Archive for February 2013

Valentines Goodies

Well I have certainly been a lucky girl this Valentine’s Day...

I am well aware that everybody sees Valentine’s Day differently, and to be honest, every year I have a slightly different outlook on it. This year, though, was my first with my boyfriend Phil (you may have seen me go on about him before in previous posts). Valentines was a lovely excuse for me to get the train up to his and spend a lovely weekend together.



Necklace - H Samuel

Lush gift box including: Ro's Argan Body Conditioner, Soft Coeur Massage Bar and Blue Soap (still looking for the link to this one!
Also feature in picture: Red Chocolate Heart

Philosophy Bath & Shower GelLush Gift Box (and chocolate heart)
All of my lovely presents!



Phil knows me so well, I love the silver heart necklace, and shorter necklaces with a cute, modest little pendant are just my thing. He also got me one of my favourite shower gels to add to my collection in a new fragrance (which I think must be limited edition as I cannot find it on Philosophy's website, sorry!). He also knows how much I like lush, but as I have no bath tub at uni this was perfect. Everything smells absolutely amazing and the skin conditioner is probably one of my favourites now! I can't wait to try out the soap (how pretty?!) plus I'd had my eye on Lush's massage bars for a while. Gorgeous girly goodies :)

Although the presents were lovely, my favourite part of the weekend was getting to spend time together. Since I am at university and Phil has a full time job we really do cherish the time that we get together. We try to see each other most weekends but we’re a good five hour journey apart and so it isn’t easy. I had an amazing time even if we didn’t do that much out of the ordinary. The weekend involved a trip to Nandos, going to the cinema, a sunny day out and about taking pictures near the beach and spending some time with Phil’s family. It’s weekends like this that really makes it all worth while :)


For those of you who may not have had a boyfriend/girlfriend to celebrate Valentines with this year remember you have other loved ones in your life. I hope you took the opportunity to spend some time with your family and friends, or just had a normal day if that’s how you roll!

Have a great week guys!
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Mini Beauty Haul

False Lashes - £4
Base/Flawless Core Collection £21.99
Set includes a detailer brush, pointed foundation brush, buffing brush and contour brush
Eyes/Enhanced Starter Set - £21.99
Set includes a base shadow brush, a deluxe crease brush, an accent brush, a brow brush and a pixel-point eyeliner brush
Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner - £7.99
Rapid Dry for Nails -£3.05 - Get ‘Em Off Artificial Nail Remover - £2.65


So on Sunday my lovely mummy came to visit me here in Bristol and we decided to embark upon a little shopping trip to Cabot Circus. Now, while many of you may be sitting there thinking “Hold on there Emily, aren’t you a student? And isn’t buying lovely beauty producty things just a little bit wreckless?” there is actually method behind the madness.

In just a few, short weeks time I am going to be doing my very first photo shoot as a makeup artist. Now I don’t want to give too much away, and it’s nothing too fancy (you won’t be seeing my work in Vogue any time soon) but it’s very exciting all the same!
In the meantime I’m working on making sure my kit is in tip-top condition and making sure I have everything I could possibly need in order to create the looks that the photographer and myself have agreed upon.

This little haul is just the start of a couple more hauls to come with some necessities for my emerging makeup kit! Anyway, on with the haul!


♥ False Lashes

Not much to say about these - they’re just some cheapy ones that I picked up so that I could practice putting them on fairly quickly without too much fuss. I haven’t picked the lashes I’ll use for the actual shoot yet!


♥ Real Techniques Brushes

To be fair I already have a pretty good brush collection, but I always find myself in short supply of some smaller brushes for eyeshadow/concealer application and having heard so many good things about these I thought that it would be an affordable way to bulk up my brush collection without breaking the bank. The smaller face brushes will also be ideal for applying contour/highlights and blush and what not. You can never have too many brushes! Although I haven’t tried these on my face yet, I can’t wait. My first impressions are that they aren’t quite as soft as my MAC brushes, but I do like the fact that they are all duo-fibre. And, well, I can’t really rate them too much without having even used them yet!

I also love the fact that each set comes with its own little brush roll which will be perfect for transporting the brushes to and from the shoot without damaging them at all. I’m also absolutely positive that I’ll be able to find a use for every single one of them :)


♥ Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner

I have heard so many good things about this liner from great makeup artists whose opinions I trust (gossmakeupartist is one, and you should definitely all check out his channel if you want superb looking makeup!). Again - as with all of these products I haven’t tried it yet, but it does look very black - no gold shimmer or anything - and hopefully it shouldn’t be too different to apply than my Mac gel liner. The brush that it comes with also look pretty alright, although maybe not quite as thin as I would have liked. I’ll be sure to let you guys know how this works out for me though!


♥ Get ‘Em Off Artificial Nail Remover

I bought this just to take off my acrylics thinking that it was a bit of a bargain, but I have to say... it hasn’t been as straight forward as I would have hoped. Maybe that ha something to do with the fact that I didn’t follow the instructions properly... oopsie! I’m a bit of a newbie with all of this...

♥ Rapid Dry for Nails

As the elegant touch products were on offer for buy one get one free, I couldn’t really turn this down . I’ve wanted one for ages just to make my life a little easier while I’m painting my nails. The idea is that you spray this over freshly painted nails and they’re dry within 60 seconds... let’s hope that it works!


There should be a couple more hauls on their way soon. In the mean time can you guys think of any kit essentials for my upcoming photoshoot?

Thanks for reading!

 Emily x


P.S. I've been gaining a slight obsession with Instagram recently, so if you fancy checking out some of my pictures or if you have an account too then let me know! Here is the link to my account:

Instagram

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My Favourite Makeup (and nails) of the Week!

Hello blog peoples! I feel rather as though I've been neglecting you recently, and that's just not on! I'm having a bit of trouble juggling all of my commitments at the moment but I do love love love posting on here, so just so that I feel like I'm doing something to bridge us until my next proper post I thought that I'd share with you some pretty pictures from the past few days. Here we go!



I had a spare hour and so I thought that I'd do a nice makeup on my face - I really loved the outcome and added some gold eyeshadow to the area on the centre of my lid before I went out later which gave a lovely, glamorous effect. The eyeshadows I'm wearing are just matte purplish tones from my NYX palette (the one from my January favourites). The main purpose of this makeup was to practise using my Kett Creme Foundation and do some natural contouring.

I love sharing makeup that I've done with you because it really is one of my favourite things to do, so if you'd like to see any tutorials then please let me know. I've also just done a cheeky MAC order so I may share some of that with you when it arrives :)



In risk of sounding like a lazy student, when I was watching a film for my Italian class (yes, my homework really was to watch a film!) I decided to try something creative with my nails. This is a little out of the box for me, but I didn't want to see my lovely long acrylics go to waste and I was really pleased with the result! The base colour is Mint Candy Apple by Essie (a blogosphere favourite, and one of mine too) and I sponged a darker blue colour (Skinny Jeans by Sephora by OPI) onto the tips. I think that the layer of Ice Crush by Topshop really finishes off the look - what I love about it best is the mix of big and little chunks of glitter. Hooray for glitter!


I've got a haul lined up for you guys very soon, so hopefully the sun will come out so that I can take some pictures for you!

Hope you're having a Merry Monday and a gorgeous rest of week :)

 Emily x

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January Loves

♥ Peter Thomas Roth Mega-Rich Products

As I may have mentioned in my New Years Eve post (ages ago now, I know) I was lucky enough to get to stay in a hotel in York with my boyfriend for the weekend. I picked these three gems up as complimentary toiletries - maybe it’s because I’m a student and can’t afford nice hotels, but I have never been so taken with freebies before but I have to say that these are lush. I noticed the shower gel first of all because it had cool green bits in it, but I later found out that these are actually microbeads containing Vitamin A,C and E. The smell is also so so gorgeous - a lemony, citrusy sort of scent which I love and wakes me up in the morning. My body also feels lovely and smooth after I use it.

Now to the shampoo and conditioner - I actually nabbed a couple of everything because I loved it all so much. I would really recommend this shampoo to anyone whose hair is slightly misbehaving, mine has a tendency to go frizzy when I don’t want it to and sometimes even a good wash won’t sort it out, unless I use this. The conditioner is just as good: just a little bit of this and my hair turns from tangled tresses to manicured mane. (Yes I realise that didn’t really make sense but just go with it)

I’m very curious to look into some other Peter Thomas Roth products and buy some full-sized versions when I’m in need of any more toiletries.

♥ Topshop Necklace

Most of my favourites from last month are still standing and I’m just writing about new products that I’ve found, but this baby has pretty much replaced my use for last month’s necklace. That may be because this one is newer and has just looked better with what I’ve been wearing, but whenever I want a statement necklace I’ve found myself going for this (not that I don’t still love last month’s necklace!). The silver colours mixed with the gold means that it goes with pretty much anything, and the way that the crosses just hang means that it doesn’t look silly if it’s hanging a little higher or lower on your neck than where your collar is. I'm very sorry to say that this particular one is no longer in stock but I didn't want to stop that from me sharing it with you. Topshop sells lots of other cross and statement necklaces, but for cheaper option you can always try somewhere like New Look or Missguided :)



♥ NYX Butt “Naked” Eyes Palette

The only NYX products that I had used before I got this for Christmas was another NYX palette that I picked up a couple of years ago from TK Maxx and has since been pushed to the back of my makeup storage and slightly forgotten about. I’m pleased to say that this has in no way suffered the same fate. I may even do a whole separate post on the different looks that you create using just the colours in here.

It comes with 15 eyeshadows, four blushes, two highlighters and a bronzer. It also has a mirror on the inside of the lid which makes it perfect for travelling - I haven’t gone anywhere without it! As you can see I particularly love the nude eyeshadow to neutralise my eyelid (it’s the PERFECT cool shade for my skin tone) and the pure black is perfect for pushing into your top lash line to create the illusion of thicker lashes. I can’t go without mentioning the lovely taupey/purple colours and lighter ones... to be honest I love them all, and the pigmentation is great! Another favourite has to be the light pink blush which gives a great glowing effect which I love for a fresh everyday look.

♥ Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray

I know that this is another very popular one among bloggers, but never having been that into doing my hair I thought that I’d give it a try. I’ve used it so much this month just to give my hair a bit of volume which is perfect for creating a bit of volume on freshly washed hair before a night out. I’m no hair expert so I haven’t experimented too much yet, but I also love the choppy look it can give shorter hair that I’ve seen on YouTube tutorials. I don't think that the price is bad at all either, considering the soft yet matte effect it gives on your hair.

♥ My Acrylics

These couldn’t go without a mention. I’ve had them on for two weeks now (they have their own blog post here), and other than catching one while trying to awkwardly open my conditioner they’ve been great! I had to file them down and round them off a little since I took the picture because it was just too difficult to text on my iPhone. I’m going to try and keep them for another week or so before taking them off so I’ll let you know how bad the damage is on my natural nail once that’s been done! I’ve got to say though, the most satisfying thing about them has to be the clickety click noise that they’re making right now as I type ;)

♥ Nars Sheer Glow Foundation

I know that I’ve mentioned this a couple of times but i haven’t actually showed you it yet. This is my second bottle of this stuff, and I usually try to use it sparingly to put off parting with yet another £30 to get some more but I just love it. Sometimes I find it a little heavy for daytime so I used to mix it with a bit of moisturiser (NOT advised for oily skin as it’s already pretty moisturising) but now I’ll just dot a tiny bit over my face and blend with a stippling brush. I love the way that it makes my skin look and feel and while I want to experiment with some other foundations, I think it’s one that I’ll always go back to for that dewy look that I just love. Plus it’s fragrance-free and apparently contains anti-oxidants to protect against damaging free radicals, whatever that means!



♥ Molton Brown Natural Skin Highlighter

This may be only 10ml but trust me, that’s all you’ll need - probably double the amount I have on my hand in the swatch at the very most. The best bit is that it’s not even the tiny particles of shimmer in it that highlight your skin, it’s the way it just reflects so much light meaning that it can also be used by older ladies without chunks of glitter settling into your skin. I like to put this on top of my cheekbones (bare or with some foundation/creme blush) when I’m doing some super quick makeup so I look like I made a bit more of an effort and help my skin feel nourished, but remember not to layer on top of powder products or it won’t settle properly! I’ve had this for ages and it’s still no where near running out. The only downside with this is the pump which you have to be very careful with as you really do only need the tiniest bit! Unfortunately the only link that I could find to this was on amazon, so I will keep an eye out for any dupes.

♥ Stila Lip Glaze in Black Cherry

I would never have picked this up in a shop, but as it came as part of a set I fancied trying a darker lip one evening and instantly fell in love with it. I’d always been a neutral/pink lip kind of girl until late last year, and I think that anyone trying to break out of a style rut ought to try something similar to this; a deeper colour but in a gloss is a great way to break out of your comfort zone as it is a little sheerer than a lipstick but still very stylish. This colour is a deep purplish berry sort of colour with a tiny bit of shimmer. You can see this in action in my last blog post (you can see I’ve even branched out into using this for the every day now) and I love the fact that the colour is buildable, as demonstrated in the swatches. As much as I love this, I would definitely look for a cheaper alternative in the future just because the lip glazes are so so expensive! Then again, with this kind of pigmentation in a lipgloss it may be difficult.

As always, if any of you would like a full review or have any questions then please just say so in the comment below!

Hope you're all having a lovely week :)

 Emily x

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What's on my Face Today

Hello blog friends! I'm headed away for the weekend and I'd hate to leave you without a blog post to mull over, so I'm doing a super (super super) quick face of the day with some makeup that I wore the other day, hope you enjoy!
In artificial light


The idea of the makeup is to make it look like I'm wearing none at all! I am in fact wearing my Nars Sheer Glow foundation with some light contouring from my Benefit Hula bronzer and some black eye shadow pressed into my lash line top and bottom. I also lightly filled in my brows with eyeshadow.

Of course the lip isn't that natural, it's one of my Stila lip glazes in a deep berry colour. I LOVE this product and you can be sure to see it in my January favourite (which I'll do when I get back) and I'll do a post about the lip glazes in general soon :)

I will link all of the products as soon as I get back and answer any questions that you may have :)
I hope that you all have wonderful weekends, and let me know what you think of the makeup!

 Emily x


P.S. Acryllics update - do not catch them on something, like... I don't know... the lid of your conditioner bottle when you're trying to open it. It will hurt like a b*(£%& for a very. long. time.

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