Birthday Beauty Wishlist

So while August may mark the month of going back to school, the ending of summer it also marks something else special (for me anyway). August is my birthday month *celebration dance* So of course that means lots of cake and the perfect opportunity to have a little splurge on some of my wish list goodies. Like all us beauty junkies, the beauty wishlist is never ending but I thought I would share with you all some of the products at the top of my list that hopefully I will pick up during the month as a little birthday treat!

First up is a new lipstick from Charlotte Tilbury cause you can’t have a wishlist without CT and if you’re gonna treat yourself this is the definition of treat yo’ self. Now I do have a couple of CT lipsticks that I would love to get my hands on but Miss Kensington, a gorgeous nude pink makes top of the list as it is a limited edition release… even more reason to purchase! The formula of these are amazing and this colour is so up my street!

Now I constantly hear about how amazing Mac eyeshadows are yet I haven’t purchased a single one. I am so desperate to start my own palette and I want to make a little quad first. Two eyeshadows I would like to get my hands on are Blackberry and Cork which both look super pretty! What Mac eyeshadows do you recommend?

Now time for the ultimate lust worthy product. The gorgeous Tartelette palette. Now I have heard so much regarding the Tarte brand but I’ve still not made a purchase since its pretty tricky to get a hold of in the UK. Luckily though QVC are a UK stockist of Tarte and one item I am desperate to get a hold of is this gorgeous all matte palette. I was never much of a matte eyeshadow fan with my heart more towards shimmery finishes although the look of this palette completely changed my mind. I just need matte in my life. Annoyingly though this is now out of stock, please QVC I need this palette, its my birthday!

Of course I couldn’t just stick with one CT product! One product I’ve been dying to try for so long is of course the well hyped Pillow Talk lip liner. The formula of these are meant to be spot on and the colour looks gorgeous so why not! Also I love the look of her Colour Chameleon eyeshadow sticks! The shades are supposed work with your eye colour and make your eyes pop. Since I have blue eyes I would love to try Champagne Diamonds which is a beautiful champagne pearly shade that would lovely for both during the day and at night.

What’s on your beauty wishlist?

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Mac Brave Lipstick

It really didn’t take me long before I finally got my hands on the ever so popular Mac Brave. If you seen my last Mac lipstick post on Mac Mehr you may recall me lusting over this particular lipstick and of course by the time the post went live I had already purchased it. Typical. Now even if you don’t own Mac Brave you are probably aware of it through the hysteria that was created from the Kylie Jenner lip look. I know you are probably sighing at the mention of that again so forgetting the Kardashian connections, here is my latest Mac loving.

Now I mentioned Brave in my Mac Mehr post as they follow a very similar shading. Along with shades such as Twig and Faux these shades make up a range of similar 90s lip nude shades. Think mauve pink/brown colours that are the perfect my lips but better. Mac Brave takes more of a pink route similarly to Mehr but more muted. The soft pink shade is perfect for everyday wear and for something a little bolder it works perfectly paired with Mac Soar lipliner.

Mac Brave has a Satin finish which is probably my favourite finish of Mac lipstick. The formula is creamy to apply and feels comfortable (more so with lip balm underneath) but also has a demi-matte finish to it so feels a lot more long wearing.

I am super glad I picked this one up as I am loving it. It really is perfect for everyday wear and after picking it up in Duty Free it was pretty satisfying to save a few pounds!

Also, excitedly I wanted to let you all know that Styled by Lauren will be having a little makeover! Hopefully by the end of the week it will look a little different so I hope you like it but more on that later! Also, I now have a blog instagram account! Follow me @styledbylaurenblog!

Are you a fan of Mac Brave?

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The Bargain Eyeshadow Palette: Zoeva Cocoa Blend

I mentioned it briefly in my July favourites but now it’s time to give you the full lowdown on Zoeva’s bargain palette. I had always lusted after Zoeva’s brushes which are hugely popular but their makeup line never got much attention and to be honest I was never really interested. Of course until I seen the beauty that is the Cocoa Blend palette. A eyeshadow palette inspired by warm chocolate-y shades at an affordable price, one that just had to be mine.

The packaging of course is intended to resemble a chocolate bar. It is super sleek and slim and would be pretty good for traveling. The packaging is cardboard but it does feel pretty sturdy and it all looks pretty neat too! Now of course as I keep mentioning the term ‘bargain’ you may want to know the price point of this little beauty. On Beauty Bay it retails for a fab £15.50 with free delivery which I find is just amazing. On the Zoeva website, it is a little cheaper but you are dealing with a pretty hefty delivery charge (UK anyway).

Now back to the eyeshadows. The palette contains 10 shades with a mix of matte/shimmer/metallic finishes. The great thing about this palette is that it contains all wearable colours and there really isn’t any bad shades in sight. The palette includes some rich and warm brown shades as well as a gorgeous shimmery bronze and metallic gold. Warm notes, a stunning cranberry shade stole the show for me and really was a big influence in buying this. The berry shade is something I never really had in my collection and it’s such a beautiful colour. The shade also reminds me of Mac Cranberry, I don’t own it but it looks pretty similar. There is also some stunning light shades with a nude matte perfect for highlighting and Sweeter end, a shimmery champagne toned shade. Substitute for Love and Freshly Toasted both warm brown tones make great crease colours. Overall, a collection of wearable warm shades.

The quality of these shadows are also great especially for the price. The shadows are super easy to work with and blend really well. It is a really great eyeshadow palette for beginners especially with a great formula and wearable colours as well as the great price it also comes with. This is definitely a palette I recommend to anyone looking for a new palette or just a beauty lover in general. Zoeva also have a pretty fab lineup of palettes and I am already dreaming of the Rose Golden one… for that price why not!?

Have you tried Zoeva’s makeup line?

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Three New Makeup Tools

Splurging on expensive makeup is pretty pointless if you don’t have good makeup brushes and tools to apply them. I am slowly but surely building my makeup brush collection by trying to find the perfect brush/tool for each area of makeup and I recently added a few more to my collection.

Bobbi Brown Full Coverage Face Brush – If you seen my 2015 wishlist you may recall seeing this included. I heard so many great reviews on this brush for foundation use with many YouTubers and fellow bloggers raving about it. Prior to using this one I relied on my Real Techniques Buffing Brush which is a great option for foundation and a much cheaper alternative. When I first got this I was a bit unsure since I was pretty happy with my RT brush but now I am a total convert. Paired with my Nars Sheer Glow this is the perfect brush for such a flawless finish. It is much more dense than the RT brush and is smaller too making it perfect to really get into every area of the face. Only negative is that I am now lusting over a couple more Bobbi Brown brushes!

Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge – Now I may have traded my RT buffing brush for an alternative but I don’t think I would ever turn my back on Real Techniques altogether. They really are a fab brand, making quality brushes at an affordable price. One thing I never thought I would be buying though is a sponge. When I first started getting into makeup the one thing I used to apply my foundation was those cheap sponge wedges which were pretty disastrous. Although it is safe to say this sponge isn’t any were near that level. I bought this sponge after seeing the Beauty Blender being raved about a lot as well as this being mentioned as a dupe so I thought why not jump on the bandwagon. I have been using this mostly for concealer as the shape is great for covering the under eye area and also the tip is also good for dabbing in other areas. I’ve really been liking using this although I am yet to try it for foundation so I will definitely need to try that out too!

MAC 217 Brush – The iconic 217. I must admit I am a bit of an eyeshadow noob. A smokey eye for me is more like a got into a fight black eye situation. Not pretty. Now everyone basically raves on end about how great this brush is and for the longest time I really wanted it and pretty much needed it. Its meant to make eyeshadow a breeze and my god it does. I don’t even know how I survived this world without a MAC 217. It works as a good all-rounder, packing colour onto the lid and blending out in the crease. If your eyeshadow isn’t quite up to scratch then I suggest this mighty brush! I could quite do with a second 217 if I’m honest…

Are you a fan of any of these tools? What tools do you rely on? 

 

Benefit Gimme Brow Review

 

If there was one thing I always skipped when it came to makeup without a doubt it would be the brows! While everyone else adopted the sculpted fuller brow look I always went au-natural showing off my not so impressive thick untamed brows. However time has moved on and I’m now glad to say I do tend to give my brows some consideration in my makeup routine. I wasn’t just the fear of overdrawn ‘scouse brows’ that put me off even touching my brows but the fact that did I really have the extra time in the morning to fit in some brow taming? Well when the Benefit Gimme Brow came around yes I did!

Whilst I do love my Soap and Glory Archery pencil, there is nothing better than a quick swipe to reveal fuller brows. That is were the Benefit Gimme Brow comes in. I had heard so many good things about this little gem but I hadn’t quite got round to picking it up but I finally did it and I’m glad I did. I got the darker shade of the two available; Medium/Dee which is the perfect colour match for me. It is build able so if you are looking for natural looking brows or much fuller brows this little wand does it all.

One thing that did put me off this was the price. It is quite pricey at £17.50 for a tiny 3g tube but whether its worth that or not, I will need to see how long this one lasts. Brow-wise by adding a little swipe of this over my brows it helps fill in the sparse sections and also lasts all day without any awkward half eyebrow missing. Another gem from Benefit!

Also, I was thinking about taking a trip to the Benefit brow bar to get my brows shaped, I would love to hear if anyone has experienced them before?

Have you tried Benefit Gimme Brow?

 

MAC Isabel and Ruben Toledo Blush Ombre Ripe Peach

I don’t quite think any beauty product deserves the heart-eyed emoji more than this one does…(okay with the exception of the Hourglass blushers). When I first heard this blush was being released under the Toledo collection for MAC, I was sold. You may be familiar with this specific Ripe Peach ombre blush which is actually a re-release as it was launched for another collection for MAC back in 2010 (I think). I have to say I was pretty lucky after I actually seen the older version on Pinterest and got rather excited about it before realising it was limited edition and of course then discontinued, so to then hear a couple of months later it was part of a new collection I knew it had to be mine!

The MAC Toledo collection hit online and in stores in the UK just this month and me being me went in to MAC the first day it hit the shelves. It was a pricey one however at £25 *ouch* but to be honest I was too excited at the time to care (I can’t be the only one). There is no denying how beautiful it looks in the packaging but I am not sure that the beauty of it really lives up to expectations. The colour pay off isn’t great if I’m honest, you really need to build it up for any good pigmentation and it does feel like your using so much of the product. There is also pieces of shimmer running through it so if you aren’t a fan of shimmery blushes this is one to avoid. It isn’t overly shimmery though and it does create a nice subtle glow to the cheeks which is perfect for Summer but it does take quite a bit of time to really gain a good colour pay off.

I wouldn’t say I regret this purchase, I mean look how pretty it is! The formula isn’t great but it does build up to create a nice glow but not exactly worth £25 if I’m honest. MAC do much better blushes!

Have you tried this blush? Do you own anything from the Toledo collection?

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November Favourites

Its that time of the month again to round up my favourites! I am struggling to believe its December already! Where has time gone!? My Blog has snow! How exciting!!! Anyway I have a few makeup and hair products I’ve been loving this month..

MAC Breezy – You may remember this from my blog post not too long ago. I bought this blush in need want of a plum toned autumnal blush and I love this so much. Its the perfect shade and can be built up or used as a light sweep of colour.

Benefit Benebalm – And another familiar product you may have seen here. This lip balm is so nourishing and moisturizing, its perfect. If you are a fan of the Maybelline baby-lips you will love these, they are so much better!

Fudge Urban Miracle Ends – This product really is what it says – Miracle ends. I have really frizzy and curly hair and the ends just get really puffy and frizzy and its horrible. Ever since I started using this my ends are wonders. It smooths my hair and prevents frizz.

Nars Mandore Satin Lip Pencil – Yet again another one I’ve mentioned before. This is my first Nars lip pencil and boy are they raved about! This is part of the limited edition holiday collection and its such a perfect dark red shade. The lip pencil glides on so smoothly and has such a nice glossy finish.

Nars Mandore Satin Lip Pencil

If there is one product that is constantly raved about by pretty much every blogger and has never seen a bad review (from my eyes anyway) the Nars lip pencils would be that product. The constant rave about these products and the cute little crayon packaging really got me and I just had to make the splurge. I seen a post by HelloOctober on the Mandore shade which is part of the Nars Holiday collection and the shade was pretty much screaming at me.

The lip pencils are pretty pricey at £18 but they have such a great formula, well the satin ones do anyway. They glide on easy and are very pigmented. The shade, Mandore, that I picked up is the perfect fall colour. Its not quite berry but its not just red, it has a nice inbetween to be the perfect original fall colour.

I love this lip pencil so much, I now have to get some more Nars Lip Pencils!

Are you a fan? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benefit Stocking Fillers

Hey everyone, *warning* I am going to go all ‘Christmassy’ on y’all. Sorry but that’s what happens at this time of the year. Anyway I was in Boots not too long ago and spotted a cute little stand of pink jars (think the sweet shop kind) full of Benefit goodies. These products were all miniatures of the full sized products and were advertised as being a good stocking filler, and lets all agree we would love to see these products in our stockings at Christmas! Anyway the deal was that you could get any 4 for £15 which in my opinion was pretty good as they are Benefit products and are good quality and it also lets you try out some products that you may have never tried before. So anyway here is what I got:

‘The Porefessional’ – A good favourite of mine! I already have this product in full size version so I am already familiar with its amazingness. It aims to minimise the appearance of pores and boy does it! This is by far the best ‘pore-minimising’ product I’ve ever used. I picked up this so I could just have that little bit extra of amazingness 🙂

‘That Gal’ – This is another primer to add to my collection. Its quite different from any primer I’ve used, its got brightening qualities in it so brightens up your appearance which is always a plus! It is a soft pink liquid which blends in really well, I’ve only used this once but from this I could be looking at something good here!

‘Triple Performing Facial Emulsion’ – or in other words – a moisturiser. This is my first time in trying Benefit’s skincare products and so far, not too bad. I love the smell of this, its very fresh and cucumber-y. I am just not sure if it makes any difference to my skin compared to my usual skincare products.. still unsure on this one.

‘Bad Gal Lash’ – I’ve always been lusting over They’re real mascara but its always good to try them all I guess, right? Anyway I picked this up and it has a nice thick brush and is pretty good in volumising and lengthening lashes. Only issue is that because of the thick brush it can be a little messy on the lower lashes but other than that its pretty decent.

What’s your fave Benefit product?