favourite blushers for spring/summer

Left to right: Sleek Flamingo, 17 First Kiss, Topshop High Five, MUA English Rose, eBay Blush Palette Orangey Coral

Clockwise from top left: MUA English Rose, Topshop High Five, Sleek Flamingo, 17 First Kiss, eBay Blush Palette Orangey Coral

I love love love a good blush! They're definitely one of the bits of make up that I get most excited about. I think this might be as I'm so pale I feel that I need to add a bit of colour to my cheeks to make me look a little more alive. Anyway, enough rambling, I thought I'd show you the blushers that I love most for the spring and summer.

Sleek Blush in Flamingo
I know that this looks a terrifying colour in the pan and also on my arm as I've swatched it very heavily but on the cheeks (and used with a very light hand) it just gives such a pretty and feminine flush to the cheeks. I also know that Tanya Burr loves this blusher and I swear by her recommendations!
Sleek Blush in Flamingo is available from Superdrug for £4.30.


17 Blusher in First Kiss
I am OBSESSED with this blush at the moment - I've stopped even trying to restrain myself from using this blush every day - it's just so beautiful! It's a bright pinky coral which finishes with a subtle gold shimmer. It just gives your cheeks such a glowing and healthy look. Now I don't have it to compare, but I have read that this blush is very similar to the infamous Nars Orgasm (but obviously at a fraction of the price). From looking at swatches online it does look very similar hurrah! If you haven't got this blush then I URGE you to pick this up for the summer because I'm obsessed at the moment. I also think it would look brilliant on all skin tones!
17 Blusher in First Kiss is available from Boots for £3.49.


Topshop Cream Blush in High Five
This is a really bright almost neon pink which gives such a natural rosy glow to the cheeks. I love the Topshop cream blushers as they're so easy to blend and dry to a powder finish so your skin doesn't feel tacky all day long. My favourite way to apply these is with a stippling brush as this makes it even easier to evenly distribute the colour. Unfortunately I can't see High Five on the Topshop website any more but I have seen it in some shops still so have a look.
Topshop blushs are £6.00 from Topshop (and now the new John Lewis Beauty Hall on Oxford Street too!)

MUA Mosaic Blush in English Rose
I won't ramble on too much about this blusher as I've mentioned it before here where you can also see it on my cheeks! I think English Rose is such an appropriate name as this just gives you such a naturally pretty healthy glow. I love the shimmer in this blush as well as I feel it highlights my cheekbones so well to. For £2.50 I really can't fault it.
MUA Blush in English Rose is available from Superdrug for £2.50

eBay 10 Colour Blush Palette - shimmery orange coral (fourth on top row)
I picked up this ten piece blusher palette after seeing it on VIPXO (see Victoria's review here) and didn't have particularly high expectations as it was so cheap (it works out 44p a blusher!) However all of the colours are reasonably well pigmented and there's a great range of colours. My favourite at the moment is this bright shimmery coral. Corals and oranges are always so great for the summer and I love that these blushes are a little shimmery as I think that can make you look nice and glowy - and let you skip the highlighter!
This blush palette is available here from eBay for £4.46 - bargain!

What blushers are you loving at the moment?

xx

mua loves

Hello again!

As I mentioned before, I'm in Norwich at the moment and I was having a little look through my make up bags...  is three really too many for a week?

Anyway, the only eye shadows I decided to bring with me are the MUA 'Heaven and Earth' palette - I can't get enough of this! I'm pretty dull when it comes to eye shadow and only tend to wear neutral shades. I also love shimmery eye shadow so this palette is perfect for me!

It's great for a very subtle day time look or to really build up for a heavy smoky eye love love love. The eye shadows themselves are well pigmented and easy to work with and blend. This is the only palette I have from MUA but they have quite a few now, and are probably trying to revival the success Sleek have had with their palettes. Most of the others are more colourful, but after how much use I've got out of this, I would consider picking up the 'Glamour Days' palette. If you haven't already got the 'Heaven and Earth' palette, please do go and grab one of these from Superdrug as they're only £4 (!) and worth every single penny.

Another product from MUA that I get lots of use out of is the Mosaic Blush in 'English Rose'. This is such a pretty and natural colour and makes your skin look so much brighter if it's feeling a bit dull and tired. Gemma from gemsmaquillage compared it to the Benefit blush 'Hervana' as it has similar shades in it (without the painful price tag)! I love to wear highlighter on a pretty much daily basis but as this is a little bit shimmery and glowy, I feel that it does the work for me and I don't need any.

Looking quite well loved...

Like with all MUA products the price is brilliant and the Mosaic Blush in 'English Rose' is £2.50.

As with any other cheap brands, they do have some really poor quality products too but the 'Heaven and Earth' palette and the 'English Rose' blush are fab and are two of my most used make up items!

xx

today's make up

Hello again :)

I'm really in to simpler make up at the moment. I don't know if I'm wanting to look a bit more natural as it's coming in to Spring, or whether it's because I have so much work to do at the moment that I try and slap my make up on as quickly as possible... Either way, while I'm still using quite a few products, my eye make up especially is now a lot less defined. I used to wear quite thick liquid eye liner most days, but now that's actually becoming reasonably rare! Anyway, here's the make up I wore today just to go to some lectures and seminars.

The lighting's washed me out a bit :(

No7 Beautiful Skin BB Cream - Normal/Dry, Fair

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer - Fair 1

Collection 2000 Pressed Powder - Candlelight 1

MAC Sheertone Blush - Breath of Plum

No7 Smoky Rose Quad Eye Shadow Palette

Rimmel Exaggerate Liquid Eye Liner - Black 001

Rimmel Glam Eyes Mascara - Black 001

Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil - Hazel 002

ELF Wet Gloss Lash and Brown Clear Mascara

H&M Lipgloss - (no colour, but it's a sparkly coral - and smells fab!)

The star of today's make up definitely has to be the little No7 Eye Shadow Palette. The shade range is neutral and great to grab when you're in a rush and don't want to put too much thought it to your make up. The only problem is that I'm pretty sure it was just a free gift and you can't buy it any more, which is a bit of a shame, but they do have some very similar great eye shadows at the moment (does anyone have Mink? Love it!)

I used the top left rose gold colour all over my lid and the bottom left shimmery cream shade as a highlight for the corner of my eyes. I then put a very thin line of liquid eye liner on the very outer corner to define my lashes a bit more. I curled my eye lashes and added some Rimmel Glam Eyes mascara and done! No blending so very quick :)

A closer look at my eyes!

So there you go! Nice and simple and speedy! I hope you've all got something fun planned for this warm Friday night? I'm off to a Tube themed party... I'm going as Angel!

xx

mess, blushers and mac and cheese...

Hello!

Sorry I haven't posted for a couple of days, it's a bit difficult sometimes juggling essays, university, work, living my general life and then scraping some time to write a post for here! Just to make life a little bit harder, I came back from a seminar this afternoon and found that my chest of draws had for some reason fallen over so my toiletries, jewellery and clothes were all over the floor :(

Disaster!

Anyway, to the point of this post - blusher! Ah blusher, how I love you. You can distract me from the above mess and cheer me up...

I popped back home to Norwich over the weekend, and on Saturday I did a bit of shopping with my mum and my sister which was lovely. While we were out and about I treated myself to a blusher from MAC (amongst other things)!

I chose MAC's Sheertone Blush in 'Breath of Plum', which is such a gorgeous not-too-dark muted plum colour which is totally matte (wow, great description). I picked this one as the colour's not too similar to my other blushers, whereas I have quite a few brighter and pinkier toned ones. I've already worn it a couple of times and not only do I love the colour, but it lasts brilliantly on the skin.

MAC 'Breath of Plum'

Left: applied with a blush brush, Right: swatched

However, I was thinking this morning that although I love the colour, it was perhaps the wrong time of year to buy it as it's quite a wintery shade. So this morning I put on Topshop's cream blush in 'High Five', which is the perfect blush for spring!

Topshop 'High Five'

Left: applied with a dual fibre brush (although heavily), Right swatched

It looks so natural and glowy and when you use a dual fibre brush to apply it, it blends evenly and nice and quickly :) I just love cream blushes on the skin this time of year as they give you such a beautiful healthy look. I just had a little check on the Topshop website though and it doesn't look as if this colour is available any more. However, Topshop have some other gorgeous colours to choose from such as 'Head Over Heels' which I mentioned in my 'Spring Make Up Picks' post :) The price is brilliant as well, I think £6 is such great value considering the quality (and the cute packaging)!

PS. On another little side note, I had a very yummy tea today so here's a little sneak peak -

Hopefully this doesn't gross you out, my house mate Dan hates people taking pictures of their food!

Macaroni cheese with chorizo and salad nom nom! Only just realised how big the portion was... oh well, it was delicious!

I know this was a bit of a disjointed post but hopefully you haven't minded! I'd also love to know what your favourite blushers are for spring (or maybe what you had for tea haha) :)

xx

spring make up picks

Clockwise from top left: Sleek Blush in 'Pixie Pink', Jack Wills Eye Liner in 'Aqua', Barry M Nail Varnish in 'Cyan Blue', Models Own Lip Gloss in 'Violet Cream', Topshop Cream Blush in 'Head Over Heels', MUA Pearl Eyeshadow in 'Shade 5', Urban Outfitters 'Blue Lipperty Balm', Barry M Dazzle Dusts in 'Lilac' and 'Grass', Accessorize Nail Varnish in 'Coral Flair'

Here are some lovely Spring make up bits from across the high street to get you in the mood for leaping lambs and blooming daffodils!

xx

an everyday make up look!

Hello again!

Today I thought I'd show you the type of make up I wear day-to-day. I'm referring to this as an everyday make up look opposed to my everyday make up look as to be honest I probably have about 4 or 5 looks that I wear on a normal day when I'm just going to university, work, going out and about etc. So here is just the sort of thing that I usually do, and I worn you - it's not very exciting!

The camera's made my skin look very pale in the centre but you get the general idea haha!

I decided not to take any scary looking close up pictures as there's not really much to see...!

First the products I used on my face...

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation (100 Ivory)

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer (1 Fair) - why does the writing always rub off?!

NYC Smooth Skin Loose Face Powder (Translucent) - such a good translucent setting powder and so so cheap.

MUA Mosaic Blush (English Rose) - ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED with this at the moment... won't say too much as I think this might be fab enough to deserve it's own post hurrah!

ELF All Over Colour Stick (Spotlight) - just to highlight my non-existent cheek bones.

Eyes...

Collection 2000 Pressed Powder (1 Candlelight) - just used this to even out my lid

ELF Eye Shadow Palette (Cool) - I got this palette free once with an order I placed at ELF. The only colour I really use is the one I wore today, which is a matte brown (bottom left hand corner). I just blended this through my crease for a bit of definition and winged it out a little.

No7 Eye Shadow Palette (Smoky Rose Quad) - I used the white as a highlight for the corners of my eyes and a little underneath my brows.

L'Oreal Colour Appeal Platinum Eye Shadow (the name has rubbed off but it's a shimmery purple-ish taupe) - a tiny amount in my crease for a little bit of shimmer and colour

ELF White Eye Liner - the aim of this is to make my tired eyes appear a little brighter!

Avon Colour Trend Kajal Stick (Black and Brown) - I smudged a tiny bit of brown eye liner along my top lash line to make my lashes appear a little fuller.

Rimmel Eye Brow Pencil (002 Hazel) - Best. Brow. Pencil. Ever. So soft and easy to use. It makes doing your eye brows a million times easier.

ELF Brow Gel - I always attempt to set the very few real hairs I have in place in a bid to make my eye brows appear more natural. Whether this works is another thing haha

Lips... 

After the first two sections you'll probably be shocked at the amount of products on my lips - one!

Miss Sporty Dr Balm Tinted Lip Balm (04) - This is such a lovely lip balm. I had pretty low expectations but it's brilliant and a lot more pigmented than I expected! It might not be the most moisturising of all lip balms but it definitely doesn't dry my lips out.

So there you go! When you put them all together it does look like a lot of products - 15!!! - but oh well! It probably only took about 15 minutes ish so it's nice and quick for every day.

I hope this interested you in some way and I'd love to know - what are your go-to everyday products?

xxx

my favourite things: foundation and blusher

Hello again!

I have so many squillionz of things that I would (and will!) love to chit-chat about on this blog but I thought that perhaps the best thing to do to start things off would be to tell you about some of my favourite things! This is mostly just beauty items but I've added a few other categories :)

I'd originally planned this to be one long post but then I realised it would be colossal... so - instalment one = my favourite foundation and blusher!

Foundation:


My favourite foundation (although it's not technically a foundation...) is one that hasn't been around for that long. Personally I love my skin to look not too matte and have a nice natural looking glow - or so that is the aim. Most of the time I tend to have pretty good skin too and I therefore like my coverage to be quite sheer and light, although I have found that this foundation can be buildable to some extent.

*Drum roll*  I know by this point you are all dying to know the product that I am talking about, which is No7's Beautiful Skin BB Cream. I use the one for Normal/Dry skin in the colour Fair.

It's just so lovely and soft and moisturising and it has SPF 15 for protection and mmmmmmm... Last time I saw my sister she asked me what I'd changed about my skincare because she said my skin looked so healthy - just this!

You can get it from Boots in stores or online for £12.95 which is quite a decent price in itself, but the price is even more scrumptious when you have your £5 off No7 voucher :)

Blusher:

Now this was a hard one because I have lots of blushers that I think are wonderful. However, after many tears, I finally settled on Sleek's Blush in Flamingo.

Left: applied with a blush brush (although heavily), Right: swatched

If you are thinking that this looks terrifying at first then I will forgive you; I felt the same. However, you only need the lightest touch and this gives you such a pretty and summery looking cheek. Just make sure when you're in a rush you don't put too much on your brush... I love the packaging with the mirror inside as well. The price is fab too - £4.30, hurrah!

This is available from Superdrug and from the Sleek website.

(When I was getting the link for the Sleek website I spotted on their homepage that for a limited time only in Superdrug stores they are selling palettes with three blushers in (cue a little squeal from me!) These are in

'Pink Sprint' which appears to have one fluorescent pink shade and two plummy looking colours,

'Sugar' which has a more muted darker pink shade, a shimmery looking brown toned blusher and a sort of muted coral-like colour,

'Lace' which contains a coral, a light shimmery looking beige and a light peachy shade,

'Pumpkin' which includes a very bright orange, a soft light pink and a rose goldish colour and finally

'Flame' which has a dark shimmery looking red, a very bright red and a more muted but shimmery brown/pink shade.

Head over to the Sleek website and have a look... see you in Superdrug!)

Hopefully you've enjoyed this post and I look forward to chatting to you again soon :)

x

P.s. went to Superdrug at Westfield Stratford yesterday and they didn't have the blush sets... very disappointed. The hunt continues!