Everyday Favourites: Make up

I've decided to start sharing some of my favourites with you all. I find it easy to forget the things I use everyday and love. I thought I'd start by sharing some of my make up favourites.

Bourjois Intuitive Liner (Review)

I've always been a gel liner girl and if I was using liquid liner I would use the ones with the pot rather than the felt tip style. This liner has completely converted me. It's so easy to use and I love the triple dot tip so it can be used to add thickness to your lashes or as a liquid liner.

Urban Decay Naked 2

I've actually never reviewed this on the blog. As there are so many reviews on it I didn't bother. I was one of those of those people who loved the MUA palettes and thought spending £36 on a palette was stupid and couldn't be worth it. In America last year I picked this one up and was so impressed. My poor MUA palettes don't get a look in. I use this most days. I love all the colours in it and have hit pan on some. It's so easy to use and can create loads of different looks. Definitely worth the money. I'm drooling over Naked 3 now.

Revlon Colour Stay in Buff (Review)

I recently rediscovered this. When I first tried it I instantly loved it. I had two bottles so when I used one up I left the other one until I had used up more of my products. I've recently been using it again and I love it. The colour choice is amazing for pale girls and the coverage is perfect. It doesn't cake and lasts pretty much all day on me. It great all rounder.

Benefit BrowZings (Review)

I look back at old photos before I used to fill my brows in and they look so pale. I love a good defined brow and think it makes such a difference. The powder and wax combination is great and easy to use. I don't personally use the brushes provided as they are small and annoy me. The lightest shade is perfect for me and my ever changing hair colour. I use this most days now and I'm definitely addicted.

Liz Earle Natural Glow Bronzer (Review)

This is literally a must have product for me. Since Christmas last year I'd say I've worn this 97% of the time. It's amazing. It's matte, the perfect colour and blends onto the skin flawlessly and lasts. I love using it to contour and bronze and I've only just hit pan now.

Benefit Dandelion Blush (Review)

I have only started using blush in the last 2 and a half years. As someone with naturally rosey cheeks I always used to use foundation to cover them and thought applying blush over the top was stupid. How wrong was I. I love blush now and this is my all time favourite. A soft pink colour with the softest shimmer and it's great for me as I can't go over the top.

So that's my must have make up items. Are any of these on yours? What are your make up items you can't go without?

Love M

xxx

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick Dark Night Waterl-Oops

Hope you've all had a great weekend. I've spent a long weekend with the family so it's been lush and chilled. I popped to my local town with my mum on Friday to pick up a few bits. Since dying my hair lilac I've been wanting more purple toned lip products. I've got a colour in my head but struggled to find it on the high street. I've spent a lot time looking through the different stands but when I found this one I had to pick it up.

Dark Night Waterl-oops (random name!) is one of the reformulated their moisture renew range and bought out some new colours. Diva Red is one of my favourite reds so I was excited to try other colours in the range. 

I prefer the new packaging as the old one seems to look tatty in my make up storage now and the purple colour is peeling off which won't happen on this. It feels sturdy enough at the moment so no lids coming off in the handbag hopefully.

Dark night waterl-oops is such a pigmented colour. Rimmel lipsticks I've tried are amazing for this. I love that one swipe gives such a strong colour.

I love the colour of Dark night waterl-oops. In the swatch it shows it's more pink tones. The colour can be applied with more of a dabbing motion and smudged a little to get a gorgeous softer colour. It really reminds me of Mac Rebel which was another selling point for me as I've wanted that colour for ages.

Here it is built up on the lips. Excuse my slightly wobbly line as I've been at my parents I didn't pack a lip brush. I think dark lip colours look much better applied with a brush. It gives such a gorgeous purple berry tone when applied directly from the bullet.

When applied from the bullet it is gives a soft glossy finish and does feel moisturising on the lips and lasts really well. It is smooth to apply and doesn't drag.

If smudged out or applied lightly I did find it to be a little drying on the lips but nothing a bit of lip balm before application wouldn't fix.

Have you tried the new moisture renew lipsticks? Would you brave a dark colour?

Love M

xxx

Rapid Lash Eyelash Enhancing Serum

A good few months back Rapid Lash tweeted asking for people to try their Rapid Lash. Rapid Lash is something I've always wanted to try but couldn't part with the money for it myself. Who wouldn't want longer, better conditioned and more fluttery lashes.

Rapid lash is a serum that you apply to the lashline before bed. It comes in an applicator similar to a liquid liner and is a clear liquid.

Rapid lash contains 6 key ingredients that help to condition and improve lashes. Polypeptides help prevent lashes breaking and help improve volume. Biotin maintains healthy lashes. Panthenol (provitamin B5)seals moisture into the lashes to keep them nourished. Amino acids boost protein synthesis helping the lashes grow more. Soybean Oil is full of vitamins to improve lashes and lastly Pumpkin Seed Extract which is high in zinc and amino acids to support growth and make lashes look more voluminous.

So the biggest question is does it work. I find to be honest to remember every night is hard. I think I've probably used it 5 nights out of 7 for the first 8 weeks and probably 3 or 4 since. It is starting to run out now but it has lasted about 16 weeks so far.

Here are my lashes before. I have very fair lashes. I've always thought they were reasonably long but the last year or so they haven't felt as long.

And the after. I've found it hard to photograph and show the difference on mine as my lashes are longer at the tips but also seem to be blonder and fine the bits that have grown. For me I didn't notice any difference for about 8 weeks. I then started to notice when I'd applied my mascara my lashes were looking fuller, longer and they looked more fluttery.

I'm gutted my tube is coming to the end as I really like this. Due to money situations spending £39 on this isn't something I can justify. I think this type of product is the product I'd love as a present. It's one of those splurges I can't justify but would love to receive.

Have you tried rapid lash? Would you consider it?

Love M

xxx


Rapid lash were kind enough to send us both a tube of their infamous lash serum and although I am very lucky to have long lashes I have very sensitive eyes and my constant eye rubbing of my red and dry eyes (bad habit!!!) has caused them to fall out a little and they've felt a lot more coarse.

Unfortunately for me I didn't have any positive effects in terms of lash lengthening but I did have a massive improvement in the condition of my lashes. For this purpose pictures are totally pointless as its by touch that I can feel a difference.

It was really interesting to use a lash serum so I really appreciate the opportunity to try this out. The condition of my lashes definitely improved, but sadly my lashes didn't lengthen as I would have liked.

L xxx

Winter Staples

Hello!

I've been loving the colder weather recently, not so much the storms and the rain but my favourite clothes are winter ones. I just love wrapping up in layers and putting on chunky knits, boots and coats.

I thought I'd share my favourite winter clothing items today to see if yours are the same!

Leather Jacket:

I absolutely love wearing my leather jacket. It seems to go with everything I choose to wear, and for every occasion. Admittedly it's not normally the warmest item of clothing I have in my wardrobe but the fact you can layer it up means it is still a staple, and can help with the transition between months and the outdoors/indoors.

I love casually slinging it on, if only it looked as good on me as in the picture above!

Chunky knits:

You can't possibly go through winter without involving a chunky knit item in your wardrobe.
Scarves are an easy addition and fully functional, as if you needed any excuse to buy something!

I find the bigger the better when it comes to chunky knits, they're definitely more snuggly.

These jumpers from Zara are amazing, I'm hoping they're not from a previous season so I can get my hands on them. They're perfect for trousers for work and with jeans for weekends, plus with the added bit of sparkle can be worn during evenings too!

I always stick with neutral colours as I find them easy to mix and match and I find they suit me most.

Lastly, nobody can be without a hat during the winter.
I used to be firmly in the 'terrified' camp for hats, but having bought myself a huge furry one last year this year it was time for a chunky knit bobble hat.

I've fallen in love with it already and cannot wait to wear it more often.


Boots:

 

I adore boots.

I spent a lot of money on them a few years ago and now they've fallen apart or gone out of fashion. I've tried to be more sensible with my choices this time and have recently picked up a pair of knee high leather boots which are a classic style and hopefully they will last a long time.

They seem to make any outfit come together and can keep your feet a whole lot warmer than other shoes during winter, and more importantly in Britain....drier!

I tend to steer clear of suede purely for the rain reasons, suede boots are beautiful but I refuse to ruin shoes with a puddle again. Leather is definitely my friend.

These boots are beautiful and I'd love to get my hands on some like this!

Mine are similar in design apart from there's no gold bit and they have buckles at the calf level which you can adjust if necessary. They're so comfortable and were definitely a good purchase!

Coats:

Ahhhhh possibly my favourite of the lot.

Coats are amazing, I love my dressing gown and I feel like they're an outside version.

Trench coats are my particular favorite because I'm curvy and need to belt the waist to make me look like I have any shape at all.

Wool coats are definitely worth the investment and I'd love to get my hands on the black one above. It's so chic and the collar is beautiful.

Blacks, tans, greys and khaki colours are all wearable and I'd snap up any that I'd see given half a chance.
The above khaki coloured cape from Zara is beautiful with the leather details, maybe I'll add a cape to my wardrobe this year, but I'd need to find one with holes for hands so I can still function!

I feel like I've been quite boring with my choice of colours for this post but I really am a neutral and classic kind of person. However I absolutely love the bottle greens, deep reds and jewel colours such as maroons and purples and teals. I also love adding some sparkle with embellished tops and accessories.

What do you think of my Winter Staples? Are yours the same?

What kind of boots and coats do you prefer?

I cannot wait to go shopping in the sales, I can't afford much right now but I'm hoping to pick up some bargains this year. Fingers crossed I can pick up some wardrobe staples like a wool coat or different style of leather boot. What will you be looking for?

(all pictures are from Pinterest and none are my own, that site has the best pictures - I could spend hours on it!)

L xxx