We are now returning to our regular scheduling - it's Mini-Haul time

So after my slightly off topic post this morning I'm now back for a second time today with quite an exciting (for me anyway) mini-haul! 

1. Cocoa Brown Self Tan Application Mit

This was a quick purchase from Primark to apply the Rimmel Instant Tan. I do not tan. Ever. I'm actually terrified of it going wrong but there's no sun and I'm off out tomorrow wearing a dress so to avoid blinding the whole population of London with my pale legs I bit the bullet and went for a bit of tanner. I'm hoping that applying it with these will help me somehow but I shall let you know the outcome of that a bit later. Wish me luck!

2. Rimmel Summer Sun Instant Tan

I want tanned legs, I don't want shiny glittery legs. That's my personal preference so I went for the matte version of this but there is also a shimmer one available and it's half price in Superdrug at the moment. I've never tried this but a quick test on my arm leads me to believe it could turn out OK. I can't lie the fact that Binky from Made In Chelsea is now the face, or should that be legs,  of this product might have influenced me slightly. Sucker for advertising!

3. Maybelline Brow Drama

Better late than never right? Am I the only blogger not to have tried this little beauty? Well I have to say so far so good! I love good brows but don't always have the patience, this is going to be perfect for those early morning starts at work! Quick and simple, just what I like!

4. Eyelure Individual Lashes 

I've done a whole post dedicated to these before but basically, they're amazing. I have long lashes but they're kind of lacking in fullness and these are so perfect for that and much much easier to use than you might think. I can't stand fake lashes as I can never get them to sit right on my lash line so these are perfect, plus they last overnight so no rushing around just before a big night out you can just take your time the night before.

5. Primark Felt Tip Eyeliner

I love a good felt liner and I've seen this around on a couple of blogs. Very good for a cat eye but a little too thick for my personal preference, not going to complain for £1.50 though and can see me reaching for this when I want a more dramatic look.

6. Sleek Blush - Life's a Peach

Sleek, I do love you and your packaging. Nearly all my blush seems to be pink and as I wanted a bit more of a summery look for a big night this weekend I decided to get this. Amazing value for money, beautiful packaging and gorgeous product! So glad Sleek are on the up they're fast becoming my favourite "drugstore" brand.

7. Maybelline Colour Sensational in Honey Beige

This is from their Stripped Nude collection, the shades available all look beautiful but I chose this which is I'd say the second lightest shade. I'm not usually a fan of nude lipsticks but this is gorgeous, I wish that I could get away with the even lighter shade but I think that would wash me out too much. Honey Beige has just enough warmness in it that it doesn't drain the complexion and the formula is super moisturising without being too shiny. This could become my go-to lipstick whether it's for a night out or a long day at work. Definitely check out this whole collection.

Well that was my Friday shopping trip, now I'm off to do my lashes!

Covet Fashion - fashion for your iPhone

Happy Friday everyone! I hope all you lovely readers had an amazing Easter weekend last week!

I'm here with a slightly strange post today, today is all about Covet Fashion which is a game/app available on iPhone/iPad (possibly available on other smartphones and devices but I'm really not sure on this one). 

Covet Fashion is kind of a game and kind of a very clever marketing ploy. It contains real designers collections and displays the real prices. You purchase these items with your "fake dollars" on the game and enter various themed styling competitions but there are also links to purchase these items for real. There's some well known designers on there and the game itself looks beautiful, the choice of hair and makeup available is better than any other fashion based game I've come across! Here's an example of a few of the looks users are able to create so you can get an idea:

Gorgeous right?! And that's just a small selection of what's available, there's new items added all the time and they even go by seasons!

I never feel the need to post about things like this but I really think it's something those of us in the blogging world will enjoy (the description in the App Store even mentions that bloggers will love it).

Just to point out as well that I am nowhere near popular enough to be offered any kind of ad deal so this really is just a genuine recommendation for a fun and beautifully designed game where you can create your own looks, vote on others and see the latest designers collections. 

If you have any other game recommendations drop me a comment, I'm always looking for something to keep me entertained on my commute.

Return to the Blogosphere

Helloooooo everybody!

I'm finally feeling motivated and ready to return to blogging. In the midst of a house move, a new job and way too much Netflix I kind of lost the beauty blogging bug but now I'm ready to start over.

In the few months since my last post I have obviously bought way too much to choose one particular thing to blog about so I've picked just a few of the things I've been using the most.

1. Maybelline SuperStay Better Skin foundation

I'm not 100% sure what to say about this one. First of all I'll start by saying it doesn't make your skin look any healthier in 3 weeks as it claims on the bottle.I used it pretty much everyday for over three weeks and haven't seen any change at all. Another negative here but one that could maybe have been avoided, the colour is pretty dark with a bit too much of an orange finish for my liking. I bought this online and chose Ivory assuming that it would be light and not at all orange as you'd expect Ivory to be especially judging from the picture on the website, definitely not the case! It's probably about time for some positives here, most days this does even out my skin very well and it definitely lasts. If I'm having a bad skin day though this does cling to dry patches because it blends to an almost powder like finish. Overall it's a love/hate relationship, if you try this I'd recommend a good moisturiser beforehand and also to use your fingers to blend rather than a brush or sponge as personally I've found this works a lot better.

2. Maybelline Matte Maker

This one was bought on a whim due to the absolute bargain price of £3.99 in Superdrug a few weeks ago, most definitely worth that price and more! Firstly I'm happy that I have finally found a powder light enough, even when I've gone a shade or two lighter than my foundation in the past it's always seemed to make my skin darker but not this one. It's very light on the skin,  gives an absolutely perfect finish and keeps shine at bay hours longer than other powders I've tried. I'd say I put my make-up on for work at about half 6 and I don't usually feel the need to top up until about half 3, that's 9 hours of a perfectly matte complexion even in this lovely warm weather we're having right now. I have no idea if it's still on offer or not but either way I'd definitely recommend this one. I got shade number 10 which is Classic Ivory.

3. Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm

I was a massive fan of the original Revlon Just Bitten Kissable balm stains and have pretty much every colour so I was so excited when I read about the matte and gloss releases back in January. I finally got round to trying them out and thought I'd start with matte because matte lips have been one of my favourite things recently. My go-to shade of lipstick is always red so I went for shade number 240 which is Striking. It's a nice bright orange based red, perfect for summer and I'd imagine this to be very flattering on every skintone. The application is just as easy as the original balm stains, the matte doesn't feel at all drying. These don't last quite as well as the original balm stains but it can definitely still stand up to a fair few cocktails. Once I've got a bit more free time on my hands I'll definitely be buying more colours and giving the gloss ones a go.

4. MUA Lipstick

I love lipstick and I love a bargain even more so how I've never tried MUAs £1 lipsticks is a mystery to me. When I had my job interview a few months ago I wanted a muted colour lipstick as all I had was bright colours and I didn't want to be OTT. I'm not a fan of really pale nude lips so when I saw shade 11 I knew I'd found 'The One'. It's a deeper colour but still nude, you almost can't tell that you're wearing lipstick but it just finishes off an everyday look perfectly. I can't really fault the formula for £1 either, it goes on smooth and feels moisturising. It's not the most long lasting of lipsticks but for £1 I don't think you can complain. Think I might be picking up a few more of these little bargains on my next Superdrug trip.

5. Lipstick by H&M

Placing their beauty products right by the till is just plain unfair! There I was halfway through a long queue waiting to buy my dress and I got distracted by all the pretty sparkly things shining in my eye, so off I go leaving the queue having wasted 10 minutes of my life. I'd never actually tried any H&M beauty products prior to this, I was buying a dress for a night out and in my head I was picturing the perfect make-up look; just a little bit of eyeliner with a deep reddy-orange lip. Lo and behold the perfectly imagined colour was there staring me right in the face. The shade is called Down Town, the bullet looks like it would be an almost brown colour but on the lips it's a very deep red with slight orange undertones. While the shade was perfect the formula kind of isn't, the application is tricky and there's not way you could get away without using a lip liner. There's also a slight problem of how unevenly this wears off. Overall not quite as impressed as I'd hoped but it really is the perfect deep red shade if you're patient with the application and regular touch-ups.

6. Maybelline ColourSensational Lip Liner

As I've said a thousand times throughout this blog and probably throughout this post, a red lip is my favourite thing in the world! I was on the hunt for a new red lip liner and came across this one, I was in a rush so did a quick test to see the colour and grabbed it. Once I got home and tried it out I couldn't believe how good a choice I'd just made. I don't think I've ever had a lip liner that goes on as smoothly as this one does, it almost has the texture of a kohl liner but still gives a nice sharp line. I'm running out of a few other colours of liner and this brand is the only one I will be replacing them with.

So that's that. Hopefully I won't leave it so long between posts next time. In the meantime I'm off to read all of your wonderful blogs and see just what I've been missing in the beauty blogging world.

Neglectful Apology

I've been MIA since before Christmas in the blogosphere for no reason other than I've been having too much of a good time. I seemed to be celebrating Christmas and New Year for about 2 months straight haha.

However, my camera is on charge as I type and I'm hoping to be back in action by tomorrow night. In the meantime I'm giving myself one last lazy Sunday with just me, Netflix and my duvet.

Simple Nail Art - Barry M Lychee and Vanilla

So I've has very Christmass-y nails the past few days but it was taking up a bit too much time. I finally decided to do something simple for this week until I go all out with the sparkle next week.

Keeping it neutral I picked my favourite of the Barry M matte shades which is Vanilla and the similar gel shade of Lychee.

I used Vanilla as my base and then took my brand new dotting tool and used Lychee to place a line of large dots down the centre of the nail. I'm not the best with nail art but I love this colour combination and the matte contrast against the shine of the gel. I've had so many compliments on these and the usual question of "where did you get your nails done".

Cutest Christmas Earrings Ever!!!

We all see those Christmas earrings this time of year, you know the ones that are all sparkly and shiny and oh-so-tacky and the ones that will most probably turn your earlobes green. I love Christmas but for everyday wear tacky just isn't a good look, so imagine how excited I got when I saw these!

Adorable right? Christmassy but not at all tacky, the snowflake ones are probably my favourite but I love all three. The best bit? These are only £2.99 from H&M.

Another little treat came in the post today. I've shared my love of quirky jewellery on here before so when I saw this beauty on ebay I just has to have it. This was on my finger within seconds of being delivered and I'm in love already!

Again this one was a bargain at £2.99! eBay is probably one of my favourite places for jewellery because there's always something that's a little bit different and it's never expensive!

What's everyone else's favourite places for jewellery and accessories?

Eylure Individual Semi-Permanant Lashes

As soon as I use these I knew I was going to have to do a post about it.

I'm such a huge fan of false eyelashes... in theory. I'm not sure if I have weird shaped eyes or I'm just not good at the application but false lashes never seem to quite fit right one me. I've tried and failed more times than I can count. So I'm a huge fan of them, but only on other people. After getting tired of wasting my money on lashes I'd never wear I decided to venture into what I thought would be the scary world of individual lashes.

I figured Eylure was a pretty safe brand for my first try and so picked up the mixed pack of individual lashes in black. 

This pack comes with 3 different lengths. The pack suggests using the short for inner lashes, the medium for the centre lashes and the long for the outer lashes. The long lashes were never touched by me, they were just too long and this is from someone with reasonably long lashes to begin with.

Rather than length I was looking for a bit more volume. I ended up placing 3 to 4 short ones on the centre lashes and 3 to 4 medium ones on the outer lashes. I was SO happy with the results and the application was easy peasy. Just grab a pair of tweezers, cover the end of the lash with glue (make sure you use a generous amount) and stick them as close to the lash line as possible without actually attaching them to the lash line. These attach onto the actual lashes rather than the eyelid. 

Here's the results (excuse the quality I wasn't home when I did this so handy iphone camera is all that was available):

So the above is the results with no mascara. Best thing about these lashes, those pictures were taken the morning after the lashes were applied. The lashes are semi permanant and include a solution to remove them, these lashes lasted a night of sleep, a day at work, a Christmas party with a lot of cocktails and the long sleep which followed. Pretty impressive right?

Being individual lashes these can obviously be applied to give a more or less dramatic look than the one I was going for.

This is definitely my new favourite product for a big night out. I've been raving about them ever since. 

P.S - I promise I don't have a black eye, the iPhone camera is just very unforgiving to my early morning eyebags haha.