Urban Decay Black Magic 24/7 Eye Pencil Set

It's pretty obvious that Urban Decay has claimed a good few hundred of my pretty pounds this year. Their palettes are pretty amazing and good value for quality products and their gift sets are always worth picking up.

The Black Magic 24/7 Glide on Double Ended Eye Pencil Set is one of those!

If the packaging hasn't already drawn you in with its really cool neon coloured watercolour effect in the background then the 4 double ended pencils in wearable colours will.

With 4 black ends and 4 coloured ends you are sure to find ones that will suit you. I always find these sets are the best for finding colours that you might not have tried but are actually your favourites. Having tried Smoke previously in another travel set I know now how much wear I'll get from it, and won't need to worry about it disappearing now that I've got another....

Let's be honest, if you ever wear an eyeliner it is likely to be a black one isn't it?

That was my thinking for picking up this set and knowing how much usage I'd get from it. If I'm likely to use colours in my eye make up it's green and purples, which was how i knew this set was for me.

Granted I still want the other Christmas set with Ten of the pencils with their infamous Perversion liner and Grindhouse sharpener, but this one was definitely the one for value for money for me.

So how do the colours match up?

Zero is paired with Demolition. Zero is classed as a zealous cream black and Demolition is a deep brown matte.

I have Zero from a palette I've bought previously and it's a pretty good black liner, though not the same as Perversion. Demolition is a colour I wouldn't have picked up but actually it's a really good alternative to black for those days when you're wearing nudes. It gives a much softer look and I know I'll be wearing it for work days. There are swatches at the end of the post for each pencil if you'd like to skip to them.

Perversion needs no introduction but in case you haven't used it it's the blackest of matte black liners that you will ever use. LSD is a navy shimmer with a bright turquoise micro sparkle. I wear a lot of this colour on my eyes so I'm already looking forward to getting this out during the party season.

Black Market is described as a charcoal black satin. If I'm honest I didn't realise so many liners could be created for one colour but now I've used these I can see differences in every one. Tornado is a dark eggplant pearl colour, I love wearing purples as they bring out the green in my hazel eyes and liners like this make it an easy addition. This colour is so pretty and subtle that I would consider wearing it to work with grey nudes.

Black Velvet is a rich smoky black matte and it is paired with Smoke is a deep grey matte. I've already written about it previously in a post here.
I've been wearing it to work a lot of days since I bought the mini set and will probably wear it more now I know i have a spare as back up!

The four pencils are a really good addition to anyone's make up bag but particularly if you like black liners and creating smoky eyes. I think these would also be great for adding a bit more definition to a nude eye design that you would wear to work every day. I'd take these in my handbag if I was going from work out for food or drinks as it would be an easy way to change your look along with a swipe of lipstick too.

You can see the blacks all on the left of the pairings and the colours on the right. Demolition is a lovely brown and the micro sparkle in LSD is clear to see in the centre. Tornado is the purple at the bottom which is hard to see but definitely catches in the light and Smoke is on the furthest right hand side.

This set would be great as a gift and costs £27 for the four pencils meaning they cost £6.75 each or £3.40 per colour. Seeing as a full size pencil retails at £15 each you really are getting quite a bargain if you know you won't use the full size pencils, and can always upgrade to the full size if you know it's a favourite.

I've got my eye on the TEN Christmas set now too as it has Perversion in full size plus 9 other never seen before shades with a Grindhouse sharpener that i also need as I've not found another sharpener that has the ability to sharpen the 24/7 pencil concealer.

What do you think of the double ended 24/7 pencils? Do you think it's necessary to have so many different types of black eye pencils?
Which is your favourite from the Black Magic set?

L xxx

Ted Baker False Nails

Hey All

Hope you've had a good weekend. L and I went out for a few and to watch the rugby on Saturday and then I spent Sunday cooking a roast for my housemates and others half.

A few weeks me and the other half went to a wedding. I had originally planned to wear the nail wraps L wrote about here but I've been biting my nails again so went to boots to grab some falsies! As soon as I saw these beautiful Ted Baker ones I couldn't resist! At £8 and on 3 for 2 I needed them.

These instantly stuck out to me. I loved the pretty floral art and the fading pattern down the nail is how I love to apply glitter! After browsing boots.com I want to order more as they have the nail wrap styles L and I got.

They come with glue (which I wasn't holding out much hope on. I find nail glue is like eye lash glue and my favourite only ever work!) and an applicator with a suction on to make it easy to apply the nails with out getting glue on your fingers! Let's face it whenever I use false nails I end up with glue on the underside of my hands and end up trying to bite it off! Maybe it's just me that's messy!!

First of all I sorted the nails out and put all the ones I was going to use on the other side. One thing I loved about the set is that it had lots of small nails! I find some false nails aren't small enough for me. I then used the suction ended thing! I love this. More nail sets need to come with this!

I love the way they look! They are literally the prettiest nails. They are a really great wearable length, the proof of this was also that they lasted 5 days!!! That was with working in a lab. I was so impressed! Great glue Ted Baker. They also still looked great so I've saved them to wear again! The nails also weren't too thick or curved so didn't look fake.

I've never received so many compliments on my nails! I'll be bringing these out for the Christmas parties! A perfect pretty manicure in literally 10 minutes!





These sets are on my wishlist!

A Little selfie from the wedding!

Have you tried the Ted Baker nail range? L and I have used the wraps and nail polishes! I always love the packaging it makes amazing gifts!!

Love M

xxx

Christmas Wish List

Hey there!

I believe that everyone should write lists. I'm a big believer in wishlists in particular as it gives you something to aim for in life.....right?!

A girl can dream, especially of products, ans especially of these products. Take a look at my Christmas wishlist, if  i get any one of these I'll be one happy girl!

Nars

It doesn't take much to guess what this beautiful palette is; the Virtual Domination palette has been blogged and tweeted countless times already and although my hand has hovered over the purchase button on Space NK many times I just haven't had the funds to buy it. not even my credit card was available after it was hacked and I unfortunately have had to wait for a few weeks for a replacement! Probably for the best! This contains 4 blushes, 2 limited edition and a beasty sized Laguna bronzer.

This blush and bronzer palette costs £45 but is worth £117 - need!

The Digital World Lip Coffre was another that caught my attention, the lighter coral and orange colours are exactly the colours I love and wear on a daily basis. So pretty, and so wearable!

This costs £32.

Charlotte Tilbury

I don't own a single thing from Charlotte Tilbury, probably as the prices are a little out of my league. However this is a wish list so money is no object right?!

This beautiful palette, mascara and liner will set you back a few pounds, £75 to be exact but look at those beautiful colours! They certainly have extensive pigmentation and have many fans. But still, £75 :|

These lipsticks are also from Charlotte Tilbury and will set you back £42. £21 isn't too bad for a lipstick and these colours are perfect for the spring summer time. I wear these kinds of colours all the time and they suit my colouring and seem to brighten my skin tone up. I'd love them!

Last but not least is this gorgeous rose gold brush set. I'd love to have these in my collection but this one really is a dream.
£240 would get you this set and in my current financial state I'd need a loan!

Hourglass

The Ambient Blush Palette contains three of the famous Infusion blushes from Hourglass that look so pretty with their marble effect. The patterns that are created are all individual which is a lovely touch and this would make a lovely gift also. It will set you back £56 but for three blushes it will suit many people and be a lovely item to travel with too.

Urban Decay

As if I could make it through without mentioning UD. The TEN 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil Set contains one full size Perversion liner with nine other never before created coloured liners with a range of finishes along with the infamous Grindhouse sharpener all for a pretty price of £35. That means they cost £3.50 each plus the sharpener for free, great value for great products.

What do you think of my wish list? What would you add to yours?

Send me links to them as I love reading about new releases and coveted products!

L xxx

Fitness Update

Afternoon folks!

I haven't written a fitness update in a little while nor any recipe posts, things have just been so busy with a new job that I haven't really had chance. My hours have changed (again!) with the new job so now I've had to change up my schedule again too. This isn't really a problem just more difficult to get into a new plan and make it a habit again.

I've been trying to get to at least one Body Pump class in the week as well as my normal Saturday morning class as it is definitely the most beneficial for me. My progress in it is slow but every week I push myself to go heavier in something different and squat lower, hold my plank longer and try not to have sneaky breaks in shoulder track! I hate working shoulders as it's such a weakness for me and the burn can sometimes end up being real pain. I'm working on it.......but it's hard.

That said I've been making up my own routines as well as using my latest program from my trainer.

My latest program uses a ladder formation with a 15 minute recovery period on the cross trainer in between. She's got me doing squat jumps and burpees all the way from one each to ten of each, then all the way back down to one. I'm not going to lie, it's a killer but really good for an all over work out. I've felt a difference since doing them but in all honesty I've only ever made it up to 10 of each and haven't ever got as far as doing back down to one......yet. I think it's mostly an issue with time as it would take me so long to do and my evenings are limited but i also get quite dizzy sometimes too.

After the recovery period I then have to do press ups followed by an oblique crunch (bringing round one knee to your elbow at a time whilst still in press up position). These have also been good but the same problem still exists and I'm yet to make it back down from 10!

Aside from that here's my routine that I've been doing by myself, taken from instagram videos and other programs I've had in the past:

It's an absolute killer and i repeat it twice with a bit of active recovery in between. It's a full body workout with almost everything I could think of thrown in to keep my body guessing and my abs and shoulders were definitely still feeling it a few days later. It was exactly what i needed and I'm going to do it a few more times and then switch it up and make a new one.

If you have any suggestions for things to add to my next workout leave them in the comments! If you try this workout let me know :)

Do you have a personal trainer? Do you follow any particular programs or get inspiration from any online sources? I'd love to know!

L xxx