latest reviews

Hey beauties,

Very quick one from me this evening! I just wanted to post the links to my latest reviews for you, let me know what you think...

Dainty Doll Loose Mineral Powder Foundation

and GOSH Bronzing Shimmer Powder

Hope you all got through your Mondays okay? I started my new job, very 'Working Girl', 

I'm sooo tired, so tata for tonight (told you it was a quick oneXx

BOTW Bargin Of The Week

Good afternoon beauties, wow what a gorgeous day, huh?! I’m loving the feel of the sun on my skin today, I hope you are all making the most of it while it lasts, and remember the sun cream!!

I’ve been catching the rays outside with a cuppa, and even had a cheeky snooze. Perfect way to relax on a Sunday in my opinion. 

The neighbour’s cat, Leo, decided that he too, would like a cup of tea in the sun...

And Liza Maggs (although currently poorly with conjunctivitis, poor old dear) has been out all day in the sun too.

Leo wisely making an escape as Liza tries to make friends...

So, what have I got for you this weekend I hear you asking...a complete and utter bargain that’s what!! For those of you who like perfectly defined brows, listen up...

I got to work the other day and realised I had forgot to apply my brow pencil...eeeek!!  I felt naked. So, in panic, I immediately trotted off to Boots to see what I could find. Rimmel’s Proffessional Eyebrow Pencil was such a steal at only £2.99 (plus you get your Boots points too).

I LOVE this eyebrow pencil. I can’t believe I’ve been spending up to £18 on other brands when this was all I needed. This shall be a permanent fixture in my make-up bag from now on. It’s perfect.

I think it comes in around 3 or 4 shades (don’t quote me on that, I’m not exactly sure). I chose '001 Dark Brown'.  The pencil itself needed a little warming up (I do this on the back of my hand), but after doing so, was nice and soft for application. It stayed put all day, and best of all, comes with a little brow brush on the lid to keep those stragglers in check. Everything you need at a fraction of the price other brands charge.  I like it so much better than the one I’ve been using (Clinique) because you can sharpen it and get a really neat line. Super.

I’ll post a photo of the end results, however not today though as I am having a make-up free day for me skin to breathe, and don’t want to put you beauties through that!

Enjoy your evenings Xx

Let's go NUDE!!!

Hey beauties, 

Sorry it's been so long since my last post, slap on the wrists for me. In my defence I've had a hectic week... Devon birthday trips, shopping for my new job, on top of being sent a MOUNTAIN of make-up to review for justmakeupartists.com (I'll post a link to these reviews as soon as they're up).

Today I've been picking wild blackberries...

 nom nom

and tiring out my pooch...

 So, it's just a quick review from me today. Guess what? I found my new 'go to' nude lipstick. GOSH velvet touch lipstick in '134 Darling'.

 This lipstick is super moisturising, almost as if I had put a balm on before application. It's the perfect nude for my skintone. At first I had trouble with it settling in the cracks in my lips, but I just used my finger to smooth over this and then applied another coat. I also used this lipstick alongside a brown lip-liner. LOVE IT!! It has great lasting power too. 

Sorry I know it's blurrey, I need batteries for my camera and my phone camera is rubbish!

I don't care what anyone says about nude lips, I LOVE 'em, and will probably never stop wearing them. I usually use a MAC nude lipstick, so discovering a new cheaper fav, is very exciting, especially considering the price of MAC lipsticks have gone up (not happy about this!). GOSH 'Darling' is only £4.49 (bargin or what?!).

Nude lips are a fab way to enhance a bronzey beach tan, or team with a smokey eye for an evening look. You should always go for a shade similar or slightly lighter than your own skin tone, stunning on brunettes!

Tata for now beauties Xx

Mid-week randomness...

Hey beauties, top of the afternoon too ya! 

This isn’t my usual beauty post style, more like a personal catch up. Never fear though,  I’ll throw in a little tip for you somewhere too.

I’m in such a good mood, I had some fab news today, so in celebration mode, I did a teeny shop!

A certain lovely boy bought me a new handbag (Thank yooou), I know it looks like a total Mulberry rip off, but let’s face it, who can afford the real thing! I love it so much I couldn’t wait to get home and do the handbag swap over. £24.99 from H&M, and it’s the PERFECT size. 

I also got this super cute little bunny ring...

I’ve been looking for a woodland creature ring set for weeks now, really feeling it. I want to get a few more and wear them all together.  £3.99 H&M.

After battling through Zara, I got a little claustrophobic in Oxford Street , so headed back home to my highroad. There are a handful of really amazing charity shops on this road (how lucky am I), and I discovered a new favourite today *grins from ear to ear*

I managed to pick up the flower vase (in the first photo) for £1.50, and THE cutest clip on earings EVER!!!! I cannot even begin to tell you beauties how happy these earings make me.

I’ve been looking for some nice clip-ons for a while, which weren’t a ridiculous price. These were just £3. INSANE, huh?! Exactly what I was looking for, I’m totally into turquoise at the moment and these are real vintage. Don’t you just love it when you find those one offs that no-one else has? I can’t wait to wear them with turquoise nail varnish and a tan!

Speaking of a tan, today I received my GOSH bronze and tan products to review on justmakeupartists.com, I’ll post the link for you as soon as I’ve tested them for long enough.  I will say though, the phrases on the packaging didn’t half make me chuckle... “The holy Grail for the deathly pale”  and “because to  us, white ain’t right”.

In other news, my darling little pooch Liza Maggs isn’t in such good nic these past few days. She had tripped over on Sunday, resulting in a poorly paw and limping Liza. We are having a break from woodland walks today (boo) so the old dear has a chance to rest up her paw.  I even let her have dinner from her bed last night. Everyone needs a good TLC when they aren’t on top form.

 Liza Maggs minus her smile. Naughty poorly paws.

So it's finally Tip Time...

Just a quickie today. If you feel your complexion is a little dull, fear not. The trick is to mix a couple of pumps of your highlighter in with your moisturiser each morning, and apply all over your face. You’ll instantly feel your face glow!

Today I also purchased a shampoo from Boots which may be of some interest to you beauties.  

 This Boots shampoo is designed to remove the build up of hair products that can cause hair to become heavy or greasey. I'm havin real issues with how quickly my hair is getting greasey at the moment, so I'm hoping this will be a little miracle worker and do the trick. Watch this space I'll do a review soon!

Anyhoo beauties, I think I've managed to blab on for long enough now, off I pop to my sister’s house to help her do some holiday packing, lucky gal that she is! 

I hope you all have a great eve.

Xx

More Moolah on MUA

Hey beauties, 

So I took a little trip to the MUA (Make Up Academy)...

 

Empty Varnish shelf :( 

Sorry for the bad quality snaps, the lighting wasn't great.

As you can tell, the shelves were pretty empty (sob), and they didn't have the colour lipsticks or glosses I wanted in stock, boo. However I did manage to get swatches from the samples...

 From left to right: Lipstick in shade 1, Gloss in shade 5, Gloss Tube in shade 2.

From what I can tell the lipstick is VERY pigmented, but doesn't feel very moisturising. The glosses both seemed a nice consitancy and smelt like strawberries, yum. I particularly like the gloss in shade 5 as it is a really cute nude/pinky shade. Nude is my fav! Let's hope they come back into stock so I cant test them properly. 

Fear not, I did manage to pick up 2 blushers to review for you beautiful people... 

 From left to right: Pink Shade 1, Bronze Shade 3.

I wanted to give these shades a fair test, so in preperation I washed my favourite blusher brush to make sure there was no colour left from my last used product...

 I threw in a couple of other brushes while I was at it!

Oh my goodness I'm super ashamed about how dirty it was, bleugh! I urge you all to clean your brushes immedietly! 

So, here's how shade 1 (the pinky colour) looks on...

I was completely surprised how much I genuinly like this £1 blusher. It's a perfect 'dolly pink' shade, great to match a light pink lip for summer nights. It's sooo pignmented aswell, you only need to dab a tiny bit on your brush for application, and you can build up colour easily if you want to achieve a brighter look. It settles really nicely too.

This is shade 3...

I realise it looks very similar to shade 1, I used the camera on my phone. Fail. I promise it is actually a dark brown bronzey tone. Lovely. 

Again, I'm very impressed by this bronzer. Lovely tone, highley pigmented, settled well, stayed put. Bish bash bosh, it certainly does the job :) 

If any of you are familiar with NARS products, Shade 3 could literally be twins with NARS 'Orgasm' (with the saving of about £16).

MUA do 4 or 5 different shades for different skintones. I generally switch between pink and bronze so these two choices were great for me.

 Although plain, the packaging is extremley sturdy, fab to chuck in your handbag without worrying about breakages and smashing. If you don't like taking your expensive bits out and about with you, these are great top-up replacements.

You beauties will know I'm more of a high end cosmetics fan, but these £1 blushers have top marks from me. They are SO similar to MAC and NARS blushers.

 MUA is especially great if you are just starting out your make-up collection and want to experiment with different colours and products without spending big bucks. Great for teenagers too!

Give it a go, for £1 per item, you can't really say no, can you? Xx

Kardashian sisters confirm OPI 'Kollection'... HORAH!!

Hey dolls, 

WOWEE amazing news! I was so excited when I discovered this last night I actually couldn't wait to do a post on it...geek or what?!

However, my post has been slightly delayed as this morning as we have been helping the neighbours shift some furniture around, and generously been given a new dining room table and chairs. Everybody needs good neighbours (hehe).

Can't wait to go thift shopping for a granny-esq table cloth and cushions... THANK YOU!!

Anyhoo...OPI seems to be the such celeb craze, Katie Perry, Glee and the Beiber all sporting their own collections. The fabulous Kardashian sisters are the latest to jump on the bandwagen and collaborate with OPI, for a new 'Kollection' eeek! 

What a gorgeous family, huh?

If the rumours and tweets are true I shall be rediculously excited. Most of you will know I have a very unhealthy obsession with the Kardashians, and they can do no wrong in my opinion. So, last night after watching the latest episode of season 6, I had a little twitter stalk and I gave a little jump for joy when I read Kims latest tweet... 

@KimKardashian So sad I missed the big OPI lunch in NYC today with my sisters but I can't wait for u all to see our collection launching soon!

Khloe Kardashian also confirmed by tweeting about her Kolour 'Khloe had a little Lam Lam.' (Lam Lam being the nickname given to her husband, Lamar).

Don't you just love this shade?! I simply cannot wait for this collection to hit the shops. 

"For the nail polish colors...just think glitz and glam," Kim posted this week. "You guys are gonna faint when u see our new polish." 

I'm thinking the 'Kollection' will involve lots of reds and metallic hues and will reflect their impeccable fashion-forward style aesthetic.

'Bible' I am super duper excited to see what other colours the girls have created. 

Xx

P.S Keep your eyes peeled beauties, I will soon be posting a link to my page on justmakeupartists.com so you beauties can read my feature review of the Dainty Doll range by Nicola Roberts, and also some GOSH fake tan and bronzing products... Sooo excited about trialing these products! Xx

£1 MUA Minty Nails

Good afternoon beauties, 

how are we all this fine Monday afternoon? It’s so gorgeous here, I’m enjoying a bit of peace and quiet, r&r. Sat in the garden, sipping on a nice cuppa from my favourite mug, and getting some cake inspiration for a certain birthday girl :)

 These look delicious, although I'm not quite sure mine will be quite up to this standard... we can only hope!

I have a new nail colour obsession, MINT!!

Sorry I think the sun is shining on my nails, not sure if you can see the colour too well...

I LOVE this shade, super summery and reminds me of a mint flavour ice cream cone in the countryside. It's something a little different than the shades I normally go for, and brightens up any outfit too :) The best part, its only £1. Yes beauties that's right, £1!! Bargin in my opinion.

It's by a company called MUA (Make Up Academy), exclusive to Superdrug. The whole MUA range (over 100 beauty products), from blushers to lipsticks, are just £1. Insane right?! THANK YOU Superdrug for coming to the rescue of beautie junkies like myself, a make-up addiction can set you back some serious moolah. 

I would reccomend all of you to check out this range, at the price, you can't really go wrong. I know I shall certainly be purchasing some lipsticks and blushers, even just out of curiosity. I've particularly got my eye on the MUA blusher in shade 3, I have a sneaky suspicion it looks very similar to a NARS blusher I have...

 I also want to try the lipstick in shade 5, a cute pale pink colour...

Click on this link to have a sneaky peek... MUA £1 Make Up!!

Obviously the packaging isn't going to be the most glamorous in the world, but it does the job, and you can't really begrudge them. The only thing I will say about this varnish is that you definetly need to do 2 coats, as 1 coat alone is rather see-through. I would also advise a top coat too, just to make it last longer as it can chip easily otherwise. But for a quid, these negatives are rather insignificant. Great for when you want to try a more daring colour without splashing out too much :)
If any of you wanted to try this particular colour, it's shade 5 (they don't have names)!

Laters Xx

Lazy Sunday, Fat Hair and yay for Chanel.

Well beauties, hope you are having nice lazy Sundays, whatever you are getting up too. I love Sundays, r&r days. The only thing on my ‘To Do’ list today, is a cup of tea with my sister (have you all been reading her cute crafty blog? magic maggenpie) and to take my pooch for a walk, she’s sulking and wining as I haven’t taken her out yet. It’s what I imagine having a small child is like!

Sulking face :(

Fat Hair review time! As far as shampoo and conditioner goes, I don't like to spend too much money, something that cleans and conditions my hair is all I need. I usually religiously go for Dove products, but these have changed recently and now I’m not such a fan. Searching for a new shampoo upsets me, I like to stick with my favs if I can.

Of course I like to indulge in the more expensive ranges such as TIGI every once in a while, but since my hair is pretty normal (I don't have coloured hair or dry hair), I've never really felt the need to splash out too often.  Fat hair is somewhere in between the low end and high end brands, and is a volumising product. It’s normally £6 a bottle, but Superdrug often do special offers where it is 2 for £7 (or something similar).

 

 For a start, this brand is pretty scentless. You can smell a little from the bottle but once your hair is dry, it’s traceless. I’m not sure if I like this or not. I hate shampoos and conditioners that have a really overpowering smell, but no smell?! Hmmm... for me, it needs to be somewhere in the middle of the two.

For those of you who are no suds no smile, fear not. This shampoo lathers up really nicely, and it left my hair feeling squeaky clean and removed any build up which may causes greasiness or weigh hair down.  The conditioner instructs you to leave it on for 2 minutes, and you should absolutely do this, it gives much better results. My hair felt smooth and healthier afterwards. The shampoo and conditioner were both, like promised, ultra light.

I felt a little difference to the volume of my hair after using Fat Hair. I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t an extreme difference. It certainly was a slight improvement, especially after a blowdry and using volumising products to style with. The product itself lasts for a pretty long time. I wash my hair everyday (I know this is bad, but I have something wrong with me, I literally can't sleep until im cleeeaaan!), and have used this for just over a week, the bottle isn't even half empty yet.

Over all, I’m not sure I will be purchasing Fat Hair again, I wasn’t overly impressed. Good for you beauties who are picky with smells like I am! Not so good if you want to see a massive difference in the Volume of your hair.

Anyhoo, yesterday I trotted over to the Chanel counter to finally return to my old faithful foundation, after a series of hit and miss trials with other brands. This really works well with my skin and I honestly don’t think I can live without it. I’ll be buying this until they day it leaves the shelves. 

Yes it’s expensive, but in my opinion, totally worth it, just for the MASSIVE confidence boost it gives me about my skin. Also I just LOVE being treated so nicely on the Chanel counters, the MUA are so helpful, and I got the cutest little sample of the Vitalumiere Eclat Comfort Radiance Compact. 

Perfect handbag-sized compact :)

Now, I don’t usually use powers, I don’t really do the matt look. However I most certainly will be trying this one out, even if I only use it to set my make-up. Keep an eye out for a review in a few days time :)

Tata for now beauties Xx

Gosh and My Safe Haven

Good afternoon my beauties,

I know I always post pictures of my woodland dog walks, but I just wanted to show you a couple more...

 

 

I love coming to these woods. It’s my favourite place. Whenever I feel sad or just need a break from life in general, I come here to relax and have some down time. Sometimes I walk, sometimes I just sit, and sometimes I’ll do some writing. It's my sanctuary, and a safe haven amid all the other madness in my life. Everyone should have a place as beautiful as this to escape to every now and then.

Anyhoo.... Back to beauty!!

As you may have noticed, I am on a bear hunt for a new favourite foundation. As much as I love my high end brands, I thought it was about time I tested some cheaper products for you beauties.

So I strolled up to the high road with one thing on my mind, to get my greasy little mitts on some GOSH foundation. Yes that’s right, I picked up the cheapest foundation I have purchased in a long time. The only drugstore foundation I've bought in about 2 or 3 years now. God I sound like a snob. I'm not I promise. 

GOSH ‘Natural touch’ foundation is just £8.99 a bottle (MEGA cheap compared with my usual £35 splurge). I specifically chose the moisturising one, it also contains almond oil, and I was really looking forward to using it.

I did a swatch test, on the left Chanel  Vitalumiere Aqua (not sure which shade it is woops) and on the right, GOSH Natural Touch in shade 42 Honey. 

The packaging is...okay. I don't think pharmacy foundations spend much money on the actual packaging.

The foundation itself is probably (I’m guessing here as they don’t mention it) a medium to buildable coverage. The consistency is quite thin, and light, and once applied it did take a while to settle nicely. It was quite hard to apply evenly (I apply my foundations with a damp sponge), and took longer then I normally spend. At first I thought it looked rather patchy, but after a few minutes it seemed to calm down and settle evenly, and I was actually pretty happy with the results. I used a make-up setter spray to help it along . 

So for the first couple of hours I was fairly impressed by it. It DID give me a healthy glow, and as promised, looked super natural. Here are a couple of snaps about 2 ours after application, I'm not sure if you'll be able to see properly, the lighting wasnt great.

 You'll have to excuse my half finished make up... and my hair on top of my head. This is what I do when my hair isn't as clean as it possibly could be...

But as the time went on I started noticing patches and even places where I felt it had disappeared. This made me feel kind of self conscious as I’m going through a bit of a bad skin patch as it is, without looking patchy too. So I’ve tried applying with different brushes, using primers, setting with different powders and sprays. It definitely stays on better when using a decent primer and spray setting. But then this kind of defeats the point of buying a less expensive foundation, doesn’t it?!

 

It would definitely be good for someone with very clear skin who isn’t looking for a massive amount of coverage, and doesn’t really want to wear it for a long amount of time.

I won’t be using this again. Obviously this was just my reaction to it, everyone's skin is different.

Xx

Oil me up!! Mac Care Blend Oil

Good afternoon Beauties, 

gorgeous day here, I hope it’s the same where you are. I’m sitting by the brook relaxing. Well, trying too. It’s kind of hard to do so when you have a hyperactive border collie insisting that you play ‘fetch’...

I’ve found a product you beauties NEED to know about, I love it!

Macs Care Blend oil in Sweet Orange and Lavender.

Now, I’ll admit oil is not normally something I would choose to put on my face, and I’m sure you are the same. I was a little worried that doing so may cause me to break out, but so far, so good. I feel the formula is so light and quick absorbing I’m in doubt they will cause any woes in regards to clogging up your skin.

Basically it acts as a replacement moisturiser. You just dab a little (and I seriously mean like 2 TINY droplets) on your fingertips and smooth over your face. The oils sinks in almost instantly, and isn’t greasy in any way like you might expect it to be.

Applying this before my foundation, concealer and blusher, really did make it a whole lot easier to blend them and create a more natural, fresh look. I love that the ingredients are plant derived elements that help to calm and soothe irritated skin. My face felt super duper soft and moisture kissed.

I also used a little on the driest parts of my body (elbows, knees and backs of my hands). It works wonders. 

£14 for 8ml does sound expensive, and I’m not sure I would purchase this every time it ran out, but it’s certainly worth it to try a little skin moisture boosting treat.

Overall, I’d recommend it to anyone who needs a little dry skin relief, or simply looking for a great make-up base or moisturiser.

Xx