Beauty Haul

Today on my blog I'm going to be showing you a few products I've recently picked up during my last few trips to Superdrug. I've been going there a lot recently, picking up little basic things for myself and a variety of make-up bits and bobs for the photoshoots I've been doing as part of my last uni project. So with that being said, I finally felt like I had gathered enough items up to create a blog post. 

I'll begin with the only skincare products I picked up. The first thing was a repurchase of a favourite product of mine which is the Simple Kind To Skin Hydrating Light Moisturiser. I believe I've mentioned this a few times on my blog before so I won't say too much about it other than it's a firm favourite of mine that I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a nice, light moisturiser especially for the Summer months. I then also picked up two packs of Superdrugs own Cleansing Facial Wipes for sensitive skin. They're really cheap and do a pretty good job at taking my make-up off when I'm feeling too lazy to do it properly so it's always handy having some of these laying around!

Next up is this Mitchum Roll on Deodorant. I've mentioned before on my blog that I'm really fussy with deodorants, I have no preference and find I get bored or go off the scent of them really quickly. I'm yet to find my perfect deodorant but I think (fingers crossed) that this one stands a pretty good chance. I've never heard of this brand before or noticed it in stores, however after noticing my mum had started using it and how good it smelt I decided to try it for myself. It was pretty cheap but so far I've been enjoying using it! I then also picked up the Miss Sporty Hollywood Lipgloss in the clear shade called Hollywood Boulevard. I'm not one for lip glosses however I picked this up to use for one of my photoshoots. I doubt I'd use this product for myself, however I will keep it in my kit for future shoot uses. 

On to eye products now. I picked up the Romantic Efflorescence palette from MUA which I've been looking at for a while and finally decided to try. It was only £4 so it was really affordable. I needed a purple eyeshadow for a 70's glam rock inspired shoot I was doing and this palette had the perfect shade in it so I finally had a reason to justify picking it up! I'm yet to really use this palette myself, so until I do I won't say much else about it. I also picked up 3 different eyeliners, I picked up my usual Collection Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner, however I picked up the brown shade rather than my usual black as I wanted to create a fake freckle look in one of my beauty shoots. Continuing on with my quest to find the ideal freckle faker I also picked up a brown pencil eyeliner from MUA which comes with a spooly on the other end. So handy and I'm pretty sure it was only a £1! I then decided to stray away from my typical eyeliner and went with the Miss Sporty Studio Lash The Miaoww Look Eyeliner. I've been using this for a few weeks now and I absolutely love it. In fact, I think it may even replace my collection one as my favourite eyeliner. The nib is so thin which allows me to create really precise lines and sharp flicks. 

I went a bit crazy for lipsticks as I was doing a beauty shoot which involved neon lip colours being the main focal point of the look. As I knew I was picking up multiple bright shades (which chances are I wouldn't ever use myself) I decided to stick to cheap and cheerful brands. I picked up two from MUA and two from Make-up Revolution - all of which I believe were about £1. The Orange Lipstick is from Make-up Revolutions Scandalous collection and is in the shade "Vice". The purple Make-up Revolution lipstick is in the shade "Depraved". The MUA lipstick in the white bullet is in the shade "Peachy Keen" and the MUA lipstick in the black bullet is in the shade Persian Rose. Despite all lipsticks only costing a £1, the colour pay off is really quite amazing. I was really impressed with how well they worked for my photoshoot and some of the colours could be quite wearable if a bright lip is something you're in to. 


That's all for this beauty haul, although I have been shopping again recently (whoops) so expect another haul very soon! 

The Perfect Lip Combo

Around February time MAC's lipstick in Faux entered my life and since then it has become one of my most reached for lipsticks. Faux is a MAC lipstick that I've never heard anyone say too much about, I just so happened to swatch it in store one day and fell in love with how it looked. It's a lovely pinkish brown shade with a Satin finish meaning it's comfortable to wear and not drying on the lips. As Faux is a Satin finish the colour transfers across very well with a slight shine to it and has that usual vanilla like scent to it that all MAC lipsticks seem to have. Very recently I began pairing it with a lip liner from Barry M in the shade Russet. Like Faux, Russet is also a dark nude shade however this liner is slightly more brown toned whereas the lipstick is a little more pinky.

Russet - although a beautiful colour is quite dry and the application can be quite difficult as it's not creamy or velvety in the slightest. However the liner does cost only £2.99 so some faults are to be expected. Despite this, the colour does go on well and it is an incredibly pigmented lip liner so don't let that factor put you off giving it a go. The pairing of the two together creates the perfect dark nude lip which at best could be described as another answer to the "Kylie Jenner" lip colour phenomenon which swept the blogging community. To achieve the look I tend to line my lips first with the liner, then proceed to lightly fill in the rest of my lips using the liner to create an initial canvas for the lipstick to go on. I then apply the lipstick all over to achieve the more intense colour.

If I'm wearing this combination during the day I like to blot it slightly in order to make it look more matte, however at night I much prefer the glossy finish as it feels that slight bit more glamorous. If you're looking for that perfect 90's lip colour that I'd highly recommend giving this combination a go. It's one that I'd believe would suit a lot of different skintones.

A photo of both Russet and Faux on together (after blotting)

The Beauty Scenario Tag

Hello Readers!

Last night whilst tucked up in bed I was watching Gabriella's latest video in which she does the "Beauty Scenario Tag" and I decided that today I'd give it a go myself. I quite liked the look of the questions and as I don't tend to do many tags on my blog I thought why not? 

1 : You have to get rid of all of your foundations and you can only keep one high end and one drugstore, which would you keep?

I don't own any high end foundations actually, I've managed to find drugstore ones that I like so why would I bother paying more to experiment with a product I might not like? As for which drugstore one I'd keep, I'd have to say it would be the Gosh CC Cream in the shade Porcelain as it's the perfect match for my skin tone and it feels lovely and light on my face. 

2 : You go for an interview and the lady interviewing you has lipstick on her teeth, do you approach the subject or ignore it completely?

Honestly I'm not sure what I'd do until I was put in that situation but knowing how shy I can be I have a feeling I'd probably ignore it. (Sorry interview lady!) 

3 : You're not feeling yourself and need a pick me up, which lipstick do you put on to make yourself feel beautiful?

Probably MAC's Coral Bliss as it's so pretty, summery and it has a really lovely glossy finish to it. A little bit of peach colouring to your face really brightens up your appearance so it's definitely one I reach for when I want to feel beautiful. 


4 : You go back in time for a day to your teenage years; how would you do your hair and make-up differently?

Ah this is a tough one as I have had a fair few make-up and hair disasters during my teenage years. I'd probably tell myself not to cut my hair so short and not to dye it so many weird colours as looking back It really didn't look good. I'd also tell myself that wearing eyeliner on just one eye because the other one was hidden under my massive fringe was weird and not to do it regardless of how smart I thought I was being. I'd also stop myself from wearing a few foundations which really were not my colour at all. 


5 : You ask your hairdresser for a shoulder length Pixie Lott hair cut but they hear you wrong and give you a pixie cut, do you -
A) Smile, say thank you, leave and call your mum hysterical
B) Cry in the chair and things get awkward
C) Complain to the manager and demand a refund?

A! I am the worst for saying I love my hair in the hairdressers, even going to the extent of tipping them and then coming out into the street and crying about it. I have done this on many occasions so I feel like that's probably what I'd do in this scenario. 

6 : Your friend surprises you with a 4 day city break and you have one hour to pack, which do-it-all palette would you pack in your makeup bag?

Urban Decays Naked Basics as this little palette contains 6 eyeshadow shades, all of which can easily be used to create a day or night look. Plus it's tiny and compact - perfect for shoving in to your make-up bag! 

7 : Your house has been robbed, don't worry everyone is safe but your beauty stash has been raided.. What's the product you really hope is safe?

Probably my Urban Decay Naked Palette as it's the most expensive item I own and I'd be devastated if anything happened to it. I have very few high end products so I really do value the ones that I do own.

8 : Your friend borrows your makeup and returns it in awful condition, do you -
A) Pretend you haven't noticed
B) Ask them to repurchase it
C) Secretly do the same to something of theirs?

I've already had this happen to me before and I did A, I simply pretended I hadn't noticed. I do like to treat my make-up with care and I am gutted if it comes back looking a little worse for wear after I've lent it to someone but I don't think it's something worth kicking up a fuss over. Lesson learnt, next time just don't lend any make-up out! I'd probably care more over clothes if I'm honest. 



That's all for this tag, I hope you've enjoyed.
I tag anyone who's interested in giving it a go and for anyone who does, leave a comment linking me to your post. I'd love to read it!

I hope you're all well. 

7 Deadly Sins Of Beauty Tag

Hello Readers,

 As you can probably tell from the title of this post, today I shall be doing a tag! I don't tend to do many on my blog for some reason but I quite enjoy doing them. So with that being said I had a look online and decided to do the 7 Deadly Sins of Beauty tag as it looked quite interesting. I believe it's quite an old one now so I'm sure many of you will have seen this go round before but as I hadn't done it yet I thought I might as well give it a go! 

Greed
What is your most inexpensive beauty item? What is your most expensive one?

My most inexpensive beauty item is a pretty dull one but it is this MUA intense colour eyeliner in the shade Jet Black. It's honestly such a good eyeliner, it goes on so creamy and is really pigmented. Also, the lid doubles as a sharpener which is so incredibly handy! This was only £1 so it's such a bargain.

My most expensive beauty item to date is my Urban Decay Naked 1 palette. I bought this quite a while ago now whilst on the plane back from Alcudia. I believe the palette is £37 however as I was using my leftover Euros I roughly paid about 45 euros for it. (I think) So despite it being quite a splurge it was definitely worth it - since picking this up I've used it countless times and find it to be a really diverse palette. You can create so many looks out of the shades provided and they're really good quality shadows - super pigmented and really easy to blend! 

Wrath

What beauty products do you have a love/hate relationship with? What product has been the hardest to get?

The beauty product I have a love / hate relationship with, has to be the Max Factor Lipfinity Lasting Lip Tint. I've got shade 04 and I absolutely love the colour of it - it's such a beautiful red wine shade. However, the lasting power of this is really pathetic which is why I dislike it. After a little while it goes quite patchy and sort of flakes a little bit and then before you know it, it's completely worn off. I love the colour but this is a high maintenance lip product with constant touch ups necessary! 

The product I found hardest to get was actually the Sleek Blush By 3 palette in Lace. Everytime I went into Superdrug to pick it up, they never had it in stock. They don't stock Sleek in the Superdrug in my town so I had to keep looking for it whenever I was in Nottingham or if I was in Leicester and it was always sold out! Luckily enough for me my boyfriend's sister, was able to grab this for me and gave it to me as a Christmas present. I was very happy to finally get this trio as it was on my beauty wishlist for so long. The colours are so beautiful and are crazily pigmented - such good value for money!

Gluttony

What are your most delicious beauty products?

One of my most delicious beauty products is this Rimmel London Sweet Jelly Sheer Lipgloss in the shade 060 Delicious (ironic I know) As far as lipgloss goes, it's alright - they all seem the same to me so I wouldn't really know the difference from a good one and a bad one. However this smells and tastes SO nice - every time I wear it I pretty much just eat it off straight away. 

I couldn't choose just one product for this so I also wanted to include this Flava Craze Chapstick in Watermelon Splash. Again as far as chapsticks go this is an alright product, nothing amazing but there's really nothing I could complain about either. It leaves a slight red / pink tint to the lips so it's perfect if you're just wanting to add a nice subtle hue and moisturise your lips at the same time. Plus, it smells absolutely incredible! Perfect summer lip balm. 

Sloth

What beauty product do you neglect due to laziness? 

I will admit hand on heart that I neglect all of my cream / liquid blushers due to sheer laziness. They're just so much effort to put on! I always feel like I put too much on and therefore spend even longer trying to blend it in. I'd much rather just stick with powder blushes, easy to blend and less scary looking! 

Pride

What beauty product gives you the most self confidence?

I know most girls will say foundation or concealer but for me I think it honestly has to me mascara. My eyes are quite small and I really need mascara to help open them up more and make them look that little bit bigger. I really don't know what it is but mascara just ties a look together and without it I think I look rather strange!

 Lust

What attributes do you find the most attractive in the opposite sex?

Hair, smile and dress sense are probably the things I'd say in terms of physical attributes. Overall though they need to be caring, supportive, honest and they must be able to hold a conversation with me. There's nothing more off putting than a guy who just doesn't seem to be able to make conversation with me.

Envy

What items would you most like to receive as a gift?

Oh this is a really tricky one as there's always something on my wishlist! I think I have to say pretty much any make up product from theBalm as they have the most incredible packaging and such quirky little product names. 


That's all for this post. I know it's quite an old tag now so I imagine quite a few of my followers will have done it but if you haven't and decide to do it then I'd love to see some of your responses! So I tag anyone who fancies giving it a go! 

I hope you're all well.

New In: MAC Rebel

Hello Readers,

Today I will be talking about a lipstick which came into my life a little while back and I think it's about time I shared it with you all. Back in January I entered a MAC lipstick giveaway which was being hosted by the lovely Alice from The Fairest Of Them. I was fortunate to have won and Alice was in contact straight away asking me which shade I would like. Originally I was torn between two shades but in the end settled for the blogger favourite that is Rebel. 

When my lipstick arrived (accompanied by an adorable little note from Alice, thanks again!) I was over the moon. Rebel is a shade that definitely does not disappoint! It's described on the MAC website as a midtonal plum which I'd say is pretty much spot on. It's a really lovely fuchsia toned berry / wine colour, I'll admit that in the bullet it does look a lot darker - more like a vampy, purple shade but it really doesn't transfer like that at all. It's a colour which is both day and night appropriate, although I particularly like to wear it when I'm going for a night out as it's the perfect shade - not too dark and not too girly!  

Rebel is a Satin finish, it dries Semi-Matte but with a slight sheen to it, meaning it's very comfortable to wear and does not feel drying in the slightest. It's surprisingly long lasting considering that it's not a fully matte lipstick, I find that I can eat and drink and it will stay put with minimal touch ups required! The only negative thing I'd say about this lipstick would be that whenever I do wear it, I do notice that it stains my lips for quite a while after. I mean if anything that's proof as to how pigmented it is, however I don't appreciate waking up the next day with really dark pink pigmented lips as it looks rather bizarre. In all fairness though I only use baby wipes to remove my make-up, so perhaps I'm not scrubbing hard enough! 

Rebel - Featuring my awful application skills.

If anyone is interested in giving this lipstick a go then I highly recommend you do so. It's such a wearable shade and would suit every skintone! I've already wore it countless times since receiving it and have noticed that it's fast becoming one of my most reached for lipsticks. 

That's all for this blogpost, I hope you're all well.

Oh and apologies for the messy nature of my blog layout right now, I'm in the middle of trying to update it and do something different with it but as I'm so useless at this sort of thing, it's looking a bit rough. Hopefully I can get this sorted shortly..

Shop The Stash

Hello Readers,

 

I was recently looking through my make-up collection when I realised just how many products I have that I just don't ever seem to use. I'm not by any means the worst for hoarding make-up, however I do go through phases where I'll buy a few products all at once and some just seem to never get used as I get overwhelmed having so many new things to try out. I've decided to "Shop My Stash" in other words, instead of going out and buying more unnecessary products I'm going to use some of the ones that I've neglected. I've chose a good range of products some which I have used, others which I have not. I aim to review these products in the near future and hopefully I'll have some new favourite products to share with you all!

 

The products that I've challenged myself to start using are;

Dainty Doll Concealer Shade 1
As you can see I've used this product a few times but not enough to have fully formed an opinion on it. I'm starting to run out of my beloved Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer so it's perfect timing for me to give this one a go.

Rimmel "Stay Blushed" Cheek Tint in 004 Sunkissed Cherry
Okay, I know I got this a while ago but I'm pretty sure I've only used it once. How terrible of me! I was meant to try this out so I could review it for my blog however I just never seemed to reach for it. It's very intensely pigmented and I think that might be what scares me!

  MaxFactor Xperience Foundation in the shade Light Ivory.
This actually used to be my go to foundation before I came across my Gosh BB Cream. I've used this since I was about 15 years old, (not this exact tube of course) and really like it. It really does live up to it's claims and can't wait to start using it again!

Collection's Work the Colour Eyeshadow Pencil in the shade Vanilla Sky.

 I've used this quite a few times and it's a great product, particularly for highlighting the inner corners. However as I don't actually bother doing anything exciting for my everyday makeup. I find that I don't reach for this at all which is a shame.

Urban Decay Cream Shadow in the shade Suburbia.
Again, I've used this a few times however because I literally don't bother much with eye make-up, I've found that it just doesn't get the use it deserves. It's a beautiful little product which I'm going to start using more often.

 ELF HD Blush in the shade Superstar.
I featured this in my ELF haul post back in November. In which I said I was yet to actually try the product, but from swatching it, it looked promising. Well I'm a bad blogger and haven't used it at all since! I really need to give it a go and hopefully will be able to review it for you all very soon.

That's all for this post. I hope you're all well!
I shall report back to you on my findings some time soon.

 



Beauty Photoshoot #3

 

Hello Readers,

Today I will be sharing with you a few images from another beauty photoshoot that I recently did.I teamed up with model Halo Haynes and MUA Jessica Rose Pykett to create 3 different looks. This shoot was arranged by Jessica herself and I'm very flattered to have been picked to photograph these looks she created.

 



 

 

That's all for this post! I know I've been really absent with my blog lately, I really need to push myself to start trying harder with it. Hopefully I'll either do a review or an OOTD post tomorrow. I'm still yet to show how I style some of the pieces from my recent massive haul so I've got plenty to be blogging about!

Also, I'm really wanting to do some more shoots at the moment so if you're a Model or MUA who want to collaborate on a shoot with me. Get in touch!

I hope you're all well.


Halo's Modelling Portfolio | Jessica's Portfolio | My Photography Page

 

Beauty Photoshoot #2

 

Hello Readers,

Today I will be showing you some of the images from a recent photoshoot I did.
As some of you may know, I'm currently on a gap year so it's really important for me to use this time to build my photography portfolio up and try and better myself as a photographer. I moved up to Nottingham to help open myself up to new experiences however this created the problem of me not having any contacts up here.

Luckily I found a modelling agency which has helped provide me with some amazing models so far and I also have recently found myself an MUA. So with that being said, shoots are becoming a bit more of a regular thing now!

Jessica, the makeup artist, was also responsible for creating this beautiful floral crown for the shoot. How amazing is that?! It was such a lovely prop to work with and I absolutely adore it!

Model: Klaudia Weselak @ Model Students
MUA: Jessica Rose Pykett
Location: Hopkinson Vintage and Antique Store.

 



 

 

That's all for this post.

Let me know what you think of these images! I'd love to hear some feedback.
I hope you're all well.