Todays post is about something which hasn't left my mind for the last few weeks, investing in a smokey eyeshadow palette. Theres three in particular which have caught my eye and I've been debating which one I should invest in, in the very near future. I do admittedly want all three, however with each retailing between £35-£50, one of them will do for now. All three of these palettes I'm sure you've all heard of but I just can't decided. I've been reading reviews and theres such a split vibe about them.
Here are the three I'm debating about:
NARSissist
Smashbox Full Exposure
Urban Decay Naked 2
You can probably see my predicament right? So as well as this being my monthly wishlist I also want my readers help..WHICH ONE?
I'll give a few must haves for my palette: a range of brown tones, a matte black and a champagne colour. Now I've put them all together in a line and I feel the NARS palette may not have enough brown tones for me but I do like the range of different colours. I really like the Smashbox because of the split of matte and shimmer shades, then the Urban Decay has the warm brown tones I like. Oh it's such a hard choice!
If any of you guys have any of these palettes please let me know what you think, or which one I should get in the comments or even tweet me here! Or do you know of any other ones which I might like? please let me know.
I'm also thinking about doing a give away soon when I reach 250 Bloglovin' followers so when the time comes for my decided purchase I may even pick up two, one for the give away. Don't hold me to it but it's in the pipeline.
That's it from me today, any help would be much appreciated and I'll see you Thursday for a review :).
Firstly I'll start with, I'm sorry I missed the last topic for this challenge, however I'm just not a reader. I mean I read blogs and articles but not an actual book, I think the last book I read was about 2 years ago. So to be honest writing a book review is a bit of a lost cause for me because it's just not my thing.
Now that's out the way, the topic for this week is all about highend vs highstreet. The way I've interpreted this topic is to kind of give my opinion of whether or not more expensive products are better than a cheaper version.
For me personally I'm very new to dabble in the higher end of beauty products because when I was a student it didn't even occur to me to buy like Mac or Nars, I just went straight to Boots to the Rimmel and Natural Collection stands. I've always been a cheap make-up user and have only really started using like Bourjois and Soap&Glory, which don't get me wrong not exactly pricy, but buying a £10 foundation never sat right with me. Although now I have a 9-5 job and the money I make is actually mine, I'm starting to branch out and spend a bit more on the products and experiment a little more. Like 8 months ago I had one foundation which I swore by, now I have about 4 or 5 with different coverages and different uses. You could go as far as saying once I left uni I went on like a make-up binge. Nowadays when popping into Boots I see myself browsing round the Mac counters and Smashbox stands more and more.
I think the main thing I'm getting at in the post is I am new to highend products so I can't really give a good enough answer to whether I think there better or worse however watch this space.
Although there is one thing I have definitely found an improvement in from using a pricier product, and that is make-up brushes. I never valued how a make-up brush could changed the way your make-up looked. My friend at uni always used MAC brushes and I just didn't see the big deal. It was only when I started blogging and saw people banging on about how important they are and swooning over one brush, I thought it was crazy, but no no no I was the crazy one!
The day I purchased a Mac 217 brush changed my life, I know big statement, but wow it was a real game changer. I'm a lover of a smokey eye but I could just never master it, until this god send of a brush came into my life. I then went on to purchase majority of the Real Technique brushes, and my make-up has never looked so flawless. Gone where the days of buying a cheap set in the Christmas sale, although I'm not saying some cheaper brushes don't do the job I'm just very happy with my slightly more expensive ones. It's also safe to say that I am converted to a higher end make-up brush.
That's it for this post, I know it doesn't have a great amount of substance to it but I think if I were to revisit this topic in say 6 months time I'd have a bit more to say. I may do that like a part 2. I can't wait to read everyone else's posts and see there take on the topic, I'm pretty sure I'll end up with a massive wish-list from them all!
Don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin' and Instagram where I tend to post what my make-up looks like (selfies) and my nails, as well as day to day rubbish haha.
I feel like January has gone so quick this year, normally it drags so much but it's flown by! I must say though this January has been so much better than last year due to extreme tonsillitis and my throat closing up, you no casual. So this year has already started pretty darn well!
Right enough of the babble lets get going with my January favourites. This months favourites are pretty much all new bits which I got in and around Christmas but they have pretty much since overtaken my life.
First up is a bronzer from Rimmel, now this bronzer was a bit of a stressful buy. Leading up to this purchase I just could never get my bronzer colour match right and was getting myself quite worked up about the situation. However I stumbled across this when in Superdrug stocking up on my favourite Stay Matte Powder, I picked it up and though meh it's worth a go. I really love the natural glow it gives and how it warms up my skin in the winter months. The powder in the pan itself has a very minimal amount of shimmer which doesn't transfer to the skin at all, it's quite matte. Overall I really love it however I'm still on the hunt for the perfect bronzer.
Whats a favourites without mentioning a Real Techniques Brush eh? So I bring you the stippling brush, I got this for Christmas but didn't start using it until mid Jan and man I'm kicking myself. I love how it applies my foundation giving a flawless but natural look. As I find with the buffing brush it gives a heavier application, so the stippling is perfect for week day foundation.
Soap&Glory is a brand I've always loved but the price tag was always a little high for a student way to into drinking. So when I got a few bits for Christmas I was so happy to get trying and its safe to so I've loved them so much I'm featuring two in this post!
First up is the Righteous Butter, now I know this has already been spoken about this in the #2014bloggerchallenge skincare post (read me) but It needs a special mention here. I simply am in love with this product, it makes my skin so silky smooth for days after use. It also smells incredible, it's so buttery yet with a light texture. Such a perfect product for winter or dry skin.
Second S&G is the Kick Ass Concealer, however specifically one part of it, the setting powder. I'll talk about the concealer as a whole latter in the month but for now the setting powder is my new love. I've always used Rimmel Stay Matte since I care to remember and it's done me fine however this setting powder has changed me. I love how it really locks in my concealer not looking cakey and staying put all day, I'm not really sure how I can explain why I love it I just do!
Last beauty product of the batch is the L'oréal Line Studio #TXT volume texture spray. This is a fairly new edition to my hair products, over the last year I have been hunting for a good volume spray. Now I love using the Schwarz got2be volume mouse however if my hair gets wet my hair gets very matted and it's not great for if you don't wash your hair everyday. So When I found the L'oréal spray it solved my problems! This is such a good spray and go to product which gives instant lift to the roots and makes bed hair that little more tamed. Again I'll do a lengthy review on this later in the month, but bottom line you will not regret buying this product.
Lastly in this favourites post is a song, I know I never really include things like this but I am really really loving Clean Bandits 'rather be'. It's such a uplifting end of winter song and it's been stuck in my head all week! Love it!
So that's it for my favourites, I feel this was quite a quick job done post, if you know what I mean. I hope you've enjoyed seeing my favourites, what have you been loving last month? let me know in the comments!
Welcome to review Thursday!
Today I am going to give my review on these eye shadow crayons by Ferne. This make-up is a collection created by Ferne Cotton sold in Boots. I never really buy from her collection simply from not even thinking about it, but I picked this little set up in the Boots when they has the Christmas 3 for 2 deal, I can't remember how much I paid but it was around the £8/£10 mark.
Within the collection there are four eye shadow crayons and a liquid felt tip eye liner.
They don't have any colour names but you can see below you get a green, champagne, purple and bronze colours which are all quite shimmery.
I picked these because I really liked the tones of the colours and I thought as there not to bright they would be good to use as a base for eyeshadow. The pigmentation is really strong and with one sweep the eyelid is covered. There really nice just worn on there own because they catch the light slightly looking like you have more make-up on than you do.
I really like the cute polka dot packaging and the way there a stick form instead of in a pot. The formula is a dry but creamy constancy making them not wet at all. They almost remind me of when a felt tip pen is running out, although there not so dry that they drag across the lid.
I bought these mainly to use as a base so I could put shadows on top to make the colour really intense and develop them into a smokey eye. However after a few hours they really start to crease and wear off which is really annoying. I've found that if you only put a very light amount on they don't crease as bad but it's still pretty annoying to keep having to touch up.
As I found that they do crease over the lid, I haven't given up on them yet because I really like the colours! I've now started to wear them along the outer corners of my water line, like just underneath to give a slight shimmer to a day look.
The green and champagne colours are my favourite.
The felt liners quite nice too as it has a good fine tip and is really easy to apply, my only issue is, is that the darkness of the black doesn't last all day. Although it is good for a evening out just not a 9 hour working day.
I think thats all I have to say about these little crayons, a nice spontaneous find but to be honest I wouldn't recommend them, I think you can get a lot better in the drugstore for a similar price.
Happy Monday! Today I am going to show you my Mac Make-up Wishlist.
(I got the pictures from Google, so sorry if there a bit naff.)
Matte Bronser/ Select Cover Up Foundation/ 266 Small Angle Brush/ Coffee Eye Liner/ Black Ice Eye Liner/ Russian Red Lipstick/ Showstopper Eyeshadow Quad/ Soft and Gentle Mineralising Skin Finish/ Viva Glam 1/
I'm thinking next pay day I'm going to do a big Mac shop because I don't own much Mac products but know I have a job I can afford it yay!
I really want to make my own quads for different looks like a brown, grey and black smokey eye so if anyone has any suggestions of colour please let me know in the comments :)
Or any general Mac products you'd recommend?
Todays post I'm really excited to write about because as the title suggests it was my first ever pay day at the end of December. Although I'll say now of course I've been paid in the past, I'm 22 I've had jobs before but these jobs where just to get me by when I was at college and university. This pay day in special. It's special because it's the first one in a job that I absolutely love, it's a proper job and the start of my career.
As it was my first proper pay day I decided I would buy myself something special to remind me of how hard I've work to get where I am today. I bought myself the most beautiful Ted Baker purse and make-up bag to match. I bought mine in the light orange/coral shade, mainly so I could actually find it in the black bag haha but also because I love the bright orange colour.
It has this cute clip fastening with the signature T and B gems.
and the make-up bag has it's little white bow in tack.
I know that was a little picture heavy for one purse and a make-up bag but man I just love it. Every time I use my purse now I remember how proud I am of myself and although this all seems a little extreme my feelings towards a purse but it really does mean a lot to me.
As promised I'm going to post what I've received so far in my Boots Beauty Calendar!
Although I have been loving my little beauty product each day, I'm not sure Boot's have thought some of the design bits through properly. Some of my doors have come open early so I've had to Sellotape them down, but I haven't peeked! Another design fault it the products are pretty hard to get out, some of mine are still lodged in and with the perfume samples you loose half by trying to get them out. Other than that I love it!
I'll continue posting everyday on my Instagram but I'll be back next week with what I get this week. Exciting!
