NYE Look.

I haven't blogged in a while... but it's been Christmas and I only got home for the holidays on Friday 20th and since then it's been very busy, needed a bit of time out! The holidays are like that, right? One minute you're buying presents, then you're wrapping, opening and suddenly it's boxing day, and the sales and you're buying all over again. That's me anyway. I have tried to be good this year but I may have bought a few treats that i'll be telling you about soon! 

I said I'd be doing a few festive looks and I have another one for you... let's call this the NYE look. I love New Years Eve. I like to try and spend it with different people every year - or at least at different places. Sounds silly but it's nice to be able to remember each new year differently. So here is another look!

Gold Eyes.

I used my Stila palette that I bought in last years sales and the gold colours from that to create a golden smokey eye. I also used the dark pink coloured blush which I'd forgotten that I LOVE and my Mac lipstick in Mehr. I finished the look with my liquid liner and lots of mascara. 

It's a simple look, just a little heavier on the blush and mascara then normal perhaps. 

My playsuit is something I got from ASOS and wore for my birthday this year :) It's a favourite of mine. It can be casual for day but works for a night out too! I love playsuits for that. 

It's a pretty and girly look which could go with anything. Wear your hair big in a top knot and you have a relaxed look, or curl/straighten your hair to within an inch of its life and then you have the perfect 'put-together' look :)

Enjoy NYE!

You'll be seeing more from me soon!

Em x

Festive Look: OTT Party

Hey girlies,

I love Christmas and I love how there is always an opportunity to party or get dressed up at Christmas! I've had a few Christmas things recently and I have another couple before Christmas so I thought I'd show you a few festive looks! 

This is the first one of the series and I think you'll agree, it's quite over the top/colourful!  Whatever you want to call it! I was going to a society meeting so to be honest it was quite OTT but it was fun to do and would be good for a party! Basically I was procrastinating from my essays...

I'll show you what I used and a few pictures!

Showtime!

I love dancing and at uni I have had the opportunity to be in some shows. Show make-up I don't think is too different to normal makeup, it's just in this case - more is BETTER!

Dior... I have Dior?!

Well this post is a little late as I was given this ages ago but I thought i'd share it with you now before I never do...

So it's a long story but basically my Dad knows a man who works for a company... you know, just a small one... it's called Dior. SAY WHAT? Anyway, I got all excited when he told me and then he told me the good bit, his friend was going to give him free makeup samples!! Do you understand my excitement here? I spend a lot on makeup but even I stop at Dior, well, I restrain myself anyway, it's just so expensive! I was so excited to see if it was worth the price...

I'm on YouTube!!!

I've finally persuaded myself to have a go at YouTube and i'm pretty scared but excited about it too! I will have to work hard to get lots of videos up to get it properly started but the first is up and that was the biggest hurdle... Now just for people to actually watch it! I enjoyed filming it and editing - I hope you like it too!

My first video features a few of the products that I have blogged about recently so hopefully it'll give you a chance to see them a bit better!

Em x

MaXfactor False Lash Effect Fusion Mascara

For a long while now I have not strayed far from my trusted Maybelline 'The Falsies' mascara. I really liked it and I still do like it a lot. I started using it because of Tanya Burr and now it seems that I will only try a new mascara if it is one I have seen someone else use - i've had a few bad purchases with mascara in the past and they are expensive to replace! 

I wasn't intending to replace my mascara just yet but then I got conjunctivitis and definitely did not want it to keep coming back so I was forced to bin my old one and buy new. 

I took the opportunity to try a new mascara and break out of the habit... I chose MaXfactor's False Lash Effect Fusion because it promises volume and length, but mainly because I had seen Alix (click her name to see her blog) using it and saying that she loved it. Her eyelashes looked great so I thought i'd give it a whirl. Here is what I thought...

Apologies for the bad photo, the mirrored writing really didn't want to work in the lighting.

I'll Captivate you with my Mehr.

I mentioned in my last week that freshers flu had hit and I felt rubbish? Well I didn't realise at the time but I had also got conjunctivitis. Perfect. My eyes are just about getting back to their normal colour now and don't hurt so much but it's meant that I can't wear eye makeup at the moment. It also means that I need to throw away my mascaras... I'm not sure how long the bacteria can be in your eye before it comes up and i've been using a few lately so I think I'm going to have to start again. Just when I'd told myself that i'm not allowed to buy any more makeup for a bit! (You'll see why in a second). Anyway, so after this little ramble lets get on with the post. 
On Thursday night this week there was a Student Shopping Night where I live. You sign up for free and get a wristband and there are discounts at loads of stores. I could have gone crazy and bought so much but I made myself choose one thing and only go to get that. I chose, surprise surprise - makeup. Not just any sort of makeup but MAC Lipstick. MAC never has sales so to get any discount is great (hence my recent purchases in duty free!), 10% off and i'm not complaining. I may have said to myself that i'd only get one but I honestly couldn't decide after spending about half an hour trying them all on. So I bought two. Yay! The girl at the counter was like, "well what are student loans for?" My reply of "food" made her laugh. These two lipsticks came to about the same amount as a weekly shop for me! But they are amazing, and beautiful and long-lasting and... I could go on but let me show you first!

Get Ready With Me!

Lanzarote was amazing, and whilst I was there I thought i'd do something a little different. Rather than just showing you the finished face I decided to photograph it stage by stage - hopefully you can see the difference! I was getting ready to go for dinner and then we went for drinks after. Nothing too fancy :)

So this was after i'd washed my hair and I had literally done nothing apart from twist it up. During these photos the only thing I did to my hair was take it down, brush it and pin it back. 

Girl About Town

I bet there are so many people like me that read blogs all the time and dream of owning nearly every product they see. Ever since I started getting into makeup and especially since I started watching YouTube videos I have wanted Mac products. Not just one of them, all of them. Everything. If only I was a millionaire and not a student (that is needing to spend on books not mascara, although that hasn't really stopped me). When I realised that there might be a Mac in duty-free in the airport - lets just say I got a little bit excited, because actually it's embarrassing how excited I was... Normally I stop myself spending on high-end makeup. This was an opportunity not to be missed though, looking back and checking the prices I saved £10 in total on the 3 products. Warning - once you buy these products you may never be able to go back to the cheaper alternatives. I'm definitely going to have trouble!

My Capsule Makeup Bag

Okay, so it's the end of summer. I am totally aware of this fact. Schools started again and everyone is starting to think about Autumn/Winter, and not which suncream to pack for holiday. However, I have just been camping this summer (blog posts here and here!) and i've just returned from Lanzarote and therefore i've thought a lot this summer about how to pack for going away. I love these products and personally use them all the time, I just think that they are also perfect for holidays. You've probably heard of a capsule wardrobe and this is my capsule makeup bag. To a lot of people they might say it's not exactly small, it's not just the 'essential 5 items' or something... but it's what I took and it's what fits into my travel makeup bag! (And I stand by the fact I needed it all...)

Lets start with the makeup bag, I adore this and i'd wanted it for ages before I decided to actually spend the £10 and buy it, rather than just looking at it every time I went into Boots! It's Ted Baker and I love the shape as it fits everything perfectly. Sometimes makeup bags are just completely the wrong size (I hate it when I have a lovely one but it doesn't fit makeup brushes for example) This bag literally fits everything I needed and it's gorgeous too. (On a boring practical note - it's also really easy to wipe clean if anything spills on it!)

Little Things

Sometimes just changing one thing about a makeup look can really change your appearance. Today it's all about the lips. I was chatting to my friend and she told me that she's bought one of the Revlon ColourStay Ultimate Suede Lipsticks and she is delighted with it. It got me thinking about the one that I own. I wrote a post about the collection a while ago (check it out) and I really like the range. The lipstick that I have myself is one of my only really dark lipsticks that I own. I do actually own a pure black lipstick too but that is generally reserved for Hallowe'en when I generally dress as a cat... (Really imaginative I know). Anyway, I decided to do a look and show you how it looks with and without the lipstick. I haven't really done a 'going out' look for a while on here so it's a little bit of a change - i've even stepped out of my comfortable golds and browns on my eyes for a bit and gone silver! 

Prom Queen!!

I was asked a while ago to do my friend's makeup for her prom and we had a couple of trials beforehand. She doesn't often wear much makeup so she wanted to see what she liked and I obviously wanted her to have the look she wanted, plus I am always up for doing hair and makeup! She is an incredibly beautiful girl and looks amazing without makeup but prom calls for a bit of extra effort. I got the privilege of adding some sparkle. 

Camping Part Two: Floral Headbands and Hoodies

It's time for the second instalment of photos from my 10 days away camping... 

The weather fluctuated so much during the time away that I had to pack for all eventualities! The second half of the holiday was a little warmer during the day, so these outfits are a little more summery. I love having a tan, I don't want to bake myself but a little bit of a tan always makes me feel a little more glowy! So there was a bit of sunbathing going on...

Golden Girl

Recently I have been wearing a lot of golden eye makeup - I thought I would show you two looks that I have done this week. It's definitely my go-to colour at the moment for when I am going out in the evening or going somewhere special in the daytime.

 

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer and Balmi!

If you've read any of my previous blog posts where I have listed what products I have on my face you will know that I have been wearing Collection 2000 concealer. It's been my 'go-to' concealer for ages now and I was planning on repurchasing again. However, I went into Boots in the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford and I couldn't find the stand for it anywhere! As far as my friend and I could tell there was no stand for Collection (as I think it is now called) anywhere in the store. Now please correct me if i'm wrong and you've been there but I couldn't see it. I shall stop rambling now and tell you about what I bought instead.

Barry M Wink & Pencil Sharpener

I have bought quite a few things from Barry M recently, I seem to have taken quite a liking their products! I bought a lipgloss that is now my staple gloss (Lipgloss in 11 - Coral) and I also bought their kohl liner (Bold Black Waterproof Eyeliner). Since buying the eyeliner I realised that obviously it was becoming blunt (which this one does quite quickly) and therefore I needed to sharpen it. My old sharpener broke quite recently so I decided to purchase a new one. In boots they are doing a buy one thing, get something else half price, and I had had my eye on the Wink Eyeliner Marker for ages so I decided to purchase that too. It meant that the sharpener was only a £1, not a massive saving but every little helps! 

Beauty Tag!

This is going to look like a hugely long post but it's really not! It is the first completely text post I've done on here though, it's a beauty tag and it's basically a 'this or that?' question tag. I'm doing this whilst thinking 'if you could only have/do one of these for ages which one would you chose?' I hope you enjoy reading it and i'm sorry it looks so long! It doesn't help that i've spread it out but it was too hard to read without the spaces!

Here it goes... (the ones i've chosen are in bold)

Collective Haul

There are a lot of products in this haul and I definitely didn't buy them on the some day! They are all products i've bought since my birthday in May. It's primarily a make-up & brushes haul but for some reason I also decided to add in a little wildcard hair band too that I bought and thought i'd throw into this haul! Also, this isn't in any order of when I bought the products.

Daytime Basic Look

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet today and just talk about a few products that I have been using a lot, especially on days when I know I can't spend long on my make up. 

I'm in the middle of revision madness as I have exams really really soon and although i'm hardly leaving my flat I still like to put on some make up, just as a revision break (actually it is more like procrastination).


So this is my face today:

Mini Beauty Birthday Haul!

It was my birthday yesterday and so I thought i'd do a bit of a beauty haul with some of the beauty stuff I received. I got a few boots vouchers and things so no doubt there will be a bigger haul once i've spent those!