Benefit's BrowZings

Hi ladies!

I've been having an absolutely crazy past few weeks and cannot wait for this weekend to chill out and catch up on some much needed sleep and relaxation.
To top it off work has been hectic with so many people being off on holiday and leaving me to do things which is stressful seeing as I have only been there 2 months.
I cannot wait for my own space and time again!

A staple of my current work make up bag is obviously a brow product, I'm a firm believer in defining brows for your face and not fighting your natural shape. I love big and beautiful brows and I wish mine were a bit Cara Delevigne, but unfortunately I'm out of luck.

Instead I use this very trusty kit from Benefit, which you will of course have heard about. I know i seem a bit behind the times but it took me a while to come around to a brow kit and I have no idea why!

This kit is a perfect compact set of products and tools to shape and define your brows on the go or at home to set yourself up for the day.

It contains a wax for shape, powder for setting, tweezers for shaping and two brushes to help use the powder and wax.

As with all Benefit products it contains a booklet with a lesson inside, which are usually pretty good but this one especially was helpful when using a brow kit.
The technique can take a bit of practice to get your brows just right, so they're not taking over your face but are neatly defined. It can be daunting and a bit off putting, but these lesson booklets are great.

The step by step guide as shown above is super helpful and typical of Benefit products.

I'm sure you'll agree with me, the packaging is perfect! Super cute and perfectly compact, it's contains everything you need. The black print on the outside is also pretty cool, I love all of their packaging but this is one of my favourites as it's so simple.

There are 3 colours, light, medium and deep.
I have almost black eyebrows and super pale skin, which has meant that it has been hard to find a brow kit that is the right colour for me.
My brows, although dark, are not the red tone that lots of brow kits seem to have in the darker shade which is quite frustrating, but when M gave me this one to try I was amazing that the light was a perfect shade!

M has informed that apparently Tanya Burr also uses the light colour, which just confirms everything really doesn't it!
I couldn't resist having a quick use before photographing so let's give me a quick slap on the wrist for that....

You can see the wax and powder in the photos and the tools that come with it:

I find this kit so easy to use i am annoyed at myself for not trying it before!
The photos below show my brow before and after using the kit (apologies for different lighting, my camera was having issues!)

You can see that without any product in them my brows are quite long but are patchy at the beginning and a bit straggly at the ends.
The wax allows me to create a more defined shape, and the powder fills in the patchy bits so they look more uniform.

I adore using the Brow Zings kit and I'm so grateful to M for giving me a spare one that she had.

It really has completely changed the way I do my brows and therefore my make up every day of my life!

Do you use Brow Zings? Have you picked a colour different to the one you thought you'd be?

L xxx

NOTD Dandelion Nail Art

I've been missing doing nail art lately and after seeing a really cute design on Glossy boxes twitter page I decided to have a play around.

After a bit of googling (glossy box didn't credit the person who did the nails) I find the cute design was done by Mad Manis (blog here). She's got some great nail art designs on her blog so next time I need inspiring I'll be going back.

I love how simple and cute this design is (I need a steadier hand it would seem)

I really like the sky grey/blue shade used as a base but didn't have anything similar so mixed some. I started off with a base of OPI Dating a Royal (which is a colour I absolutely adore. I forgot to photo this so used an old photo)

Next I put a layer of No7 grey skies on top.

And finished with a coat of Avon Blue Water Lillies. This deepened the Blue Water Lillies coloured.

For the desigin it's self I used my models own nail art pens. Disappointingly though my black pen has become blocked and doesn't work anymore so I has to use a cocktail stick which is why my black is a little messier than I wanted. 

I painted 3 nails with black sticks towards the tip of the nail. On top of the black sticks I then painted thin strips of white to look like the head of the dandelion.

For the other nails I painted a few wishes on them to look like the dandelions had been blowing. I did paint my top coat too soon and smudge them a bit.

I really like this design and really want to try it again and get it a bit neater like the brilliant original.

Are you a nail art fan? Is this something you'd try?

Love M

xxx

Revlon Mauve it Over Matte Lipstick

Hope you've all had a great bank holiday weekend! L and I have had a great one and were suffering yesterday so forgot to write a post.

Today is my newest lipstick to add to my now ridiculously large collection *cough* over 50 *cough*. In boots a few weeks ago they had some of the Revlon line on 2 for £10 including the new lash potion mascara which retails for £9.99. As I hadn't tried it before I decided to pick up a new lipstick as well.  

I've been wanting a more matte nude lipstick for a while. I love my Mac Fanfare lipstick (review here) but sometimes find it is too shiny for some looks. I remember seeing good things about the Revlon matte range on YouTube so decided to give it a go.

After swatching all the matte shades in Boots I settled on Mauve it over. It looked like a great neutral lipstick and felt soft on the hand.

The packaging is simple and classic in black and gold but what I really like it that the top of the lid is see through so you can easily tell the colour. This works great for me for the way I store my lipsticks.

On the hand the lipstick looks slightly more orange toned than it does on the lips. I find it to be very similar to my natural lip shade. It is a almost rose toned lipstick.

Even though it has yellow tones I don't find it makes my teeth look yellow which is always a good thing. I find blue toned neutral shades just look strange on my skin tone. I love the way the lipstick applies. It glides onto the lips and is opaque in one swipe. I find it doesn't really dry my lips out either which is always a bonus.

I love how natural the colour is and find this so easy to wear for everyday and going out. I wore it when I was a bridesmaid a few weeks ago. I love it for a night out as I find it just completes the look without taking anything away from a dramatic eye look. This lipstick has stayed in my handbag since I got it as I find it just easy to wear.

I'm loving this formulation and now want more of the shades.

It's still on offer for 2 for £10 in boots so technically free if you want to try the new Lash Potion. A great choice if you want a new everyday lip colour.

Love M

xxx

Hen Weekend

Hello!

We are both SO excited for the bank holiday weekend. We've made plans for both nights out and also have plans to eat and watch films on the 'hangover' days in between!
I think some serious products will be used over the next few days!

Last weekend we both went to our friends hen weekend near Hungerford which involved some afternoon tea and lots of drinks!



The venue was Oakly Hall, an amazing estate dating back to the 1700s, it was LUSH!
We had the afternoon tea in a library which I absolutely loved, I am book obsessed and dream about having a library one day. 

Even the tables and chairs were really cute and I loved the whole theme!

I wore a beige dress with pink flowers on, nice and girly for the sophisticated setting!

M wore jeans and blue and white spotty top:

As I'm (unfortunately) allergic to champagne I got to have some Pimms whilst everyone else tucked into flutes of the good stuff!

The food was amazing, it was a huge tower of sandwiches, warm scones, profiteroles, tarts and brownies:

I somehow managed to eat loads but only just!
It was amazing and so filling but after our drive I was feeling pretty hungry.

Just look at the jam and cream for the scones! I do love cake, its one of my vices whenever I'm in a bad mood or trying to lose a few pounds....cake always gets me!

For the night out we all got glammed up and went out to a club in Newbury. It was so much fun and great to go somewhere different to our usual places.

Here's a photo of us during the night:

I wore an Olivia Rubin dress that I bought a few years ago for a birthday night out. I teamed it with my black wedges from New Look, bangles from Internacionale, nude bag from River Island and necklace from Topshop.
I curled my hair with a wand which is my favourite way to do my hair and went for classic make up with a nude smokey eye, winged liner and red lips!

M wore a flowery playsuit from New Looks tall range a few years ago with New Look Black Wedges (such comfy shoes), a statement necklace from River Island, with Thomas Sabo bracelets and teamed it with my black leather obi belt from Mango.

It was such a fun night and were hoping to have a great time again this weekend!

The wedding is coming up in September and we cannot wait for it now. We've both got our dresses sorted and we're working hard at the gym to make sure we look our best!
It might be our friends wedding and not our own but that doesn't mean we don't have to make an effort right?!

I can't wait to start getting ready for it and to see her walking down the aisle! She'd made a lot of the decorations for it so it's going to be really personal.

Do you have any friends getting married soon?

L xxx