Review: Mac's Viva Glam Nicki Minaj Lipstick

Before Christmas I was a little naughty and picked up a new Mac Lipstick.

In my mind, as it was the Nicki Minaj one it was for charity and therefore didn't count...obviously!

M was with me at the time and you can ask anyone, I went a little wild.

It was the same time i picked up the Naked Basics palette, Mac's MSF in soft and gentle and also 3 for 2 on premium beauty in Boots (Coralista, Dior foundation and Origins moisturiser) oops!

After I'd swatched it on my hand in the shop I knew I had to have it.

On top of that my Mac lipstick collection was missing one of the Viva Glam black and pink lipstick casings, so I just had to snap it up.

I love that they've kept the box exactly the same apart from 'Nicki Minaj' scrawled over it in pink!

Again, who can resist the pink and black combo??

Viva Glam Nicki is a bright pink satin lipstick, and the first satin one from Mac in my collection as well.

It's a gorgeous bright pink, but unfortunately really hard to photograph!

Here it is swatched on my hand:

And here are some photos of it on my lips:

It's a gorgeous colour, but for me and my peeling lips it's a little hard work!

I find that it's very drying because its a Satin which i haven't had that much of a problem with before.

However a few goes with Lush's bubblegum scrub and lashings of lip balm for a while before it seems to work fine and the result is worth it!

I love wearing this when I meet the girls for a drink and especially on a Saturday night!

What's your favourite Mac lipstick? Which other Viva Glams would you recommend??

L xxx

What's On My Bedside Table

I've been meaning to write this a while.  It's kind of my beauty favourites but it's what I use every day skincare wise.

Since moving I've been a lot more organised.  I keep everything in these Skubbs from ikea. 

For £6 you get 6 boxes 3 of each size.  They come in black, white and purple.  They are great for organising.

On my bedside table. I always keep a glass of water.  I get thirsty in the night a lot. I also have a soft cushioned brush. I'm trying to brush my hair more often as I figure it's better for it.  I try to spend a minute a night brushing it. 

During the week I straighten my hair so I used to be lazy and just brush my fingers through it in the morning.  Also I have deodorant.  I use whatever is on offer and pillow mist.  Not convinced it works.

Things I use morning and night in my box are: My lush lip scrub. These are amazing.  I wouldn't be without mine it makes such a difference and they are a bargain too. Lush whipstick lip balm. This is one of my favourites.  It tastes and smells amazing.  Lastly is my origins super spot remover. I do like this but I probably wouldn't repurchase.  I thought it was brilliant at first but I'm going off it now.

For day cream I use Origins balanced diet.  You can see a full review of this in my save, spend, splurge series and for eye cream I use Origins Ginzing.  I really love this.  It's light and great for mornings and brightening.

For the evening I use a lot of things. I'll use either the Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus corrector or the Bioeffect EGF serum. I love both of these. Unfortunately the bioeffect serum is out of my budget for repurchase but I will be picking up the Clinique.  I really love this. It's light on the skin and feels great.  

For night cream I'm currently using Origins starting over. To be honest I don't like it. It feels like it sits on the skin rather than sinks in. It was a freebie so I'm trying to use it up. 

My evening eye cream is Origins perfect world for eyes. I love this. It's thick and sinks in well. It's perfect for night time.  As I'm oily skinned I don't like it for days. I really love origins eye creams. I think Clinique wins on face moisturiser for me. 

Lastly at night I apply vaseline to my eyelids after my eye cream focusing on my eyelashes.  I've heard it's good to make them grow plus someone I work with said she always does it and she's over 60 and has amazing eyes so it's worth a try.

Lastly I keep my inhalers and other medicine stuff I use regularly in there. It's so handy having everything to reach. I really need to find my cuticle oil and put that in.

What's your skincare must haves?  Do you use anything like vaseline on your eyelids?  

Love M

Xxx

Spending Ban Update 3

This week has been my OH birthday so it's been an expensive one with eating out and his presents.

Even though the spending ban is on we have had 3 meals to celebrate his birthday. 

Otherwise I have been pretty good. I'm trying my hardest to avoid town at the moment.

Uni and working are making me tired and lazy with my cooking which doesn't help spending.

My mum also asked me to pop to ikea for her. I was good and bought light bulbs and food for me there. The only naughty thing I got was a champagne flute as I love sparkling wine and it doesn't taste the same in a normal glass. Plus it was 70p so ok in my mind.

This weekend coming I'm going home. Not spending will be hard but I do have my money box at home so I may be naughty and tuck into that as my grandad still gives us money weekly bless him (no matter if we tell him he still does) it's a nice saver for me.

My Wishlist:

Mac Brick-o-la lipstick

Urban Decay Setting Spray

MUA Eyelid Primer

Illamasqua Pigment base

Origins Cheeks and Balance

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo

Daniel Sandler water colour blush

This week I'm adding:

RT brush set I don't have I can't find it in boots :-(

Elf brush cleaner

Elf brush and bronze duo.

How are your bans going?

Love M

Xxc

Spending Ban Update (3)

My spending ban hasn't been too bad this week.

I did cave and buy myself a new sonic toothbrush, but I feel that's not really a bad thing to buy.

In fact I'll be doing a post on it soon as I think an electric toothbrush is really important and there are currently some great offers on in Boots.

I picked up the Philips Sonicare Whitening toothbrush which currently has £63 off so is an obvious bargain.

It makes me think that because I'm not buying unnecessary things like clothes and make up i am actually buying things that are worth the money.

Unfortunately for me, my DVD player has broken. And although I don't really 'need' a new one, I reeeeeeeeeeally miss watching my films and I'm a little lost without it!

I am tempted to buy one when I get paid tomorrow and I've found one for £50 that has everything I need, but even so. Will have to see how much money I have left!

In other thoughts, here is my first wish list of items I am currently lusting over and cannot buy:

1) Macadamia oil hair mask. Having used a sample of this it is quite honestly one of the best and I need to get my hands on it and make my hair feel like silk again!

2) An Origins serum. I feel as my 25th birthday looms ever nearer that I need to take better care of my skin, as mentioned in lots of previous posts. I would like to invest in a serum to prevent further wrinkles and damage to my skin so hopefully I can pick up one of these soon.

3) Benefit boxed blushes. I clearly missed out on a few years of new products and now feel like my blush collection needs updating and revitalising with additional Benefit products.

4) A number of DVDs. I really want to update my DVD collection having not bought many in the past 5 years, I'm thinking Game of Thrones TV box sets along with others as well as ones like Magic Mike for some eye candy!

5) A new dress to go out in. I have my birthday coming up so I will be needing a new dress! No idea what type as op yet.....but I'm sure something slinky and figure hugging will be just the ticket!

How are you getting on with your spending bans? Link me to your wishlists if you have one!

L xxx