MAC Stereo Rose - Re-release!

MAC, as they so often do, are re-releasing one of their most popular limited edition products into a new limited edition collection, and it's the much talked about Mineralize Skinfinish in Stereo Rose.

If you've been an avid beauty blog follower for a while you'll have no doubt heard about this product before. It was first released years ago, then re-released last year, and will again be rereleased this year into the forthcoming Fantasy Of Flowers collection - which will be available 6th March (write it in your diary).

Stereo Rose is a gorgeous coral blush, with hints of pink and golden shimmer running through it - much like Nars Orgasm blush, and there are many other dupes out there. The shade itself looks very much like it would suit and compliment any skin tone. The golden shimmer running through will help highlight, so if you're in a rush there's no need to do both, and the colour will really help warm up your complexion.
Mineralize Skinfinishe's are really soft powders with a metallic finish to them, they're great for giving a healthy glow and a gorgeous sheen to the skin.

Stereo Rose will be ready for you to buy on 6th March this year, priced at £22.
Be quick, this will undoubtably sell out fast!

Best Bargain Eyeshadow Palette

One of the most asked questions I get is 'What's the best highstreet/drugstore eyeshadow?'. It seems most eyeshadows are either not good quality, have a rubbish shade range or are overpriced.
My favourite eyeshadow palettes you can get in high street shops are the Sleek palettes.

The Sleek eyeshadow palettes consist of 12 eyeshadows and are priced at £7.99 - BARGAIN!
My favourite of the selection is Storm (pictured). I use it often as most of the shades are natural and neutral, but there are some more daring shades in there like dark green or pink, and there's so many different looks you can get out of it. There's a mixture of light and dark colours, shimmery and matte. For the price I really don't think you can beat the quality of these shadows, they're so pigmented and you can really built them up to an intense colour. The wear of them isn't as long as high end shadows, that's expected, but they still last all day with a primer, without a primer they would last a good time still but just may crease a little - it's best to try and build them up to avoid this.

TOP ROW SWATCHES

BOTTOM ROW SWATCHES

Other than Storm there are 14 other palettes to choose from, so there'll be something to please everyone. There's some really bright and intense coloured palettes, some naturals palettes, matte palettes and of course palettes with a mixture.
The packaging is very sleek (yep) and doesn't feel too cheap. The lid on my palette has broken because I dropped it, but I think they're quite durable.

Sleek, in my opinion, do the best eyeshadows for such a barginous price. You can buy Sleek eyeshadow palettes on their website anywhere in the world and in Superdrug in the UK.
I've got my eye on the Oh So Special and the Au Naturals palettes next!

How To De-puff And Brighten Your Eyes

We all have those days when we wake up after a not so great sleep and our eyes look tired, puffy and not how we'd like them to be, but fear not, I have some tips on how to prevent those under eye circles and some tricks on how to make them go away!

Prevention

I'm sure we'd all just prefer to never have puffy eyes again, unfortunately that's not likely, but there are some things we
can do to prevent it from happening so often.
1. Get a good nights sleep! Sounds obvious, and well…it is, but it's really effective. Go to bed early, make sure you're relaxed and have that 8 + hours you need. If you're not sleeping enough your eyes will most probably look dull, red and tired. Another tip is to sleep with your head slightly elevated, this prevents puffiness.
2. Eat well! What you eat and drink really does effect your body, including your eyes. Food that is high in sodium (cheese, marmite, popcorn, salt, etc), carbs (pasta, bread, cakes, etc) and fat can make you retain water, which causes your eyes to become puffy. But protein like fish and tofu is really good.
3. Stay hydrated! Eyes tend to become puffy due to water retention, which is caused by excess salt in and around the eye (this is why when you cry your eyes go puffy). Making sure you drink plenty of water throughout the day is good for reducing eye swelling and will keep you hydrating, but downing a huge glass of water before bed might cause the opposite effect as your body will retain that water until you wake up. Try drinking a green tea after your evening meal, it's good for your skin and good for your eyes, and keep away from drinks that dehydrate you (caffeine and alcohol) and salt!
4. Exercise! This improves circulation around your body.

De-puff

1. Cold cucumber slices! Apply the cold cucumber slices to your eye, leave for 3 minutes and then repeat with fresh slices a few times. The coolness will soothe the eye and help to de-puff. Cucumber also contains several vitamins and acids that will help reduce water retention.
2. Cold, raw potato slices! If you can't stand the smell of cucumber (like me) then potato is a good alternative, it will do the same job as the cucumber.
3. Frozen spoon! Place a spoon in the freezer the night before, then when you wake up simply apply the cold spoon under your eye for 30 seconds each.
4. Raw egg whites! Separate the egg white from the yolk of one egg and apply the egg white directly under the eye using some tissue or cotton wool, leave it to dry for a couple of minutes - under your eyes will start to feel quite tight, then rinse off the egg white. Your eyes will look less puffy and the nutrition in the egg will also help reduce water retention. You can also use cold milk!
5. Cold tea bags! You can use either caffeinated tea bags - caffeine helps reduce the swelling, or you can use herbal/green tea bags - these contain anti-inflamitary and anti-irritants that will really soothe your eyes. Soak the tea bags in hot water the night before, then place them in the fridge overnight, in the morning make sure you squeeze out any excess water and then place them on your eyes for 3-5 minutes.

Make-up

Using the right makeup can really help you to look more wide awake and diminish those pesky dark circles.
1. A good concealer will become your best friend! Opt for a concealer that has a peachy or yellow tone to at, this will cancel out the purple or blue hues and brighten the area. Make sure your concealer is nice and creamy, you don't want anything drying!
2. Don't go heavy with eyeshadow, dark eyeshadows can make you look more tired, go for light, brightening colours, but by all means go in with lots of mascara to widen your eyes.
3. Create an illusion of bigger eyes, just like you can highlight your cheekbones, you can highlight the right areas of your eyes to make them stand out, appear wider and more awake. Use a lighter colour eyeshadow with shimmer and apply it to the middle of your eyelid and the inner corner of your eye - this will really make your eyes look more awake and alert. Using a white eyeliner on the bottom lash line will also help.


If you follow those tips you'll have beautifully awake, de-puffed, bright eyes in no time!

Hope this helped you!

x

Beauty Bloggers Tag!

I've seen a few bloggers doing this 'Beauty Bloggers Tag' and always find reading them very interesting, so I thought I'd do it myself! I hope you enjoy this sort of post.

Why did you start blogging and how long have you been blogger for?

I started blogging about a year ago, but started putting posts up regularly about 5 months ago. I started blogging for a few reasons - I had been reading beauty blogs for a while and was inspired by other bloggers to start, I was really starting to get into makeup, skincare, etc and wanted a way of sharing my experiences with everyone and getting to know other bloggers who had the same interests as me!

Who's blog did you fall in love with first?

Honestly? I can't remember. I'd say Zoella's was probably the first I found and read every single post, but Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup and Hannah from A Little Beauty Spot (who's new blog is here) were two of the others I remember reading at the beginning of discovering the beauty blogging world!

What was the first blogosphere hyped about product that you bought?

Was it worth the hype?

That would be Nars Luguna bronzer! Every blogger these is seems to adore this product, and I was so intrigued so I bought it and yes, it's definitely worth the hype. I love it and use it all the time! 

What are you five favourite things about blogging and being a beauty blogger?

1. Having my own little space on the internet to share my thoughts and views on different products.

2. Other bloggers! I love discovering new blogs, reading reviews, favourites, wish lists, etc (I could spend hours going through Bloglovin' looking at the new posts from that day), and getting to know people. I've actually made a good few friends from doing this!

3. Discovering products. I find that unless you read beauty blogs really amazing products can pass you by! I'm also someone who does research before I buy anything, so finding out how people got on with things is great before I go out and buy it myself.

4. The creative side. I feel like since I left school I don't do anything creative, but having this blog enables me to take photographs, decide how to lay things out and also experiment with different products, which I find a great way be creative. 

5. Comments! I love getting comments on my blog posts from all of you, it really makes my day.

What have you learnt from being a beauty blogger?

When I first started blogging I didn't realise that writing blog posts can be quite hard work, a lot of thought goes into every part of a post and also design and layout of the website itself. I learnt never to compare yourself to other bloggers…if I did that I'd feel like a failure, because I don't have the largest amount of followers, but that doesn't matter! It's all about enjoying what you do.

What have you changed since becoming a beauty blogger?

Makeup storage…I've got a lot more makeup now, so I had to invest in some proper storage. I've also changed the way I do my makeup - I've picked up a lot of tips and tricks along the way.

What advice would you give to a beauty blogger starting out?

Don't do this just to get free products! That won't happen straight away, if ever, and you need to put a lot of work in before so. Also, if you don't have a passion for what you're doing it will come across in the posts. Don't write unless you really want to - again, it comes across in the posts, I've read a lot of blogposts that lack so much because the blogger obviously 'couldn't be bothered' on that day. Make good use of social media - twitter, Facebook, instagram, etc - it will really help your blog to grow.

What are your top 5 makeup brands?

This is no particular order!  MAC - I think I had to say that, it's surely in every beauty bloggers top 5, I just wish they were a tad cheaper. Rimmel - I think they're the best high street makeup brand, they do great and affordable foundations, lipsticks (especially the Kate Moss range), blushes, eyeshadows, eyeliners (the best), concealer, etc. Revlon - mainly for their lip products. Nars - ohhh their packaging and pigmentation makes me adore them. Soap & Glory - I haven't tried many things from their makeup range yet, but what I have tried, swatched and looked at has been amazing quality.

Recommend your top 5 beauty products

(reviews linked)

Kate Moss for Rimmel Lipsticks - I think these are the best highstreet/drugstore lipsticks out there, the price is so affordable, the colour range is fantastic, the lasting power is long, the packaging is great and the feel and finish is up there with the high end brands.

Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate - A night time oil that you apply post toner and pre moisturiser, it adds moisture to the skin, doesn't break me out, and helps fight against imperfections.

Collection's Lasting Perfection concealer - beauty blogger favourite and lives up to the hype - high coverage, non-drying, cheap and lasts all day.

MAC Mineralize Skinfish in Soft & Gentle - the most beautiful highlighter there is. 

Sleek Contour/Face Form Palette -  the contour palette consists of bronzer and highlighter, and the face form has a blush included as well. All highly pigmented, well packaged, and very affordable. A really great product if you're just getting into makeup. 

A Pretty Pink Pairing

I've never really delved into the world of lip product pairing, I always just stick to one product on my lips at one time, but recently I tried pairing a lipstick and a lipgloss together and to my surprise I really liked it!

Whilst looking through my draw of lipsticks recently I came across one of the first lipsticks I got that had been shoved to the back of the draw and forgotten about, it's a lipstick by Avon called Pout.
Pout is a really pretty cool toned pale pink, it's a gorgeous creamy texture and I really love the packaging. Although I do like the lipstick I have found that I much prefer the look of it paired with a lipgloss, and my lipgloss of choice is from the Revlon Colorburst range, the shade is Pink Ice. 

Lipstick only

Lipstick and gloss together

 SWATCHES TOP TO BOTTOM -
Avon lipstick in Pout
Revlon lipgloss in Pink Ice
Both products together

Pink Ice is a a very pale pink with silver shimmer particles running through it, I find it makes the lipstick look a bit lighter but also adds dimension and more shine. I'm glad I've found a lipstick to wear with this lipgloss because on it's on I'm not too fond of it, purely because on pale skin like mine it can make me look a bit washed out.

Both products feel nice on the lips, the Revlon lipgloss isn't sticky and isn't gloopy like some glosses can be, they're not the longest wearing products in the world, I'd say a 2-3 hours, but I can overlook that.
The two products work together really well and I really love this combination for a pretty and subtle lip look.