Urban Decay 24/7 Lip Pencil and Revolution Lipstick*

Afternoon all!

We've got a joint review for you today. From our visit to Urban Decay's event a few weeks ago we were given a Revolution Lipstick and a 24/7 Lip Pencil both in the colour Native.

The Revolution Lipsticks are classed as 'Creamy, badass luxury' which sounds pretty awesome to begin with.
They are rich buttery lipsticks with the usual colour payoff you would expect from Urban Decay products.

The cool custom designed gunmetal outer case is very sturdy and looks really cool, giving you a badass looking lipstick. It's chunky, easy to find in your bag and unlikely to get scratched, battered and broken.

I love how they've got the UD logo stamped on the top of the case, it looks really cool and the font is pretty funky.

Native is a pale pink colour that would be perfect for day at work or night with smokey eyes.

The Pigment Infusion System which is unique to UD gives it 'super creamy texture, insane pigmentation and superior colour dispersion and extended wear'.
Maxi Lip defines and hydrates lips making them look plumper and fuller and they also contain a blend of jojoba oil, avocado oil, cocoas butter and shea butter to keep lips hydrated and soft.

The amount of lipstick in the tube is also pretty impressive, I can imagine as you only need one swipe of product each time this would last quite a while.

Any lipstick is best paired with its respective lip pencil, and obviously having matching lip pencils UD have solved this problem completely.

Native lip pencil is also a pale pink colour matches the lip stick identically.
The 24/7 Glide on Lip Pencils stay put through anything, defining your lip line and priming your lips for the colour to be applied on top.

They are long lasting, waterproof and creamy, never dragging along your lips.

Having the barrel of the pencil shaded the exact same colour as the product makes it super easy to find them in your make up bag and they don't half look pretty as well! Imagine the rainbow of reds and pinks you could have!

Do what do they look like when used together?

Below I have applied the lip pencil onto my lips and you can see that its a really creamy formula and provides the perfect base for a lipstick or gloss to be applied over the top.

The above picture has the Revolution lipstick in Native applied and you can see how creamy and hydrating this is with an amazing colour pay off. It lasted really well on the lips too and I had a few hours of the hydrating creamy finish before eating took most of it away but the colour still stayed on my lips.

The 24/7 Glide On Lip Pencils are £13 and are available in 16 colours, the Revolution Lipsticks are £15 and are available in 22 different colours.
Looking at the range I'd love to try some brighter ones for the summer, Streak is a gorgeous coral pink and Obsessed is a super girly bright baby pink and I'd love them!

Have you seen the new colour ranges? What do you think of lip pencils?

L xxx

Hey All

Hope you're having a great weekend. I'm just enjoying a post gym chill out. This weekend has flown by for me!

It's fair to say L and I both love Urban Decay but until we went to a recent product showcase I wouldn't have thought of Urban Decay for lip products. I wear one of my Naked palettes everyday and don't think I could be without them.

I love the gun metal and purple packaging of the lipstick and the metal means it's robust in my handbag. So far so good as well with the lid not coming off! Lipstick covered in bag fluff is something no one wants!

For me lately I'm more of a bright lipstick type of person so this colour is a little pale on me. I have been using it more this week though as after dying my hair pink some reds are hard to pull off.

Native offers a perfect nude pink shade. I do love this colour for date nights too as it doesn't look too over the top. As with all Urban Decay products the pigmentation is amazing. One swipe gives opaque creamy comfortable colour. It seems to melt onto the lips so doesn't drag.

Lip liners are definitely lacking in my collection so a nude one was much needed. I love that it matches the lipstick. I have also found it works with other nudes I have which is great. For everyday I don't wear lip liners. I just can't sacrifice that time in the morning. I do love the clean look it gives to a lipstick though and how much I can define my cupids bow when using it.

These two pair together amazingly and with all Urban Decay products have great pigmentation. I love pairing it with Beso Naked gloss to warm the tone up and give a full glossy finish. I can't wait to try more of the lipsticks now and I'm already eyeing up the amazing Venom!

Love M

xxx

25 Before 26 Update

As a list lover I've been writing a fair few of them recently in order get my ass in gear and get things done. Not only are lists a vital part of my every day life, i.e. the boring reminders to pay bills and phone people, I try and get things crossed off my 'bucket list' in a timely manner.

Or not as it may seem!

I turned 26 last week and had a few tasks I was trying to complete to tick off some in my 101 things in 1001 days list (see here). I chose 25 tasks and tried to get them ticked off by my 26th birthday, lets see how well I did shall we?!

1: Visit another place in the UK, my aim is 5 and I've ticked off 2 - Visited a friend in N.Wales. Edinburgh and Glastonbury booked to complete my 5! 

2: Read 4 Classic Books. 20 was my aim and I've only read 1 so far. First is Robin Hood

3: Second is Frankenstein, I've heard its a great story and a complete classic

4:I also plan on reading the real Beauty and the Beast

5: The real Jungle Book

6: Wuthering Heights

7: Treasure Island

8: Dracula

9: and lastly the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. This is quite a list.....fingers crossed I get some time off soon! -

So I read the Hobbit, and also Beauty and the Beast which was a lovely 20 pages or so! Absolutely failed the rest.

10: Try 2 new foods. My aim is 10, surely 2 more can be done over Christmas! - Mushroom Pate and Watercress done!

11: Visit an art gallery; cannot think where this will be but I'll have to find one - this has not happened!

12: Give blood - did not happen, feel awful.

13: Work harder at toning up - Lost 3lbs of fat at my weigh in, hurrah!

14: I'd like to try rock climbing - Money killed this plan, maybe in a few months.

15: Start yoga/pilates - Never got round to it.

16: Gorge walking - Also didn't happen.

17. Running 10k - I ran 5 miles the other day,  I feel like this is good enough!

18: Go ziplining - booked for April!

19:Go to a gig - Nothing specific planned, apart from Glastonbury.

20: Learn to cook something new, one of each sweet and savoury. This won't happen any time soon, I'm so awful in the kitchen

21: Continue to plough through the excess of 'stuff' in my possession - Progressing!

22: Learn basic things to fix on a car - I think i can tick this one off now after running out of oil, lesson learnt!

23: Go to London over Christmas - This was AWESOME! Me and my mum had such a great time having an indulgent wander, we will definitely be going again next year.

24: Visit an Antique or Vintage Fair - Need to find one!

25: Write a short story. Not happening either!

Time has been a serious issue for me in completing these, not to mention I seem to have thought I'd won the lottery somewhere along the line to afford it!

But I have completed around 10 of these so at least I've progressed slightly!

I think training for Tough Mudder has taken over my life, I'm far too tired to read in the evenings any more after exercising for 5 of them.

Do you have any tasks you'd like to complete in the near future? Do you have any 101 things in 1001 days lists?

I'd love to see them!

L xxx

Fitness Fridays: Cafe Pure Cardiff

Hey there!

This week's fitness friday post is a little different as me and M went to a local cafe this week that has been getting so many good reviews. Cafe Pure can be found right next to the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff Bay and is dedicated to serving healthy and protein rich foods

First off, apologies for the lack of pictures of the place itself, its a very clean looking white and grey shop/seating area with wheatgrass growing down the middle of the bench tables, how cool!

By the time we finally got there and ordered we were so hungry we couldn't contain ourselves so you should think yourself lucky we have any pictures at all!

The menus are pretty simple, easy to read and set out in sections depending on the time of day and what you're after. It was a hard choice picking a meal knowing we could only have the one, we're going to have to go back and try everything else over the next few months!



Not only is it a super healthy menu with easy ways to customise your meal they've got everything broken down into macro nutrients at the side of each dish, absolutely love this!
Makes it so easy to decide what you want based on what you want to feed your body and not just what you want with your eyes (which by the way was EVERYTHING as we walked through seeing everyone elses food)





It took a little while but as we'd missed the breakfast slot (next time pancakes you are mine!) we settled on a Hot Box and a Power Shake to satisfy our hunger. We were tempted by the absolutely huge and tasty looking salads but as it was horrible weather outside we decided we both needed something warmer instead.

In true style of ourselves we ended up getting the exact same food and shake, although I chose chicken and M had steak.



Once you've ordered you're given a dumbell as your order number to take back to the table, its little things like this that makes the place what it is and everyone was so friendly and helpful there. The staff were all super smiley, beautiful and tanned which just makes us want to spend even longer there, surely the food will make us look like them right?!



Onto our actual meals, this was the power shake:



A whizzed up mix of banana, peanut butter, almond milk, ice and chocolate protein powder.
It was absolutely divine and not a patch on anything I've made myself, I've been dreaming about it ever since and need to get another one soon.
As a firm fan of the definitely not so healthy Ed's Diner shakes I can honestly say I prefer the taste of this one which is better all round really!




M decided to eat hers so fast there was no chance of getting a picture of the steak hot box, but here is the grilled chicken version - I'm much more restrained:



It was super tasty, the teriyaki sauce was the perfect portion for the meal and as a self confessed sauce lover I definitely need to remember the portion size of this as I think it's my downfall!
The homemade slaw was also really good and contained a good mix of seasonal veg.

All in all it was a filling, tasty, healthy meal and both the hot box and the shake came to a total of £9. I think the meal was worth every penny and will certainly be going back for more.

They have tonnes of stuff on their menu I'd like to try including pretty much all of the salads, the steak and eggs, blueberry pancakes and anything else involving peanut butter! They also have wheatgrass shots which I've never tried but will have to just to see what they are like.
For a menu that contains everything i could ever want at decent prices I will certainly be making a return........very soon.


The only downside I can see to this place is the opening hours. Open from 7.30-3 Monday to Friday and 9-1 on a Saturday means that for people like myself I could only ever visit on a Saturday due to my working hours. I'd love to take friend there for a healthy meal during the week and I bet it would make a roaring trade on a Sunday with visitors to the bay especially over the summer. Pretty please Cafe Pure can you extend these hours?!
It is not surprising that this place was very busy when we were then on an average Friday lunchtime, imagine what it could be like in the future.

Have you tried Cafe Pure yet? Are you into healthy meals and reading macro contents?

I need to study this menu and incorporate it into my diet for my training for Tough Mudder, or maybe I'll just move in!

L xxx

NOTD: Barry M Rose Quartz Nail Paint

Good morning!

I've got a quick nails post for you today with a polish that I've had my eyes on for a very long time.

Barry M's Rose Quartz

This beauty has plagued my dreams for a while, I mean rose pink, glitter, and the bargain prices of Barry M, what's not to love!
I'm really not sure why I haven't bought it, I think its a lot of the 'I can buy it when I'm poor' mentality when I should have just bought it anyway.

The polish is as you would expect, extremely glittery and I couldn't stop staring at it. It could be used as a top coat or as a full on disco ball look if you layer it up.

It's a clear polish with tiny bits of glitter polish and also hexagon shaped pieces of larger glitter.

I am allowed to wear nail polish to work but I feel something too outrageous may commented on, so instead I stuck with a simple look for my first attempt at wearing the polish.

I used Essie's Ballet Slippers on all of my nails and applied 2 coats; then I applied 2 coats of the Barry M Rose Quartz to my ring finger for a bit of sparkle!


It applied really easily and was just enough to look girly without being too over the top:

For the weekend I'd apply this ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL over my nails in multiple layers for an amazing discoball look. The rose quartz colour is super flattering on my skin tone and would be great for fingers or toes, day or night and would especially be good for weddings!

I've had this on my nails all week and it hasn't chipped yet, which in a lab is pretty damn good going!

What do you think of Barry M's polishes? Do you love their range of colours and finishes?

Which would be your No.1 recommendation?

L xxx