Top 5 Autumn lipsticks | with swatches

Autumn is fast approaching and I am super excited to start wearing darker lipsticks and woolly hats and scarves! I had a search through my lipstick collection and picked out my top 5 lipsticks I will be wearing throughout Autumn.

A favourite among bloggers, Rimmel Kate Moss 107. I absolutely love this lipstick, it's a really deep, dark red colour and looks great on anyone. It's a matte lipstick which is my favourite finish, especially for darker colours.

MUA lipstick in shade 2 is a lovely purpley red. It is quite purple but still a very wearable shade. It's a nice creamy formula but I would definitely recommend using a lip liner with this as it likes to run away from your lips.

 

Another Rimmel lipstick, this one is the shade 'Heart broken' and is a cherry red colour. It's not too bright and not too dark, just a nice rich red. This also smells lovely!

This is one of two Maybelline colour sensational lipsticks I own, the other being a bright coral, summery shade. This one is 'Raspberry diamonds' and the name describes it perfectly. It's an orangey toned raspberry colour with shimmery glitter in it. It's not overly pigmented and just gives a nice bit of colour.

 

The MUA power pout in 'Heartbroken' is a lighter way to wear lipstick in the winter. Just a tinted balm that gives nice colour and shine without being at all heavy on the lips. This is super easy to just throw on and can really build up to quite a deep colour.

These swatches are very true to their real colour, although the MUA power pout can be built up a lot more than this. My favourite of the lot is the Kate Moss 107 and probably will be for a long while!

What's your favourite autumn lipstick?

Emily xxx

E.l.f. eyebrow kit | A cheaper alternative to HD brows and Benefit

Hello everyone!

I am a huge believer that eyebrows can completely transform your face. I feel SO incomplete without my eyebrows done, I think if I forgot to do them I'd have a mini panic attack. That being said, whilst I like a good defined brow, I am not a fan of the rectangular slug look. I like eyebrow products that define, outline and fill in your brows whilst still looking fairly natural. And that's what I get from the E.l.f. eyebrow kit.

This kit comes with a coloured wax and a setting powder, like most eyebrow kits, and also a double ended brush. The wax adds colour and makes it super easy to get a defined brow and give the exact shape you want without being too harsh. The powder then sets this in place and I find it also makes your brows slightly darker.

I love the way this kit makes my eyebrows look. It perfects their shape and the colour evens them out and defines them more, whilst still leaving them looking pretty natural. I do use another E.l.f. product, the eyebrow mascara, to help set them in place and I find that with this combination they stay all day.

The only downside to this product is that I find the brush so fiddly. It is handy having both brushes you need on the same brush and included with the kit, but it is really fiddly to hold on to and use. Maybe that's just me being dopey, but I do find it annoying!

Considering that being my only downside, I would definitely say it's a great product! It does my brows exactly as I like them, it stays all day, comes in a handy little kit and it is really affordable. It's from the E.l.f. studio range and is only £3.75. When the HD brows kit is almost £20 and the Benefit Brow Zings £23.50, I know i'd rather spend a whole lot less on a product that does the same thing!

I have the colour light as i'm a blondie but they have four shades which I think is a fairly good range for eyebrows. If you havn't heard of E.l.f. before I would definitely recommend them for great quality, affordable products. A lot of my favourite products are from E.l.f. and rival some of my high end products. You can purchase the eyebrow kit here

What do you like to use on your eyebrows? Do you like kits like this?

Emily xxx

New blog design!

Yippeee! I'm so excited about this. I've been thinking about getting my blog redesigned for a while now, I looked around a bit and just never knew where to go. Then I saw Islaay post about her new blog design so of course I clicked on the link to Pretty Wild Things. I looked through the portfolio and just loved the designs so I went for it and finally chose someone to design my blog.

Serena from Pretty Wild Things has been absolutely amazing. As soon as I paid the deposit through paypal, I got an email asking exactly how I would like my blog, a few emails and 4 days later here I am with an amazing new blog design! She asked me loads of questions to get an idea of exactly how I wanted it and I can't believe how quickly she made my design as well. In my opinion, her blog designs are also really fairly priced. I paid £20 for mine including deposit and that's less than some others who I would say are nowhere near as good.

Serena has not asked me to write this post at all I am just honestly so, so pleased with my blog design and with her service. If you're looking to get a new blog design I would 100% recommend taking a look over on her website.

Hope you like it!

Emily xxx

MAC 'Bombshell' lipstick

Hi everyone!

A couple of weeks ago I was reading a lovely blog, Birds Words and she had posted about this gorgeous lipstick, so of course I just had to have it. It's a frost finish, not my favourite and I know not a lot of peoples favourite either but this is an exception.

It's a gorgeous shimmery, pale pink colour and perfect for day to day wear. The pigmentation is not as good as a matte or amplified finish but it's just enough for daytime and the shimmer is just gorgeous. The camera picks this up really well and as you can see it is just really fine shimmer, not horrible glitter which I hate in a lipstick! It has pretty good staying power, again not as good as some of MACs other finishes, but good enough.

I would definitely recommend this if you're looking for a day time colour which isn't your typical nudey pink colour. Especially if you're after something super girly!

What do you think of this lipstick?

Emily xxx

LOOK blusher; flush

Hello everyone!

For my birthday in July my lovely work friends bought me a few make up bits, including this blusher from LOOK beauty. I was never that into blusher until probably the beginning of this year so I didn't have that many shades and I didn't have any at all in this peachy colour. I was super excited to use this and I have now been using it almost every day for the past 3 months.

To be honest, I don't find I get much colour pay off from this blusher at all but never the less I still love it, purely for its highlighting properties. This is not advertised as a highlighter at all, but it gives the nicest shimmery glow without being all tacky sparkly. I honestly find it makes such a difference to my skin and completely transforms my face. I did my friends make up for a night out and she loved how glowy it made her skin look.

 I found it so, so hard to capture this product on camera but I managed to take the above photo which shows how shimmery and glowy it is. It definitely looks better than this in real life but it was just impossible to capture it well enough. As you can see, there is really no colour pay off with this product, but as said I enjoy using it as a highlighter and I really love it for that.

If you're looking for a natural looking highlighter that just gives you a lovely glow without looking like a Christmas decoration, I would definitely recommend this. You can purchase this in Superdrug for £8 which I think is a decent price. I also love the packaging of this, it's just really simple but still looks really pretty and has a good sized mirror inside. It also comes in a pink box which I have thrown away now so it's quicker to get into the product, but it does look really nice.

I've also got the MUA dupe for MACs mineralise skin finish so I shall be giving that a go and comparing the two! Although I do have the real MAC MSF on my wishlist also..

Emily xxx

That skort #2 plus FOTN

Hello everyone!

You may have seen skort number one in a recent blog post, I was so happy with it I just had to buy skort number two. The first one I purchased is a black and white patterned one which you can see in this post here. I bought both skorts from the same seller on ebay and I would 100% recommend them. They are pretty good quality for the £8 price tag, including p&p and both skorts arrived in 2/3 days!

I paired it with a cropped top which showed the teeniest bit of stomach as the skorts are slightly high waisted. A spangly gold necklace from Primarni and my favourite jacket ever jazz it up a bit and yes, I did wear converse on a night out. I love wearing Converse out, I know this is criminal to some but I barely wear heels for the sake of my bad joints and when it comes to flats I don't wear much else. I like wearing a slightly dressier outfit with totally casual shoes.

Skort - Ebay here
Crop top - New Look
Necklace - Primark
Jacket - Glamorous at Republic
Shoes - Converse
Bag - Primark

On my face i'm wearing Estee Lauder double wear foundation and on my lips is Mac impassioned which i looooooove. I felt a bit naked without my fake eyelashes I usually wear on nights out but i've been trying to wear them less often recently and trying to feel comfortable without them!

Next on my wishlist is a coral skort and perhaps the super popular white one. Do you like skorts? My mum thinks it looks like it's from Wilma Flintstones wardrobe.

Emily xxx

10 minute face; using high street make up

Oh hello freckles

Hey guys!

So I thought I would show you my 10 minute easy, quick make up look. I tend to wear this on days when i'm in a rush, so it's perfect for applying before school or work when you want to get in as much sleep as possible! I also used only high street make up so nothing is at all expensive if you are at school and not working or earning much.

On my face:

Rimmel wake me up foundation

Collection lasting perfection concealer

Rimmel stay matte powder

GOSH bronzing pearls 

MUA blusher shade 1

Elf eyebrow kit

Elf eyelid primer

MUA heaven and earth palette - a shimmery brown all over the lid and on the lower lash line

GOSH kohl eye liner - on outside corner of lower lash line

Mayelline rocket volume mascara

Elf matte lip colour in natural

So to some this might seem like a lot of products when it's in a list like this, but it literally does take 10 minutes to apply. It doesn't feel at all heavy on the face and looks really natural. This is my go to look when i havn't got too much time. 

If you're after good quality products without spending a bomb I would definitely recommend Rimmel for face products, MUA palettes for eyes and Maybelline for mascara. Elf is great all round for products and also have really nice quality brushes for tiny prices.

Emily xxx 

Crown Brush; affordable, quality make up brushes

Hello! 

So a couple of weeks ago I made an order from Crown Brush after seeing many a blogger raving about their make up brushes. They have a huge range of brushes at really affordable prices, they're not cheap ones but not at all expensive, just fairly priced. The prices of the brushes I purchased ranged from about £3 for the smaller ones up to around £10 for the largest. I've been using these since they arrived and have been really enjoying them.

 Duo fiber brush: This brush took me a fair few days to actually start using it, purely because it's so pretty. It's so soft and bright white I didn't want to get make up on it, silly considering it's a make up brush but hey! Eventually, I gave in and used it for a blusher and it felt so so soft on my face. It applies colour really evenly and blends super well. The only downside with this is I would say it doesn't pick up much colour so actually takes a while to build up, but it's perfect for a subtle hint of colour and ensures that you don't end up with patchy clown cheeks!

Eyebrow brush: I brought this brush as I like to use powder/eyeshadow in my brows and wanted to get an extra brush to use. I was searching for a stiff, angled brush but when this arrived I did not expect it to be quite as stiff as it is! The bristles are super hard and actually quite rough, you have to be gentle with this brush to avoid scratching yourself. At first I wasn't actually a fan of this brush, however after a few more uses and a bit of getting used to, it's not too bad.

Blending/crease brush: This is the first of four eye brushes I purchased from Crown Brush as I was really in need of a few extra ones after getting more into eyeshadow recently. I've been using this for blending my shadows together and it is just perfect and an absolute must have, un-blended eyeshadow is so not attractive. From the badger brush range, this is super soft and blends so easily and does a really good job of it. This can also be used for the crease but i find it better for blending.

Blending brush: Another badger blending brush, however a slight different shape. I like to use this when i'm using a highlighting shadow between my brows and the lid to blend it out nicely. Again, this is super soft and does a good job at blending out.

All over brush: This is just an essential brush for applying shadow all over the lid. I use this to apply my base shadow and it's really good at packing on a nice amount. I can also use this to apply a highlight colour in the inner corner of the eye.

 Crease brush: Ahhhh and on to my favourite brush of all. This is 100% my favourite eye brush I have ever used and my favourite of my purchases from Crown Brush. This honestly is just perfect, it's the perfect size to fit into the crease without getting shadow all above the lid and everywhere you don't want it, which for some reason I seem to have problems with. It's rounded at the top which helps to apply it evenly, it packs the perfect amount of shadow and just uh I just love it. Basically, you just need to buy it and see how super duper it is.

And that is all 6 brushes I purchased from Crown Brush! I would really recommend trying their brushes, they are such good quality, soft brushes for their price and the range is huge. Whilst some of them are just good essentials to have, some are really amazing. I hope to own more Crown Brush brushes in the future!

Have you tried Crown Brush? What is your favourite make up brush brand?

Emily xxx

Instant wake me up; Clarins eye contour gel

Recently I have been so super tired and my eyes have been a huge giveaway to that. My eyes are dark, dull and puffy so I went on the hunt for something to tackle that and ended up at my local Clarins counter. I was actually purchasing some Daily Energizer cream and they had an offer on if you bought two skincare products so this was the perfect time to pick up some eye gel.

I actually had no idea quite what I was looking for as i'd never used an eye product before but the Clarins lady showed me this and it looked perfect for what I needed. To be honest, she wasn't actually overly helpful she just handed me the product and said it would be good without explaining it or anything. However, I read the packaging and with the further temptation of the offer, I just went for it. And i'm glad I did.

As soon as I apply this it totally transforms my morning eyes so that I actually look awake and not as if i'm sleep walking. The darkness brightens up and puffiness disappears. My eyes can also tend to feel tight and dry in the morning when i'm really tired and this completely helps. I was actually quite surprised at how well it worked as I didn't expect it to be so good, I put this on every day now and used with my Collection Lasting perfection concealer, my eyes actually look pretty bright and awake. They work super well together to rectify my zombie eyes and I don't know what I would do without them!

Sometimes impulse purchases can be worth it.

Emily xxx

August favourites!

Hello everyone!

I feel like the start of September is the end of summer and I can't believe how quickly it's flown by. August was a super quick month but there's been a few products i've been really getting into and will no doubt continue to be favourites throughout September. However, with the colder weather beginning to arrive I will definitely be bringing in a few Autumn lipsticks and maybe a few plum eye shadows!

Cocoa Brown Tan
Say hello to my favourite tan EVER. I've used this a few times in the past month and I have honestly loved it. This is the first tan I have ever used to gradually wear off and not become patchy. I will be doing a full review very soon once i've let it fully wear off so I can do a few before/after pictures! 

Look blusher in 'Flush'
Whilst this is called a blush, I would definitely consider it a highlighter and that is what I use it for. It gives the most amazing shimmery glow without being sparkly and tacky. I wouldn't really say the peachy colour comes out at all, but as a highlighter this is perfect and has become incorporated in my daily make up. This was actually part of my birthday present from my work, they did a good job! I will review this if I can get some photos that capture it well enough!

Crown Brush contour and blending brushes
I purchased a few brushes from Crown Brush not so long ago and whilst i've not gotten round to fully testing them all out, I have been using these two daily since I first tried them. This contour brush is actually the first one i've got on with, a few i've used before i've found to be too big but this is perfect. The blending brush is just an essential and this one is really light and works really well. I will review all of the brushes once I have used them more.

Clarins eye contour gel
After being super tired recently thanks to low iron levels, my eyes have not been looking too pretty and i've been waking up every day with puffy dark circles. I popped to the Clarins counter and this is supposed to target exactly that and it really works. I notice a difference as soon as I put this on with my eyes looking a lot brighter and more awake. This paired with my trusty Collection Lasting Perfection concealer has been my life saver. I may also do a full review of this.

John Freida conditioning treatment
I have been picking this up almost every time i've washed my hair this month over any of my other conditioners/treatments as I love it so much. Whilst I wouldn't say it does anything blonde-wise, it makes my hair super soft and shiny. You can read my full review here

Naked 2 palette - Pistol
The Naked 2 palette has been a favourite of mine ever since I bought it, however this month I have been particularily loving the shade 'pistol'. It was never one I used all that often but i've been loving pairing it with 'Busted' or 'Snakebite' in the crease for a subtle smokey look. You can read my full review plus swatches here

So that is all of the products I have been using and loving this month, all of which I highly recommend. I'm also rather proud of myself for getting round to posting my monthly favourites on time and not half way through the next month! 

Emily xxx