FOTD Every day Cranberry eyes

Whoo no Monday blues here today. I'm spending the day with my parents today as they are coming over to visit my other half and me. Hope you've got some good plans for the Bank Holiday if you are lucky enough not to be working!

I really like doing and reading FOTDs. My make up skills aren't that great but I definitely think reading and writing blogs is helping improve them. I picked up Mac Cranberry eyeshadow a while back (you can read that haul here). After watching a YouTube Video by Tanya Burr I just had to have it. It was a colour I didn't think I would wear all that much but still had to have.

Pictured with the Beautiful Plumful Lipstick! Cranberry is a shimmery red shade with a hint of lilac. Not all that wearable on first glance but I actually probably wear this four days a week. I love the way it looks on me and people tend to comment on how pretty a colour it is!

To start with I applied a base of Porefessional, Mac Pro longwear (review) and erase paste (review).

I tend to wear it as a crease colour over Tease from Naked 2 palette (a matte light brown shade). I blend Tease through my crease and apply a generous amount of cranberry over the top and into my outer V. I apply Bootycall over the lid first as base. It's a shimmery nude shade or Mac Naked Lunch. 

To deepen the outer corner I apply the smallest amount of Blackout (a matte black) and blend well. I then finish off the eyes with a flick of gel liner!

I add a small amount of blackout under the lash line and blend well so it doesn't look too much. I then put on lashings of mascara. I'm such a mascara girl. I love my lashes to look full and fake so tend to wear 3 different Mascaras. My current winning combination is to use Givenchy Phenomen'eyes as a bottom lash mascara and then Lancome Hypnose Doll lashes and YSL Shocking (review) on the upper lashes. I picked all of these up in duty free last year and would definitely repurchase all of them next time I have the money too. I'm dreading them running out.

For the cheeks I go subtle as I wear so much on the eyes! If you've read the blog of my tweets you may know I'm obsessed with the combination of Benefit Dandelion (review) and Liz Earle Natural Glow Bronzer (review).

For brows it couldn't be anything other than Benefit Brow Zings (review)! And Powder is Natural Collection loose powder.

Last but not least this gorgeous warm red lipstick is No7 Stay Perfect lipstick in Grace! I'd recommend testing these in store as the colours are nothing like on line. They are a little drying but I love them still. 

Love M

xxx

   

Spring Series: Make Up

This is the last in our Spring Series (you can see the rest of our posts here). Today is all about spring make up.

It's this time of your all my dark berry lipsticks get pushed to the back and my bright vibrant pinks start to make an appearance again. I absolutely love a bold lipstick and bright pinks are my favourite for the spring time.

Here are a few of my favourites

Also I start to load on the bronzer more in the hope to look more sun kissed. For me there is no better than Liz Earle Natural Glow Bronzer (review here). I start to use it for more than just contouring and start to add a bronzed look too my face.

I tend to apply more highlighter through Spring too. I crave that natural luminous glowy skin. I've previously raved about MAC MSF in Soft and Gentle (review here). It gives a soft sparkly highlight and blends effortlessly into the skin.

Lately I'm also loving MeMeMe Sunbeam. This is a cheap version of the Benefit product. I find this gives a soft highlight to the skin and is less sparkly. Perfect for day times.

During spring I usually like a slightly bright blush to match my now bright lips. This is where Sleek comes in. Hello amazing pigmentation. I love my Blush by 3 Palette in Lace (review here). I love all the colours in this and using the middle one means I don't need to highlight. The red shade looks gorgeous blended in and I surprised myself with how much I liked an orange blush.

Excuse the dodgy photos! I'm surprised how much my photos have improved over the time of the blog

I really want the sleek Pink Spirit palette now. Maybe that can be my treat after my new challenge.

Lastly base, this changes in the spring. I've also been a full foundation girl but that is definitely changing. During spring this year I'll be favouring No7 tinted moisturiser and my Laura Mercier Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser.  If my skin does need a bit more I'll be reaching for Mac Studio Fix Fluid.

I like my skin being able to breath more than with a foundation on. I really like both of these and will definitely be repurchasing the No7 one. I've not used the Laura Mercier one enough to comment yet but can't wait to more. I find both of these pretty good even on my Oily/Combination skin. For ages I was put off tinted moisturisers so I'm glad to have found these.

As for lips it's time to bring out all the bright colours, hello corals, pinks and oranges. Here are some of my favourites

Maybelline 10 h Tint Gloss Forever Fuchsia (review) Avon Perfect Kiss Berry Smooch (review) Kate Moss No 20 (review) Kate Moss Matte Collection Shade 110 (review) Mac Shine Supreme Fashion City, Mac Amplified Chatter Box (review) Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Satins in Smitten and Rendezvous (review)

The Swatches are in Lipstick Order. 

Lastly I like to play with my eyeshadow on the weekend. When It's a bright day outside I love to play with my make up. I have a few brighter eyeshadows and I like to blend these through the crease and then smoke them out of use them under my bottom lashes to add a splash of bright colours. I do this with the colours from my Naked 2 palette making up the base and neutral shades!

Here are some of my favourites!!

What do you change during the spring months? Does your make up change to prepare for summer?

Love M

xxx

I am yet to find my perfect tinted moisturiser, I just can't seem to find one that it light enough but covers enough of my blemishes without making me oily and blotchy.

If you have any suggestions let me know!

I like using the Revlon PhotoReady Airbrush Mousse as it's light and even though it has really good coverage I don't feel like it clogs up my skin.

After this I do also apply concealer to my undereyes and any blemishes I have. My current favourite for this is Benefit's Fake Up as my skin s still so dehydrated the additional moisturisation is necessary to help it blend. 

After setting with powder I then apply my favourites; Benefit's Dallas and Coralista which hopefully on a daily basis gives me definition and glow like this:

I love using Benefit's Brow Zings too, lots of love for Benefit in today's post!

M was kind enough to give me her spare Brow Zings kit and I've completely fallen in love with it. It's in light and even though my brows are pretty much black I think it looks better than dark might because of how pale my skin is, and I can't go without my brows being defined!

Depending on what I'm doing that day, I might apply some nude eyeshadow to define my eye shape by using  my Naked Basics palette or Theodora before applying eyeliner in a winged effect.

After that it's lashings of mascara and it's time to apply some bright lippy!

Normally pink is the perfect colour so I might wear Mac's Nicki Minaj lipstick (shown below) or Rimmel Apocalips in Stellar.

Otherwise my latest purchase Vegas Volt is also a really good red/orange colour that seems to go with everything!

What are your favourite products for a Spring Make up look??

L xxx

Urban Decay Oz Palette: Theodora

I'm sure the world of bloggers own at least one Urban Decay palette (I own 4...) and the Oz palettes will be no exception.

When these bad boys came out I obviously needed one of them And by one I obviously meant both (!)



I was lucky enough to get the Theodora palette as one of my presents from my parents for my birthday.
I was massively excited and knew that I obviously needed to purchase the Glinda palette with my remaining birthday money to complete the collection.
A post on this will be coming up soon I can assure you!

The box contains the palette itself, a Super Saturated Lip Stick in the most beautiful red and also an instruction card which details how to create Theodora's face, played by the beautiful Mila Kunis.

Anything magical generally catches my eye, particularly all of these adaptations of childhood fairy tales.
I loved Hansel and Gretel, Alice in Wonderland and Snow White and the Huntsman!

I love the outer packaging for this, the dark and stormy colours with some celestial clouds look mystical and take me back to my childhood, who doesn't want to be a princess??
I love even more that theres a goody and baddy, a palette for all your moods and possible eye make up creations!

As for inside the palette:

There are a range of nude single colours and then two separate duo colours containing and black and a gold, and two varying sage green shades.
In the centre is also one of their 24/7 black pencil eyeliners which was a surprise for me as I only knew about the palette and lip pencil initially!

Here are the colours again in natural light. I do love the arrangement but part of me wonders why there isn't a space for the pencil too. It would be so much easier if you could carry them all together in one case and know that you have a look sorted if necessary.

You can see the palette and the corresponding names on the back of the original box in the above photo.

Names like Beware and Bewitch always make me want them more, they sound much more mysterious don't you think??



Having tried 'lip sticks' like the Revlon Just Bitten lip stains I was dubious about the pencil type lip stick but it actually is just that; lipstick in the shape of a pencil.

It's so soft and glides right onto lips with great colour pay off, it's really soft and moisturising too and I can see me getting a lot of wear from it.

You can see the colour when applied to my lips in the photo below. It's a great 'true' red and will suit all skin tones. You can easily draw the colour on using the pencil and the lipstick isn't hard on your skin at all like others are.

In fact the only issue I can find with this lip product is that it may even be too soft, as the pencil has in fact gone flat after a few uses and I'm a bit stumped as to how to get it back again. Sure, i could sharpen it.....but I'd have to buy a new one to accommodate its larger size and then I'm not sure it would sharpen well as it's so soft?! Dilemma!


So here are a few photos I've taken with my make up done using the Theodora palette on various occasions.
I've used the Super Saturated High Gloss Lip Color Theodora lipstick both times for the sake of continuity and all the eye shadows are from the Theodora palette!

The above three were completed using the duo eyeshadow called Jealous, along with Broken as a base and inner eye shade and West for the outer corner and crease.

The three pictures below all show the look created with Broken again as a base and inner eye colour, Beware and Bewitch as the main shades and West again in the crease:

I love how they're both so wearable and the red lip colour makes my teeth so white!

This is a great palette for those just starting out as the nudes and browns can be worn by anyone and the black/gold and green duo shadows are great ones to experiment with. They're staple colours in anyones make up wardrobe and i order you to buy this!

For £35 you get 6 shadows (8 really!), an eyeliner and a lip color making each item a bargainous £3.50.
They're also limited edition so don't miss out on these!

Which Urban Decay palette is your favourite?? Glinda will be coming up in a review soon!

L xxx

Real Techniques: 3 for 2!

I am super excited to share some personal news with you all....
Over the past 2/3 years I've been hunting for a job related to my degrees and have applied for around 300 in total which is quite peachy really (rage)
I am so unbelievably happy though because out of the blue I have finally got myself the most amazing job, its pretty decent pay and will give me all of the experience that I'm looking for to move forward for the future.

If I'm with them for a while they are also willing to pay for me to do a PhD which is almost unheard of in this current climate!
So I fully plan on celebrating this weekend with a few drinks, starting with Thursday night with M woop!

Anyway....back to the review :)



As always when a 3 for 2 deal is on in Boots I cannot resist picking up some new RT brushes as I'm sure most of you would do the same.

I have had my eye on the eye make up brush set for a while but haven't got round to getting it as I want to get the most of my money and can never find something that is the same value.

So to make up for this I picked up a shading brush, setting brush (one of M's favourites) and foundation brush.
No matter how many eye and face brushes I pick up I never seem to have enough!

I love that these brushes are colour coded depending on their function, it makes them so much easier to find in my fairly large make up bag, especially at 6.30am!

I tend to grab as many of the brushes as I can in the morning and attempt to lay them out in some sort of colour order and then i can see what I have to work with as I normally do it in 10 minutes so speed is key!

The shading brush is definitely a worthy purchase, I am always running low on eye brushes due to the fact I use so many different colour throughout the week and don't wash them until the weekends. This means that any light colours are normally overshadowed by the darker ones and as I have my favourite brushes don't rotate them anywhere near as much as I should!

The shading brush fits perfectly on my eye lid to cover it, fill in the crease and highlight at the inside of the eye. For evening looks it can be used to apply colour underneath too but I find this too heavy for day time normally.
It's super easy to use and a pleasure to paint my face on with, it makes blending easy and I'd quite happily buy a couple more of these!

The setting brush was suggested to me by M who absolutely raves about it. To be honest, initially I didn't see how it was much different from the contour brush which I already owned but now i can see how wrong I was!
This brush is so fluffy and soft and makes applying powder around your eyes and nose (particularly to set concealer) very easy and precise so it ensures your base stays on in all the right places.
I wouldn't say this brush was a necessity....purely because if you're patient enough you can use other brushes but to complete a collection it definitely has it's place and for the make up obsessed I'd get your hands on it!

Lastly the foundation brush was initially a massive disappointment.
I'd bought it to add to my collection of face brushes which as we all know get used up pretty fast and its such a chore to clean them regularly!

I had high hopes as I love the expert face and buffing brush.

Unfortunately this happened....

We all know that one of the best factors about Real Techniques brushes is the fact that they don't malt.One of my pet hates is applying my make up and having bits of hair all over my face from brushes.

They're annoying and almost always take forever to pick off your face and most often take off some make up too, so I was gutted when the hairs came out of the brush in clumps.

However after tweeting a picture of this to the Real Techniques account I was told to fill out their online form with details and the photo and within days a replacement had been sent to me.

I couldn't believe the outstanding customer service that they provided and not only did they replace the brush super fast, they emailed to let me know every step of the way and included a free kabuki brush as a way of an apology:

I couldn't believe how generous they were and although I sing their praises quite a bit, now they are so high up in my estimations that its going to take quite a lot to top them!!

I've been using the kabuki brush the past week or so and will do a separate post on this to do it justice!

What do you think of Real Techniques brushes? Which are your favourite?

Have you received some amazing customer service recently??

Gold stars all around for RT!!!

L xxx