FOTD - Valentine's!

Hi everyone :)

The other night my university held a Valentine's Ball which was really good fun. I thought I would show you all my makeup.

Face:

- Mac StudioFix Fluid in NC15, Mac Select Cover Up Concealer in NW20, Chanel Loose Powder, Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Bronzer and Nars Madly Blush.

Eyes:

Mac eyeshadows in All That Glitters, Honey Lust, and Satin Taupe placed in the Crease. Chanel's Sculpting Brow Pencil in Blonde Clair. Lancome Hypnose Drama in Black, L'Oreal Superliner in Carbon Gloss and Urban Decay's 24/7 Liner in Zero.

Lips:

Mac Lipstick in Creme de Nude (rediscovered my love for this!)

I'm Back!

I am going to issue a very short apology: I am so sorry for going awol on you all! I promise I will update my blog more regularly from now on.

^ YSL Nail Touches in Coral and Tender Pink, Nars Single Eyeshadow in Nepal and OPI's Top Coat!

^ This is YSL's Coral. On the nails it comes out as a peach-coral with a pearl finish. Very pretty!

^This is Tender Pink. A far more matte, baby-pink shade, which is very pretty. The only problem I have is that it is rather light so you need to apply several layers in order to achieve an opaque finish.

Both of these were found in the House of Fraser sale, reduced from £20 to £13! I snapped them up very quickly. The OPI top coat has been perfect for protecting the colour. It really is the best protective top coat for your nail colour on the market.

^ One of my best friends gave me the Nars Eyeshadow in Nepal for Christmas. It is absolutely gorgeous! A kind of caramel/golden brown colour.

Hope you are all well! I intend to purchase some items from the new Mac Cham Pale collection so will be posting about that soon xx

Mini Mac & Nars Haul

So a few days ago I went shopping for more sensible things such as clothes or shoes...what did I come away with? Yet more make up! However, I am not being too critical of myself as they were items that I have wanted for a long time, and bought with some birthday money, so my mini haul wasn't too naughty!

^ I picked up Mac's Eye Kohl in Teddy, Nars Single Eyeshadow in Cyprus, and Nars Cream Blush in Penny Lane.

^ Nars Eyeshadow in Cyprus. Cyprus has been described by some bloggers as 'the perfect neutral,' and that's exactly what it is. It is a lovely golden-beige shade that is perfect for the daytime as an all over wash colour, but can easily be paired with a darker crease colour for the nightime.

^ Mac's Eye Kohl in Teddy. A very pretty rich, golden brown shade that will make a softer change from black eyeliner.

^ Nars Cream Blusher in Penny Lane. This is GORGEOUS! It gives a beautiful dewy finish to the skin without making it look greasy. I wore this the other night and it just made my skin look as if it had a bit of a 'glow.'

More soon! xx

Nars Ondine Eyeshadow & Update

This week I got my A Level Results, the results of the exams you take when you are 17-18 in the UK in your final two years of school. I got an A* in English Literature, and As in Politics and Religious Studies. I am now off to read English Literature at university. This means that, for the first time ever, I will be living away from the comforts of home, semi-independent..! The university I am going to is over a three hour drive from where I live in London and about two hours on the train, so I will be a long way away from home. As you can imagine, this week has been rather eventful.

I need to buy lots of things for the big move, so am rather busy at the moment. However, I thought that I would share with you one of my current favourites - Nars Eyeshadow in Ondine. One of my friends bought this for my birthday and it is beautiful!

It is a lovely brown colour, with almost mauve undertones. I would say that it is not as cool a colour as Lola Lola. The quality and pigmentation of Nars eyeshadows is superb, so if you haven't already, I would definitely recommend you take a look at the Nars eyeshadow range!

More soon! xx

My Go-To Products

Hi everyone :) I thought I would do a quick post today about my go-to products after I saw a number of beauty bloggers and youtube gurus do it. Just to clarify - these products are not necessarily my favourite products (although a number of them are!) - they are the products I reach for most often.

^ The lipsticks. From L-R, YSL Rouge Volupte in No1 Nude Beige, Mac's Snob, Mac's Creme de Nude and Mac's Hue. The YSL lipstick is a pinky-nude, and the colour and finish are absolutely beautiful. Snob is an amazing blue/lilac-toned bubblegum pink which I wear an awful lot. Creme de Nude is a very flattering nude, and Hue is another pinky-nude which is lovely and sheer.

I do love more 'fun' lipsticks such as YSL's Rouge Volupte in No7 Lingerie Pink or Mac's Saint Germain, but those colours are more difficult to wear, so these are my most used lipsticks. Now onto my 'Go-To' blushers...

^ Mac Well Dressed. This is a very light baby pink, which gives a lovely light pink hue.

^ Illamasqua's Katie. Very similar to Well Dressed - another baby pink, perhaps slightly more blue toned.

^ Nars Bronzer in Laguna. This is the perfect bronzer for my pale skin. Unlike a lot of bronzers on the market, this bronzer is bronze and not orange!

^ Mac Studio Fix Fluid Foundation in NC15 and Mac MSF Natural in Light - these two products are the real stalwarts of my collection. I have oily, blemish-prone skin and the Studio Fix foundation provides me with great coverage, leaving me much more confident about my skin. The MSF Natural is a great finishing powder, but unfortunately on me it doesn't photograph well, so that is my only gripe.

^ Mac's Studio Finish Concealer in NC15 and Select Cover Up Concealer in NW20. The Studio Finish concealer is great for covering up blemishes and discolouration on the face, and I love to use the warmer shade of the Select Cover Up to conceal my under eye circles!

^ Mac's Paint Pot in Painterly. This is the perfect base for any eyeshadow, and it also does a great job at concealing any veinage in the eye area! I reach for this every single day.

That's it, thanks for reading! xx

FOTD

On Friday I went to a bar in London to celebrate my friend's 18th birthday. I wanted to show you what I wore makeup-wise, though you can also see the top I wore, which I paired with jeans and heels!

My face is a bit shiny here, which I don't really like! haha

Face:

Mac Studio Fix Fluid in NC15

Bobbi Brown Face Touch Up Stick in Porcelain

Mac Select Cover Up in NW20

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Benefit One Hot Minute powder

Nars Deep Throat Blush

Dior Amber Diamond Shimmer Powder

Eyes:

Lancome Hypnose Mascara

Lancome Artliner in Black

Mac Paint Pot in Rubenesque

Mac Eyeshadow in Naked Lunch on lid

Nars Eyeshadow in Lola Lola in crease

Lips:

Mac Fleshpot Lipstick

YSL Rouge Pur Shine Lipstick in Frozen Mango

That's it! More soon xx

Organisation and Storage

Hello everyone! I am back from the residential charity camp week that I mentioned in my previous post. I can quite honestly say that it was the best week of my life so far.

Today I decided to show you my make up organisation and storage :)

^ This W H Smith set of drawers is where I store all my makeup

^ This is where I keep my brushes and Mac Palettes. I have five palettes - four eyeshadow palettes and one blush palette, although they are not all filled.

^ These are the top three drawers of the W H Smith set. The far left drawer contains a few eyeshadow palettes, the centre drawer contains Mac and Barry M pigments and Mac paintpots and the drawer on the right contains a mish-mash of eyeliners, mascaras, lipliners, eyebrow pencils etc etc. I also keep a few loose eyeshadows in a box on top of the set of drawers which you can see in the first photo.

^ My 'Lip drawer.' In here I keep my lipsticks, balms and glosses.

^ This is the drawer in which I keep my face powders, foundations and concealers.

^ Finally this is the drawer in which I keep my blushers, bronzers and highlighters.

I hope you enjoyed this post. I appreciate that this might seem like a lot of makeup, but recently I have been buying less and using more.

I will be posting again soon! xx

Nars Eyeshadow in Lola Lola

Yesterday was the last day of the Spring Term. To celebrate, my friends and I went shopping on the King's Road. We were mostly window shopping and cafe-stopping (!) but I did manage to pick up a few things, including a Nars eyeshadow in Lola Lola.




It is absolutely beautiful. Nars describes this as a 'neutral brown with shimmer', and it has a lovely richness to it, so the shade reminds me a little of Mac's Sable.

I am really impressed with this so far. Next on my wishlist is a single eyeshadow in Cyprus! xx

February Favourites

A little late, but better late than never! I have been steering more towards the pinks this month, perhaps it is in my desperation for Spring to hurry up! As I write this, sun is pouring through the windows, so perhaps my efforts have helped...

^ My favourite lipsticks of the month - (L-R) Illamasqua Liv, Fable and YSL's Rouge Volupte in No7, Lingerie Pink. All rather similar and I have previously talked about all of them, so will only briefly refer to them now. Liv is a lovely matte, lilac/blue toned pink, Fable is a gorgeous rosey pink, and the famous Lingerie Pink is yet another bubblegum, blue-toned pink.

^ Benefit High Beam. I really don't use this enough. Such a pretty pink highlighter with a subtle silver sheen.

^ The face/cheek products I have been using a lot (L-R) : Mac Studio Fix Powder in NC15, Mac Mineralised Skin Finish in Porcelain Pink and Nars Blushers in Deep Throat and Madly.

I have been very busy this month, in particular preparing for a music event in order to raise money for charity. With so many rehearsals, I didn't have time to apply liquid foundation, so just used this powder instead. Studio Fix powder is great because it is quick to apply, yet still provides good coverage. I have been using Nars Deep Throat on the apples of my cheeks and Madly to contour - a quick, simple routine which I really like.

More soon xx

Shameless Posing - FOTD

Today I met up with my friend to go shopping in London - Kings Road to be precise! We did a bit of shopping and I bought a gorgeous pink blazer from Zara which I intend to post about at the weekend when I can photograph it in daylight.

I am wearing..

Eyes:

Lancome Hynose Mascara
Lancome Artliner in Black

Face:

Mac SFF in NC15

Mac MSF Natural in Light

Mac Studio Finish Concealer in NC15

Mac Select Cover Up Concealer in NW20

Nars Blush in Deep Throat (applied to the apples)

Nars Blush in Madly (to contour)

Nars Laguna Bronzer

Lips:

YSL Rouge Volupte in No1 - Nude Beige (a new buy!)

I apologise that this is such a simple look, but I had applied it all in a rush, hence the no eyeshadow! Hope you are all well, and I will be posting again very soon :) xx

Favourite Blushers

Hello everyone! It's my one month blog anniversary today! Hehe. A big thank you to everyone who has subscribed, it means a lot :)


I wanted to show you my favourite blushers today. Three of them are Nars, five are Mac, one is Benefit and one is Illamasqua! These are my current favourites, having recently tried my first Illamasqua blush when some money comes in, I would love to try more from their range. I am also hoping to purchase Benefit's Coralista so my favourites could change!

Nars:

^ Angelika. Such a fun colour! Nars describes it as a 'cotton candy' pink, and that is a pretty good description. It has beautiful silver shimmer to it, which can easily be toned down by buffing the shade into your cheeks, if that puts you off.

^ Deep Throat. Already raved about this, but this is probably my favourite Nars blush. I don't own many peach blushers, so it was a useful buy. Nars describes it as a 'peach with shimmer' which is true, but a bit misleading as it has definite pink undertones, making it a very wearable shade.


^ Madly. Nars describes this as a 'Seashell pink.' Hmm. I disagree. I would actually describe it as a light brown colour with pink/mauve undertones. Now if you are pale, and you are currently thinking, 'Ahh! I can't wear brown blush!', think again. I am NC15, and this works so well over bronzer. It makes you look as if you have just got back from holiday, and no fake tan or sunburn needs to be involved!

Illamasqua:

^ Katie. Illamasqua describes Katie as a 'Soft candy pink.' As I have mentioned before on this blog, it is very similar to Mac's Well Dressed. The difference? The colour pay-off. Katie requires the tiniest amount applied, whereas I need to apply Well Dressed to the cheeks 2-3 times in order to get the required amount. Both can be desirable, depending on what you need. For a more subtle, buildable look, I'd go for Well Dressed but if I was in a rush, I'd reach for Katie.

Mac:

^ Well Dressed. Mac refers to it as a 'Pink lady pink' - a very soft baby pink. It is such a classic colour, and if you were looking to purchase a safe and wearable colour, I would recommend this shade every time. Definitely my favourite Mac powder blush.

^ Dame. Dame is similar to Well Dressed, and they are both satins. The main difference is that Dame has more mauve/blue undertones. This is reflected in Mac's description of the shade as a 'Blue soiree pink.'

^ Pink Swoon. I first came across this shade when I was at a friend's house and I had forgotten my blush. I asked to borrow hers, she handed me this, and we fell in love! Mac describes this shade as 'Clearly pink'...but I think I can do a little better. It is a bright candy shade which gives a gorgeous pop of colour to the cheeks. A little goes a long way with this blusher, and if you're looking for subtlety, this might not be the shade to go for.

^ Lillicent. This is in the Blushcreme formulation. According to Mac, a 'Full rosy fleshtone' - in normal language, that translates as a healthy-looking peach colour. Such a gorgeous shade, and perfect for summer.

^ Ladyblush. This is another blush in the Blushcreme formula. Such a pretty shade of pink! Mac describes it as a 'Demure pink flush' which actually describes it very well. If you had to choose one Blushcreme, I would go for this one!

Benefit:

^ Dandelion. I first tried this shade when I was fourteen, and I still use it nearly four years later! You can't go wrong with this powder. It is just yet another beautiful, wearable, baby-pink shade. I would not recommend this for those with dark skin, however!

Phew! That post took forever, though I did enjoy it! Let me know what your favourite blushers are :) xx

January Favourites

I can't believe we have come to the end of January! It hasn't been a particularly eventful month for me. I did however set up this blog, which I am really enjoying, and a big thankyou to all of you who have followed!

I wanted to do my 'January Favourites' today. Here they are:

^ Mac lipstick in Fleshpot, YSL Rouge Pur in 141, Mac MSF in By Candlelight, Nars Blush in Deep Throat, Benefit 'One Hot Minute' powder, Barry M Dazzle Dusts in 39 and 44 and Mac Holiday Eyeshadow Palette in Smoke and Mirrors.

I have already spoken about most of these products, apart from a few items which I will now talk about in more detail.

^ Barry M Dazzle Dusts in 39 and 44. I forget what the names of these are, but 39 is on the left and 44 is on the right. 39 is a peachy-beige and 44 is a bronze-gold. Dazzle Dusts are more affordable versions of Mac pigments - they cost just £4.50. They are a good range to look into if you don't want to fork out £15 on a Mac pigment or know that you will not use them very often as they are smaller than Mac pigments. The Dazzle Dusts are also of exceptional quality - you can't go wrong!

^ Mac Holiday (2009) palette in 'Smoke and Mirrors.' This was a great buy for me as I love neutral eyeshadows, and the palette is compact enough to fit in any makeup bag or handbag for travel use. All of the colours have a slight shimmer to them, which I think is really pretty. I will be using this product a lot throughout this year!

^ Benefit powder in 'One Hot Minute.' Described as a 'Sexy-in-Seconds-Face-Powder', this is a very pretty product. As I am so fair (NC15) I have been using it as a bronzer. It is a very pretty rose-gold shade, so if you have darker skin I think this would work very well as a blush or contour colour. I have heard of some people using it for eyeshadow. It really is a multi-use product.

Thanks for reading, more soon! xx

A Baby Haul

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