EASY MAKE UP LOOK | MAC ARENA AND SWISS CHOCOLATE

I've had this post saved in our drafts for at least a couple of months now, just sitting there all lonely and neglected due to an intense amount of uni work and work hours - oh why can't assignments write themselves and why does my bank account not fill itself? 

This make-up look is really simple and easy to do and all you need is three eye shadows and an eyeliner. I used mac's Painterly Paintpot as a base and then applied Arena by Mac all over the lid. I put Swiss Chocolate through the crease and then the black shadow in my beloved Sleek Ultra Mattes palette in the outer  crease. You can achieve this look with any light shadow for the lid and any warm brown shade through the crease and then obviously any black will do as let's face it, blacks just black. I used the same black to line the lower lash line and Maybelline's gel eyeliner on the upper lash line. I used the highlighter shade in the Sleek face form kit in fair under my brow bone and a little bit in the inner corner of my eye.  I have just used baby lips in Pink Punch on my lips and I'm still amazed at how extremely pigmented it is for a lip balm! 

I really like this look as it's so simple but looks very complimentary on the eye and nicely frames the eye without being too dark and dramatic for the day time. 

I hope you're all getting very excited for Christmas, only three more sleeps! 

HAPPY 21ST GEORGIA

Just a short post today to say Happy Birthday to my sister, Georgia. It's Georgia's 21st birthday today and I can't believe how lucky I am to have her as a sister so I thought I'd do a little appreciation post for her! She's truly the most generous sister and cares so much about how I am feeling and how I'm coping. I think in today's society it is very easy to get a little too self involved, and some even blame the beauty industry for that but like make up is there just to make us happy and feel confident and good about ourselves, Georgia is always there for me and empathise when I think I've got it hard but never does she make a scene about how much work she has doing a law degree. She's one of the most inspiring people I will ever meet and works the hardest. 
So Happy Birthday Georgia, and I'm sure you'll be seeing some of the products shes got as presents reviewed on here so keep an eye out! 

BARE MINERALS | AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER PALETTE

To justify the sheer about of eye shadow that I already have, plus what I know I will be getting for both my birthday and christmas this year, I have come to the conclusion that you really can't have too many eye shadow palettes; there's always going to be a slightly different shade or finish that you just need and therefore need to buy the whole palette - obviously!

This palette is no different and as an added bonus, Bare Minerals are known for being a mineral based brand and all of the products contain ingredients to help the skin. The eye shadows in this palette contains a complex composed of positively charged antioxidant rich sea minerals, with cold pressed borage oil, caffeine and cucumber. How lovely does that sound?! The ingredients help nourish the eye area, by reducing the appearance of puffiness, for a softer, smoother and revitalised eye area. If that's not reason enough to need this palette, I don't know what is!

Packaging
First things first, the packaging is gorgeous! It is a slim rose gold compact, with a reflective surface which actually works very effectively as a mirror - bonus! The down side of this is it does highlight any finger prints which doesn't look too great. The mirror inside is very reasonably sized, so if need be, you could use it on the go to do your make-up. The palette is very travel friendly as it is very lightweight and compact.

Colours, texture and longevity

As you can see the tones in this palette are very cool and consist of all pink, mauve and silver shades, with a taupe colour and a white. The colours are nothing like the picture on the back of the product which is slightly strange, however, they are still very pretty shades. All of the shadows are very smooth and creamy to touch and well pigmented. Although it looks like a very shimmer-glitter based palette, when applied the shimmer and glitter are a lot more subtle. The eye shadows give a beautiful amount of colour, however if you were using the palette alone to create your look, the shadows are not going to give you a very intense eye look as they are quite soft in tone, which does make them perfect for those who like a natural neutral eye but want something a little prettier and more romantic, with a splash of colour. 

To clarify, the shadows are very pigmented they are just so soft in tone that they can't produce darker looks alone for those of us who like a more intense eye. One of the colours is similar to Satin Taupe by MAC (2nd from the left, top row, 'Valet').

When I wore this palette recently, I decided to pair it with a dark berry lip colour, which really complimented the eye shadows. As I normally focus my make up looks around my eyes, it was nice to still have pretty, sultry and slightly smoky eyes but have them natural enough to still be able to pull of a dark lip. 

The longevity is very good; I didn't have any creasing and the shadows stayed put all day. I used my painterly paint pot by MAC, like always. The brush included is not too bad considering the quality of most of the brushes that come with palettes. IT is double ended; one end is a flat shadow brush, which applies the shadows really easily, it could be slightly softer, but for packing the colour on this isn't really a problem. The other side is more of a pencil/smudger brush. I like the idea of this brush being in the palette, however it is slightly too rough to use so close to your eyes, but it would do the job if necessary. 

I need to get better a swatching! The second photo below shows the shimmer/glitter in Romance better than the top one does.

And finally, some photos of the eye shadows in action. I applied Debutante in the inner eye lid, with Valet on the outer lid, blended with Romance and a tiny bit of Swept Away in the centre of the lid. I used Curtsy under the brow bone and in the inner eye area. To be honest I was just using as many of the shades as I could! They are very easy to work with and blend which makes the application very quick ans seamless.

Oh just a few photos...

I think in the future I will definitely be using this palette alongside some of my other shadows, possibly some darker matte shades and then use the palette to add some pretty shades. I really like this palette and especially like the skin care ingredients that it contains. I would recommend it to anyone who likes cooler tones or anyone who likes the natural look and wants to add a hint of colour to their look. The palette is exclusive to Debenhams, so you can find it in any Debenhams store, with a BareMinerals counter, or online (however it is out of stock online atm). It is also limited edition so if you do want it, act fast!

What do you think of this palette? 

MAC PREP + PRIME SKIN BASE VISAGE

I hope everyone's starting to feel very festive as December is here! I think I'm still under the illusion that somehow we're still in July or something, as it cannot possibly already be the end of the year! I recently included the MAC Skin Base Visage in a haul post and after using it everyday since, I've decided to share my thoughts as it's a good'un and perfect for this horrible cold weather. 

I had heard good reviews from Jaclyn Hill and Casey Holmes about one of the MAC Prep and Prime primers, however I hadn't properly found out each one, so when I went into MAC I just went with what I preferred the look of, which consequently wasn't actually the one either of them recommended. (Jaclyn recommended Natural Radiance Skin Base Visage and Casey recommended Skin Refined Zone Treatment).  Anyway, the Prep + Prime Skin Base Visage that I chose is supposed to calm and soothe the skin, blot away excess oil and even out skin redness, which as a result will improve your foundation application. It contains a lot of fruit extracts, such as grape and also contains green tea and caffeine and obviously a lot of other stuff that I have no idea about. 

Packaging

What's not to love; black + lots of pretty glitter? It has a pump application which unlike most pumps, actually gives just the right amount of product in one or two pumps, so you wont be wasting any product. There is 30ml in the tube, which may not seem a lot, however you don't need much so it appears to be lasting well. 

Texture & Application

The product inside is white with pretty little shimmer pieces. It's a creamy but light weight texture that glides over the skin so easily. It leaves the skin feeling very soft, smooth and fresh. It's also great for this time of year when our poor skin is generally getting drier due to the cold weather, as it feels really moisturising too. The shimmer pieces add a very subtle radiance to the face which is really nice and definitely not overpowering as it is so subtle and just gives a nice and natural glow to your make-up. 

Product Claims

The product claims to calm and soothe the skin, which I would definitely agree with as it leaves the skin feeling hydrated and very smooth. It also claims to blot away excess oil, which I would agree with for myself, however this time of year my skin has become a lot less oily than it was in the summer so it's only the T-zone that is a little oily. I do think that it gets rid of any shiny-ness that I have before I apply it and I don't seem to get as oily during the day, however my skin isn't majorly oily anyway so I don't know if this would be the case for those of you with oily skin. I don't have much in the way of skin redness so I can't comment on that claim, but it definitely does make for better foundation application. 

Longevity of Make-up

The first few times that I used this product, I remember looking in the mirror at my make-up, after a long day at uni or work and my make-up looked nearly identical to when I had applied it. I do think it definitely helps your make-up look great through out the day and after using the primer I do feel like my make-up now stays on a lot longer than before, when I was using different primers. 

And a not so good note...

One issue that I have found recently is that the primer doesn't seem to help much in the way of the pores on my nose... eeww... My foundation application doesn't seem as smooth in that one area as it does on the rest of my face, so I have now started to use Benefit's Porefessional on my nose. This may not be due to the primer but it is the only bad thing that I have noticed since using the primer. 

It is priced at £20.50, which is a lot, but I think it is the best primer that I have ever used and I will definitely be repurchasing this product or something very similar, especially for the colder months, when my skin really needs the added hydration and radiance. 

Have you tried this product or any of the other Prep + Prime range?

MUA MATTE LIPSTICKS | WILD BERRY & SCARLET SIREN

For someone who rarely wears much in the way of lip products, I somehow still always need so many lipsticks! These two lipsticks from the  MUA Matte range were easy to justify as in true MUA fashion, they only cost a tiny little, £1. As I don't get much use out of my lipsticks, I love buying MUA ones as they have great colours and formulas and you can try as many as you like and your bank account wont even feel a thing. I've just counted and I currently have 11 MUA lipsticks and that doesn't even equate to one MAC lipstick! 

I picked up Scarlet Siren and Wild Berry as they were the only two in stock, but coincidently they were the two that I was most interested in trying. I will probably get the nude and the peach coloured ones if I see them in Superdrug.

The Wild Berry shade isn't as dark as it appears on the stick, however that's pretty true for most 'dark' berry lipsticks, regardless of the price. The good thing about this is, that it makes it a lot more easy to wear as it's a gorgeous berry shade and you could always darken the colour with a dark lip liner. I tried the lipstick with MUA's Brooding plum lip liner and it worked amazingly; The colours worked really well together and the lip liner made the lipstick much more intense in colour, which is great for a more bold and statement lip for a night out, while the lipstick alone is great for day time. The Scarlet Siren is a true red and looks the same on the lips as it does in the stick. Scarlet Siren also works well with another of MUA's lip liners, called Red Drama. Both lipsticks apply really easily onto the lips and do not feel dry at all, like some matte lipsticks make your lips feel. They give a gorgeous velvet like finish to the lips which looks like it could have been easily achieved with a much more expensive lipstick. They have good staying power and fade well, unlike some that tend to wear off the lips in a patchy mess. 

I would definitely recommend the MUA Matte lipstick range and especially these two colours. I'm looking forward to trying some of the other shades and to actually wearing these two as they're both perfect for the Autumn/Winter months and for £2 for a lipstick and a lip liner, they are amazing! I'm wearing the Wild Berry and Brooding Plum lip liner as I write and cannot stop looking at how good my lips look - purely because of the lip colour! 

Here are some swatches of the lipsticks, showing just the lipsticks themselves, without any lip liner, or much precision for that matter! 

Have you tried any of the MUA Matte range and if so which is your favourite? 

You can purchase these on the MUA Website or in Superdrug stores or online. 

MAC PRO LONGWEAR PAINTERLY PAINT POT

So, a bit of an obvious MAC purchase here and one that is highly rated by pretty much every blogger/youtuber. Although it doesn't look like the most exciting thing in the world; as it's the most plain and boring colour out there, doesn't contain any kind of pretty shimmer for us to lust over and the packaging... well, it's hardly making any statements, but I love it! 

I had seen Paint Pots featured in so many youtube videos, used as eye shadow bases, but never bought one for myself as they're just so boring looking and as MAC isn't exactly an affordable brand I never felt like it was something I desperately needed. A couple of months ago, I decided to order a pro palette from the MAC Website as they aren't available in my nearest MAC store and as I'm a sucker for getting free postage, I needed to bulk up my shopping cart a little to qualify, so I decided to order the Paint Pot in Painterly. Painterly, as I'm sure you all know is the colour that EVERYONE has and I'm glad I chose it. 

Before using Painterly Paint Pot, I was using the MAC Pro Longwear Concealer as my eye shadow base. It did the job, however since owning Painterly, we haven't spent a day apart. It's so quick and easy to use; I just use my fingers and apply all over the lid. It creates a nice even base and covers any discolouring and any little veins on the lid. As the colour is pretty close to my own eye lid colour it's perfect for all eye shadow colours and really intensifies the colour and makes them much easier to build and blend. There has only been one day since I've owned Painterly that I didn't use it and I hated how my eye shadow turned out, in comparison to how it looked with a base. I had to apply a lot more shadow than normal to get a good amount of colour. In the end I removed all of my make-up and started again with Painterly. 

I've never had a problem with my eye shadow fading much or creasing throughout the day, but even so, when I use Painterly my eye shadow does look exactly the same as when I applied it at the end of the day. So if you do have these problems, I'm sure this eye shadow base will really work for you. 

The texture is very slightly sticky and I mean very, very slightly! It has just the right amount of stick to it, so that it holds on to the eye shadow even better, which is one of the main reasons why I prefer it to the Pro Longwear Conealer. It creates a great canvas to help with smooth and seemless blending (and there I was thinking I wouldn't ever be using sibliance past A Level English). As I've already said; Painterly and I have been inseparable and even now, you can hardly see that I've used her everyday for nearly two months, so I'm pretty convinced that this will be a beautifully long friendship and when her time is up and she goes off into the light, I will most definitely be buying a replacement. I'm now fully on board with the whole eye primer idea and cannot apply my eye make-up without Painterly Paint Pot, everybody needs one!

What other colours would you recommend, or any other brands that you love? 

MAC COSMETICS HAUL

It wasn't too long ago that I was a complete MAC virgin and although I was curious about their products I didn't feel like I needed them very much. It's now been 5 months since I bought my first MAC lipsticks and it's safe to say there's no turning back... Sorry bank account... 

I now work on a make-up counter so it does feel kind of silly spending loads on other brands when I can get everything from my own counter a lot cheaper, but sometimes you just have to treat yourself to fun new products! These items were bought in a few separate shopping trips; for some reason that seems to justify the spending a lot more than if I bought all of the products in one go. 

Firstly, I bought the Pro Longwear concealer in nw20. I already have the concealer in nw25, however it's a bit too dark, especially for under the eyes, which is mostly where I use it, so I just had to pick up a lighter shade. At the same time I also bought the MAC Prep + Prime Highlighter in Radiant Rose to brighten up under the eye area mostly as I'm now back at uni and working, which doesn't leave too much time for a full nights sleep (what even is a full nights sleep anymore).?!?!  The Pro Longwear Conealer can be used as an eyelid primer too, so really I should have left it at that but the Pro Longwear Paintpoint in painterly (obviously), was calling out to me and I just needed it. I'm glad I bought it as it's a great eyelid primer as it had a slightly sticky texture which holds the eye shadow in place really well. I don't think it will be running out any time soon either, as a little does go a very long way! The eye shadow is in the shade Girlie, it's a pretty pink shade, to be quite honest I'm not sure why I bought this one. I don't really wear pink... actually I don't ever wear any type of pink eye shadow, but Jaclyn Hill used it in one of her tutorials and I liked it and thought it would look good with purples, which I do like to wear so I bought it. On my final trip to heaven MAC I bought the Prep + Prime Translucent powder and the Skin Base Visage. I never thought I was one to follow celebs but I saw Lucy and Sam using the powder on TOWIE and their make-up always looks lovely so I was sold... *Note to self I need more will power*. I'd heard good things about the MAC Primers and I don't think this was actually the particular one that was being raved about but so far I really like it and will definitely be doing an individual review. 

All of the products in this haul will most likely either have their own individual reviews, or they'll be featuring  in future posts in some way or another in the future, so be sure to look out for them or leave any comments if you want any in-depth reviews soon. 

MUA EVER AFTER - MATTE PALETTE REVIEW AND SWATCHES

Finally MUA have answered our prayers and made an eye shadow palette full of only matte shades and easy everyday colours too! We've loved all of the other MUA palettes but there was always that longing desire and need for matte shades. The rest of the MUA palettes are very much shimmer/glitter based and while they are gorgeous eyeshadows and amazing price and quality, you always need those matte shades in your life to put through the crease to compliment and add definition to the pretty shimmery shades. 

Like all MUA palettes the eye shadows are of great quality and apply and blend really well. There's also a nice mix of colours as there's a lot of different shades of browns that you can use to create the perfect brown smoky eye or just a simple defined crease with one of the lighter shades over the lid. You can also use the light shades to highlight the inner eye and under the brow. It's great that a black has been included in the palette as matte blacks are definitely a necessary feature in any eye shadow collection. I'm not too sure why a blue/grey was included as it is pretty blue and not something that most of us would reach for too often. There's a great mix of both cool and warm toned eye shadows, so I'm sure this palette would suit so many people and can be used to achieve a wide range of eye looks. I haven't swatched the light shades as they weren't showing up on my 'need to tan' arm, however, they are really pigmented and show up really well on the eye... which is all that matters really! 

The palette is only £4, so it's well worth picking up and even if you don't like you wont have upset your bank account too much anyway. 

Have you bought the new Matte Palette? You can buy the palette at Superdrug stores or online on the MUA website. 

KARDASHIAN KOLLECTION FOR LIPSY - UPDATE

It's very nearly time for another Kardashian Kollection; on the 24th of October the newest Kardashian Kollection is being released in Lipsy stores and online and we're excited to finally see all of the new pieces. I feel like this Kollection hasn't been too well advertised and it's only in the last few weeks that it's been featuring on the Lipsy website, Glamour magazine and other social media sites. The photos below show some of the pieces from the new Kollection and there's definitely been a lot of Lipsy influence. The Kollection so far appears to feature a lot of glamourous red and black as well as their trusty, classic leopard print! We always thought that the Kollection didn't really suit Dorothy Perkins, as to us, Dorothy Perkins isn't the most on trend and fashionable of stores for their target audience, however we're also not sure Lipsy was the right move either. As expected the prices, that were already pretty high for high street, have shot up ranging from £30-£150, with the average dress being around the £55-£60 mark. The Kollection does fit in nicely with Lipsy's own prices, however it's now on the less affordable side which I think will annoy most fans and make the Kollection less appealing as we personally wouldn't spend that much on an average dress, unless it was for a special occassion. Moreover, it appears even the blouses and skirts are highly priced and we're even less likely to spend a lot on one blouse, when you can buy nice ones elsewhere for a lot cheaper! I definitely don't think we'll be buying as much as we normally do from the Kollection. 

There's 40 pieces in the Kollection so the UK Kollection is still no where near as extensive as the Kollection that they have with Sears in America, (who do ship internationally)! 

 (Left-Right) 

Khloé - Red cut out neckline bodycon dress £50.00

Kourtney - Black lace jumpsuit £75.00 and Cropped full feather jacket £150.00 (Woaaahh)! 

Kim - Red long sleeve midi dress £65.00

Kim - Tribal caviar dress £55 

Kim - Black long sleeve shift dress £55 

 Kourtney - Chiffon shirt £40 & skirt £48

Khloe - Long sleeve lace dress £55

So, there's a little sneak peak of the latest Kollection; you can view the whole Kollection online at www.lipsy.co.uk on Thursday 24th October. So far we like the Kollection but none of the pieces are really sreaming out to us, especially for the prices. We like the skirt and Kim's Caviar dress, so we are excitied to see the rest of the Kollection. 

What do you think of the new Kollection so far? Will you be buying anything?

**Photos from the Daily Mail website & Glamour Magazine.** 

REVIEW | REAL TECHNIQUES MIRACLE COMPLEXION SPONGE

Before we get into this review, lets just have a little, 'I can't believe how quick this year is going' rant. When I first saw that Real Techniques were bringing out a 'miracle complexion sponge' in September, it seemed like ages to wait, but somehow September has now come and gone and here we are, mid October and the proud owners of two Miracle complexion sponges. 

Okay back to the review! 

The Miracle Complexion Sponge was on a buy one get one half price offer the first time that we saw it in a Boots store, so obviously we both grabbed one each. Neither of us have ever used any kind of sponge before and instead use the Real Techniques Buffing brush or the Expert face brush, so we can only compare it against using a brush.

Real Techniques describe this sponge as a 3-in-1 product:

• "Rounded sides blend large areas of the face with a repeated dabbing or “stippling” motion.
• Precision tip covers blemishes and imperfections.
• Flat edge for the contours around the eyes and nose."

  Although they give all of this information about which part to use for which function, we both tend to mainly use the large flat edge as it makes the application even easier and quicker to apply as it's a large surface area and can quickly cover the face.

To use the sponge you have to wet the sponge so that it expands and then squeeze all of the excess water out. This is also beneficial when you're applying the foundation as it feels very refreshing on the skin and keeps the skin feeling fresh and hydrated, especially when you're applying concealer under the eyes. 

The sponge gives a really flawless finish and can give full coverage if you repeatedly pat the sponge onto your face, as you would a stippling brush, when 'stippling.' One of the main things we love about the sponge, is that it doesn't leave any lines un-blended, like brushes can often tend to. 

Both of us now always use the sponge over our foundation and concealer brushes as you get a much more flawless finish and it's also so easy and quick to use. We still need to try it out with other products, such as cream blush, which I'm sure it will also apply beautifully! The sponge is also especially good to use for contouring with cream or liquid products as you can easily apply the contour or highlight precisely to the area which you want to enhance or sculpt more. We both much prefer using the sponge to contour and then we use brushes to apply the powder over the top to either set the cream/liquid products or enhance the contour or highlight more. 

Have you tried the Miracle Complexion Sponge? How does it compare to the original Beauty Blender?