What's in my Makeup Bag... *SUMMER EDITION*

When I first started blogging - nearly a year ago - I did the always popular post What's in my Makeup Bag; I had so much fun doing that post that I wanted to do an updated summer version. I am not one to stick to the same makeup, I love switching my makeup bag up, trying and testing new products, so I wanted to go through all my current loves right now! 

This is my everyday makeup bag, as a makeup artist I have a whole kit of makeup but that would lead to an extremely long post, so for now I wanted to share my everyday casual makeup.

Makeup Forever High Definition Primer

This is a great primer, it keeps my makeup in place all day long and does not leave my skin feeling oily or cakey like other primers have done. It is slightly more expensive than other primers but it lasts foreverrr, it is literally never ending!!

Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum

During the summer months I like a light foundation, a formula that is not going to feel heavy during that rare hot English sunshine and Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum is just that, the product allows me to build up a coverage that I want, it's lasting power is also great; my summer job involves a lot of running around in and outside and it can get hot, yet this foundation is yet to melt off my face! I apply my foundation with the amazing Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge instead of a foundation brush as the sponge leaves a flawless finish.

Urban Decay Naked Flush

I love love love this palette, it works great on my skin, and I prefer a blush that you can build up so you are not left with un-natural coloured cheeks! It has a great contour shade, but I won’t use this in an everyday makeup look, I use this for when I am going out and spending a lot more time on my makeup; it is a great natural shade to contour your face.

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion

So as all makeup junkies will know, this is life, this stuff is pure genius, I won’t ramble on about its amazingness as I am pretty sure EVERY beauty blog has featured this on their blog at one time or another! If you are ready this and you do not own the Eyeshadow Primer Potion, GET ONE! #lifechanged

Urban Decay Ammo Palette

I was given this palette as a gift at Christmas, and it has quickly become a staple piece in my kit, each shadow is beautifully pigmented, and ranges from browns to pinks. I have created so many different looks just from this one palette; natural eye to a smouldering smokey eye; I will do a full review my blog soon.    

DIORSHOW Black Out

I bought myself this mascara in the duty free section on my way home from America in January 2014 and it is my holy grail of mascaras! I have never had a problem with clumping eyelashes or drying out too soon like some mascaras do; it is just beginning to run out now, seeing as I have used it every day since 4^th January 2014 it is safe to say this is honestly one of the best mascaras I have used along with Lancome Hypnôse Drama mascara. It glides on your lashes beautifully, adds length and volume making your lashes look gorgeous.

Smashbox Instant Eyes Shadow and Liner Palette

This palette is great for a very natural eye, it consists of 4 eye shadows, not the best pigmentation, the colours are very light, so great for when you are in a rush and want to apply a quick shadow to your eyes. The main reason this is in my everyday kit is because it also comes with 3 different shades of liners, one of those liners match my eyebrow colour perfectly; I use this to fill in those odd gaps towards the ends of my eyebrows. It lasts all day and leaves my eyebrows looking natural.

MAC RIHANNA HEARTS HOLIDAY 2013 RIRI WOO

HOLY GRAIL LIPSTICK! This lipstick is perfecttttt, the beautiful colour along with the matte finish is just beautiful! Although I attempt not to use this everyday as I am trying to savour every last piece it is extremely hard as it is such a beautiful colour. I am a sucker for a matte red lipstick, I wear red lipstick a lot of the time, I just love the colour red and it is a colour that has always suited me best. I can wear this all day long with no need to top up and with my Kryolan red lip pencil I have never had troubles with bleeding! #perfect. The only disappointment about this lipstick is the fact it is limited edition, although Rihanna does have the Viva Glam lipstick out now which is a continually running line. #bestdayever

Sigma Brushes

Finally, I apply all this makeup on with my beautiful Sigma brushes. Here I have the Essential Kit - Mr. Bunny and the Performance Eyes Kit, these brushes were the best purchase I ever made, slightly expensive but so worth it, I especially love the eye brushes, they help in creating such a create contoured eye. The only negative thing I would have to say is the tips of the hairs were white, and they have been stained from makeup products, I clean my brushes with IPA then soapy water and I still cannot get that white back, which sadly can make the brushes still look dirty, it would have been wiser for all the hair to be black to prevent this from happening. 

Do you have any holy grail makeup products for summer? #tellmeee 
If you have done a similar post let me know.. I may find myself a new summer must have! :)

Excel Clothing Wish List

Since finishing my second year at university and starting my job full time, I spend some of my evenings drooling over beauty products and clothes I wish I could buy as I am sure you have guessed from my last post. I also have a slight obsession for magazines, my favourites being Elle and Cosmo, both full of the latest clothing trends and where you can buy all these beautiful clothes, along with that dreaded price tag.
A few nights ago I came across Excel Clothing  and so began my mental wishlist of all the beautiful clothes I wish I could wear this summer. If you are unsure Excel Clothing are on of the UK's and Ireland leading designer brand retailers, with only two stores which provides 10000 sq ft of luxurious retail space for us fashion crazy customers.

I decided to share my three favourite clothing pieces I came across on their website. Recently I have been trying to find some new dresses, my dresses in my wardrobe are all starting to get slightly old and they have been photographed on my Facebook account numerous times, it is about time I had a clear out and started again, so naturally I went straight to the 'Dresses' section and came across these two dresses. The orange beauty is from designer Darling and was listed at £55, you can view it here. This price is quite a bargain, this is a standard price for a good quality dress, and being this gorgeous shade of orange you will be bang on trend. I wonder if the writers of TV show Orange is the New Black knew they were fashion forecasting when they began? #skills.
I love, love, love this black cut out dress from Supertrash, it would be a perfect addition to my wardrobe and I can imagine myself busting out my moves to Beyonce in this dress! I WANT THIS DRESS! Sadly it retails at £130 *cries uncontrollably* so I will not be purchasing it anytime soon, but if you love it as much as I do you can purchase it here.
Finally, I found these funky looking Armani Jeans which are currently on sale, they retail at £149.00 but are on sale at £74.50 and you can purchase here, this print is great for summer and is different to any of my jeans I have now, I love to try new styles as I think I am still trying to find what my style is. These jeans would be great for a casual summer look while drinking cocktails on the beach... I can dream ;) 

www.excelclothing.com 

High End Beauty Wishlist - Summer 2014

I want, I want, I want! Oh the struggles of student life, seeing all these beautiful products, then watching my ever growing overdraft increase and these products get further and further away from my dressing table. Now that I am able to do extra hours at work hopefully some of these products will have pride of place on my dressing table soon enough.

Lancôme Star Bronzer £35

If I am totally honest with myself I first wanted this product because of it's beauty; the whole package and the design of the delicate engraved rose looks gorgeous. Researching this product a little more, it sounds like the perfect summer bronzer, the product is heavily dusted with golden shimmer to get you looking sun kissed all day long. It is only a summer limited edition product *contemplates taking out a tinie tiny loan* but this means it will be super sized, lasting even longer.. *Slowly beginning to convince myself to make this purchase* So you will undoubtedly get all your moneys worth, so it is good to look at this as an investment into beauty rather than something I cannot afford... I can almost hear my mum telling me to come back down to reality...

Benefit Watt's up! - £24.50

I have been on the hunt for a highlighter for a while now, and I have been hesitant to purchase one as they can be quite expensive and I want it to be the right one. I currently have the Benefit High Beam, but I find this can sometimes go on my skin quite patchy, I have tried it on different foundations, put it on before the foundations, it just is not a good match for me. Recently, one of my friends had a mini version of the Benefit Watt's Up highlighter, and it just felt like a perfect match for my complexion, it's golden champagne shine had me sold.  I will own this product by the end of the summer, so a full review will be coming your way soon ;)

Burberry Lip Glow Balm in Orange Poppy, £23

For the past few months I have been on the hunt for an orange tone lipstick and although this lipstick is slightly more red toned than what I have been looking for I just fell in love with the colour, I can easily see this being my summer lipstick. Also the packaging is to die for - I am a slight sucker for packaging - the matching engraved patterns send my OCD in to overdrive, I just want to own this, right now!! I am pretty sure by this time next week I will have given in and purchased this beauty. The layers can be built up from a sheer lip to a bright colour - Again, I am a sucker for a bold lip - I mean £23 for a lipstick that can give you two different looks, technically you are only paying £11.50. Looking at the positives ;) 

They're Real Liner 

I am not 100% sold on this product yet, the hype sounding it suggests it could be an amazing new eyeliner; the people at Benefit have spent 5 years trying to make this product the best it can be. The tip looks genius and I really hope it turns out to be as good as eyeliner is the bane of my life!! I have an appointment with Benefit next week to test it out, so I will write up on my blog how I get on! 

Laura Mercier Bonne Mine Colour Stick in Pink Glow, £26.

I have always used powder blushers but I feel it is time for a change and try out some cream base blushers; this sheer bendable cream enhancer is said to give your skin a glowing radiance. I particularly like the pink glow for these summer months. Although I love the colour of this product I feel I should find a more affordable version to see how I find the cream blusher.

Do you have a favourite drug store cream blusher I could try? Let me know.

 Also, what is on your summer beauty wish list? 

Skin Spa...

This past few weeks the weather has been gorgeous and while us humans love to get outside and soak up the beautiful sun rays before we are cursed yet again with rain, we really do have to remember our skin! It goes without saying.. SUN CREAM! I had an awful, awful experience with sun burn a few years ago, and I have been scared - physically and emotionally *slightly dramatic* - ever since! Sun cream! Sun cream! Sun cream!

I wanted to share with you my two favourite skin products right now; they are the Ted Baker Body Scrub and Baylis & Harding Skin Spa Intensive Body Butter.

The Ted Baker Body Butter was an impulse buy, I was attending my Summer Ball and wanted to look sun kissed by applying a little fake tan, and running out of exfoliator meant running to the shops and picking up the first one I saw. This is literally the best exfoliator I have ever used, it's buttery texture leaves your skin feeling fresh and silky smooth. I am slightly in love with it's smell, it is delicately fragranced with an opulent mix of bergamot, red fruit, tuberose and patchouli. The beautiful packaging reminds me of summer, and will definitely be part of my beauty regime throughout this summer. Currently sold at Boots for £8.00.

This little gem I received in a Christmas set and have been using it ever since, it is Baylis & Harding Rich Intensive Body Butter. I find some moisturizers can take what feels like an eternity to soak into your skin and can then leave your skin feeling greasy rather than smooth, but I find this product takes no time at all settling into your skin; it also has a very silky, creamy texture and leaves your skin beautifully smooth and hydrated in the summer sun all day long. It is enriched with essential oils of rose, ylang ylang and patchouli, with similar ingredients to Ted Baker Body Scrub, I find these two go well together. You can purchase this from the Baylis & Harding website here for just £12. 

The Best Year Yet...

Wow it has been months since I last blogged, I have missed the blogging world tremendously and feel some what lost right now, I have a lot of catching up to do! Uni has been tough this year, the work load was hard and you have to learn to prioritize and unfortunately blogging had to wait *sad face*. I am now in my 4 month summer and have just got a job at the Oceanariumin Bournemouth to fill up my time and start saving for a potential New York trip in 2015 *ahhhhhhhhhhh*! I have tones of blog posts waiting, so as of right now, I shall be posting at least twice a week, I promise. I also have some new ideas for my blog to keep it entertaining and interesting for you all.

This week one of my closest friends at uni and fellow blogger at 'Confessions of a Makeup Nerd' did a blog post, 'A Beautiful Ending' which you can read here. I was completely inspired by this post and it got me thinking about this past year, so many things have changed and I feel I have grown so much as a person. Plus, when you get to see Beyonce twice in one year, you know you are doing something right ;) *excuse me while I pray for the 1,256,754 time that Bey and Jay bring On The Run to London*

One of my highlights of this past year was spending 3 weeks in America with my family for Christmas and New Year, it was truly amazing! It took me 4 months to fully accept the holiday was over, I still get emotional now knowing it is over now, I waited 13 months for that holiday haha, and it was over in the blink of an eye! But, it bought great memories and the time will come when we shall do it all again.
I have also met and worked with some amazing people this year, that is the one thing I love about uni, I have never met so many different people from all different backgrounds and cultures. I have also become a lot closer to my group of friends, and they have made this past year so much fun and I am certain we shall all remain friends for life...

Here is to hoping third year will be just as great and that time starts to slow down - Why is life going sooo quick!!