Illamasqua Colouring Pencil in Indecent...

Gone are the days when all I (thought I) needed was a Barry M lipgloss and my lip wardrobe was sorted. Since blogging and getting to grips, and severely addicted, to lip products I tend to favour a more matte look especially when it comes to the bolds and the beautifuls. Bright pink is my favoured shade for summer so when browsing the beauty halls a while back I thought I'd dip my toe into the lip liner world. 

I'm loving lip liner worn all over the lips to create a neat, long lasting and vibrant look, which I sometimes layer up with a lipstick or, like above, wear alone. 

Illamasqua 'colouring pencil' in Indecent is a bright pink that is fairly creamy whilst still showcasing great lasting power. When it does fade (after one or two cosmo's) it fades evenly. And lets not jump past the name; a perfect name for a perfect daringly bright pink. I intentionally bought it to partner Mac's Candy Yum Yum but to be honest it's just as pretty on it's own.

Any other shades of Illamasqua colouring pencils I should try?

Loves

xxx 

July favourites....

Not many this month, I've mainly been finding my feet in Australia rather than finding my favourite moisturiser, however I think the latter may be my next mission. 

Tigi Bedhead Sugar Shock - a much nicer texture (and smell) than most sea salt sprays, I've turned to a sugar spray instead. Non of the crunchiness but all of the volume and texture, I'm not sure why we don't hear more about this beauty!

Batiste dry shampoo in Wild - my favourite of all the Batiste scents, my hair has been so oily recently that this has been a life saver.

Benefit Erase Paste - a few sleepless nights worrying about jobs etc have caused me to reach for my heaviest of heavy duty concealers. This literally hides EVERYTHING.

L'Oreal High Intensity Pigment cream liner in black - apologies but I bought this online and am not sure you can actually buy this in the shops in Aus or the UK??? If you can track this down then please purchase immediately if you're a fan of the gel eyeliners that are doing the rounds. This is a lot softer and doesn't dry out as quick as I've found most gels to. 

Bourjois Healthy Mix serum foundation - not too much explanation needed here. I. Love. This. Holy grail foundation, just needs a bit of powder and it lasts all day, doesn't look heavy on the skin, doesn't show dry patches, and doesn't slip or slide. Perfection. 

Barry M lipstick in shade 147 - erring on the peachy side of a peachy pink, I've worn this over lip balm, slightly patted out for a subtle look.

Anatomicals Help The Paw hand cream - a bargain of a hand cream for such a big tube, this is my go-to last thing at night hand cream. Smells lovely!

Reading in general - Some of my favourites have been Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, and The Case of the Missing Boyfriend by Nick Alexander. Currently reading Revenge Wears Prada and loving it!

Raspberry Liquorice - I've been going through a couple of bags a week of this, so tasty and really keeps my sugar cravings at bay!

What's everyone else been loving this month?

Loves

xxx

Top five eyeliners...

Next instalment in my top five series is eyeliners! I'm not a huge eyeliner hoarder, I tend to have a few and just stick to the ones I like. 

l-r Barry M Wink eyeliner felt tip, GOSH Carbon Black liquid eyeliner pen, Mac Kohl pencil in Smoulder, Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl, Maybelline gel eyeliner pot 

Barry M Wink eyeliner felt tip: This is actually on it's last legs, but it's a REALLY thick felt pen that is so easy for beginners wanting to create a winged liner look. It dries up quite quickly and the nib on mine has gone a bit strange so it doesn't have a long shelf life, but it's really black and SO easy to use. The staying power isn't the best, but for around £5 I wouldn't complain.

GOSH Carbon Black liquid eyeliner pen: This is SO black, stays put until you get some sort of heavy duty makeup remover near it, and is quite easy to use. The nib is fine so you can create all sorts of looks really easily, the only draw back with this is it's quite watery so you really need to wipe the nib before you get going.

Mac Kohl: This used to be the love of my life. I've had about five of these, and whilst it is amazing, it's no longer my favourite kohl eyeliner. It's quite black, fairly long lasting, and you can sharpen it to quite a nice point if you wanted to use it on the lash line. It is great for smudging, however it sometimes smudges beyond all control when you get a bit warm....not ideal for sweaty night clubs or hot atmospheres. 

Soap & Glory Smoulder Kohl: This is, in the place of Mac, the new love of my life. I've done a full review on it here if you want to take a closer look. It lasts ALL DAY, no lie. I use it on the water line, it doesn't smudge or slip, it's a really intense black, and it comes with a sharpener in the lid!! The only draw back is it's quite a soft, gel consistency so impossible to sharpen to a point, not ideal if you want to use it on the lash line. For £5, all I have to say on this is GO BUY IT :)

Maybelline gel eyeliner: I use the sigma eyeliner brush with this, brilliant for the waterline and on the lash line, and creates a gorgeous winged liner if you have a steady hand. Again, seriously long lasting, really black, easy to use with a bit of practice and lasts ages! This is always on offer in Boots or Superdrug so really worth a go!

What other eyeliners does everyone else love?

Loves

xxx

Top 10 Lipsticks....

You may have noticed my 'Top 5' posts recently, I've actually been enjoying doing these and re-discovering some old gems hidden in the depths of my makeup draw! I've got a Top 5 Foundations and Top 5 Eyeliners coming up soon so keep an eye out for them, but I thought the next obvious one....with me being a lipstick addict and all...would be top 5 lipsticks. Let me just pause here and say this was an IMPOSSIBLE task...out of my 100+ lipsticks (it was a LOT more but I've had a pre-Oz clear out and donated them to friends and family) I CANNOT pick 5. So I cheated and went for 10 (which was still hard and I felt mean leaving some of them out...must get a life...)

Anyway...in no particular order apart from saying Mac Saint Germain is my fave lipstick of ALL TIME, and as far as brands go, Mac and Topshop are joint favourites.  You may also notice that 3 out of 4 of my Mac lipsticks are melted into a smush. It's a sensitive subject so I don't want to dwell on it. Anyway here they are...

(l-r) Barry M 147, Barry M 155 (new formula = amazing) Vivo at Tesco Shade 5 Pink Pout, Rimmel Lasting Finish in Pink Blush, Topshop in Brighton Rock

(l-r) Topshop in Ohh La La, Mac in Creme Cup (melted) Mac in Saint Germain (decimated!) Mac in Up The Amp (melted) Mac in Impassioned (NOT MELTED...HURAH!!)

Top row l-r Barry M 147, Barry M 155, Vivo Pink Pout, Rimmel Pink Blush, Topshop Brighton Rock

Bottom Row l-r Topshop Up The Amp, Mac Creme Cup, Mac Saint Germain, Mac Up The Amp, Mac Impassioned

As you can tell I'm a big Mac fan apart from the fact that a £13.50 lipstick SHOULD NOT melt as easy as they do. It upsets me in a big way. My favourite finish is their Amplified finishes, although I do quite like a couple of their Cream Sheen's. Topshop lipsticks blow me away. For around £8 they are creamy, long lasting, pigmented, don't melt, smell nice and are just generally amazeballs. I only have one from Vivo but hoping to pop to a big Tesco soon to pick up more of these they are so good for the price. Also, depsite Barry M being renowned for being drying on the lips, it's nothing a little lip balm can't solve. Their new formula's aren't like that at all...so more of these please Barry!

Are any of these in your Top 10??

Loves

xxx

Weekend in outfits...

Not much to show you this weekend, I popped round my friends for a big greasy KFC and Saturday night TV last night then just went for a walk round the shops today (only bought two books, a lip balm and some nail strengthener!!) 

Hoody & ring: H&M

T-shirt: New Look

Shorts: Topshop

Trainers: Footlocker in New York

Leggings: Primark

Watch: ASOS

Nail varnish: Models Own Beetlejuice collection Black Green

Jacket, hoody & long vest: H&M

Aztec tshirt & scull necklace: Topshop

Handbag: River Island

Lipstick: Barry M lip paint 155

Hope everyone else has had a fab weekend, I've got some very exciting news to share with you in my next post so look out for that!

Loves

xxx

Don't be blue...

I have absolutely no idea why but I'm seriously into blue at the moment, mainly in a really bright sky blue or navy, but it seems to be sneaking into most outfits I wear. I really want to venture away from black/brown/grey eyeliner and maybe try a navy blue with a really heavy black lash, if anyone can recommend a good but fairly cheap (I don't want to risk spending a lot of money and only wearing it once!) blue eyeliner that would be fab! Anyway over the past few days I've gone mad for this nail combination...

I love the colour but am starting to go off Barry M as much because they just seem to chip too easily on my nails, and I've found I can find just as good colour ranges in Models Own and Gosh nail varnishes.  I do love this one though, in number 294 Cyan Blue.

I obviously had to take advantage of the Models Own 50% off offer before I went on holiday, although I didn't actually get them until I got back which was fine....nice little package to return home too! I've got a dark blue from Barry M but it was going a bit thick and weird, and as I said I'm going off them a bit anyway, so decided to pick up Betty Blue, which is a really nice plain navy colour. I think this will be getting a LOT of wear over the winter months!

Loves

xxx

Hangover haul...

Hey everyone, hope you're not too sad about the weekend weather so far....wet and miserable :( As I said in my last post, I went shopping yesterday with the girls to the Highcross in Leicester to try and make the hangover a little better. I'm not sure the actual shopping did much good to my hangover, but the all you can eat pizza hut buffet did wonders!! I was going to do a haul video but unfortunately I've been having problems with Youtube so it's going to have to be a picture post!

If you follow me on Twitter you'll probably have seen my extreme excitement about Mum coming back from shopping with a present for me...she bought me some pink swimming goggles for the holiday so I can swim properly (I used to LOVE swimming and it's a bit of a shame I don't get chance to do it any more, so holiday's the chance!) but I forgot to take a picture of them for this post, sorry!

Anyway on to the haul, first I went to Primark and didn't go too mad actually. I got some coral pumps for my holiday, and just to throw on with some denim shorts and a crop if this weather ever gets better! I got a headband as well because I'm getting a bit obsessed with these wired dolly bows. I've actually been good recently and not been using too much heat on my hair, just up in a topknot every morning with a headband thrown on! I also picked up a cute floaty shirt in a terracotta colour which I'll probably wear for work tucked in black high waisted peg leg trousers.

I popped into Superdrug and behaved myself for once, I only picked up a couple of bits, and advised the girls on a glossy nude lipstick (Gosh 134 Darling every time of course!). I got the Maybelline get eyeliner as I've been told this is the best gel liner to try. I've been after it for a while and it was on offer this time I went in so I thought, why not! I also picked up Barry M nail paint in Peach Melba because I've seen so many NOTD's with it, and it is the most perfect summery nail colour! I picked up an MUA blush in shade 1, to further add to my new blusher collection, and another Famous by Sue Moxley shimmer brick: I'm slowly building up the entire collection of these, they are stunning! This one is in pink, and I haven't had chance to even take the film off it yet but I'll do a review on it when I've used it a few times.

(the leopard print bronzer is from Primark for £1 in the sale, I couldn't resist!!) 

I popped into H&M because I had to take a skirt back (a cotton coral maxi skirt that looked a bit like I'd wrapped a cafe table cloth around me!) and ended up picked a few other bits up. I got a blazer in a nice summery pink colour, because I had so much wear out of my black one! It was only £19.99 so I couldn't say no really. I also picked up an oversized white t-shirt to throw over grey skinny's with my coral wedges for a night out with the girls. My favourite purchase of the day was a bit of a random one, I was trying to not buy anything I didn't need but I loved this high waisted denim skirt with the buttons down the front too much to pass up! I'm going shopping next weekend so I'll probably wear this with my pink hightop converse and a tshirt tucked in :) 

 (sorry everything is so creased!!)

Still on the denim theme, I've been on the look out for some light denim high waisted shorts but couldn't quite find what I was looking for. I saw these in New Look though and thought they'd looked fit casually or dressed up with wedges and a floral shirt tucked in. They're quite thin, and a sort of jegging material, so they're not very forgiving, but I loved them anyway! 

(another thing I loved about these was the label on them, I appreciate the effort New Look, it makes me smile every time...!)

Lastly we popped into Zara and I thoroughly enjoyed the sale. I actually think Zara is my favourite shop at the moment, the TRAF section is my fave, and I've been in love with all their coloured denim and t-shirts. I'm a HUGE fan of a Zara slogan t-shirt (I was wearing one in the OOTD post yesterday) so when I saw this one in the sale I had to have it, it's SO cute. I also had my eye on this purple maxi skirt when it was full price, so in the sale was a no brainer! 

Hopefully another haul coming up after Birmingham next week!

loves

xxx