August Favourites

Pinch punch, first of the month!! Happy September everyone. I don't know about you but I am secretly a bit excited for Autum to roll round....mainly for the fashion and autumnal colours, of course the new winter coat and cosy evenings in watching the X factor and getting excited for the C word :-)

Today I bring my first monthly favourites in a while which I photographed on my very autumnal looking scarf (Primark, £5!!) 

It's been a very busy month for me meaning I haven't really had the time to be sitting getting creative or experimental with my make up on a morning so my favourites aren't all that exciting, but they are fab nonetheless.

Bleach London Rośe Shampoo £6 Boots

I absolutely love this stuff, Bleach London have landed on a winner bringing out this stuff for the impulsive girls like me and I'm sure plenty of you! Now, if I feel like dying my hair pink I can do it knowing it will wash out very quickly and I won't be left regretting my permanent my little pony hair! I love this rose shampoo, and the conditioner, it's none drying/damaging to my hair and the wash it gives is really pretty and subtle enough that I can wear what I like and it doesn't class. Definitely worth a go at only £6 in Boots.

Maybelline 'The Falsies' mascara in blackest black.

Now there isn't much I can say about this mascara that you probably haven't read already. It's fantastic, holy grail, perfection in a fushia tube! I have used this mascara for yonks, with brief affairs (and let downs) with higher end mascaras inbetween. I still get asked if my eyelashes are you guessed it....false! It's extremely black and extremely lengthening which is exactly what I look for in a mascara. Well worth the £7.99 price tag.

MAC Harmony blush £18.

I tried this blush many moons ago as a contour but I think that was before I'd heard the term 'less is more' and I definitely went with the pileitallllllonmyface and ended up looking a muddy mess. I sold that product only to repurchase a few years later and I love it! Used with a light hand in the right places it does a superb job at contouring and warming up my vampy complexion.

Maybelline Baby Skin Primer £7.99 (Boots,Superdrug)

I've never really been a primer girl after trying a benefit one which broke me out in acne that lead to me thinking all primers were bad. Until I found this on a market stall sealed for £2 and thought what the hell, I'm trying it! It is honestly fantastic, it smooths my pores out and indeed it does give a blurred/flawless look to my skin. I also find my make up lasts much longer and doesn't go as shiny as it usually does by lunch time. So happy I gave a new primer a chance as I couldn't be without it now.

Maybelline "Brow Drama" in Brunette £5.99

This isn't some holy grail product but it does what it says on the tube and it does it rather well! My eyebrows stay in place all day without looking crusty, harsh or hard which is never a good look. Definitely one to try if you're on the look out for a new brow product.

What are your favourites this month? Feel free to link posts below so I can have a nosey

xxxxxx

Condensing and organising your make up kit on a budget!

When you're a make up artist, having to lug around make up of every shade so you're always prepared can become an issue when you end up with so many eyeshadows, lipsticks etc in millions of different pots and palettes your back feels like it's going to snap in two at any moment. 

Over the past few weeks I have been looking at ways to condense my collection, melting and depotting lipsticks, depotting random blushers/eyeshadow and making one big palette with them labelled and stuck in and I can see this being really helpful once I am back at college and having to lug my kit around.

Another really handy purchase are these handbag organisers from Primark costing just £3 each! They hold loads and have what seems like a million pockets so you can really see what you're working with! Definitely recommend checking them out. 

Care to share any storage tips? 

xxxxxx

Depotting MAC lipsticks...

......in the process of chopping, mushing then melting ALL of my MAC lipsticks into the palettes that you can buy now. 

It's time consuming and a bit heartbreaking but it's also going to save lots of space and faffing... 

What do you think? Could you bring yourself to do this? 

xxxxxx

I'm back with a cheeky MAC haul!

HELLLLO! Wow, I haven't blogged in almost a year, and not through choice! I forgot my log in details - tried everything to get my blog back and failed, gave up and often just scrolled through my own little blog that I was locked out of....until this morning! I randomly tried and I only went a bloody managed to remember the security question to reset my password, hurrah!!! So yes, I am back, so much has changed I need to update you all. 

Anyways I thought I'd share with you some fab new lipsticks I picked up at the MAC counter a few days ago. As it's freezing at the moment I clearly had A/W I'm mind and so picked up these 4 beautiful autumnal plummy shades ....

Look how pretty they are <3

Top to bottom

Syrup

Patisserie 

Plumful

Rebel

I am so excited to use these on myself and others! Rebel is amazing, I cannot wait to rock this with really clean looking eyes with a slick of winged liner. They all suit my blonde hair, green eyes and pale skin (cry!) perfectly! 

So how is everybody? I have so much I need to update you all with, excited to be back :-)

Ash 

January Favourites 2013

 I haven't done a favourites in months and months, but as it's the new year I figured I would start a fresh and hopefully I'll come across enough amazing products to warrant putting these posts up monthly!

L-R 

Rimmel Scandeleyes Mascara £5.49; I discovered this mascara towards the end of 2012 and I just bought it because I had run out, it was on offer and it was 'extreme black'. I have actually really enjoyed it and I will be repurchasing. It is indeed extremely black, it gives me a lot of volume and doesnt flake down my face after a few hours! I will do a review of this soon.

 Loreal Caresse 06 'Aprodite Scarlet' lipstick, around £7; I saw this in one of Ghostparties videos and went straight out and bought it. The beauty of this lipstick is that it can be worn sheer or really built up. It's beautifully smooth it almost feels like nothing is on my lips when I wear it. It definitely gives the lips a 'juicy' look if that makes sense, lol.

 

Rimmel Kate Moss 107, around £6; Probably the most famous lusted after lipstick of 2012? Who doesn't have it?! It's a gorgoeus deep berry shade with a bit of red that stops it being too vampy! 107 is marketed as a matte but it has a slight sheen and isn't too drying so it isn't entirely a matte! I love it with simple eye make up and groomed brows it gives a really polished, chic look!

Barry M Gelly 'Blueberry nail polish £3.99; Favourite nail polish of the month, post and swatches here.

 MAC pigment gift o glamour, I have forgotten what christmas collection I got this from as I'm so behind on MAC nowadays but I kind of just dug this out by accident and have used it every day since. Really gorgeous peachy shimmery pigment. I love these little pots as you can try the pigments for a fraction of the price of a full sized one and they're not as messy. I am totally unsure as to whether this is avaliable to buy from MAC today.

Benefit high beam, around £24; I absolutely love this highlighter, I'm not sure that I would spend £24 on it but since coming off of my acne medication, not having a single spot for 5 months and not having oily skin anymore it has been amazing to whack highlighter on my face and not be constantly worrying that It'd break me out or accentuate any spots that I might have. So really, highlighters in general, they're amazing and I love my new skin!

What are your favourite this month? Hope everyones week is going great! x

MAC - Semi Precious haul

Semi Precious is the collection I've been waiting for!! I LOVE mineralize products, especially blushes and MSF's, so of course I had to have them all. Although the eyeshadows look gorgeous, I couldn't bring myself to purchase any because Temptalia didn't rate them - BUT...Adrienne and Muhsine swatched the two I really wanted (Smoked Ruby and Golden Gaze) and both said they are incredibly pigmented, so I might have to get them. Again, I wasn't really interested in the lipsticks, but Adrienne and her swatches convinced me that I needed 'Gem of Roses' and 'Lush Amber'. The cremesheen glasses looked pretty, but meh! I'd rather have a new blush. Oh and the brushes! Split fibre! I don't really know what that means or what they're supposed to be used for, but I loved the look of the cheek brush so I purchased that too!

The MSF's are GORGEOUS! I could look at these beauties all day long! They're all really smooth and very pigmented. My absolute favourite is Rose Quartz. I am mega pale but I still purchased Goldstone because, well, Adrienne's swatch told me to! I hope it works for me! Pearl and Crystal pink are definitely more highlighting products but I will let you all know what I think about them in more detail when I've had a little play with them. From first impressions and swatching though, they get a mahooosive thumbs up from me!

I was really surprised with the lipstick in this collection. I had totally written them off as 'nan lipsticks' but no, I was wrong. Gem of Roses is a mid tone strawberry pink and oh my word is it gorgeous! For me, it's a perfect 'my lips but better shade'. Lush Amber is a light nude beige - quite sheer on my pigmented lips but I kinda like this because if it was really really opaque I can tell I wouldn't like it!

Are you still here?? No far to go....

 This is such a lovely brush. Like I said above, I'm not sure what to use it for because it seems a bit dense for a cheek brush! I'm thinking foundation? Or cream blush? Or even for highlighting? I'll give all three a whirl and let you know!


Mineralize Blushes.


I love blushes, and from the get go, I was getting all three.

Feeling Flush is a pinky/plummy colour. Very pigmented and not too shimmery. As it has plummy tones, I probably won't reach for this until Autumn/Winter, but it's pretty enough to look at for a few months.

My favourite is surprisingly, 'Pressed Amber'. I wasn't keen on it when I saw swatches but my god, in real-life it is so, super pretty! It's the perfect light contour shade for me, or a very natural blush. Absolutely love it. One of my favourites out of the entire haul.

 Warmth of coral I'm kind of on the fench about, it seems very... orange! I expected it to be a bit orangey, but mine is like, mega orange! Does anyone else find this?? I will have a play, but like I said, kinda on the fence about this one. I was really hoping for my perfect peachy/coral blush.

Overall I really like this collection! My favourite's would have to be, Pressed Amber, Lush Amber, Gem of Roses and all the MSF's.

Did you pick anything up from this collection?

xx

MAC Fashionflower haul........

FINALLY.. I got a black box. I haven't made an order from MAC for ages, so I went a little bit crazy!

 I'm going to separate this 'haul' post into two parts as I ordered from both the Semi Precious and Fashionflower collections.

So, Fashionflower. Here's what I bought..

Everhip - I had to get two of the beauties! Can you believe I returned this last year when I purchased it from The give me liberty of London collection?! Such a gorgeous creamy coral, very happy to have this back in my collection!

Fresh Daisy, Bows & Curtseys and Lucky Green eyeshadows - Fresh daisy isn't anything special really, I'm just a sucker for white/ivory/cream eyeshadows. It's a great highlight/lid  colour - not too shimmery! Bows & Curtseys and Lucky green (LG is permanent so I just got it in pan form. You can get it in the Fashionflower collection with the flower printed on it though.) I had decided against these eyeshadows but then I saw this post by Nicoletta! I am in love with the eye look she created so I decided to get them. I'm definitely going to try and re-create the look. B&C is a dark hunter green, with some brighter green shimmers. Very pretty! Lucky Green is a bright lime. Again, very pretty! I also really wanted Groundcover but I forgot to ask for it! Silly me...

Alpha girl Beauty Powder - I absolutely did not need another beauty powder, but I like anything remotely peachy so I had to have it. Well I didn't really, but I would've died if I didn't buy it, right? The embossed flower is really pretty, but after a couple of uses it will disappear. It's not majorly pigmented and I find it a little bit chalky, but ho hum, I'll work with it because I love the colour.

I didn't bother with the other beauty powder because I have a few which are probably the same and the the other lipsticks didn't really appeal to me. I liked this collection, but I was more excited month's ago when I thought it was coming out in May!

Did you purchase anything from the Fashionflower collection?

To depot or not to depot...

Once again, I am considering changing my makeup storage. I've gone from the 2 metre MALM dresser from IKEA, to the 'Micke' desk (from IKEA) with two drawers, and I also have the 9 drawer Alex unit from IKEA. Yes, I love IKEA! I really really want to streamline my collection now though. I plan on purchasing the dressing table below along with 4 sets of the wide Muji drawers. Whatever I can't fit into these drawers will be thrown out/given away etc..

The main point of this post is to ask "Would you depot your MAC blushers to save space"?  It sounds MAD but I really do love seeing the neat little rows of blush, BUT they are taking up a great deal of space.

Also what about the Mineralize ones? Will I forget about them?

If you have depotted your MAC blushers before have you used them more or less?

Basically do you prefer your MAC blushers in a palette or in their pots?

Let me know your thoughts!

Thank you for reading

x

lipsticks i'm loving♥

I thought it would be fun to do an updated 'lipsticks I'm loving' post today, as I did my last one ages ago!

L-R

MAC Bubblegum - I acquired this from Laura's blog after months, and I mean months of stalking blog sales and eBay for it. It is a medium pink, with a hint of purple and a fine golden shimmer. It is a Glaze finish which means it's not crazily pigmented, but it's not terribly sheer either. It is such a lovely, easy to wear shade, and it has been getting alot of love from me. If MAC ever re-release this little beauty, I will be sure to pick up a couple.

Loreal Color Riche 'Freshly rosy' - First things first, I hate the smell of these lipsticks. I can't even think of a word to describe it, other than sickly. No likey. The actual lipstick is gorgeous though. Freshly rosy is a light glossy pink with a teeny bit of frostiness to it, though this isn't really noticeable once applied. Great everyday shade.

17 Mirror shine 'peace' While this lipstick looks scary in the tube, in reality it isn't. It is quite a sheer, pinky/coral when you apply it, but it also buildable. I find that when I wear this my face as a whole looks alot more awake and refreshed!

CHANEL 'chance' I'm not going to say much about this one, as I feel it deserves its own post (coming up!). I will repurchase it time and time again, and possibly purchase more of the Rouge coco shines! Ab fab.

Swatchy bit

What lipstick(s) are you loving at the moment?

Thank you for reading

xx