Top 5 in 2015

Hi Girls,

2015 was a year of discovery for me beauty wise, I tried lots of new products and feel like my makeup bag is now almost perfect. There are some things that I have been using for years such as the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer or the Gosh Kohl Eye Liner but there was also some new additions which I feel need to be mentioned so I have put together my top 5 new finds in 2015.

1) Stila 10-in-1 Illuminating Beauty Balm

This is probably my favourite beauty item of 2015. I put it under my foundation and it just makes my skin look flawless. I plan on doing a full review of it soon but it is just beautiful, you can even use it on good skin days instead of foundation and still get a great even finish. At £26 a go it isn't the cheapest option but in my opinion it is definitely worth it. Oh it has SPF 30 in it as well which is a massive bonus!

2) Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara

A couple of months ago I started looking for a waterproof mascara for the wedding and this was the first one I picked up. I loved it so much I then went and brought the normal version as well. It gives so much volume to your lashes and I have been asked on multiple occasions if I am wearing false lashed when I have this mascara on. It lasts all day and in my opinion there is nothing else as good.

3) MAC lipstick in Mehr

At the beginning of the year I was just like everybody else dying to get hold of Velvet Teddy by MAC and of course it was sold out everywhere I tried so I picked up an alternative in Mehr which for me is the perfect 'your lips but better' colour. I did end up picking Velvet Teddy up too this year and it is just as good as I hoped it would be.

4) Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge

I have always been interested in the concept of sponge applicators and have tried a few over the last year that have always been a bit useless to be honest. Then I decided to that I was going to buy a beauty blender. Before I got the chance to do that I saw the Real Technique version and I have been a big fan of Real Techniques since the first came out and at £5.99 it was a cheaper option. I absolutely love it now and couldn't use anything else for applying my foundation. It leaves such a flawless finish and is so easy to use.

5) Clinique Moisture Surge Overnight Mask

I use this as my evening moisturiser and it leaves my skin so hydrated. I first used it when I flew to California last year and it was great for using on the plane as I often get really dry skin when I have been flying or staying in hotel rooms because the air is never that great but this really helped combat this. If I am having a no makeup day I sometimes use this as my day time moisturiser as well as it just makes my face feel lovely and soft.

So there we go, my top 5 products of 2015. I cannot wait to discover lots of new beauty products this year.

Have a great day

xx

What are my holiday make-up must-haves????

Today's post is all about what I take make-up I take with me when I'm travelling. Now this is for a two week holiday in Cyprus so of course if I were going for a weekend in Paris or a few days in New York I would take completely different things but for where I'm going and what I plan on doing these are the bits I am taking. This is make-up that is going in my suitcase on the plane not things I take in my hand-luggage but I am planning on doing another post about what I take as hand-luggage so look out for that at some point this week.

Make-up bag by Jemma Kidd -TKMAXX - £4.99

When I'm on holiday somewhere hot (apparently Cyprus is 38 degrees centigrade at the moment!) I wear very little make up and when I do wear it I just want a light coverage and some colour. I also make sure I always take concealer with me in case I burn on my face, that way I can cover up some of the redness at night. So to make this easier I am going to section this off in to face, eyes and lips.

Face - During the day I wear no make-up on my face at all. But at night I tend to use a few different products, this time I am taking six products for my face. I have a tinted moisturiser just to even out my skin tone and I also have my concealer to cover redness or breakouts. I then have my bronzer which is great to bring out my tan and two blushers that I can switch between, one is a bright pink and the other more of a coral pink. Finally I have a highlighter which I don't use very often but is nice on holiday just to give a bit more sparkle to your face. All of my bronzers, blushers and highlighters are powder formulars as cream products just tend to fall of my face in hot weather.

Natural Collection Tinted Moisturiser in Beige - Boots - £1.99

No7 Trio Concealer - Boots - £10.50

GOSH Precious Powder Pearls in Magic - Superdrug - £7.99
* This is not available online for some reason but try your local store.

Natural Collection Blush - Boots - £1.99
Left -Pink Cloud
Right - Peach Melba

GOSH Giant Sun Powder - Superdrug - £12.99

Eyes - Again during the day I wear very little make-up on my eyes and the most will probably only be a swipe of waterproff mascara just to make my eyes look fresh and awake. For the evenings I am taking only one set of eyeshadow as I tend to just stick with a brown smokey eye at night which isn't too heavy or dark and looks good with a tan. I then have a black kohl eyeliner and two mascaras, one for the top lashes and one for the bottom.

L-R Maybelline Great Lash Mascara in Blackest Black - Boots - £5.19
 Maybelline One by One Volume Express Mascara in Black  - Boots - £8.49
Natural Collection WaterGuard Mascara in Black  - Boots - £1.99

Rimmel London Colour Rush Eye Quad in Smokey Brun - Boots - £6.63

GOSH Kohl Eyeliner in Black - Superdrug - £4.49

Lips - Lipstick is my big downfall when going away as I can never only take one or two. This time I am taking 5 which may seem a bit excessive but I like to have a choice.For a gloss I tend to stick to the same one over the top of most lipsticks and the one I like is by 2true and just says 1 on the lable so I'm guessing thats the colour. I may also take another lipgloss and if I do it will be a GOSH lipgloss in 0082 but I don't have pictures of either of these glosses.  I also take lots of lip balms but I will mention more about those in my hand-luggage post.



L-R George Moisturising Lipstick in Liar - Asda - £3.50
17 Mirror Shine Lipstick in Beehive - Boots - Currently £2.59 Normally £4.59
Rimmel Volume Booster Lipstick in Flirt - I can't seem to find this online anymore
Natural Collection Sheer Natural Lipstick in Sandcastle - Boots - £1.99
No7 Stay Perfect Lipstick in Grace - Boots - £10.00



Hope you have a great day girls and let me know your holiday make-up must haves.

xx

Nail Varnish of the Week

Its time for another NVOTW and I am really getting in to these now, I love my Monday morning manicure that I give myself before I take these photos. I'd also like to apologise for the lack of posts last week, I was really busy and had places to be and people to see but I promise this week will be a post-fest for you all. I have another apology as once again I do not have a photo of how my nails looked at the end of the week, this is because I went out on Friday night and the orange nail varnish didn't really go with my dress so I had to change it to just a nude colour which was a bit boring but I can tell you the GOSH 'Peachy' was still going strong with only a couple of chips in it by Friday so I'm impressed.

Now for this week I have done a complete change again and gone for a bright blue. This is '198 Azure' from the I <3 Lasting Finish range at Rimmel. This colour is sooo gorgeous I just hope the pictures do it justice, it has a green hint to it in certain lights and I don't know why but it makes me think of mermaids tails!

I love this and I hope you do too. Comment below and let me know what you NVOTW is!

Have a great day girls
xx

Nail Varnish of the Week

First off I just wanted to say thank you to those that have subscribed to me this week it is amazing to know that some people actually like my blog and are reading it. Secondly thank you for your comments and emails and I will write back to you all at some point this week because I am so thankful you are all reading my thoughts.

Right now on to the nail varnish of the week and as always I will start with a bit about last weeks nail varnish and how it went. Last week I had 'Berry Ice Cream' on by Barry M and I don't know if I'm just leaving it too long or something but both this one and 'Peach Melba' by Barry M have really chipped by about Friday, maybe its something I'm doing or maybe they just aren't made to last. Anyway the colour is still great and lots of people told me how nice my nails looked so that was a result! I'll post a photo I took yesterday of my nails so you can see how bad they got.

On to this week and I feel like something a bit brighter and more summery to hopefully bring the sun out from behind the cloud where it is hiding at the minute. I have chosen a GOSH nail varnish this week to see if it lasts any longer than the Barry M ones so we will see what the outcome is. I also have a new top coat which is Sally Hansen's 'NailShine Miracle' and hopefully that will help with the chipping too. The GOSH colour I have gone for this week is number 570 'Peachy' which is a bright peach coral orangey sort of colour and I haven't worn this all year because I've been into my pastels so much but I thought it was time for a change.

I hope you've enjoyed this Nail Varnish of the Week and feel free to let me know what your Nail Varnish of the Week is. Oh and the ring featured this week is from Matalan and I got it on sale for £1!!!!!! I love it!!!!!!!!!

Have a great day girls
xx