Wednesday 26 September 2012

Top 5: Autumn Lipsticks

Autumn is definitely my favourite season. I just love everything about it, the colours, the clothes, and everything else to go along with it. If there was ever a season to wear lipstick, it's now!

I'm a massive lover of lipstick but I love being a little bit more dramatic in the autumn season so that my look is a little updated from the one I was sporting all summer. I like to wear darker lips, and classic colours throughout autumn. No summer pinks here ladies!!

So here are my top five lipsticks for autumn...




This is my favourite nude to wear in the colder months. I like it because its not the sort of nude that  makes your lips disappear, but it adds a tiny, tiny bit of colour, and a glossy finish. Perfect, for those mornings when your turning blue waiting for the bus.



MAC Fanfare is one of those colours that looks good whenever you wear it. Its one of my autumn colours because its a beautiful dusky rose colour, with the smallest bit of shimmer. Wearing this makes me feel like I've made an effort with my makeup, even it was have an extra 10 minutes in bed and rush my makeup job.



Raspberry coloured lips are my favourite thing to sport in Autumn. They look so effortless. I love this lipstick from MUA no only for the bargain price of £3 but because even if I'm just wearing mascara, with this my makeup looks clean and simple but with a nice pop of colour.


For those days where im going to dare to wear the darker lip, my favourite is MUA Lip Boom in LKM (Let Me Know) In the tube, it looks almost black which is a little daunting, but on the lips, this turns into a deep plum colour that really is quite beautiful. For some this might be a little but too much but it looks lovely just patted onto the lips and blended softly, to create a lip stain like colour.


No autumn lip collection would be complete without a red. This red is a really pretty postbox red, something that I have been looking to find for a long time. This is a really smooth lipstick to wear and isnt drying at all. I wear this for those days where im doing something different and not just going to lectures at uni.

I love all of these lipsticks equally and would say that autumn is the perfect time to try out those new looks that you've been wanting to try out all summer. 






Sunday 23 September 2012

Instagram Diary #3



Rare that my lips look full//Free Elle magazine at Freshers//How much is your face worth?//Best quote ever//FOTD//Who remembers these??//New purchases//MUA Brow Kit// DIY Lip Palette.

Its been a fairly quite Instagram week due to starting my final year at uni, hopefully I'll have more to show you next time.

MUA Pro-Brow Kit

Only in the past 12 months have I started filling in my brows, and I honestly cannot imagine leaving this step out of my everyday beauty regime.

I used to use an eyebrow pencil to do this and it took a real effort to get my brows looking natural and not like I had shaved them off and drawn them back on...

Then this little beauty came into my life and my brows have never looked better. Honestly, I have quite unruly brows I have my mother to thank for this, but over the years I've learnt to keep them tame and looking neat.





I found using this brow kit extremely easy and effortless for lovely, natural brows that I try so hard to achieve. The kit consists of two powders for shading, a highlighter, a wax for setting the brows and a small angled brush with tweezers. The first time I used the kit, I used the small brush, not easy. There's nothing wrong with the actual brush, its just the size of it. Instead I've used my Real Techniques brow brush from the starter set. The powders are perfectly suited for my skin tone, I use the lighter shade first to go quickly over my brows and then the darker shade to fill in properly. The wax is lovely and light, setting the brows perfectly.

In all honesty, the highlighter shade is too dark for what it is supposed to be used for, but thats not a loss because of the cheap price.

Ok, so it's not as superior as Benefits Browzings, but for ladies on a budget, there really is nothing better than this.

This Brow Kit is availble from MUA Online or from selected Superdrugs stores.


Friday 21 September 2012

Tag: Liebster Blog Award

A Few days ago I received a tweet from the lovely Becca, who writes The English Rose, to tell me that she had nominated me and ten other girls for the Liebster Blog Award Tag. I was thrilled, because I love that this is a really fun and easy way to interact with other bloggers. 

The Rules: 

Each blogger tagged must write 11 random facts about themselves.
They must answer the 11 questions posted by the previous blogger.
They must create 11 more questions to ask their tagged bloggers.
They must tag some bloggers with less than 200 followers.
The blogger must be told.
No tag backs.
Heres the 11 random facts about myself...
                                                      I love books so much.
I have a dog called Jackson. (yes named after the character in Hannah Montana)
I live with my boyfriend.
I study at Manchester Metropolitan University.
I can speak Spanish.
I'm originally from Leeds.
My favourite film is Dirty Dancing.
My middle name is Ellen.
I have a tattoo on my back.
I love mexican food and culture.
My Birthday is August 12th.
The questions from Becca...

1. What's your favourite piece of Jewellery to wear?
Definitely my Topshop spiked necklace

2. If you could only wear one perfume/scent for your entire life, what would it be?
Viktor and Rolf, Flowerbomb

3. Twilight or Harry Potter?
HARRY POTTER!!!!!!!!!!

4. What fashion item could you not live without?
Skinny Jeans are my go to item

5. What's your favourite hair care product?
Anything by Aussie

6. What's your favourite drink?
A typical cup of tea. But on a night out I love a good cocktail

7. What's your favourite TV Show?
Friends (even after all this time)

8. Lush or Body Shop?
Lush

9. What are your career aspirations?
I want to be an interpreter for Immigration

10. Tea or Coffee?
Tea, everytime

11. What advice would you give someone who wants to start a beauty/fashion blog?
Just go for it. But don't let it get in the way of any jobs/school/college etc. Don't worry about what others will think, it's your blog so just enjoy writing it.

For those who I have tagged, here are your questions?

1. Beauty or Fashion?
2. What is your holy grail product?
3. How long have you been blogging?
4. What is your favourite makeup brand?
5. What is your favourite book?
6. Favourite holiday destination?
7. Heels or Flats?
8. Do you have any siblings?
9. Twitter or Facebook?
10. How would you describe your style?
11. Neutral or Brights?

The bloggers I've tagged...


Tuesday 18 September 2012

How much is your face worth? Part 1

I've finally taken the plunge and completed the "How much is your face worth?" tag. I have to be honest and say that I was quite nervous about doing this post because I hate it to seem like I'm bragging or being big headed about what sort of make up I use. However, these posts seem to be really popular amongst the blogging community at the moment, so I thought what the heck!

After doing this post, I have decided that I'm going to do a 'Part 2' of this post, but with a budget. I haven't set this budget. So, there will be a contrast between this post where I didn't care about the cost of the products and just used what I wanted, and the next post where I have set myself a strict budget. 

I hope that this comes in useful for people who own both High-end and High-street makeup items. So, exactly how much is my face worth?


Products used and prices:
Witch Anti Blemish Primer £6.99
MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation NW20 £24.00
MAC Pro Longwear Concealer NW20 £14.50
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Medium £21.00
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Lightyear (Heavenly Creatures) £21.00
MAC Blusher Fleur Power £17.50
MAC Paintpot Soft Ochre £14.50
MUA Undressed Palette £4.00
MAC Fluidline Dark Diversion (Styleseekers) £14.00
MAC Kohl Teddy £14.00
MUA Brow Pencil £1.00
Rimmel Day to Night Mascara £5.99
Eylure Lashes £5.45
Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub £5.25
MAC Lipstick Creme Cup £14.00
Total: £270.67

Wowzas! That's quite alot! I would be quite interested to know how much it would come to if I included brushes and skincare, it would be a hell of a lot more. Although this is high amount to spend on makeup, I didn't buy it all at once and obviously it doesn't cost this much every time I use it. I don't regret buying any of these products because the quality is great, I like the way they work for me, and they last a long time. But looking a the overall price like that is a little bit scary!! 
I am looking forward to the budget version of this post, now that I've completed this one.


 Sorry for the dodgy face picture :| But this was the look that came from using all of the products above.

Have you done this tag? Send me the links if you have I would love to see them :)


Sunday 16 September 2012

DIY Lip Palette

My first ever DIY post! I thought I would start off with something easy that everyone will be able to do, no matter what their ability.

Creating a custom lip palette is really simple, and a great way to carry all of your favourite lipsticks around at once, without the need to carry round lots of tubes. 

What you will need:

  • An empty palette (some people like to use watercolour paint palettes, but you can buy empty makeup palettes for cheap on eBay)
  • Lipsticks of your choice
  • A spoon
  • A candle
  • Something sharp
  • Newspaper or Towel
Method:

- Make sure all equipment is clean and cover your work surface with paper or towel.
- Light candle
- Cut a small amount of the lipstick bullet and place on spoon
- Hold over candle until melted
- Pour melted lipstick into the palette
- Allow to cool (place in fridge for a few minutes)
- Wipe around edges to keep neat











There you have it! Your very own custom lip palette. This will make travelling with makeup much easier and more efficient. Now you dont have to choose between your favourite lipstick to take out with you, just take them all!

Tips: 
- Melt the lipstick in small sections, that way you will know exactly how much will fit into your palette.
- Take the sticker from the lipstick tube and stick it on the palette, that way you will know exactly what shades you have in your palette. 

Hope you enjoy this, I would love to see if any of you have made one of these!

Lush Fizzbanger Bath Bomb

The most colourful bath time you will ever have! 

The Fizzbanger Bath Ballistic is filled with the scents of apple, cinnamon and toffee which makes your bathroom smell like a sweet shop. 

When dropped into the bath, the water starts fizzing into a pale yellow colour that does look a little unsightly but is nothing too weird. After the yellow layer has faded away, the inner bright blue is revealed, which starts to swirl around the bath and creating an ocean blue/green colour.

Embedded in this bath ballistic is a sort of crackling candy, you know like the one you had as a kid that would crackle in your mouth? Well as soon as this candy hist the water it starts to dissolve and creates a Snap, Crackle and Pop! effect which is so much fun.

The feeling of the water is different too. I know that sounds strange, how can water feel different?, but it feels softer and more luxurious, a feeling that also transfers itself onto the skin, as well as the scent which will be on your skin for hours after the bath.

This is definitely the bath ballistic for you if you like your bath a little out of the ordinary!

Have you tried this? What's your favourite Lush product?



Saturday 15 September 2012

MAC Soft Ochre Paint Pot


I'm pretty sure that many people will have heard of these MAC Paintpots by now but just incase you haven't heres a post that will enlighten you on these little beauties.

For those of you who like to use a base for your eyeshadow or like to work from a blank even canvas, then these are the products for you. If you like a simple, blendable block of colour on your eyes, or you like a sheer wash of colour, Paintpots are perfect for many different aspects because they are so versatile.

What MAC Say: 
A highly pigmented eye colour that goes on creamy but dries to an intense, vibrant finish. The next generation of a popular M·A·C formula, Paint Pots maintains all the intense traits of its inspiration. Long-wearing, colourfast. Creates seamless coverage without weight or caking. Blends smoothly over the lids. Cream-based, can be mixed with M·A·C shadows and liners. Available in satin, cream, frost, and pearl formulas.







For me, I have very uneven skin tone on my eyelids *Damn Genes* so applying eyeshadows and liners can be quite difficult because they can look a little patchy. So using Soft Ochre paintpot all over the lid first means that I have a much more even skin tone and a great long lasting base for any other eye products.

At the moment, the painpots are in a variety of neutral colours in different finishes, but sometimes with new collections, there are some new shades, so keep an eye out. 

Soft Ochre is a Yellow Beige colour that looks very similar to concealer, with a solid but pliable consistency. Application can be done with both fingers or a brush, it is all down to personal preference.

I love these products and will continue to buy them for as long as MAC stock them. They retail at £14.50 each and are available from MAC Counters/Stores and their website. If this is a little expensive for those who are on a budget, a great dupe is the Maybelline Colour Tattoos. 

Do you have any paintpots? Whats your favourite shade?




Monday 10 September 2012

Day at the Paralympics

**Warning! This is a picture heavy post!**

Last Thursday (6th september) My boyfriend, his family and I were lucky enough to have tickets for The Paralympic Games. I'm pretty sure that everyone has been aware that this has been an amazing summer of sport for everyone, and I was so pleased to be a part of it. The atmosphere was amazing, and seeing everyone pull together was inspiring. So rather than writing about it, I will let the pictures from the day do the talking :)