FOTD - Bright "sea" themed eyes and shocking pink lips.

Well hey hey and hello there my gorgeous glitterati.

I'm soooooooooooo crazy busy at the minute, but I thought I'd take the time to do a quick little face of the day post to say hi, show my face and prove I haven't forgotten about you lovelies.

I've had a week off work, but we were doing things every single day and now I'm back to work and my evenings are busy too, it's all go here :)

My next post is going to be later in the week and I think I'm going to do my MAC eyeshadow swatches, a lot of my singles are permanent and I love seeing other people's swatches as it inspires me for what I want to buy next, so that's the plan. Would that be something you'd like to see?

Onto the piccies of today's crazy bright look. I feel the urge to use blues and greens this morning, I was just drawn to them like a moth to a flame, so I went for a mermaid / sea themed eye and a fuchsia lip, I'm never one for subtlety:

I thought I'd pose with no glasses on so you could get the full effect - Oh and yes, I have darker hair and a nose stud now, amazing how things change in a week or 2 isn't it :) What do you think?

Onto the product used:

Face - Illamasqua skinbase in 08, MAC Studio Fix concealer in NW25 and Boots 17 pressed powder in delicate beige.

Brows - Anastasia brow whizz in medium ash.

Eyes - MAC bare study paint pot as a base, MAC freshwater all over the lid, MAC shimmermoss blended through the crease, MAC bio green on the outer corner and MAC ricepaper under the brow bone. MAC black line pearlglide liner in the waterline and finally MAC zoomlash mascara.

Cheeks - Illamasqua Hussy powder blush with a little Dior Amber Diamond highlighter on my cheekbones.

Lips - MAC Rare Exotic Mattene lipstick with a little Liz Earle sheer lip gloss in Fuchsia on top.

That's the lot :) I just thought you might like to see this one today as it's crazy bright and fun, why not, I'm all about playing with the eyeshadow, I just love to experiment with colour.

Have you got any shades you'd like to see me use or any suggestions for new colour combos to try out? I'm open to anything and I love to hear your views so ask away.

I'll be back later on in the week my lovelies, until then take care and much love to all xox

Lush Emotional Brilliance - My 4 purchases reviewed and swatched.

Well hey hey there yet again my gorgeous glitterati.


Today I thought I'd share with you something I've been super excited about for THE longest time. Lush cosmetics has been one of my favourite shops for so long now, I'm sucked in my the gorgeous aromas, bright hues and crazy friendly staff. I heard a rumour a while back that they were launching a makeup line and this of course sent me on a path of trying to find out anything I could and keeping my fingers and toes crossed.


For those of you that don't know the background of Lush, they used to be called "B" (B never to busy to be beautiful) before closing down at the end of 2009. Well B stocked a full makeup line and this was lost when the company was relaunched as Lush Cosmetics.


Recently Lush have been adding little tid bits to their line "hinting" at makeup, like their colour supplements which are intended to either replace or compliment your foundation.


Well July 2012 hit and along came Emotional Brilliance, consisting of 6 eyeshadows, 13 lipsticks, 11 eyeliners, 1 mascara, 1 loose powder, 1 bronzing skin tint and 1 highlighting skin tint.


I was instantly drawn to the colour, the vibrancy of the shades is just crazy, I'm like a moth to flame :)


I chose 4 colours blindly via the website based on what I thought I'd like rather than the whole "Emotional Brilliance" ethos (more on that later). I ordered 2 lipsticks (Passionate and Believe) and 2 eyeliners (Fantasy and calm), here's my one swipe swatches:

Calm eyeliner, Believe lipstick, Fantasy eyeliner and Passionate lipstick.

As you can see the colour payoff is outstanding, they are so pigmented and bright in just one swipe, perfect for colour mad me but maybe not so much for those who prefer a more muted look. There are a few neutral eye shades, but the lipsticks are pretty much all super bright, although I have discovered that they can be muted with a little clear lip balm and a tiny dab of the colour spread out.


Passionate lipstick is by far my favourite shade, such an intense blue based fuchsia pink, what's not to love for me :) Believe lipstick is more corally peach toned and would look amazing on a hot Summer's night (wishful thinking here eh'!!) with a tan. The lipsticks are smooth and creamy and glide on with the greatest of ease. They dry and almost "set" on my lips leaving colour behind that won't budge, I just add a little clear gloss when I want a shiny look, otherwise I just leave it as is and it will just last and last all day long, literally!!

Passionate

Believe

Fantasy is my favourite eyeliner shade of the 2 I purchased, it's a gorgeous shimmery yellow gold and then Calm is a soft almost matte baby blue. These are also great, I have tried both on my upper lid and have had no issues with smearing or smudging, they honestly looked just as good at 7pm than when they were first applied at 7am.


I also have to comment on the bottles which I adore, they're not at all tacky when you see them in person, they are sturdy heavy glass bottles and they just make me feel like I'm in Chemistry class back at school. Here's a picture of the applicators:

As you can see the handles are pretty short, but it's honestly no issue at all, I actually found these eyeliners easier to apply that any other as the handles were so sturdy and easy to work with. The lipstick just have your traditional sponge tip applicator which I like anyway, so no issues there for me.


One other thing worth mentioning, in the package I received from lush, they included a little bag with extra applicators in. This is because the colours are actually marketed as multi use, you could use the Believe lipstick on your cheeks and eyes if you do desired, same goes for all the shades, though I can't imagine why  I'd want to have baby blue lips, but hey each to their own :)


Overall I'm impressed, Lush definitely hasn't let me down. the price point scared me at first, £14.50 a pop for the liners, shadows and lipsticks. Now I've sampled the goods, I want more and I'd be happy to pay £14.50 again, the quality is awesome and I can see one of these little bottles lasting a long long time.


If you do get a chance to go into a Lush store, go and have a play around with the shades and see what you think for yourself. The range has been launched alongside a "game" which involves spinning a colour wheel in store and letting your emotions that day draw you to your ideal shades - This is the whole Emotional Brilliance ethos I mentioned earlier. Honestly I think it sounds like fun, but it's not practical overall, you'll choose the shades that you WANT to wear, not based on how you're feeling inside at any given time of the day.


Let me know if you've picked anything up from this range and what you think, I'm still trying to decide what I want next, though I feel a nice bright red calling my name :)


Take care and I'll be back soon. Much love to all you lovely people, thank for reading and subscribing xox

LOTD - Chanel Epatant illusion d'ombre and Nars Rue Bonaparte mini raves.

Hey hey gorgeous glitterati.


I thought I'd just quickly do a little "Look of the day" as there's a couple of new products involved that I'm just head over heels in love with.


I'll as always post the piccies first for your scrutiny and then list everything afterwards. I will apologise now for the rubbish mirror iPhone pictures, I literally look like I've rubbed blusher all over my cheeks with my bare hands, I swear it's not that harsh in real life. 

Oh and yes, I have gone darker with my hair and I have had my nose pierced since I last posted a piccie :) I turned 30 and fancied a change, why not eh' YOLO - you only live once.

The products I used are as follows:


Face: Garnier BB cream in medium mixed with a little Illamasqua skinbase in 08. MAC studio finish concealer in NW25 and Estee Lauder double wear loose powder in light / medium.


Cheeks: MAC supernova mineralize blush.


Eyebrows: Anastasia brow whizz in medium ash.


Eyes: Chanel illusion d'ombre in Epatant, Nars larger than life pencil in rue bonaparte and Maybelline falsies mascara.


Lips: MAC petals and peacocks lipstick topped with a little MAC dazzleglass creme in do it up.


Chanel Illusion d'ombre - Where have you been all my life SERIOUSLY it's love for sure. If you have the pennies to spare and want to treat yourself, I'd highly recommend one of these babies. It's an eye product that comes in a lovely little glass pot, the texture is unlike any other, kind of a smooth mousse that glides onto your eyelids with ease and stays put even with no primer. I literally just applied it today with my fingers, it's like it magically blended itself.


The product also comes with a little brush that's the perfect size for creating a lovely line on your upper lid, I might do that tomorrow actually and see what I think in comparison to this look.


Another little recommendation is the Nars larger than life pencils, especially the one I've used in the above look. The shade is called Rue Bonaparte and it's a beautiful nude flesh tone, I've used it in my waterline just to soften my eye and make my lower lashes really stand out. This stays put in my waterline like no other I've tried so far, so I'm super keen to get my hands on another shade just to see if the performance is uniform across the whole range.


Have you ever tried either of these amazing products or do you have a cheaper alternative to recommend? You know I always love to hear your thoughts, so please do let me know in the comments below.


I'll be back later this week with a review and swatches of the new Lush emotional brilliance makeup line - I've had 4 things for about a week now, but I'm just testing them out to give a fair review on them :)


Take care and much love to all xox

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain swatches and review + Where have I been!!!

Hey hey there my much missed gorgeous glitterati.

I've been so naughty neglecting you haven't I!! I'm so sorry, but I've had so much on, I had all of last week off work because it was my 30th birthday on Sunday :)
Not to mention the fact it was my boyfriend's birthday last week too - We've been busy little bees.

I got lots of pretties for my birthday, mainly money and clothes if I'm honest so I'm not going to do a separate blog post about my birthday goodies. You've already seen the Sigma Paris palette my OH bought me anyway, he also bought me 2 dresses, some Liz Earle makeup (which I may swatch and review separately) and a Pandora bracelet. I did however receive THE most gorgeous Paul's Boutique handbag and a MAC lipstick shaped birthday cake from 2 of my very bestest friends who clearly know me VERY well, so I of course have to share those with you - What do you think?

I'm exhausted from all the birthday fun and shenanigans, so onto the blog post at hand :) My new favourite lip product, the fabulous Revlon just bitten kissable balm stains (bit of a mouthful isn't it!!).

I have 7 of these little babies and they are below, left to right: Rendezvous, Honey, Darling, Lovesick, Sweetheart, Crush and Romantic.

These will retail for £7.99 each but are currently on offer in both Superdrug and Boots for £5.99 a piece. I believe Sweetheart isn't available in the UK, there are a total of 12 shades available, but only 7 of these have made it to the UK market, how sucky and unfair, we UK inhabitants like multi coloured lips too you know Revlon!! :)

The formula .......... Ahhhhhhh the formula, I love it so very much, I feel like I can't put it into words how much I love this product, it's like it needs it's own song or something equally over the top. They are smooth and moisturising, glossy not sticky and they impart much more colour than you think they would. They definitely aren't sheer at all, so if you're in the market for a lighter sheer wash of colour, I'd stay clear of these babies.

These do indeed stain your lips (as the name indicates), which is a bonus for me as I feel like they leave just enough colour and shine for me not to have to reapply as often as I usually would, I'd suggest I get about 4-5 hours good wear, before I feel like I need to gloss it up a bit more, but there is definitely still colour apparent on me even at this point.

The tube is a twist up which means so sharpening wastage which is great and the actual product is lightly scented of mint, so if you're sensitive to smells, you might not like these. Overall I genuinely don't have anything bad to say about this product, it's love for me and I've been wearing one of these every day solidly for about 2 weeks now, my MAC lipsticks have been kicked to the curb for the time being anyway :)


Also I just wanted to let you know, I won a fellow bloggers Summer giveaway a while back, my package arrived from the lovely Betty Girl Makeup a couple of weeks ago and I've been testing bits and pieces out to hopefully do some separate reviews for you lovely people. In the meantime, here's a picture of the loot minus 3 awesome wet n wild powders which didn't survive the journey (I'm wanting to repress them though, does anyone know where on earth I can get rubbing alcohol in the UK please? I've looked everywhere).

Amazing haul right :) Mega thanks go out to Betty Girl Makeup for a fabby giveaway which I was thrilled to bits to win, I'm thoroughly enjoying playing with the new bits and pieces so far.

Anyhoooooooooooo I'm getting rambly and this post is getting pretty long so I best be off. Rest assured, I have no more big birthdays or anything else to distract me for too long so I'm back to my usual blogging self. As always let me know in the comments below if there's anything you'd like me to do or review for you and I'll see what I can do :)

Take care and much MUCH love to all xox

Sigma Paris palette swatches and mini review.

Hey there gorgeous glitterati :)

How are we all? I hope you're doing fantastic and your Summer is decidedly more "Summer" like than mine! The weather here sucks, it's practically July for crying out loud.

One thing I do love about the Summer is my bibbly birthday, and I'm a big old 30 this year in a couple of weeks, scary biscuits!! My lovely other half has been buying me bits and pieces, but I only asked for one thing that wasn't a surprise and it was this - The Sigma Paris palette.

Sigma are an American brand who carry the most amazing brushes and have now started to do a range of eyeshadow palettes. Well last year they gathered together in Paris (lucky) 7 of the top YouTube makeup gurus to create a palette and this little baby was the outcome of all their work. Each YourTube guru was given a landmark in Paris to find inspiration from and create their own eyeshadow shade, then all 7 worked together to create a final eyeshadow, 2 blushes and a highlighter.

The first time I spied it was when one of my favourite YouTubers, makeupbytiffanyd showed it on her channel and I fell in love there and then. The palette costs $59 and can be found here there is a code live for $10 off the palette which is "TIFFANYD" and believe me when I say I think it's worth every penny.

Now on to the good stuff, yummy pictures and even more yummy swatches. Apologies, my pictures don't do full justice to this palette at all. Eyeshadows are one swipe of the product and no base:

Ok so left to right in the palette and on my arm, the 8 eyeshadows are as follows:

Eiffel - Matte black with multi coloured sparkles. Created by makeupbytiffanyD

Seine - Navy blue with a petrol blue shimmer. Created by all of the gurus collaboritively.

Louvre - Matte teal / sea green shade. Created by Petrilude.

Orsay - Stunning green with gold sparkles. Created by MacNC40

Elysees - Slightly purple tones brown. Created by Dulcecandy87

Notre Dame - The perfect metallic taupe. Created by xteener.

Triomphe - Duochrome shade, brown with green tinges depneding on how the light catches it. Created by frmheadtotoe.

Versailles - Beautiful white gold with gold shimmer. Created by Xsparkage.

Now for the blushes (heavily swatched) and highlight shade:

Left to right on my arms we have:

Rouge - Deep warm plum.

Peche - Soft apricot peach.

Lumiere (Individually in it's own picture) - I couldn't capture this well at all with my camera but it's a beautiful natural sheen, slightly champagne in colour but gives the perfect glow to your skin.

I LOVE IT :) I'm just so thrilled with this palette, the products are so buttery smooth and highly pigmented, I've had no fallout issues with the more sparkly shades and the staying power is second to none, although I do use an eyeshadow base pretty much every day anyway. The palette also comes with two Sigma brushes which are the F40 large angled contour brush and the E55 eye shading brush, I can't express how soft and lovely these brushes are, I want a whole kit now :)

I'm so glad I was allowed to play with this little beauty before my birthday as I've been using it nonstop since it arrived.

What do you think? Is it something you'd considering splurging on? It was created by YouTube gurus afterall, so I never for one second doubted the quality and it absolutely hasn't let me down at all. I can see myself using this palette so much, you can create such a number of different looks from natural to crazy bright with a pop of that gorgeous Orsay shade which is my favourite along with the Versailles shade which is perfect inner corner and browbone highlighter.

Let me know if you pick up this palette or if you have it already or even if you can think of some amazing looks to do with this and I'll give them a go, I love your feedback and your opinions are always more than welcome :)

Take care and mega love to you all xox

MAC for Marilyn Monroe collection details.

Hey there my gorgeous glitterati.

I'm so sorry I've been so absent, lots going on - this is just going to be a fleeting post with some info and then I'll be blogging more this week I pinky promise.

the next MAC collection due out is the heavenly creatures collection and it looks amazing, lots of mineralize products, so keep your eyes out for that. But ..... even more exciting in my eyes is the upcoming MAC for Marilyn Monroe collection. There's no release date yet and no promo pictures but I have got a product list and I'm afraid that will have to suffice for now:

Lipstick
Deeply Adored - Deep scarlet (Matte)
Charmed I'm Sure - Dark true red (Matte)
Pure Zen - Warm nude (Cremesheen)
Love Goddess - Mid-tone pink red (Satin)
Scarlet Ibis - Bright orange red (Matte)

Dazzleglass
Phiff! - Sheer yellow peach
Little Rock - Soft sheer white with pearlized pigments

Lip Pencil
Beet - Vivid reddish-pink
Redd - Clearly red
Cherry - Vivid bright blue/red

Eyeshadow
How to Marry - Soft White (Veluxe Pearl)
Preferred Blonde - Pale champagne beige (Veluxe Pearl)
Silver Screen - True silver (Veluxe Pearl)
Showgirl - Dark blue grey (Veluxe Pearl)

Eye Kohl
Smolder - Intense black
Fascinating - Intense matte white

Penultimate Eye Liner
Rapidblack - Rich deep carbon black

Penultimate Brow Marker
Universal - Natural warm taupe-brown

Brow Finisher
Clear - Sheer

False Lashes
Extreme Black - Carbon black

Beauty Powder
Forever Marilyn - Sheer pale peach highlighter

Powder Blush
Legendary - Pale soft coral (Satin)
The Perfect Cheek - Neutral pink beige (Matte)

Nail Lacquer
Vintage Vamp - Rich deep retro wine (Cream)
Stage Red - Dark berry red (Cream)
Flaming Rose - True red (Cream)
Kid Orange - Coral (Cream)
Rich, Rich, Rich - Glittery gold (Pearl)

Lash
35 Lash - Dramatic lash with emphasis on the centre of the lash

Eeeeppppppp I'm so excited for this collection, I just knew the focus would be on red lips and neutral eyes with thick black liner - A girl can never have too many reds in her collection and I'll definitely be picking one of these up after I see the actual swatches online.

I'll keep you posted and I'll add a link in this post to any other information I come across and I'll be back super soon with more posts.

Take care and mega amounts of love to all xox


 

Quick little FOTD as I haven't done one in ages.

Hey there gorgeous glitterati :)


I thought I'd do a really quick FOTD post for you as I haven't done one in ages.


I'm going to keep it super simple, I'm just going to post the picture and list what I used - I went fairly neutral today, well for me anyway lol!! So here you have it:

Here's what I used to create the neutral (ish) look :)


Face: Clarins Ever Matte foundation in 109 Wheat, Soap and Glory Kick Ass concealer in Medium, Boots 17 pressed powder in delicate beige and MAC pro longwear bronzer in sun dipped.


Eyes: MAC paint pot in lets skate as a base, MAC satin taupe all over my lid, Stila kitten blending out the edges, MAC added goodness fluid line used on top lash line and water line. Finished off with a generous coating of Soap and Glory thick and fast mascara.


Brows: Filled in lightly with Kate eyebrow pencil in BR-3, then finished off with Me Me Me Arch angel brushed through.


Cheeks: MAC fashion frenzy powder blush with a little MAC pink shock cream colour base underneath.


Lips: MAC sweetie lipstick all on it's lonesome.


And there you have it, that's the lot. Let me know what you think in the comments below pretty please, your critique and comments are ALWAYS welcomed here :)


Take care and much love to you all xox