Best Discoveries of 2014 | Lips

Welcome to the third in the series of my 'Best Discoveries of 2014'.  Today we will be talking about my personal favourite category of makeup, lips.

This year, it has been quite hard to please me in the lip department.  I have managed to find fault with pretty much everything I have tried apart from the ones pictured above.  Everything I have tried have either been too drying, too sticky, patchy, lacking longevity and I have picked holes in everything.  Lip products are my favourite makeup item so I am quite particular in what I like and I try out an awful lot!

The first product I discovered back in April was my first favourite of this year.  The Mac Cremesheen Lipstick in Peach Blossom.  This peachy pink nude immediately became my favourite nude, its shade was perfect in complimenting my pale skin rather than washing me out and I wear this with literally everything! It is so versatile, going perfectly with a dramatic smokey eye or a natural every day look. I find it best to pat in the first layer with my finger, and then apply another layer straight from the bullet. This ensures that it lasts a good 4-5 hours which is pretty impressive for a lipstick with such a glossy and moisturising formula.

Back in the summer, I finally caved and treated myself to a Chanel Lipstick.  After a lot of research and intense swatching, I finally decided on the Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in the shade 'Boy'.  It is a similar shade to Peach Blossom, except darker and with a hint more brown.  The formula of this is quite sheer and very moisturising, keeping lips soft and supple as well as giving them a beautiful shine.  Again, this can be worn with many different looks and I wore it pretty much every day for around 3-4 months after I purchased it. This is definitely a princess product and paying £25 for a lipstick is an obscene amount of money, but every girl needs that one special lipstick right? or 6........

The last thing to mention is a line of lip products rather than an individual product.  The Maybelline Color Drama Velvet Lip Pencils have been mentioned quite a lot on my blog recently and they definitely live up to the huge hype surrounding them at the moment.  They have an impressive shade range, my favourites being Light it Up, Nude Perfection and Berry Much.  They are matte without drying out your lips, have amazing colour payoff and last for a decent amount of time.  These are definitely good dupes for the Nars Lip Pencils, and I would definitely recommend checking these out before splurging on any of the higher end options.  Maybelline have really done well with these and I am looking to eventually get most of the colours they offer.

That is everything concerning lips for 2014, let me know what your favourite lip products from 2014 are!

Emily xx

Best Discoveries of 2014 | Eyes

Welcome to the second instalment of my 'Best Discoveries of 2014'.  Todays post will be talking all things eyes!

Starting with bases, as mentioned in my December favourites, I love using cream shadows as a base to provide longevity for the shadows I put on top, and also making colours appear more vibrant and pigmented.  My current favourite budget-friendly cream shadows are the Elf Smudge Pots.  I won't ramble on about them too much as you have already heard me rave about them, but they are the best quality and most pigmented cream shadows I have ever used, and their ridiculously affordable price of £2.95 is not tone sniffed at!

Onto palettes, back in the summer I picked up the MUA Undressed and Undress Me Too palettes on a  whim, not really expecting much but thought they would be fun to play with! I was stunned to discover how buttery and pigmented these shadows were, and also that they are dupes for the Urban Decay Naked palettes for just a fraction of the price! Definitely worth investing in.

There has only been one eyeliner that has stood out to me this year and that has been the Rimmel Glameyes Liquid Liner.  It has the tiniest little brush, which makes it so easy to create  really thin line and also build it up to quite a thick line. It is also quite easy to do wings with which is something I struggle with a lot! Unlike most liquid liners I have tried, this one doesn't flake throughout the day or smudge, nor does it smudge or disappear when I curl my eyelashes which is another struggle that I face when it comes to eyeliner. This is definitely a good one for anyone starting out with eyeliner, or you struggle with it like me.

Let's talk lashes! Another product I have mentioned a lot on my blog is the Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara.  I didn't think I was going to like this, as I usually prefer plastic wands as I find them better at separating and lengthening, but I fell in love with this mascara the moment it touched my lashes!  It lengthens and volumises without a clump in site and dramatically improves the condition of your lashes. It contains a grow-lash complex that is designed to encourage the natural growth of your lashes, and helps them to appear fuller and stronger. This definitely does what it claims to do and this will definitely be repurchased.  The last product to mention is really just false eyelashes in general. I never really bothered with false lashes, I always found them too much of a faff and being the lazy girl that I am, I just couldn't be bothered! Since I tried them back in February, I have been hooked! I have grown increasingly better at applying them and no longer find it stressful. They just add a little bit more oomph and drama to your eyes and I am obsessed! No dramatic look is complete without a kick-ass pair of lashes!

That is everything for eyes, what have been your best eye discoveries of 2014?

Emily xx

Blog Survey For 2015

After a lot of playing about, I have finally managed to create a blog survey! It would mean the world to me if you could take less than 5 minutes to answer a few questions to enable me to make a few changes and improvements ready for the new year! Click here to get started!

Thank you for your time,

Emily xx

Best Discoveries of 2014 | Face & Base

Welcome to the first post in this weeks little series 'Best Discoveries of 2014'! Today I will be giving you the lowdown of my favourite face and base products of 2014, as the title of this post would suggest!

Starting off with bases, the first product I discovered back in the summer and it is the Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream (full review here).  This is probably one of the most versatile base products I own, it can be worn in so many different ways! You can wear it under foundation as a primer to boost coverage and even everything out before you apply your foundation, or you can wear it on its own.  It offers quite a good coverage for a product that is so light and liquidy in consistency and a thin layer will pretty much cover and cancel out all of your problems! It can also be built up in certain areas where more coverage is needed and there is no cakeyness in site! It is a perfect base for naturally flawless and radiant looking skin and I would recommend it to anyone, regardless of skin type. My absolute favourite foundation of this year, and I think all time has to be the MAC Studio Fix Fluid.  This is the perfect finish for my skin, matte enough to control oil but has enough moisture in it to prevent dry and flaky skin, and also leave a subtle amount of radiance to the skin.  This is a pretty full coverage product without being cakey and can double up as a medium coverage concealer.  It can be built up even more to create a really full coverage if that is what you enjoy.  Mine is on its last legs so I will definitely be repurchasing this soon!

Onto concealer, there was really only one that stood out to me when I was thinking about what I wanted to include in this post and that has to be the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer which I'm sure will come as no surprise to you.  I won't ramble on too much as I'm sure you're sick of hearing about this legendary product, but it seriously is worth the hype and has been really the only concealer I have used all of this year.  I think I am on tube number 5 now, and no matter what concealer I try, I always find myself going back to this one.

Another product that will come as no surprise to you, the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder has been the only powder I have used this year! I have gone through about 7 of these since I discovered it last year and I have never felt the need to use anything else! I love how it blurs out pores and imperfections and keeps foundation looking flawless all day long.  For £3.99, you can't really go wrong!

Onto bronzer which is another cult product, the Nars Laguna Bronzing Powder is what I like to call my 'Princess Bronzer' because it is so damn expensive! Putting the price tag aside (which is enough to make a saint swear) it is honestly just the perfect bronzer.  It gives the right amount of colour pay off to be used as a subtle bronzed look or can be built up to create quite a dramatic contour. I use it to subtly define the contours of my face and stop me looking so pale! If you don't mind spending £27 *gasps* on a bronzer, I would definitely recommend this to anyone regardless of skin tone, as it is quite a universal shade.

I have 2 blush favourites, the first being the Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush in the shade 'Cherub' (full review here) which seems to be the only thing I talked about through the Spring and Summer months! The formula is amazing, the colour is amazing along with the overall shade range, application is easy, it is really a good all rounder! Not to mention the fact that it is multi-purpose and can also double up as a lip-stain! Cool eh? It is also in the FeelUnique sale for only £13.05 so if you are interested, I would definitely be quick before the bargain is gone! The other blush is another that you have probably heard me talk about before, the NYX Powder Blush in the shade 'Desert Rose' is the most perfect shade for a natural flush of colour and has not left my face since my Makeup Revolution ultra blush palter came along last month!

The last product is my holy grail highlight, and that is obviously the Mac Soft and Gentle MSF. This has been my holy grail highlight all year, it is such a gorgeous shimmery champagne colour without a huge amount of glitter so you glow rather than looking like a disco ball.  Its domed shape means that a lot of product is packed into its classic mac packaging, I have been using this for over a year on a daily basis and I haven't even made the slightest dent in this fantastic product.  It may seem expensive but for how much you get, and the quality of the product, it is definitely worth it! It will keep you glowing for years!

Those are my absolute favourite face&base discoveries of 2014, what are yours?

Emily xx

The Sunday Edit #32

Well this week has been rather eventful, what with Christmas, Boxing day and all that Jazz! The beginning of the week was spent frantically running round picking up last minute christmas presents, wrapping and buying food and getting tables laid all ready for Christmas Day. This weekend has been quite chilled, in onesies watching films and online shopping, purely for the fact I hate shopping in the sales, its just way too hectic for me!

Seeing as I have done a lot of online shopping, I should hopefully have quite a few products turning up at my door on Monday that I can have a little play around with and write about!  I've ordered some bits from theBalm on feel unique, elf, space nk, ebay all sorts! I may feature them in a haul and do first impressions on them all!

As of tomorrow, I will be starting my 2014 favourites posts. As mentioned in my December Favourites, I will be splitting them into categories as there are so many of them, each will be featured in a separate post.  All together, I think there will be around 5 posts so I will be continuing blogmas for the rest of this week, ending Saturday!  I thought this would probably the best way to do it, otherwise I would have a post that is practically a novel and would bore you all.  Huge things like this are easier to stomach in small chunks!

I hope you have all had a lovely week, and a lovely christmas!

Emily xx