Laguna

As usual, I'm the last beauty blogger to jump on the bandwagon with this one.

Somehow I just couldn't bring myself to justify spending £25 on the cult famous Laguna Bronzer by Nars. It kind of hurt my heart a bit when I actually did it. I also feel like every time I venture into SpaceNK I have to half shut my eyes, I always see so many pretty things, I would buy the whole shop if I could!

This was an 'accidental purchase'(*ahem*) as I lost my ‘go to’ Mac bronzer with the mirror in it. That's the one I use for on the go application and touch ups, and it's beyond annoying not having a mirror in your handbag isn't it ladies?!

Stef and I were shopping in Kings Road, and seeing as I couldn't seem to find any clothes I wanted to buy (anyone else having that trouble in the sales or is it just me?!), so…I took the plunge. It was the perfect excuse.

I have to say (please don't hate me beauty bloggers) I wasn't overly impressed. I know this is totally controversial, as all you other blogger seem to be totally in love with this, but I have to say, it was pretty much the same as my Mac bronzer, just a few pounds more expensive.

Don't get me wrong, I do like Laguna, the shade is beautiful, it’s highly pigmented and long lasting. It is everything you could possibly want from a bronzer. My only problem is I just don't understand why you would pay this much for it when you can get pretty much the same thing in Mac at a cheaper price.

 My ‘go to’ is  Mac Bronzing powder compact with a mirror for £19, or you can even get the  powder blush (without a mirror) for 17.50. That’s nearly a £9 difference in comparison to Laguna, for pretty much the same product.

This sounds (and feels) strange coming from me, as normally I can always justify a high end beauty product. I usually end up totally loving them and feeling like I can't live without them, but I just feel like this one is overpriced for what it is.

Saying all this, the thing that I do love about this product, (which I'll admit is totally shallow), is the packaging. I love, love, LOVE Nars packaging, I just think it's so sleek and classy. I love that the mirror in this compact is so gigantic; it's perfect for using on the go, you can see so much of your face in it. I do feel a little bit special whipping this Nars compact out of my handbag :)

So there we have it, probably the most negative review you've ever read about this cult blogger produc, sorry!

Have you tried Laguna before? What did you think? If you've reviewed it too, pop your link in the comments!

Photo Diary #14 Do you remember what I said, that first time we met?

Sundays face | Cocktails in Clapham | Queuing | The Breakfast Club | Shiny new Vespa | Cat-face cuddles | Naughty Nars purchase

I haven't done a photo diary post in a little while now, not since I got engaged, so I thought it was about time I did a weekend post :) They're my favourite kinds of posts to read and write, I must be the nosiest blogger!

So this weekend was a pretty relaxed one, but really really good fun. I felt like it was over far too quickly! Sometimes it's nice to have nothing planned and just see what happens, don't you think?
On Friday night my friend Nicola and I had a catch up in Clapham. We had planned on quite a tame night, but accidently happened to stumble upon on happy hour, oopsy. Cucumber sour cocktails, chicken burgers and a good friend to laugh with makes for a fabulous evening.

On Saturday morning, Stef and I braved the queue outside The breakfast Club in Soho
, we knew it was the only thing that would possibly cure our hangovers. Queuing was made a little less painful though, when they brought little shots of hot chocolate and marshmallows to everyone outside, what a cute little touch! Going anywhere else for breakfast just never measures up, it was well worth the wait when my All American pancakes showed up. I'm pretty sure I could live off pancakes ya' know.

After breakfast and a mooch around a couple of shops, (which basically involved me drooling over the beautiful underwear I can't afford in Agent Provocateur), we jumped on Stefs shiny new Vespa and headed to the movies. The perfect afternoon for nursing a hangover :) Les Miserable was pretty darn good, if you haven’t seen it already I'd recommend it. I'm not going to lie, for the first five minutes I did think about leaving, but you get used to them singing every line pretty quickly. So if musicals aren't really your thing, i'd still say it's worth sticking this one out.

Sunday we scooted over to do a spot of shopping in Chelsea. I was naughty and finally purchased the beautiful Laguna by Nars, it had to be done it was on my wish list for so long!We headed back to Clapham and Stef treated me to dinner in the ever so fancy Trinity (I might do a whole post on this for any foodys out there).
Later on the lovely Sarah from Modern Damsel swung by for a glass of wine and some blogger chat.

What did you get up to this weekend? Have you ever eaten in The Breakfast Club or Trinity?

Hannah x

Little Black Bow

Little Black Bow (part of the Glamour Daze collection) is one of my favourite fluideline gel eyeliners from MAC.

It's a dark grey shade with tiny little iridescent glittery particles, sooo pretty.
Little Black Bow is such a nice change from the bold black eyeliner that I normally wear (Blacktrack by Mac is my current 'go to'), it's nice to mix things up every once in a while, don't you think?
Seeing as it's a glittery shade, I know I should have really blogged about this for the Christmas and party season, but I totally forgot I had it, woops!

Gel liner application can be a little tricky if you aren't used to using a brush for your eyeliner. I know I struggled at first, but the more you practice, the easier you'll find it. I find Gel eyeliner the best for getting that really clean cut, precise line, like a ribbon effect.

Now let's talk staying power. Mac Fluidline eyeliners have the best staying power I've ever found in an eyeliner, by far! They literally don't budge, you can apply in the morning, wear all day, and head for a night out and it literally doesn't move. It's also really easy to remove too, perfect.

I didn't swatch this for you, as it seems to be difficult to capture on camera, I promise you it's gorgeous in real life though!

Little Black Bow is £15.50 for a 3g pot, which seems to last forever and ever! So it's completely justifiable.

Have you tried Little Black Bow? What's your 'go to' eyeliner?

PORE fessional

POREfessional, worth the hype? Absolutely.

Now, I don't think I have particularly large pores to begin with, but when one of my friends popped this in the post for me I thought what the heck, I'll give it a go, see what all the fuss is about.
I'm usually not fussed about Benefit products, I find them very overpriced and disappointing (please don't hate me, Benefit fans).

I apply this as my primer after I've moisturized, with my fingertips, starting with my T-zone and then to the rest of my face.
Benefit say you can apply it over the top of your make-up as well, I haven't tried that yet, it seems a little strange to me! I suppose that's more if you want to reduce the look of your pores?!

This makes my make up stay put throughout a whole working day and into the evening, it's great to stop it sliding, and means I have to touch up less.
I think my favourite thing about this product is the silky consistency, makes your skin feel super duper soft. I just want to stroke my face everytime I've finished applying it (weirdo...)
It is slightly scented, but nothing overpowering, I hate using highly scented products on my face.

I would have shown you what it looks like on, but it literally just disappears into your skin, creating a smooth base for your foundation.

It's quite pricey at £23.50, but I've used it every day for a couple of months now, so it's lasted fairly well. I know lots of people don’t really see primers as an essential in their make-up bag, but this really does help your make up stay put.

Have you tried POREfessional? What's your favourite primer?

A case of the blues...

Do you ever have those few days or a couple of weeks even where you just feel down, unmotivated and poopy for no particular reason?
I've felt like that over the past couple of weeks now. It's really ridiculous because my life is pretty much perfect right now and I love it, I have no logical reason to be feeling low.
I'm guessing it's an over-generous dose of PMT, so reading Gala Darlings  'The Ultimate Guide to making your period suck less' has helped a little.

Today I've decided to start writing a gratitude diary.
So every day, either when I'm at work or before bed, I'm going to jot down a couple of things I am grateful for, or good things that happened that day. It can be something really tiny like a particularly tasty latte, or something funny someone said to me. Then next time I'm feeling poopy, I can look back and see a huge list of reasons not to feel so poopy. A couple of things I've popped in there today are Stef making me breakfast, and making friends with a lovely little old lady in the que for the doctors this morning.

In another attempt to cheer myself up, today I've been basking in the combination of Vogue, tea, and a jammy flapjack. I'm planning on a bubble bath and facemask later. That should help do the trick.

I'm looking forward to feeling a bit more like myself again. My poor, poor fiance, putting up with my monstrous mood lately... (thank you!)

What do you guys do to cheer yourselves up if you’re feeling a little low or have raging PMT? Any tips, send them my way please :)

Pink Swoon

I'll admit I'm normally a cream blusher kind of lady. I've always preffered the finish of them and just found them a little more flattering on my skin and easy to blend.

Pink Swoon by Mac, was one of the powder blushers given to me on my make-up course, not a product I would normally pick up for myself.
So I was pleasantly surprised when I actually ended up really liking it. Since I've been using it every day for the last couple of weeks now, I thought it was time I stopped being so selfish and shared my new fav with you all :)

I know it looks bright and slightly terrifying in the pan, but don't be fooled, it's actually a really soft pale pink shade. It's so pretty and I find it really lifts my face.

I think the reason why I actually like this blush is because it's a 'sheertone' blush, so it's a lot lighter and doesn't seem to sit onto of my skin like I've found other powder brushes do. I think it still really suits the natural make-up look too.

As you can see from the swatch, Pink Swoon is very pigmented, so you only need to lightly dab your brush in to get a lot of colour pay off. I've just been applying it to the apples of my cheeks with an angled brush.

Have you got busy weekends planned?
Stef got his new Vespa last night so we're going for a little drive down to Old Street today.
Tonight I'm heading for dinner with my friends Laura and Richie in Muswell Hill, and a lovely early morning Yoga class on Sunday. Busy busy! Just the way I like it :)
Oh, and I know it's only day 4, but I'm doing really well with my resolutions so far, go me! (oh, except the sausage and mash and copious amounts of chocolate Covered Pretzels I seem to have devoured over the last couple of nights...oopsy). 

10 resolutions...

Buddies on NYE | The view from my front door on new years day | Toaster waffles with maple syrup

A very happy new year to all my lovely readers :)
I hope you all had a smashing one and saw out 2012 in style?
I had a nice chilled out one, at our local pub with Stef and my buddy Laura, we drank prossecco, had a little jig and watched the fireworks.

So, another generic blogger post today, I've been enjoying reading everyone’s goals and resolutions for 2013. It's great to see everyone being so positive. So I thought I’d share mine with you too.
I didn't think I actually had any resolutions, but yesterday when I sat down and actually thought about it, I came up with a pretty long list.
I think most of them are realistic, so here we go...

#1. Write a journal for the year.
This is something I have been doing every year since I was 5. As you can imagine I have a massive stash of diaries now! Last year was so manic that I was really naughty and didn't keep a journal, I'm so mad at myself for this because it was the best year ever. So theres no way I’m not keeping a log this year!

#2. Get back into the routine of doing yoga and running once a week.
Yoga and running are the only 2 forms of exercise that I actually get any enjoyment from, and before I moved to London I was doing yoga and going to a running club once a week. It doesn’t sound like a lot I know, but my body was so much nicer back then...

#3. Read more
I started off last year reading a few amazing books (The curious incident of the dog in the night, Life of Pi and The Graveyard to name a few). I'm not sure what happened but I kind of lost my passion for reading a little bit, or was it that I just couldn't find anything I wanted to read? Anyway, this year I want to read some really great novels (suggestions very welcome).


#4. Learn to cook...
or at least try! I'm the first to admit pretty hopeless in the kitchen (unless it involves baking a carrot cake). Stef tends to do all the cooking in our house, so this year I've decided it's about time I learn to cobble together a half decent meal.

#5. Be better at staying on contact with my friends
You know what it's like, before you know it a couple of months have gone by... so, yeah, I just want to make sure I'm more involved in my friends lives this year and make more of an effort, ‘cos I love you guys.

#6. Work on my confidence.
Pretty self explanatory really. Sometimes I think I just need to believe in myself a little bit more and not be so hard on myself.

#7. Be more motivated & use my time better
Especially where my career as a make-up artist is concerned! I feel like I do waste a lot of my free time, so I want to be better at planning constructive things to do.

#8. Eat better and keep drinking water
Well, you only get one body, you might as well look after it right? Being lucky enough to have a super fast metabolism, my diet is preeeetty bad. It's not that I don't enjoy healthy food or anything (hell, I eat anything), I just love carbs and have a ridiculously huge sweet tooth.

#9. Take better care of myself
I suppose this one ties in with eating better too. But just little things like improving my posture, getting regular haircuts (which possibly means getting over my fear of the hairdressers) trying to keep on top of my nails, and getting a proper skincare routine.

#10. Oh, and to make 2013 every bit as fun as 2012 was :)

I was going to put in drink less, but I decided against it, I thought I'd atleast be realistic, paha!
Have you got any new years resolutions? How did you spend new years?

p.s apologies if you follow me on instagram (magsy24) and have already seen these snaps!