MAC White Frost Eyeshadow

Good morning!

I've been adding to my MAC palette for a little while now, to be honest I sometimes forget about it and other purchases take over so filling it with new eyeshadows hasn't been a priority. But using up some of my favourite shades in other palettes has meant I've needed to replace them so I've been searching high and low to find a replacement for Urban Decay's Venus.

I bought Brule (post here) but it didn't have the shimmer factor nor was it light enough on my porcelain skin to show up as a highlighter (seen top row, 2nd along) so I have now added White Frost to the mix, seen top row centre.

White Frost is described as a vivid white with an icy shimmer. It is definitely the whitest eye shadow I have ever bought and I am therefore hoping by default that it cannot be lighter than my own skin which seems to be very good at being so ghostly pale.

So I picked up the pan to fit straight into my palette and got to work. You can see in the photo below that it is definitely an icy shimmer finish.

These photos show a comparison between White Frost (left) and Venus (right). In terms of finish they match pretty well and the level of shimmer and coverage is the same, however the tone is slightly different with Venus being a bit more of a champagne gold.

It seems I am yet to find a complete match for Venus but this White Frost shadow cannot be discounted as of yet:

Applied to the lid it works well as a general base and then i apply it more heavily to the inner corner of the eye for a highlighter.

I like it because although it wasn't the softer shade I was looking for it doesn't seem to look too white and shocking either, which is great! For once my skin has been 'out-whited' if that can even be a term but it still doesn't look too weird. Win!

Have you tried many MAC eyeshadows? What would be your must haves?

I need to buy another insert so that I can have colours one side and nudes the other, there are so many shades I'd love to add and I definitely need some more matte shades!

L xxx

Life

Hello!

Today's post is a mismatch of photos I've taken over the last few weeks of places I've been and things I've eaten. I've got a lot better at not taking pictures of everything I eat when out but sometimes, it's just got to be done!

First up I'd like to congratulate myself and announce that I have finally paid off all of my debts. This includes my credit card (ENDLESS!) and also the money I borrowed from my parents to pay for my car and then all of the subsequent things that went wrong with it plus the insurance and tax that I couldn't afford from having still not paid the original money back - phew.

This means I can finally get on with my life and start savings for real! This is exciting and I can't wait to have some savings to fall back on in future and save for things like holidays and moving out.

I cannot wait to move out but I'm not going now until I've got enough to buy my own place - no point wasting money renting for a few months. I love going to vintage fairs now and my mum mentioned Cardiff Indoor Flea Market so we HAD to go and check it out. It's basically in a warehouse but it's a permanent fixture and they had loads of pretty much everything!

I loved that even though it was full of so much stuff they still had some coloured flags and bicycles hanging from the ceiling! It's a very cold place as it's not insulated at all but it's quite happy and busy too.

The furniture in there was amazing, so many old wooden pieces that I would love to get and do up myself. I know where I'll be going when I get my own place!

At home I've had to do some DIY - the inside of my fixed wardrobes were pretty much outside wall and have been letting in damp. They've been there for 33 years and we've lived in this house for 16 but of course my dad decided it had to be done NOW.

It took FOREVER to empty out the clothes and make up residing inside but if I'm honest, the real issue was the books. I'm such a hoarder of books that its a bit ridiculous but the number one thing I want in my house is a bookshelf so I'm saving them up! Here's the disaster I came home to one day after work....

What a nightmare! After a few days it was dry and I had to move everything back again, decorating is hard work but you don't even get to see this work which is even more annoying....

I've been trying to start reading again. I failed miserably with my plan to read more last year so this year I've set myself the target of reading a book per month - this way its doable and I can hopefully make a dent in some of the books I have.

This was a murder mystery that my neighbour leant me and my mum and one Friday things had been so exhausting throughout the week that I sat there with my tub of Nutella (with my name on obviously) and proceeded to eat 1/4 of the jar....whoops!

Normally a spoon of it does the trick for me and it curbs my cravings any further but that week was particularly draining and I went a bit crazy! Made me feel so much better though so I'm convinced it's what the doctor would have ordered....

Another change I've made in my room is finally getting a picture up. I've wanted a globe of the world for absolutely ages but can never seem to find one in sepia tones that I can afford....I found this print and frame in ikea for less than £20 and I knew I just had to get it. It's a map from 1881 so it's not correct at all but that's what I love about it even more. I stare at it all the time now, making a mental wishlist of where I'm going to go :)

I've finally signed up for Women's Health again after my subscription ran out mid year. I managed to get a good new year deal so was really pleased, I'd fully recommend it for anyone who's the slightest bit into health. It's got lots of fitness in it but also beauty, clothing and interviews with people like Britney, and who doesn't want a flat stomach like hers??

I recently realised that my hair has grown loads - look at the length on this! My hairdresser dyed it at Christmas for me but didn't have time to cut it so I drove to her house after work, she put the dye on and I drove home and washed it off myself half hour later! I looked a right mess in the car haha.

By the time I got it cut this time I really felt like the ends were a bit heavy so I also had a few layers put in so that it's not all one big block of hair - even straightened it looks a bit straggly which isn't a good look!

Lastly I've been looking into creating my own palette like the one above. I have a few of those colours but if you have any suggestions for me then please send them my way.
I've recently bought Brule and liked it but it wasn't the white highlighter I was looking for, the more I look into the colours the more I find I need!

You can never have too many nude coloured eye shadows can you??

What have you been eating and drinking this month? Did you manage to make it through Dry January without a drink or complete a month of a clean eating diet?

I think aside from my slip up with Nutella I've not done too badly....

L xxx

MAC Brule Eyeshadow

Good morning!

I'm really excited to show you my latest Mac purchase, its been a while since I've picked anything up from Mac so it was a pretty random purchase when I bought the Brulé eye-shadow. I've been building up my palette extremely slowly; I think this year it's definitely going to be a challenge for me to buy a few more shades and build up a palette that I can take anywhere. 

Brulé is described as a soft creamy beige, its another nudey colour that so many people rave over. I absolutely love the eye shadows in the urban decay naked basics palette but I've been using Venus - a shimmery white satin colour - a lot more than the other colours so I know I need a similar colour in my Mac palette too so that I have one in every palette!

You can see the colour with flash above and without flash below. To give Mac their credit this is a really smooth and blendable colour, I use it to cover my whole eyelid and create a good base before adding any further colours for definition. Their eyeshadows are a well respected area of their product range but they really are good and the colour range cannot be competed with.
However this isn't the colour that I thought it would be, it blends perfectly with my skin tone which is surprising as it's so light but just goes to show how pale I really am.

You can see Brulé in my palette below, it fills a gap of a matte light nude colour and I know it will be used a lot I'm just surprised it didn't turn out lighter than it did. It seems my skin tone is even lighter than I thought so I will really need a white ish colour to use as a highlight for the inner corners of my eyes! If anyone has any suggestions of a colour that fits this description please let me know, I have a Debenhams beauty card with £10 on it that is now burning a hole in my pocket!

So here is Brule applied evenly all over my eyelid:

You can see it blends perfectly and creates an even base for any other eyeshadows to be applied on top.

The photo below shows All That Glitters and Sable applied to give my eye a bit more contour; this was for work so I've gone for a lighter look than usual!

I really like this colour and think it fills in a gap in my palette perfectly. It wasn't the colour that i thought it would be on my skin but actually that's ok, it will definitely get used for most eye make up looks. It just means I will need to keep searching for another....

What do you think of Brule? Do you have a MAC palette like this? Do you have any suggestions for the next addition to my palette - preferably a light shimmery off white?

L xxx

MAC Eyeshadow Refill in Satin Taupe

Morning all!

After M bought me Sable for my birthday I have been eagerly looking at all of the MAC eyeshadows trying to decide what others I want to add into my palette.

After attending the Urban Decay event a few weeks ago, I bought a few things and at the time Debenhams had a spend £50 and get 750 points so it would have been rude not to spend the full £50........cue me snapping up another eyeshadow pan. This time it was Satin Taupe that caught my eye.

MAC describe this as a taupe with a silver shimmer. It's darker and more cool toned than Sable and luckily for me all of the colours in my palette are all different and all still blend together.

The colour is absolutely gorgeous, you can see without flash above it looks like a cool toned taupe and perfect for applying to your crease and blending out for a day at work look.

When taken with a flash like the photo below you can see the silver shimmer in it and how it would be great to use on a nude smokey eye for a night out.



Added to my palette (the top right eyeshadow) it fits in perfectly with the other colours that I own and you can see exactly why I bought it!

This was my eye make up the other Saturday, I applied the colour on the outer corner of my eye lid and then later on added on some considerable eye liner for the evening!

I love how this eyeshadow can be used for day and night depending on how you wear it and its such a versatile colour. some people prefer to use matte colours for day time and only shimmers for evening but I do love a bit of shimmer in the day too!

What do you think of this colour? Would you buy it too?

What other colours do you have in your palettes? What would you recommend?

L xxx

MAC Desert Camouflage Full Face Kit

Hi all!

Hope you've got the Friday feeling...if not don't worry as there's plenty of time to get it and countdown your hours until you're free!

I had a bit of a spend in Cosmetics Company Outlet in Swindon a few weeks ago when me and M met up with the lovely Sasha from Ramblings of a Beauty Bird.

One item I picked up was MAC's Desert Camouflage Full Face Kit.

I'm not sure how long this kit has been out for, or when it was first released but as soon as I saw it I had to have it.

I loved the eyeshadows as it was, but the fact it was a full face kit meant it also contained a cremeblend blush which was a lovely addition to the palette and I was so excited to use it.

I loved the packaging as always, black, simplistic and very me. I always think that products like this are more expensive looking too.

So here are the eyeshadows for you to drool over like I did:

What a perfect combo!
For a day look I used the lighter colour for all over the lid, the bottom left for my crease and the black to line my eyes.
For an evening look I repeat this and also use the top right shadow to add a bit more a gold shimmer to the look.

The cremeblush is more of a cremebronzer in my opinion, but this is exactly what attracted me to it. It's so easy to blend and is the perfect colour to help sculpt your face for a softer but defined look..

The eyeshadow colours can be seen swatched on my arm below, the first is without flash and the second with:

These are mostly true to colour but the black is a lot pigmented when applying it with a brush so it looks a lot darker.
The cremeblush you can see on the back of my hand below, the second picture shows it blended:

This has been great for an easy look in the mornings, just takes a little blending and voila, beautiful cheekbones.

Here are the colours on the eye, (excuse my brows, this was pre-waxing!):

Above in the picture the lightest colour has been applied to the lid, and a small amount of gold applied to the centre.
Below left shows the darker shade applied to the crease and outer lid, and below right with the black shadow along the lash line.



I absolutely love the look that the palette creates, the colours are great for day and evening and the neutral colours are flattering for everyone.

What do you think of the full face kit?

Do you like the neutral colours and cremeblush (bronzer)?

I do love a kit, and especially when they come from MAC!

L xxx