YSL Rouge Volupte Shine Lipstick in 12

Happy weekend!

I'm looking forward to catching up with some friends this weekend and getting out for some walks, hopefully the weather will get better too....

Today's review is about the YSL Rouge Volupte Shine lipsticks, I don't think I've ever tried anything from YSL really but definitely not their lipsticks. This was given to me as a birthday gift and I absolutely adore it!

The colour is called '12' which is a little boring in my opinion, a name is always much more fun and more relatable, but that's just me.
Edit: I've looked it up to see the cost and actually it does have a name! Corail Incandescant, which is pretty accurate I would say.

The packaging is pretty special I think, who doesn't love some expensive looking gold casing and I like the fact you can see the lipstick colour without opening it up too. It's also a lot easier to find in your handbag than a MAC or Illamasqua one because the gold reflects off everything!

The Rouge Volupte Shine lipsticks contain 6 essential oils, anti-oxidants, emollients and hyaluronic acid to ensure serious hydration and conditioning whilst wearing the chosen lip colour.

I've found this is so easy to apply and the hydration is amazing, there was no flaking whatsoever. The colour payoff is pretty good and it fades to a sort of stain after a few hours too, I personally just keep reapplying! Reapplication isn't a problem when the lipstick is this hydrating and easy to use, as long as you use a lip pencil to start it should be fine all day.

I really love the colour, it's enough to show that you have a lipstick on but not too much that it's a statement. I've been wearing it literally everywhere from family lunches, festivals, hen weekends and evenings at the pub.

For £26 it is a luxury item, I would never have spent this much on a lipstick but having said that I also think it is worth every penny!
I'll keep my fingers crossed for some money heading my way so I can buy a few more, the colour range is great and I'd love to have a nude, a red and a pink to add to the collection.

What do you think of the Rouge Volupte lipsticks? What's your favourite colour?

L xxx

Orla Kiely Home Fragrance Collection

Hello there!

I recently wrote a post about how I've just bought my own house - I'm still moving my stuff and still don't have broadband either (let's not even get on that conversation shall we....) but my house is feeling so much more like a home now that it doesn't smell of cleaning or paint.

ORla Kiely have some absolutely amazing products for the home.

Orla Kiely is relaunching her Home Fragrance collection by adding three new fragrances to the three pre-existing ones, each with their own statements prints.
I was kindly sent the Sicilian Lemon Reed Diffuser and Orange Rind Scented Candle for my new home and I can't have been more pleased with them!

The Sicilian Lemon reed diffuser contains a blend of lemon, mint, frankincense and lavender oils, and to be honest it smells fantastic. I'm a huge lover of citrus and mint scents so this is perfect for me.

The bottle is also beautiful, the pattern is beautiful and typical Orla Kiely. Prints with patterns please me due to their symmetry, this is the kind of bottle that you would be happy to put out on display around your house.

I can't comment as to how long the scent lasts for as they have been in my house for a week and still going strong as you would expect. The reed diffuser is in the window in my living room that over looks the garden, I can smell it every time I walk through my living room and especially when the doors are open! 

The Orange Rind Scented Candle is another amazing product. The pattern is again beautiful and symmetrical and the colours match the scent.

The candle contains orange rind, sandalwood, eucalyptus and nutmeg for a warming glow that reminds me of winter time as oranges always do - but it isn't a wintery scent at all.

I love the jar that it comes in as it was so simplistic but also comes with a matching coaster to put your candle on, it's touches like this that make a product what it is.

Here is the candle on my windowsill on the stairs, I'm slowly but surely filling my house with citrus scents and it smells wonderful!

What I love most about these products is that the fragrances are so accurate and not synthetic at all.

The Sicilian Lemon Reed Diffuser is 200ml and costs £32, the Orange Rind Scented Candle is 200g and costs £25.
I always think it pays to buy a more expensive home fragrance product, you cannot beat a genuine scent and these are really great.

Do you like Orla Kiely patterns? What's your favourite scent?

L xxx

Make Up Revolution Ultra Professional Blush Palette in Hot Spice

Happy hump day!

Today's post is a review on something that I have been trying to get my hands on for MONTHS!

I was initially really disappointed as I went to Superdrug in Cardiff (both stores) to pick up this palette so many times and the stands were always empty. And I mean ransacked, covered in make up and with broken bits hanging off. I did tweet them and they responded saying they would speak to their store.
Eventually I went in and found one of these palettes but it was a lucky shot - the rest of the stand was still empty.

I was also disappointed that most of the boxes and general packaging were damaged for all of the products. I opened up a few of the boxes to make sure the one I bought wasn't broken inside (always suspicious!) and a lot of the palettes inside were cracked and scratched. It's just a bit disappointing to have to buy something that is already broken....

Nevertheless I managed to get one and was quite excited to get it home and photographed so I could use it.

The Ultra Blush Palette in Hot Spice contains a variety of 6 blushers in corally orange tones and 2 highlighters, as shown in the pictures below. It's probably a picky thing but I wish they had names, they don't even have numbers so it's a bit hard to refer to each one individually.

With all of my negativity so far, this was one palette I could not stop taking photos of. Look at how beautiful it is! The colours and finishes are perfect:

So how do they swatch? Is the pigmentation any good?

Here's the top row swatched without and then with flash:

These are all extremely wearable shades especially for me and my pale skin. You can see that there is a slight shimmer to the blushes but by no means is it glittery, this makes them great for day time as they give your skin a bit of a glow finish but nothing over the top. These are also really buildable so it's easy to layer on the colours for a variety of definition on your face.

The second row is as follows, without and then with flash:

Again, really wearable and suit my skin tone. I'm really pleased with the palette, especially for £6 as this means it has cost less than £1 for each one and that's pretty amazing.

If I'm honest although the colours vary when swatched on my face there isn't much variation. The highlighters are both flattering and not glittery at all, they seem to be really finely milled so they just have a shimmer.

The darker blushes are clearly darker but overall the variation doesn't show up too much but that's ok as the colour range is exactly what I look for so all of them will be used I'm 100% sure of it.

On my face, here's a few snaps:

These were all different blushes and the 2 different highlighters but this doesn't show at all! It's not a problem for me but may be if you are expecting a big difference. I just love the coral shade of things and couldn't care less - they're all beautiful!

So overall, what are my thoughts?

If you can get your hands on them, do! I've really enjoyed using this; the colour range is perfect, the pigmentation is great and the prices are CHEAP. I love that the palettes are in colour families, maybe in future they will have a combination palette for those who like to change up their blush colour all the time and create a NARS Virtual Domination type one as I'm sure it would be a best seller. Though having said that you could buy all six of their current blush, bronze and highlighter palettes for less than the NARS one!

I am really impressed with this palette as my first ever product from Make Up Revolution. I've got my eye on getting the Golden Sugar Blush and Contour palette whenever I can as it is beautiful and I'd love to try more from MUR.

Fingers crossed my Cardiff store will be better stocked next time I go in as there's so much I'd like to try and would have by now if I could!

What do you think of MUR? Do you love a blush palette? What else would you recommend from MUR?

I've recently added 21 blushes to my collection recently which is mildly obscene....let's not tell anyone else about them yeah?! Whoops!

L xxx

Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick Electric Orange

Goooooooooood morning!

Today I've got a gem of a lipstick for you. I've been wearing it the last few weeks after picking it up in Asda and it's a great 'summer moving into autumn' colour when you're not quite ready to give up the summer feeling yet.

This lipstick is from Maybelline's Color Sensational range. I've previously spoken about another shade in this collection which is called Shockingly Coral,but this shade is Electric Orange.

Firstly I like that all the lipsticks were individually packaged with tape so you knew nobody else had put their sticky fingers on it. This is always a massive plus for me!

Electric Orange is shade number 912:

This shade was a NIGHTMARE to photograph as the colour doesn't actually look like any of the following pictures....this one was taken with a flash:

Hideous! It's definitely not neon.
Without flash is a little more true to colour but the lipstick is a bit brighter in reality.

You can see the colour and the payoff on the back of my hand, the orange is a really wearable colour and has a shine which I love in a lipstick.
It's also quite hydrating too so I feel like I can wear it for quite a while during the day without having to worry that my lips are going to crack and flake.

You can see it on my lips below, this photo was taken with a flash so the colour might not be exact but it's pretty close. The colour is really easy to wear and its been great over summer and the few autumn weeks we've had so far. I can imagine I'm going to get a lot of wear out of it.

It's similar in some ways to MAC's Vegas Volt but a hydrating and more sheer version.

Have you tried any Maybelline lipsticks? Which of the Color Sensational lipsticks is your favourite?

L xxx

Style Staple: Blazers

Happy Thursday!

I'm not normally one to put a lot of photos of myself onto the blog as I like to keep to myself and find taking them more complicated than others seem to. However I'm getting better at it so thought I'd branch out and write about my Style Staples.
As well as beauty I am also a massive fan of clothes, as you would expect. I find blazers the perfect accompaniment to most outfits and they seem to finish them off without being too overly smart.

My collection has been growing recently so I decided to share it with you and which styles I find go better with which outfits.

First up is the old favourite. This is a black/grey blazer from Dorothy Perkins which I bought quite a few years ago now. This is what I call my 'Slouchy Blazer'.
It was black and it still is mostly, but from wear it has turned into a more grey black, as you'd expect a more vintage like blazer to look, which makes me love it more.

It has a waterfall front with two large pockets on either side which I suppose don't serve much purpose as they're too big and slouchy but they're so comfortable to rest your hands in!
It's easily thrown on with any outfit as it doesn't do up so I mostly wear this with jeans for every day wear and layer it with scarves and leather jackets when it's colder.

Next up is the newest in my collection; the orange Jogging Blazer from Zara.
This is my 'Bright (and BEAUTIFUL) Blazer'.

This jacket is absolutely amazing and I'm so pleased I bought it. I've worn it out to many things since I bought it at the end of March; lunch meals with family, pub meet ups with the girls and on my birthday night out with my Lipsy Dress.

It just seems to go with EVERYTHING! It brightens up every outfit and can be worn done up or left undone  and the slightly shorter sleeves make it great to wear in any weather.

It's definitely going to be a firm favourite for the summer!


This next one is one of my most prized possessions.
The timeless classic that is the Ralph Lauren military blazer. (i.e. my 'Military Blazer' - duh!)



I absolutely LOVE it.
The shape is beautiful and its made with such thick and good quality material I am hoping it will last a long time. The sleeves are lovely and long, the shoulders and waist tapered and fitted, and the length of the blazer sits perfectly on my hip.



The pocket is of course a primary feature of the blazer, and the crest is beautifully stitched and looks very regal with the feathers and crown. It's one of my favourite parts of the blazer along with the buttons which are gold coloured and feature the same sort of detailing.



I love it pulls together any outfit and makes it look smart but it's so comfortable it doesn't feel like you're all dressed up over the top.
I've worn it out with family for my birthday meal with jeans and with a dress and leggings and it looks great with all of them.
It was a birthday present so is fairly new to my wardrobe so I expect I will be wearing it a lot in future, especially as I feel like Kate Middleton knowing she's a bit of a fan of Ralph! (I wish!)

This one is another Dorothy Perkins buy as I loved the black one so much that I went back last summer and picked up the cream version with black collar detailing.
This would be my 'Summer Blazer' I suppose.

It's a little harder to wear as although its pretty much the same as the black one the material is thinner and I don't feel it has quite the same look as the black one.
This one should get more wear than it does as I always seem to steer towards black (as you may notice considering this post contains three....) but I need to start varying my wardrobe as it does seem a little bit boring sometimes.

You can see in the photo above that this blazer has the same waterfall front and large pockets, but the front is a little more waterfall than the black and maybe why it gets worn less.

Finally we have the Warehouse blazer, which is one I picked up after Christmas when they had 20% off and I have quite honestly never looked back. I'd term this one the 'Classic Blazer'.

I have been looking for a black fitted blazer ever since I bought the Dorothy Perkins one. The other got so much wear I knew I needed a fitted one for smarter occasions and snapped this one up when I got the chance!

It has super long sleeves which is lush when you're tall as it doesn't always happen, sits perfectly on the hip and tapers in all the right places.
The longer collar seems to elongate the body making you look slimmer and I love wearing it out with dresses.
I do love my Ralph one but I think that will be for smarter day wear occasions as this one has a similar effect but I wouldn't mind taking this one out on the town with me as they sell very similar ones still and i know the style that will fit me to replace it.

The only downside to this one is that it doesn't do up which would have made it even better. A hook and eye would have finished it perfectly and I'd be tempted to add one if i had any idea how to!

So what are your style staples? I think I will be doing more of these posts as I'm getting more confident in taking the pictures and I absolutely love blazers.

Which one of these is your favourite? Do you favour colour or classic? Military or slouchy?

L xxx