Catch Up

Hi Guys,

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, my life has been pretty crazy over the past two months. I started not one but two new jobs (who ever thought that was a good idea was wrong...) but I do love doing it because there is so much variety in the work I am doing.

I also made a few... no a lot of bad drunken decisions. My boyfriend dumped me at the beginning of March because he said he couldn't put up with my 'shit' anymore amongst other reasons I suppose. I guess he will only know the real reason but to be quite honest I don't really care, I am so glad I am out of that relationship and can finally go out and have fun with my friends every  night. Friends are better than boyfriends I can tell you that much!

Due to the fact that we broke up I obviously hit the clubs and bars up ALOT. Too much if I'm honest and that leads me to my bad mistakes... as i was so used to being in a relationship I thought that I wanted to be in one again. I had started seeing a lad that I worked with and then we got drunk and kissed and whatever... but then in the morning when he didn't basically give himself to me as my boyfriend (so cringe even thinking about this now...) I went psycho on his ass. We are now friends and it's all cool but I wanted things from him that he just wasn't ready for. He does still say that there is 'just something about you' though which always makes me smile.

I have been on a couple of dates all of which haven't been mind shattering but they went ok. Now I just want to go easy, I don't want to be in a relationship. I am so happy being alone and having my independence and not having to worry about what someone else is saying or thinking or anything, its bliss. I'm just going to be sassy as hell and kill my makeup game every day and everything will be cool. Look forward to seeing some pictures from my nights out and all details about what I did with my makeup!

Who else loves being single? Does anyone have any embarrassing first date stories? You tell me and I'll tell you!

March Wishlist

Hey Guys, so summer is coming up and what does that mean????? More to makeup coming out. These are not all new items to the market. They are mostly just things that have been on my wishlist forever and have not yet picked up (because i am tight with money) This month however I have been working 2 jobs so (hence the lack of posts, i am sorry!).... I will hopefully get a pretty nice pay packet at the end of the month in which I intend of spending the majority on makeup. It is a problem I know. Below is the list of items in the picture above. If you click on any of them they will bring you to the site in which I found the item on!

1. By Terry Sun Designer Palette £64.00  - This is just beautiful tell me that you don't want it... I wont believe you. It is pretty pricey though.
2. Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Pearl £32.00 - I have wanted this for so long but it is out of stock pretty much all of the time. When it is in stock I never have any money... Why does that always happen?!
3. Nars Pore Refining Primer £26.00 - This item had some really good reviews and a 5* rating. I have been loving primers recently but the Porefessional from Benefit is now boring me a bit. I need something new and exciting!
4. Makeup Geek Contour Powders £7.95 - I love a good contour, enough said. I love how Marlena from Makeup Geek has make colours for both cool and warm undertones as well as a huge range of skin colours.
5. Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Taupe £15.00 - I just haven't got on the band wagon with this yet and I feel as though I should. My bestfriend has been going on about it like crazy.
6. Lit Cosmetics size 3 glitter in Solar Blast £11.25 - I love glitter, I would cover my face in it if it was socially acceptable. This colour is a really beautiful peach which I have not seen in a glitter much.
7. Zoeva Complete Eye Brush Set £52.95 - I already have the complete brush set but i think that i could do with some more eye brushes. I love the ones from Zoeva,
8. Zoeva Rose Golden Blush Palette £13.00  - This is so beautiful and for such a good price, i bet that white powder would look great under the eyes.
9. Makeup Geek X Manny MUA Eye shadow Palette $45.00 - If you like makeup I am sure you are already subscribed to receive the email about when this is coming back in stock. They sold out in one day after being released. I also love Manny.
10. Anastasia Liquid Lipstick in Catnip £14.84 (shipping and customs will be extra) - I need to get on this liquid lipstick craze, I have one from MUA and it feels like the desert on my lips... I hated it but I loved the look and effect it gave so perhaps a Anastasia one will be better. I have heard alot of good things about these.
11. Kat Von D Shade and Light Contour Palette £34.13 (shipping and customs will be extra) - I NEED THIS. END OF.
12. Kat Von D + Beauty Blender customized complexion set £34.13 - I love beauty blenders and everyone goes on about the Kat Von D Lock It foundation and this is such a steal of a price!
13. Makeup Forever Ultra HD Concealer £20.00  - A YouTube made me do it one.
14. Makeup Forever Artist Shadow in Creme Brulee £13.00 - I love bronzey golden eye shadows like this and this is a diamond finish so even better!

What is your skin type?

Welcome back! I don't know whether you are like me or not but I found it really hard to work out what kind of skin I had. Knowing what skin type you have will allow you to cater your skincare routine to what your skin actually needs. I know that I was doing it all wrong for a long time! Most skincare items will say on the packaging what kind of skin it is targeted towards.

Oily Skin
If you have oily skin you more that likely know about it because you will get shiny throughout the day. You may also have more prominent and large pores which are hard to clear even with the right skin care. Individuals with oily skin have over active sebaceous (oil) glands so you may have acne or more blackheads and blemishes.

Dry Skin
If you have dry skin your face may often feel tight, itchy or in fact cracked or peeling in some places - especially in the T - zone usually. If your skin is really dry it may feel rough. Luckily you will have almost invisible pores however you will have less elasticity to the skin and the fine lines in your face may be more visible. People with dry skin often have a dull complexion.

Normal Skin
You have normal skin if you have very little problems with your skin for example you may have barely visible pores, no or few imperfections and little sensitivity. It is not too dry or too oily.

Combination Skin
Combo skin can be a bit of a problem because you may have dry sections of your face and oily sections on your face so it can be difficult to put a skin care routine into place. You may need to use different products in different places of your face to balance your skin type on a day to day basis. You are more than likely oily in the T - zone with dry patches on the cheeks. If you have combination skin you more than likely have overly dilated pores, blackheads and skin that gets shiny throughout the day.

Please remember that no skin type is wrong or more desirable than the other. There is ways in which you can really improve the appearance to your skin whether it be with the skincare products, makeup or things to help throughout the day such as blotting papers and powder.

There is also makeup that is targeted towards different skin types - mainly foundation. If the foundation is a brightening dewy foundation it is more targeted towards an individual with dry skin and a matte finish foundation is more targeted towards a person with oily skin. Please do not hesitate to try lots of foundation to find out what ones work best for you and your skin. Everyone is different so something I like you may hate!



I have combination skin, what skin type do you have? What is your favourite skin products?

MAC Haul

Hi Guys,

I have had a little bit of an obsession with MAC recently and even though I am currently unemployed I couldn't help myself and picked up a few things (oops).

I will only ever buy matte lipsticks from MAC because at £15.50 a pop I do not fancy buying something that is only going to last 5 seconds (I'm looking at you crèmesheen). I know all the different finishes are lovely they are just so over priced in the UK without a pro card, which I unfortunately do not have. I bought the MAC matte lipsticks in the shades Kinda Sexy and Whirl.

MAC Mineralised Skin Finish in Soft and Gentle, MAC Pro-Longwear Concealer NW15, MAC Matte Lipstick in Whirl, MAC Matte Lipstick in Kinda Sexy.

I then did a repurchase on my favourite concealer of all time in the shade NW15. I love the pro longwear concealer and use it under my eyes as well as on blemishes. It can crease but just make sure you set it ASAP after application and you should be fine. The coverage is to die for! I was chatting to one of the girls in MAC and she said that she uses this all over her face as a foundation, she would use about six pumps for all over her face and to be fair it looked FLAWLESS. I am more into a lighter coverage all over my face and feel like that would be too heavy for my skin but whatever floats your boat. This is the one product I would say is not over priced because my last one lasted about 3 months and I use about a pump a day - a little bit goes a LONG way...

Finally I bought the cult favourite MAC mineralised skin finish in Soft and Gentle. I have been holding off buying this as I didn't know what the hype was about and thought it may be a little too dark for my skin as I am practically transparent but I LOVE IT. Look out for a review or look on my blog soon...

Below I have swatched the highlighter and the lipsticks. Names in caption.

Left to Right: MAC skinfinish in Soft and Gentle, MAC matte lipstick in Whirl, MAC matte lipstick in Kinda Sexy

You can purchase yours here.

What is your favourite products from MAC and what should I purchase next?

Essence - Longlasting Mechanical Lipliners Swatches

Hi Guys, today I have an exciting lip swatch post for you. The products I am using are all from the Essence Long lasting Mechanical Lip liner. These are readily available in the UK in stores and online at Wilkinsons. Here.

I love lip liners, it is one of the products I really have a bit of an obsession with. As you can see from the photo believe my top lip really just fades into my skin, there is no real line and one side is a lot plumper than the other which makes it difficult when applying lipstick straight onto the lips. This is why I appreciate lip liner so much!

Continue reading if you would like to see what the colours look like on my lips. The formula is really lovely and creamy. For £1.50 you cannot really go wrong. I think there is about 10 colours in the range so there is something for everyone from nudes to reds.

Disclaimer: Please excuse the bad application and the redness around my lips. I had no foundation on as I didn't see the point when I was going to be rubbing my lips!

Natural Lips

The first colour we are going to be having a look at is the palest of the ones I bought. This isn't one of my favourites as it is 'concealer' lips like. I think it could look great under a nude lipstick though as it does have a slight grey tinge to it. The name of the palest lip liner I bought is 08 Girl Next Door.

08 Girl Next Door

The next colour we have is called 05 Frappuccino, I am IN love with this one. I am all about them nude brown lips everyone and their dog has been wearing at the moment. I don't think there is anything more to say about it... just look at it. Don't say you wouldn't spend £1.50 on something that would go under all of your brown nudes PERFECTLY. Move over MAC.

05 Frappuccino

07 Plum Cake is a cool greyish purple nude colour. It is very hard to describe and I don't think I have seen anything like it out there, especially at the price point of this one. I think Stone from MAC may come close but wouldn't be a match by any means. It does make me look dead but I don't mind that.

07 Plum Cake

06 A Girls Dream is a burnt orange red colour, I do not often wear colours like this but it always good to have a lip liner there if I ever do want to wear it. I just don't feel like it looks good on my super pale skin.

Finally there is 02 Sweetheart which is a simple medium pink, I enjoy wearing shades like this a lot. A colour like this is perfect for spring and can really bring life to any look.

I have only worn and applied these for this post so this is not a review as I haven't worn them for any amount of time. Let me know if you would like an update.

Which is your favourite colour I have? 

Fave MAC lipsticks of the moment

These are my favorite lipsticks of the moment. as you can see from the picture and the swatches i love pink mauve tones and the grey brown trend! In the above picture the shades from left to right are Impassioned which is an amplified cream finish, Stone which is a matte finish, Please me which is also a matte finish and finally on the right we have Mehr which is also a matte finish.

I love the matte lipsticks from MAC, they last a really long time on the lips and the pigment is amazing! They have that normal MAC lipstick smell I cannot get enough of. My favorite one of all is Mehr which I have been wearing non stop.

MAC's Description of the lipstick colours:

Impassioned (Amplified Cream) - Amped up fuchsia

Stone (Matte) - Muted greyish taupe brown

Please Me (Matte) - Muted rosey tinted pink

Mehr (Matte) - Dirty blue pink

See below the swatches! Let me know if you want a makeup look with any of the lipsticks, I would love to do a tutorial although I'm not quite sure how to do it yet!

 The photo below is the lipsticks without flash!

Left: Impassioned (Amplified Cream), Stone (Matte), Please Me (Matte) and Mehr (Matte)

What are your fave MAC lipsticks, please give me an excuse to buy more! 

You can buy your MAC lipsticks here.

What's In My Bag: Michael Kors Sutton Satchel

Welcome back! Today we are going to be having a look around my Michael Kors Sutton Satchel. I have the grey colour with silver hardware, you can find yours here. I bought it from the brand new MK store in Milton Keynes, it was actually in the January sales with 30% off. It is now however back to full price at £330.00, I have the large size - the dimensions are H26 x W35 x D14.5cm approximately. I must say I love it more than any of my other handbags, it is so versatile and I wear all silver jewellery so it all goes together and I love the grey colour. Grey is my thing...

Top of the MK Sutton Satchel (Bag Empty)

As you can see from the photo above it has two zips on the top of the bag which are very spacious and go to the bottom of the bag. The closure is just a popper so not as secure as it could be. There is also a zip pocket on the inside of the bag with 2 pockets of various sizes on both sides of the inside of the bag. I wish I could show you the inside better!

This is what I keep on the inside of my bag! I like to keep things in this nude pouch as the bag doesn't have a zip I feel more secure with this set up. It also means that nothing is rolling around in the bottom of my bag. The purse I have is from Michael Kors but cannot find it on the internet to link it for you. I bought it from Tk Maxx about six months ago for £30.00 (WHAT A BARGIN RIGHT). I also have this organiser which I got from Wilkos.

This is what my organiser looks like on the inside, there is four dividers which are as follows - planner, notes, to do and events. I love the way that it is set out as in the planner section it is not date order like a normal organiser so you can pick and choose when you write what you are doing that week. So if you have a really busy week you can write what you are doing, however if you have a really dead week you don't have to waste one of your pages. I think this organiser was only about £3.00 so I am really happy with this purchase.

This is what is inside my pouch. as you can see I have loads of chewing gum, I have a whole pot in my car aswell. I am always so cautious I hate having smelly breath and of course I love smelly food, give me some garlic in all of my food! I have some Paul and Joe blotting papers and powder because that oily face is never cute. Two lip liners, one in a mauve colour from essence (£1.00 by the way) and another from Rimmel in the shade East End Snob. I also have a lipgloss from Lancôme which came in a Christmas set in 2015. I have 3 lipsticks because what woman who loves makeup doesn't have a shade range of lippy in their handbag. The colours I have in my handbag are Natural Collection in Biscuit, Rimmel Kate Moss Matte in 101 and Rimmel Moisture Renew in 700 Nude Delight. The rose gold pearl compact mirror is from Primark which has one normal side and one zoomed in side. For any girls that wear heels all day, I am sure you also have some blister plasters, these have saved my life on many occasions. I got the wonderstruck by Taylor Swift 10ml for £5.00 around Christmas and it is the perfect size for your handbag and doesn't make your handbag feel really heavy like you are carrying around a brick. Lets be honest we have all been there. The hairband (Primarks finest 60 for £1.00) and hand sanitizer (from Sallys beauty supply) are just essentials that I am sure everyone carries around. Finally we have a pen so I can write in my organiser. I normally also carry around some deodorant wipes and facial wipes just in case but I have ran out as they come in handy more than you would think!

What are your handbag musts? I would love to know what else I should be carrying around!

P.S Love (Primark) Brush Cleanser Review

 So today I thought that we would talk about something SUPER affordable as I am all about that life at the moment as I am currently unemployed - this will hopefully change tomorrow lol! Anyway... I have been trying this out for about 3 months now and I am loving it.

This is the P.S Love Makeup Brush Cleaner (which you can find in primark of all places and it is only £2.00!), all you have to do is spray your makeup brush directly and then rub the brush on a piece of kitchen roll or a towel, just do little circular motions. This is called spot cleaning your brushes. You will still need to do a deep clean regularly, this method is just to keep your brushes clean-ish between washes.

It is really amazing if you are a makeup artist doing more than one person in each sitting as you can clean the brushes right there and then and it dries super quickly so you can use it on the next client. However, I wouldn't recommend doing this with any brushes you are using cream or liquid products as it doesn't get a deep enough clean to be applied to multiple faces, there will still be a lot of gross excess product up in the brush which is only bought down with warm water and soap.

So this is my brush before being cleansed... As you can see there is dark brown eyeshadow covering the tip of the brush. I would not be able to use this brush as it is to apply a lighter colour as it would be altered by the excess colour left on the brush.

And this is after being cleansed with the P.S Love Makeup Brush Cleanser. As you can see from the photo below all of the product has come away from the brush. I would now be able to apply whatever colour I would like now that it is clean. Drying time is only about 3 mins so you can have a really quick turn around if that is what you are looking for.

This is also a great method if you are a beginner with makeup brushes and don't have many as you can clean the brushes as you go so that you can use the same brush for a different colour in one eyeshadow look.

I hope this helps, how is your favourite way to spot clean your brushes?

My 5 Favourite Bruses of the Moment

Hi guys,

Sorry I haven't been on in a while I have been a little overwhelmed with some stuff going on in my personal life. At least now I can concentrate more on the blog and bring great content to you all! Fingers crossed...

My fave eye brushes of the moment are all from Zoeva - my wonderful boyfriend bought my the whole set for me for Christmas. I have fallen in love with them all, they are easy to use, blend eyeshadow like a dream, easy to clean and are super soft! I have thoroughly enjoyed using them all but I have my favourites and I feel like if you was going to buy brushes from Zoeva separately then you should get these... you will be able to do a whole range of looks with just these brushes and if you are a beginner you will not need any other brushes for the eyes. The other brush I have here is the Real Techniques fan brush from the sculpting set.

The first Zoeva brush I have to show you is the Luxe Petit Crease brush. I love this for adding deeper colours into the crease after the transition shade has been placed. The colour I usually use with this brush is Cocoa Bear from Makeup Geek as it is a warm brown shade. This brush is like the transition of the transition if that even makes sense, I would the use a smaller pencil brush to add my darkest colour if I was going for a more dramatic look or leave it with just a transition and a deeper crease colour.

The next brush is the one I use for my transition shade. I love this brush more than any of the ones I have to show today. The Luxe Crease from Zoeva if fabulous for applying diffused colour through the crease so that your eyeshadow looks seamless and you cannot see where it starts or finishes. I still need to improve on my blending skills but this brush has made it a million times easier. My favourite transition shades to use are all from Makeup Geek, Chickadee (odd orange brown shade looks awesome with the right look), Crème Brulee, Beaches and Cream (for a lighter look) and Frappe (for a darker look).

Here we have the Wing Liner brush from Zoeva, I love this because it is so versatile, I do my brows with this brush daily using brow powders and it is amazing for creating a wing liner (DUH name gives a clue) with shadow. I love using the Makeup Geek duochrome eyeshadow in Ritzy with this brush dampened to create a really cool duochrome winged liner. How could you pass that up. I haven't yet used this to do a gel liner wing as I don't use gel liner but I am sure it would be great.

Finally for the eye brushes we have the Detail Shader from Zoeva. I love this one because it is so small you can do very detailed shading. It is great if you are doing a cut crease but you have been a bit messy with the crease colour - you can totally clear it up with this brush and the lid shade of your choice. It is also great for placing your inner corner and brow highlight. Using this brush damp can really up the amp on whatever shade you are using.

The only face brush I have included in this is the Real Techniques Fan brush from the sculpting set which you can buy from any boots or superdrug. I love that whole set of brushes it comes with the fan brush, setting brush and the sculpting brush which is a flat top contouring brush. It is definatly worth the money, I even got it on sale in Superdrug for £13.99. There is always deals and offers on so just keep your eyes open for it! I love this brush for highlighting, it applies the perfect amount and I have been really into highlighting the crap out of my face recently!

I hope you enjoyed reading, let me know what your fave brushes are. I'm thinking of getting some of the Morphe brushes now that they are being stocked on beautybay.com. That site is brill for getting things that aren't easily accessible in the UK. I would also like to point out that all of these brushes are really affordable! The Zoeva brushes range from £5 - £8 for eye brushes and a bit more for face brushes as expected. They are also avalible on beautybay.com but you can get them from their direct website Zoeva.de

Easy Ways to Help Deal with Stress, Anxiety and Depression

Some people deal with stress and other things in their lives by turning to alcohol, smoking or drugs. This will only help you to 'cope' momentarily. The moment you come off of that substance you will feel the same way you did before taking it.

Just in case you wasn't sure about what anxiety / stress is then here is some symptoms, dizziness, tension and muscle aches, tiredness, insomnia, trembling, dry mouth, excessive sweating and headaches. Some people like to write an anxiety journal to help track when they have these moments and what drove them into the situation.

Firstly, you must think positively. This is what I struggle with, once something bad happens I find it really difficult to get out of the rut and to figure a way to sort it or make it better for myself. It is said that the feeling of 'loss of control' is one of the massive contenders into stress and anxiety. You can use these steps to figure out how best to re-gain control of whatever situation you are in.

Talking to your doctor and figuring out how you are really feeling and possible reasons as to why you are feeling this way will be a huge weight off of your shoulders. Just remember a problem shared is a problem halved. Sometimes when you work yourself up so much you think it can be 1000000x worse than it actually is. The doctor will be able to reassure you that you are not crazy.

Another great way you can release some of the stress is to just let go of things that you can't change. By worrying about these things they will not go away and you still cannot change it so what's the point in hanging on to them?

Things to do to help reduce stress, anxiety and depression:
1. Exercise - this helps to clear the mind and make you feel better all round.
2. Breathe - usually when you are having an anxiety attack your breathing will be really quick and short, by taking control of your breathing and taking deep, long breaths can take you out of the attack because your mind is no longer focused on being anxious.
3.Try not to vent your emotions when they are so high - if anything it will get you into more trouble than its worth and it usually heightens the emotions you are feeling towards a particular person / situation.
4. Try to keep busy - this takes your mind off the bad thing that is happening and gives you something more positive to concentrate on.
5. Try not to spend too much time in bed and sleeping, although this can be nice to begin with and it will become all you want to do. You have to try to get yourself out of this funk.

I hope this helps some of you. Thank you!

Ebay find : Liquid Lipstick

Liquid lipsticks are all the craze at the moment and everyone seems to be bringing them out, even MAC!

I haven't tried many as I hate the feeling of them on my lips. I honestly walk around thinking my mouth is a desert. I wish I could just put up with the annoyance as I LOVE the look of them.

I purchase one from Ebay just to see what it was like and I loved the brown colour it offered me.

It did apply really easily however, if you apply too much it will bunch up and look really really bad! You better not reapply this throughout the day either because that is just tragic, It will look really dark in places and light in places and bunch in places. It is just plain bad in that respect.

It is also not transfer proof, if you are drinking something I would recommend using a straw but if you are eating you don't have a chance in keeping this on your lips. Especially if it is oily.

I don't want this to be a bad review as I do like the colour and when applied right it is fine. I know this product was under £3.00 so I cannot moan too much and if you are on a budget I would defiantly recommend the MUA Luxe velvet liquid lipsticks a lot better than this one for a cheaper option.

The final thing I would like to add about this liquid lipstick is the fact that it is SUPER sticky. If you press your lips together and try to part them, they will legit feel stuck. I set this with a translucent powder to minimise this issue.

Here is what it looks like on my lips. I know it isn't a great application but I didn't want to use a lipliner so that you could see a true representation of the colour.

L'oreal True Match Foundation Review

Finally a high street brand has made foundations in cool, neutral and warm shades with the relevant lettering to go with it (C, CN, N, WN, W). I feel like true match is not really the right name for the foundation though because it gives the consumer the idea that it is one of those self adjusting foundations.

I really enjoy a full coverage foundation but always hate how thick all of the formulas are. The L'Oréal true match foundation is not thick at all. it is possibly one of the runniest foundations I own. If you pump some on your hand it will run. This means you can add layers to places you need more coverage without it looking like there is a lot of foundation on your face.

This foundation gives a matte, natural looking finish. I love applying this foundation with a flat top kabuki brush from Zoeva mainly as it gives me the most coverage out of it. I do normally apply with a beauty blender when I want a more natural medium coverage.

I do feel like the foundation can be quite drying on the skin and if you have visible dry patches the foundation will cling to these areas. I have combination skin with some dry patches but mostly oily and normal skin and it works brilliantly for me. This is now my 4th or 5th bottle of it and I think this is the only reason why I haven’t splurged and bought a high end foundation.

What is your favourite foundation from the high street and who remembers the old packaging of the True Match foundation?

Beautybay.com Update

Hi Everyone,

I went to buy a couple of bits today on beautybay.com and realised that they are now stocking the Makeup Geek brushes, sparklers and other bits on the website.

I am sure you can now get everything from the main Makeup Geek website from the UK stocklist beautybay.com.

This makes me extremely excited! I defiantly need to try more things from the brand as I love the eyeshadows so much!

My Makeup Geek wish list goes as follows:

Fortune Teller (Foiled)

Day Dreamer (Foiled

Boo Berry

Morrocco

Simply Marlena

Wisteria

Mermaid

Shimmermint

Fuji

Lemon Drop

Poolside

Havoc (Duochrome)

Pop Culture

White Lies

Whimsicle (Foiled)

This will be my colour palette. I have always been super scared of colour but now that I am thinking of doing an evening course in Makeup Artistry I thought I would dive out of my comfort zone and find the perfect combos of a lot of beautiful colours in which I can create some really cool looks with. I will obviously have to buy a new Z Palette to put these in once I have bought them! I think I may buy one of the colourful ones as it seems appropriate! I love the blue and purple shades! You can see swatches on the Makeup Geek website to see how beautiful they really are.

 

Makeup Geek shipping US to the UK

Hello, welcome back! Today we are going to be chatting about ordering Makeup Geek from the US site and what it was like to order from it. I found it particularly hard to find many reviews or videos on shipping US to UK from the Makeup Geek website so I thought I would let you know what I think about the whole thing.

Makeup Geek are now being stocked from the UK site beautybay.com. Unfortunately beautybay.com only stocks the pigments, eyeshadows - foiled, duo-chrome and standard and the blushes. So the Makeup Geek brushes, sparklers and gel liners are not yet available from a UK stocklist.

Shipping US to the UK can be risky as many people may know due to custom charges because you can never really estimate how much you will be charged. However, sometimes you are charged and sometimes you are not.

I placed an order with Makeup Geek of the following: 13 eye shadows and 2 pairs of lashes.  This came to a cost of around $85(£57). Shipping was then around $10 (£7)  and I paid an £18 ($27) custom charge. This all in all would have cost me… £82 ($122) which to me is a lot for eye shadows. From the day I ordered it took three and a half weeks for my parcel to get to me!

I would like to point out that the Makeup Geek website is really easy to navigate and you can find everything you need including FAQ’s without any hassle! I also love the fact that it shows looks of what people have been doing using Makeup Geek shadows which really gives me inspiration for looks I could be doing with the shadows I have got!

The Makeup Geek eye shadows on beautybay.com are sold for £4.95 if they are the standard shadows. The first time I ordered from beautybay I ordered 15 shadows which came to a total of £74.25.  I paid absolutely nothing for shipping and they came after 2 days.

My experience shopping with beautybay was better but that is due to the fact I am so impatient waiting for my delivery to get to me and there is no hidden charges. the only problem with ordering from beautybay was that Makeup Geek sells out really quickly.

I hope this helps!

What's In My Z - Palette...

So today I am giving you a tour of my Z - Pallete with swatches. This is not a review on the Z - Palette or the eyeshadows in my palette. I will be doing another post all about that!

I have the extra large Z - Palette in the black colour. This palette fits 35 standard sized eyeshadows. I ordered mine from a UK stocklist being beautybay.com and it was £20.95, I did pay for this myself and spent ALOT of money filling it. Luckily it is not all MAC shadows because that would be hella expensive! The eyeshadows in my palette are either from MAC or Makeup Geek.

Top Row (Left to Right): MG White Lies, MG Rapunzel, MG Shimma Shimma, MAC All That Glitters, MG Cinderella, MG Cosmopolitan, MG Glamourous.

Second Row (Left to Right): MG Foiled In The Spotlight, MG Foiled Starry Eyed, MAC Woodwinked, MG Prom Night, MG Duochrome Ritzy, MG Foiled Grandstand, MG Foiled Showtime.

Third Row (Left to Right):  MAC Satin Taupe, MG Beaches and Cream, MAC Malt, MG Crème Brulee, MG Petal Pusher, MG Desert Sands, MG Barcelona Beach.

Forth Row (Left to Right): MG Cupcake, MG Unexpected, MG Chickadee, MG Mango Tango, MG Latte, MG Preppy, MG Frappe.

Bottom Row (Left to Right): MG Cocoa Bear, MG Bitten, MG Cherry Cola, MG Mocha, MG Americano, MG Drama Queen, MG Corrupt.

Look out for a review and a chance to see all my favourites plus combos I love to put together! If you have any single eyeshadows you think I need, let me know. I think I need to put together a more colourful palette.

New Year

Happy New Year! I am not going to say 'new year, new me' because it is silly for anyone to even say it. The likelihood is that one person isn't going to change that much and how long do we keep up our resolutions for anyway?

There is however a few things that I would like to improve on throughout this year. I would love to know what your New Years Resolutions are so comment below and let me know... I may have to add some more to my list!

Although a new year does not always mean a new start for many people I would like for it to be the start of being more positive about things and not giving up as easily. I get down and negative due to being easily stressed. Doing this blog has helped with this so far as writing really gives me something to take my mind off it all. I am also going to try to chill in my evenings whether this be by lighting some candles turning off the lights and listening to some soothing music I don't know yet but I am sure once I figure it out I will let you all know.

My second new years resolution is to save my money. This is probably the one I will struggle with the most as I love makeup so much I cannot help myself and I suppose it really helps to give me more things to review for you all! I am hopefully going on a couple of holidays this year so I really need to save, after that I am hoping to move out so I will need to save for a LONG time to do this.

Thirdly, I hope to ride my pony Eric more as I have been trying to teach my foal how to behave in the field, how to allow us to touch her and groom her. All very important steps in making her 'tame' if that is the right word to describe it. Now that she is fine with doing all of these things I have more time to ride Eric.

Finally, my last plan of action is to reduce my portion sizes when I eat. I am a very big eater! I would like to get into shape so that if I ever have to run for whatever reason (I do not run...) I can do it. This also means being a regular at the gym. Not something I am best pleased about either but I know that it will do me a lot of good, I used to go to the gym a lot and it made me feel so much better.

Review: Beauty Blender

I never believed all of the people who said that beauty blenders changed how they applied makeup or that they are worth the £16 price point. That is just too much for me to justify on a sponge. How much can a sponge really do?

Anyway… it really has changed the way I apply my makeup. I love the way it bounces across the skin and you do not need to put ANY effort into doing your makeup with this sponge. No matter how many dupes come out there is nothing that even comes close to how the beauty blender feels. The Beauty Blender works best when damp, all you need to do is run it under the tap for a few moments give it a few squeezes and you are ready to go. If you have dry skin the beauty blender is great when damp as it hydrates as you apply your products.

In saying that I do still love my Real Techniques miracle complexion sponge but it is just not bouncy in the way the beauty blender is. I think that the Real Techniques sponge is great as it has the different contours. However, I always used the curved side as opposed to the flat edge you are meant to apply foundation with. This is completely just preference.

I bought my beauty blender from one of the UK stock lists being beautybay.com – I must say this is becoming my favourite site to order from as it sells some of my favourite brands and shipping is often free and quick! I bought it in a set with the beauty blender original, beauty blender pro, mini beauty blender and one of their mini reactive sprays. This was on a great deal as I bought it on black Friday. The set is originally around £32.00 however it was around £25 due to the sale. It was simply an offer I couldn’t refuse.

According to the website the ‘Pro’ makeup sponge can deliver a higher coverage than the original due to the unique suede texture. I can only notice this slightly so if you already have the ‘original’ and was thinking about getting the ‘pro’ sponge for this feature I do not think you need both.

Left: Black Beauty Blender Pro (dry) Right: Pink Beauty Blender Original (Damp)

You can literally do anything for the face with this sponge. It is great for applying foundation, concealer and even powder (baking with the beauty blender is a dream!). The beauty blender is also great for applying any cream / liquid products such as blush, contour and highlight. You can even use the mini one to prime eyelids and even apply a base colour to the lids. I have not tried this but it is an idea!

I love the way I can clean it so easily as well! Product comes out of it easily. So far I have not had any stubborn stains to remove.  I would also like to add that the reactive spray is also great for if you are on the go. It simply re hydrates your sponge! I feel like a spray bottle would do exactly the same but it is a nice addition to the set.

This is not available on the website at the moment but I am hoping that it is just out of stock as they do not show any out of stock products on the website.