Monday 26 August 2013

Beauty Top 10, £10 or Below.

Everyone loves a beauty bargain, so today I'm going to share with you my current Top 10 products that cost just £10 or below. Brace yourself for a lengthy post, I've attempted to keep it short and sweet but can't help but gush about the products I'm loving, enjoy!
 
Maybelline The Rocket Mascara, £6.79 
I can always rely on Maybelline for their mascaras, I love The Rocket, Mega Plush and The Falsies. All offer seperation, volume and length and at under £7 I think they're the best brand to go to if you're looking for a good quality, yet affordable mascara.
 
Rimmel Scandaleyes Shadow Stick, £4.49
I am absolutely head over heels for the shade Bulletproof Beige, it's a gorgeous champagne, golden shade with shimmer and works beautifully as an inner corner highlight. They're incredibly pigmented and creamy but I haven't tried it as a base as I'd imagine it'd crease on my oily lids. If you are looking for a base product, Rimmel also have their Colour Tattoo's and Shadow Paints which are both long lasting and affordable.

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, £4.19
Blogged about by many, this concealer IS as good as people claim. It offers great coverage, works well under the eyes or as a spot concealer and at under a fiver, is a massive bargain. The only downside is the lack of shade range.

Soap & Glory Lid Stuff Eyeshadow Palette, 'Whats Nude', £10
I've repurchased this three times already as it makes for the ideal neutral palette. All four shades are incredibly pigmented, creamy and blend like a dream. With this you can create a natural eye, then turn it in to an evening look easily.

Natural Collection Lipstick, £1.99
At just £1.99 the Natural Collection lipsticks are an absolute steal. My favourite is 'Apple Blossom', similar to Mac's 'Creme De Nude' and 'Fleshpot' a true nude, with pink undertones. Packaging is the only let down, but for a budget brand - it could be worse!

Maybelline Vivid Lipsticks, £7.19
With 5 bright shades to pick from, Maybelline Vivids are offering some unseen shades to High Street stores. My favourite is 'Fuschia Flash', which appears purple in the tube but translates on the lips to a bright pink, with purple undertones, followed closely by 'Shocking Coral'.

Rimmel Kate Moss Lipsticks, £5.49
Raved about by many as matte lipsticks are hard to find from lower priced brands, the Kate Moss lipstick matte lipsticks come in five shades - my favourites being '107' a deep, cherry red and '113' a peach toned nude. They're highly pigmented, long lasting and feel comfortable on the lips!

Barry M Gelly Nail Varnishes, £3.99
Another Blogger favourite, the Gelly Nail paints from Barry M created quite a social media storm upon release. These offer a high shine finish, combined with great pigmentation and a streak free formula. The best of the bunch are 'Lychee', a pale nude with taupe undertones, great with a tan and 'Raspberry', a beautiful and classic, deep red. 'Guava' and 'Blue Grape' are also worth a mention for their unique colourings and there are plenty of other shades in the range.

Korres Lip Butter, £8
I have two of these, 'Pomegranate', a sheer coral and 'Jasmine', a pale pink. They offer a sheer tint of colour to the lips along with a nice shine and deeply moisturise your lips at the same time. They contain natural oils, shea butter and leave out nasty Parabens, Sulphates and Synthetic Fragrances.

Topshop Cream Blush, £6
When Topshop first released their cosmetics line I was highly dubious about the quality of the products. I didn't like MissGuided or New Looks attempt at producing make up but I neednt worry where Topshop was concerned. Every product I've tried from their range I've been impressed with, their cream blushers come in a range of shades, apply with ease and have great colour pay off. I think all the Topshop range is well priced and it's also worth checking out with highlighters and lip product.

Worth A Mention; Collection Eyeshadow Pencil in 'Hot Chocolate' and Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner.
Eco Tools 'Airbrush Concealer' and 'Tapered Blush' brushes.
17 Wild Metallic Eyes in 'Wild Nude'.
Bourjois Color Boost Lip Crayons, foundations and Bronzing Primer.
I would of included items from MUA, but I have a post on the brand planned for the future revealing some of their best products.

Of course there are MANY other products that could be spoken about, but I decided to go with a mix of current favourites and well loved reliable cosmetics. High Street bargains are loved by all, so any products you think are worth a mention, feel free to comment below and share with others!

Saturday 24 August 2013

Macs Girl About Town, In Action.

Last night I had a rare evening off and took the oppertunity to let my hair down with my friend Lucy and go out for an evening of drinks, dancing and a late night McDonalds - classy, ey? Feeling brave, Lucy let me attempt to do her make up and take a few photos of the finished look to share with you all.
 
To prep her skin I used a small amount of the Benefit Total Moisture Facial Cream as she has a dry/normal skin type, then I used the Inglot Under Make Up Base to make sure everything stayed put during the night. I worked a small amount of the Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation in the lightest shade all over the face, then added Mac's Studio Tech foundation in NC20 to the centre of the face for extra coverage. I love this foundation for photos as it literally looks like you've been airbrushed! Underneath the eyes I applied the Maybelline Eraser to brighten and highlight and finished off the base by dusting Diorskin Nude Powder in 020 all over, a beautiful powder.
To contour the recently released Bourjois Bronzing Primer works a treat, it's a gel/cream formula that blends seamlessly in to the skin - much easier to work with than the Chanel Bronze Universal. Illamasqua's Katie blusher was gently patted on the apples of the cheeks for a light flush, then I lightly applied Topshop's Highlighter in Cresent Moon on the cheekbones and down the nose to give the skin a nice sheen.
On the eyes I used 17's Wild Metallic Eyes cream shadow in Wild Nude as a base then added the golden and bronze shades from MUA's Undressed palette, finished off with Collections Extreme Felt Tip Liner in Black, Collections Eyeshadow Pencil in Hot Chocolate along the lower lash line with lashings of the Benefit They're Real mascara.
And finally, to finish off the look - a swipe of Girl About Town lipstick from Mac.
 
For me, getting dressed up and applying make up differently then you would daily is half of the fun!

Wednesday 21 August 2013

Chocolate, Nutella and Cream Swiss Roll

Around Easter time I posted a recipe for Cream Egg Brownies, having been my first cooking related post I wanted to see how it was received before I did another. Luckily, the feedback was great so today I'm sharing a super easy, delicious Swiss Roll recipe that can be easily made by anyone! My mum loves a spot of baking and this is a yummy dessert she makes time and time again, it can be easily reinvented by trying new fillings and flavours!

INGREDIENTS LIST:
3oz Caster Sugar
2 and a half oz of Self Raising Flour
1/2 an oz of Cocoa Powder
3 Eggs
Double Cream
Flavouring of your choice - Nutella

METHOD:

Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 6.
Grease and line a 9 inch X 12 inch Swiss roll tin.
Whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale in colour and fluffy.
Gently fold in the flour and spoon the mixture in to the tin.
Bake in the oven for 7-10 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch.
Remove from the oven and turn out on to a piece of greaseproof paper.
Once cooled, spread Nutella all over the sponge, leaving a small gap at each edge.
Whip up double cream and spread evenly over the Nutella, once again leaving a small gap at each edge.
Finally, with the help of your greaseproof paper, slowly roll the sponge repeatedly until you've made your Swiss Roll. If there's any cracks it doesn't matter too much, it just shows it's home made and fresh! 
Dust lightly with sugar or icing sugar and then tuck in!




Tuesday 20 August 2013

Blogging Area & Make Up Storage Revisited

Over a year ago I did a post on my Make-Up Storage / Blogging Area which I'd made over to give me more space and keep me organised. If you want a sneaky peak at what it looked like before, I'll link it here. I loved the way it looked, very clean and spacious but as my make up obsession has grown, I've slowly added bits and pieces to make it more cosy and allow space to cater for all my cosmetics.
New additions worth mentioning would be my extra Muji storage, I already owned three of the wide drawers stacked upon eachother to create a tower however I added a Deep Box Drawer and a Narrow Drawer to home my overflowing foundation collection. As you can see I still ended up having to put a few on top but I quite like it this way as I have my favourites on display. I also added a few wicker baskets from Wilkinsons, one to store my daily skincare products and another for products I've recently purchased and want to trial before review. As for brush storage, I had my eye on the Ikea candle holders that many have picked up but instead found some adorable bird cage stationary storage from Paperchase. I also picked up a jewellary rack from New Look, with enough hooks to hold my modest collection of accessories.
If you're looking to do room makeover on a budget, the Range is ideal for inexpensive home accessories. I picked up my mirror, vase, glass mosiac heart, hanging straw hearts and candles for next to nothing!
Of course, any Blogging area is incomplete without a laptop or computer and I recently upgraded to a white Sony Vaio which makes me a happy Blogger. 
Does anyone else have a strange obsession for white electronics? No? Just me then... 

Saturday 17 August 2013

Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Multi-Purpose Dry Oil

*Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Multi-Purpose Dry Oil, £28.

Recently oils seem to be cropping up all over the market, cleansing oils for your face, moisturising oils for your hair and intense, nourishing oils for your body. Nuxe's Multi-Purpose Dry Oil combines all of these properties in one product, containing a concentration of 6 unique oils which allows it to be quickly absorbed in to the skin, leaving you soft and silky. Although luxurious, it's by no means greasy and even has a subtle feminine scent that lingers after application. It's already picked up an award with Tatler for Best Overall Product!
 My favourite ways to use this are to pop a little in my bath to ensure my skin is baby smooth when I emerge, massaging a small amount in to the ends of my hair to tame and nourish dry ends and as an all over body treat at the end of the week. Of course there are lots of other uses, including using it as a weekly hair treatment, apply a small amount with your evening moisturiser for an intense treatment, on cuticles and as a massage oil.
Packaged in a clear glass bottle with a golden lid, embossed writing and a spray pump, it feels like a lovely treat each time you use it and makes for an attractive bedside table display. A little more expensive than others on the market, a 100ml bottle will set you back £28.00 but you can also pick up 50ml for £17.00. Also, it's worth mentioning 98.1% of the ingredients are of a natural origin and there's no mineral oils, preservatives or nasties hidden inside! The brand name Nuxe means Nature and Luxury and it definitely follows through with that motto.

What are your favourite Nuxe products?