NUDE LIP DREAM - My Go To Trio

I don't think i'm the only one who feels their make up is incomplete without anything on their lips, am i? As well as taking a little time away from blogging due to my holiday, I have also taken time away from buying new make up products! Over the past few weeks I have been reaching for 3 lip products in particular which create the perfect ombre nude for every day.

Topshop Lip Contour in Frame is the perfect warm deep nude for every day and I absolutely adore formula of the Topshop Lip Contours as they are so incredibly smooth and long lasting. It's also perfect to keep in your bag to top up throughout the day if necessary as you can twist it up and not have to worry about it going blunt and not having a sharpener.

L'oreal Matte Lip Paint in Off-White is fairly new to my collection and I have been reaching for it so frequently! Paired with the Topshop liner it gives a really nice ombre look to the lips which I absolutely love as it's subtle and seamless. The finish of this Lip Paint through me off a bit as I thought it would dry down completely matte but on me it doesn't so instead I like to top it with a gloss.

Max Factor Colour Elixir Gloss in Pristine Nude has been in my makeup collection for years as it was one of the first lip products I ever purchased back in the day of dream matte mousse, glitter eyeliner and overly glossy lips - this was my go to! I let it slip to the back of my drawers as I bought new products and when I recently discovered it again I have been reaching for it daily as it's not overly sticky but gives a really lovely shine to the lips and is the perfect way to finish this lip combination.

Together these 3 are an absolute dream and I'll be sticking to them for a while longer. What are your favourite every day lip products?

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STILA GLITTER HEAVEN

As hard as I tried to walk away from these in Harvey Nichols telling myself I don't need anymore glitter - who am I kidding? One swatch and I was sold. I have never bought anything from Stila before but I have always heard such incredible reviews and after seeing Jaclyn Hill unbox these I needed them! As this was my first time trying the Stila Magnificent Metals Glitter & Glow Liquid Eyeshadow's I only picked up two shades - Bronzed Bell and Smoky Storm.

Stila have got these liquid eyeshadows absolutely spot on - they're extremely lightweight with incredible glitter pay off and absolutely no fall out! They are very similar to a liquid lipstick in the way that they apply as a water based product but then dry down and aren't prepared to budge anytime soon. I tend to apply these as a finishing touch to my eye looks rather than as a base just as I find they look the best that way. I'll apply my powder shadows first for my desired look and then depending on the result I want I will apply the glitter and blend if necessary. 

Bronzed Bell - Bronze with a touch of Silver & Copper.

Smoky Storm - Light Grey/Bronze and Silver

 Bronzed Bell

Smoky Storm

Don't get me wrong I am a huge glitter lover - when I have an opportunity to wear it, I'm going to! However I cannot stand the feeling of removing a glitter. I suffer from really dry eyes so the smallest thing agitates them and when I sometimes wear a loose glitter I have to really take my time when removing it. These Stila glitter's are the complete opposite, I am obviously still careful around my eye area but I find these so much more comfortable to remove as the glitter is slightly finer than a loose glitter so it glides off with a lot less scratching!

Although these aren't the cheapest glitter's on the market as they retail at £23 each - they are 100% worth giving a go as there is a lot of product so I can imagine these will last aaaages! The colours available are absolutely stunning so I will definitely be picking a few more of these up. 

 Before Flash

After Flash

Have you tried these Liquid Glitter Eyeshadow's? What were your thoughts?

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SUNSET SMOKEY EYE | NYX PERFECT FILTER PALETTE

As if I didn't have enough already - yes I have purchased another palette with warm burgundy, orange and brown tones and I don't regret it at all. I'm not the most adventurous when it comes to new eyeshadows, I know what I like and I just tend to just stick to those shades. The palette I picked up was the NYX Perfect Filter Palette in Rustic Antique and they couldn't have put a better 10 shades together - in love.

NYX have got their eyeshadow formula down to a T - they are honestly some of the best I've ever used! The pigmentation of these shadows amazed me and they blend so seamlessly, you wouldn't expect them to be in the drugstore at all. This palette is made up of 10 shades which unfortunately don't have names but there's a range of mattes and shimmers that are all warm tones!

I took the cream shade in the top left hand corner and used this as a base just to cancel out any veins/redness I had on my eyelid. I then went in with the middle shade on the top row as a transition shade slowly building it up, as I was doing this I slowly started to add in the matte orange shade to continue the transition for this look. All over my lid I went in with the matte burgundy shade that is second from the left on the top row and I also took this down onto my lower lash line as well. To brighten up my inner corner I took the top right hand shimmer shade and it just completed the look.

OTHER PRODUCTS USED:

NYX Pore Filler

L'oreal True Match Foundation in 1N Ivory

NYX HD Studio Photogenic Concealer

Laura Mercier Translucent Powder

L'oreal Infallible 24hr Matte Powder

Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soliel 

Topshop Blush in Dream Phone

Mary Lou Manizer

Rimmel Exagerate Waterproof Eye Definer in Perfect Plum

Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir Major Volume Mascara

Precisely My Brow in 5

Maybelline Brow Precise Fibre Filler in Deep Brown

DUO Eyelash Glue & Topshop Glitter in Periwinkle

Topshop Lip Contour in Outline

MAC Viva Glam II

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MINI MAY DRUGSTORE HAUL

It has been just over a year since I posted my last make up haul on here - a whole year! So here I am back with another one, except this time rather than high end I'm keeping it cheap and cheerful with some drugstore bits I have been dying to try. Does anyone else order makeup when they need cheering up? that can't just be me, right? All thanks to an awful mood I was in last week, my makeup collection has grown a little more and I don't regret a thing.

The first thing I put in my bag technically isn't new as I've been using it for the past few months but i'ver never actually posted about it. It is the L'oreal Infallible 24H Matte Powder in Warm Vanilla aka my favourite setting powder ever. If you have oily skin like me then you need to give this a go, it keeps my skin matte for so much longer than other powders I've tried and it doesn't cake on my skin at all! It retails for £5.99 and is available here.

My NYX stash is continuously growing and each product I love more and more. I've tried plenty of their lip and face products in the past but never their eyeshadows! I picked up the Perfect Filter Palette in Rustic Antique as it was just calling my name with the warm selection of shades. I actually used this palette today to create a 'Sunset Festival Smokey Eye' look which will be up on my blog later on this week. After one use I can already tell I'm going to be reaching for this palette A LOT as every single shade is gorgeous. The pigmentation of these shadows really surprised me and they're so easy to blend out! This palette retails for £16 and is available here.

The next thing I purchased is a very hyped over product which I have been really tempted to buy in the past but never actually gone ahead with it and I'm so glad I finally have. It's the Sleek Highlight Palette in Cleopatra's Kiss which contains 4 highlighting shades - 2 cream and 2 powder (Sphinx, Delta, Dynasty and Goddess). I've only had the chance to try one of the shades on my cheek bones and the glow it gave my skin was seamless and super pretty! I've never really been a cream highlight kind of girl, however after swatching all four shades I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of them as they're really soft and just glide onto the skin.

You know that feeling when you really need to get your eyebrows done and it's actually got to the point where you can't fill them in properly they're so out of shape and over grown? This is perfect if you want to make them appear fuller and add a little colour without them looking out of control. I bought this purely for those days although I actually really liked the look it gave my brows so I will definitely be using this a lot more than planned. It retails for £7.99 and is available here in 3 shades.

Makeup Revolution is honestly one of my favourite drugstore brands and when I saw they'd bought out their own lip kits - could I resist? of course not. I picked up the shade Echelon and it is the perfect every day nude! One thing I will say is the lip liner is an entirely different colour to the liquid lipstick and this completely through me off. The Lip liner is a much more orange nude, where as the liquid lipstick is much more pink toned and I was actually pleasantly surprised when I put them together as they create a really nice colour! The packaging for this lip kit is really cute and the product appears so much more expensive than it actually was, it retails at only £6.00 and is available here.

What are your favourite drugstore products?

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Porefection Primer's

When it comes to primer I will always resort back to my holy grail which is Benefit's Porefessional, however I've been using it for such a long time and it's not exactly the cheapest so I wanted to see if I could find a dupe in the drugstore. The primer I chose to purchase is the NYX Pore Filler, it is a fraction of the price and it is actually the perfect dupe for the Benefit Porefessional!

Benefit Porefessional - £26 for 22ml
NYX Pore Filler - £11 for 20ml

Benefits packaging is much prettier to look at in this comparison and does feel more expensive so in terms of appearance you do get what you pay for but they both feel very sturdy. They're both squeeze tubes which I love as it allows you to use the right amount of product without anything going to waste!

I was actually very surprised with the NYX primer as the formula is extremely similar. When you squirt the product the Benefit primer does come out a lot smoother, I found the NYX formula a lot dryer as it came out in bits/balls but on the skin they're both EXTREMELY silky and smooth to touch and they both do an incredible job at filling in pores. I was a little worried the NYX primer would cause my foundation to appear cakey but it didn't at all - it honestly does an incredible job and I would 100% recommend this as a dupe for the Porefessional Primer!

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Jesy Nelson, No More Sad Songs - Get The Look

Little Mix have done it again with another amazing music video and can we just talk about how incredibly pretty all 4 of them look! Although they are 4 completely different makeup looks there is a certain theme to their make up with red/pink tones and I was just so drawn to Jesy's in particular (heart eye emoji). I love a pink toned eye look so when I saw the video I literally recreated the look the same day using my ABH Modern Renaissance palette and I was actually pretty happy with how it turned out!

As per Jesy's skin looks absolutely flawless in this video so I decided to go quite full coverage in attempt to look as good as she does. To achieve this I used the following products:

- Hourglass Ambient Light Correcting Primer in Mood Light 

- Hourglass Vanish Foundation Stick in Linen

- Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in 01 Fair

- Laura Mercier Translucent Powder to set my under eyes

- L'oreal Infallible 24hr Matte Powder to mattify the rest of my face

- Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil 

- Topshop Blush in Dream Phone

- ABH Glow Kit in Gleam - Crushed Pearl

EYES/BROWS:

- ABH Modern Renaissance Palette - Buon Fresco as a transition shade, Love Letter in my crease and Venetian Red all over the lid

- Benefit Ka Brow in Shade 4 

- Benefit Ready, Set, Brow

- Maybelline Lash Sensational

- Soap & Glory Smoulder Khol

LIPS:

Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lip in Celebrity Skin

Which of the girls make up is your favourite?

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How I Clean My False Eyelashes

False lashes are a necessity in my make up collection, however I have never been one to spend too much money on them as chances are I'll only get a few uses out of them before I have to throw them away because of mascara and glue build up which is why I thought i'd share with you how I save money on lashes and get as many uses out of the pairs I have. Of course one pair isn't going to last a life time and I do regularly purchase new ones - it just makes each purchase a lot more justifiable to me if I can get more than one use!

All you need for this beauty hack is:
- Your false eyelashes
- A small pot
- Some eye make up remover

1. Put a small amount of your eye makeup remover into the pot, just make sure it's enough to cover the lashes when they sit in there.

2. I tend to leave my lashes in remover over night so all the mascara and glue has melted and started to move away from the lashes but you can leave them in there for as little or as long as you like.

3. When you remove your lashes from the eye make up remover place them on a paper towel or a large cotton pad, which ever you have in your house and just dab them gently to remove the excess mascara.

4. This is the most satisfying part - gently pick the glue away from the lash band. You'll probably find you don't have to pick at all it will just come straight off!

5. Finally just dab them with the paper towel again to ensure they're dry and all unwanted product has been removed.

VOILA, your eyelashes will be good as new!

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Bare Minerals; Matte vs Gloss

Bare Minerals is a brand I have always heard good reviews about however I have never been drawn to actually purchase any of their products until now and I'm so glad I did! When I think of Bare Minerals I think natural/powder products which aren't something I tend to use but over the last few months I have been blogger after blogger raving about a particular lip gloss so of course - I caved.

When purchasing the gloss I also came across their matte lip products too and I just couldn't resist! The pigmentation of these products seriously impressed me. The colours are beautiful and are extremely long lasting - I'm so in love with the formula's. The gloss is so smooth and shiny yet not too sticky which I love as there's nothing worse than wearing lip gloss and everything sticking to it. The shade I picked up in the gloss is Groovy which is a soft beige with a hint of pink and is perfect for everyday!

I have always been more into a matte lip which is why I had to pick up one of their matte liquid lip colours too and I can't even describe to you how comfortable and creamy this product is - it completely threw me off as it almost feels like a mousse it's so smooth. The shade I picked up is a muted pink/mauve and it's called Boss. Although the gloss doesn't smell like much at all, the matte lip colour smells like heaven with a subtle vanilla/chocolate scent.

The packaging for both these products is so cute, it's simple yet pretty! I love the way Bare Minerals has matched the finish to the tube with the product inside - the gloss has a shine to it and the matte lip colour starts with a shine at the bottom and develops up into a frosted/matte finish.

Have you tried Bare Minerals before?

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Holy Grail Make Up Removal Duo

After years of breakouts, stubborn makeup and trying all kinds of products I can finally say I have found my holy grail makeup removal duo! My face is extremely hard to please when it comes to products - it's not necessarily sensitive but one wrong ingredient and my skin will tell me through an unwanted breakout. However this hasn't happened at all since using these two Garnier products, my skin absolutely adores it and it's extremely affordable!

You've probably heard so many people going on and on about how amazing the micellar water is and how quickly yet gently it removes all traces of make up. Since starting my new job with 10 hour days the first thing I want to do is remove my make up that has been topped up throughout the day to control the shine. I used to really enjoy a really detailed skin routine on a daily basis but now it's all about getting it off as quickly and as simply as I can, so that is why this little combo is an absolute dream.

I started off just using the Micellar Water to remove everything however I found myself struggling to remove heavy eye make up which is when I branched out and tried the 2 in 1 make up remover which of course impressed me in the same way the Micellar water did. Both products are extremely gentle on the skin and cause no irritation to my skin at all as there is no added perfume. All it involves is a small amount of the product, a cotton pad and a few strokes around your face and it just lifts the make up instantly.

As I have such sensitive and dry eyes I am always extremely cautious with what I use around my eye area and the Garnier Express 2 in 1 Eye Make Up Remover even removes waterproof makeup without me rubbing my eyes. It is made up of a two part formula so you do have to shake it a little before you use it just so you get the best results and I also find although there is an oilier part to the formula it doesn't leave my skin feeling greasy and gross!

Have you tried Garnier Skincare?

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Christian Louboutin Velvet Matte Lip Colour

When I hear the words 'Christian Louboutin' I think luxury, beautiful and outstanding quality. Along with those 3 things, expensive also comes to mind and at £70 a lipstick I can't imagine many people rushing to the counter to purchase one. I think the majority of this price probably goes into the packaging because let's face it, it's incredible and theres nothing else like it! However a lot of time and money has also gone into the formula as it is spot on - it's absolutely gorgeous.

I have been after one of these lip colours since they were originally released but I just couldn't justify £70 on a lipstick no matter how pretty it was so when I opened this up christmas morning it's safe to say I nearly died. My mum of course went with a nude matte as who doesn't love a nude matte lipstick? and it is in the shade Just Nothing.

I don't think I need to say much about the packaging of this lip colour as you can see just how unique and stunning it is so let's get straight onto the formula... Heaven, it is heaven. It is so creamy with such rich pigment and is the longest lasting lipstick I own. I wore this out for dinner and it was actually still fully there after I'd eaten which really impressed me as it's just a matte lip colour not a liquid lip! It is really comfortable and easy to wear as it contains a complex of natural oils and seed butters and leaves my lips silky smooth without drying them at all.

I am so impressed with the quality of this lipstick so if you're willing to spend £70 it's a must have but if not 100% add it to your christmas / birthday list and you will not regret it!

Have you tried a Christian Louboutin Lip Colour before?

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