12/13/2014

New Elf Bits

 I had an e-mail from elf a few days ago to say that they had free postage for 1 day only for part of their online advent calendar.  Obviously I took full advantage of this and picked up a few bits and bobs that caught my eye.
 The first 2 things I got were the Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadows in the shade Toast and Festive.  The formula of these are quite odd, they are almost bouncy and I would say they were a sort of powdery mousey formula rather than the gel they claim to be.  The shade 'Toast' is a cool toned bronzy gold colour with slight glitter running through. This is the perfect colour for wearing all year round and I can see myself getting a lot of use out of this.  The second colour, 'Festive' is a beautiful deep plum with again, a glitter running through it.  I think this would be perfect for a christmas smokey eye as the name would suggest, and I am looking forward to this encouraging me to be a bit more adventurous where colours are concerned and experiment with come purpley shades.
 Top: Toast Bottom: Festive
Top: Back to Basics Bottom: Brownie Points
 The next 2 are the Smudge Pots in the shades 'Back to Basics' and 'Brownie Points'. Back to basics is a light bronze/gold colour with a subtle hint of copper, giving it a warm tone. Brownie points is a deep, warm copper which I can imagine would create a really beautiful copper smokey eye. I can see myself using these as bases or just to throw on for lazy days and I think they would work well together as well.  I have heard that these are good dupes for the Mac Paint pots, and on first inspection, they do seem to be easily comparable! They are very creamy but not too slippery which suggests that they would be quite long lasting, and they also provide great colour pay off.
Left to Right: Brownie Points, Back to Basics, Festive and Toast

All in all, I am rather pleased with my purchases and I am looking forward to having a play around with them. I am sure these will be reviewed and featured in various other posts in the future and I can really see them being added to my ever-growing list of favourites!

Emily xx

12/12/2014

The Festive Playlist


You'll have to excuse the cheesy photo, it made me giggle! Something a little different today,  I thought I'd share with you my most love christmas songs and those tunes that as soon as they come on the radio, you know christmas is coming! There is nothing like listening to some good christmas music to get the festivities going!


  • Mariah Carey - All I want for Christmas is you
  • Chris Rea - Driving Home for Christmas
  • Band Aid - Do They Know its Christmas?
  • Wham! - Last Christmas
  • The Pogues - Fairytale of New York
Those are my top 5 festive tunes, what are your favourite Christmas Songs?

Emily xx

12/11/2014

What's in my Muji Storage? | December 2014

My Muji Storage was definitely one of the best investments I have ever made! Back in the Summer I finally placed an order for some Muji storage which I had had my eye on for quite a while!  It is so handy to store all of my most used and most loved products so that I have easy access to them when I am doing my makeup and don't have to go searching through all of my other drawers. The products stored in here change regularly, and seeing as my last 'Muji Tour' was so popular, I thought I would do an updated one now and again just to show you how I like to change up what I use!

On the top of my storage, I have a small organiser from fragrance direct, in which I store a few smaller palettes, my eyelash curlers and any bits that don't fit in my drawers.  At the moment, I don't have enough room in my drawers for my Rimmel Undercover Eye Primer and my Benefit Stay don't Stray Primer along with a tiny lash glue. The palettes I have on the top are the MUA Undressed and Undressed Me Too Palettes, the Sleek I Divine Au Naturel Palette, the Makeup Revolution Iconic 1 Palette, the Makeup Revolution Ultra Blush and Contour Palette, the Benefit World Famous Neutrals - Easiest Nudes Ever Kit and the Urban Decay Naked 3.  I also have a pink glass bowl where I keep my high end lipsticks, such as my Mac and Chanel Lippies, most of which are currently in my handbag! 
The first drawer is the base drawer, packed full of primers, foundations, concealers, the lot! First off, Primers! I obviously have my favourites, the Elf Studio Hydrating Primer*, Elf Studio Poreless Face Primer* and the Benefit Porefessional.  I also have small samples of Benefit That Gal Brightening Primer and Mac Prep+Prime Skin, both of which I am loving at the moment.  For a lighter base, I have loved the Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream which I have a review of here.  This is a staple product for me and I will always have one in my drawers! Two of my absolute favourite foundations are the Mac Studio Fix Fluid and the L'oreal True Match Foundation and I generally alternate between the two, whether this be on an every day basis or for a special occasion.  Tucked away at the back I have the Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour Foundation which I use when I am tanned, which I will admit isn't very often but I can mix it with other foundations to add a little bit of warmth and try to mask my ghostliness! The last foundation I have is the Nars SheerGlow Foundation which you will have seen in my latest haul that I am currently trying out.  I haven't used it enough to form a proper opinion but first impressions say this is going to be a good one! I have a few concealers, my favourite under eye concealer which is the Garnier Anti-Dark Circle Roller and I also have two of my holy grail Collection Lasting Perfection Concealers.
The next drawer is all kinds of other face products, powders, blushes, bronzers, all sorts! As you can see, I have quite a few products in here that seem to be switched up quite regularly. I have an obscene amount of cheek products so these really are the creme de la creme. The newest addition to this drawer is the Makeup Revolution Baked Bronzer in the shade 'Golden Days' which actually shocked me with its amazingness (don't know if thats really a word...well it is as of today).  The idea of a shimmery bronzer scared me and I thought I would hate it, but it gives the cheeks such a natural bronzy glow without looking ridiculous, and it has the perfect balance of cool and warm tones so it would be perfect for all skin types.  I have been wearing this non stop ever since I received it for my birthday.  I'm not going to go into too much detail throughout this post because it would be ridiculously long! Once I get going on a product I love, I can't stop!
The next drawer is my eye drawer, and I will admit, it is a bit of a mess! In here, I keep all kinds of single eyeshadows, duos, trios and quads, along with cream eyeshadows, eye pencils, mascaras and liquid liners! There are a few dries up mascaras in here which I could probably get rid of actually so I think I will have a good old sort out of all of my makeup when exams are over so that I have plenty of room for new products over christmas! I absolutely love eyeshadow and I wear many different looks so I have a massive range of colours of various formulas to create many different looks!
The last drawer is my lip drawer and it is probably my favourite! I have all kinds of lip care, lip balms, lipsticks, lip pencils, lip glosses in here from various brands and in various colours.  My absolute favourites in here at the moment are the Maybelline Color Drama Lip Pencils which I have raved about before, but I have recently added 2 more shades to my little collection, 'Berry Much' and 'Nude Perfection' which both do what they say on the tin! If I can manage to get my mits on Mac Velvet Teddy, I would be interested to compare it to 'Nude Perfection' because they seem to be rather similar! The Maybelline one would obviously be the better option purely for the fact that it is 1/3 of the price and definitely a lot easier to get hold of! If anyone knows of anywhere that has Velvet Teddy in stock, do let me know because I am growing evermore impatient!

That is it for my Muji Storage! I didn't go into too much detail in the more full up drawers because I didn't want to bore you, however if you have any questions about any of the products shown or would like to see a post on anything, be sure to let me know and I would be more than happy to do so!

Emily xx

12/10/2014

Collective Haul | Birthday Shopping

On Saturday, I went shopping with my birthday money and bought a few bits and pieces that I fancied or have been wanting for a while.  I thought I would show you the bits and pieces I got and show you products that will possibly be featured in upcoming posts.






The first place I went was Primark! I didn't buy as much as I would have hoped because the one I went to was relatively small and it was absolutely packed so I wanted to just grab the stuff I wanted and leave!  There was a huge sale rack when I walked through the door, and on it were the first 2 blouses pictured above which were reduced to £5! I thought these would be nice in the winter and I could also wear the short sleeved one in the summer as well. They are nice pieces to have and can be worn in so many different ways so I look forward to styling them.  The second thing I got was this black and white long waterfall cardigan.  I have absolutely loved the look of blanket wraps ever since they becomes fashionable but was worried they would look odd on me because I am so small, so I opted for this cardigan because this is similar without looking too much, and I don't get lost in it! It is quite thick so it is very warm and it is quite slouchy so it is comfortable to just lounge around in.  The last clothing item I got was a onesie! I have been wanting a new onesie for ages and when I saw that this one was bright pink AND had bunny rabbits on, it went straight in my basket, no questions asked!  I absolutely love this, it is so warm and cosy and I am actually wearing this as I type! The aisle along the tills gets me every time, and I picked up 3 bits as I was in the ridiculously long queue waiting to pay and get the hell out of there! I found this 'I love Pugs' thermal mug and literally died! It is the cutest thing I have ever seen and I love pugs so I couldn't leave without it! I also found some christmassy fluffy socks AND some pug gloves!!

Next stop was House of Fraser and I knew exactly what I wanted in there! I have been dying to get the Nars Sheerglow Foundation for ages now so I thought I would finally get it as a birthday treat to myself! I wasn't sure what shade to buy, so they matched me to the shade 'Siberia' which is one of the palest and least yellow toned of the range.  It is still quite yellow but I can get away with it once I have the rest of my makeup on.  I am still unsure on this foundation so I will update you a s the story unfolds.  When I got to the till, the lady asked me if I wore anything on my lips, I was like pffttt what self respecting beauty addict doesnt? I'm joking, I just said yes, so she gave me this mini lipgloss in the shade 'Priscilla' which I am already in love with! The formula and pigmentation of mars lip glosses are phenomenal and I can't fault them!

The last place I went was Lush, because by this time I was fed up with being pushed and having my toes stood on and I just wanted to go home to bed! I picked up my absolute favourites, the butter bear, the butterball and shoot for the stars, and a new addition, the melting snowman! I am yet to try this so I will let you know what I think and I will probably post a miniature review on instagram!

That is all I bought, the rest I bought online and am still awaiting its arrival so there may be another haul very soon! December is always haul central around these parts!

Emily xx

12/09/2014

NOTD #2

I love a dark nail colour, almost black but not quite! This Nails Inc Polish in the shade Victoria is that perfect deep red wine shade.  I love how sophisticated this kind of colour is because it still ha that very subtle hint of red.  It is perfect throughout the Autumn and Winter months because it goes with absolutely anything clothing wise and is just the perfect addition to a warm winter look.

The formula of this is absolutely amazing as I would expect from such a prestigious brand like Nails Inc.  With one coat I had the perfect amount pigmentation and they short dry time makes it easier for you to move on with your life quicker without any disasters!  They are very long lasting as well, I can wear them for roughly a week before I start to notice any signs of wear.

An all round good egg from Nails Inc, as are the rest of their products!  What is your favourite Nails Inc shade?

Emily xx