February Favourites

The last week of February already? This month has been amazing for me especially after January which is everyones worst month out of the entire year. I've been away with my boyfriend, had some time off to myself, seen my friends and got to spend some time with my family also. I've also indulged in a few treats for myself (makeup treats, duh! What else would it be?) and now that life seems to have settled down back to normal after the hectic Christmas I'm back on my makeup game and trying out new products left, right and centre. So let's get started onto the products which I have been loving this month!

MAC Prep+Prime Highlighter Pen 

I have the shade Lightboost which is probably the most popular. This is a yellow toned liquid highlighter pen and I think it's great for highlighting the high points of the face (centre of the forehead, down the bridge of the nose, under the eyes and also a little underneath the cheekbones to sharpen the contour). What I love about this product is that it has a slight sheen so it brightens the skin beautifully and makes me look so much more awake and makes my skin look fresh, it blends easily and it is definitely not too heavy either so this can be put on top of foundation. I apply the product straight from the pen and blend it out with a Real Techniques Duofibre Contour Brush or a damp Beauty Blender and I feel like it adds more dimension to my face and makes my skin look so much more healthier. 

MAC Studio Fix Boldblack Lash

I've not heard many people talk about this mascara and honestly I don't think it receives the credit it deserves. Now, this is the first mascara I ever tried from MAC and I went through about three tubes of it before moving onto Benefit They're Real and then onto Rollerlash and  I've been using Rollerlash for a long time since it came out and it's been my number one. However, about two or three weeks ago I was sat at my desk doing my makeup, beating the face, slaying it etc and I spotted my boldblack mascara in my mascara section and I just used it because I haven't used it in so long and oh my goodness I forgot how BLACK this mascara is. Like wow I remembered why I loved this so much! And the reason why I've been using it so much is because I love wearing false lashes I wear them most of the time because I wasn't gifted with angel wings for lashes so because I wear lashes I'm not really looking for any length or volume in a mascara, I want a super black mascara that makes my natural lashes blend in with my false lashes and when this comes back in stock on the MAC website I'm definitely going to buy another because I've well and truly fell back in love with it. 

Makeup Geek Eyeshadows

Becca's talking about Makeup Geek eyeshadows again..shock. We all know how much I LIVE for these eyeshadows but this month in particular there's four shades that I've been particularly loving. (From left to right) Peach Smoothie, Creme Brulee, Frappe and Cocoa Bear have been little gems this month. So I've been using Peach Smoothie as my first transition shade with a MAC 224 brush and blend it into my crease and just up onto the brow bone and then go in with the Creme Brulee shade and do the same. Then taking a MAC 217 brush (major key) I blend Frappe into the crease and then using the same brush I blend Cocoa Bear into the crease again and i also blend this in the outer corner. By taking a darker colour and blending it into the crease each time it gives the illusion of a super deep socket and a larger lid. I pack any gold or copper colour onto the lid, smudge Frappe on the lower lash line pop on some falsies and I'm good to go and this has been my go-to eyeshadow look this month. This creates the most beautiful warm brown smokey eye (and you know I'm all about those warm eyeshadows) and I absolutely adore it. All my Makeup Geek eyeshadows are stored in a large Z palette (I've finally filled one full of Makeup Geek yay!) so all my favourites are kept together in one place!

MAC Lip Conditioner

Last but not least is this little beauty. Now lipbalms are a struggle, some are sticky, some don't work, some are gooey and some are just completely irrelevant as hell. I've always struggled to find a nourishing lipbalm that I can pop on before my makeup and let it soak in until I do my lipstick, and I took a leap of faith with this one. This is very pricey for a lipbalm but oh my goodness..wow. You know how MAC lipsticks kind of smell a bit like Cadbury's mini eggs? This is the same! Which is amazing because duh it smells good but this is such a wonderful lipbalm. You just squeeze the tiniest amount out of the tube pop on a thin layer and let it soak in. It's so nourishing and rich but its not sticky or gooey whatsoever. I feel like I have finally solved all my lipbalm issues and that makes me incredibly happy. 

Very unintentional that most of my favourites this month were from MAC that's just the way the cookie has crumbled in February. Let me know what your favourites have been this month in the comments as I would love to know! 

Smashbox Shapematters Palette

It's no secret that I'm a makeup lover. So when I saw the Smashbox Shapematters Palette half price at Boots last week I couldn't resist! The palette comes with a brow section, face section and an eye section. The brow section consists of a wax and two brow powders (taupe and soft brown), the face section contains four powders (contour, bronzer, highlight and glow) and in the eyes section there are nine eyeshadows (vanilla, totally nude, champagne, stripped, posh, platinum, sumatra, aubergine and blackout).

I was most excited to try the face section and also all the eyeshadows because they looked beautiful wearable colours! I wasn't too crazy about the brow powders as the colours are too light for my hair colour and I also feel like I don't have as much control over the product when I'm using a powder. I was a little bit disappointed with the highlight shade as I didn't feel like it was pigmented enough, the contour and bronzer shade make a lovely colour when mixed together however when used alone the contour shade is too greyish for me and the bronzer shade is too much on the warmer side. The shimmer highlight is a light champagne colour so it's perfect for when my tans wearing off and my foundation is lighter.

What I was really impressed with was the eyeshadows! All 9 shades are absolutely beautiful! The shades are (left to right on the picture above) vanilla, totally nude, champagne, stripped, posh, platinum, sumatra, aubergine and blackout). The eyeshadows are really pigmented and there is a range of matte and shimmer shades, they blend out beautifully and I was so impressed with how longwearing they are. My favourite shades to wear together are posh and aubergine blended out with totally nude. I'll definitely still continue to play around with these eyeshadows as I think the colours are stunning. In all honesty I wish this palette was just fully complete with eyeshadows! But the eyeshadows made the palette worth buying! 

Let me know how you felt about this palette if you bought it and also if you love any other products from smashbox! See you soon!

Rebecca x

What's In My Makeup Bag

As far as makeup storage goes I keep most of my makeup in the drawer of my Ikea desk (click here for a picture from my instagram of my desk where I keep my makeup) and although I'd love to carry all my makeup with me wherever I go it would be slightly inconvenient/borderline impossible. However! I do like to keep my essentials with me when I'm out and about so here's what I keep in my bag everyday when I'm out and about!

It's very rare if I can remember to pack all my essentials in a makeup bag. I used to be good at it but as of now I pretty much just throw it all in my handbag as I'm leaving. 

I like to keep a powder brush and a powder in my makeup bag. Because I have combination/normal skin sometimes I do tend to get a bit of an oily T-zone throughout the day so having a powder with me is crucial to keep any shine under control! My MAC Studio Fix Powder compact also has a mirror so it's great for carrying around with me - you never know when you'll need a mirror! 

The weather is becoming colder now so recently I've been carrying round a lipbalm just incase my lips start to feel a bit dry throughout the day, I love Burts Bees Beeswax Lipbalm with Vitamin E and Peppermint! I love peppermint lipbalms they are so refreshing and this one doesn't apply too much product to the lip either! 

If I wear lipstick I always always always make sure I take my lipstick out with me otherwise I am lost! There is nothing worse than going to reapply your lipstick after eating or during the day and realising you've left it at home! I also carry my Dior Collagen Activ Lip Maximiser with me, incase I change my mind on my lipstick throughout the day and just want to go for a gloss instead! 

Last but not least I carry my Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream with me, there is nothing worse than the feeling of dry hands! And because I'm always out doing things, pulling my makeup case, writing and sanitizing my hands before doing makeup (which can be very drying!) my hands get neglected so it's important to look after them! I love this hand cream because it soaks into my skin quickly and doesn't leave that sticky feeling which I find some hand creams do.

So that wraps up what's in my everyday makeup bag, let me know what your everyday essentials are in the comments, I'd love to hear any favourites you have! See you soon!

Rebecca x

September Favourites

How is it the end of September already?! Not that I'm complaining because if you know me well enough you'll know how much I love autumn and winter! I can't wait for coats, cosy nights in, big jumpers and for Costa to bring out their christmas hot chocolate flavours! (Praying for black forest hot chocolate again this year). But anyway, since we are coming towards the end of the month it's time for my September favourites so these are the products which I have been loving this month! 

1. Benefit Hoola Bronzer is my first favourite of the month. I do love my NARS bronzer but having recently done work on contouring and highlighting on my makeup course I've fell back in love with this matte bronzer. I love using bronzers during these colder months to warm up the skin and I also like to use a stronger contour as well at this time of year. This bronzer works well for so many skin tones and can be used as a contour shade because it is matte and not too warm toned!

2. MAC Embark eyeshadow is my second favourite of the month, this eyeshadow came in my makeup kit and I also have a smaller sized one in my MAC burgundy times nine palette. I've been using this eyeshadow most days for the past 2 weeks, I blend my bronzer into my crease and then pack the Embark eyeshadow on my lid and then blend it into the crease colour. This is slowly becoming my go-to eyeshadow look and if you read my last blog post I predicted I would become hooked on this eyeshadow (makeup psychic).

3. MAC Rebel Lipstick. Everyone knew this was coming! This time of year is perfect for pulling out the plum lipstick and I wore this lipstick for the first time in months this week and oh wow I forgot how much I loved it! The colour stays all day although I do have to reapply after eating but the colour is absolutely amazing and I can't wait to wear this more throughout the next few months! If you've never worn a dark lipstick before but want to try one this season then I would definitely recommend this one. Now that I'm used to wearing Rebel I definitely want to go darker with my lipstick so let me know if you have any favourites! 

4. My last but not least favourite of the month is MAC 188 Duo Fibre Brush. What a fabulous brush! It is perfect for applying highlighter to the tops of the cheekbones, because it's a duo fibre brush it doesnt pick up too much product so you can control the level of highlight which you want and the size of the brush fits perfectly on the tops of the cheekbones to control where you want to apply your highlighter. 

That wraps up my favourites for this month and I've definitely got some new products lined up to try during October so keep your eyes peeled for reviews and who knows maybe some will creep up in next months favourites! Let me know what you have been loving this month in the comments! See you soon!

Rebecca x

New MAC Eyeshadows

Sooo.. Exciting news! Last week I started my course in Media Makeup which I've been waiting all summer to start! So now I'm officially a training makeup artist and I couldn't be happier! For the course, I had to purchase a makeup kit to get me started and as you can guess by the title I bought a MAC kit! The kit came with so many beautiful products but I was particularly excited about these four eyeshadows! I love MAC eyeshadows so I was super excited when I found out that there would be four more of their eyeshadows heading my way.

The shades included in my kit are (left to right) Shroom, Satin Taupe, Brun and Embark.

Shroom is a light cool toned cream colour which does have some shimmer and it is definitely one of my favourites out of the four shades I have, it blends really easily and looks lovely paired with Satin Taupe which is of course a taupe shade! This shade does have shimmer in it as well which means that its really easy to blend. Brun is a cool toned brown and I really liked the colour of it in the pan however when I swatched it on the back of my hand it definitely wasn't as pigmented as I hoped it would be! Embark is a red toned brown which was the shade I was most excited about! It's mid September now and I'm definitely feeling some autumn vibes creeping around in the UK so warm toned brown eyeshadows like this one are perfect for this season! And I'm definitely thinking that this is going to be one of my go to eyeshadows! 

Let me know what your favourite eyeshadows are (MAC or any other brand!) in the comments! See you soon! 

Rebecca x

Lazy Day Makeup

We all have those days when we're feeling super lazy but we've got one or two errands to run, or those days where you want to watch Netflix all day but you need to nip to the shop for Kinder chocolate (yes this was me half an hour ago). And although I love to go out on a day to day basis with a full face of makeup, on lazy days I just can't be bothered but I'm just not one for going out with no makeup on so I've got my quick as a flash makeup routine for those days when I'm feeling lazy!

I start off with Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation. Now I'm not one for drugstore foundations because I always find that the colours are too pink and they're just not long wearing or full coverage enough for me but I'd heard good things about this particular foundation and I thought I'd give it a try and oh what a lovely foundation it is! It's medium coverage and has a dewy finish and smells amazing I use the shade 53 and it matches my skin colour perfectly! However, I find that this foundation only lasts about 4 hours on my skin before it starts to slip and slide off my face and it makes me so sad because I really do love this foundation! I set the foundation with a quick dusting of Bare Minerals Mineral Veil Translucent Powder just to make sure my foundation stays put. 

As they say "a good face starts with a strong brow" and there is no other eyebrow product that can compare to my beloved Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade wow wow wow! I can't rave about this product enough, I've had mine since December and I still haven't used it all up yet! This stuff is bulletproof and no matter how lazy I am feeling I will always save a bit of time for my brows. 

I keep my eye makeup simple by just sweeping a cream shadow over my lid with my finger and most of the time I tend to reach for my Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow I love the shade Birthday Suit (cheeky) it's kind of a similar shade to the Maybelline Colour Tattoo shade On and On Bronze but it's a bit more cool toned. Cream shadows are great for lazy makeup days because they require minimal effort and blend out really easily. I pair this with a few coats of mascara, todays choice was Benefit Rollerlash just to finish off the eyes. Rather than using a lipstick I reach for a tinted lipbalm for a little bit of colour but nothing that requires any effort, I love Benefit Cha Cha Balm it's really moisturising and has a beautiful colour too! 

Let me know what your favourite makeup products are for your lazy days! See you soon!

Rebecca x