July Favourites

Hello everyone! 

I hope you guys are all enjoying the sun as much as me! I don't think I can count the sun as a July favourite, but if I could then I definitely would. This post was hard to write as I have had so many good things this month, but I had to narrow it down so you wouldn't end up being here all day. 

To kick things off I have been loving Alice in Wonderland retellings this month. I don't know what it is about that story that never fails to fascinate the world. Of course I love the original tales and they are unparalleled in the children's classics genre. However, I also love a good, dark retelling, the kind which the author could never have imagined. In July I read Alice by Christina Henry and loved it so much that I pretty much started Red Queen immediately afterwards. I will soon be putting up a full review of the series (when I finish it) so check that out :-) 

I have also been really enjoying the colour pink... not to wear as I am not a pinky girl, but I have been loving pinks in my makeup routine. All the rose gold eyeshadows, dusky pink lips and peachy blushers have been making an appearance! They are super pretty and feminine for summer. They also provide quite a fresh, barely there makeup look so you can feel a lot more natural without having totally naked skin. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I love a no makeup day as much as any girl! 

My final favourite is a scent, everyone needs a good summer scent. I have been reaching for this Ted Baker body spray a lot recently. It came as part of a set with bath foam and body lotion. The scent is lovely and fresh with hints of rose and raspberry, with an overtone of sandalwood to balance it. The floral notes mixed with the more woody scent is perfect to throw on in the summer. I just love it! I feel pretty when I wear it and almost like I could be in a surfing advert, that's how fresh it is :-) 

What have you guys been loving this month? Let me know in the comments below :-) 

xoxo

P.S. Follow my Facebook here! 

Falling Into Wonderland

Hello everyone, 

Who else loves Urban Decay? Their makeup is undeniably gorgeous, especially their eyeshadow palettes. Waaaay back when the first live action Alice in Wonderland movie came out Urban Decay collaborated with Disney to create an eyeshadow palette. It was gorgeous and limited edition, so naturally sold out within a matter of hours. *sigh* the best limited editions always do! 

When Urban Decay announced a second palette and a collection of five lipsticks to go with the new Alice Through the Looking Glass movie I was hopping up and down with excitement. Mr.Gingersnap actually accused me of becoming a demented rabbit! I apologise for the delay in this post, but I was so excited trying the products out :-) 

Having crazy red hair, huge green eyes and being called Hattie brings me to feel a natural affinity with the Mad Hatter. You gotta admit there are certain similarities... I, like so many others, was counting down the days until the release of this makeup and I actually managed to get my hands on a few bits and bobs. And by a few I mean lots! 

The top is Alice and below is Mad Hatter 

Let's start with the lipsticks. There are five colours in the collection, one for each of the main characters: Alice, Mad Hatter, Iracebeth, Mirana and Time. I only managed to get hold of Alice and Mad Hatter, which I'm fine with as they were the ones I was most excited about. The lipsticks are super creamy and glide on beautifully with very buildable colour. Alice is an almost invisible nude, apart from the pink metallic sheen running through it. It provides an ethereal, barely there look. Mad Hatter is a much bolder, metallic, bright purple. You can apply it lightly for a faint purple glow or go for an all out violet lip! 

Now onto the eyeshadows! The packaging is amazing! The mirror is huge and reminds me of the crazy mirrors in carnival fun houses, with a psychedelic kaleidoscope pattern in the background. The first pouch opens out to reveal a stunning pop-up periwinkle blue butterfly! Some say the packaging is unnecessary and bulky, but I love it and consider it very theme appropriate. 

Continuing with the hall of mirrors theme the drawer containing the eyeshadows is a black and white optical illusion. There are twenty colours in the palette, making it well worth the money. Even if the packaging is cardboard and not as luxurious as the Naked palettes. There are five columns of colours to go with the five main characters. There are some rather bold colours that could be hard to wear, but I'm sure I will find plenty of occasions for slightly bolder eye looks. 

 Left to right: Looking Glass, Reflection, Dormouse, Metamorphosis

 Left to right: Cake, Paradox, Gone Mad, Hatter

 Top to bottom: Chessboard, Kingdom, Duchess, Lily 

 Top to Bottom: Royal Flush, Salazen Grum, Bandersnatch, Heads Will Roll 

Top to bottom: Mirror, Chronosphere, Dream On, Time

My particular favourites are all the orange toned colours: Reflection, Duchess and most importantly Paradox! I love combining the bright magenta of Cake on my upper lid with Paradox blended into my lower lashes. Looking Glass, Lily and Royal Flush are gorgeous inner corner and highlight colours, giving a stunning opalescent glow. Another favourite look at the moment is using Paradox on my whole eyelid with the ruby red Salazen Grum in my inner corner. I am also obsessed with Metamorphosis, this blue is simply to die for and might be my new favourite eyeshadow colour ever. If you have blue eyes this colour will look so wonderful! :-) 

I'm thinking of doing a series of posts to create looks for all five characters, if you are interested let me know in the comments below :-) 

xoxo

P.S. Like me on Facebook here! You know you want to :-) 

YSL and Benefit Mini-Haul

Hello everyone! 

The other day I was browsing in Sephora, as you do, and oops some treats just fell into my basket! I had actually been eyeing up these two products for a while, so why not? It's all for the good cause of providing reviews for you guys :-) 

I had heard rave reviews of the YSL Rouge Volupté Shine lipsticks, so many people love these products and I have to say I can see why. It would be so easy to go mad and buy them all. The packaging alone makes them collectible. I think it is actually the best lipstick packaging I have ever seen. The classy gold bullets with the YSL wrought chain around them is simply beautiful, add to that the way the coloured band around the bullet reflects the colour of the lipstick and you have pure perfection. They aren't just a lipstick though, they are also an oil based lip treatment which nourishes the lips with 6 essential oils as well as having fantastic pigmentation. I have definitely fallen in love with these, just look at this colour! Y'all should go get one, right now! I went for the colour 41 Corail à Porter, which is a lovely peachy, coral pink, perfect for summer and so wearable as an everyday girly colour. 

I really struggle with eyeshadow primer, my eyes are so sensitive that all the cult classics like the Urban Decay potion primer make them puffy and sore! Which is such a shame, as it is a much raved about product. I tentatively tried some samples of Benefit Air Patrol and it worked like a dream! Maybe it's the BB cream element that makes it more gentle on my eyelids? Since I've been using it my eyeshadow stays on so well. The only thing is that it is quite hard to start using the product. Normally you turn the bottom part once for each eye so you have the perfect amount of product, but the first time I had to turn it so many times to get it to work! You have to be patient and wait for the product to start appearing out of the sponge tip, which is not great if you are low on patience. 

I love the packaging, with the old school US army pin-up theme, it looks so sleek and pretty. However, they have done the whole extra sticky out bit of cardboard on the packet again, which is so pointless! Never mind, it's the product that counts and I honestly couldn't recommend it more highly! 

Have you guys tried these products? Let me know in the comments below :-) P.S. Follow my facebook here.

xoxo

Too Faced Trials

Hello everyone! 

Who loves Too Faced products? Aside from the obvious major plus of their cruelty free stance, they actually have consistently high quality products. I have been using them for years and somewhere in the depths of my makeup collection is a smokey eye palette which is probably looooong out of date… I’m not saying I love and must buy every product they bring out, I try to only buy what I think will suit my style. However, between my friends and myself we have probably tried a good majority of their stuff! It is always good, trust me. 

BUT, I do have a rather large bug bear with them not always releasing products in the UK, notably their recent Peanut Butter and Jelly palette. I had been coveting that palette since they announced it and I was so upset to find out it isn’t coming to the UK. I could, of course, buy it online and ship it from America, but the shipping is more than the product itself and I can’t justify it to myself. As a red head, this palette would be perfect for me, the purple berry tones, combined with the warm brown and umber shades would just look divine *sigh* and I love the smell of peanut butter. 

Look how cute it is! 

If you combined the original Chocolate Bar and Semi-Sweet palettes you could probably achieve almost identical looks, but they are much bulkier and less cute in my opinion! In the vague hope that they might yet release it I am going to hold off considering buying the chocolate palettes. Although, I have purchased the Chocolate Bon Bons palette as it is very different and is just all around stunning (she says whilst desperately trying to justify it!). 

First off, the packaging is very cute. I love the cardboard box the most, it reminds me of in the newer Charlie and the Chocolate factory with the Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight (Roald Dahl nerd in the house!) chocolate bars. You guys agree? When you get in there the packaging is this gorgeously girly pink tin with 16 matte and shimmer shades. Seriously, the smell of chocolate is insane! I can smell it all day, no kidding. Some of the shades look really strong, particularly Totally Fetch and Black Current, but they apply quite lightly so you can build them for a stronger look or incorporate them into a more natural look. The usual Too Faced triple cheat sheet for looks is present and correct, love those, they are super helpful for inspiration. The only small down side is the lack of a brush within the tin, but hey you can’t have everything! 

 In rows from left to right the colours are Almond Truffle, Satin Sheets, Sprinkles, Molasses Chip, Malted, Cashew Chew, Cotton Candy, Cafe au Lait, Bordeaux, Mocha, Black Currant, Dark Truffle, Pecan Praline, Totally Fetch, Eary Grey and Divinity. 

Gretchen Weiners finally made Fetch happen with the gorgeous hot pink shadow! 

I may have been a little bit naughty and also treated myself to a new blush, damn Sephora temptations! I have had my eye on the Sweethearts blushes for quite a while. I think the packaging is very sweet and was pleasantly surprised by the size of the product. I have a feeling this will last a while! So far the blush is gorgeous, as it has 3 shades, you can choose to apply one or mix them all together or even a combination 2, this gives you so many options for different looks and is perfect for spring. I chose the Candy Glow blush as it suits my skin tone the best. There are also 3 other shades, well two at the minute with a third to be released soon. These range from a strong coral palette, to a bronze and then a very gold shimmer palette. I do love the shimmer of these as it almost acts as a highlighter too. It applies and blends beautifully, my only fault being that isn’t very portable, but I can’t really complain about it being too big can I?! 

If you guys would like me to, I will do a couple of eyeshadow looks using this palette for you in a separate post. Let me know in the comments below if you’re keen :-) To take a peek at my Facebook page click here.

xoxo

Wacky Drugstore Haul

Hello everyone! 

Not too long ago I had to do some fancy dress, now I love fancy dress as much as the next girl, but this one was a bit of a challenge. I had to dress up as a musical theatre performer, my performing days were a while ago now so I lacked the necessary crazy colour makeup to create the look. Oh so sadly (she says extremely sarcastically) I needed to go shopping. 

I wanted to go for a blue, green and purple eye look so I hit the high street and headed to Boots. You can find some truly fab products out there for such a good price, so if you are a lover of bold looks then keep reading! 

I first went to Maybelline to pick up a kohl liner, I went for this pretty mint green waterproof liner in 37. I wanted to be able to create a bold line and build up a similar eyeshadow colour around it. I used the line for the crease and built up the eyeshadow on the outer two thirds of the lid, using a purple shimmer shade in the inner corner. The Linerefine liners glide on smoothly and the pigment is fantastic. The only downside is that it is a real pencil so needs sharpening to get a very fine line. 

It's so hard to photograph an eye pencil and make it look good! 

In an attempt to match the liner I went to Max Factor as they often have a wide range of eyeshadow colours available as singles. I ended up selecting two shimmer shades that I thought would blend well together to provide an ethereal, yet bold eye, I was aiming for Midsummer Night’s Dream type makeup. I chose 30 Turquoise Fury and 15 Vicious purple. Top tip: purple and green go surprisingly well together! Max Factor are known for their fab Colour X-pert Waterproof liquid eyeliners, I chose the 03 metallic lilac to draw on my bold cat eye flick. 

Finally I went to Rimmel in search of a product to give a pop of colour to my lower lash line. The Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer has a thin cream nib at one end and a small cushion at the other to blend the colour if you want a smudgy look. I went for the very bright 240 Aqua Sparkle to smudge into my lower lashes. I love the way you can glide on the liner and smudge straight away without needing to search for the right brush. The nib is the perfect size for a fine line, but could also be built into a thicker one for a different upper lid look. 

The final look was so bold, but very striking. I definitely looked like I’d just walked off the set of a fairy themed play! What’s your favourite bold look? Let me know in the comments below :-) 

xoxo

Original Nakedness

Hello everyone, 

A couple of weeks ago I went shopping with my housemate to restock her makeup bag, naturally I talked her into investigating the Urban Decay counter. She fell in love with the gorgeousness that is the Naked collection, it was inevitable. Being a brunette with a lovely rosy complexion, she suits quite different colours to me. We spent a lot of time umming and ahhing over which palette to get, it’s a tough choice Naked 1 or 2??

After lengthy deliberation, she went for the original Naked 1 palette. The packaging is quite different, it’s a deep brown velvet with gold, embossed lettering. Unlike the Naked 2 and 3 palettes which are tin palettes that snap shut. I’m not such a huge fan as it makes this palette less portable. The lid easily flips up and this could damage the shadows if they are in your handbag. However, it does look very smart and slightly more luxurious than the later palettes! 

As with all the Naked palettes there is a cute double ended brush, so useful! The 12 colours are quite neutral, cool tones ranging from very light to very dark. There is a nice mix of matte and shimmer colours in a fab range of creams, golds, browns and greys, as well as a couple of more pinky tones for good measure. This palette really would suit anyone, I feel like it would be incredibly versatile in terms of looks for different occasions. 

Left to right: Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked, Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep, Gunmetal 

So far she is loving it and really enjoying experimenting with different combos. The colours she is loving most are Darkhorse, Hustle and Gunmetal for a very smoky look and Sin, Half Baked and Toasted for a more neutral day to day look, but still keeping a lovely pop of shimmer. Sidecar is also a gorgeous sparkly, milky hot chocolate colour to sweep under your lower lashes to brighten your eyes.

Who else loves the Naked palette and what are your go to looks? Let me know in the comments :-) 

xoxo

New Gwen Stefani Range

Hello everyone,

I am so excited about this post, I was going to write about something else, but then I wanted to do this first! How many of you love Urban Decay? Aaand how many of you also love Gwen Stefani? If you are like me and are a big fan of both, then I have amazing news for you and you should definitely keep reading.

For the past year Urban Decay have been working with Gwen Stefani on a range of make up, they took a long time perfecting it as they wanted to find the ideal products to represent Gwen's spirit, fire and versatility. You would assume, based on her bold personality, that all the colours would be bright and very in your face. Whilst amazing for Gwen, this is not so wearable for all of us average Jane's and our day to day lives. 

Having all of these preconceptions I was pleasantly surprised with her first eye shadow palette. There are 15 shades with 12 being brand new. Gwen designed these colours based on what she always wished she had in her palettes, giving a wide range from the bright aquamarine and baby pink to the nude browns and gorgeous rose golds. So wearable and so worth it! Following this release came the huge event this week releasing her blush palette, brow box, lip liners and lipsticks. The blushers match the eyeshadows with a range of pastel pink, fuchsia and bronze tones. I won't say much on the brow box as it looks pretty standard, but come on guys, it's Gwen so it will be fab! 

The lip liners and lip sticks are what I am most excited about. There are six lipliners to match 6 of the lipsticks, enticingly there are another 2 lipsticks which are only available online. They sure know how to make you want to spend, who doesn't love exclusivity? The shades are mostly tones of red with a lot of plum tone, except for two shades, one of which is a lovely pinky nude and another brighter coral pink. I think I am most excited about Plaid (a bold red) and Ex-girlfriend (a taupe toned nude).

These products became available online this week and I thought they didn't become available in store until February, which explains my surprise today when lo and behold there they were in Debenhams. I was out with my housemate searching for the perfect red lipstick. She has quite olive toned skin so we were aiming for a deep, vampy red with more plum tones instead of blue. I had spotted Rocksteady online from Gwen's new collection and thought it would be perfect, we were thrilled to try it out. It looked amazing and of course, she bought it! 

Look how amazing the packaging is, it is bold, bright and gorgeous much like Gwen herself! It looks so decadent and my housemate is thrilled with the colour pay off of the product. She had it on all afternoon and evening, it looked just the same even after dinner. This may have been the added help of the matching lip liner, but I would like to think it was the lippy mainly. It has a very creamy, moisturising texture and almost looks like it has a glossy finish to it. 

First impressions are good in this case, fingers crossed they're right! Are you guys excited about these products? If you have already or cannot wait to get your hands on them let me know in the comments below :-) 

xoxo

Naked and Nudes

Hello everyone! 

I hope you're all enjoying this wintery Sunday by cosying up with a good book or movie! Today I thought I'd write about my new makeup palette from Urban Decay.

I have always been a fan of Urban Decay products, particularly their eyeshadows and eye pencils. When I was in London a couple of weeks ago, mainly to make the most of the January sales, I popped into Selfridges with my Mam because she needed a new Clinique Chubby Lipstick. While we were in there we started browsing the Urban Decay stand and she said that she would treat me to a new palette, don't I just have the most awesome Mam! :-) 

I'd been lusting after the Naked on the Run palette which has a bit of everything in it (bronzer, blush, mascara, powder, eyeshadows, lippy and eye pencil) as I thought it would be ideal for travelling, all I would need beyond the palette would be foundation and brushes! However, I didn't realise it was limited edition and they were out of stock *sigh*. I had heard rave reviews from friends and fellow bloggers about the other Naked palettes so I eyed them up. UD have just brought out a new Naked palette aimed at doing smoky eyes, so there are now four different palettes (Nakeds 1, 2, 3 and smoky). I'm not a huge fan of smoky eye looks on me, I have quite big eyes and I find that too much colour kind of makes me look like a cartoon bug! This means that Naked 1 and Naked Smoky aren't really for me, there are just too many dark colours in there for my skin and style. 

Being faired skinned and having red hair warmer tones tend to suit me better. Naked 2 has some very beautiful earthy colours that really caught my eye, but I thought they were a tad too cool toned for me. If you are fair with quite a few pinky tones to your skin then this is definitely the palette for you, but if you are like me and are extremely pale with tonnes of freckles and a more honey tone to your skin then I'd recommend going for some warmer toned pinky/nudey colours. 

From left to right - Stranger, Dust, Burnout, Limit, Buzz, Trick, Nooner, Liar, Factory, Mugshot, Darkside and Blackheart. I think Trick is my favourite!

Naked 3 has some gorgeous colours that suit me down to a T! (I have never understood that expression...oh well) I find that the subtle pinks and even the more plumb tones really make my eyes pop and my skin glow. In fact I have already established two favourite everyday looks. When I'm doing my eyeshadow I like to use three colours. For the first look I use Stranger, which is a matte beige, all over my lid, focusing on the inner corner, with a small amount going up to the brow bone to act as a highlighter (only put it very very lightly higher up otherwise you'll end up looking very startled!), followed by Burnout, a slightly shimmery dark nude, on the outer V and central lid and finally I use Liar, a rose hued taupe, for the crease then I blend. I also like to put a small amount of my darker colour under my bottom lashes from the outer corner to the centre. For a bit more sparkle I use the same technique but using some brighter colours, Strange (again - it really is a good highlight), Dust and Trick. Those tones are much more shimmery and have a rose/gold hue to them. 

Just some different lighting so you can see the shimmer better! 

I find the colour pay off from these is very good and definitely worth the money, when I do these looks at 7:30 am they still look the same at 6 pm. And, of course, the packaging is very luxurious and smart, I love the way the palette comes with a double ended brush with one thin end for application and a larger fluffier end for blending. My only quibble, which to some people could be a good thing, is that it does come with 4 primer samples, they are Original, Eden, Sin and Anti-aging. Why is this a bad thing? Well I used to have the UD Potion primer and I really did not get on with it, something about the formula just made my eyelids so dry and sore, I think I must be allergic to it and my eyes still won't tolerate UD primers very well...but don't let that put you off! I do have notoriously sensitive eyes, so you should give them a try and see if they suit your skin. 

Overall this is a gorgeous palette, but trust me to buy the one awkward one! If colours from the other Naked palettes run out you can buy them individually, but this is not the case for Naked 3. However, I think this palette is gorgeous enough that if I ran out, after using it extensively, it would be worth repurchasing! 

What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments below if you love this brand or know something better :-) 

xoxo