The Illusive 'Virtual Domination' Palette

Just over a week ago it was my 20th birthday (I know it is only 20 but in my head that is older than I want to be... I have self proclaimed myself a teenager until the day I die) Anywho, I was truly treated and spoilt by family and my boyfriend, to whom I am so grateful for the gifts so close to Christmas which was expensive enough!

One gift in particular that I was very excited about, after chasing around after it since before Christmas trying to get my hands on it, is the NARS 'Virtual Domination' Cheek Palette. It was something on my christmas wish list, as I had seen it on the Space NK website as one of their exclusives, so went on a crazy man hunt in the stores to try to get my hands on it. Close to christmas as I was still looking it had completely sold out, so lost hope with that.

A month or so later, I found it on the NARS website, slightly to my surprise after seeing it as a Space NK exclusive. Nevertheless, my wonderful mum ordered it as one of my birthday presents, and after more hassle trying to get it here for my birthday, it finally arrived in time to my mums relief.

And it was definitely worth the wait...

The shades in the palette are Miss Liberty Highlighting Blush Powder, Deep Throat Blush, Laguna Bronzer, Sex Fantasy Blush and Final Cut Blush. All of these shades I think will cater to many different makeup looks, and will suit looks all year round from heavier in the Winter and lighter in the Summer.

The palette costs £45 and I think for the amount you get in the palette, it really is worth the money. However this palette is currently out of stock on the NARS and Space NK websites, so keep your eyes peeled if you are interested in getting your hands on one!

Soap & Glory Solar Powder review

Can we firstly just admire how beautiful this bronzer is? It is perfect. 

It hadn't really occurred to me before to delve into Soap & Glorys' make-up collection, as all I had really tried (and loved) were their bath and body products. But as I was wondering back and forth through the isles of Boots in search for a new bronzer, I spotted the S&G body care and had a light bulb moment. After hunting further to find their make-up section I came across this bronzer which just looked too amazing to leave behind.  

I personally think this bronzer is for all skin tones as it is not to heavy at all, but could be darkened with a few layers. The highlighter S&G in the middle adds extra luminosity and just gives the perfect sun-kissed glow.

However slightly pricey at £11, it really is a gorgeous bronzer in my opinion and can work for everyone! The packaging is nothing too fancy as it has a paper/cardboard feel (if that makes any sense) so that aspect doesn't really wow, but does have a mirror in the top of the compact which really comes in handy for on the go. All in all though, love it.

Eye-Eye

As Autumn and soon to be Winter are now in full swing, so is the makeup to go with it. Seeing all of the Christmas gift sets in NARS and the new seasonal collections in MAC make me very excited for Christmas shopping. On top of this they encourage me to try out new colours and get into the spirit (makeup wise)

I thought I would share my eye makeup staples/everyday go to's as I adore the tones and think there must be one here for every skin tone and preference. 

Firstly there is the Sleek Au Naturel eye shadow palette which is so perfect for all year round, but in particular the colder months. There are lots of scrummy colours that can be worn all the time whether it be for college or a soon-to-arrive Christmas party it is perfect and a decent size to throw in your bag if you have the room (which I never do...)

Secondly, there are a few products from MAC which I have been loving recently. There are two eyeshadows which I'm sure everyone has heard of; WoodWinked and Cranberry. They are incredible colours, Woodwinked I use more on a daily basis for a quick eye shadow fix, and Cranberry if I feel slightly more daring and have a little longer to play around with it as it comes on quick strong. Then there is the pro longwear paint pot in Painterly which is use everyday before my eyeshadow to add some extra cover for my eyelids as they are very red and helps to emphasise the eye shadow further. My pot was the first thing I every bought from MAC around a year ago I would say and I have barely made a dent! Perfect...

Thirdly there is an eye shadow duo from NARS in the colour Kuala Lumpur which is just so beautiful and easy to wear whenever I fancy some colour. Good pigmentation and blends really well. We all know the drill, NARS doesn't really let you down to be honest...

And finally there are two eye liners which I have used a couple of times so far but feel they would be great for anyone who maybe prefers eye liners to eye shadows. There is 17 Photo Flawless eye pencil in Carbon Black/ Blue. Yes that is the name, and thats what it looks like on. A dark, maybe grungy blue is what you get from it, which is a nice pop of colour with a black mascara. Then there is the Bourjois Khol & Contour in the colour Bleu Espiegle which is a lovely brightening greeny/blue. Great if you feel a bit bolder in your colour choices and fancy a change!

Hope you enjoyed! Would love some recommendations for other Autumn/Winter eye shadows or liners! Bye bye 

Halloween Prep

As everyone knows Halloween is fast approaching and for me this meant a trip out to the shops to get any bits of makeup and accessories needed for the festivities. I am going out twice this year for halloween (two times to dress up = a happy rea!) and so spent a little bit of time mulling over what I was going to do for both. I decided that instead of doing makeup to resemble my outfit, I was going to pull out all the stops on the makeup and my outfit would follow to work with it, as I would rather spend the money on makeup that I could use outside of halloween also. 

So off I went with a list of my phone of things to get, some for halloween and some just for the Autumn season which I will do a seperate post on... And back home I went with a couple of bags of makeup bits and bobs. Then to top it off my NYX package arrived today and that is why I am now doing the post as it was the jumbo sticks I had ordered for halloween. I have to say I don't think I have ever spent so much money on makeup and that sort of thing in one week as I have this week. But it will be worth it I am sure!

NYX Jumbo Sticks in 'Milk' and 'Black Bean'

Natural collection lip liner in 'Plum', Rimmel Lasting Finish contouring pencil in '063 Black Tulip' and Rimmel Kate Moss lipstick in '01'

A christmas glitter set from the 99p shop (includes two larger glitters as shown, a couple of smaller glitters, and glitter glues in silver, green, red and gold)

After all of this makeup buying I cannot wait to do my makeup properly on the night, and I will definitely be posting pictures on here when I do! I would love to know what everyone else is planning on dressing up as, so leave a comment and let me know :)

Some Autumn essentials

I definitely love the Autumn for the makeup trends because I think I suit these colour trends better, such as browns, burgundy and much more warmer toned colours. So as the season has now donned us, I thought it would be good to maybe pick up a couple of things to add to my makeup stash.

 Firstly I got a new mascara, simple because I needed a new one but this time I did stray away from my reliable Rimmel ScandelEyes mascara and decided to try something different. Now I think everyone has watched Tanya Burr's videos and she constantly raves about the Maybeline Falsies mascara, and thought hey lets give it a whirl. I also changed the routine slightly by buying waterproof because my makeup lasts a lot less time in the colder weather so waterproof will help to keep it there for longer instead of sliding around. 

Secondly I got one of the Maybeline Colour 24hr Tattoo eye pots in the colour Metallic Pomegranate, which the name by itself sounds cool enough. Now I have the silver one of these and use it for nights out and I love it as even when I have gotten back its still going strong, hence why I decided it was high time to buy another one for daily use. This colour definitely has not disappointed me and is great for my everyday makeup.

Finally I decided to give one of the Kate Moss lipsticks a go because they have been so highly raved about I felt it was time to try one. I decided to go for a nude for the Autumn and I love the lipstick for the colour, its consistency and the price is great too. All in all a winner, I will have to buy others soon and try new colours.

So that's just some little recent purchases, let me know if there are any of the kate moss lipsticks you would recommend as I would love to know! :)

My Everyday Skincare Routine

Hey guys! So I thought I would do a post on my skincare routine, particularly as here in the UK the weather over the last couple of days has dropped hugely and it's all cold and windy. How lovely.. Anyway due to the weather changes it makes me even more determined to look after my skin as the cold weather and wind in particular are just not ideal for your skin and they dry your face and skin out faster. Which is why towards the beginning of the Autumn I have been adding in certain products to help my skin and keep it going throughout the Winter. So here we go: 

Nivea extra gentle eye makeup remover - So this stuff my mum picked up for me as we had run our of remover, but it really is good for just gently removing any more heavier makeup, particularly good for me as I tend to wear mascara ad eye shadow on a daily basis. Its fresh, not strong smelling and a relaxing way to remove my eye makeup. To get rid of the rest of my makeup I then go over with makeup remover wipes as they are the easiest and quickest for me for the rest of my face. Lets face it, we are pretty tired when removing our makeup so don't want to be stood there for hours, I want to move onto creams and get into bed!

Lush tee tree toning water - Ugh this is like a bottle of pure heaven! This is my second bottle of this toner and I love it. Before I used to use one from Garnier but it smelt so strong of chemicals and just sucked all of the moisture from my face leaving my face feeling, well, unloved. So when I came across this I feel in love with it. It obviously has the consistency of water, so I spray it onto a cotton pad and wipe over my face concentrating on my T-zone, and it leaves my face feeling clean, refreshed and the smell of tea tree is just amazing. I would highly recommend!

Boots Botanics radiant youth eye cream - This stuff has become a staple in my routine. I use it in the morning before I put my makeup on and again when I take my makeup off before bed. The consistency is good for spreading, it isn't watery and a little goes a long way, so its worth the money. I do think it has helped my eyes look more awake and healthy and has also helped with my dark eyes ever so slightly.

Bio Oil - This product you can buy from an awful lot of places, but I usually pick it up from either Boots of Superdrug as that is what is easiest for me. I picked this product up ages ago to be honest, but I found it to greasy for my skin and didn't really enjoy it so put it to one side. But recently when I got a horrible cold, my skin was suffering hugely and needed much more moisture and help. So I dug up the old bio oil and after using it during my cold it has slotted back into the routine and I now love it. Its silky, smells great and lasts ages. I put it on before I go to bed at night and when I wake up my skin it always soft and full of moisture.

L'Oreal Paris skin perfection day moisturiser - This is a recent purchase of mine and so has only recently fell into my routine, but so far I can honestly say I really like it. I use this after I've washed my face in the morning before I put my makeup on and it makes my skin feel soft and ready to apply my makeup over. The packaging it gorgeous and the product goes into the skin fast and works well. It also smells so so nice and is pink, how can you say no to that!?

La Roche Posay effaclar duo - This one is last on the list because I don't use it everyday and definitely not as often as the other products. I tend to use this when I this my skin needs a bit more help with spots or if I seem to have more blackheads. Sometimes I find it doesn't help to clear my skin or maybe makes it worse compared to letting my skin do its own thing, but sometimes it does help so I am 50/50 with it to be honest. It has been raved about all over the internet so maybe worth giving it a go and seeing what you think as everyone seems to have different opinions of it.

So we have now come to the end of my everyday skincare routine, I hope this maybe helped anyone who wanted another review of a product or maybe didn't know about one and now wants to go and try it. Hope you enjoyed! 

First Illamasque buy

Back when I went to London a couple of weeks ago I popped into Selfridges and had a little look at the Illamasque counter as I had never bought anything from there before and never tried anything either, so this was a good opportunity. I had seen a couple of things on the website and on YouTube but in particular there was a multi-purpose product which is in a slightly harder 'cream blush' sort of consistency. 

Anywho after finally finding it I decided to go for 'Androgen' which is this really pretty bold pinky/coral, but not a bright pink more of a baby pink colour (I've probably just seriously confused you haven't I..) I decided to go for it because it was a colour that would work for me for lips, eyes and cheeks, whereas some others wouldn't work for many things. It was £17.50 which is pretty pricey, probably the most I would pay if not more, but I knew I wouldn't come across an illamasque for a fair while and wanted to splash out. It is gorgeous though!

A Small Makeup Haul and Review!

Recently I have been seeking out some new makeup bits to try and when I went to the Birmingham Bullring a few weeks ago it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go into the bigger Boots and Superdrug and have a little look at some of the brands I can't access in my area in particular, as well as a good excuse to buy some new makeup! 

Firstly I made a trip into M.A.C where I had been thinking about 'Ravishing' for a while as it is such a talked about lipstick I needed to try it on. Well 5 minutes after trying it on I somehow ended up at the till... Oops. It's just too much of a nice colour and as its a cremesheen made my lips feel nice and also slightly moisturised (kinda)

This product I just couldn't seem to get my hands on, as the Collection stands in my local Boots didn't have this spray, so when I went to the Bullring, I had to have a little look for it as I just wanted to try a setting spray before investing the big bucks in something like MAC Fix+. I can honestly say that it won't obviously keep your makeup on throughout the entire day (I live in England, it's nearly impossible with the weather we have) but it does help keep my eye makeup lasting longer than before. Plus points from me!

This purchase came after I spotted the Sleek stand and new I had to leave with something from there as I don't have a sleek stand anywhere near where I live, and so thought I may as well make the most of the opportunity. So after lots of swatches, I found this gorgeous blush called 'Rose Gold' and it was just such a pretty warm colour on my complexion, especially for when I came back from holiday with a tan as the pink works so nicely with a hint of gold shimmer...

My final purchase was an eye shadow I had had my eye on for a while, and its 'Woodwinked' from M.A.C. I really like natural tones and colours to wear on an everyday basis and this colour gives a good amount of that as well as adding something extra with the shimmer in the brown. Overall just a gorgeous colour, would recommend!

Hope you enjoyed this little haul and review! 

Bye 

30 Day Snap - #23 Prep for holiday

Today I went and got my eyebrows and eyelashes tinted, as my family, boyfriend and I are off to Turkey on Monday and thought I would give these a go as I've never had them done before. I have to say I wasn't as impressed with the eyelash tint as it didn't cover all of my eyelashes and didn't make a massive difference except for show a few on the bottom lash as before they were invisible. I am more impressed with my eyebrows though as they are quite a bit darker and will look nicer with a tan and when I'm out in the day with no makeup on! 

Slightly creepy being this up close..

30 Day Snap - #20 Taking care of my tootsies

Well England you have kept surprising me with this hot weather, but with the hot weather comes less boots and more flip flops and sandals, which all show my feet more. Now I really do not like my feet (seriously does anyone even like their feet?) so I have had to take more and better care of them as they are on show more. I have been doing this little routine recently using a scrub for dry skin and a moisturiser/body butter afterwards for maximum softness. Today I decided to paint my toe nails blue, a gorgeous colour called 'Celestial' from Topshop..

30 Day Snap - #7 and #8 complete nostalgia..

Yesterday was my younger sisters prom and I honestly cannot believe how time has flown by, and its been a huge two years since my prom (feeling old and I'm only 18).. So I assigned myself to do my sisters makeup, as I am constantly watching makeup tutorials and love makeup I thought it would be a good chance to try it but also do something for my sister on her exciting day. The look I went for was a gold and brown smokey eye, as she has darker skin an hair than me as she has more of my dads colour, and so the darker colours look really good on her. Along with that, normal foundation and base and just a little bit of bronzer and blusher to really brighten her face and give it lots of colour as in the sun and in the cameras she needs to make sure shes nice and radiant. So this is her face makeup, what do you think?

I also thought I would add in another photo of her in her dress as well as she looked just to amazing not to show you all! That will be #8 as I meant to do the makeup post before prom day as we did a trial run, so this is her at prom!

Beautiful

30 Day Snap - #4 Lovin' it

Recently I have been loving one of Essie's nail varnishes in the colour 'Tart Deco' as it really pops on my nails and makes me look more tanned too! Its a perfect colour for summer and works well with summer colours and prints, definately one to have..

Please excuse how untidy my nail painting abilities are in this photo..

30 Day Snap - #1 Pretty in Pink

So I haven't posted anything on my blog in ages and it was really bugging me but I was looking for inspiration for something different other than reviews and stuff like that. So I came across the '30 day snap' on Sprinkle Of Glitters blog (which is so lovely and pretty!) and thought 'hey presto!' that sounds like a good idea! Obviously I won't be doing the month of June from start to finish as it is already the 15th so that won't work, but I will be doing 30 snaps from today on-wards! 

This is a recent cheeky purchase of mine. I've been looking for a new M.A.C lipstick for ages and finally found one I thought I would wear a lot and loved. Its called 'Coral Bliss' and is a pink lipstick with a tint of peach, I would say anyway. It's cremesheen so looks great and moisturizing on, I would recommend. Love it!

Sixth Form Leavers Ball - Get Ready With Me!

Hello lovely people! Well Thursday was one of those days that made me really think about things (it was a deep day) as it was the day I finished my sixth form education and time at my secondary school. The day was filled with thinking about past times and reflection, especially in our leavers assembly which left us all with a positive outlook on our staggering 13 YEARS in education, but I wouldn't have changed my decision to stay on for anything, best decision ever!

So Friday night was then all we could talk about as it was our leavers ball, which was based at the Four Pillars in our local area and I am was so so excited! I had my dress hung up for over a week at the end of my bed and I've been dying to wear it, so just getting ready for it was fun enough! (even if it was freezing outside and the clouds are plotting against us!) So the day consisted of meeting a few friends in a pub for a drink, then off for a cheeky McDonalds before heading home to get ready for the night out. I thought I would share this as it was great fun, so here is the routine in preparation for the ball. Enjoy!

BEFORE... (please excuse the no makeup, it is not a good look)

I painted my nails in the colour 'Figi' by Essie for the night as it bought out my tan and went nicely with the white and baby blue in my dress..

Some products I used for the night..

Decisions, decisions.. In the end I went for the 'Belgravia' lash as it was more natural and gave a little more length to my lashes without being overpowering..

This gorgeous peach and gold large clutch went perfectly with the pastel colours in my dress..

And AFTER!

Hair for the evening - Simple loose curls

Final outfit and ready to go!
Dress - Miss Selfridge
Clutch - River Island
Shoes - New Look (from a while ago so no longer available)

MAC madness!

I can honestly say I had mixed emotions when I arrived home after going shopping last week, as I am afraid to say I spent to much money, especially in MAC (sooner or later I will put up the other bits I got but for now just MAC) Anywho I went in there solely to look at concealers and powders, as I have dark circles around my eyes and had heard that MAC's concealers work wonders. Also a powder as my T-zone tends to get very greasy in the day so a good powder I was willing to invest in. However when I asked the lovely lady to hep match me up to a shade, I was transported to a chair in front of a mirror, and this is where all the problems began...

Firstly she helped me find my concealer, and she came back with the Pro Longwear Concealer in the shade 'NC20', which suited my skintone and had a good coverage to cover up my horrible dark circles. Concealer...Check!

Then came the powder, and she came back with the Select Sheer/Pressed powder in shade 'NC20', which again looked just how I wanted and I've found had a lovely cover and helps to keep my grease at bay. Powder... Check!

Now this is where the problem began, because as I was explaining the dark circle situation she told me about how orange and pink tones help to conceal the green and blue tones in dark circles, which I knew about but was unaware that they did a product to cater for that need. But of course they did! Off she went and back she came with a highlighter in the shade 'Bright Forecast' which is an orange highlighter and has hugely helped in ridding some of the blue from my eyes and due to the good coverage stays for longer too. Another good product, but now my prize was slowly rising...

And finally I had seen a couple of paint pots I was dying to try and when I finally found them and swatched them I fell in love. Painterly is a nudey/light pink colour, perfect for every day just giving some extra coverage on the eyes and some colour, and Rubenesque is a gorgeous golden pinky/peach, lovely for a warmer tone and gives more depth and warmth to the eyes. I'm in love!

So its safe to say I spent way to much money in MAC that day but the products will last me ages so its all worth it. A defiinate recommend would be either the concealer or paint pots, they're lovely and great products, just close your eyes and brace yourself when they ready you the final price!

♥