Real Techniques make up brush haul

Oooo Boots and their 342 deals. I can never say no and being the make up brush obsessed woman that I am I literally jumped at the chance to add a load of my favourite Real Techniques brushes to my kit! I'm rather excited about the NEW retractable bronzer brush. 

What is your favourite Real Techniques brush? 

Detailed reviews of all of these brushes will be coming soon. Any particular one you would like an in depth review of first?

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China Glaze 'I choo choo choose you' NOTD - All aboard collection

I love nail polish, I must have close to 200 bottles of the stuff but it's not very often that I hunt for it. If it's not in the shops, I'll just end up forgetting about it because postage is scandalous nowadays.

I Choo choo choose you was love at first sight though and after seeing it on MissBudgetBeautys Instagram I simply had to have it. It's my perfect Autumnal shade and although it doesn't really translate on the pictures it suits my skin tone really well which can be difficult with this dirty murky type colours.

I found it online for a bargain £3.99 with free postage and it only took two days to arrive.

Natural lighting, 2 coats.

The colour is so hard to describe but I will have a shot anyway and say.... it has kind of a taupey base with a heathery purple duo chrome and gold shimmer running throughout. It is truly stunning and unique. Infact, I reckon you'd be hard pushed to find anything close to it in Boots or Superdrug. 

Definitely going to purchase some more polishes from this collection this week.

Have you tried I Choo choo choose you?

£3.99 

www.nailpolishdirect.co.uk

xxxxxx

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

In the Navy - NOTD

As the colder months approach I think us girls love to pack away the bright summery colours in our massive nail polish collections and embrace the deeper, darker, chic looking nails!

*Flash*

For this I always turn to BARRY M Gelly polishes as the have some fab darker shades which look amazing with the high gloss finish that they give.

Blackberry is a creamy navy shade with a seriously glossy finish and is pretty much opaque with just the one coat, though I always apply two for maximum oomph haha. L O V E

*no flash*

What do you think? 

Seeing these images reminds me of how pale I am right now....time to dig out the fake bake I think, c ya later, Summer!

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

To YouTube or not?

Morning chickas! 

This is just a quick post as I would love your opinion! 

Now I much prefer the blogging side of things If I'm honest but I have been considering filming some videos too? Maybe the odd VLOG? I like the idea of writing a favourites post/haul in pictures/ootd for example AND embedding a video to go with it.

What do you think?

Ash

Carbooting, IKEA and a sneaky Topshop haul

It's rare that me and my mother spend a day off together but as neither of us had plans for today we thought we would take a little trip to.....a carboot! I'm really not a fan of car boots to be honest but this one in Fitzwilliam I can tolerate because it isn't too big and the coffee from the burger van is superb! 

We struck gold today actually, someone was selling lots and lots of sealed make up, Maybelline falsies, baby skin (which I bought then lost!!!) to name a couple! I hauled a few bits for my kit as they're sealed and I also got an Estée Lauder lipstick for my own make up because it was only 50p!! (Obviously I would never use used make up on a client, I only ever buy used make up for my own personal stash, and I of course sanitise it! :-)) 

So the car boot was good and I wore my big black school looking coat so I didn't even grumble about being cold! 

From there we decided to pop into Wakefield to have a browse at Trinity Walk and I just happened to fall into Topshop on my day off and pick up some Autumnal pieces that have caught my eye lately 😍

Then, on the way to IKEA, we nipped to subway for lunch but they had the air con on and it was freezing so we ate it in the car, fine dining indeed!! Hehe.

And at IKEA, besides taking pictures of my dream bedrooms and kitchen we found the bargain on the day! A crockery set for 21p a peice!

 Dreamy kitchen!

Is it just me or does anyone else love a random day out when you come home with lots of bargains?!! 

Over all a fabby day, especially loved the singing on the car journey home. Moves like jagger, crazy in love and the bee gees. Cringey but a good laugh indeed! 

How has your day been?

Ash

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 

Barry M GreenBerry NoTD

Just a quickie

I couldn't wait to try the other Barry M 'Gelly' nail polish in GreenBerry.

I love it to bits, it's quite similar to Green Room from Topshop but I much prefer the application of this one. Slightly patchy on a few fingers again, so three coats would have probably been better.

What do you think?

£3.99 at Boots/Superdrug :-)

BARRY M Gelly NOTD - Dragon

Following on from my last Barry M 'gelly' post I was happy to find several new shades in Superdrug which are very spring appropriate. I picked up two, but today I will featuring the pretty pink one, it's called 'DRAGON'.

Application was a bit thin and streaky and at 2 coats (2 coats in pictures) it could probably do with a third for full opaqueness! It is still super shiny and jelly looking, but a third would've made them even better (I was painting them half asleep at 1am or I would've added a third)

Overall I am really impressed, I think Barry M is my new favourite for nail polishes!

Available at Boots £3.99 each or currently on 2 for £6! They have a lovely nude I wish I'd bought now! Hmm. I will feature the minty colour once I have tried it out :-)

Have a lovely weekend girls

xox

Revlon Valentines NOTD

It's almost the weekend, yay! :)

These nails are from about a month a go when I was ghostly pale haha, but I thought I'd still post this as I really liked the result.. and they're kind of appropriate for Valentines too :)

I don't own many Revlon polishes so I was excited to try these two out and I'm very impressed, application was lovely, smooth, pigmented and dried really quickly, I have no complaints.

The gold polish was limited edition so I doubt it's about in shops now, it's basically a clear polish with gold flecks, I'm sure Barry M has one not too dissimilar to this :-). What do you think?

Have a nice weekend, everybody x

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

Barry M Gelly - Blueberry

I am so over winter now, dont get me wrong I have loved the snow and feeling incredibly cosy indoors whilst its ridicously cold outdoors, but I'm just praying for the slightly warmer weather to appear now, coats and scarves are too heavy! 

Anyways, in an attempt to brighten my day, I popped out and picked up this beautiful polish from the new(ish) barry my 'gelly' line earlier this week. It's a lilac/baby ish blue colour and I love it! It's super shiny and really does have a gel like finish although I've found that hard to capture on camera! I've always been a fan of Barry M's polishes, I think they on par with the likes of Essie and OPI which are much more expensive than the £3.99 this little beauty cost!

Blueberry £3.99 10ml

Currently these polishes are on 3 for 2 in Boots and I am highly tempted to go back and pick up a few more ready for Spring. 'Watermelon' looks gorgeous! Have you tried 'Blueberry'? Thoughts?