Every Day Makeup

Recently, I've found that I've changed up my daily beauty routine a little bit. I've been experimenting more with primers and serums, which if I'm honest, were products I didn't really see the point in before, being a skeptic and not really believing they'd make much of a difference. However, as it turns out, I was wrong, and as a result, have been able to change some of the other products I was using too. I've found myself wanting to go for a really basic, natural look for the warmer months, and I like that this gives me more scope for creating a more dramatic look for a night out, rather than just feeling that I look the same all the time.

 Read on for details of my current face of the moment.

L'oreal Youth Code Luminise Super Serum

Now, I don't often say this about a product, and I certainly didn't think I'd be saying this about a serum. But this stuff is absolutely amazing! I was sent several samples in the post, and wasn't particularly excited about trying them, but one morning, when I had woken up looking particularly tired and...well...rough, I decided to slap some on to give my skin a little boost. The serum claims to 'even and illuminate',  and it really does do just that. I was amazed to see how well it had evened out my skin tone and even almost felt that I could go makeup free (I say almost because my puffy, dark-circled eyes would not allow for it). Seriously, really impressed, and no, no one has paid me to say this. I have been using it on a daily basis ever since (each sample allows for about four or five applications) and am eager to get my hands on a full-size version of the product before I run out.

Benefit The Porefessional

I don't really suffer from enlarged pores just yet (thank goodness), but recently I have found that my T-zone has suddenly become oily, causing my makeup to slide off my face. As you can imagine, this did not make for a very good look come the end of the day, and, tired of glancing in the mirror and wanting to cry (I've always had good skin!) I decided to give this stuff a go and see if it would help with that. I really think that it does, as it mattifies the area, provides a good base for my makeup and seems to keep things as they should be for that bit longer. Hurrah.

Benefit Erase Paste in Shade No.2

I somehow forgot to include this in the collective photo, but make no mistake, I can't live without this thanks to my dark circles and puffy morning eyes. It's the best concealer I've tried, and I've been using it daily for about a year now. It doesn't work miracles though, so I'm still on the lookout for something that does!

Estee Lauder Invisible Fluid Makeup in 2WN1

I had tried a couple of samples of this about six months ago and really liked it, so recently I caved and bought it. I was gutted when I first applied it only to find that my skin just didn't look how I had remembered with it on, and I actually took it off and put on my usual Revlon Photoready instead, and this product was left sitting on my shelf for a couple of weeks. But then, after trying out the L'oreal Youth Code Super Serum for the first time, I felt confident enough to try popping on my Invisible Fluid again, and I wasn't disappointed. The two of them have been my favourite combo ever since. Invisible Fluid is pretty sheer, so I would only recommend wearing it either in the summer or if you are blessed with an even skin tone, but if you can relate to neither of these then the serum is your friend and you can pretty much wear it any time :)

L'oreal Glam Bronze Duo in Blonde

I love this bronzer. You can see in the picture that I've got mere crumbs left, but I'm making the most of them! This is a lovely matte bronzer (no shimmer) made up of two different shades (one light, one dark) and together they combine to make the perfect shade for contouring and adding a bit of colour for my skin tone. As you know, I'm not actually blonde, but I do have quite naturally pale skin - not milky white, but very light - so this is just right for me. I actually much prefer this to Benefit Hoola and will definitely be re-stocking soon.

Benefit Posie Tint

I have been pretty much obsessed with the Benefit Coralista blush since I got it, and had therefore neglected this little Posie Tint sample size, which I got my hands on at the same time. But over the past couple of weeks I have been really enjoying using this on my cheeks for a really pretty, dewy, rosie glow.

Mac Mineralise Skin Finish in Soft and Gentle

This is one of those products that everyone raves about, and yet it has always been 'just ok' for me.   I quite liked it, but then it was nothing special. But somehow, now that I'm using it along with Posie Tint, it has really grown on me, and the 'healthy glow' effect it gives seems to be far greater, so I am finally finding that I really want to put this on each day rather than having to remind myself to use some just because I've got it and I don't want it to have been a waste of money. I'm really happy that I've now found a way to make it work for me.

Topshop Eyes Kohl Liner 

I've been enjoying using this liner in place of my usual black or brown. It's a really deep, dark blue and I usually use it just on the outer corners of my lower lash line, or sometimes along my top lash line too if I fancy something different - it really depends on my mood.

L'oreal Volume Million Lashes Mascara in Brown

My all-time favourite mascara, and still going strong. Read my review  here.

Revlon Lip Butter in Raspberry Pie

Resurrecting the Lip Butters! This is a gorgeous berry shade and is perfect for the coming Autumn/Winter season. It's really rather pigmented compared to most of the other Lip Butter shades, and after over-dosing on corals and pinks for summer, this is a welcome addition to my daily routine. Although saying that, I don't use it every day - I still switch up my lip colours a bit, but I wanted to include a lip product and this is my current favourite.

What are your current beauty favourites?

xx

Week in Pictures

I've had quite a relaxing week this time around, and have mostly been taking it easy after being ill all last week. Thankfully, it's been lovely and sunny, so I spent a lot of time out in the garden, reading and sunbathing. I've just got started on David Nicholls' 'Starter for Ten', and am really enjoying it so far. He's such a good writer, and his books are so funny. For anyone who isn't aware, Nicholls is the one who wrote 'One Day', which in my opinion was absolutely brilliant, and was completely ruined when they made it into a film!

On Wednesday evening, the hubby and I popped out for some pizza, and it was lovely to sit outside afterwards drinking Mojitos. A Mojito is my ultmate summer time drink - they are so delicious and refreshing on a hot, muggy evening.

I made a few cosmetic purchases this week, these unfortunately including the fake Mac Blush I blogged about earlier in the week. If you missed the post, you can find it HERE. I think you'll find it worth having a look if you are worried about whether or not your products are genuine, as I have pointed out all the tell-tale signs for you so that you can keep your eyes peeled.

I also got my hands on the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Stain in Rendezvous, which I will tell you more about next week, and another new Revlon Lip Butter in Raspberry Pie, which I won't be reviewing as I think it's safe to say the blogosphere has been absolutely saturated with posts about them! I will let you know what I think in brief at some point soon though.

Yesterday, I spent the day at work - on a Saturday - as we had to complete some training. It was ok, but to be honest I think they were just going over old ground for the sake of the new teachers, so I didn't find it all that enlightening.

Today I have been mostly watching the Olympics with the hubby. I have been really enjoying seeing the gymnastics, and I even feel a little bit emotional for the girls when they do really well or if they make a mistake. It's just crazy to imagine how both of those things must make them feel. They are at THE OLYMPICS - things don't get much bigger than that for them. I was a bit gutted to have missed the show jumping, as that's my absolute favourite event. It's funny, as in the lead up to the games, I wasn't hugely bothered about any of it, but watching and realising what a huge moment this is in some peoples' lives somehow changes things, a lot.

Hope you've had a nice weekend so far, whether you are at a festival, chilling in the garden or indoors watching the sports. I also hope you enjoyed the first instalment in my new 'Splurge or Save' series, which looks at the best of the new A/W cosmetics collections from big names such as Dior and Chanel, followed up each time with a more affordable collection you can spend your pennies on to get a similar look. The first post, published today, was on Dior's new Golden Jungle Collection (definitely a SPLURGE), and I will be following it up within the next couple of days with the best purse-friendly alternatives. If you missed the post, you can find it here.

Hope to catch up with some of you during the #bbloggers chat on Twitter later this evening!

xx

Just Another Revlon Lip Butter: Cherry Tart

(Please excuse my post-shower, drying-naturally hair!)

Now, I know the blogasphere has been absolutely saturated with Revlon Lip Butter reviews, but having included this little beauty in my 'Lipsticks I Can't Live Without' post, I felt it only fair to give you guys a little bit more insight into why it made it onto the list. Plus, I may be wrong, but there seem to be very few reviews on this lovely shade compared to some of the others, at least by UK bloggers, as Cherry Tart is not currently available in the shops over here ( I purchased mine on Ebay here). All you lucky lovelies in the USA will have no problems on getting your paws on this though, and I'm sure many of you already have!

Cherry Tart is a gorgeous , sheer cherry (surprisingly) red, and if you look closely at the product you will see that it does contain a tiny little amount of shimmer particles. Now, those of you who read regularly will know that I am not a fan of shimmer on my lips, so I was a little disappointed to see that this was the case when my package arrived in the post and I ripped it open excitedly to inspect my newest purchase. However, thankfully, the shimmer does not transfer onto the lips at all, and I was really, really pleased with the colour. The pigmentation is great, but being a butter rather than a lipstick, it's quite sheer on first application, so you do need to layer it up if you are going for that bolder look. 

It might sound ridiculous, but I find that my lips actually do look forward to having this applied to them in the mornings! My lips get quite dry, especially overnight, but nothing too excessive, and I really do find that my lips have something of a thirst for it when they know it is coming! Haha. As soon as I apply it, they feel lovely and soft and supple. What I really love about the lip butters is that, unlike lipsticks, they don't cling to any dry areas at all, and as they reflect the light  as well as moisturising, you get a really smooth and even effect.

I actually really wanted to dislike lip butters, just because I didn't believe that they could ever live up to the massive hype surrounding them when they were first released. The first time I used this, I even said  to my other half that it wasn't that great, and that I wasn't sure what the fuss was about. But strangely, the very next morning, when I applied it for the second time, my mind completely changed, and now I genuinely do love it and can't wait to get some more! I've now got my eye on Tutti Frutti, Raspberry Pie and Candy Apple....for starters. I love my lipsticks to bits, but I just find this lip butter to be much lower maintenance, as you don't have to be so precise and apply it absolutely perfectly. The wear time is ok, I'd say about a couple of hours if you don't eat or drink anything, but then I didn't really expect anything more. It's also the kind of product that I don't feel afraid to apply without a mirror if the need arises, whereas I wouldn't dare with lipsticks!

I would also like to suggest to those of you who don't really wear lipsticks, but are finding yourselves seduced (so to speak) by all the gorgeous lip colours out there at the moment, that you start with Lip Butters. They are a great way to ease yourselves into the world of bright lips, without being too scary and intense, and they're not sticky or runny, as most lipglosses tend to be (hands up who hates the lipgloss/hair/wind scenario!).

I'm afraid my camera was being a little bit uncooperative when it came to getting a swatch picture, but you can see one alongside my other favourite lipsticks in this post. I have included a couple of shots of me wearing Cherry Tart anyway though, as personally, I find it gives a much better idea of what to expect from a lip colour.

I hope you enjoyed this review. It's been a little bit more of a chatty one this time, I must be in one of those sorts of moods!

I would ask you if you have tried Lip Butters yet, and if so, what your favourite shade is, but I feel that some of you might already be bored with discussing that! If you're not, please do let me know in the comments below, and equally, if you have yet to pop your Lip Butter cherry, I'd love to know which shades are floating your boat and reeling you in.

Hope everyone has a lovely day.

xx

Little Catch-up

Hello lovelies, hope everyone has had a great weekend so far. For me, it's been a pretty chilled one, hanging out in coffee shops and having lunch with the hubby, drinking huge cups of tea and catching up on blog reading, and browsing the internet for new finds. This morning was hugely self indulgent, as we got up and had breakfast, watched TV for a bit, and then crawled back into bed for snuggles and a siesta. I absolutely love the fact that on Sundays, things like that seem to be totally acceptable.

I had several blog posts planned for over the weekend, but unfortunately I wasn't feeling very well yesterday and so I didn't get very far with them. However, I hope you all enjoyed reading my 'Lipsticks I Can't Live Without' post, as I had been looking forward to sharing my favourites with you for a while, so I was happy to have got the photos together for that one.

This week has been a pretty hectic one again, as I've had lots of paperwork to get through. It's also been one of those weeks where the house just won't seem to stay tidy, so I feel like I've been trying to sort it out every day!

On Wednesday, the hubby and I went out for Japanese, which was amazing as always. I know raw fish is not everyone's cup of tea, and I have to admit that I was totally against it in the past. But being the sort of person who will try anything once, I gave it a go, and now it is one of my favourite foods. And I'm not just talking about the California rolls (rice rolls) - I really go for it when I get the chance to have sushi, and love it all, even the Sashimi (which, for those of you that don't know, is literally just raw fish slices). My other half loves it too, so we always get a big combo and wash it down with some lovely hot Sake - perfect!

I got a few little bits in the post this week that I had ordered online. One of them was a Revlon Lip Butter in Cherry Tart, which I mentioned in my previous post, and I also got some vintage shorts and some aztec-print ones from Ebay. I love getting things in the post, it's so much more exciting that way. Although it's not quite the same when you know what you are getting! Anyway, I will take some snaps of those bits for you when I get the chance and pop them in a post later in the week.

The other thing I bought was this cute vintage tin (pictured above) to keep my earrings in. I have got so many earrings, but whenever I go to put some in, I can only ever find one of them, and it drives me mad. I did already have a big case that I keep all my other jewellery in, but it was becoming a bit chaotic, so I decided I needed to keep my earrings separately in order to actually be able to find them! I absolutely adore vintage tins, and the fact that this one is a) heart-shaped and b) covered in strawberries meant that it just had to be mine. I'm planning on scouring some charity shops and car boot sales now, to get a few more to store my rings and other bits and bobs.

In other news, I have been enjoying trying out my new Mac Matchmaster foundation this week, and my little website is coming along nicely. I will tell you a bit more about that at a later stage, I promise, but for now I'm just going to say that I'm very excited about it and can't wait to launch it!

I think that's all for this week really, it's been a pretty standard one. I'm going to compile this week's Weekend Wishlist for you now, so expect to see that post up before the day is out! I'm also going to do some more blog reading this evening, and try something new on my nails.

Hope everyone has had a wonderful Sunday. How have you been spending  it?

xx

Lipsticks I Can't Live Without!

(L-R) Tracta Hydrating Argan Lipstick in 01, L'oreal Color Riche Serum in Radiant Rose, Topshop Infrared, Mac Amplified in Vegas Volt, Revlon Lip Butter in Cherry Tart, Clinique Ciderberry

I have been going a little bit mad for lipsticks and other lip-related products over the past six months, especially nice bright, zingy shades, and don't seem to be able to stop buying them! There are so many gorgeous options out there, and I'd happily buy up the whole selection in Topshop or Mac without a second thought, if my bank balance was that way inclined (and that full of pennies!)

But despite my recent panic-buying of gorgeous shades and formulas, as always, there are definitely some lip products that I just keep going back to again and again, and I don't seem to be able to find anything to beat them. So I present to you, ladies and gentlemen, my six absolute favourite lipsticks in the world, ever. Ok, so maybe that's a little bit extreme, but I do love them, so I thought I'd share.

I'm not going to do full reviews of all of them in this post, purely because the post would end up being a million miles long and I doubt you'd ever make it to the bottom! But do keep your eyes peeled, as I will be posting separate reviews for some of these very shortly.

Topshop Infrared

First up is Topshop's Infrared, a gorgeous bright orange with a hint of red. This is definitely not one for shrinking violets, and may not be very flattering to the absolute palest of skintones, but aside from this it is actually a very wearable colour, and as an added bonus, makes your teeth look whiter. Win!

I love Topshop lipsticks and find them to be excellent value for money. The formula is fairly moisturising, although with this colour, I do recommend a good exfoliation and a slather of lip balm before you apply, as it will show up any flakey or dry bits you may have. In terms of wear, I'd say it's not that great, and I have to reapply it several times throughout the day. But it's a deliciously bright and juicy colour and looks great with a tan!

Mac Amplified in Vegas Volt

My favourite of the lot. This is a gorgeous bright coral, and any regular readers will know that I absolutely adore a nice bright coral lip. Being an Amplified lipstick, this is really creamy and glides on like a dream. It doesn't cling to any dry bits and is reasonably long-wearing (I've mentioned before though, that no lipsticks I've ever tried seem to have lasted more than about two minutes on me!) It's highly pigmented, but buildable, so you can go for a statement lip by layering it up, or rub one coat in with your fingers for more of a stain effect. This one will take some beating.

Revlon Lip Butter in Cherry Tart

This one is brand new, but has already made it onto my favourites list, which I'm sure many of you Lip Butter lovers will find unsurprising. I'm not going to say too much about this one, as I shall be doing a full review of it over the weekend, but as you can see, it's a lovely shade of cherry red and is so, so wearable. I am completely loving this as a pretty day-time red for summer. I do know it's not, strictly speaking, a lipstick, but that's fine by me - it just had to be included because I can't stop wearing it!

Tracta Hydrating Argan Lipstick in 01 

I picked this little beauty up in Brazil, and surprise surprise, it's another coral. This is actually very similar to Vegas Volt, but is slightly more orange-toned. Again, it's creamy and moisturising, thanks to the Argan oil it contains, and last reasonably well. I also wanted to point out that the packaging of this one makes it feel like quite a luxurious purchase, as it looks quite expensive, but actually, it only cost me about £6.

Clinique High Impact Lip Colour SP15 in Ciderberry

This is a product I have had for an absolute age, but haven't used in a really long time. In fact, I had completely forgotten about it until I moved house recently, and found it while I was packing things away. Clinique lipsticks are actually pretty pricey, at £16, and I don't usually pay that much for lip products. I don't even remember it costing that much really, but a quick browse on Clinique's site has revealed that to be the case!

Ciderberry is a lovely rich deep red. It's a nice alternative to really bright, pillar-box reds and I would imagine it to be more of a wearable shade for all skin-tones. I feel like I am repeating myself here, but I assume you will want to know that yes, again, it is moisturising, and yes, it is also long-lasting - in fact, I'd say that this is the best of the bunch in that respect.

L'oreal Color Riche Serum in Radiant Rose

A stunning medium fuchsia

I have not long reviewed this beauty, so if you would like to know a bit more about it then you can do so by reading this post. I don't want to bore those of you who've already read it by repeating myself again, but I will say that it is just the perfect shade of pink, and looks particularly pretty with really dark hair! When I first bought this, I had just dyed mine a gorgeous deep chocolate colour, which has sadly now faded (but I'm planning on doing it again over the weekend!)

L-R: Clinique Ciderberry, Revlon Lip Butter in Cherry Tart, L'oreal CRS in Radiant Rose, Mac Amplified in Vegas Volt, Tracta 01 and Topshop Infrared

(As above)

I hope you enjoyed reading, and that perhaps I've given you an idea or two if you're on the hunt for a new summer shade, or if you're finding yourself stuck in a bit of a lipstick rut!

What are your favourite lip products this summer? Is there one shade in particular your lips are just too embarrassed to be seen without? I'd love to know, as I am always looking to build up my collection, and sometimes I find I have been missing out on some absolute gems when I see them on you lovelies and read about them in your posts!

Hope everyone is really well and has a fantastic weekend planned! If you don't have anything planned at all, then worry not, as I find that those often tend to end up being the best ones! And who doesn't like a bit of relaxation!?

Enjoy!

xx