MAC Vegas Volt Lipstick

I have finally made my first MAC lipstick purchase! I'm so excited about this, it's definitely been a long time coming. I hear so much about these lipsticks on blogs and youtube but I never got round to getting one because there isn't a MAC store or counter anywhere within miles of where I live for some reason.  

The only option I really had in this case, would be to order online but I worried it would be much more difficult that way, as you can't really see the colours properly, however the other week I decided to finally take the plunge!

Then came the very difficult decision of which shade to go for, and considering that I had recently been after a new coral shade of lipstick and after a lot of googling to see swatches of the different shades, I went for Vegas Volt. 

This shade is in the Amplified Creme finish. I'm not entirely sure about the differences between all the finishes of the MAC lipsticks so do let me know in the comments if you do, but I believe this one of the more creamy and moisturising formulas, which I really like as it doesn't feel too drying on the lips and has pretty good lasting power.

I absolutely love this shade. It is the perfect coral that can be worn in several ways to suit any spring or summer look. I have quite a light coverage of the lipstick on in the photo but it could also be built up to be very vibrant colour too depending on your mood.

I am very happy with this purchase and choice of shade overall and I can definitely see myself buying a couple more shades in the not too distant future! 

What is your favourite MAC lipstick? Any recommendations? 

Emily x

Monthly Favourites | March

I can't believe it's April already.. although you wouldn't think it considering the weather at the moment! Of course, the start of a new month means another monthly favourites post is in order, so here are some of the things I have been loving throughout March!

The first product I am featuring is from a range I have mentioned a lot recently and have been a favourite of mine for a while now. It is of course the Barry M Gelly nail paints! These nail polishes have such an amazing formula and come in so many lovely shades. This month I have particularly been loving the shade Papaya, which I just think is a perfect Spring colour. 

The next products I have featured are from the range of Aussie hair products. I have used these for long time now but have found myself particularly loving them this month. I use the 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructor which is a deep conditioner and the Miracle Hair Insurance leave in conditioner. These just leave my hair feeling so soft and smell lovely too!

I have also been really loving using the Real Techniques brushes. My particular favourites that I have been using everyday this month are the Buffing Brush, which I use for foundation, the Contour Brush which i use for blush or contouring, and the Brow Brush which obviously I use for my brows. These are such affordable and amazing quality brushes and I really want to get my hands on some more!

The Dermalogica Sheer Tint Redness Relief product has been a saviour for me throughout this past month. This product is great for relieving redness which I get particularly on my cheeks. It is green in colour which helps to cancel out the redness and correct your skin tone. This is also a great product to own for the summer and holidays if you're anything like me and burn very easily, as I have also found it really great in the past for concealing the redness of sunburn on my face.

The final product to feature in this months favourites is a recent purchase. It is The Body Shop Vineyard Peach Body Butter. I have really enjoyed using this. The product itself is quite thick, rather than runny, which feels very luxurious on the skin and feels like a much more expensive product. Of course the amazing peach scent is a bonus too!

What have you been loving recently?

Emily x

Beauty Haul | Recent Purchases

Before I start, I must apologise for being missing from the blogging scene a little recently. The new job is taking up all my time and I admit I have been neglecting the blog a little bit which I am not happy about. However, I have managed to get a post up finally. This is just a little collective haul of some beauty items I have brought recently. Let's get started..

First up are a few bits from The Body Shop.If any of you saw my recent empties post, you would have seen me mention that I had used a small sample of the Rainforest Moisture shampoo & conditioner. From what I could tell with the samples, I really enjoyed these products, so they were straight in my basket. Also when I was in The Body Shop, I saw that all Body Butters were reduced from £13 to £5 so I couldn't resist picking a couple of those up too! I picked up two, one in Raspberry and one in Vinyard Peach. Both of which smell amazing!

Next up are something I've had for a while now but thought I would include anyway. These are my first Real Techniques brushes, the Core Collection and the Starter Set. As you can probably tell, they have been used, and I am really enjoying using them. I really hope to get some more of these brushes at some point in the near future.

Another beauty purchase I made recently was a few Essie nail polishes on a Fragrance Direct order. I'm sure you've all heard of this website by now, but if you haven't you need to check it out as they sell Essie for only £1.99 which is ridiculously cheap! 

I placed an order for these three colours, (left to right) Bikini So Teeny, Fear & Desire and Cascade Cool. I am happy with all these colours and do love them all, but I must admit I found it very annoying that when I placed this order, I only had the choice of 5 colours, and the very next day they decided to add loads more lovely colours to the website once I had made my order! So very tempted to place another order now.

The final purchase in this haul is a couple more nail polishes! They are, of course, more Barry M Gelly nail paints from Boots. I love these and I have actually got a post about them coming up, so keep an eye out for that! I loved the ones I already had and so just couldn't resist picking up another couple, especially when they came in such lovely colours as these two! I picked these up in Greenberry and Papaya, which just make for the perfect Spring shades.

So those are my recent beauty buys! I think I definitely need to go on a spending ban now until my birthday next month so I can save for shopping in Brighton!

Emily x

Review | Revlon ColorStay Foundation

If any of you are regular readers of my blog, you will have seen a make up haul post fairly recently in which this foundation featured. I have now got round to using it quite a lot and testing it out and thought I would do a review of my thoughts!

I was in need of a new foundation and had heard great things about this one, so I thought I would give this a go. I went into Boots to pick it up and found myself already impressed with it before I had even brought it. This was because I went up to the stand and saw they had different versions of this foundation for the different skin types, so there was one for combination/oily skin, and one for normal/dry skin. I just thought it was great that skin type had really been considered by Revlon and that they had specially formulated different versions of this foundation to suit all. I picked up the one suitable for my skin type, the normal-dry one in the lightest shade Ivory.

When I came around to using this, one thing unfortunately disappointed me straight away and that was the packaging. It is in a glass bottle just with a normal screw on lid and no pump. This makes it quite challenging to get the foundation out of the bottle without pouring out more than you need and it going to waste. 

Other than that though, I have no complaints about this foundation at all! It claims to stay on the skin for 24 hours, now I'm not sure if that is true because I have never needed my make up to stay on for that long, but I have had no problems with it rubbing off and have found it stays on my skin all day. It is quite a lightweight foundation so it feels nice and comfortable on the skin and leaves a nice flawless finish with a medium-full coverage.

This comes in at the fairly affordable price of £12.49. I can see how this may seem a little much for a drugstore foundation but I personally don't think it is too bad considering the high quality of it as it is probably as good as some of the higher end foundations I have tried.

I am very impressed with this product overall and would be happy to repurchase it and recommend it to others, I just really wish they would re-design the bottle to include a pump!

Have you tried this foundation? What are your thoughts?

Emily x

Monthly Favourites | February

So we've come to the end of another month! February felt like a very short month and flew by so I haven't brought much this month and I feel I still need to get some more use out of the things I have brought to call them a favourite, but here's a mini favourites post of some things I have been enjoying anyway!

Topshop Cream Blush in 'Head Over Heels' - 

I have had this for about a month now and it is my go-to everyday blush. This is one of the few items of Topshop make up I own and if you saw my last post you'll see there are so many more things I want to try!

Soap & Glory Clean On Me - 

I only have a travel size of this but am really enjoying it. I love the smell of this and would love to purchase the full size!

Benefit High Beam - 

This is a sample size I got in the Benefit Finding Mr Bright kit and I am loving it. I have done a full review on the kit here. This is another product I really want to purchase in the full size!

China Glaze No-Chip Top Coat - 

This is an amazing top coat. It keeps my nail polish from chipping for much longer than any other top coats have done and I will definitely be sticking to this one.

Collection Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner - 

This is another thing I have brought fairly recently and worn everyday since. It comes out very black and lasts all day. The best part is it comes in at only £2.99!

Tangle Teezer Compact Styler - 

I got this for Christmas so I've had it a while now, but I'm still really loving it! This is by far the best hairbrush I have ever used and will be sticking to using this for a long time I think.

What have you been loving this month?

Emily x

Winter Most Worn Tag!

Hello everyone!

For today's post I thought I would take part in the Winter edition of the 'Most Worn' tag, in which I will answer the set questions about the things I have worn the most this winter! Here goes..

1. Most worn nail polish?

Barry M Watermelon

I have raved so much about this Gelly Hi-Shine range of nail polishes from Barry M, so I'm not going to go into it anymore, but this colour 'Watermelon' from the range is probably my most worn nail polish this winter! It is a lovely colour and very affordable!

2. Most worn hair products?

L'Oreal Elnett Satin Very Volume Hairspray 

 L'Oreal Studio Matt & Messy Salt Spray

These are two hair products that I am loving using and I use pretty much everyday on my hair. This hairspray helps to add a little more volume to my hair, and the salt spray helps to give it a nice matt and messy effect!

3. Most worn bag?

This is my most worn bag which some of you may recognize from a haul post of mine when I brought it. I got it from Dorothy Perkins fairly recently but have been using it everyday since and love it!

4. Most worn shoes?

 I love little ankle boots like these for Winter and have ones like these in a few colours. This pair from Primark are probably my most worn shoes this winter, the beige colour goes with almost everything so I have got a lot of wear out of them - as you can tell by the state of them!

5. Most worn accessories?

Probably my most worn accessory this winter has been this gold statement leaf necklace from Accessorize. I love it and it goes with almost everything to spice up any outfit.

6. Most worn clothing item?

I have two choices for my most worn clothing item. Obviously everyone needs a coat for winter, and my choice of winter coat has been this Parka from Dorothy Perkins. It is so warm and I love it. I also featured it in a recent OOTD post which if you haven't already, you can see by clicking here.

The other item of clothing I've been wearing a lot this winter is this cardigan from Next. It is so cosy and I've been wearing it with quite a lot of different outfits.

7. Most worn foundation?

Vichy Dermablend Foundation

My most worn foundation this winter has most probably been the Vichy Dermablend foundation. This is usually my go to everyday foundation and was the subject of one of the first blog posts I did.. you can see that review here.

8. Most worn blush or bronzer?

Topshop Cream Blush 

My most worn blush has been Topshop cream blush in 'Head Over Heels'. I love the colour of this and how it is a cream blush, but goes a little more powdery on the skin making it easy to blend. It is an all round great product.

9. Most worn lip product?

Maybelline ColorSensational Lipstick

As it is winter, my lips do tend to get very dry, so an obvious most worn lip product would be my aloe vera Vaseline tin, but that's a little boring so I didn't add it in. The product I have chosen however, is Maybelline ColorSensational lipstick in 'Hollywood Red'. I have had this quite a while but just rediscovered it and I love the colour so have been wearing it a lot recently!

10. Most worn mascara?

Maybelline The Rocket Mascara

Again, this is a product I have already reviewed so I won't go into too much detail, but this is the mascara I have been loving and wearing the most recently. Please feel free to read the full review to find out more about it, here.

What products and items of clothing have you been wearing the most recently?

Emily x

Benefit 'Finding Mr Bright' Kit

So the other day I was browsing the benefit counter as there are a few of their products I want to try out, and I ended up buying this kit. It is called 'Finding Mr Bright' and is a kit made up of some of their best highlighting make up. It includes several of the products I had wanted to try, so I figured why not try the sample sizes in this kit first. 

left to right: Girl Meets Pearl, Posie Tint, High Beam, Erase Paste.

The Girl Meets Pearl product is described as 'a golden pink liquid pearl for the face', and can be used as either a primer or to put on top of other make up to add an extra glow to the skin. I think it would also make a great highlighter as it has very similar pink tones to the High Beam. It leaves a lovely glow and I am enjoying using it!

I'm not so sure about Posie Tint. It is a good lip stain but not the best on the cheeks, its a little too runny and doesn't apply to the cheeks well. It is a lovely colour on the lips and I will continue to use it as a lip stain, but I don't love it enough to purchase the full size.

I had particularly wanted to try the High Beam highlighter, I've heard alot of great things about this and it certainly lived up to them! It is a perfect highlighter which leaves such a lovely glow. I would definitely consider buying this in the full size.

The Erase Paste is a great concealer, i found it is especially good for concealing under the eyes. The kit comes with the medium shade which if anything is a little dark for my skin, but other than that I have no complaints!

All in all I think purchasing this was a good move. It comes in at £28.50 which still seems rather expensive considering how small the samples are, but when you compare it with the prices of the full size products, it isn't bad at all! It was great to sample the products first so now I can make a better decision on which I enjoyed enough to purchase in the full size.

I will definitely be sampling some of their other makeup kits! Have you tried any out?

Emily x

Todays Bargain Buys!

Today I went shopping to get some birthday presents and I think I did very well not to buy myself much but I picked up a couple of things that I could not resist!

Firstly, I was planning on trying out some new body wash and body scrub kind of things and intended to pick up some Body Shop bits, but I popped to Superdrug first and found this appropriately named "I love..." range.

I picked up two Shower Smoothies in the strawberries & milkshake and raspberry & blackberry scents. These smell lovely and look like a great body wash and body scrub in one that can be used in the shower.

The range also included the scents Coconut & Cream and Mango & Papaya, and many different products including body butters, shower gels, lip balms and hand creams, all of which I will probably want to try sometime after giving these a go! I have the lip balm in raspberry & blackberry and love that just as much. 

I thought these were a complete bargain, usually costing £2.05 each, which is a bargain on it's own.. but at the moment they are currently 2 for £2.99 which is even better! Very happy with these purchases, an amazing cheap alternative to Body Shop or Soap and Glory shower products, can't wait to try more from the range! 

The other product I brought today that I was very happy with is Barry M's "Prickly Pear" nail colour from the Gelly Hi-Shine range.

 If any of you have read my January Favourites post you will know how much I love this new range from Barry M, and you will have also seen me mention that I had the colours "Watermelon" and "Blueberry" and was also after this colour to add to my collection, so I just had to have it when I saw it today! 

I love the pastel lilac colour of this so much and I just think it would be a perfect colour for Spring.

This was also a great bargain at only £3.99. I personally think Barry M are brilliant for nail polishes and a much cheaper alternative to brands like OPI or Essie, so if you're looking for a cheaper brand of nail polish with the same great results, definitely check out Barry M!

Have you tried any of these products? What did you think of them?

Emily x