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Wednesday 30 March 2011

STRAWBERRY NOTD

It’s officially the British Summer Time now the clocks have gone forward(although I still class this time of year as spring..) But that’s a great excuse to start wearing bright colours and doing cute little looks like this…STRAWBERRIES :)

For this, Just paint your nails red(or pink if you prefer), I used Revlon’s ‘Revlon Red’ which is completely opaque after one coat!
Once that’s dry, apply a few little white dots, I used Barry M’s Matte White..
Then do three(or four if you want) green dots, I used Barry M Spring Green at the top of your nail, then slowly smudge it down so it looks like you’ve got little leaves!
so long as you take your time you can do it on both hands :)
Hope you’ve enjoyed!! x

Friday 25 March 2011

Bronze-Golden FOTD

(I know I need to work on the title of these posts.. I'm working on it!)
I wasn’t planning on posting any more EOTD or FOTD unless I was going out or decided to do something a little bit different but a friend actually commented on this look so when I got home I decided to take a few pictures for you :)
I used..
Mac Honey Lust (I used this little eyeshadow trick) all over the lid
Urban decay Honey in the centre of the lid for some dimension
Urban decay Twice Baked and Shag through the crease
And as always Urban Decay Yeyo as a highlight!

For eyeliner I used my Bobbi brown gel liner in black
(I can’t say enough g
ood things about this!)
Rimmel’s sexy curves mascara :)
(I didn't do anything with my brows, I just left them natural)

If you’re curious about what I wore this with well..
I wore Clinique redness solutions foundation 01
Diorskin sculpt concealer 01
Benefit sugarbomb blush
Prestige 03 pure shimmer highlighter
& I just put some burts bees lip balm on my lips.

Hope you’ve enjoyed!! x

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Spring NOTD

Here in the UK it’s now officially Spring Time! And that plus the fact the weather has been absolutely gorgeous where I live I was in the mood to so something cute and simple with my nails and this is what I came up with!
It's an (extremely simplified) Cath Kidston inspired floral nail art design that was actually really easy to do and I love it because it reminds me of all the flowers we’ll be seeing soon as well as the warmer weather just around the corner!(you can click the picture you see the design in more detail!)
I used Barry M’s Matte White, Spring Green, Fuchsia and a mix of
Bright red
and Raspberry :)

If you want to do something similar just apply a white base, let it dry then take a cocktail stick, swirl it in the polish and then draw the design on!

If you do this don’t forget a good top coat!
(This isn’t difficult to do, but it can be a little time consuming! so make sure you’re watching TV or doing something on the computer whilst you do this otherwise you’ll just get bored waiting for things to dry!)

I hope you’ve enjoyed – Are any of you excited about the start of spring??

Sunday 20 March 2011

Baked-Eye-Colour

I picked these two BodyShop Baked-Eye-Colour Eyeshadows up in the summer when the first came out and there was a lot of talk about the BodyShop’s new ‘baked to last range’ and at first I wasn’t overly impressed with them but after using them on and off for the past 6-7 months I actually really like them!
These aren’t ‘cheap’ eyeshadows and when I first swatched them in store I didn’t understand why people were recommending them but I had a BodyShop voucher burning a hole in my pocket so I picked up Sage and Amethyst. They were £9.50 but they’ve gone up to £10 because of VAT (I used my ‘love your body card’ so I got 10% off!)
(R-L Amethyst & Sage)
I wasn’t sure if these would be too bright but they actually just give a pretty subtle colour with the darker shade being almost grungy so together they are very wearable!
(R-L Amethyst & Sage)
As you can see swatched you get a much more accurate picture of what the colours are actually like. They’re surprisingly pigmented and they are actually very long lasting which is unusual – I find a lot of baked products tend to crease really easily.
Sage is probably the most worn of the two purely because I love how greens look on brown eyes so when I’m stuck for what eyeshadows you use this is a really easy option.
I stayed away from Amethyst at first as plum colours often lose their vibrancy as, for some reason, plum tones look very natural however recently I’ve been reaching for this one a lot as it gives just enough colour to be wearable :)

Overall I really do love these and for travelling these are great as they take up no room at all and you know you can create a natural or smokey night time look. They are quite pricey for eyeshadows, particularly for HighStreet/drugstore, but I’ve used these quite a lot and I’ve barely made a dint in the amount of product so I’d say these are actually quite good value as it will take ages to use it all!

Hope this has been helpful!
The BodyShop has 8 different shades and I’m definitely going to be looking into some of the other shades as they look so pretty!! x

Thursday 17 March 2011

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

I’m only a quarter Irish but I couldn’t let today go without posting a little something dedicated to St Patricks Day!I just did a really simple Irish flag design which only took a few minutes
(my Nan was pretty impressed with it though!)

I used 3 Barry M colours, obviously you can use what ever you have to hand – I picked Spring Green, Matte White and Tangerine.
(if you’re wondering why on earth I have a tangerine nail polish, I’m from Blackpool and a girl’s got to support her local football team every now and then!)
I hope you’ve enjoyed – Are any of you doing anything to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?

P.S I know technically the colours should be the other way around to how they appear in the pictures (green, white & orange instead of orange, white & green) but when I look at them they look the right way around!

Tuesday 15 March 2011

Peach Fizz - 324

This is just a short little post dedicated to my current favourite lipstick, which I have been wearing constantly for the past few weeks – Estee Lauder Peach Fizz
I don’t normally reach for pinks and peaches; even though they are incredibly pretty as I tend to stick to mauves and rosy colours which I know work well on a daily basis. But this little tube just looks so pretty (both on the lips and the packaging) I just can’t resist it!
I’m not a huge Estee Lauder fan as a lot of their products I seem to have bad reactions to, luckily though their Pure Colour Crystal lipsticks don’t cause any reactions (I think that’s mainly due to the fact it’s only lightly fragranced) This pretty star detailing on the actual lipstick itself originally made be me wonder about whether this would be too glittery or gold but the glitter is purely on the outside and isn't actually applied on your lips.
(The star detailing might have been limited edition for Christmas but I’m not completely sure)
Swatched on my hand I don’t think this looks anything special however on the lips it gives just enough pigmentation to be wearable and flattering with a moisturising finish
I feel like I have a lip balm on wearing this – which I love! I hate heavy lip products but this is very light and actually lasts quite well!

Thanks for reading
Have any of you tried anything from this range?

Friday 11 March 2011

Trilogy?

I’ve been using these two products every single day for the past five weeks (any skincare products I review I always use for a minimum of 3 weeks constantly) and I’ve got to say I’m impressed :)
I’m going to review the two products separately but I do think a big part of why I’ve had such good results is because in conjunction they seem to work better than paired with other branded products.(I have started introducing other branded products recently and they do work well but I think together you get the best out of the products)

Trilogy energising face lotion
This is my favourite product out of the two, partly because the packaging reflects the price with a chic glass bottle and simple informative labels which reflect the natural image of Trilogy but also because despite of this not being the cheapest lotion it is amazing value!
I love how this feels on my skin, it really is lightweight and soothing while delivering just the right amount of hydration! I do prefer to use this in the mornings as although I can’t pinpoint why this is ‘energising’ I always feel my skin looks refreshed after use.

One pump and you get the perfect about for your whole face. I normally have to use double this amount of most of my moisturisers but I’ve found this to be the perfect amount to hydrate my skin even when it’s been dry because of harsh weather.

Trilogy balancing gel cleanser
I’m always a little wary of ‘gel’ cleansers as I’ve found in the past they can dry or irritate my skin but this one does exactly what it says – it balances out any dry or oily patches I have ready for the lotion.
This comes as a very pale light white gel and the amount on my hand it probably enough for two uses! As similar to the lotion you really only need a tiny bit of the product. This is the sort of face wash I can imagine coming back to time and time again as it’s a great staple cleanser that is gentle enough to use on a daily basis but still makes your skin feel clean!

I just want to mention, both products have the very distinctive Trilogy scent which at first I wasn’t overly keen on (It’s quite herbal and I’d say its relatively strong for facial skin care...) But since using these two products for the past several weeks the scent has really grown on me and unlike a lot of scented skin care the smell doesn’t linger on your skin- which is definitely good.
Trilogy products aren’t the easiest to get hold of however certain boots stores do stock them and you can buy online at boots but the easiest place to get hold of them iss on there own website which tells you quite a bit about the products themselves. Trilogy products also seem to be featured on numerous discounted websites as they are relatively high end– but then you get what you pay for with most skin care and their ingredients are great quality with all sorts of plant extracts such as, rosehip oil, cucumer, elderberry and comfrey!

Overall I’m definitely going to be repurchasing the energising face lotion – you get so much in a bottle and you only need to use a little bit th
ough so it might be while until I have to get another one! And the balancing gel cleanser is the sort of product I’ll probably always go back to when my skin is playing up because this a really lovely staple cleanser that I don’t think you can go wrong with!

P.S Both of these are full of natural ingredients which are normally great for people with sensitive or irritable skin, since I have neither I let my mum try these 0ut as she has very sensitive skin. She actually liked them enough to go out and buy her own cleanser and lotion from Trilogy!

Monday 7 March 2011

NOTD Glittery Green Gradient

I’ve seen loads of gradient nails around recently and I really wanted to do something similar but most gradient effects require using a sponge and I just didn’t want all that sort of hassle –
I like my nails to be quite simple and easy!
So instead of using normal opaque nail polishes which are harder to blend together I used two glitter polishes and I’m actually really happy with how they look:)I used models own in Emerald City(the chunky green glitter) and Collection 2000 maxiflex in Inca Silver.

I applied a little bit of the green on the tips
Once that had dried I put a light coat of silver all the nail..
And then I just went over the tips with the same chunky green glitter and flicked it down the nail so there wasn’t a straight line separating the two polishes
(and then just use a top coat to help prevent chipping - although sorting out chips is really easy with this look!)If you’re going to do something similar with different colours the models own glitter polishes work really well as they are all pretty chunky and not so tightly packed with glitter that it’d be difficult to get the gradient effects :)

Hope you enjoyed!! x

Friday 4 March 2011

February Favourites 2011

I know I don’t do favourites every month but I discovered (and rediscovered) some really lovely products this month and I wanted to share with you how much I loved them!

Calvin Klein lipgloss in 212 Bella
I think I’ve mentioned this one before as I keep meaning to do a whole post on this lipgloss as I really love it. But put simply this is a gorgeous colour that isn’t too strong to wear during the day with a really creamy texture that makes your lips look really pretty!

Bobbi Brown long-Wear Gel Liner in Black ink
This is one of those products everyone seems to have tried and loved and I’ve got to say I haven’t been disappointed. I wear this near enough every day, and have been for the past 4 months and I have barely made a dint in this little tub!!

Trilogy energising face lotion
There will be a review on this and Trilogy’s face wash within the next month, however this has become my favourite moisturiser – my skin feels hydrated but not greasy and I swear it’s been a large reason for why my skin hasn’t been feeling dry despite the harsh weather!

Dior Skin sculpt concealer
For a concealer this is a little pricey but you only need 3 little dots under each eye and your under eyes are concealed and kept hydrated all day – again I’m planning to do a full review on this little tube I love it that much!

Smashbox blush in Famous
I’ve been eager for spring this past month and really wanted to be adding some warmth into my skin tone and this is the perfect everyday blush that compliments most skin tones! This was the first smashbox product I tried and at first I didn’t see what the fuss was about after a few months of trying it out though this really is a great staple item – the sort of thing I’ll repurchase time and time again because I know it’ll work for any look!

Hope you’ve enjoyed!! x

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Leopard Print EOTD

I haven’t done any eye make up recently & since I’ve been a little under the weather I didn’t really want to do a FOTD(face of the day) I just did some fun eye make up instead – hope you like!
I did a pretty gold and bronze eye –which I wore out on Sunday- and then using a felt tip eyeliner (the prices of these vary from Elf’s at £1.50 to LancĂ´me’s at £20) and just drew on some leopard spot and kept the actually eyeliner on my lash liner nice and simple.
I took these photos just before I took my eyelash extensions off – there will hopefully be a little review on what I though of the eyelash extensions sometime in the next week!