What’s in My Travel Makeup Bag?

So I mentioned briefly in my June Monthly Roundup that I am going away on holiday this month. So I thought I would share with you all some of the makeup pieces that have made the cut in my makeup bag. I am going with a streamlined approach, as I like to think anyway by only taking essentials and pretty much one of each beauty product except for lips (obviously, gal needs choices!). So here is what is in my travel makeup bag…

Starting with the makeup bag itself. It deserves its own mention alone because of course its from Charlotte Tilbury. I did a little CT splurge last month and since I never had a decent makeup bag and I was going away I thought I needed this beauty in my life. I love it but I will talk about it all in a little more detail another time…

Onto the makeup. Firstly, base. I have packed my trusty Laura Mercier foundation primer to help pro-long the wear of my makeup in the heat. Not as good as the Smashbox primer in my opinion but it’s still one of the best ones I’ve tried. I also picked up a new base in the form of the Topshop BB cream. I wanted something lightweight for Summer and so far so good with this one, the coverage is actually pretty decent! On top of that of course my favourite Nars Creamy concealer (review here) and the Maybelline Eraser Eye concealer for under the eyes which truthfully I am still a bit iffy about.

Then to give my complexion a bit of a boost. I have also added in my Rimmel Stay Blushed liquid blush in Sunkissed Cherry which is super lightweight but offers such a nice colour to the cheeks. For a little added warmth and glow the Soap and Glory Wonderbronze is a fab bronzer for the Summer months. Also, the Topshop Glow stick highlighter in Play Up makes an addition for an easy swipe of glow and radiance.

Then, in terms of eyes I’ve stuck with two reliable Benefit products. Firstly, the Rollerlash mascara (review here) which lengthens and curls the lashes super well and the Benefit Gimme Brow (review here) to give my eyebrows a little colour and definition. Of course I’ve also got the Maybelline Colour Tattoo in On and On Bronze which is one of my favourites, great formula and perfect bronze-y gold colour.

Then I have all the choices when it comes to lips! As I am out and about for once I’ve added in some bright bold shades that deserve a little loving. I love the Nars Lip Pencils, super long lasting formula and super creamy and smooth to apply. I have Yu which I mentioned in my June Favourites, a bold fuschia pink and Iberico (LE) a stunning orange-y red that I am so excited to wear (swatches for both here). I’ve also got my two new Charlotte Tilbury lipsticks in Sexy Sienna and Lost Cherry, both perfect for Summer! Lastly, I also had to get one of the Clinique Lip Pop lipsticks and chose Melon Pop, a beautiful coral-y peach perfect for everyday wear and a little lower key than my other choices.

If you have succeeded to this line then well done, sorry for the uber long post!

What makeup will you be wearing this Summer?

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5 Beauty Products Under £5

There is no denying we all love a good bargain, am I right!? Quite often many of us especially myself are guilty of overlooking the sea of options available in the drugstore and instead turn to high end counters with higher expectations and a world of beautiful packaging. Although the drugstore holds so many amazing products at really amazing prices. Today I want to share 5 products to be exact from the drugstore that all come under the £5 mark and all deserve a round of applause!

Barry M Nail Polish – How could I not mention Barry M nail polish! With a wide collection of different shades and top notch formulas all under £5 you really cannot miss out on these wonderful creations! Every-time I pop into Boots I always have to have a little look at the Barry M display. You really don’t need to fork out a lot of money for a good nail polish, the drugstore have great options and Barry M is definitely one of my favourite brands for nails.

Rimmel Stay Blushed Liquid Cheek Tint – This cream/liquid blush from Rimmel really is great value for money! Rimmel are such a great affordable brand and still create really great products, ideal if you are on a budget. I have had this cheek tint for so long now and I still have a lot of product left. For a 14ml tube, you only need a tiny amount of this to create a lovely flush of colour on the cheeks.

Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover – Back to nails. This nail polish remover from Bourjois really is a game-changer. For ages now I relied on the old school method of a cotton pad and the usual bottle of nail polish remover then this entered my life and changed everything. It makes life so much easier, you simply put your nail into the pot and twist it around and magic, all the nail polish is removed. It really is magic!

Maybelline Colour Tattoo Cream Gel Eyeshadows – Probably one of my favourite products from the drugstore, if not my favourite. The formula of these are probably one of my favourites too, they are super creamy and glide on to the eyes super easily. The shades are also great and super pigmented! On and On Bronze and Metallic Pomegranate are my two favourites in the line and definitely worth picking up!

Nivea Lip Butter Raspberry Rose – You may know I am a big fan of this after mentioning it in my April Favourites. For only £2, yes I did say £2, this stuff is amazing! The raspberry scent is heavenly but more important the texture is super smooth and soft on the lips. I wear this at night and it keeps my lips super hydrated and moisturised. It really is a great buy!

What are your favourite drugstore products?

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Spring Eyes: Pretty Pinks and Purples

Over the last couple of months I have been going for a similar eyeshadow look using pretty pastel shades of pinks and lilacs. As Spring has sprung, I have given my makeup look a little freshen up ditching bolder eye looks in favour of something a little more pretty. After seeing a couple of notable bloggers and YouTubers use certain products I picked up a couple of newbies which helped nail this fresh spring eye look down. In terms of my overall Spring makeup, you can check out my full Spring edit here. Now back to the eyes, here is some of the products I have been switching between recently.

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette – Probably the palette that started it all. After Lily Pebbles did a tutorial using this beauty, it urged me to start using it again. Soon after, I have became hooked once again. The light rose and plum hues have Spring written all over them. You can create so many beautiful looks too in the one palette with my preference of going for a little shimmer on the lids and a light matte shade in the crease for a super effortless but ever so pretty look. Of course this palette is superb quality and in case you missed out, you can check my full review here.

L’Oreal Colour Riche 601 Cameleon Eyeshadow – Another blogger enabled purchase, this time from Essie Button who used this very pretty shade in one of her videos. This is actually my first eyeshadow from L’Oreal even though they do seem pretty popular and look very nice. This shade is just incredible. It’s one of those colours that changes in the light and looks different on others. It is a lilac-y sheen with a slight tone of blue through it. Its a very pretty shade perfect for spring and it is super unique. It looks fresh for Spring and matched with a bright lip, its a dream.

By Terry Ombre Blackstar Misty Rock – Of course I was going to mention this gem of a product. Its quite the hype we know and for good reason. I won’t go on too much as I did review it last week here. It really is a beautiful shade for Spring. Again like the L’Oreal eyeshadow it has that effect to it in which it looks different in the light. Its a plummy-mauve shade with a silver shimmer running through it. It looks amazing simply on its own, quick and easy and looks pretty damn good!

Maybelline Colour Tattoo Pink Gold – One of my favourite eyeshadow formulas, the inexpensive but amazing Maybelline Colour Tattoos. Again I won’t bat on about them too much as I did talk about them before here. The light pink shimmery shade is again perfect for spring. These are super pigmented and glide on like a dream. Again this shadow looks fab by itself as a pretty wash of colour over the lids.

Are you a fan of Pink and Purple eyeshadows? What are you wearing on your eyes this Spring?

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The Spring Edit 2015

Looking out the window just now, it’s safe to say Winter is far behind us. Enter Spring, warm(er) weather, cherry blossom, excuses for ice cream and lighter nights. When it comes to beauty, its all about the light glowy radiant look with gleaming highlighters, fresh radiant bases and coral cheeks. In other words here is the bulky spring edit for 2015.

Starting with the base, I have a newbie in my hands! If you read my blog regularly you may recall me lusting after the Nars Sheer Glow foundation for far too long well as you can see now I have finally picked it up! While BB/CC creams and tinted moisturisers are all the rage for spring for the fresh light coverage look, my skin needs a little more cover. This foundation has pretty darn good coverage but still offers a radiant look perfect for spring. To add that extra light and glowy feel, a swipe of the iconic YSL Touche Eclat under the eyes is great for brighting any dark circles.

Onto the cheeks. I couldn’t resist mentioning this one again, Benefit Majorette Blush. This cream-to-powder coral blush is the perfect boost of colour for the cheeks in Spring. For a bronzed look, a sweep of Nars Laguna round the face and in the hollows of the cheeks for a subtle contour. To top it off, a light sweep of the irresistible Nars Copacabana illuminator on the cheekbones to achieve that extra glow.

For eyes, I have been loving rosy and lilac shades on my lids. Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Pink Gold (swatch here) is the perfect soft pink and has such a beautiful creamy formula. In addition, L’oreal Colour Riche Mono Eyeshadow 601 is such a pretty shimmery blue-toned lilac shade. To finish, Benefit Bad Gal Lash gives the most prettiest natural fluttery lashes.

For the lips, my first ever MAC lipstick is back out to play. MAC Shy Girl is such a gorgeous nude peach shade which looks even prettier with a coat of clear gloss on top for a natural soft look. To finish, Chanel Tenderly (which I reviewed here) on the nails for that perfect spring look or a pastel shade from my Nails Spring Edit will do the job!

How have you changed your beauty routine for Spring? 

 

 

Disappointing Products

I like to think I remain pretty positive particularly on my blog but sadly some products just don’t impress me much (apologies for the Shania Twain connection). Speaking of which, today I am going to talk a little on some of those products. Now when it comes to beauty, everyone has different preferences and some things suit others better so I am sorry if I am about to slag off your holy grail product! Anyway here are my picks of the not so impressing products (for me anyway).

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation – Now I have mentioned this one before and I know a lot of people love it but sadly it just didn’t work well with my skin. Sometimes it would sit okay and others it just failed on me. It seemed to stick to my dry patches, it didn’t last long and I felt like it was slightly difficult to blend in to a good finish.

Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder & Highlighter – Again I know this bronzer is a favourite of many but again I just didn’t get on with it. I don’t know whether I got a bad product or its always like this but I found this pretty unusable. Both the bronzer and highlighter are really stiff in the pan. My finger doesn’t pick up the bronzer at all and while it does for the highlighter, my brush doesn’t pick up the product. Other than that it smells pretty damn amazing which is probably the reason why I haven’t chucked this one yet!

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer – I’ve spoke briefly on this one too here and again its a pretty hyped up favourite by many. It just didn’t offer me the coverage I needed for my heavily blemished and red skin. It was really cakey as well in my opinion and just stuck to dry patches and the lasting claim never really happened for me either.

Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser – Sorry for the repetitiveness as I know I have mentioned my dislike for this one too. I love my primers but this one just didn’t quite cut it. It felt really greasy on my skin and never did anything for my pores. I didn’t really feel like it helped pro-long the wear of my makeup much either which is what I look for in a primer.

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner – Being a lover of eyeliner pens like the style of this one from Eyeko, I was pretty excited to receive this in the Latest in Beauty box. However after first use attempt I was pretty disappointed. It’s not easy trying to master the cat flick with eyeliner so I always felt using pen style liners were much easier but this one left me in a struggle. It was so difficult to apply that I actually had to swap back to my trusty Soap and Glory Supercat to finish the look. It didn’t apply smoothly and felt like it was dragging my eyelid, I wanted to like it but it was just far too difficult to apply.

Benefit They’re Real Push Up Liner – Yep another eyeliner and pretty much the same reasoning. I absolutely love Benefit, they hardly ever let me down and being a huge fan of the mascara from this line I got quite excited to receive this in one of the Christmas gift sets. I have heard many reviews of this one saying its a bit like marmite, some love it and some hate it. Sadly, I’m in the latter category, I just couldn’t work this, it was too difficult to apply and it wouldn’t give me the smooth line I was after.

The Body Shop Tea Tree Pore Minimiser – Another disappointing primer. Again I couldn’t really see what this did for my pores at all and I don’t think it really did much to help improve the base of my makeup. The tea tree scent does feel fresh on the skin but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

Are you a fan of any of these products?

 

 

Empties #2

Since I’ve built up quite a few empty products over the month, it’s time for another Empties post. With these products in their last days I thought I would review what I thought about them and whether I will be making a repurchase.

One Direction Our Moment – First on the list is a shower gel. How exciting! I am going to try and refrain from mentioning my love for One Direction too much here and focus purely on their wonderfully scented shower gel. This came alongside their perfume ‘Our Moment’ and the scent is incredibly similar. The scent is very fruity and floral and isn’t too bad in terms of longevity on the skin. Would I repurchase? No not really, I don’t really go out my way to purchase shower gel and this one would probably be quite a hassle to find and continuously buy, it is lovely though 🙂

Lush Mask of Magnaminty – Next up is a peppermint mask from Lush. I heard quite a lot about this mask and thought it would be a good addition to help clear my skin. The peppermint scent is dreamy and feels so fresh on the skin. It does leave your skin feeling super soft and fresh. In terms of blemishes, I don’t think its a miracle worker but what is!? Would I repurchase? Probably, I do love a bit of peppermint and it does make my skin feel hydrated and clean.

The Body Shop Vitamin E Overnight Serum-in-oil – You may be familiar with me talking about this Body Shop oil before. I absolutely love face oils, they are such a great way to add a layer of hydration and help with any dry skin especially around Winter time. This one lasted me quite a while so it really is great value and really does help recharge my skin as well as making my skin more radiant. Would I repurchase? Hell yes!

Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser – I am without a doubt a true primer gal, I really can’t go a day without putting a layer of primer on before anything else. In a constant hunt for the perfect primer I thought I would try this one from Maybelline which many suggested as being a dupe for the much loved Benefit Porefessional. Sadly, I have to disagree on that one. The aim of ‘erasing’ pores sadly just doesn’t do it for me and the primer feels very heavy and greasy on my skin contradicting with the lightweight feel it says it is supposed to give. Would I repurchase? No.

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer – It is the incredibly hyped up product from a brand I never ever made eye contact with (until the hype sucked me up!). For many this is holy grail status, for me it isn’t anywhere near that I’m afraid. I tried but I really couldn’t get on with this. With my skin suffering from blemishes and redness, i really need something to help camouflage this, sadly this concealer just didn’t offer me the coverage I needed. It also stuck to my dry patches and the lasting power wasn’t quite good enough for me either. Would I repurchase? No.

Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation – Again this is another popular beauty item that I’m sure many of you are a fan of. For me yet again sadly it never lived up to the hype. At first I liked this and then when I began to continuously use it, I got put off. Firstly, I think I must have picked the wrong shade as it was a little too light for my skin. The main problems for me however was that it didn’t last long at all which is something I look for in foundation and it clung to dry areas of my skin. Would I repurchase? No.

Are you a fan of any of these products?

 

 

 

 

Autumn Maybelline Colour Tattoos

It’s been a while since I last talked about the Maybelline Colour Tattoos but if you read my previous review post you may recall that I am a huge fan of these gel eyeshadows. Since then I picked up a couple more and my love for them continues to grow. I do apologize for the swatch image, my pictures never really picked up the colour right.

Metallic Pomegranate – This was the main colour I was wanting to purchase, it simply screams autumn. It does look quite daunting in the jar as it is quite dark but when applied its a beautiful purple/pink shimmery shade. Again like the other colour tattoos I have used its very pigmented and lasts really well.

Vintage Plum – While I was there to purchase the Pomegranate shade, I also picked up another fall inspired shade called Vintage Plum. This is a new addition to the range and has a ‘leather effect’ so is more of a matte formula. Today was actually my first day wearing this and I have to admit this probably my least favorite from my collection, I am more of a shimmer person rather than matte but I also felt the shade wasn’t as pigmented as the others and didn’t last as long. However its still a nice fall shade which would work in creating a plum-purple smokey eye.

Are you a fan of the colour tattoos? 

August Favourites

Can you believe its September already! I felt like summer only began and now its reaching the end, crazy! Anyway its time to recap on my favourite items of last month. August has been one crazy month but I did celebrate my birthday and go shopping (a lot!).

This month I finally got my hands on the Maybelline color tattoo eyeshadows which are fantastic. I got three shades but my favourite has to be On and On Bronze which is a neat shimmery bronze colour. I recently did a review on the three shadows which you can check out here. The shadow is highly pigmented and long lasting so if you haven’t already then I suggest you pick this up!

Another item I got in my recent haul was the Soap and Glory Supercat eyeliner. I am going to put my hands up and admit I am terrible with eyeliner. I have tried every medium of eyeliner available from pencil to liquid to gel and I have still not mastered the winged eyeliner. However I thought I would try Supercat which is a felt tip style eyeliner which I had not previously tried. This has to be the best eyeliner I have ever used, its so easy to apply and great for people like me who are hopeless with eyeliner. I can now say that I am getting a lot better with the winged eyeliner look 🙂

As I stated earlier I celebrated my birthday in August and I received this cute pastel necklace from a friend. I had been looking for a nice big jeweled necklace for a while now at a good price but I kept holding it off so it was nice to receive this as a gift and even better that pastels are here to stay for fall so I can continue to keep this beauty on!

And last but not least I also got this bag for my birthday. I had been looking for a new bag for a while (well to be honest I am always looking for new bags!) and my mum kindly bought me this cute colour block bag from New Look. Its a great size for all my essentials and comes with a handy adjustable shoulder strap.

 

 

Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadow: Review/Swatches

If you seen my recent Haul post you would have seen my new Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadows that I purchased on a 3 for 2 deal. If you haven’t heard of these eyeshadows then you must have been living under a rock for ages since these have came to rave reviews and are one of the most of the popular drugustore eyeshadows. The shadows come in cute little glass containers and are gel-cream based which I particularly love. You can either use your finger or a brush when it comes to applying this product however I prefer using a brush just because I find it easier and with my long nails its easy for the product to gather in my nail rather than my finger but you may not have that problem. I purchased 3 different shades: Pink Gold, On and On Bronze and Timeless Black.

These eye-shadows have definitely lived up to their great reviews, each colour is highly pigmented and texture of these shadows is fab. They are incredibly easy to apply and blend and most importantly they have the long lasting factor. As you can tell from the swatches above the shades are quite shimmery particularly the Pink and the bronze so if you aren’t a fan of a little shimmer and shine these shades might not be for you but I love a little bit of shimmer so these shadows are perfect for me. I particularly love the On and On Bronze shade, I just think it has this warm and exquisite look about it, the same with Pink Gold, its always a great shade and this one is particular is great for wearing on a daily basis while the bronze and black are more suited to a night out look. The black is incredibly.. black so thats something to be aware of but if you are looking to create an intense smoky eye look this shadow is perfect and it can be easily blended with other shadows for a lighter alternative.

These shadows were £4.99 each (3 for 2 in boots) and I think thats a great deal considering the quality of these shadows. They are definitely one of the best shadows on the highstreet and are a great dupe for some of the more premium branded cream based eyeshadows.

 

5/5 for me 🙂