Makeup haul!

Hello lovelies.  

Today I went shopping and decided to have a bit of a splurge on makeup. Expect lots of reviews soon! 

Firstly, I went to Space NK (which I discovered has a Nars counter; uh oh for my wallet!) and got a new foundation. I was undecided between this and the Chanel Vitalumiere aqua, but I found the perfect colour in this Laura Mercier Silk Creme (Rose ivory if anyone's wondering!) At £32 I am hoping this is good!

Next I got the Real Techniques Core Collection. I have been wanting this brush set for so long and finally paid the £22. Honestly I only brought this for the buffing brush but the other 3 look nice too, especially the contour brush. I am looking forward to using these tommorow with my new foundation.

Lastly, I brought the Loreal false lash telescopic mascara. I have heard so much about this and needed a new mascara, so this was a no-brainer. It wasn't too expensive at £10.99

So that was my haul! I am going on holiday on Thursday, so there might not be many upcoming posts but I'll soon be back with more posts! I hope you're all well, and thankyou so much for sticking with me!

Thankyou for reading!

Benefit Hervana blush - swatches and review!

Hello lovelies.

Today I have another review of one of my purchases from the Brighton escapades, Hervana blush by Benefit.

I was in Boots, and my dad wanted a primer to fill in his wrinkles which was an utterly bizarre request considering my dad's normal behavior (Picture this; my dad is 47, a builder and strictly a manly man.) A benefit lady overheard, and thought I was the one after a primer. I then got dragged, not unwillingly, to have my makeup done at the counter. The lady (I didn't catch her name but she was short, very nice with black hair!) applied some of the face products and then Hervana. I was in Heaven, and proceeded to buy it later that day!

Hervana is a mix of 4 shades; a dark berry, a peach, a pink and a white highlight. When mixed, they make a very light pink with subtle shimmer running throughout. Did I mention it smells DIVINE?! I can't get over the scent, I will open it and smell it (I'm a little ashamed to admit that!)

When applied to the skin, Hervana becomes a warmish pink perfect for lighter skin tones like myself. I think this would be a little chalky on darker tones, but I found it perfect for a noticable blush but not overally so. It also builds nicely, and I appreciate in the photo it looks barely noticeable. You'll just have to trust me when I tell you that!

Benefit boxed powders retail for £23.50 which to me is very high (more than Nars at £21) but for this particular blush, its definitely worth it. 

I love the retro packaging, the scent and the brush included is a decent offering. I am very pleased!

You can buy Hervana for £23.50 from Debenhams here

Thankyou for reading.

MAC Hue lipstick - swatches and review.

Hello lovelies.

Today I have a brand-new (to me!) lipstick from MAC, Hue. It's quite well documented in the beauty world, but here is just my tuppence. 

It's a glaze finish, which means it's very sheer and adds just a hint of colour. I haven't ever tried another glaze lipstick from mac, but this is very moisturising and lightweight. 

I would describe hue as a light pink with beige undertones. It is definitely a more natural colour, although on my lips it is a tiny bit too pale to be a 'nude'. I would wear this when I have a more extravagant eye, and want a pale colour that wont clash or detract from it. 

You can see from this swatch on my hand it's very sheer and natural. It doesn't really show until it's on your lips.

Here it is on my lips, please excuse the general smile and squintiness; my eyes and the sun don't get on. It reminds me a tiny bit of plink from MAC.  Normally my lips are a quite pigmented reddy-pink, so this did cover quite well.

Overall, I really like this lipstick and would re-purchase. The texture and finish are both fantastic! Hue cost me £9 from my local CCO (they do exist in the UK!) but it retails for £14 on the MAC website. 

Thankyou for reading!

August glossybox!

Hello lovelies.

Today I have a glossybox post for you all. I have been subscribed to glossy-box for quite some time now and I think this is one of their best boxes yet. 

This month had an 'international' theme, so it contained 5 products from around the world that are considered cult products. It also had an extra glossybox personal extra, which was nice. 

The first item was these false nails, from impress manicure. I was so excited to receive these as I have been wanting to try them for the longest time. 

This was considered the favourite from America, which I'd agree with. I am not such a huge fan of the design, which is called Over the moon, but I am more just eager to try the brand. These were full size, and retail for £7.99 (24 nails).

Next is this eyeshadow palette, by Vera Valenti. It is from Spain and retails for £3.85. I am a bit unsure on why you'd need 4 greens and green is also my least favourite colour so I don't think I'll be using them that much. The neutrals are nice, although not overally pigmented. I'm looking forward to testing this out! 

Next is this mini (and very cute!) makeup remover from DHC. It is a Japanese brand, and I am so excited to try this! You massage it onto dry skin and it dissolves makeup. The full-size retails for £18.50

Next is this clear nail varnish from Allesandro, a German brand. It is basically to combat yellow-looking nails and make them look white and shiny. This is a cute little mini, and the 10ml full size is £7.85. 

The last international product was Lipcote, from the UK! It's basically a clear lip-seal to put over your lipstick, and it'll hold the lipstick in place for a lot longer. I haven't tried this before but have heard alot about it. 

The applicator is a bit different, like a nail polish brush. I am excited to try this out. The full size retails for £3.99, which isn't bad at all! 

Lastly, I have this extra glossybox product. It's a lipstick in 'Glossy Pink'. It's quite a mature colour, rosy with a mauve undertone. 

It swatched nicely, and it's creamy and pigmented. I am not sure how much use I will get out of this, but it's a nice touch and of nice quality too. 

Overall, I was very pleased with my August Glossybox.

Thankyou for reading!

xox

Topshop Rose-Gold heels

Hello lovelies. 

Today I have a really exciting post for you all! I recently ordered some rose-gold heels from Topshop in the sale, and I was thrilled when they got delivered. 

The colour as I've said is rose-gold, which is very trendy right now. They are metallic but not sparkly, and I think would be best paired with a simple outfit like a black dress or some shorts and a white t-shirt to add a touch of 'bling'. 

They aren't the easiest to walk in as the heel is 4.5 inches, with a stiletto design but honestly I NEVER wear heels and I can walk in them, so an experienced heel walker will have no problems.

 I think some gel inserts in the bottom would be your best bet to stop the dreaded heel-ache but apart from the section at the bottom where the slope meets the flat, these are quite comfortable.

Apologies for my awkward leg shot (I was indeed wearing shorts!) but you can see how they look when being worn. They really add some glamour to an outfit, and flatter your legs too as you can see they create that 'toned' line down the middle. 

Overall, I am really impressed with these heels from Topshop. I love the colour, heel and price too! They are only £20 in the sale, reduced from £48 so you are really getting a bargain. You can buy them here, but I would snap them up quickly if you are interested! 

Thankyou for reading!

xox

Lusts of the week!

Hello lovelies.

 

Long time, no see! I am glad to be back and have just ordered some awesome, rose-gold heels from Topshop which I'm excited to share with you. I was unsure what to blog about but have been browsing on asos and alot of other clothing and makeup sites so thought I would show you my favourite items!

First is this Topshop cream blush in Neon Rose, a bright orangy neon colour. I used to be SO afraid of blush, that I literally would worry about applying it for fear of looking like a clown but now I have a new brush I love them. I have heard a ton of hype around it and am curious about the whole cream-blush thing so can't wait to try this. Only £6 too!

I have suddenly got 'into' shoes again, and of course there's no avoiding the Jeffrey Campbell 'Lita's online, so I found these cheaper dupes on ebay. They are quite high and a bit edgy, so they're probably not some peoples taste but they are right up my street! For me shoes, jewellery and bags are how I express my true personality and I looove the spikes. They're not a super-bargain at £27.99 but I feel like they're worth it.

Next I have the Vitalumiere aqua foundation from Chanel. This is most definitely high-end at £32, but after reading many a rave review I have decided to take the plunge next month. I am sorely in need of a decent foundation that's lightweight enough for school, but with a decent amount of pigmentation to cover my acne scarring. I think this will be perfect!

 

This is a piece of jewellery from Asos. I am so into rose-gold and spikes, so this is literally the perfect piece for me. It's not too expensive at £8 and I am almost most definitely going to get this when I get my allowance.

Lastly I have a beauty product, also from Asos. These are the Korres lip butters, and they were recently reviewed by FleurDeForce here . I want the mango flavour as my lips have been super dry lately and these sound lovely! They are only £9 too, which I feel is a justifiable price.

 

All the links to the products are here, if you click the product name it will automatically take you to the site.

Spike heeled shoes - Ebay

Rose-Gold spike bracelet - Asos

Korres Lip Butters - Asos

Chanel Vitalumiere aqua - Debenhams

Neon-Rose cream blush - Topshop

 

Thankyou for reading.

 

Nars Laguna - swatches and review!

Hello lovelies.

Welcome back to my blog! Today I have a super-exciting post for you, my Nars Laguna bronzer. I've had this for about 2 weeks and have used it near enough every day to test it out. I am sure you have all heard the glowing reviews around this product, so this is just my view on the cult favourite.

Firstly, might I just say that Nars is impossible to find on the South Coast!? The other day I was visiting Brighton, and found out they had a Space NK so I visited in the hope of finding Nars. Lo and behold, there were the holy goods in all their fingerprint-trapping glory. Laguna is a large, brown bronzer with golden shimmer running throughout.

The colour is lovely, especially for pale people like me who find other bronzers lean very orange on them. This literally is the colour of my natural tan (I compared for around 10 minutes recently!) and the shimmer gives a natural 'glow' without emphasising my pores or making me look like a disco-ball.

At first I couldn't find the right brush to use with this, but I've gathered from other people's reviews that an angled contour is best. However, I don't own one so I made do with my RealTechniques blush brush which served me fine.

I quickly want to touch on the price and packaging of the product. The price at £25 for 8g is very steep for me, but honestly for the size and pigmentation I would say this is very much worth it. The packaging is a very love/hate thing, but I personally love how it looks and feels even if the matte rubber skin does attract a million and one fingerprints!

Overall, I would 100% recommend this product to any fair-medium skinned girl looking for a not orange, gorgeous bronzer. For a darker girl, Nars also do Casino bronzer.

You can buy Laguna from Space NK here

Thankyou for reading.

Edit: If any of you saw the title before I changed it saying 'Nars Hoola', I have not made a new product featuring both Nars and Benefit. I am simply ditzy! Thankyou to my friend Loise for helping me.x 

Body Shop Body Butters

Hello lovelies.

Today I have a review of a very popular product, the Body Shop Body Butters. I have 3 different 'flavours' and I love all of them. 

The Coconut is a lovely summer scent and reminds me of holidays as I think it slightly leans towards the more 'sunscreen' scent which I personally love. They also do this butter with shimmer so anyone who's wanting to look a little glam can choose this option. It's very thick and I love this for my legs, feet and particularly dry patches.

The vanilla was a Christmas limited edition, but I picked this up in the January sales for £3 so watch out for offers around any holidays. It's slightly thinner then the other two formulas so I use this all over my body, and the scent is very subtle which is nice if I am wearing a perfume on top of it.

The last butter I have is also the newest addition to the line, the chocolate 'chocomania' scent. It smells like sweet chocolate and is absolutely gorgeous. I love this one and it's such an addictive and comforting smell. They also do this in a shower gel, lotion, and soap so if you love the scent you can get other products to accompany it!

Overall I love the Body Shop in general and the body butters are worth the hype as they are wonderfully moisturising and available in a ton of different scents from the fruity to the sweet.

The Body butters retail for £12.50 but are constantly on sale so I'd personally wait until then and get yourself a bargain!

Thankyou for reading!

LUSH massage bars

Hello lovelies.

As you all know, I am a huge fan of lush. I mainly buy skin and body care as I feel it justifies the price instead of washing your money down the drain as you do with bath bombs etc. I love the massage bars, and they last for a long time. I use these in place of a moisturiser and they are absolutely fantastic. My personal favourite is Strawberry feels forever which is sadly discontinued but you can easily find most discontinued things available to buy on the lush forum, click here . You have to sign up but you are then in a community of fellow lush fans and there are regular forum parties too! 

In total I have 4 massage bars (From Left-Right):Strawberry feels forever (disconned), Love potion (Valentine's day special), Mange too (Disconned) and Each Peach (Still available!)

I love them all for different occasions and am hoping to pick up Hottie too!

Thankyou for reading.

MAC All that glitters - swatches and review

Hello lovelies.

I'm back with another post, talking about one of my favourite eyeshadows I own. This is 'All That Glitters' by MAC, a peach-gold neutral shade.

Grrr I  hate slightly out-of-focus pictures!

The formulation of this is great and it glides on easily. It has a pearl finish and is a 'Veluxe Pearl' in Mac's terms. I love to pop this all over the lid to warm up the eyes a little, and I think this would look great especially on more tanned skins. It lasts all day on me without fading, although I have very dry skin so I think those with oily eyelids would benefit from using a primer.

Left is heavily swatched (how I wear it) and on the right is blended.

Overall this eyeshadow is definently worth the £12.00 tag as it's a great neutral everyday colour, and it also has lovely pigmentation and glides onto the lid. 

Thankyou for reading.

Lush haul featuring new makeup line!

Hello lovelies.


Sorry for my absence but to be honest I have not found anything worthwhile to blog about!


Anyway, lets jump right into this haul.


As a VIP to my lush store, I was invited to the 'exclusive' launch of their new makeup line, emotional brilliance. It has 30 colour products (Liquid lipsticks, eyeliners, and liquid eyeshadows) and 3 other products including a face powder, highlighter and a tanner. I was given a colour reading and got Passionate (A gorgeous fuchsia) Happiness (A bronze gold eyeshadow) and Calm (A blue eyeliner.) They were all amazing but a little out of my price range at £14.50 so I got the 'Feeling younger' skin tint.

It's a lovely base similar (So I've heard!) to MAC's strobe cream which I've been wanting to try for a long time. It's only £12 and after 1 use I know it is going to last for a long time. It gives a lovely,  very shiny-in-a-good-way look. I use it all over the face lightly before foundation then dab a tiny bit extra after foundation along the cheekbones and down my nose for some extra definition. It's amazing! If you would like a seperate review then please let me know in the comments as I have alot to say about this product.

Left is blobbed and right is blended out. Gorgeous right!

Next I got the 'Dirty Body Spray.' This is aimed at men but I like smelling like a man so it suited me well. I got told I smelt of soap by my mum who doesn't understand lush, so take that as you will. To me it smells like a slightly minty, aftershave smell which is quite strong so you don't need a lot. I love it and for 180ml the £14 price tag isn't too bad. The spray bottle is cool too.

Next I got the 'Each Peach And Two's A Pair' massage bar which is £5.50. Lately I've been loving my 'Strawberry feels forever' massage which has been disconned (Sadly) so I wanted to try this one. It smells of lemon sherbet to me and is so silky smooth. You just melt it between your hands slightly and rub it in. It's so moisturising and I can see it lasting a long time.

My hand looks bizarre in this photo, but just for a size comparision!

Lastly I got the 'You've been mangoed' bath melt. I've always wanted to try this and had the spare change in my pocket to pay £3.10 for it. I haven't used this yet so I can't comment but it smells nice and seems to be popular.

I hoped you enjoyed this post as it was a lot of fun to write for me.


Have you tried any of the new makeup range?
What are your favourite makeup products?


Thankyou for reading.

Giveaway winner!

Hello lovelies.

Sorry for my lack of posts recently but I thought instead of making excuses for my laziness we'd just get onto the winners!

Everyone's names ready to be cut out! 

Folded

In the hat ready to be picked!

Congrats PurpleDolly1 ! I am very happy you won as you always leave great comments on my blog and will often be the only one to read my less engaging posts! If you email me or send me a message telling me your address I will post to you asap with your prize!

To everyone that didn't win, I am very sorry but I assure you there will be lots of giveaways coming up once ('if' is probably more accurate!) I hit another significant milestone.

Thankyou lovelies for reading and entering.
xox

7 things for 7 days - SprinkleofGlitter's motivation week!

Hello lovelies.

So today I have a bit of a different post for you. I am a great follower of Louise at http://www.sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.co.uk/ and also as SprinkleofGlitter on YouTube. Recently, she did a post about doing 7 things in 7 days. I thought this was a fantastic idea and have decided to participate.

1) Learn - I want to learn how to speak a very basic 5 words of a language. I'm thinking Japanese or Turkish at the moment.

2) Write - I want to begin either a new story or finish up one of my ongoing stories as I love to write and it's just so relaxing for me.

3) Relax - I've just had a week of exams and am definitely feeling the pressure. Thankfully we finished today but I want to try and do some relaxing baths and what not!

4) Read - I've been wanting to read more lately as I've been neglecting it lately, and since re-reading for the 3rd time 'The fault in our stars' by John Green I've decided to get back into reading.

5) Smile - Now I'm not entirely sure if this would count but it's my list so I guessed I could add anything. Sometimes I'll be on a down for weeks before I can be happy again, as I tend to be more of a Pessimist (with myself and the situation rather than other people!) so I'm hoping that smiling will make me happier!

6) Participate - I'm not a huge participator in class and social activities as I'm quite an introvert, so I thought if I try and get into things then it might be something I enjoy.

7) Spur of the moment - I want to try and do things a bit more 'in the moment' things.

I am going to start this next Monday so wish me luck!
Thanks for reading
xox

NOTD - Essie's watermelon

Hello lovelies.

I'm back with another nail of the day, just 1 day after I painted my 'nude sparkle' ones. I went shopping yesterday, and on seeing the brand new Essie stand in my local boots rushed over there and went to picking a shade. It was a close call between 'Watermelon' and 'Mint Candy Apple' but I was in more of a hot pink mood so went for 'Watermelon'. I want to go back and get 'Mint candy apple' at some point.

Watermelon is a gorgeous hot pink, cream shade with hints of red. It painted on like a dream, and I think that made the experience so, so much better. This is without a topcoat, but it's still really shiny and I can't fault the formula.

I took a couple of comparison pictures to show you the size of the brush, as when I first opened it I thought it would be impossible to paint as it's so big. In actual fact, it was the best brush I have ever used and I would buy Essie again just for the brushes! I took a photo next to a China Glaze polish (Aqaudelic if anyone's wondering!) just for comparison.

Essie polishes retail for £7.99 in Boots.

Please go check out my giveaway here

Do you like Essie?

Thankyou for reading.x