Kate Moss for Rimmel Lipstick Reviews.

I'm very excited to say that I've bought another two lipsticks from the Kate Moss Rimmel matte collection! The first one I bought is mentioned in my Favourite Matte Lipsticks post (shade 111). I originally wanted shade 107 when I was looking at them the first time but it was sold out. I then found out my mum had it and she let me try it out. I fell even deeper in love with it. When I noticed Superdrug had restocked it I couldn't help myself. I also wanted to try a pinky/nude shade so I also picked up 101. Such a bargain at £5.49 each!

Elf Blushers | Review + Swatches.

Remember a while back I posted about an elf haul? Well, here's another couple of products from said haul.This time it's two blushers, although one is really more of a highlighter. You'll see what I mean in a moment. These both cost £2.25, that's with 40% discount.

I decided it was time to try a few different shades of blush as for the past few years I've mainly stuck with baby pink. My all time favourite was from the Elite range, I bought it because I recognised the name from Americas Next Top Model. At the time it was the model agency the winner would be signed with. Silly reason for buying something, but I guess I'm easily influenced by things like that! I bought it in Superdrug and the range can't be found there any more, which is a shame as I lost my blusher shortly after hitting pan. Sobs.
I now use an MUA blusher in shade 1, which has a little bit of shimmer in it.

Anyway, I bought Candid Coral and Gotta Glow. As you will see Gotta glow is a cream colour with shimmer, so it works as a highlighter more than anything. Which is nice if you're wearing a matte blush and want to add a little glow to your look, as the name suggests!
I really like Candid Coral as well, it's also got some gold shimmer to it which is lovely and reminds me of some of the Nars blushers. The packaging is also reminiscent of Nars, not quite as sleek but for the price, who can complain!

Candid Coral.

Christmas Nails.

I'm not the hugest fan of Christmas, I do like it, but I'm not as mad on it as most people are. Although saying that I felt like painting my nails with a Christmassy theme. Kind of...
Having two days off work is amazing for many reasons, but it also means I can paint my nails!

I used Red Nail by H&M and 150 by Barry M for the accent nail. H&M nail polishes are fantastic, of the brands I've tried they are my favourite. They have a lovely colour range, are very opaque after two coats and are very easy to apply.
I just wish my nails and cuticles weren't so messed up. Years of washing dishes at work and an allergy to sanitiser have destroyed my nail beds so my cuticles don't grow back properly, if at all. It also means my nails grow in bumpy.

 

MAC Russian Red Lipstick

I absolutely love red lips! I can't seem to make myself buy anything else recently, it's red or nothing. My collection has been building up pretty quickly. Recently I have been looking for matte lipsticks more than anything (see my post on mattes here). Also, I'm really loving the Kate Moss matte collection at the moment!

I am always looking for reviews on lipsticks and I love looking through blogs and reading about what people are buying. I always love the colours that Eating Lipstick has, I wish Black Cherry by Revlon would be in stock in just one of the shops I've been looking in!
Beauty and Baggage suggested that I try Russian Red by MAC. I like to see things in person before I buy them, so when we were in Glasgow I had a look at it, as well as Ruby Woo. At that time I couldn't decide so I left it for a while as I knew that I would be going to Edinburgh this week so I could visit the counter there. After swatching them again and getting my mums opinion I decided on Russian Red.
It really is a true red, a lot of people would describe it as a universal red as it suits most skin tones. I'm very pale and it suits me nicely. I've worn it a couple of times since buying it, and I must say I do like it a lot. Perhaps not as much as Really Red from Revlon though, I find it lasts better.

Kitty cats.

For my birthday I got a kitten from my boyfriends parents. We also bought another kitten ourselves, so we have two sisters! They are adorable.


My kitten is called Sparky and is the one with black and white fur. Kyles is the little black one, and she is called Salem.

Here are some photos of the cuties!

Salem.

Sparky.

Looking very serious.

Sleepytime!

 

Just wanted to post a little update and introduce the kittens! Will have more beauty posts later in the week.

X

The Perfect Nude Eyeshadow Palette.

When I was younger it was all about the crazy eyeshadow colours, and don't get me wrong it still is sometimes, but recently I've really been getting into neutral shades for my eyes. It makes it easier for wearing make-up at work, plus I love a bold lip so it's a bit much otherwise!

I'm going to compare/review a few different palettes that I have acquired recently, these are the Undressed palette by MUA, the NYX Nude on Nude set (which also contains lip colours), and lastly the Naked palette by Urban Decay. As you can probably tell already they range in price from £4 (MUA), to £14.99 (NYX) and finally £36 (UD). I will only directly compare the Undressed palette and the Naked palette because they are pretty much the same! There will be a small review of the NYX one at the end. Be warned, this is a very photo heavy post!

Undressed palette from MUA - Top L-R: Shade1, Shade 2, Shade 3, Shade 4, Shade 5, Shade 6. Bottom L-R: Shade 7, Shade 8, Shade 9, Shade 10, Shade 11, Shade 12.

 

Ed Sheeran at Usher Hall, Edinburgh.

On Monday I went to see Ed Sheeran at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. He is one of my favourite musicians, I think he is so creative and talented at what he does. There were two support acts - Passenger and Foy Vance. They were both brilliant, it was the first gig I've been to where both support acts have really amazed me. You should check them out! This is my favourite song from Passenger, it's called Holes. You should seriously give him a listen. Here is my favourite from Foy Vance - I Got Love.

It was then time for Ed to come on. The noise was deafening, I've been to a lot of gigs but I'd never heard the crowd get so excited when the act came out. Don't get me wrong, I was screaming along with everyone else! He sang pretty much every song on his album (including the hidden track, The Parting Glass), everything except This and Wake Me up I think. As well as those songs he did a couple of covers, these were Be My Husband by Nina Simone and Wayfaring Stranger by Johnny Cash. I had watched him doing Wayfaring Stranger on YouTube and I was hoping he would do it live, it was the highlight of the gig for me. It was just so fantastic, the crowd was so quiet at the end that he took away his mic and sang without it for a line or two, it's worth a watch. Here's my video of it.

For the encore he sang the extended version of You Need Me, this was also fantastic. During this song he tripped and almost fell into the crowd, which was a bit scary but actually hilarious at the same time. Which is ok, cause he had a laugh about it too.
I must say this is one of the best gigs I've ever been to, he was so interactive with the crowd, his voice is even more amazing than I imagined it to be, it is a privilege to get to see him perform live with his guitar and loop station and everything. If I ever get the chance to see him again I will without hesitation!

Here's a few photos, I say a few, there's a lot...

Usher Hall.

Some pretty lights.

Passenger.

Foy Vance.

Ed Sheeran.

Favourite Matte Lipsticks.

As you may have noticed by now I absolutely love matte lipsticks. I don't think that I suit shimmery lips, a bit of sheen at night is enough for me.

These are some of my favourite matte lip colours (minus MACs Russian Red, which will have it's own post soon).

Please excuse the grody state of the packaging!

First one is by e.l.f, it was mentioned it in my haul a couple of weeks ago. It's a lip pencil in the colour Tea Rose and it cost £3.75. It's a lovely cool pink colour, something that is a little odd for me, but this is pretty much the only thing I wear other than red. I do find it to be a little more drying than the other two I'll be writing about, but it is beautifully opaque.

The next one is from the Kate Moss for Rimmel matte collection. It is in shade 111 - Kiss of Life. I was actually looking for shade 107 when I was looking at them as I wanted to try something a little darker for Autumn, but it was sold out. So I went for yet another red! I'm very glad I did, it's a beautiful colour which I have worn several times. It's a slightly deeper red than a classic red, so it's different from anything I already have. Bonus points for it being matte! This is a long lasting colour and it's not too drying on my already dry lips.
I will be keeping an eye out for 107 though as my mum has it and she loves it! These cost only £5.49.

Lastly, this is my absolute favourite, it's Really Red by Revlon. Revlon is a brand that I had never really paid much attention to before this year. The first thing I bought was their Lip Butter in Raspberry Pie, I was looking to try something a little different and I was pleasantly surprised. From then on I kept an eye on the stand and tried a few different things out. I also saw many blog posts and review raving about their lipsticks so I thought it was time to try one. I bought this about a month ago from eBay, for £5.99.

L-R: Tea Rose, Really Red and Kiss of Life (111).

Do you like matte lipsticks? Any suggestions?

X

Elf Lip Stain and Gloss | Review

A while back I ordered a bunch of stuff from e.l.f as they had sale around Halloween time. One of my favourite products from this haul is the lip stain in the shade Red Carpet. First thing, I absolutely love this shade, I think it's beautiful. It's a very blue toned red which I think it really suits my skin tone, and many others too I suspect! I also got this on sale for £2.25, so it's a total bargain. Normal price is £3.75.

The main reason I love this so much is because it is so opaque and matte. It's texture is thick and sticky like a gloss but it dries within about a minute. You can then choose to leave it as is or put the gloss on top of it (you get a clear gloss on the other end). It's lovely either way, but my personal preference is to leave it matte.

You can see below how thick it is.

Wearing stain only.

With gloss on top.

This product is heavily pigmented and stays put really well. Mainly when the stain is worn alone. I had to be very careful when applying this as if you make a mistake it's really difficult to remove. That swatch on my arm was a nightmare to remove! That, to me, is a good thing though.
I like to wear stains as a base for lipsticks as it helps keep the colour for longer and this one is perfect if
you're like me and wear red a lot.
I wore this tonight to the cinema, it lasted pretty well. I ate a hot dog, and drank a lot of juice and it did come off in the centre of my lips. So it can't quite survive that, but I am an incredibly messy eater, so show me something that could survive me eating a hot dog and I'd be amazed! Any suggestions?!

The Good.

Beautiful colour and pigmentation.
Can be worn matte or glossy.
Can be used as base.
Decent price (£2.25 on sale).

The Bad.

Smells weird (I know I forgot to mention that).
Doesn't survive eating or drinking very well (could just be me though!)
The applicator for the gloss gets the stain on it and looks kind of gross.

What do you think, are you a fan of e.l.f? Do you wear lip stains?

X

Birthday goodies.

It was my 23rd birthday on Sunday. Oh my, I still can't believe it. I really don't feel that old and I can't believe how fast this year has passed. It's insane.
The year is definitely getting better and better as it goes on, for me it did not have the best of beginnings. That's in the past though, and so, onward!
Does that even make sense?

There weren't many things I wanted this year, but then again my thoughts are never organised enough to realise what I want until it's too late, so I did better than usual! I've had my eye on the Naked palette by Urban Decay (do I even need to say who it's by at this point?!) for quite some time. It may be apparent that I'm (sort of) new to make-up, beauty etc, and the thing I've heard people rave about the most is the Naked palettes. I've read a lot of reviews and seen many a swatch and I just fell in love. My wonderful boyfriend was kind enough to buy me it, and I couldn't be happier. It came with a little pot of the primer potion as well as a brush. I probably won't go on about it much more as I doubt I could add much more insight into it than others already have done. It's totally worth the hype! I've used it a lot this week.
I also got another palette from my friend, this one is by Technic. It's amazing too, it has a good range of eyeshadows (both neutrals and brights), as well as four blushers and a few lip colours. I'm really looking forward to using it.

We also went to see Maximo Park in Glasgow and spent the day browsing the shops.We did venture into Frasers, but it was super busy and I get a bit freaked out by that. So I stopped by the MAC counter as well as the She Uemura one, but like I said it was very busy as it was Saturday. We also went to American Apparel and Urban Outfitters, I love going there because we don't have those stores where I am. On Sunday as few friends came up to the flat then we went out dancing. Lots of fun! Then on Monday night Kyle and I went to Nandos with my parents and my little sister. She was very excited which was very cute. Overall, I had a great weekend!
Photo time!

Getting ready to leave.

Paul Smith of Maximo Park.

No7 Foundation Match Made Service | Review.

As you may have noticed in photos of me I have very pale skin. Very very pale skin. Which I do like, I'm not complaining, it's just hard to find a foundation to match it. When I heard about the No7 Match Made service at Boots I was very intrigued.

It did take me a while to get around to it because admittedly I'm very shy and awkward in these situations. My boyfriend and I went up to the new Boots at the Kingsway retail park, which was much quieter and the lady from the No7 counter actually approached me. That made it much easier.

So basically she wiped off my existing foundation, and used the little device to take a photo of my skin on both sides of my face. It turns out it came up with a warning saying my skin couldn't be matched (my boyfriend found this hilarious). I wasn't all that surprised really, I realise how pale I am. She did manage to get a reading from the left side of my face, it was for the lightest shade they have, Calico. This was then applied to my cheeks on either side and she blended it in, but it was still far too orange for my skin tone. After a couple more tries she suggested their Intelligent Colour Foundation instead. This worked much better, it's more sheer and comes in the shade Extra Light. Which she informed me was a new addition to the range.