MARIAH CAREY FOR MAC

  Bit Of Bubbly, MAC, £17   I am waaaaaaay behind on the Mariah Carey hype, of course I heard when the collection was announced, but I never even bothered looking as i'm never really bothered about celebrity collections for MAC as I tend to just stick to my MAC faves.  However, I quickly started to see Instagram posts flooding into my feed about how great the collection was, and most importantly, I noticed that the lipstick packaging was glittery.... that sealed the deal for me.   How beautiful is it?! I just had to have one, so I instantly looked online, of course they were sold out. However my amazing friend managed to pick me one up from the MAC store at St Pancras in London, so although there is limited availability online, definitely check in store!   The lipstick is shade is 'Bit Of Bubbly', which I absolutely love as I tend to wear MAC cremesheen lipsticks, and it is a lovely nudey pink shade. Personally, out of all of the Mariah lipsticks I prefer this one, as apart from 'I Get So OOC' a shimmering brown shade, the lipsticks are gold or peach which I tend to find do not flatter my skin tone at all. The lipstick also has a beautiful flower engraved in it, sooooo girly!   Apart from lipsticks, Mariah has an array of other products in the collection including eyelashes, eye shadow, lipgloss and bronzer. Have you got anything from the collection?     

BLOGMAS #1- LUSH FAVOURITES

 

Ok so my first #Blogmas post is a day late, oops. I am going to try my absolute hardest to get some posts scheduled to take part in Blogmas again this year- last year I found it was such a cute thing to do during the run up to Christmas, it really got me into the festive spirit! I would definitely recommend getting involved, and blogging about all things Christmassy!

 

So to kick #Blogmas off, I thought I would start with a little wish list. Have you been in Lush recently? If you have, then like me you were probably blown away by their huge array of festive bath bombs, Christmassy soaps and bubble bars.

 

For Christmas I actually asked for 7 of these.... ikr, a bit obsessive. Although they have a wide range of Christmas gift sets which include festive favourites and best sellers, I just couldn't find one that had all of the items I wanted, so I made my own!... if you want to do the same you can get your bath products wrapped in a Christmas scarf, so cute.

  My favourites from the Christmas range are:   - Bar Humbug - Peeping Santa - The Magic of Christmas - Holly Gollightly - Candy Mountain - Yog Nog - 5 Gold Rings - Snow Angel - Magic Wand   ...Sooooo kind of the whole range!  Have you got any favourites? Have you bought any Lush products recently? Leave me a comment below!

FOTD

I have really been struggling recently to think of blog post ideas, but since I have been trying some new makeup products recently, I thought I would do a face of the day post! A lot of the make up I use is really inexpensive, as I am not a huge believer of spending a lot of money on expensive makeup which just gets used up within a few months! The only pricey products in this post come from the Benefit celebutante pallete, the benefit brow zings eyebrow pallete, and the MAC cremesheen lipstick, the rest is mostly Rimmel London. As it is spring time, I think it's time to alter my daily makeup and start using some pinker, lighter shades of lipsticks, primers, highlighters and a little bronzer! Here are the products featured in my look...

RIMMEL LONDON LASTING FINISH FOUNDATION 201, £7.99, Boots

This will always be my favourite foundation, it works just as well as a high end foundation, it stays put all day, it's heat/sweat resistant, transfer resistant and it really does what it says it will, it gives you 25 hour coverage. All of that for just £7.99! This is quite a popular foundation and I have been using it for years now!

NYC 649 PROSPECT PARK ROSE CHEEK GLOW, £2.99, Superdrug

Cheap and cheerful. I love this blusher because I found it's the perfect shade for me, it has a shimmery tint to it so it also acts as a highlighter for your cheeks!

RIMMEL LONDON STAY MATTE POWDER 003 PEACH GLOW, £3.99 Boots

Again, this Rimmel product is very popular. It is so hard to find a good powder but I always find that this one works wonderfully, it gives a light covering and sets your make up so well!

RIMMEL LONDON WONDERFULL MASCARA- £7.99- BOOTS

I never ever usually go for plastic brushes as I never find that they actually volumise my lashes, but with this brush I feel like it gives the best of both worlds, length and volume! Although I usually opt for Scandeleyes, I will definitely be buying more of this mascara! 

BENEFIT BROWZINGS, £24.50, Boots

I have only ever used one brow product, but this one has last me years! I only ever add just a little colouring to my brows so this powder and gel like duo work perfectly for adding a touch of colour and setting with the tinted gel.

LEGGY AND DANDY BRANDY BENEFIT VELVET EYEHSHADOW, (part of celebutante set)

I love to combine these colours, applying the shimmery pale 'leggy' shadow all over the eye lid and then adding a touch of 'dandy brandy' to the outer lids and blending. A very neutral but beautiful look!

BENEFIT DALLAS FACE POWDER, (part of celebutante set)

This bronzer is so amazing, benefit have so many different bronzers which are all lovely. I particularly love this one as it isn't too dark but it also adds a lovely shimmer. A great bronzer if you're just getting started with bronzing and contouring.

CREMESHEEN CREMECUP MAC LIPSTICK- £15

This has been my favourite lipstick for so long, it adds a lovely pinky colour to your lips and is so soft and nourishing. The cremesheen lipsticks are a definite favourite of mine!

SLEEK LIP CONDITIONER (POUT POLISH)- £4.49- BOOTS

I always apply this before wearing any lipstick, as it ensures your lips are conditioned and ready for you to smoothly apply your lipstick, you can also use this balm on its own as it is tinted with a pinky/nude tone.

What do you think of my face of the day look? What are your favourite makeup products at the moment? Leave me a comment below! :) 

Benefit| Full Glam Ahead

Benefit FULL GLAM AHEAD, Boots exclusive, £9.95

When it comes to high-end cosmetics I have never really seen the point in spending a hell of a lot of money on makeup which you can most certainly find at a much cheaper price by high street makeup brands. Although I won't be splashing the cash on foundations and mascaras, I do like he occasional treat, for example MAC is my go to place to grab a new lippy (I just bought one of their Dazzleglass lipgloss which I will review soon) and when it comes to makeup brushes I would consider investing in some real techniques brushes, so when I saw this handy little kit of mini benefit favourites I just couldn't resist!

The set consists of 3 miniatures of some of the most popular benefit products, the PORE fessional, BADGAL LASH mascara and High Beam highlighter. If I am completely honest I had absolutely no idea how to use the pore fessional or High beam so I had to do a little bit of YouTube searching for some tutorials, I have however used their BADGAL lash mascara before and I can 100% say it is the best mascara I have ever used. So, at just £9.95 I thought this was an absolute bargain if you just want to have a little play around with these products and see what you think of them before splashing out on the full size versions. Here's a little more info about these products and how to use them.

HIGH BEAM

High beam is a highlighter which aims to enhance your complexion. To apply, I reccomend you use around 3 small dabs of the product spread evenly along your cheek bones, this is the area you need to highlight most, you can also apply this along the top of your nose, Cupid's bow or anywhere else you wish to highlight! Simply apply when you have applied your foundation and blend, however don't apply  on top of powder as it can get a little caked up.

THE PORE FESSIONAL

The pore fessional is a pro balm which minimises the appearance of pores. I was very sceptical about this product as I just didn't understand how it could possibly work, however there has been so so much hype about this product so I gave it a go. It seriously does not disappoint, although I think the effectiveness of the balm really does depend on the severity of your pores, it really does work! Simply pat the product into any visible pores, for example at the side of your nose/ cheeks, nose or chin and then sweep away any of the excess and blend into your skin. Not only just it make your skin feel super soft, but it smooths out your complexion and really does minimise your pores, then when you apply your foundation the application is a lot easier and looks so much better. The product has a light fragrance and is a skin tone colour which differs from High street alternatives which have a more gel like consistency.

BADGAL LASH

BADGAL lash is literally the best mascara I have ever used, despite retailing at around £17.50 it is expensive, but is perfect for keeping it for special occasions or when your eyes need more definition. It is so great for volumising and lengthening your eyelashes, whereas some others do either or, the brush is also highly effective, I much prefer bristle brushes for my eyelashes as I usually find plastic ones are absolutely useless. Highly reccomend this one, but keep an eye out for their brand new Roller Lash mascara which will be available in the March issue of Elle magazine (available next month).

Overall I have found all 3 of these products highly effective, however I am yet to decide whether to invest in the full size versions, I absolutely love these affordable miniature versions however as now I can get used to using them and it will only set you back £9.95 for all 3 of the products, a lot cheaper than the full size products which can cost anything between £17 and £28. For the miniatures bought individually the value would be £20.33 which saves you a massive 50%, definitely grab this one while you can!

Are you a fan of high end makeup? Do you use Benefit? Leave me a comment below! :) 

LUSH Cosmetics

Firstly, I have a little, slightly embarrassing story to share with you... Ok, I was browsing the products in LUSH, when I came across these gorgeous Star Light, Star Bright bath bombs, so of course, just like with every other product, I picked it up to smell it (it smelt absolutely amazing), but as I smelt it, I managed to blow a hell of a lot of glitter all over my face, hair and top... very embarrassing as I had to spend the rest of my afternoon walking around town like flipping Tinkerbell!   Anyway, I decided to have a little look in LUSH, as although I never tend to buy anything from there, I do like to have a smell of all the beautiful products in there. Recently I have heard so much hype around LUSH's new Christmas collection and I must say it is not disappointing! In particular, my favourite was the Star Light, Star Bright bath bombs which only cost £3.50 each. I am also a massive fan of the Golden Pumpkin and Wizard bath bombs, all of their products are simply amazing. I must say though, my all time favourite scented product at LUSH is the RockStar hand and body soap at £3.40 it is so beautiful!   No matter what you're looking for, LUSH Cosmetics will have something to suit everyone, their bath bombs and soaps are particularly nice but they have many other bits and pieces to offer, plus everything smells delightful, is handmade and is ethical, what's not to like?   Do you use LUSH products? Which is your favourite? Leave me a comment below! :)

PRODUCT REVIEW| Benefit Browzings

Honestly this is my new favourite product at the moment, best thing is I didn't even need to pay £23.50 for it as my friend has kindly let me have it as she isn't too keen on it! Usually I am not a big fan colouring in eyebrows as I think some people take it a little too far with the 'scouse brow', nobody likes big pencilled on eyebrows do they?! However I recently tried this on a wim to see what I thought of it and was pleasantly surprised. The wax and powder combination makes it not only perfect for filling the brows in with colour and shaping and taming with wax, wax is particularly good for adding colour and the powder for setting. The kit also comes with tweezers and two brushes, the first for shaping and the other for blending, ensuring perfected brows! The product also comes in different shades, so having medium brown hair the medium shade was perfect for me, but I am sure anyone will be able to find a suitable match to their actual hair colour. Although the kit comes at a high price of £23.50, which compared to other eye brow pencils/ crayons/ powders and gels is very expensive, however I really do highly recommend this product even if you have to do some saving! The brows are left looking full, tamed, and shaped perfectly and most importantly, they look natural! :)

Benefit Browzings- £23.50- Boots