My Make Up Bag

Jack Wills Make Up Bag

Recently I've had a couple of emails asking me about what I carry in my 'every day make up bag' so, here's what you can normally find in my bag. I should quickly mention the make up bag itself  - it's not too big or too small, with a little compartment inside and a small zipped pocket on the front. It was a little pricey as it's Jack Wills and a limited edition print but I got it in the sale so its all good!

Dream Matte Powder - Maybelline

First up is my trusted Maybelline Dream Matte Powder. I'm sure you've already heard about this as it's got a loyal following but in short if you've oily skin this is amazing. I only use this to touch up and oiliness on my nose but it just absorbs oil like crazy! If you ever suffer with oiliness I can't recommend this enough and it's only £7.19 from Boots.

Cotton Candy Lip Butter - Revlon

This is another one you're probably fed up of hearing about as there are hundreds of revlon lip butter reviews out there. But this is super pretty and perfect for touching up on the go as you don't really need a mirror and it feels just like a lip balm.

Snow Fairy Lip Tint - Lush

This is lovely. If you get chance to buy it at christmas, it's limited edition, definitely try to pick it up. It smells divine, it adds a beautiful pink tint to your lips and it's not greasy on the lips. What more can you ask for? 

Peaches and Cream Blush - Vivo

Adding colour to my cheeks isn't something I usually need to worry about (naturally rosy cheeks) but sometimes after a long day my skin is just looking a little dull and I find a quick sweep of this on my apple makes the biggest difference! I'll review this separately as I could ramble on and on about this

Witch Stick

Kind of self explanatory really - If I get a blemish during the day I just pop some of this on it and it sorts it out. Simple. I don't carry this with me every day as I like to keep it with the rest of my skin care but it's a frequent visitor to my make up bag :) This is another one I'd recommend as for £2.89 you can't go too far wrong.

Witch Concealer Stick 01 & Mineral Cover Concealer 03 - Maybelline
Last up are the two concealers I cart about with me. The witch concealer is great for concealing spots - especially as it won't make them worse as it's got witch hazel in it. And then my mineral cover concealer I use solely for my under eyes as 03 it quite pink toned so it works amazingly a cancelling out any blue tones :) (There's talk of both being discontinued, which I hope isn't true. But I've seen both in stores so you should be able to find them)

After writing this I feel like I carry loads with me but I do genuinely use everything and it barely takes up any room. Let me know what you carry around with you on a daily basis!

Hope you've enjoyed!! xx

NOTD - Short Nails 1.

Since I've been working in retail my nails have taken a real battering, and doing anything remotely fancy with my nails has seemed like a waste of time when I know I'd be lucky if it lasted a day! But one good thing is I can finally do a few easy nail art designs for short nails. 

I chose to wing out my little dots a bit so they look like little tear drops but if you just did normal dots this look would be just as pretty and probably a lot easier for you to have a go at :) 

Polishes used; Models own Jade Green, Barry M White, Cobolt Blue & Black. 

Hope you've enjoyed!! x

Cold Cream

 I recently got a couple of boots vouchers through the post so, when I popped in I picked up a couple bits and pieces I wanted but I was £3 short of getting my double points so I picked up a tub of Cold Cream – something I’ve been meaning to test out for months.

 It’s a measly £2.42 for a whopping 200ml and is a bit of a cult product as it's the original make up remover that a lot of your grandparents probably used. If your looking for an extremely gentle nightly make up remover that will moisturise while taking off your make up - this might be the one for you. 

I personally only reach for this when I'm wearing more make up than normal as I find this a touch too heavy for every-day-use but, say after a night out this is perfect as it really cuts through the most long wearing foundation. I should also mention it does a pretty good job of getting through eye make up - without it stinging your eyes. Its not really cut out for waterproof mascara though.

 If your trying to fight/prevent ageing, one of the best methods if to keep your skin hydrated and plumped up, and nothing is going to moisturise your skin like this.

I use this by rubbing it over dry skin then leaving it a good 10 minutes or so (I usually use this time to get ready for bed) then using a muslin cloth - or a normal face cloth I just remove the cream and my make up with warm water. This is my night time saviour when I'm too lazy to do a full routine as i feel like it takes my make up off and moisturises my skin in one step. 

Overall I like this for days I want to treat my skin, however its not going to be part of my daily routine any time soon as its just too heavy. If you've got dry skin, or your looking into anti-aging and want something to really help plump up your skin, this might be something to look into as most make up removers can be quite drying however that's not to say that if you've got oily skin this isn't for you, you'd probably just have to use it much more sparingly.

I should also point out it has a relatively strong scent, that I'm personally not too keen on but my mum really enjoys. The smell also lingers for quite a well, it’s up to you whether that’s a negative though.

Let me know if you’ve tried cold cream and what your thoughts were on it :)

Hope this has been helpful!! x

Origins GinZing

I’ve put off doing this review for months now as it’s definitely going against the grain on popular opinion but as an eye cream junkie I really want to throw my thoughts on it out there. I’ll start with the basics, Origins Gin zing eye cream is available for around £21 for 15ml which is pretty average for a mid to high end eye cream it’s also pretty easy to get hold of.

Now the general premise of the eye cream is that it’ll lightly hydrate your under eyes while it’s distinctive peach colour will help to cancel out any blue tones and the tiny light reflecting particles will ‘lift’ the look of dark circles. This sounds great, I have two problems with it. Considering it’s designed purely as a day time eye cream the fact is has no spf is surely a bit rubbish no? Especially with the skin around your eyes being so delicate.

The other issue I have with it is that I just don’t feel like it keeps my under eyes moisturised. I like my eye creams to be pretty hydrating but even so I feel like after 30 minutes any moisturising properties seem to have disappeared.  

Regardless this is a good eye cream and I can definitely understand why so many people love it and continually repurchase it but if you’re after something to use day and night, this isn’t it. And for me I just don’t feel like the ingredients do anything long term – it makes my under eyes look better when I first apply it but it’s not going to prevent anything.

Overall, I’ll definitely use it all up but I’m not going to be repurchasing as I just think there are so many better eye cream that are so much more versatile as this really is just a one trick pony. It brightens and that’s about it.

Hope this has been helpful!

A short and sweet little review to try and get me back into the swing of blogging :)

Halloween Nails

As well as doing a few Halloween make up looks I thought I’d show you a few really simple Halloween nail art designs so even if you don’t want to go all out with the make up.

These pumpkin nails are probably my favourite as they take a maximum of 10minutes to do and they’re really cute! They also attracted a lot of compliments when I was wearing these. Simply apply an orange base then once it’s dry dot on the face using a plain black polish then to finish use a clear top coat.

Then there’s the classic spiderweb design, everyone seems to do something like this and I’ve already seen lots of tutorials on different spider webs looks but I thought I should include it anyway as again it’s very simple, quick and really effective too. To do this just have a black coat all over your nails then draw in 3-4 diagonal lines coming from one corner of your nail then join them up :)

This is probably the hardest one to do as it’s a little bit fiddly but if you take your time it’s not that hard. Just apply an orange base coat then do a big black dot for the spiders body and slowly draw in the legs. You’ll have to wait for that to dry completely but then you can do two white dots on each spider for the eyes, again wait for it to dry then do two really really tiny little black dots to finish off.

And finally a Halloween nail art post wouldn’t be complete without a really generic spooky nail! Again I used an orange base, then using a dotting tool I put on some bats and then using the dotting tool I just dragged a black polish into the shape of an old weather-beaten tree on one finger :)

There are absolutely tons of designs you can do like this, I actually did another two but for some reason my computer is being a complete pain and not letting me upload them…

Hope thtis has been helpful!! x

P.S the polished I used were: Barry M Tangerine, Barry M White and Barry M Black

Mermaid FOTD

This is my second look for my Halloween Series and I had a mermaid in mind when I did it but a few people have said it could be used for a simple avatar make up look if you alter the colours a little it’d also be great for a water nymph!

I really really love how this turned out as I wasn’t sure it’d work but I’m seriously chuffed. All you need is a foundation, a powder (ideally translucent if you’re going for a pale look but a coloured powder will be fine), some netting (I got mine from a bunch of oranges!), a turquoise eye shadow, a royal blue eye shadow, black eyeliner , a mascara and a lip balm.

1. Apply a pale foundation as a base – I used my normal studio sculpt mixed with some of barry M’s white foundation crème, then lightly powder your skin so it’s easier to blend the blue eye shadow out in the next step

2. Carefully place the netting on one side of your face, then gently start tapping the blue eye shadow over it.

3. Continue this all over your face, just try to make sure the netting is fairly taut and isn’t moving around too much otherwise you won’t get the scaly effect

4. Then take the turquoise shadow and apply this all over your lid and into the ‘scales’ around your face.

5. Use the royal blue shadow to contour your eyes and add some dimension; again blend well

6. Apply your eyeliner, I chose to do an extended wing and take it down the inner corner but thats completely optional.

7. For the lips line with a black eyeliner, then mix some lip balm and a blue shadow together to great a blue tinted lip balm and apply to your lips.

8. To finish just apply lashings of mascara and false lashes if you fancy!

(and just so you can see what it looks like if you decide to keep your hair down)

It sounds a little complicated but I promise it’s not, just take your time and have fun with it!

I’ve got another 4 Halloween posts coming up before the 31^st but if you’ve and requests just let me know as I’m sure I can sort out another look :)

Hope you’ve enjoyed!! x

101 things

I’ve had quite a few requests to do some more personal posts and I’ve been putting doing them off as I’m not sure any of you will be interested! But I recently stumbled across ‘project zero’ and the 101 things to do in 1001 days. Basically you just write a list of 101 things you want to achieve within the next 1001 days, write them down and then commit to doing them!

(just click on the photo to see everything bigger :) This is mine, I’ve missed off one or two of the more personal ones & left some free at the bottom for things I'll think of in the future but there’s a mix of big things , like the travelling and blogging figures, then smaller little things like learning to knit and watching 26 films :)   If I’m honest I doubt I’ll do all of these but I’m definitely going to try my best!
Have any of you come across project zero and made your own list? Or are you inspired to make your own now?
Hope you’ve enjoyed!! x
P.S I should be back to blogging properly now after a little bit of a break – sorry for all the random interspersed posts of late!

Watermelon NOTD

This is another little post dedicated to achieving the cutest nails possible, this time I’m venturing into the fruit department with watermelon nails!
This is just as simple as my strawberry nails, which are super easy to do but looks pretty impressive :)

1. Apply a red base (I love Revlon red by Revlon as you only need one coat!)
2. Swipe on a white line like a French manicure (Barry M White)
3. Do a line of green at the top of the nail (Barry M Spring green)
4. To finish just dot on either white or black dots - done!
Hope you’ve enjoyed!! x

P.S If you ever do any of these looks I’d love to see (a few people have already emailed me some pictures letting me see so if you can I’d love to have a look!!)

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!

UltraBland Review

Ultra bland (not exactly the most appealing name..) was my first experience of Lush skin care and I’ve got mixed opinions on it.

This was recommended to me by the lovely people in my local Lush who said it was suitable for all skin types and it’d be perfect for my dry skin as it was incredibly moisturising, you can get it on their website or at your local Lush at £6.10 for 45g or £9.75 for 100ml which I thought was pretty reasonable as that’s about average for a make up remover.

This make up remover is extremely hydrating as the creamy texture turns to an oil with the heat of your face – I know the idea of using an oil based product to remove your make up doesn’t sound too good but it’s meant to be the best type of product to use. And this definitely does remove all my make up, with it even managed to take off my eye make up and waterproof mascara!
(I’ve been using this near enough every day for over 2 months)

I only really have one issue with this as a make up remover and that’s the fact it’s very moisturising, which I know should be good for my skin but when I remove my make up I want my skin to feel squeaky clean and then I can hydrate it later with a moisturiser. Apart from that I do really like this and I’ll definitely finish off my tub although it may take me awhile as you only need a little bit so it lasts forever

Overall I doubt I’ll be repurchasing, partly because I think Boots’ make up removing balm works a lot better and for half the price plus I think I want to try out a few other bits from their skin care line.

NOTD Leopard

I did this for New Year and I figured I’d share the nail art with you as it’s incredibly simple and quick so anyone can do it.I applied a coat of Estee lauder ‘Frozen Fantasy’ (just because it’s one of the only brown polishes I own) and then put a light layer of Barry M’s ‘Gold’. Obviously you can make the background as glittery as you like – I know a few people who don’t normally wear polish wanted something a little more muted and have done a similar look with just a plain brown background! Then I just used my dotting tool to ‘dot’ on the leopard print :)
Simples! P.S What do you think of the Blog's new look?

NOTD - Vintage

Vintage Polish From Eyeko

I bought this little polish in the ASOS mid-season sale after seeing it appear on nearly every blog and channel to see what all the fuss was about and… I LOVE it :)

As far as application goes, it’s a tiny bit streaky & seemed a little watery on the first coat but after the second you get a gorgeous opaque coat. It took a little longer than Revlon and Barry M to dry, much not by much..

But the real clincher for me was the first day I wore it I got 3 lovely compliments on the colour and then today I got loads of people asking what I was wearing. In pictures and online I’ve got to admit I didn’t think it looked THAT special however in person, it really is a very unique colour & is definitely going to be one of my favourites!

-especially because I think you can get away with this quite light shade in fall and winter because of the vintagey undertones :)

-It’s love :D