Trip to London!!

Hey Everyone,

I hope you are all well and enjoying your weekend :)! So, as you can tell from the title of this post I went to London yesterday! I love London (especially the shopping!) and I just wanted to share my trip with you :)

I had a very early start so I could catch my train, which left at 7:49 a.m.! But I had enough time to take a quick picture of my outfit and make up.
Firstly, I'm wearing my leather jacket from River Island (which I mentioned in my Investment series), Top Shop cardigan and Snood from French Connection. My top and jeans are also from Top Shop (Leigh jeans). Finally, my boots are from Levis.
I curled my hair with my curl formers, which I slept in over night :)!
My make up I kept pretty simple and won't go into too much detail. I'll just say what is on my eyes: Kiko Long Lasting Stick Eyeshadow in 06 and I used Urban decays Dark horse eyeshadow (from the original Naked Palette) in the crease. Then, as usual, I draw my cat flick with Stila stay all day waterproof liquid liner in intense black. Finally, for mascara, I layered two to make them extra full and long lasting. Using Clinique's high impact mascara in black and over the top of that I used Maybelline's the Rocket Volume Express mascara in waterproof.

After, shopping (haul coming up!) we went to Belgos in Covent Garden for lunch! I love muscles, and I had with chips and a peach flavoured beer! 

The show was amazing! Jude Law was good live - very surreal seeing such a famous actor in the flesh! (:P). 

Overall, I had a wonderful day and I am so grateful to my parents for taking my sister and I!

I hope you enjoyed the post and have a lovely day!

Emma

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#1 What's on my feet?

Hey Everyone,

I hope you are all well and all had a lovely weekend! Today's (late post - sorry!) is going to be a similar concept to my "What's on my nails?" series, just this is what is on my toes nails! :) So if you don't like feet then you may wish to turn away from this lovely photo below!

Sorry for the state of my feet - I have had this nail polish on for a bit now :/ I am wearing Clinique's red red red (07). This is one of my fave reds of the moment and it shall be used greatly over the Christmas season! It is extremely pigmented, one coat will do you but I always do two just for longevity purposes! Then as always I used my Sally Hansen Double Duty as a base and top coat :)

I hope you enjoyed this post and have a lovely evening!

Emma
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Tricks to brighten your face!

Hey Everyone,

Today's post is going to be some tips and tricks to get that fresh faced look (which we all crave on those early mornings!) 

Okay, when I said brightening I didn't mean that bright! Photo on the right seems more realistic :) A bright and fresh looking face can make all the difference to how you feel and how you appear to others. We all have those days when your face needs a good pick me up! 

The most important aspects of the face to get right are the skin and the eyes! Start with your regular foundation and don't skip out on concealer. This will make tired eyes look not so tired. 

Now the fun bit - I started by priming my eyes with MAC's paint pot in soft ochre. Then to set that, I would recommend using a matte neutral shade all over the lid (Walk of shame - third along from the left in the Urban decay Naked basics palette). Remember nothing too strong in the crease as we want to open the eyes - I used a bit of Naked 2 (same palette fourth along from the left) for a bit of definition. Then, to highlight the inner corner, I used a bit of Virgin (first shade in the palette). 

Now for eyeliner - you don't have to do this step, but a bit of black liner on the top lash line really helps to make your eyes look bigger! I flicked mine but that's just me (I used Stila's stay all day waterproof liquid eyeliner in intense black). For the final touch, I took my NYX Jumbo eye pencil in Milk to use in the waterline, if you find that white is too harsh for you, swap it for a fleshy tone pencil instead. 

Finally, we have to show the skin some love! I would suggest using a nice pretty pink blush - I used the Daniel Sandler Watercolour fluid blusher in the shade Cherub. This leaves the skin with a very natural flush and then to finish off, I used some highlighter! What better way to brighten the face than with some the Balm Cosmetics Mary-Lou Manizer. Just make sure to blend with your fingers or used foundation brush to make every thing seamless!

I hope you enjoyed this post and have a lovely day,

Emma
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Brushes that do the work for you!

Hey Everyone,

This post is going to be all about make up brushes! So day to day, I see people who have put too much blush on or their eye shadow isn't blended properly etc. This can be easily fixed with the tools you use! I know there is a saying, "A good artist doesn't blame his/her tools!" But in terms of make up - I don't think this is the case. The brushes I am going to mention today, literally changed my life!  

From the top - down

*Louise Young LY34* *Real techniques contour brush* *MAC 217*

I honestly believe if you invest in any one of these brushes - it will will make application of products so much easier! You really can be your own make up artist!

Louise Young LY34 - this isn't called the "Super foundation" for nothing! It makes foundation application so quick and easy. Does all the blending and placement for you! As far as price goes, £24.00,  it is worth every penny and will last you a very long time!

Real techniques contour brush - This brush is sold as part of the core collection, which also includes the buffing brush, foundation brush, detailer brush (£21.99). All these brushes are also amazing but the contour brush really stands out for me! I think this is the best brush for newbies to contouring; as it is a nice rounded shape which means it will blend the contour in seamlessly. No awkward lines here! And it can be used for application of blush! 

MAC 217 - I felt that this brush deserved to go last....this brush makes blending eye shadows a joy! It seriously does all the work for you! I love it so much I have two! For £18.00, yes some may think that is pricey for an eye shadow brush but trust me it is worth it! Blending becomes effortless and makes any eye look instantly more professional.  

I hope you enjoyed this post and have a lovely day!

Emma

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Review: L'Oreal Paris New Nude Magique Eau Teint

Hey Everyone,

I hope you are all well! I'm super sorry for my absence the past week and a half...I have been up to my eye balls with uni work and general life. Too busy to blog (for shame!) Hopefully I'm back now for a while and I will try and give you regular posts! But first a quick update - I now have a JOB!!! Yay! I had been looking for work for almost 3 months! And finally the lovely people at Primark Brighton decided to give me a break! Just feel like such a weight has been lifted :P That's enough about me....

It universally known that I am a self-proclaimed beauty snob! It's true! I didn't used to be - until I began to try more expensive products. So, I am hoping that with this blog, that it will encourage me to branch out and try (and review) more affordable products.

So, as shown in the title, I will be reviewing L'Oreal Paris New Nude Magique Eau Teint. This product has already been talked about a lot in the beauty community. It appears to be loved by many! I am still on the fence. I seem to have a love hate relationship with this foundation. N.B. I have combination skin, prone to break outs in my chin and nose area.

I've been wearing it on and off now for 2 weeks. I wear the shade 100 Porcelain - the colour match is pretty good for my extremely light skin (as you can see from the photos below), however, the colour range is limited. My first impressions were it has a very light weight feel on the skin and has a very runny (watery) consistency. This is why it recommends to shake the bottle before use. It then dries to a powder-like finish and the coverage is light. I found that the best way to apply this was with my hefty LY34 foundation brush from Louise Young. I did not like using my fingers as it felt greasy and did not blend well. The only issue with application I really have is the bottle design - if you aren't careful when pouring there is the potential for a lot of wasted product.

The finish is very natural, semi-matte. This is what first encouraged me to try this foundation, as I love foundations that can control the oil on my face. Overall, it does do this - for the first 5-6 hours of wear time. If I didn't powder, then I could definitely see it wearing away around my nose.

This is one of the issues I have with high street foundations - there staying power never seems as good as higher end brands. This is why I disagree with this idea that this foundation is a dupe for the Giorgio Armani maestro foundation. I have only tried GA once, but it's staying power was a lot better and felt more matte on the skin, so did not end up looking greasy. To the right, is a picture after 6 hours wear time, with a powder touch up. Another note, this foundation did not break me out (which was nice) and is removed easily with a regular cleanser.  

  

Obviously, I don't know how it would be on dryer skin types but I would recommend trying it out in the shops. In conclusion, I'm not totally disappointed with this £6.99 (normal price £9.99) foundation and I'm sure I will continue using it. 

I hope you enjoyed this post and have a lovely day! 

Emma

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#3 Is it worth the investment?

Hey Everyone,

So, it's time for another installment of "Is it worth the investment?" I'll link the first one that explains the series. Today's post is going to be on watches! So a nice short one...

So this is my baby - my Micheal Kors! It is the MK-576; it has rose gold and silver detailing. As you can tell (by me calling it "my baby") I definitely think this is an item worth investing in! And just watches in general. I think once you get into the habit of wearing one it becomes a must :P They also make an awesome accessory to any outfit!

I would say a definite "YES" to investing in a nice watch which can be worn day or night.

I hope you enjoyed this post and have a lovely day!

Emma

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Autumn Look!

Hey Everyone,

So, I got a make up look for you today! I love the warm and redy brown tones that are always big this time of year. I made this look wearable for the day as it puts some excitement into a standard everyday look! Doing your make up in the morning shouldn't be a chore - it should be a pleasure!

You'll have to excuse my eyebrows - they are becoming a tiny bit crazy (may be due a tidy up soon!) As you can see it is pretty simple and clean. But I'm still rocking my feline flick, which you all know I love! But instead of the liner being black, I actually used my Bobbi Brown Long-wear Gel Eyeliner in Caviar Ink (27) which is a blackened brown shade. This I think makes a nice change and it ties in all those lovely warm browns I use as shadow.

I used pretty much all MAC eye shadows from my palette - I used Brule all over the lid, Mulch all through the crease and over the top of Mulch I used a bit of Cranberry (just to give it a wash off that gorgeous redy shade). Then, finally popped a bit of Espresso right in the outer corner and some of Urban decays Virgin (from the Naked Palette) in the inner corner. I made sure this was all blended nicely using my MAC 217.

The lips are very simple - lined with MAC's lip liner in Subculture, Tom Ford lip stick Blush Nude (which I mentioned in my Autumn Lipsticks), with Buxom Cream Gloss in White Russian over the top.

I better mention the skin - I used L'Oreal Nude Magique Eau De Teint (a review will be coming soon!) and for the rest see my everyday make up routine.

I hope you enjoyed this post and have a lovely day!
Emma
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