My Current Eye Makeup Routine!

Doing my eyes is my favourite part of my makeup routine, I'm definitely a lipstick lover but I enjoy doing my eyes the most - choosing the shadows, applying them, blending, choosing an eyeliner and mascara, ahhh. The last few days I've been reaching for the same products when it comes to do my eye makeup.

I've been using Stila eyeshadow in Champagne, which you can see swatched HERE all over my lid, then in the outer corner I've been using a grey shade from a Rimmel palette called Brixton brown, you can see that swatched HERE, then I blend them. I take whatever's left on the brush slightly under my eye. Then I use Maybelline's black gel eyeliner to draw a thin line and a slight flick.
I finish off with a couple of layers of Maybelline's volum' express the rocket mascara.
I like this look because it's not OTT but it's pretty and neutral, all the products last a long time as well.

What's your current favourite eye product?

My Favourite 3 Eyeliners

Finding a good eyeliner can be quite tricky. You want one that's a good colour, easy to apply, easy to blend, isn't expensive, is nicely packaged and lasts all day. I've tried a lot of eyeliners, and these are my top 3 that I reach for most often and absolutely love.

The first one and the one I use most often is the Maybelline gel eyeliner in black. I use this all the time! It's amazing, it comes with a little brush which makes it easy to apply, it creates a lovely look and it lasts for as long as you need it to! For £7.99 I think it's a bargain.

Next up is Rimmel Scandal Eyes Kohl liner in black. This eyeliner is waterproof so I mostly use it on my waterline. It doesn't budge all day, it's easy to apply and blend and the colour is jet black. Sometimes I find black eyeliners come out almost grey, but that's not the case with this. It retails for £3.99!

My last favourite is a liner I actually only really use around Winter time because it's slightly festive I think. It's the Avon Glimmerstick Diamonds Eyeliner in black ice. This is a twist up creamy pencil liner  (yay for no sharpening!) that has slight specks of glitter running through it, it's super pretty and would be perfect for Christmassy parties! This is only £6!

Top to Bottom -
Maybelline Gel Eyeliner
Rimmel Kohl Liner
Avon Glimmerstick Diamonds

What's your most used eyeliner?

Eyebrow Tips And Tricks!

Whether you believe it or not eyebrows make a massive difference to your face. Shaping and shading your brows correctly can frame your face, help balance facial features, if you're older they can give you a more youthful look by opening up the eye area, make you look more 'put together', and just generally make you look more 'done'.

I have put together some of my best eyebrow tips, from plucking to filling your brows in.

1. Before you get plucking you should brush your eyebrows upwards and trim the long hairs with brow scissors, this will determine the natural shape of your brows before plucking.

2. Determine where you need to pluck! Don't just go straight in with those tweezers or you could easily over pluck. To find out where your brow should start grab a pencil and place it parallel to the side of your nose, that's where your brow should begin.
Next find out where the arch should be, grab that pencil again and align it with the outer edge of your iris, this is where your arch in the brow should be. Finally your brow shouldn't go further than where your brow bone ends.

3. Now you're ready to pluck.  A lot of people find plucking painful, I never have but here are some tips on making plucking a bit more bearable.
 - Pluck after having a hot bath or shower, the pores will be more open.
 - Soak a flannel in hot water, wring it dry and place it over your brows for a minute or two, remove it              then pluck.

4. Don't over pluck. To maintain a natural look don't pluck more than 2 rows of hair and don't pluck too much from above the brow, but you probably will need to pluck some from outer part above to create a very subtle slope.

5. Now you've shaped your eyebrows it's time to fill them in. Decide on your method, either a pencil or a shadow. I personally like to use a shadow because it looks more natural and gives a nicer effect in my opinion.

6. Get the right colour match. Most girls I see use entirely the wrong shade when filling in their brows…it's normally too dark. A rule that often applies is the shade should be 1 or 2 shades lighter than your current hair colour.

7. When filling in your brows it's best to follow your natural brow shape, rather than drawing on a whole new shape like some girls do. But if you have very sparse brows or have a bare patch it's best to use a thin eyebrow brush or even a eyeliner brush and do soft like upwards strokes to mimic the natural hairs.

8. I always start by defining the arch of my brow, just by gently brushing the powder with a brow brush through the brow. Once that's done I move on to the rest of the brows. It's a bit like colouring, don't go outside of the lines! Only ever do this very slightly if you want more definition.

9. Brush through your brows to make sure the powder, or pencil if you decided to use that, is distributed evenly.

10. For unruly brows use some brow gel, or brow set to make sure your brows are set in place all day.

There you have it! Now you should have perfect brows.

For a great budget buy brow kit look here!

I hope you found those tips useful, 

let me know if you try them out or if

you have any more brow tips!

x

The Palette I've Loved For A Year

I love to change around my make-up, use different products, create different looks, so when a product has been reached for nearly every day for a year it makes it very special. The Stila In The Light eyeshadow palette is one of those products.

I got this palette just under a year ago and I've genuinely used at least 1 of the shades more or less every single day that I've worn makeup in that time. I love it a lot, and as you can see from the pictures I've only hit pan on 1 of the 10 shades which just goes to show how pigmented these little shadows are!

L-R bare, kitten, bliss, sunset, sandstone,
champagne, gilded gold, luster, night sky, ebony

The palette consists of 10 shades, all very wearable, all super pigmented and all are long lasting.
There are 4 matte shades (bare, bliss, sandstone and ebony) and 6 shimmery shades (kitten, sunset, champagne, gilded gold, lustre and night sky). All these eyeshadows are very creamy, soft and easy to blend. It also came with a Stila smudge stick in Damsel (brown) but I've used that up! It was lovely.
What I especially love about this palette is how many different looks you can do with it. You can create a really lovely natural look, and you can also create a very pretty smokey eye, and so many other looks in between. The shades I wear most often would probably be kitten, champagne and sandstone (in the crease and outer corner).

L-R bare, kitten, bliss, sunset, sandstone

L-R champagne, gilded gold, luster, night sky, ebony

The only complaint I have about this palette is the packaging, sure it's very pretty but definitely not practical for carrying around or travelling with. The lid is magnetic, there's no clip or anything, so what I have to do is put a hairband around it to stop it coming open if I have it in a bag.

I'd highly recommend this palette. It would make a brilliant Christmas gift!
It seems to be sold out everywhere but HERE! Purchase it for £25…bargain!

What's your most used eyeshadow palette?

x

Oreo Chocolate Cookies!

I love baking cakes, so I thought I'd branch out and make some cookies!

I saw a recipe for chocolate cookies on Tanya Burr's blog and thought they looked amazing! But I made little changes to make them more my own. Firstly I used less caster sugar than Tanya said, I used 250g rather than the suggested 300g and even then the cookies were incredibly sweet….so I'd recommend using a little less. People are far too obsessed with sugar!
I also used more than a 'little dash' of milk because I wanted to make sure they weren't dry.
Lastly instead of Daim bars I used an Oreo chocolate bar broken up, along with the plain chocolate and a bit of white chocolate too.

The recipe creates enough mixture for 10 large cookies. They're very yummy and I do want to make them again, but with less sugar and perhaps less cocoa powder so they're not so sickly sweet!

Dear Santa……..

It's almost December, which means it's almost Christmas…my favourite time of year! Yipee!
As it's almost that time again I thought I'd do a post on my Christmas whishlist, but before I start I just want to share a few DISCLAIMERS - 1. I know there's quite a few expensive things on this list, and by no means do I expect even one of the things mentioned, it's just a kind of dream wish list. 2. Christmas isn't about presents, I know, but it's nice to give and receive in a non greedy way. And this is just a fun post to do!

• Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette - this is something I've wanted for SO long now, it's beautiful.
• One Direction This Is Us DVD - yes, I'm a 1D fan and proud of it.
• Alpha H Liquid Gold - I'm a bit obsessed with skincare and I've heard amazing things about this.
• Slipper boots - the ones in the photo are from Next.
• Christmas pyjama bottoms - those fleece ones from Primark look amazing!
• Urban Outfitters watch
• Mac painpot in Painterly - I need a good eyeshadow base and this is meant to be brilliant.
• Origins Mask Marvels - I've wanted to try all these mask for a while, they're in a bargain set for Christmas! Selling out fast though!
• Coffee syrups - yummy.
• New perfume? I've just ran out of my favourite which is Tommy Hilfiger Loud.
• Yankee Candle - I desperately want a Winter candle and the Christmas Eve one sounds incredible - there's 25% OFF with the link I included!The other one that sounds amazing is Christmas Cookie, but that one may be too sweet, also 25% off on the website linked!
• Moroccan oil - I just want nice soft hair please.
• Ring Set from NewLook or any ring set with more thing and plain rings.
• Necklace from Topshop

Other things I'd love are a Mac lipstick, new clothes because I'm in desperate need of winter jumpers and things, and a Nars blush. But I'll stop there because I could go on forever, I'm constantly seeing new things I wish I could purchase!

What's on your Christmas wish list?

x

L'Oreal True Match Blush in Rosewood | REVIEW

I was recently in Boots and they had a 3 for 2 deal on…that's just asking for money to be spent!
One of the things I looked for was an Autumn blush, and I came across this one by L'Oreal in the colour Rosewood.

Rosewood is a gorgeous dark pinky brown with a slight shimmer running through it…so slight I'd call it a sheen rather than a shimmer. In the pan the colour looks very strong and I was almost worried about how dark it would be on my pale skin but I went for it.
When this blush is applied it looks nowhere near as dark as in the pan, because it's quite sheer. If you want a really bold colour you'd have to use a heavy hand and go back in a few times.

I do like the packaging of this, although it is plastic it doesn't feel cheap or flimsy and the blush itself is in a metal pan inside, which flips up and underneath is a mirror and a little brush…which to be honest I will never use, it's very scratchy and just no where near as good as proper brushes like Real Techniques. I don't like that the pan isn't fixed down though, so if you turned it upside down or something when it was open the brush would fall out from underneath.

I tried to get a swatch of this but it was so sheer you couldn't really see, the camera wasn't picking it up. You'll just have to take my word for it that this blush is really gorgeous, I love the shade for a subtle bit of colour during this season.
L'Oreal True Match Blush in Rosewood retails for £7.69 here, and Boots still have their 3 for 2 on!

Have you tried this blush?

What's your 'go to' everyday blush for Autumn/Winter?

x

How To Make Your Lipstick Last Longer

I'm a big lipstick lover, but something that can really annoy me about lipsticks is having to touch them up when they start to fade…especially the bolder colours! But I have come across a few ways to make your lipstick stay put much longer.

What You Will Need 
- A toothbrush, preferably an old one so you don't ruin the bristles
- A lip balm
- A concealer or foundation
- A lip liner
- A lipstick
- Face powder
- Powder brush
- Tissue

1. The first step is to exfoliate your lips. You can use lip scrubs such as the one from Lush, but to save money just get an old toothbrush, damp it with some water, and scrub at your lips to remove any dead skin.

2. Use a lip balm to moisturise your lips to prep them for lipstick. I'm using the Nivea essentials lip salve. I do this before doing my makeup, then after I've finished everything but lips I wipe away any excess lip balm.

3. Blot some concealer or foundation (trust me) onto your lips. It will act as a primer for your lipstick. Make sure you blend it in.

4. Use a lipliner similar to the colour of your lipstick of choice to outline your lips. Make sure to blend it softly so there's no definite line once you apply lipstick. This lip liner is Rimmel's lasting finish 1000 kisses lip liner in 061 Wine.

5. Apply your lipstick! I used Kate Moss for Rimmel in 107.

6.  Place a layer of tissue over your lips, and use a brush to apply some loose or pressed powder onto your lips through the tissue. The tissue helps to make sure only a very thin layer of powder goes on, but it's enough to set the lipstick in place. 

7. If you need to add a bit more colour after using the powder go in with another layer of lipstick. 

BONUS TIP -

If you're using a bright lip colour and you're worried about it getting onto your teeth then put your finger in your mouth, make an 0 shape with your mouth, then slide your finger out of your mouth.

Any lipstick that was on the inside of your mouth, and bound to get into your teeth, has now been removed and is on your finger.

The Budget Buy Brow Kit

Brow's are such an important part of a beauty and makeup routine. Whether you believe it or not brows make such a difference to your face, shaping and shading can help balance your facial features, frame the eyes, and if you're a little bit older they can even give you a more youthful look if done correctly.
The problem is eyebrow kits can be expensive, but I have found a brilliant kit that's so affordable!
Welcome, Fashionista Brow Kit.

I've been using this brow kit for a year now, so that's why it may look a little messy but you can see I use it daily! And I still haven't hit pan. Win!

In this kit, which is a brilliant size for popping into your makeup bag (it's a bit bigger than the palm of my hand) contains 3 brown shades - a very dark one, a medium one and a light almost orangey brown. There is also a wax to set any powder into place. As well as that you get a little double ended brush which I don't use whilst doing my makeup but is fine for on the go touchups, and also a little pair of tweezers which too are good quality. And of course that all important mirror, which is a great size.
The powders themselves are well pigmented, not chalky, don't give any fall out and stay in place on my brows all day even without the wax. I tend to use the medium brown, sometimes I mix in a bit of the darker one too and the colour is great.
I think unless you have black eyebrows or very fair hairs then everyone could make this work for them, whether it's by using a shade on it's on or mixing them.

This kit is £7 from Superdrug, or currently £3.50 HERE!

Beauty Advent Calendars

December is looming!
If you're more a fan of beauty than you are of chocolate, and want to spend a little bit more on a treat to help you countdown to Christmas then these advent calendars might be for you!

WARNING - SPOILERS

A lot of beauty advent calendars are now out of stock, including the Boots one and the Benefit one. But I found some great alternatives if you're still after one!

YOU

The YOU beauty advent calendar is great value for money, you get over £240 worth of products for £49.95. Products include Caudalie Hand and Nail Cream, Dr Lipp Lip Balm, a Sisley face mask, Stila lip glaze, Trilogy night cream, and more. Buy here.

THE BODY SHOP

I love products from The Body Shop, so this one sounds amazing in my opinion. You get over £80 worth of beauty products for £55! Including shea body butter, strawberry shower gel, almond hand cream, mango body whip, white musk body lotion, chocolate soap, a facial brush, Vitamin E night cream, and more of the Body Shops most popular products. Buy here.

CIATÉ

If nail varnish is more your thing then the Ciaté beauty advent calendar is for you. Ciaté do amazing nail varnishes in beautiful colours. In this calendar you get amazing shades, including 3 paint pot glitter shades you can't buy anywhere else. The contents is worth about £200, but you can get your hands on it all for £42, exclusively here.

Will you be purchasing a beauty advent calendar? 

Or are you sticking to chocolate or the

traditional picture ones?

Rimmel Glam Eyes HD 5-Colour Eye Shadow in Brixton Brown

It's no secret that I'm a huge Rimmel fan. They're my favourite highstreet makeup brand, their lipsticks are my favourite, as are their foundations.
I was in Boots the other day and I saw this eyeshadow palette, the Glam Eyes HD 5 Colour Eyeshadow palette in Brixton Brown. I hadn't seen it before (it launched early October) and I thought the colours looked right up my street and super Autumnal, so I bought it.

In this 5 shadow palette you got a very dark shimmery grey, a super shimmery champagne colour, a dark brown that looks ever so slightly purply, a soft earthy green that is matte, and in the middle is a gorgeous coppery red with not too much shimmer. Beautiful.

What I love about this palette is you can create a really subtle daytime look with it, but also a super smoky nighttime look, and that red in the middle makes it perfect for this season.

The colours are well pigmented…not amazing, but good for the price, apart from the green which is shockingly badly pigmented, I can't seem to even see it once applied and is quite chalky..but the other 4 are great.

They also surprisingly didn't crease on my eyes! I wore the copper/red all over my lid and the dark grey just on the outer part of my eye for about 6 hours with no primer and they hadn't creased at all. 

L-R Top 2 shades and middle shade

Bottom 2 shades

This palette is £6.99 and there are 3 different ones in the collection.

Purchase here.

What's your favourite shade out of the 5?

November Wishlist!

Something I'm dying to get this month is Hydraluron, it's a serum that you apply before your moisturiser and it basically helps the moisturiser to sink in a lot more than it normally would. It's supposed to be a miracle worker, and as I suffer from dehydrated skin in the winter this would be amazing.
I really want a tartan scarf! I've been after one for a while, I've tried everywhere to get one - Topshop, New Look, Primark, H&M, River Island, Zara, etc. I might have to resort to eBay!
Origins Drink Up Overnight Intensive Mask is something that's raved about in the blogging world, I'm yet to try it, purely because of the hefty price tag, but I'm hoping this winter I can.
It might be hard to believe because everyone has one but I don't own a Onesie! This year I'll change that. The one pictured above is from ASOS.
Autumn lip colours are my favourite, when I saw the Clinique Chubby Stick Intense in Grandest Grape I fell in love, it's the most gorgeous plum colour.
I love wearing dresses in the Autumn and Winter, I hate wearing them at any other time of year but especially in December I love them - they make me feel Christmassy for some reason. I like them quite basic so I can layer them up with chunky cardigans, scarves and jackets. The one above is from ASOS.
I'm seriously lacking in Autumn blushes, Nars Blush in Douceur looks so nice, it's a soft pink-brown and I want it!
Lastly is slipper boots! Last year I had some really comfy ones but they're falling apart now, so a pair of new ones is a must. They're so warm and snuggly for winter time. The ones above are from Next.

What's on your November wish list?

The Autumn/Winter Nail

Happy November!
We're well into Autumn now and Winter is just around the corner. During these seasons I change up my nail colours, so I thought I'd share my top 5 Autumn/Winter nail varnishes with you.

L-R Avon Cherry Jubilee, Rimmel Lycra Pro Beige Babe, Studio London Cloudburst,
Studio London Mink, Eye Candy London All Night Long

Autumn/Winter nail colours tend to be a lot darker, and cold shades.

L-R Avon Cherry Jubilee, Rimmel Lycra Pro Beige Babe, Studio London Cloudburst,
Studio London Mink, Eye Candy London All Night Long

My personal favourite of the 5 is Avon's nail wear pro in Cherry Jubilee, it's a gorgeous deep red that's almost burgundy coloured. This shade is the varnish I wear most often in the colder months, and goes with the majority of my outfits. I also find it looks really lovely against paler skin tones. This varnish also lasts well, and dries super fast! You definitely need more than one coat though.
The second nail varnish is Rimmel's Lycra Pro in Beige Babe. I really love the colour of this, it's a browny beige that looks lovely on. I love the applicator because it's nice and thick. Rimmel claims this lasts up to 10 days but I found it only lasted about 3 days on my nails.
The third one along is by Studio London, it came in a set, and it's called Cloudburst. Cloudburst is a lovely navy almost black shade. Navy seems to be very 'in' on nails at the moment so this is really lovely. I also like that it looks black in some light, blue in others, and sometimes grey.
The fourth nail varnish is also by Studio London and came from the same set, this one's called Mink. I don't know quite how to describe the shade, but I'd say it's mauve. It looks very pretty on and it's a great choice if you don't like going too dark on your nails. I love the Studio London nail varnishes, they dry super fast and last a long time on the nails. Only complaint is the small brush applicator.
My last choice is a classic black. Everyone needs a black nail varnish! This one is my favourite and it's called All Night Long by Eye Candy London…I don't see much about this brand, but I got this in Sainsburys and think it's great! The colour lasts a week on my nails and it dries amazingly quickly, which is always good.

What's your favourite nail colour for 

the colder months?

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo - Is It Worth The Hype?

Effaclar Duo by La Roche Posay is one of those skincare products everyone on the blogosphere talks about, raves about even! But is it really worth the hype?

Effaclar Duo is basically a skin treatment that's meant to correct and unclog imperfections, purify pores and reduce the appearance of imperfections or spots. It's a serum like formula that you can use all over your face, or just in problem areas, twice a day.

I'd heard so many bloggers, YouTubers and other people rave about this product but it never crossed my mind to get it because I've never had problems with my skin at all….not until a few months ago.
A few months ago, due to health issues, my skin started to get worse (only a few spots but considering my skin had always been spot and imperfection free). I started getting under the skin spots along my jawline that just wouldn't go….so when I heard Tanya Burr and Ruth Crilly say they had the exact same problem but after using La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo it went away I just had to get it.

I've been using this product for about a month and a half now and I'm so disappointed.
A few days into using it my skin got SUPER dry, even though I applied masses of moisturiser. When I say super dry I mean it, it was horrible, makeup wouldn't sit on it, moisturisers didn't seem to help and it was making the spots sore. However, I'd heard some people say this product makes the skin get worse before it gets better, so I carried on using it.
About a week after using it the dryness was still there but nowhere near as bad, but I'd got more breakouts! But I kept with it…hoping for a miracle.
Now it's been a month and a half and I'm sad to report no miracle. My skin is no longer dry (thankyou E45 and Nivea), but my under the skin spots are still there.
I'm still using this product twice a day, hoping it works….I'll keep you updated but don't hold your breath on good news.

So, the short answer to whether I think La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo is worth the hype is a big no.
It obviously worked for other people, so don't rule it out, but for me it did nothing but burn a £13 hole in my pocket.