Illamasqua DWS NOTD

This is my first Illamasqua nail polish and I’ve got to say – I’m pretty impressed!
You could easily leave this at one coat as it applied very opaque and completely streak free :) This is shade DWS or concrete, neither of names are very appealing however I really love this colour and I don’t have anything remotely similar!

I’ve tried one or two other shades of gray but they always come out a bit too murky this one though is a pretty slate gray that looks like it almost has blue tinges to it in different lights
(left is in normal daylight the second is when it was really bright and sunny out)

I’m definitely going to be looking at more of Illamasqua’s nail polishes as although they are a lot more expensive (they're £13.50 from their online store however certain places do sell them for signifantly less!) than a lot of brands I want to see if others match DWS for consistency and finish!

Eyeshadow Top Tip

I just wanted to share a little tip on how to get your eyeshadows more vibrant and to achieve a much more metallic finish without, much effort or spending a fortune on various eyeshadow mixers :)
I’m using Honey Lust from Mac to demonstrate how this works because how you apply this particular shadow completely changes the finish!
The first swatch (on the far left) is applied dry, like you would normally use an eyeshadow. It’s pretty but it’s quite chalky and it’s not very vibrant at all.

The second way of applying this shadow (the middle swatch) you have probably heard about before and it’s just using a slightly damp brush. This method nearly always creates a more pigmented look and is a technique I use all the time! I also find it makes my shadow last a little longer.
And finally the third swatch is the point of this post. I used some multi purpose solution – basically it’s just what you put your contacts in! I’ve seen this for about £3 in supermarkets so it’s super inexpensive and as you can see completely changes the look of your eyeshadows!
Multi Purpose Solution like this is normally just salt water and if you are going to use this you only need a tiny drop of the solution :)
I hope this has been helpful!

Famous?

There have been A LOT of mixed reviews on this make up range - Famous by Sue Moxley, with a lot of their products being relatively poor however there were one or two pieces which really stood out, such as their eyeshadow palettes two of which I purchased.

I picked up Jealousy (the green palette) and Cafe Couture (the brown/neutral palette)

The first picked up Jealousy, and it was the first thing that caught my attention from the whole brand and convinced me to take another look at the collection in more detail as it’s really lovely.

You get four vibrant green eyeshadows which are incredibly pigmented and have a pretty unique formula.
The formula is definitely…different. At first glance they seem very crumbly and the pigmentation is a little patchy but – when you blend them (particularly if you use your finger) you get a creamy consistency which looks gorgeous on the eyes!

And it’s not just the formula of this palette that I love, the actual colour selection themselves are almost three dimensional and even though they are bright, they look gorgeous on there own with a few muted browns (I’d personally never wear all the colours together as I think it’d just be too much for my own taste)
(these two middle ones are my favourite as I love the metallic look to them!)

So after seeing how gorgeous the Jealousy palette was I went back to Superdrug (I think that’s the only place these are available as the official website seems to be down most of the time) and bought a more neutral palette expecting the same pigmentation, formula and beautiful colour range.

Cafe Couture
There isn’t much to say about this palette, the middle two colours are, again, the prettiest and best of the four as these two have the same formulation of the palette above but….
The other two just don’t compete with the Jealously palette, they’re very ashy and chalky.. And think this is why the make up collection hasn’t done as well – there products seem to be inconsistency with some of their products being really lovely for the price e.g. Jealousy and others just... don’t.

Overall I’m still going to be looking into the brand a lot more as I’m sure there are more gorgeous pieces, I’m just going to be careful of assuming the quality will be constant.
For £9.00 I can’t complain really as I do love the middle colours and I’m sure I’ll figure out a use for the other two :)

-If you are wanting to try out her range, you’ll have to be ready to search around as I think Superdrug have pulled back a lot of the products so it’s getting increasingly difficult to get hold of anything!

(I've just got some eyelash extensions done - Can't wait to post some picture and see how they last!! x)

Valentine's Day

I always think valentine’s Day should be about using make up to just play up your natural beauty, I see lots of people going all out using Valentine’s day as an excuse to wear the classic bright red lipstick. Which isn’t a bad thing but this look is so much simpler and, I think, prettier– it’s all about lightly enhancing your features!I kept my eyes pretty simple using;
Urban Decay’s eye primer potion
GOSH’s lilac shadow stick on the outer half of the lid – you want this to provide the suggestion of lilac and purples, try not to use too much
A light shimmery white shadow all over – MUA 01
Then just take a matte light brown, such as smashbox demure and run it lightly through the crease for some light definition.The real focus of the eyes are the lashes and the liner – I don’t tend to wear false lashes so I kept mine quite small and nothing over the top.
I used Bobbi Brown’s gel liner in black and went for something in-between and cat eye and winged liner – just go for whatever suits your eye shape!
I really wanted the skin to glow in this look so I applied eyeko’s cream as a base to provide some pretty shimmer and then just wore Clinique supermoisture foundation– this has the same sort of coverage as a tinted moisturiser!
I paired this will a cool-toned blush, I used a mix of Clinique iced lotus and Mac’s two virtues. I didn’t contour as I think, particularly during the day, it can be too harsh and it’s difficult to find the right shade (I see so many girls having orange stripes down their cheeks :/)
And finally to finish it off I just used a light baby pink like Mac’s viva Glam Gaga :)

Hope you’ve found this useful for ideas :)

Favourite Lip combo

This is quite a quick little post as I just wanted to show you my current favourite lip combo which I’ve been wearing a lot recently(and that’s saying something as I tend to mix up what I wear on my lips all the time and rarely stick to the same look)
(you can, as always, click on the picture to make it larger)
This is a really long lasting, glossy look which I think is super wearable as it’s not too dark to wear during the day but it’s not a classic nude either :)
I just use three products
Bobbi Brown lip liner in Soft Rose
Revlon Colorstay Ultimate long lasting Lipstick in Premier Pink
Eyeko lipgloss in Mayfair – which I have a review on here.
(All these products actually look lovely on their own too)
(L-R Bobbi Brown Soft Rose, Revlon Premium Pink and Eyeko Mayfair)
Because you have a lip liner, a lipstick and a lipgloss all of which add some colour to the finished look this lip lasts for ages as even once the gloss has worn off the lipstick is designed to be long lasting and will normally last the whole day with a lip liner underneath!

I normally just carry the lipgloss and the lip liner in my bag and touch it up during the day to keep the lines looking fresh- but I only touch it up maybe once in a 6 hour day!

What's with the Cattitude?

I recently picked up a mini set of OPI’s Shrek collection and I couldn’t wait to try them out so expect a few NOTD’s featuring Shrek OPI polishes!
This is What’s with the Cattitude and is described as 'a moody light blue that's really a pussycat' .
My first thoughts when I saw this was it’s a mix between Eyeko’s rain polish and barry M’s turquoise, and both of those are very similar but this is somewhere in the middle. It’s not as bright as a turquoise so you can wear this during in winter no problem but it’s not got as much gray nor is it as soft as Eyeko’s rain. It’s the perfect balance.
I also love how this looks with my fair skin tone. I was a little surprised at the formula as I expected OPI to be really easy to work with but the first coat was scarily streaky however after the third coat you suddenly end up with an opaque, streak free finish!
I think I’ll be wearing this one a lot of in spring, what do you think of this colour? And what do you think of OPI’s formulation??

Mayfair

I’m not really a big fan of lip glosses as they often just feel heavy and sticky – even if they do look lovely. But eyeko tends to run quite a few promotions and a few weeks ago they offered a free lipgloss when you spent over £15 - they're normally £6.50. Well I picked up a few bits that I’d been meaning to try for a while and I got Mayfair for free(Mayfair was actually my favourite colour out of their range!)
You get 13.5g and it comes in a clear squeezy tube with the classic eyeko art printed around it. The packaging isn’t anything fancy but I’d much prefer to have simple packaging like this with a little bit of a twist instead of paying extra for sleek packaging.
As far as the product it self goes it’s quite a thick, creamy gloss which actually has quite a bit of pigmentation. Mayfair is a really wearable colour as it’s in between a rosy nude and a mauve- I’ve tried this over a few lipsticks and it always looks lovely as it can provide a pretty wash of colour over nudes and alternatively it can add some depth to darker colours.
This is what it looks like on its own and personally I love it :) it’s not in your face and it’s just so wearable - it smells fruity too which is an added bonus! (It’s also just the right size to pop in your purse to reapply throughout the day)

P.S Mayfair is apparently limited edition so you want to try this colour out you might have to rush and order on their website xx