FOTD: Netural Eyes and Bold Lip

 

So, I used the Fashionista Fashion Secret Vanishing Cream in my T-Zone to mattify the slightly oily area I have there. On the dry areas of my face and the areas that are a little too dull for my liking I added a layer of the Nourish Golden Glow Illuminating Face Shimmer.

 

For foundation I chose the MUA Matte Perfection Foundation in Fair. It was my first time using it, and I must say my first impressions are that it's great but not all that matte. To set the face makeup, I used the ELF High Definition Powder. It just toned down the shiny I got from the foundation and the Nourish Face Shimmer. 

For bronzer, and a slight contour I used my beloved  Solait Maxi Bronzer in Golden Glow. I've raved about this many times, and I will continue to do so. For blusher I grabbed the Illumasqua Powder Blush in Thrust. I was really light handed with this because of the intensity of the colour, but I liked the way it turned out. 

For my eyes, I kept it super simple (which is something quite new for me). I used the Wet n Wild Color Icon Trio in 380B Walking on Egg Shells (Brow Bone and Crease Colours) to create a netural eye look. I then grabbed my M&S Autograph Palette and used the matte shade Brown Velvet to define the crease a little more. For mascara I used my Maybelline The Falsies Waterproof Mascara, and then the Clinique High Impact Mascara to get more length and definition. To define my lower lash liner and add some colour to my waterline I used my GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliner in Black Ink. 

No look is complete without brows, so I took my Collection Eye Definer in Brown really lightly over the brows to fill them in and to give them more a defined shape. The brow pencil has a wax texture so I took a little of the shade Taupe from the M&S Autograph Palette to set the pencil in place and to make it look a little more natural. 

The lips are the pop of something in this look. I finally figured out how to make the L'oreal Glam Shine Splash Stains to work for me so I used the Shade 402 Milady to add a autumn/winter pop of colour to my makeup. 

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Primark OOTD | Aztec Dress

Dress: Primark, £13

Jacket: Primark, £18
Tights: Primark, £3

Necklace: New Look, £1

Earrings: True Spirit at Superdrug, £2

Shoes: Primark, £6 

This outfit was my attempt to get some wear out of my summer dresses while not freezing my butt off in chilly ol' London. I'm not entirly sure if you'll be able to get hold of the dress still. I brought it about 2 months ago, and from the few primarks I've been in some still have it, and some don't. 

The shoes are my most recent buy, so you should still be able to pick these up. I choose they grey colour, but if you want something simple like black then they have that colour as well. 

The denim jacket is about 2 years old. I'm sure many places have similar jackets, but I adore this one. It's super comfy to wear, and it's just the right length for me. 

The necklace and earrings were my attempt at accessorizing. I don't usually pick up accessories, but I thought these looked great so I chucked them on. The necklace was on sale in New Look when I picked it up, and the earrings were half off in Superdurg.

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B. Stunning Vibrant Eye Shimmer Cream Eyeshadow in Bittersweet

I've had some major issues with my eyeshadows creasing recently. I've never really had an issue with creasing so I don't own many eyelid primers or bases like MAC paint pots. Since the issue with creasing, I've invested in a few too many bases and primers. 






The B. Stunning Vibrant Eye Shimmer Cream Eyeshadow in Bittersweet  is just one of the bases I've brought to try and tackle the problem. It claims to be a luxurious cream shadow, giving an intense metallic finish. B. suggests using the cream eyeshadow as a eyeshadow, a base for powder shadows or as a eyeliner. 



I can see me ever using this as a liner because it just isn't pigmented enough for that but I've tried this alone and as a base and I loved it. It didn't crease on me at all when set with a powder, but unfortunately when worn alone it crease like nothing else. 



The colour is a gorgeous bronze/brown colour is a beautiful warm toned shade with a nice amount of shimmer. Unlike some other shades (Golden Sand) the shimmer is just that, shimmer. There is no chunky glitter, meaning the consistency remains creamy when blended over the lid. 



The shade reminds me a lot of the Illamasqua Liquid Metal Cream pigment/shadow in Enrapture. It's not quite as intense as the more expensive counterpart but with a little bit of building up you can get a similar finish.


    
At just £6.99 a pop, I think it's a great deal. You can usually find them on some kind of offer too, so it can work out cheaper. The brand is also totally cruelty  free, so no nasty animal testing happening here! 

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Vivo Cosmetics Haul + First Impressions

 
Vivo Cosmetics isn't something I see talked about very often but from my experience they are a great budget beauty brand. Very similar to brands like MUA and Look Beauty (I'm sure they are owned by the same company) they offer some good quality products at an amazing price. 

A few months ago (this haul is super late, SORRY!) they had a half price sale and I put in an order. The already great prices were half of the norm, so why not try out some new things. 



I picked up one of their pearl eyeshadows in shade 9 Goddess. These are very, very similar to the MUA shadows and this is identical to shade 30. The only difference is the packaging. The Vivo version, 50p more expensive than MUA, is encased in a more sturdy square compact. It's easy to store, and because it's more sturdy I feel better about chucking it in my makeup bag for on the go. 



I grabbed two of the Vivo lashes to try out. I've been getting into false lashes more and more recently, but the things are expensive. These retail for between £2 and £4 and are pretty great for the price. The Natural Night lashes are my favourite. They are half lashes they look relatively natural when on. The glue that comes with the is quite crappy but with the Eyelure Lash Adhesive I like them. 
The Flirty Wink variety aren't as amazing. The bad is just a bit to thick for my liking and it's pretty obvious you've got lashes on. 


The next thing I decided to try out was the Matte Lipsticks. At just £1.99 a pop, they are ok. I should have done some more research on the colours because the colours aren't my favourite. The formulation isn't the most long lasting, and it's not 100% matte, but  for the price they last long enough for me. 

Naturally Nude is my favourite of the two, although without a gloss it can make me look ill. On the website the colour looked deep, and more brown but in person it's a lighter nude shade that washes me out. 

Pink Sweetie looked like a gorgeous medium pink online. I thought I would snap it up because you can never have to many wearable pinks. Sadly it's not that wearable. It's a bright, light pink that I can only descirbe as barbie. It doesn't suit my pal skin tone, and when I've tried to wear it my mum told me I looked like I was 7 and just got one of those Barbie endorsed makeup sets with those horrid shades nobody can every really wear.  It's not showing up quite as bright or pastel in the swatch but believe me it really is. 

 

The last thing I picked up was the Vivo Highlighter. This retails for £5. In the tube it looks like a yellow/golden tone in the tube but blends out into nothing. It leaves a very slight shimmer on the skin but nothing noticable. I thought this would be great to use to highlight or mix in with foundations but all it really does is sheer out the foundation. I'm not really impressed with this and I thought it has so much potential. Sadly, it's not the best.  

Overall, I would suggest trying some bits out from Vivo. They are available in some Tesco stores and online here.  They have free worldwide shipping at the moment too, but it's worth a look.

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Lipstick Obsessed

Hi! My name is Sarah and I'm obsessed with lipstick! 

 

The picture you can see in this post is what I'm taking with me for 2 days away this weekend. Why do I need that many lip products? WHY? 

I can't even answer that question because I know that I don't need that many but I can't bring myself to leave any behind! I keep trying to narrow it down but even thought I've worn lip liner once in the last two months and I don't usually wear lip gloss, my brain keeps telling me I need to take them just in case. 

This pile is smaller than the original pile. I took out some liners opting for just a nude and red rather than rather than a red, pink, mauve and nude liner. I took out my baby lips because I already have a lip balm. 

I took out some colours because I had like 2 of every colour. 
So I have self diagnosed myself as a lipstick obsessive and I know I need help! If anyone knows how to sure this condition, please leave me a comment. I need to get better some time soon. 



Oh, and if your interested I'm taking: 

 MUA Brooding Plum Lip Liner 
Models Own Lipgloss 
Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in  Romantic
Milani Advanced HD Lip Colour in Classy Nude
Estee Lauder Pure Colour Lipgloss in Quartz 
Revlon Colour Burst Lipgloss in Crystal Water 
Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Lip Gloss Pencil in Nudist
MAC Lipstick in Lovelorn
GOSH Soft N Shine Lip Balm in Perfect Plum 
Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Lovesick
Superdrug Lip Balm 

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Advertising Giveaway!

Today I wanted to do a mini giveaway for my fellow bloggers and small businesses out there. I'm going to start advertising on my blog for people who want to try and gain some exposure for there own blogs or  small business. 

You can read about all the affordable packages here and take a look a the Top Dog package. I'm offering up 3 of the Top Dog packages for you guys today. All you need to do is follow my blog on bloglovin and follow me on twitter.  If you want some bonus entries you can follow my book blog HERE and leave a comment just saying Hi. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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If You Could Only Have One...

So, I've seen a few of these posts around the blogging world recently and I thought I would through in my two cents. Basically it's a post listing all the makeup items a person might use and next to those makeup items I'm going to tell you one product I would use if I could only ever purchase just one thing from that category. 

I'm going to jump right in and start! 

Primer: Laura Mercier Foundation Primer 
Full review here
Purchase here for £28




Foundation/Tinted Moisturizer/BB Cream: Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation
Full review Here
Purchase here for £28.50



Concealer: Maybelline Fit Me Concealer 
Purchase here for £5.99

Blush: MUA Lolly 
Full review here 
Purchase here for £1

Bronzer: Nars Laguna 
Full review here
Purchase here for £

Highlight: Soap and Glory Hocus Focus 
Purchase here for £13



Powder: Revlon Nearly Naked Pressed Powder 
Purchase here for £7.99

Eyeshadow: Vivo Single Eyeshadow in Goddess 
Purchase here for £1.50

Eyeliner: Daniel Sander Velvet Eyeliner in Black 
Full review here
Purchase here for £9.25



Brow Product: Avon Glimmerstick Brow Definer in Dark Brown
"Can't Find Online, Sorry!"

Mascara: Lancome Hypnose Star Mascara
Full review here
Purchase here for £22



Lipstick/Gloss/Stain: YSL Rouge Volutpe Shine Lipstick in 8
 Full review here 
 Purchase here for £24



Lip Liner: Look Beauty Lip Liner Toffee Cup  
Purchase here for £4

Brush: Any Blending Brush like a MAC 217



Nail Polish: I don't use nail polish, but if I did I would probably choose Models Own Lemon Meringue or a Barry M Gelly Shine Nail Polish in something like Prickly Pear or Dragon Fruit.

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Sorry there are some missing pictures. I just didn't have them pictured or I don't own some of the items at the moment (they are being repurchased promptly) 

 

ELF Eyebrow Kit in Light

The ELF Eyebrow Kit is a palette containing a duo of a tinted wax and defining powder. It comes in 4 shades ranging from ash up to dark brown. I choose the shade light, because really ashy tones don't look so great with my red hair. 



The tinted wax is great for taming my brows. It gives them a hint of colour but mostly it helps hold and unruly brow hairs in place. It also help me lay out a foundation for where I am going to apply the powder. 

I use the wax first and follow it up with the powder. The wax not only tames the brows like I said above but gives the powder a base so it shows up a bit more pigmented that when it's used alone. Using that combination is great if the shade is a bit to light for you or if you want a bolder brow. You could use the wax or the powder alone for a more subtle, natural look, but bold brows are a favourite of mine at the moment so I combine the two. 



I also found that using the wax first and then the powder on top gave the brows a more natural look. If I used the wax over the powder but it caked up slightly and made my eyebrow appear patchy and very obviously drawn on. It wasn't a good look. 

I picked this up when it was half off, but it retails for £3.75 normally so it's not going to break the bank if you don't pick it up on sale. It comes in decent packaging, with a brush that I still use to apply the product and it has a tiny mirror that you could use if you needed to. 



The compact shape and size is very similar to that of NARS eyeshadow, but it is very plastic-y in comparison to NARS and the clear window showing the product is different from NARS too. 

I would recommend picking this up if you fill in your brows. The product is great quality, extremely cheap and they have a shade that (I think) would suit just about everyone. It's a very similar concept to the Benefit Browzings or the Sleek Brow Kit but it's so much cheaper. 

You can pick this up here for just £3.75 here, but ELF always have some kind of sale so check out there Facebook or Twitter pages for coupon codes to save some dosh! 

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I've heard so many rumors about GFC going away, so maybe pop over to bloglovin and give me a follow there to keep up to date with my blog!

#30in30 Lips Edition: YSL Golden Gloss in 40 Golden Impertinence

I'm not usually one for the stickiness that is lipgloss but I will always make an exception for the gorgeousness that is the YSL Golden Gloss. I've done a full review of this HERE so this post will be short but I had to include this in my #30in30. 



Number 40 is a gorgeous dark pink in the tube full of glitter that reflects about 7 different shades. The glitter is pretty obvious in the tube and on the lips but it's not horrid gritty glitter.

On the lips this colour just gives you a hint of pink. I love to use this over some of my "too nude" or "concealer lips" lipsticks to give them some warmth and to make them more wearable. 

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MAC Eyeshadow Finishes Explained

 MAC offer a range of finishes in there eyeshadows, some are very self-explanatory but some don’t really let you know what they are going to look like. So, if you want to know the difference between velvet and frost, read on! 

Frost 

frosted, light reflective shadows  

Frost shadow have really fine glitter running through them that helps them create a gorgeous shiny effect on the skin. I've found that these shades are generally less pigmented that other but they can be built up. 

Examples include: Phloof and Romp

Lustre 

Shimmery and Pearlised

These shadows have an ultra fine shimmer running through them. When applied they offer a shimmery effect on the skin, but because of the effect I would say to avoid these on days at the office but they are beautiful and have a nice light reflective formulation. 

Examples include:  Retrospeck and Swimming

Matte

No Shimmer. No Glitter.

These shadows are high intensity colours that have no shine, sheen, shimmer or glitter. There are a variety of colours, some intense and some sheer to buildable in intensity. They can be hard to correct if you do anything wrong with them, but they do contrast well with shimmers to create a nice look for any occasion.

Examples include: Carbon and Yogurt

Matte Squared 

Silky Matte Shadows

These are very similar to matte shadows, but the formulation is slightly more silky and intense on the lid. They are free from shine, shimmer and glitter and glide on to the lid. They are blendable and last ages on the lid too.

Examples include:  Blanc Type and Fig1

Satin

Nearly Matte with subtle sheen  

These shadows are a great way to get something with a subtle sheen alongside colour intensity. They are often pigmented, free of chunky glitter and shimmer and long lasting. They are great for everyday wear, but not as dull as matte shades can be on the eye. 

Examples include:  Brule and Brun

Veluxe 

Finely Milled Matte Shadow

These shadows are great for matte lovers without messy fall out or anything like that. They are really finely milled powders that are soft and smooth. 

 Examples Include: Kid and Brown Down

Veluxe Pearl

Veluxe Shadows with a Pearly Sheen 

 Veluxe Pearl shadows are basically the finely milled formula of the regular Veluxe shadows but with a nice sheen running through them. 

Examples include: Twinks and All That Glitters

 Velvet

 Highly Pigmented with a soft finish 

 These shadows are like the Velvet fabric, in shadow form. The colours can be slightly more muted than a matte or satin finish but the soft texture makes up for it. 

Examples include: Smut and Trax

#30in30 Lips Edition: Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Cherish

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains are possibly my favourite drugstore lip product. They are super long lasting, non drying and look nice on the lips. I love the shade range, but am hoping for more. 



A favourite of mine at the moment is Cherish. It's a light yet bright pink with a lilacly under tone. It's not the most opaque of the collection but it's a great colour to go to if you want something wearable but a little different. 



I don't have anything else like this and I love using this to give my lips a sheer wash of colour. If you like barbie lips, then this is great when built up but I'm not really a barbie lip fan. With the other shades in this collection of products I like to build up the colour to get a more full coverage finish and that stain like effect. With this one, because of the baby pink colour, I use it lightly. 

I like the crayon packaging, and the twist up feature means no need to hunt down the sharpener. It's a bit of a copy cat for the Clinqiue chubby sticks but it's great to have a more affordable option. 

The price is pretty great for the brand and the product you get. I would repurchase these, and have many of the other colours. I hope they bring out some more colours, because I would love to see some new ones. 

 
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