What I Got For Christmas 2014 // Makeup

30 December 2014

Hello everybody,

Long time no post! I am sooo sorry for not uploading but I promise that in the new year I will be back on track. Anyway, today I have an exciting post for you all - I'm sharing all the makeup I received from family and friends at Christmas. I thought you may like to see all the new bits and bobs I was gifted and have a sneek peek on the items I will be reviewing in the near future...here goes!

*small disclaimer - I am not bragging or 'showing off', I'm just simply sharing my gifts, which I am super grateful for:-)*

FACE



Too Faced Sweethearts Blush in Candy Glow - I have been lusting after this blush for a long time now and my friend Lis very kindly gifted me this at Christmas. The blush consists of three shimmery strips of colour - a paler pink, coral and darker pink. I cannot wait to apply this over matte blushes to create a beautiful shimmer on my cheeks. Overall, I am obsessed with the cute girly packaging and the final effect this product produces.


Mac Powder Blush in Fleur Power - My cousin bought me this for Christmas, as I specifically asked for a Mac blush but I didn't know which shade I wanted. As my cousin has been using Mac Cosmetics for a very long time, she was a reliable substitute when picking out a fab colour. This is fleur power - a beautiful coral to pink blush that is a gorgeous matte. It looks so natural, due to its matte finish, it is unbelievable and a perfect colour for all year round!


Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess - OMG. This was the most surprising present I receieved this Christmas. I literally had no idea that my boyfriend would buy me this at all and I love him so much for it. I cannot even explain how incredibly grateful I am for this and I am so lucky to have a boyfriend who unnecessarily spoils me. Anyway, soppy stuff aside, this bronzer is amazing at contouring and the brush really helps when applying as the bristles are really dense and compact. I use a big fluffy brush to blend out the bronzer though, as the inclusive brush is only good at applying it precisely. The warmness of the brown is so flattering on the face and I highly recommend this to anyone willing to splash out on a luxurious bronzer like this.


Urban Decay Naked Flush Palette in Streak - My godmother and godfather bought me 3 Urban Decay products for Christmas as my main present and they are all so beautiful. The first one is this beautiful bronzer, highlight and blush compact. So far, I have tried out the bronzer and highlight and I can tell you that they are ridiculously pigmented and you only need the tiniest bit to create the desired look. The highlight looks super pretty on the cheekbones; the colour is a peachy champagne which creates a really soft glow to your complexion.

EYES


Mac Prolongwear Paintpot in Rubenesque - My bestfriend Megan bought me this lil beauty for Chrimbo. I am so happy to add this gem to my Mac collection. It is utterly beautiful and is described as a 'golden peach with golden pearl' colour on the website. Personally, I think the colour looks a mixture of gold, amber and copper; it really makes brown eyes pop!


Mac Pigment in Vanilla - My other bestie, Jess, bought me this one. This is the most popular Mac pigment, as most beauty gurus use this to highlight the inner corner and browbone when creates eye looks. I cannot wait to start using this and looking up tutorials to help me apply it in the best way possible. What I know so far is that is INCREDIBLY pigmented, hence the product being a pigment (DOH!!), which means it will last an eternity. My cousin has been using the tan pigment by Mac for 3 years and she hasn't even used a quarter of the product - AMAZING!!!


Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 - This lil palette is the latest edition of the basics palettes. I was intrigued to try this because of how big a lover I am of the Urban Decay eyeshadow - aren't they fabulous? Anyway, I was so grateful that this was the second product my god parents brought for me and I cannot thank them enough. I know that FRISK will definitely be another shadow to add to my favourite crease colours.


Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette - AAAAH. I love my friend Eloise so so so much. I cannot believe I now own another Naked palette, as well as my much loved Naked 2. My favourite shades to wear on the eyes are pinks and browns and this new edition to my collection is perfect for just that. I am obsessed with buzz and burnout already - an absolute must have. I just need to finish my collection by purchasing the first one!

LIPS


Mac Lip Pencil in Dervish - My brother gave me this liner for my birthday - I originally asked for store but when they went in to buy it, it was sold out (Kylie Jenner damn you!). Carrying on...I am in love with this! It goes perfectly with the next lippie I am about to show you and looks absolutely beauts on its own too. So happy with this liner and really want to get some more - I think Cherry and Whirl are next on my list.


Chanel Coco Rouge Shine in Satisfaction - OMG. My new favourite nude lipstick has entered my life. My boyfriend was the best and brought this for me, after wanting it ever since I saw Tanya Burr wear it in one of her summer videos. I fell in love with how natural and beautiful the colour looked on her and I instantly wanted it for my collection. I have been wearing this non-stop since Christmas but I may need to slow down - I am so worried it will run out aah!


Nars Audacious Lipstick in Charlotte - How amazing is this? A deep berry lip colour with the shade as my name? You cannot get more personal that this amazing gift from your bestfriend. The packaging is so classy and I love how the lid is so satisfying (it is magnetic and makes a 'click' sound every time you shut the lid). The formulation is fab and the lasting power is insane - I wore this when I went ice skating the other day and the colour was still there after 6ish hours.


Benefit Posie Balm - This girly packaged product is so photogenic and eye catching. The metallic coral is so vibrant and the little details are so cute and feminine. I really love the way this looks both inside and out. As well as looking intensely girly, the formulation is uber moisturizing and the colour given is a soft peach sheen.


Urban Decay Naked Lipgloss in Liar - The final present my godparents bought me was this nourishing lipgloss, also from the Naked collection. I haven't tried this yet but after all the positive feedback I have seen and the amount of people I know that use these, I just had to try one. I picked this colour as I have no other glosses that are a muted pink. The packaging is also another eye catcher.


Smashbox Minis Set - My grandma kindly bought me this little Smashbox set that included 5 minis of the most popular products brought from the brand. I thought this was a very good idea, as it has given me the chance to try out some Smashbox items that I have never tried before. The most exciting product I want to try is the Photo Finish Primer, as there are so many amazing things said about this. I love the idea that it is oil free to, as I tend to apply primer in my oily areas (the dreaded T-Zone). The kit also contained a lid primer, eyeliner, mascara and lipgloss, which I am also intrigued to try out!

Thank you ever so much for reading this and getting this far. I love these posts so I really hope you liked reading about all my new makeup. See you soon.

What makeup did you get for Christmas? What was your favourite present? Would you like to see any of these products used in an upcoming tutorial?

Love 

A Simple Guide to Drugstore Bases

27 November 2014

Tonight I have a little guide I've put together including all my drugstore foundations. I hope it helps you decide what foundation to try next or buy from your local high street store...enjoy.




Low Coverage - Garnier BB Cream/L'oreal Paris Nude Eau De Teint

For low coverage, I cheated because I chose two, but I guess it is just a bonus for you guys as you have the option to decide one or the other. My favourite of the two would probably be the Garnier BB Cream, as the formula is very moisturizing, surprisingly helps the skin and lasts all day long. This is perfect for those no makeup, makeup days or just lounging around on a lazy Sunday. ow coverage
Another low coverage base, this time a foundation rather than BB cream, is the L'oreal Paris Nude Eau De Teint. At first, I wasn't convinced because I stupidly picked up a really dark, orangey shade. But I persevered and finally was able to match my skin tone if I mixed with another foundation. Anyway, this one is great for people who are watery-base lovers. It is so lightweight but also beautiful on the skin - a must-have for all low coverage fiends. 


Medium Coverage - Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum

I am a massive fan of this wonderfully hyped-up beauty. I love the Healthy Mix Serum, as the gel formulation works really well on my skin and leaves a flawless finish. This is second favourite of six; I usually wear this when I don't want as heavy coverage or my skin is clear of any imperfections. The colour match is also perfect, despite the small colour range, so I'm rather lucky. Additionally, this really helps to brighten the complexion and give it a 'healthy' (oh dear) glow. I cannot wait the try the Healthy Mix Foundation because I'm guessing it will be as equally good, if not better!


High Coverage - L'oreal Paris True Match

My favourite drugstore foundation of all time is...the L'oreal True Match. I am completely and utterly in love with this - it has amazing full coverage, has an even finish, hides my ugly patchy skin and adds an extra glow to my face. There is nothing I can fault about this wonder and I will forever be repurchasing this one. YOU NEED TO BUY THIS NOW.


Dewy Finish for Dry Skin - Rimmel Wake Me Up

This one I'm also a massive fan of - Wake Me Up. This was a very much-loved foundation this summer. The little glitters running through the formula bring a lovely shine to the face and create an impeccable dewy finish. I love dewy finishes as they really brighten up my naturally dull complexion, so this is a good 'un for me. 


Matte Finish for Oily Skin - Rimmel Stay Matte

Finally, we have the Stay Matte foundation created by Rimmel. I used to wear this so much, but stopped due to my combination skin randomly developing from my previous oily one. Now this just clings to my dry patches which is awful, but for those who love matte finishes, or have extremely oily skin, this is the one for you! Grab your hands on this if you love incredible shine-less skin.

Thank you for reading my little lovelies <3 See you all soon x

Love 

P.S. I may only be posting once a week now instead of two, due to upcoming exams (will be back to normal after Christmas/New Year) 
P.P.S I am so excited for Black Friday tomorrow - who will be buying things/ bought anything - comment below?!

Bobbi Brown Pink Opal Palette // Cohorted

16 November 2014









I saw everyone all over the internet (youtube, twitter, blogger etc) raving about a website called Cohorted, so I decided to check it out. OMG, am I glad I did?! It sells the most amazing, and very popular, products, whilst completely cutting down steep price boundaries. A website every beauty blogger needs!

So, I decided to purchase this gorgeous Bobbi Brown package, which came with a limited edition eye shadow palette in PINK OPAL and a mini mascara. The price was reduced to a crazy £23.75 so I just had to get my hands on it ASAP. The packaging and postage was free too, and despite the long wait for the product...it was worth it! Also, you can gain Cohorted points every time you buy something from the website - these points add up to money, which you can use to buy more products but for FREE!

I haven't been able to use the mascara yet but the palette I have. The pretty shimmery shades are perfect for all year round and give a glamorous feel to any makeup look, day or night. This is a must-have for every beauty blogger and I really recommend you get your hands on it, even if you do have to pay a little more than I did. WOW - the packaging. It is heavenly - the shadows are encased in a holographic rose gold palette which I am completely and utterly in love with. I cannot wait to get more use of it. About the shades - there are a girly array of different pinks, that also look amaaaazing mixed together on the lid.

To conclude, I would totally recommend checking out Cohorted and get in with deals whilst you can. You can sign up for their emails on the site, so you are first to know when your favourite products are up for grabs. Hope you enjoyed this little post <3

Love You All

Pamper Evening Routine

12 November 2014

What's more to love when you're feeling down or have been busy than a nice girly pamper evening, either alone or with one of your girl mates.

To begin with, I usually gear myself up in clothes that I can just lounge about and feel comfortable in. This usually acquires a baggy jumper/loose top and cute pajama bottoms - maybe even a snuggly dressing gown now the nights are drawing in and becoming colder. I then remove all my makeup, using multiple Simple Skincare products (if you want to see an in-depth skincare routine then leave a lil comment below!).




My next stop would be to run a nice hot bath and fill it will masses of bubbles and colourful products, such as Lush bath bombs. My favourite bath product at Christmas time is Candy Mountain - the dusty pink colour it creates in your bath is beautiful, as well as tons of bubbles! I also tend to light a few candles around the bath; I love the smell of vanilla/cake baking, so my scent preferences tend to steer towards the sweeter end of the scale, rather than the spicy, stereotypical Christmas ones.


After getting out of the bath, most likely with wrinkly fingers and toes, I rub body moisturizer all over my legs and arms - I am absolutely loooooving the Body Shop butters at the minute, especially this passion fruit scented one. Soap and Glory are a massive 'go-to bath/body products' for me as well. I really love their bath foams and hand moisturizers - the sweet scents are heavenly.


As my cosy little evening comes to an end, I will always put a movie on, get a hot chocolate and sometimes put on a face mask (if I want to go all out with the pampering). My fun face mask preferences are the cheap range of self-heating ones you can buy in Superdrug for £1. They are pretty good, considering the low price boundary, and really make a difference to my skin afterwards. I will then rinse it off after about 20-25 minutes, and have an early night -I really love my sleep!


I hope you liked listening to my special evening routine. If you want to see my morning routine in the future then please comment below. Also, this post is very important, as it is a collab with the lovely Chloe (from chloedoeseverything.blogspot.co.uk) - make sure to go and check her blog out, as she has posted her morning routine, in contrast to my evening one. You can also check out her instagram at @cde_b and don't forget to follow her on bloglovin; her posts are amazing! She is also hosting a giveaway that involves winning a gorgeous Charlotte Tilbury eyeshadow palette so make sure you check all the details on that whilst you're there.

Lots of Love x

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils // Review

8 November 2014

Hey there everybody!

I hope you are all well this Saturday evening. Tonight I have a review on one of my favourite eye products ever...the phenomenal and infamous NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils. Seeing as they were so popular, I decided to buy a few colours to try over the past few months in my local Next and when I went on holiday to Ireland, as they fortunately had a stand there.
Carry on reading if you wish to find out more about these little gems, even if you've seen 343243 beauty bloggers already post and rave about them.



I decided to buy three contrasting colours so that I was able to incorporate each of them into various looks. The three colours are:
Milk - A pure white. You have probably seen every beauty guru, youtuber and blogger talk about  using this eye pencil as a blank canvas before the use of eye shadow. This helps to ensure the colours you use on top 'pop' and increases the vibrancy and pigmentation of the shadow - it honestly does! This is a staple for your makeup collection; milk is suuuper long-lasting, works well on the waterline as well as the lid and a great eye opener in the inner corner. My favourite out of the three by far!
Yogurt - A subtle, yet flattering pink. Although it looks very metallic in the swatch and when first applied, you can really blend it out to great a beautiful champagne sheen, perfect for the lid. I would totally recommend this shade to those who love natural makeup/don't like to wear a lot. I tend to wear this during the day with lighter makeup; it looks amazing on its own with a thin sweep of eyeliner.
French Fries - A brown with gold/olive undertones. Despite having used this the least of the three, I really love the colour pay off and turn out. The olive/gold/brown tones really reflect off the eyelid and create the prettiest dark smokey eye - the colour when intensely applied really reminds me of Mac's melon pigment. I am sure to be wearing this a lot more now we have entered the cooler months, as I opt more for warmer, darker colours on the eye.



Packaging wise, I think they are pretty simplistic - a white pencil shaped product with a transparent plastic lid, handy when you want to find the colour you want fast. The only issue is that the writing comes off fairly easily, but this isn't much of a problem as the colours can be easily seen.

When looking at pigmentation, these babies have got it all. The swatches above say it all really - one swipe and BAM - an intense, bold colour, exactly the same as it looks in the pencil. The creamy formula is always a plus for me too because they are incredibly easy to blend, whether you want it all over the lid or in the crease. I also love how these don't tug on your eye lids, as some products similar to this tend to do.
Overall, 10/10 for these amazing little pencils, and for such an affordable value. I bought each of these for just £5.00 each in the UK and Ireland - soooo worth the money. I intend to purchase lots of these in the future and might even sneak a few onto my Christmas list..hehe! I recommend this to all those who love a good ol' cream shadow, an amazing bargain and all those that are eye shadow fans in general.

Any further questions on the product that you didn't think I covered, please comment below at the end of this post.

Love you all lots x

Halloween 2014

5 November 2014

Hello everyone!

Today is a post that you may not enjoy because it is one where I document a recent event in my life that I want to look back on, read and reminisce. 

This Halloween, a very close friend of mine held a party with 25 people at her house. It was one of the best nights of my life and I wanted to share it with you. Almost everyone's outfits were amazing - I say almost because some of the boys were spoil sports and came dressed in boring normal clothes. Honestly, I think they may have just been too lazy to find an outfit/buy one.

Anyway, me being the Disney fanatic I am, wanted to dress as a princess. Also, me being really picky too, meant that I wanted to dress as one that had similar colour hair to me; therefore I chose Snow White. I love her pretty blue, red and yellow outfit and was so excited to do my makeup.



Makeup
Primer - Benefit Porefessional and Benefit Stay Flawless 15hr
Foundation - Mac Studio Fix Fluid NC15 mixed with L'Oreal True Match in Vanilla Rose
Concealer - Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat and Maybelline Fit Me
Powder - Seventeen Miracle Matte
Brows - Beauty Uk Kit
Eyelid Primer - Smashbox Lid Primer
Eye shadow - NYX Jumbo Eye pencil in Milk (lid), Bootycall from Urban Decay's Naked 2 (lid), Sleek's Bark from the Au Naturel Palette and Tease from UD's Naked 2 (mixed&blended in the crease)
Eyeliner - Blackout Eyeshadow from the UD Naked 2 Palette
Blush - Sleek Blush in Guipure from the Lace Trio Palette
Higlight - Mac's Soft and Gentle Mineralize Skin Finish
Bronzer - Benefit Hoola (cheek bones,temples and side of nose)
Lip Liner - Models Own Red Liner
Lipstick - Avon Chilli
Left - My friend Amaryllis dressed up as a sailor with the prettiest red and white polka dot dress; she also done her makeup and hair inspired by the beautiful Marilyn Monroe. She looked gorgeous.
Right - Danielle went as a cheerleader, hence the pom poms. She vamped up her look by added fake blood trickling down from her eyes.
Left - My gal Lis hosted this fabulous party. She is one of my besties and looked super hawt dressed as a zombie cat. Her makeup was gorgeous - up close her eyes were glittery black with bright turquoise lenses. She looked absolutely stunning.
Right - Karis is also one of my faves. She was dressed as an Angel and one my fellow makeup addicts. I love her to bits.
Left - Here is my good friend Lucy aka Alice in Wonderland. She looks so cute and petite in the little dress she wore aw!
Right - My bestie Batgirl (Jess). She is one amazing girl and if you haven't read her blog (click here) or checked out her Instagram feed  (@helloitsjessxx) then you better right now! Her makeup was gorgeous - she created the prettiest ombre lips that matched perfectly with her outfit - love her!

Left - My friend Kiana as a Black Angel.
Right- My friend Rebeckah as a female Chucky.
Aidan was boring;) but I love him lots and he's my favourite!
Eloise - well she was evidently a vampire - look at how cool her fangs are! She looked so beautiful that night and her outfit was super pretty:-)

As you can see from all the photos, it was an amazing evening with amazing people. I cannot wait for Halloween again next year and for Lis' birthday party - she is the best hostess by far! Love how she catered for everyone and went all out by buying Halloween decorations, buying snacks and drinks for us all.

Sorry for these occasional lifestyle/diary entry posts - I just enjoy keeping memories through written words and photographs. If you do like them, then make sure to let me know in the comments if you want me to write about my days more often...I would love to know if they are actually enjoyable to read! If you want to read another post like this, then click here to see what my boyfriend and I got up to on our 1 year anniversary in London.

Love you all...

Latest Instagrams

© scarletslippers. Design by FCD.