Archive for April 2013

Lipstick Chat: Patisserie by Mac

Patisserie Lipstick by Mac
Patisserie Lipstick by Mac Patisserie Lipstick by Mac
Patisserie Lipstick by Mac Swatch
Patisserie Lipstick by Mac Swatches
Swatches in natural daylight, left to right: Hue, Patisserie, Shy Girl

Let’s talk lipstick. Lucky little old me per chance happened to be going through Debenhams last week when I realised that I had a couple of vouchers left to spend. I’m also lucky enough to have a Mac in my local Debenhams, and there was one thing in particular that I had had my eye on for a little while.

Patisserie by Mac is a Cremesheen finish, which means that it’s not too thick and also quite moisturising with a slightly glossy finish, though I’d describe it as more of a sheen, but being a Mac lipstick it’s still well pigmented. It also has a little bit of shimmer running through it that is barely noticeable on the lips. Patisserie is one of the shades I’ve heard a bit about in the blogosphere and I knew I just had to try it. The shade is a mid-toned peachy pink with a tiny hint of brown in it. On my pale skin it’s a “my-lips-but-better” shade, and so I’d imagine that it would be a pretty universal nude colour - not too warm or cool toned!

As you can see I put swatches next to Hue by Mac which is my favourite nude colour. It’s a little paler and more pinky than Patisserie, and also Shy Girl by Mac which is a much more of an orangey peach. I wouldn't say that compared to the swatches Patisserie definitely is that orangey at all, but that it’s the perfect pinky peachy blend for your lips.

I hope that you have enjoyed this quick little review, I think that lipsticks are really fun and have enjoyed sharing :)
What do you think of this shade?

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The Weekend Roundup #4

Amazing sponge cake from Cafe Zest!
Amazing sponge cake from Cafe Zest! Phil's choc chip pancakes from Rocatillos
Phil's choc chip pancakes from Rocatillos The pretty pig we spotted in Bath
The pretty pig we spotted in Bath
Quirky beers we decided to try
Quirky beers we decided to try

 I feel as though all of mine and Phil's weekends together revolve around food... and to be honest to a certain extent they probably do. Phil is a very fussy eater and so it's very exciting when we find a place to eat that we both love. Rocatillos in Bristol is one of those places. It's a fifties style American diner that serves the best pancakes that I have ever had (and I'm pretty darn good at making pancakes if I do say so myself). So naturally, when Phil was very hungry on Friday night after arriving we went (nearly) straight to Rocatillos to get him his pancake fix.

This was enough excitement in itself but we decided to spoil ourselves a little more and spend the day in Bath on Saturday. It's only a ten minute train journey away and is a very different city to Bristol - it's so picturesque and absolutely perfect for a sunny day out, we love it! Highlights of the day include a nice, leisurely lunch at Cafe Zest - just look at that cake! It was honestly one of the best slices of cake ever, but I had to share this one. It was a little too big for one person, plus it was technically Phil's. We also spent a lot of the day looking around. The second picture is one of the pigs that we came across when wandering a little market. If you don't know about Bath and it's pigs you can read more about it here, but all you really need to know is that Bath has some pretty pigs dotted about the place. I like them. So I took a picture.

Phil and I also got some Italian gelato (we are quite the greedy pigs ourselves). One really fun thing that we did that we've never, ever done before was going to a new beer specialist type of place. The guy in there was really friendly and so we ended up treating ourselves to two each (spoiler: Phil and I really didn't enjoy the one on the far right or on the far left). Our favourite was definitely the ginger beer. We went out for a few drinks on Saturday night and just generally had a jolly good time!

Really not much to report today so I will leave it at that my bloggy chums. Hope that you have all had lovely weekends yourselves.
Be sure to leave a comment letting me know what you got up to!

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Beauty Battle: Nars Highlighters

Alooohaaaa world! I really wanted to post a Face Diaries post today but I’m back at uni and I can’t quite work out the lighting...

Enough of that though, on with the post. I’ve been keen to show you my Nars highlighter for a while now, but as luck would have it I actually have two kinds in exactly the same shade. How did this happen? I do not know (I do, my eyes are bigger than my... face?). What I will say though is that they’re two really popular highlighters and they also happen to be my favourites. With this in mind I thought that a comparison post might really help some of you guys out, as they are unfortunately not cheap.

 Nars Illuminator or Multiple in Copacabana?
Nars Illuminator in Copacabana
Nars Multiple in Copacabana
Swatches of both Nars Illuminator and Multiple in Copacabana
Swatches in natural daylight

First up we have the Nars Illuminator in Copacabana. I often reach for this over my multiple because I love the consistency of it. The colour is pretty similar, although I’d say if you really want to glow for that candlelight glow effect then this has a little more oomph than the multiple (as you can see in the swatches). It’s a really creamy texture and blends so easily into the skin. It leaves behind a beautiful iridescence that can look pretty natural as there are no chunks of glitter, more just tiny shimmer particles. It’s also really easy to get the tiniest amount out of the tube, something that I think is really important for a £22 product as this means that it will last for aaages! I’ve never had any problems with this not working with any of my foundations, although you must of course remember to put this on before you powder your skin otherwise it won’t blend. It will just sit and most probably slide. If you love a glowy, dewy makeup then I’d say that this is for you as it has a more “wet” look (hmm, that sounds weird). The other great thing is that it can be mixed with your foundation to wake up your skin too.

Secondly we have the Nars Multiple, also in Copacabana. I got this before my illuminator and I think that this is generally the more popular product out of the two. It comes in a giant lipstick type of packaging, which I think is a fun, novel idea. It also makes it really quick to slap on as a highlighter, although if you don’t have a brush to hand it can make it more difficult to use on smaller areas such as your brow bone. I would also say that this has a slightly more goldish tone than the bluish, silvery pink of the illuminator. The multiple comes in a wider range of colours than the illuminator and is a little more expensive at £30. Having said this I have had mine for over two years and it hasn’t run out or dried out at all! Nars claims that this can be used on any part of the face including eyes and lips. I cannot speak for the other colours, but I have found that this really doesn’t stay on the eyes no matter what I try. In terms of formula this has a liquid to powder finish which I don’t really like as much because you have to blend it as soon as you put it on. This can be tricky and you can often see a line after putting it on if it isn't blended properly. It definitely sits on the skin more than my illumator. Although I still reach for this often I don’t think it beats the illumator in any category, other than perhaps cool packaging and being marginally faster to apply.

Although of course you can get either product in other colours which may change the use slightly (I can imagine the multiple making a great, shimmery blush) I have to say going purely from the shade Copacabana my favourite of the two would definitely have to be the Illuminator. Although it may seem a little pricey it’s such great quality and it will last you a long time!

Do you guys have either of these products? Have you tried them in any different shades?

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My Current Haircare Routine

My Current Haircare Routine
You may have heard me talking about my lack of hair-know-how in previous posts. I really don’t know a huge amount about it and have never really done much to my hair other than occasionally curl or straighten it and play around with various products that I think might help me to get the hair style I want. Although to be honest, even I’m not too sure what that is - my fine hair was always really easy to take care of until a couple of years ago when the split ends arrived. Hello frizz!

Well, for the time being at least I have found a few products that gets my hair looking smooth. As I have said already, however, I am in no way a hair expert, and to be honest, even with these products, the behaviour of my hair still varies wash to wash and day to day. For now I’m happy with my hair routine and I want to share it with you.

Tresemme Heat Defenze Styling Spray Charles Worthington Hair Serum
Charles Worthington Body Booster Mousse Di Palomo White Grape Dry Oil


1 - I tend to switch up the shampoo and conditioners that I use depending on what’s on hand (which happen to be the Tresemme Volume shampoo and conditioner right now). One thing that I always do when I get out of the shower, though, is spray my hair with heat protectant as I usually blow dry it. Again, I tend to use whatever appeals to me when I’m in Boots and I’d heard good things about the Tresemme Heat Defense Styling Spray. I’m not so sure about its claims to tame frizz and lock in shine, but this was £4.69 and I’ve been using it since September so it’s pretty fair value.

2 - This may seem crazy but I’ve only recently started using serum regularly and it’s made a big difference since my hair has been getting a little more frizzy whenever it fancies it (I know it really really need a trim!). Anyway, although it’s only the first serum that I’ve used, I love the Charles Worthington Hair Serum, and despite its size it seems to be last a pretty long time. When I’ve just washed my hair I put a squirt of product about the size of a 10p piece into the palm of my hand, flip my head upside down and work it through my hair from just below mid-lengths to ends. The product doesn’t feel sticky, perhaps slightly oily but definitely not greasy (I’m not describing this very well, am I?). Next I comb all through my hair to disperse both products I’ve used so far.

3 - At this point I will begin blowdrying my hair - it is important to note that I have been using a pretty decent new hairdryer from Parlux and I always use the nozzle on it as it prevents flyaways and frizz (I also try to avoid putting it on full heat when I can). After about a minute of drying time I squirt a bit of the Charles Worthington Body Booster Mousse into my hand. I tend to aim for the size of a large pea because it really frothes up when it’s out of the can. I work this into the roots of my hair around the crown to aim to add a little bit more volume there. This product feels quite thick but works itself well into the hair which I really like, and I do notice a difference when I use it but don’t expect miracle results. From here I continue drying for a little longer. I always dry my hair with my head upside down and move the dryer around in a few different directions, especially around my “fringe” as this is supposed to add more volume.

4 - Before my hair is totally dry I also sometimes like to add a little of the Di Palomo White Grape Dry Oil to the ends of my hair (here is the new version with aloe too!). I really want to try some Morccanoil but again, this is a little outside my price range right now, and so I’ve been using this instead. I hadn’t used much of this since I first I got it but I love the smell - it’s meant to be white grape but this is seriously one of my favourite smells ever. I just spray this once or twice onto my fingers, then rub my hands together and run it through the very ends of my hair (make sure it’s still pretty damp!). I tend to do this every other wash and my hair is definitely feeling softer than before, not to mention smelling gorgeous! I’ll have to be careful in the summer when the bees come out haha (do bees smell?!).

It is also worth mentioning that I have recently introduced another product into my hair routine which is the Original Tangle Teezer (which I have a full review on here> which I also think has contributed to my hair behaving a lot better too. There is a review on this coming up soon! Also, if you are interested in the hairdryer that I used there is a link to it here. I would be happy to do a post on this too if anybody is interested? Just ask! Using these products won’t necessarily be a game changer, but I find that they work well together and being on a budget I can’t really afford to try out all the latest holy grail hair whatevers.

I hope that you have enjoyed today’s post. Do you have any hair products that you can recommend to me??

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Quick Rave: Tangle Teezer

As I have been careful to let you know on numerous occasions on my blog, I am not always the best at looking after my hair. My head is full of makeupy things, and sometimes that means that what’s on my head doesn’t always get the treatment that it deserves. When my normal hairbrush started acting up recently, however, I knew it was time to set things straight.

I had heard good things about the Tangle Teezer from a number of souces - mainly beauty blogs of course. So I decided that it was time to give in. My hair gets quite knotty quite easily (damn you fine hair!) so I felt like I would really get along well with this product. So along I popped to Boots and the rest, as they say, is history!

My Original Pink Tangle Teezer
My Original Pink Tangle Teezer
My Original Pink Tangle Teezer
My Original Pink Tangle Teezer

I have been using this daily since I purchased it around three weeks ago and, as promised, I have definitely noticed my hair looking sleeker and a lot more shiny. The reason that I was so attracted to it was because of the fact that it is supposed to glide through knots, as brushing at the end of a day could at times be quite painful for me. The flexible plastic bristles vary in length and flick against any knots you may have, both untangling them and allowing a smooth brushing experience! The best bit has to be that I no longer have to dread the “static hair look” after a few brushes through. I got my Tangle Teezer in original pink (who can resist?!) which cost me £10. The brush is also designed to work with both wet and dry hair, and although I haven’t tried it straight out the shower, on damp/towel dried hair I don’t feel as though it stretches my hair at all which is always a danger with normal brushes.

I am so pleased with this product. It has to be my favourite hairbrush that I have ever purchased, and not just because of the colour! It fits perfectly it my makeup drawer, and my hand when I’m using it. Another pro is that this brush doesn’t collect hair in the bristles like others do. If you’re a hair extension wearing kind of girl then this is safe for you to use too. Although the bristles look spiky they’re actually gentle enough to use on children. Cons? I can’t really think of any to be honest! If you’re a fan of the old brush handle then it may take a little getting used to, but I can’t see myself going back any time soon. This really is a notch above the rest!

What do you think of Tangle Teezers? Have you tried one?

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The Weekend Roundup #3

Me at Cabot Circus
Me at Cabot Circus
My lovely new watch from Next!
I bought a watch! (it's from Next if you're interested)
My yummy lunch!
My yummy yummy lunch - look at that cake!!!
Getting ready for drinks
Me and Phil getting ready for drinks
Phil checking out his putt at mini golf
Phil checking out his putt at mini golf
Some Bristolian Street Art
Some of the street art we crossed on our walk through Bristol

I'm back at uni! On Friday my dad kindly drove me back, and later that evening Phil got the train down here to meet me. Phil doesn't actually go to uni, or live here in Bristol with me in case you were wondering. All though we are very lucky in that we get to spend most of our weekends together, so to you guys it may seem like it at times! Once again we managed to have a wonderful weekend together. I was very naughty on Saturday and put my pending uni work to one side (who can work when the sun is shining anyway?!) while we went shopping. Originally we were due to pop to Cabot Circus (a shopping centre in Bristol) for a couple of bits and pieces, but I ended up spending rather more than expected. Apparently Phil finds it fun to encourage me to spend money that is really meant to be for food and living. We had an amazing day though, and we even managed to squeeze in a game of mini golf among our other shenanigans. We spent the evening at a local bar drinking proper Bristolian cider with my flatmates. Phil and I aren't huge cider people, but you know "do as the locals do" and all that jazz.

Sunday was a little more relaxed and after a lazy morning we ended up going out for an aimless walk and sitting in Starbucks for a little while before grabbing some lunch and going back to the flat. As I write this Phil is watching the football on his iPad and I'm laid across him on my laptop. Charming, eh? He'll be headed back on the train soon though and I'll actually have to do some uni work ready for tomorrow :/

How did you enjoy the gorgeous weather this weekend? Did you procrastinate from the things you should have been doing as much as me?!


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My Must-Have Makeup Brushes

My Must-Have Brushes
Top Five Makeup Brushes

When I first started collecting makeup, the brushes were one of the things that interested me most and I was really excited to buy. While my collection started off with a random array of brushes from I really don’t know where (mainly inherited from my Mum), as it grew Mac brushes became more and more prominent. Funnily enough, Mac also seems to steal the spotlight here, but as time has gone on I’ve definitely learned that more expensive certainly does not mean better. In fact, I’ve heard quite a few complaints about how Mac brushes are going more and more down hill and today one of the most popular brush sets among beauty bloggers are the fairly affordable Real Techniques Brushes.

Today I’m going to share with you the five brushes that I would pick if I was forced to never try another brush again. Of course in my daily routine I often use types of brushes other than these ones, but when it comes to the crunch they really take the biscuit.

Mac 187 Stippling Brush Real Techniques Buffing Brush
Mac 109 Small Face Brush Mac 217 Eyeshadow Brush
Crown 207 Slanted Eyeliner Brush


#1 Mac 187 - This is a stippling brush, which is why I have picked this brush over the fact that it is Mac (many other companies do the same brush in different sizes). For many makeup artists the duo fibre stippling brush is the favoured technique for applying liquid foundation as it gives an airbrushed finish, but it’s also perfect for buffing powder foundation into the skin and even bronzer (I even use this for contouring from time to time). As I have already mentioned it works beautifully with cream products such as liquid highlighters or cream blushes which, all together, makes it an indispensable brush for your collection.

#2 Real Techniques Buffing Brush - I really didn’t expect to like this brush all too much when I first got it as part of a set (at the time I was unaware of it’s cult status among bloggers). It was clear, however, from very early on that I was going to love it, and love it I do. I’d describe it as a mix between a stippling brush (you can see the shorter black nylon hairs and longer white ones) and a larger Mac 109 due to the shape of the head. This means that it feels soft on the skin as I apply my foundation, covers a large surface area and gives a beautiful, airbrushed finish. I’ve used this nearly every day since getting it and I think if I had to go without it now then I’d really miss it.

#3 Mac 109 - I can’t remember why I initially bought this brush. All I do know is that it was probably the first makeup brush that I really used to experiment its different uses. I started off by using it for powder blush due to it’s density, but since I have realised that it is also perfect for cream blush as well as highlighter, due to its size, and I occasionally use it for contour, too. I also used to use it regularly for my foundation too as it felt really soft and blended the foundation in really nicely. Another truly versatile makeup brush that I haven’t really seen a dupe for anywhere (please let me know if you have!)

#4 Mac 217 - I think that this may well me my favourite brush ever ever ever. To be honest, I’ve only ever tried the Mac version but I know that there are others out there which may be just as good, but I could have three of these brushes and still want more. It’s perfect for application of lid colour, it fits perfectly into the crease due to its tapered shape and its medium density makes it perfect for blending. Could a girl ever love a brush more? I don’t think so.

#5 C207 Angle Liner Brush - Crown brushes are starting to get a bit of reputation as the “Mac-quality-without-the-hefty-price-tag brushes” (maybe I should have thought of something a little more catchy). I picked this up at IMATS a couple of years ago and to be honest I prefer it to my Mac one. The handle is longer which means that it gives a lighter and therefore more natural application of my eyeshadow when I use it to do my brows. If I was left with only these five brushes to use then I would also use it to apply gel or powder liner, and if I was really pushing it then maybe even some shimmer to my inner corner.

What about you? If you could only pick five brushes to use for the rest of your life, what would they be?


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Face Diaries #3: Sprinkle of Glitter Inspired

Face Diaries No. 3, Sprinkle of Glitter Inspired

Hey there bloggy people! It's another face-typed post from me today. The other day I was watching a few of Louise from a Sprinkle of Glitter's videos (if you are not familiar with this lady then you should be!) and I really wanted to try to recreate her makeup look. I've worn this look twice this week and I'm a big fan of it. I am not saying that these are the products that Louise uses, but these are the products that I had and used to create a look I have seen her wearing. Enjoy!

Face Diaries No. 3, Sprinkle of Glitter Inspired
Face Diaries No. 3, Sprinkle of Glitter Inspired Products Used
Face Diaries No. 3, Sprinkle of Glitter Inspired Products Used

Face
The Nars Sheer Glow Foundation is hands down my favourite foundation. Ever. I'll review it separately some time, but it was my weapon of choice for my face, and as per usual I also used my Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer on my blemishes and under eyes. After this I dabbed a tiny bit of my Nars Illuminator onto the very tops of my cheek bones with my fingers. Next I lightly powdered the whole of my face with my Mac Mineralise Skinfinish before contouring under my cheek bones with my Benefit Hula Bronzer. Contouring is a common feature of Louise's makeup, and it can be quite tricky to do it properly - I might do a post teaching you how to do it soon! Unfortunately I forgot to include a photograph of it, but the blush that I used was Dollymix by Mac. It's a lovely bright pink that gives a noticeable but in no way gawish flush to the cheeks - perfect for the look that I was going for.

Eyes and Lips
First of all I used a base of my Mac Paint Pot in Bare Study which is a cream shadow in a frosty, light gold colour. It helps any shadow you put on top to pop a little more and adds some sparkle (which I think is rather relevant when talking about a Sprinkle of Glitter!). You can simply apply this with your finger and go straight on with the light gold colour, I used Kitten by Stila. Sometimes I leave it at that, but for a bit of contour I added Mac's Wedge into the crease for some definition. This is also the colour that I tend to use on my brows, which I plan to explain properly in another post. Louise likes a bit of liner and she tend to wing hers out a little, which is exactly what I did. I used Maybelline Gel Liner for this, but you can use liquid (as I think Louise does). I start at the centre of the eye when lining my eye and build the thickness from there and out to the flick - which, by the way, should continue upward in the direction of your lower lash line. I then go back and do a thin line from the inner corner to the centre. Liner can also be tricky, but practice makes perfect! Then curl your lashes and coat it with your favourite mascara top and bottom. Finally, I went for a rosy pink lip gloss. Louise likes to go for this sort of colour which I love. You could also use a lip stick, but I used one of my much loved Stila Lipglazes.

Well friends, I hope that you enjoyed this post and will maybe try it out yourself. I really love the look and think it's really versatile from daytime to nighttime. I've also moved this feature to a Friday now as it makes a little more sense (F-F-Friday, F-F-Face diary, geddit?).

Anyhoo thanks for reading guys! Would you wear this sort of look? Do you read Louise's blog?

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Quick Rave: Maybelline Dream Touch Blush in Peach

Hi guys! Let me first start off this post by apologising for the funny post scheduling, I'm trying to switch around the day I tend to do a couple of posts and work out a schedule that I'll be able to keep up with once I'm back at uni next week. Thanks for baring with me!

 Review of Maybelline Dream Mousse Blush in Peach
The product
Swatch of Maybelline Dream Mousse Blush in Peach
Swatch in Natural Daylight

I first purchased the Maybelline Dream Touch Blush as a cheeky present to myself - it was only £5 and I’d been craving a new cream blush for quite a while - unfortunately Kevyn Aucoin wasn’t quite within my price range just now. I don’t have any other peach blushes as I wasn’t totally convinced that the colour suited me, but I wanted to try it out just to see. I was very pleasantly surprised indeed.

To be honest the packaging didn’t give me very high hopes for the product - there’s nothing wrong with it as such but it does have something “budget-makeupy” about it. When it came to applying it to my face I just used my fingers. The texture is sort of milky and as you apply it to the skin it goes on quite sheer, but can be built up a little. Although it's not super pigmented the colour shines through and sort of blends in with your skin if that makes sense. It adds a gorgeous sheen to the skin which make me think that it will be perfect for spring/summer looks and I always apply it across my cheekbones. Upon application the product goes on in quite a thin layer which is very easy to blend out. It is no where as thick or sticky as my Mac Cremeblush. Some people be put off by the nearly greasy type texture, but it's not really thick enough to be a grease and I find that it works perfectly when a little bit of face powder on top. This will ensures that it stays in place, but that lovely sheen still comes through.

I wouldn’t dream of going out without some sort of powder to set this product unless it was a quick trip out the house, but don’t let this put you off. Although it may not be ideal if you are looking for beach makeup to wear without powder, but I love how glowy and natural it looks. I’m also a big fan of this colour - perhaps that’s because I avoided peach tones for so long. In the packaging it appears a light tangerine, but on the skin it's a more golden peach which adds a beautiful warmth to my makeup that really wakes up my face. I think that this would suit quite a wide range of skin tones and for anybody like me that’s contemplating peach, it’s the perfect place to start.

Have you tried any Maybelline Dream Touch Blushes?

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