deal with this brand. Check it out for yourself at www.twitter.com/sunlovebeauty.

Annnnnyway, on to the fun stuff...

Sorry the photos are TERRIBLE quality, don't know whats going on with my lighting/camera!

September hair faves:

I've been looking for a heat protecter for a while, and I never seem to find one I can work with. But I was in Superdrug the other day and they had the Loreal Studio hot curl and hot sraight products on offer... 1 for £3.50 or 2 for £3.99, so I got one of each! Now these are thermal sprays, meaning they are specifically designed to work in conjunction with your straightners or tongs. I'm not sure how much of a gimmick it is that they say you need one to curl, and one to straighten but I don't really care... I love this product! It's non greasy, doesn't leave your hair crunchy and after i've used it and really feels like it's protecting my hair.

Sometimes, on the rare occasions I decide to blow dry and straighten my hair, i'll use two lots of the product and it doesn't weigh my hair down. Love it!

I've also been loving Kent Natural Bristle round brush, bought in Superdrug for £7.79.

I dont really use this to blow dry, i'm so content with my massive Charles Worthington round brush, but I use this to tease my hair. Now I know teasing is damaging, but I have a very round face, and teasing at the crown - getting as much height as possible, really flatters my face shape, and now i'm addicted! this brush works 10x better than my denman professional teasing comb, annnnd, it was cheaper!

I have also just started using silvikrin ultra strong shiny hold hairspray but the jury is still out on this!

I dyed my hair black for nearly 8 years, and at the beginning of the summer I decided to get it stripped out (yep, I was in the hairdressers for about 4 hours!) and start from scratch to give my hair a breather. Unfortunately, it takes a while for your hair to look healthy again, so since then i've been using Tara Smith organic Top Coat Glosser on the days it doesn't look so shiny. It's great, smells delish, its a pump spray (so no horrible aerosol smell) and costs around £5.00 from Tesco

September Beauty Faves:

So, i've recently become addicted to GOSH products. I always used to pass them by in Superdrug, but after some great reviews by the likes of hollymae20 and lollipop26 I picked up a few products and I LOVE them. i'm currently wearing thier nail polish in wild lilac. It reminds me of a colour from OPI for Sephora i've seen called domestic goddess, only slightly toned down. It's gorgeously opaque and needs max. 2 coats. It's the first GOSH polish i've bought, and i'm soimpressed with the quality. I also bought thier velvet touch eyeliner, in black ink... and I can't get over how long waring it is. I put it on my waterline and it literally stays there for hours. So soft and blendable too.

Another thing I got was thier velvet touch lipstick in Darling. Now I had my reservations with this. I don't know if any of you have seen this, but it looks like concealer! The first time I tried it I hated it so much I almost binned it. But because i've heard such raves about it, I was determined to find a way to make it work for me and I have. I make sure my lips are buffed and lip-balmed first, then apply a thick coat and blot. This works for me, I don't know why but it turns into my perfect neutral shade.

Special mentions:

no.7 extravagant lashes, and the sultry eyes palette that came free with it.

rimmel stay glossy lipgloss in non stop glamour and

amor amor by cacharel.

I've also got to do a quick rave about the Babyliss pro elegance 19mm tongs I bought from Argos a few weeks ago. I think they were only about £15.00 but they are a.may.zing! They have 10 heat settings, going all the way to 200 degrees C, which is almost as hot as most hair straightners. I use mine on setting 7, and my curls last all day, all night, and all the next day too! I really recommend these.

As I said, sorry about the pic quality...

xo

Sunday night rambles... Eyeco 3in1 Cream

Today I've been playing around with some things I've had for a long time that I wasn't keen on - trying to find new ways of making them work for me.
My mini breakthrough came on the form of Eyeco Beauty 3in1 cream.
I originally bought it as a dupe for Benefit High Beam (in colour, not consistency), and was really disappointed. It's designed to be used all over, as a moisturiser, or as a highlighter or eye cream. I found it really greasy and it settled into my pores in a bad way! Also, under my foundation it looked ok-ish, but halfway through the day it made my foundation slide off and my face look over oily.

So anyway, I'm looking at the MASSIVE amount of product going to waste and feeling a bit sorry for myself today, and then I decided to Youtube it and found a couple of random review and how-tos' and I didn't really find anything out that I hadn't already done, so I tried a different approach with it:

On freshly cleansed and moisturised skin, dab some around the eye area and leave it.
I mean literally, do it as early as you can in your routine, and leave it as long as you can before putting anything over it. I found this out by accident (applied it then forgot about it as I watched Youtube!), but what happens, is the greasy-ness seems to disappear, and your left with a really pretty, light reflecting glow. Once it's taken on this dryer looking consistency, you can apply foundation over it and it really brightens your eye area, in the same way as a light diffuser, such as Touche Eclait.

I've also found that a dab of it on a small brush on your inner corner, left to dry looks amazing on its own, but when you add a shimmery powder over the top, it really intensifies it.

The purpose of a shot of light colour in your inner corner is to open up the eye, distract from shadows and dark circles, and can also brighten and whiten the appearance of your eye.
In my opinion, my makeup is not 'done' unless I've added this, and my new favourite combo is;
Eyeco Cream + GOSH Bananas liner. The liner alone seems to take on an almost chalky texture on my inner corners, but the Eyeco seems to really diffuse this and together it creates a lovely iridescent golden sheen.
LOVE it! x

Daily Staples/Products I Can't Live Without

So today I will be writing about my personal must haves - products I reach for again and again, and have re-bought many times!

1 - Eyedew Dazzling Eye Drops.
EVERYTHING seems to make my eyes bloodshot... showering, taking my makeup off, sneezing, sleeping and mostly the second I so much as sniff an alcoholic drink, so I always keep these with me. The liquid is blue, and contains something that constricts the tiny blood vessles in your eyes, making them disappear! Seriously amazing!
I use this every day, but Eyedew advises you shouldn't use them for prolonged amounts of time (I guess my eyes must have built up a resistance!). Also, chuck the tube after a month, for hygene reasons, and i'm sure I don't need to tell you, but - don't share this product between friends!

2 - Winning Combo = Nivea Pampering Shower Oil + Garnier Skin Naturals Hydralock Moisturising Milk.
I have tricky skin. It's mostly dry, but very prone to breakouts, allergic reactions and occasionally my childhood eczma flares up. It's not great. I've lost count of the money i've spent trying to get the skin I want. Scrubs, such as sugar or salt scrubs give me the texture i want, but the oily residue they leave often breaks me out, and more astringent body products don't break me out, but they leave me scaly. NICE
I wasn't optomistic when I bought the shower oil, thinking the oil would clog my pores, but for some reason it doesn't! I wont ask questions though, because my skin has never looked better! The oil is very thin, and seems to sink into my skin, and any excess rinses off easily. I apply is using a pair of exfoliating gloves, and this seems to be the trick!
After showering I use the moisturiser (which only cost me £1.60!!!). it absorbs perfectly, smells gorgeous and doesn't leave a sticky residue. So far, this regime has left my skin in the best condition it's been in, probably since I was a baby!

3 - Benefit Dallas and Georgia
LOVE these pretty little boxes of blush! I've been a Benefit girl for many years and the very first thing I bought was Georgia (although I had a bad experience with the counter girl, but that's another story). It's a very fine peachy powder that brightens up your complexion. When I say 'peachy', you would seriously need to pack it on to get a nasty orange hue! But basically it just lifts your face and sits on the skin perfectly - I tend to dust it all over. Also love the brush, infact it's the only brush that came with a product that i've actually kept and used.
Dallas is a perfect bronzer for me - very pink toned. Looks lovely on the cheeks in summer for a believable glow, but I like to use it with an angled brush to contour, with a dab of Moon Beam as a highlighter.

4 - Clinique Lip Gloss in Air Kiss
Ahhhh, this was my first ever high end beauty buy, with the money from my first part-time job - and it's still my go-to lipgloss. I have no idea if they even still sell it but I have a couple to keep me going! I loved this so much when I was a poor student that I kept my first one of these LOOONG after it had clearly gone off... I just loved having it in my makeup bag!
Perfect sheer pale pink, very subtle shimmer (no glitter, yay!), smells fantastic... until it goes off, LOL!

Ok, well mostly the rest of my makeup bag is a merry-go-round of new products i've been desperate to try, so hopefully one day i'll find some new staples!

Mini Haul

Hey guys, just wanted to do a haul blog, as I went on a little drugstore splurge.

On the right are the nail polishes I picked up. I'm not usually one for the cheaper brand nail polishes, as I think - consistency wise and payoff - you get what you pay for. But as some of these were trend colours I decided to go for it. Plus, I really do need to (reluctantly) curb me spending at the moment!

(L-R) Collection 2000 Hot Looks, in Wham; Natural Collection nail colour, in Pink Manicure; 17 Fast Finish nail colour, in True Blue and Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours (can't remember the name... 'Pop' something?

The Boots Natural Collection is a re-buy... I can't wear full on colour at work and a few coats of this is almost clear but leaves the nails with a healthy pink tone and gloss. The grey... well what can I say? I've been looking for a dove grey for a while - I love grey polishes and I have a few different shades but this one illuded me so I was so glad to have found it. Needs three coats but really worth it. Gorgeously opaque and I got compliments all day. The 17 True Blue is possibly my favourite blue nail polish. As with the grey, I have many shades, all either much more navy or much brighter and this, for me has the perfect balance. Two coats for maximum impact. The Miss Sporty one is also another unique colour... the camera doesn't pick it up but it almost has a hint of torquoise about it. Havn't tried it but I have the coral colour from the same collection and it's amazing, so hopefully i'll get similar results!

I have to say, i'm feeling pretty smug as this little lot cost me less than £12.00 and the qualitly of all of them is far better than i'd hoped.

Also purchased: GOSH Velvet Touch eyeliner in Bananas (around £4.99), a shimmery golden yellow - great for inner corner. Maybelline Expert Eyes Kohl pencil in black (£3.50), ok but my two fave liners are still Estee Lauder Artists Eyeliner and Benefit Bad Gal waterproof! Sleek Ink Pot in Dominatrix (£4.99), Bourjois Volume Clubbing mascara in Ultra Black (£8.00), Maybelline Nude Collection (I think) lipstick in Pinky Beige (£4.50) and 17 Lip Lines is Buff (£2.50)

Bought a few hair and body products too, plan to do a review on some of those - along with a few of the products mentioned above - soon.