Winter Lip Routine

Yes I know the title does sound a bit like it might be an exercise but really it's not! It's what I generally start doing around mid-September to stop having chapped lips over winter.

So during the day is a bit boring and basic but if I'm at college I just use one of my MAC tinted lip conditioners (in Petting Pink and Gentle Coral) or if I'm at home or work I'll use a Lush lip balm (current favourite Maple Taffy YUM!). The main routine (if you can really call it that) comes in just before I go to sleep. Firstly I scrub my lips with a lip scrub (I'm currently using Lush's Bubblegum sugar scrub) or a dry toothbrush to exfoliate your lips of the dead skin. This is then followed up by a lip balm (currently using Lush's Ultrabalm) and I would recommend definitely using a lip balm or butter and it can sink in overnight so completely slap it on!

Sorry for the lack of pictures I just forgot to take some and now it's dark. I also couldn't have made this post possible without the amazingness that is the spell checker on Google Chrome and I'm pretty sure it's sick of drawing red lines on my screen.

Disclaimer - I was given the lush products for free as I work there but these are my honest opinions and you don't have to buy them if you don't like them!

NOTD - OPI for Sephora Metro Chic

I asked my friend to pick this up for me when she went to America and she said "of course any excuse to go into Sephora!" Sorry for the slight wear at the end of the nails but this was taken 4! days into wearing it! I have found a new way to make my nail varnish last longer and I do this by buffing my nails before I paint them and they tend to last a good 4/5 days. The buffer I have been using Ms Manicure In The Buff-3 Way Nail Buffer and I prefer this as it doesn't have the files on some of the sides so I don't end up slipping and sandpapering my nails! Anyway back to the actual colour it's a nice grey colour that's quite wearable for autumn.

EOTD blue and purple comparison.

Slightly inspired by the song "Peacock" on Katy Perry's new album and a top that I wore out recently I have done a bright blue and purple look. However I decided rather than just doing one with all MAC I did one with a sleek and NYC palette as well and here are the results:

These two photos are of the eye done mainly in MAC colours (Electric Eel and Parfait Amour) with Benefit's lust duster in snow bunny as a highlight. I also used my MAC gel liner in blacktrack across the upper lash line and the water line.

In these two photos I used the blue and purple from the Sleek original palette and the white highlight from the NYC Lexington Luxury metro quartet. I then lined my upper lash line and waterline with Maybelline's crayon oriental in black. I also used the sponge tip applicator that was supplied with the Sleek palette and it did slightly make me want to kill myself! 

The main difference I noticed whilst applying these is that the Sleek palette colours have an obvious shimmer and it initially makes them seem brighter however as is clear in the photo the blue is rather faded in comparison to the Electric Eel. However I think both would be acceptable for a night out and obviously one is a lot cheaper than the other!

Ins and outs

Again another fail at blogging but hey ho I will try to keep up!

A nice easy round up post of random things in my head.

In
Summer - Yes it may nearly be over and us lazy students will have to go back to real life but it's still fun to have those last few weeks of fun before the early mornings and traffic jams begin.

Getting a good tan - Yes it seems SO shallow but hey as that creepy Nivea advert says most of us get jealous of friends who tan easy but unfortunately I am that friend. But don't forget to wear an SPF whilst always out in the sun as I don't want to be seen as promoting skin cancer.

The new Lush perfumes - Now I could be seen as being as a bit prejudiced towards these but after smelling over 50 perfumes in duty free I can definitely say that these are worth a look. They come in three different formats with different strengths of 10% for the solid, 15% for what I have named the "spritz stick" and then 20% for the full bottle of perfume. My personal favourite is Lust which is jasmine, ylang ylang, rose, vanilla, sandalwood. I sprayed it on the other day around 11ish and woke up the next morning still smelling of it!

Pastel nail varnishes - I am still loving these so late into the summer with my faves being Barry M's mint green and OPI's A grape fit. I get so many complements on mint green and people are shocked when I tell them it's just a Barry M colour.

TOM shoes - These are possibly some of the most comfortable shoes I have worn in my life ever. The other great thing about them is that every pair you buy a pair is given to a child in need to it's like buying 2 pairs of shoes which is awesome as I love shoes which was shown by me taking 10 pairs away on my recent holiday. I just checked the TOMS website and apparently they are close to giving away their millionth pair of shoes! And heres a link to a video of them giving some shoes to children in Guatamala http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-PbD9OLvHY&feature=player_embedded and if your interested I got mine in red from schuh.

The Vampire Diaries - Yes I know but I LOVE this. The show, the books everything! It is quite weird reading the books once you have watched the tv show as she gives descriptions of all the characters but I just end up ignoring those and picturing the actors that play them but hey. Luckily my best friend and I have split them equally you know like you do with celebrities as they so often go for teen fan girls!

Out


Foundation - Not that I'm a massive fan of wearing a full face in the summer but now I'm tanned my regular foundation and even tinted moisturiser doesn't match my skin. I know I can just top them up with my bronzer but it's not really the same is it?

Answering the door in Pj's - Yes I know it may be half past 12 but still I'm not dressed, have been up 5 mins and do not want to answer the door Mr Postman so please don't give me that look while I sign for the package and then don't even think about starting a conversation with me!

Bed sheet marks on nails - This annoys me so much even when I use my drip dry and wait like half an hour I can still wake up the next morning with the dreaded sheet scrunch marks on my nails. Maybe it's just a skill I have!

Friends leaving for University - Long and short of it being I dropped out of sixth form and have been attending college for the past year and still have another year to go. So with results day being *checks time* two days ago most of my friends are all starting to pack up to leave home and it makes me a bit sad. But hey at least I can go and stay with them at uni and they will be coming home for holidays still so it's not too bad.

I think that's it for now let me know your ins and outs.

Make-up and Shoes haul!

I recently brought some things in town and thought I would let you have a looksee and give my first opinions on them.

First up make up:

I went to MAC and got 2 eye shadows in sunny spot and mythology and a lip glass in cultured and then I popped to boots where they are having one of their never ending deals on Barry M nail paints which is 2 for £5 and I also noticed there was an offer with models own nail varnishes where you got a 6 way nail file with every purchase. The Barry M colours I got were Mint Green (AMAZING!) and Lemon Ice Cream (very disappointing and will explain in a NOTD). I then on the way home picked up 3 copies of Glamour at the services (as I assumed they would have the most copies) and whilst I was paying I was given the cowshed shower gel from the front of Marie Claire as it had fallen off!

Shoes:

I recently went to Schuh as I had to get shoes for a wedding/sixth form ball and my mum brought me these beauties: 

I wore them to the wedding recently and forgot to purchase any gel insoles for the balls of my feet so ended up carrying them most of the time and also because I didn't want to ruin this on the bottom 

UNICORNS!!!!!!!

So while my mum was paying for those I noticed these other beauties which I brought and am now saving for when I go to see Eclipse (because I'm a bit sad like that!) and here they are 

                                       

They are called wolfbeaters and they do a high heel peep toe version too but I decided to get the flats as a) they are cheaper and b) it means I can wear them all the time also they go with the zombie pair that I already own! I love the cute bows on the side to you know counteract the blood and savage teeth!

Hope your having a nice day =D

Long time no Post

So I've been busy and this got kinda thrown to the waste side and then I wanted to start up again but lost my camera cable. Oh the joys! I eventually found my cable and normal blogging shall try to be resumed!

NOTD - Nails Inc, London

As mentioned in my previous post I got some of the Nails Inc colours that came free when you buy two bottles of Diet Coke. It really is quite a muted lilac and is quite an easy colour to wear. It took two coats to get bottle colour and was easy to put on quite thinly. This also dried really quickly without the use of drip dry and has at least lasted a whole day!

It also lasted a campfire which I made with my guides!

Nautical but Nice kit.

So at our works stock take recently a few colleagues and I were discussing nail varnishes when one of them tells me about a free kit she got from boots when she spent over £6! I had to go and check it out and found in the 17 range. So I brought 2 nail varnishes (which I was a bit disappointed with) and got this free!

The tin in it's full glory

It has an eyeshadow (Viva Diva), eyeliner pencil (Azure)and a nail varnish (Knockout Red). I wore the eyeliner to work recently and got quite a few comments. However it was quite hard to work with as it isn't very creamy but hey it was free! I haven't tried the nail varnish yet but I don't hold high hopes after my experiences with other 17 nail varnishes, I also haven't tried the eyeshadow yet either but I have swatched it for your viewing along with the eyeliner.

I'm not sure who decided that these colours would be a great "nautical" theme I suppose they look like the sea but I tend to think nautical of being more sailory. Also the two colours don't really sit right together like the suggested make over on the back of the tin tells you to do.

All the items are available in the regular 17 range and I'm not too sure when the offer ends.

Nails Inc and Diet Coke

So Nails Inc have teamed up with Diet Coke to release four limited edition nail varnishes until the 30th of June. All you have to do is go into boots and get 2 500ml bottles of diet coke and volia you get a nail varnish that's worth £10.50! So yesterday I popped along to boots and picked up two of the four colours, London and New York (they are named after the fashion capitals so the other two are Milan and Paris).

New York is on the left and London is on the right. New York is a very hot pink with a purply undertone making it more fuchsia than Nails Inc Shoreditch. London is a muted lilac and a very wearable colour.

In colour order London, Paris, New York and Milan.

Do you think you are going to get any or have you already got any?


And yes I will probably own all of them pretty soon

Mini MAC haul

I went into MAC recently to purchase Pink Nouveau after lollipop26 said that it was the colour that Viva Glam Gaga was based on. So just as I'm about to pay I was asked if there was anything else I was looking for and I casually mentioned "Oh I bet your still waiting to get some of the Lady Gaga lipstick in" to which I was told that it had arrived the day before! So I ended up buying both colours and now I can compare them!





As is very clear the Viva Glam Gaga is lighter pink on face comparison however it comes out slightly darker when swatched.


But obviously there is still quite a comparison between them. However they are both still lovely colours and will be great for summer.

NOTD - OPI Barefoot in Barcelona

Barefoot in Barcelona is a deep tan colour with a slightly pinky undertone. It took about 3 coats for a good even colour, however this dried really quickly without the use of any drip dry which I thought was pretty good. I can't really comment on the wear of this as I only purchased it on Fri and put it on today!

EOTD - "Neutral colour pop"

A few beauty bloggers have been doing some neutral colour pop's where you have a nice neutral lid and then some colour just under your lower lash line. So today I thought I would try one since we are well into spring and it's time to break out some colour and this is a gentle way of doing it!

(I did try to do a pic with my eye closed but it just looked like a was v drunk!)

I used: Mac, Malt - all over the lid
Urban Decay, Half baked - Half lid and all the way up to the brow bone
Mac, Stars 'n' rockets - Under lower lash line
Benefit, Bad girl lash

So will you be adding more colour now it's spring?

The Strokes Hair moisturiser

So I was given a pot of this and thought I would try it out again. I tried it once just after Christmas and thought meh maybe my mum will use it. I then forgot all about it until I was raiding the bathroom today to find something to sort out my unusually poofy hair and voila there it was. ( I used the stock photo because my pot is a mess.)

So I slap it all over my hair and leave it for 20 min like the directions told me to and washed it out. I didn't really think anything of it until I realised that my hair has formed nice waves rather than the mis-matched curls I normally get but just straighten out!

However even though I've used a strongly scented shampoo my hair smells like I've rolled around on a pub floor! This is due to the stout (beer) in the product and is a bit of a put off for me. I know it has lots of herbs in it but beer is the main smell and at £8.30 (plus postage as this is only available from online or mail order) I think I'll give it a miss next time and try something else.

NOTD - OPI Malaysian Mist

Malaysian Mist is a nice tan/nude colour. It does take quite a few coats for a good even colour but it repays with minimal chipping. Which is pretty good considering I work with hot water and normally polishes tend to just flake off no matter how many layers are on or even a base and top coat.

Awkward First Post

So I've been wanting to start a beauty blog for a while but never really knew if I was interesting enough! But I've been getting more and more into make up and other beauty items so thought I might as well jump in and get started.