Autumn Tag

 

Hello ladies, hope you are all well, brrrr isn't it getting colder out there? I've seriously been cold all day and have started wearing my winter coat already, and now I'm sitting with my big fluffy dressing gown and slipper socks on - summer has definitely left us.  Seeing as summer is coming to an end, I thought I would take the opportunity to do the Autumn Tag which was posted originally by the lovely Make-Up Pixi3. I've loved reading other bloggers answers and couldn't wait to do my own tag, hope you enjoy reading it...

For Autumn, what is your....

 

1. Favourite thing about it? Oooh this would definitely have to be the chance to wear Autumn fashion wearing darker clothing and wrapping up warm in chunky knit cardigans, jeans/leggings or tights and comfy boots. I must admit I do dress for winter in colours such as berry, black, brown, creams. The crisp fresh mornings and the darker nights with the fire on with a hot chocolate. And of course the lead up to Christmas feeling festive buying presents...oh and the Christmas night out with the girlies!

2. Favourite drink? I've just bought Cadburys drinking chocolate with some whipped cream and marsh mellows from Asda for when it starts to get that little bit chilly....yum!

3. Favourite scent/candle? Unfortunately I don't really like the smell of spicy scents such as cinnamon etc so for me I tend to stick to similar scents all year round so as my beloved Yankee Candle in 'Clean Cotton.' I tend to love clean fresh vanilla scents, although I did smell one yesterday in the shops that was Apple Crumble and oh my god it smelt just like freshly baked apple crumble, my mouth was almost watering! So I think I will buy that one too.

4. Best lipstick? I'm recently trying to be more adventurous with lipstick shades as I tend to go for pink or neutral tones. However I have a wedding in a few weeks to attend and I've decided I'm going for a red dress and full on red lipstick for a change! I'm also loving the Kate Moss 107 lipstick I picked up a few weeks ago which is a perfect berry shade so I guess berry and red will be my most used shades this Autumn.

5. Go-to moisturiser? For my face I tend to switch from my Clinique one to the Avene Hydrance Optimale Riche which is perfect for Autumn/Winter as it's very thick and creamy as my skin tends to get really dry. I will also be using more of my Origins Drink Up Intensive overnight mask no doubt too. For my body I tend to use Body Shop butters or Soap & Glory.

6. Go-to colour for the eyes? This will most definitely be my new Maybelline Colour Tattoo eye shadow pots in the shades 'On & On Bronze' and 'Metallic Pomegranate' which are beautiful browns and cranberry shades. Also I will be hopefully buying the Urban Decay Naked Palette too.

7. Favourite music or band/singer to listen to? Hmm when I'm driving I tend to just listen to the radio as I get bored of hearing the same CD over and over again. I like a mix of music including pop, R&B, indie etc so I don't tend to download songs onto my phone as I just stick the radio on as I'm always in my car when I need to listen to music.

8. Favourite outfit to wear (i.e. boots & a scarf combo)? I tend to wear a lot of my skinny jeans in different colours-black, grey, plum, army green etc as they fit great into boots! But I also love wearing thick woolly tights with a skater dress with either ankle boots or flats, and wear both with a chunky knit cardigan or my winter coat...sorted! I sometimes adventure into thick tights and skirts too.

9. Autumn treat? Will definitely be more clothes this year, and I graduate in November which has been such a long stressful journey doing my nursing degree with my 4 year old son whilst working full time on hospital placement and all the essays at home so I'm hoping my mam and dad or my fiancé buy me a great graduation present...such as the Canon blogging camera I've been dropping a million hints for!

10. Favourite place to be? Simply at home :) Snuggled up with my son hearing all the things he wants from Santa and making Halloween and Christmas so special for him. A few nights out with the girls too and a couple of date nights with the fiancé :)

 

So that's it...I hope you enjoyed reading this tag & I would love to see you write one too! Leave me a comment or tweet me if you get around to doing one, I love reading tag posts.

 

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Beauty: Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadows

Before I started blogging I would only ever use eye shadow on those special occasions - nights out with the girlies (which isn't very often with me having my son), weddings, or date nights. But lately I am becoming more and more fond of making that extra effort to look glam and what better way then a sweep of eye shadow. Now I must be the only blogger that hasn't caved in yet and bought any of the NAKED eye shadow palettes so to be honest I don't own many eye shadows.  A few weeks back when I was browsing my favourite shop Boots I spotted these little beauties for only £4.99 but Maybelline had a 3 for 2 offer on and I needed a new mascara so I thought it would be the perfect time to swatch them and pick a couple of my favourites. Now normally I favour a neutral or smoky eye-I'm definitely not a dare devil in the colour stakes but nevertheless I swatched all of the available shades including the Turqoise and Pink ones, but these two stood out as winners straight away.

Ever since I purchased these they have honestly become a 'holy grail' in my make up collection and my most reached for product on a daily basis. I find them the perfect cream eye shadow to instantly give my eyelids an quick sweep of colour. The pigmentation in these little pots of loveliness is amazing and I find them bursting with colour, and the staying power is very impressive too-10 hours later and the colour had not budged, and that's without a eye shadow primer. The consistency and formula are great and I find I can quickly apply with my fingers and it blends in beautiful.  Another confession-I don't yet own any eye shadow brushes (I know, bad blogger) but I find this isn't a problem with these.

The 'On & On Bronze' shade (R swatch) is a gorgeous brown colour with hints of gold running through it. It's pretty much been my go to shade for both day and night. It's been great to wear during the day as a subtle light brown or equally during the night that can be built up to a darker shade and blended into a smoked eye effect. I also added a touch of my MAC Vanilla Pigment (see previous post) into the inner corners of my eyes with this shade and it really made my eyes bright which stood out for a night out recently. The next shade I chose was 'Metallic Pomegranate' which is a lovely red brown shade which has been compared a lot to the MAC cranberry eye shadow, which had actually been on my wish list for quite some time. I'm sure during the Autumn/Winter months I'll be reaching for this beautiful shade quite often.

Personally for me I couldn't live without these in my makeup drawer now and I just love how pigmented they are and find these two shades beautiful.  Hopefully they will bring more shades out soon as I think there are only around six to choose from at the moment. I think they would make a great base too for a lot of other eye shadows such as MAC or the Naked palette to blend in with for nights out etc.

Do you own any of these beautiful pots?

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CROWNBRUSH DISCOUNT CODE

Hi lovelies just a quick post to mention I received a discount code that I can pass onto my readers from the fabulous Crownbrush throughout the month of September entering this code:

FINS 2013

 

Just click on the link below which takes you directly to their site, and entering that code you will receive a 10% discount with your order!

 

 

 

 

I don't know about you but I already have my eyes on so many Crownbrush products including some of their amazing makeup brushes, their concealer palette for highlighting and contouring, and their gorgeous lip palette!

 

Happy Shopping!

 

Autumn Primark Haul

With Autumn well and truly on it's way I thought it was definitely time to go shopping and give my much needed wardrobe a boost with everyday casual warm clothes. It was also the #bbloggers chats that made me want to go out and have a bit of a spend, I'm blaming this to make me feel better anyway! I could only spend a little bit though as I've finished university and still waiting for my job to start and for my first wage. So this is what I picked up out of Primark and Superdrug....

 

Black Military Style Coat with leather belt - £25

 

As soon as I caught my eye on this coat I instantly loved it and like a maniac began rummaging around in the hope they still had my size in it. I've already got parka coats, a fur coat and a leather jacket that I often wear in the Autumn/Winter but I knew I wanted something a little bit smarter. I love how the leather belt makes the jacket not as plain, and I don't think you can make it out on this picture but the bottom of the coat is a bit 'poofed out' (wow what a great technical description there Kayleigh) which gives it a bit more of a girly feel to it. And obviously for practical reasons it will keep me very warm.

 

 Grey Over Sized Tee-£5

Pink Over Sized Tee-£5

I bought these two casual tees to go with skinny jeans or leggings with either my converse or my leather ankle boots or uggs if I can't be bothered and want to dress down. They look lovely on too and if I wanted to make it more dressy they look great with a chunky necklace or a long chain necklace. I can see me wearing these a lot.

Leather Silk Top - £12

First of all sorry for the creases in, this is how I bought it and wanted to get the haul post up before \I started wearing them! I think this is a lovely top that will be great for in the day time or even night time if I was going out to the pub or the pictures with a statement necklace. And leather is going to be big this season.

Casual T-Shirt-£5

Again just another comfy tee to wear with converse or boots. I love wine coloured clothing this year too.

Black Skinny Jeans/Leggings - £10

You can never have enough skinny jeans. These are classed as skinny jeans but have a bit of legging feel to them. They feel more like horse riding leggings. Very comfy and I live in skinny jeans or tights with dresses.

Black Clutch Purse-£5

My 5 year old River Island purse was well on it's way out and thought this was a bargain compared to how much I paid for the river island one.

Long Chain Feather Necklace - £3

This necklace will be perfect to add to the casual t-shirts.

Currently I own MAC, Revlon, Bourjois foundations but the urge over took me to try this one as I've heard so many great things about it, and I thought it will be perfect to wear for work.

I actually bought the shade 'On & On Bronze a few weeks ago and never reviewed it but I adore it and have since heard the Pomegranate is a very similar shade to the MAC cranberry what has been on my wish list for so long, a review of these two will be up shortly.

 

So have you started Autumn/Winter clothes shopping yet? Find any good buys?

 

Beauty: MAC Vanilla Pigment

Hello ladies, thought I'd share this MAC Vanilla Pigment highlighter I treated myself too a few weeks back as I had my eye on it for quite a while and I am a big fan of highlighting lately. When looking at all the different shades of the MAC pigments I decided on the shade Vanilla as I was aware it's been hailed for being such a multipurpose product that can be used to highlight areas on the face or for an all over body glow.

Vanilla is a lovely creamy sort of shade with tiny hints of shimmer running through it. It's fast becoming my favourite highlighter as it really makes the cheekbones and eyebrow bone 'pop' and I've been wearing it in the inner corners of my eyes to brighten and highlight the eye area and make me look more 'awake.' It's a highly pigmented colour (of course, MAC is great for this) and the tiniest bit gives you a strong defined colour. I find it's easy to blend out in those areas you don't want such intense colour but it can be a bit messy though so be careful!

It's a much stronger highlighter than my Benefit's High Beam or my MAC strobe cream but still manages to look so natural looking, and this is what I absolutely love it about it, especially for special occasions and can't wait to wear it for an upcoming wedding I have at the end of September. The colour is striking but thankfully the tiny bits of glimmer running through it definitely do not make you look like you have a glitter ball face (I promise, as I don't like this with a lot of other highlighters) and although it is a little bit pricey at £17 I would say it is definitely worth it and I'm so glad I tried it.  Yes the little pot is small but the amount you need to use each time I honestly know this will last me for ages. So I'd say it's a pretty good investment. They come in a lot of different shades and can be used as eyeshadows too. 

I'm loving MAC makeup at the moment and have a separate MAC makeup wish list as long as my arm!

Have you tried any of the MAC Pigments? Do you love them as much as me?

Beauty: My makeup today // Autumn Look

Hello ladies today I thought I would share my face of the day as I was feeling the autumn look. As you can see I've also went back to blonde hair so I feel back to my normal self again yay! So here's the look...

Base:

Benefit's Porefessional Primer

Bourjois Bronzing Primer

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation - '53 Light Beige'

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer NC30

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer - 'Medium'

MAC Studio Fix Powder NC35

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Powder - 'Medium Deep' (used as bronzer) 

MAC blusher - 'Fleur Power'

Eyes:

Maybelline Colour Tattoo 24hr Eyeshadow - 'On & On bronze'

Rimmel Glam Eyes Liquid Eyeliner

Maybelline Master Drama Khol Eyeliner - Dark Brown

Maybelline Mega Plush Volume Express Mascara

Brows: 

GOSH Brow Kit

Lips: 

Rimmel Kate Moss - Shade '107'

Brushes:

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush

Real Techniques Stiplling Brush

Ecotools Powder Brush

No7 Blusher Brush

Have you been experimenting with any Autumn looks recently?



Beauty: Bourjois Bronzing Primer

Hello ladies, a few days ago I was all excited for Autumn/Winter coming as I love nothing more than snuggling up watching telly with a hot chocolate, and love Winter clothes and makeup. But then I realised today as it's been full on heavy rain ALL day I shouldn't of wished so soon...ha. Anyways....I've actually had this little beauty for about a month now and been using it quite frequently but totally forgot to review it! When it first came out I was a little bit unsure of it as my instant thought was it will be WAY too dark for me. But when in Boots (my home) I swatched it and it blended it quite well.

As the name suggests it's meant to be a bronzing primer, this exactly what it feels like-rich, soft and a smooth mousse like texture.  However, I wouldn't use this as a primer, I still apply my normal primer then I have been putting a tiny bit of this on my cheeks, forehead, nose and blending it all in and it is definitely not too dark or orangey looking once blended and make up applied on top.  It definitely gives a warm bronzed glow, sort of just been on holiday glow and I've got to admit I absolutely love it and will continue to re purchase.

It has often been compared to Chanel Soleil Tan but I cannot comment on that as I have never tried it.  It's an absolute fab product by Bourjois - haven't they brought out some fab new purchases throughout the summer compared to other makeup brands? I think they are on top form at the minute.  I wouldn't be without this little gem in my make up bag now and I think it is a must have base product.

 Have you tried this product/wanting to try it?

Skincare: Origins Clear Improvement Charcoal Mask

Hello beauties, I wanted to show you my new skin care purchase I'm absolutely in love with (I know what a bold statement right from the start yeah?) I had heard endless raves about this charcoal mask for ages and on Saturday my skin was AWFUL after a Clean & Clear exfoliator (the vitamin C one) totally broke my skin out into a horrible mess. I only used it as I had ran out of my beloved St Ives exfoliator too so I was so annoyed and feeling pretty crappy if I'm honest. So when browsing online I couldn't resist making a purchase.

The clear improvement mask is a charcoal consistency and when applied to the skin works to draw impurities out from the pores. As someone who suffers with combination skin-oily, dry, acne prone-all which lead to clogged pores and pimples. It's like I can instantly feel it drawing out all of the grime and dirt not just from the top layer of skin but from well underneath too. Also another thing I loved about applying this clay mask is it only took 5-10 minutes to go dry/hard which is when you need to rinse it off, but once rinsed my severe redness I had been having around all of my spots was completely banished.

This made applying concealer and makeup a lot better.  It honestly felt like I had been and had a facial and I definitely noticed a difference. If you are someone that suffers from oily or combination skin I can't recommend this enough. It also didn't break me out on first use but actually made my skin feel a lot clearer and fresh. I bought this off the Origins website on Saturday and it arrived Tuesday which is pretty good. I bought the smaller 50ml one for £11 and the 100ml one is £22, basically I wanted to try it out and see if it worked for me before parting with £22 ha! But I can definitely say I will 100% keep repurchasing this and buying the bigger one next time.

Even if you don't suffer from this type of skin we all need a pamper night from time to time and to treat our skin to a face mask when we are feeling a bit run down or stressed and this is the perfect one!

Do you love any of the Origins face masks?