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?