Simple & Colourful FOTD

I went for the minimalistic look today. Being that I would rather spend longer in bed! I'm so lazy. But seriously sometimes it's so cold out you just want to spend a little bit longer snuggling under the duvet. SO here's a look that will allow you extra time in bed - it only takes a few minutes!

I used:

FACE

L'oreal True Match Liquid Foundation in (W3) Golden Beige
New ID I-Bronze in Rio
New ID I-Glow in Ice Pop

EYES

No.7 Amazing Eyes Liquid Eyeliner in black - upper lashline
Rimmel Kohl Eye Pencil in black - upper waterline
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in Electric - lower waterline
Wet n Wild Mega Length Double Action Mascara in black

LIPS

The Body Shop Lip Butter in Sweet Lemon

What does your 2 minute make up face look like?

Rimmel vs MAC Cream Eyeshadow

I was going through my cream eyeshadow collection and came across these. Would you ever compromise on quality in order to spend less?

They are slightly different colours but from afar they are very similar. They are in very similar shaped pots, similar colours and that made me think. Do they also apply the same? So I investigated - The picture below shows the colours and textures.

I found the Rimmel cream eyeshadow on the left was slightly thicker and applied a little blobby at times. Whereas the MAC eyeshadow was so smooth and I didn't need to use as much to bring out the true colour. Now I know the MAC shadows cost about 3 times as much as the Rimmel eyeshadows, but for one of the first times I'm saying that I would go for MAC over anything else. This product is perfect - it has a subtle shimmer, whereas I think the Rimmel one is a bit too shiny...

Which do you prefer? Do you own any of these?

The Body Shop Lip Butter

"This is wonderful stuff" is the first thing I thought when I was bought a lip butter for my birthday a few years back. They are more expensive than normal lip balms but they are sooooo worth it. They smell divine and moisturise my lips more than anything I've tried before - even vaseline!

Last month I used my Love Body membership card to get a lip butter as my "birthday gift". There were about 5 or 6 flavours and I chose Sweet Lemon. The little pots hold 8.5g which isn't actually too bad for £4.

Another great thing about these lip butters is that the scent can be smelt from a short distance away - my boyfriend quite likes that my lips smell of lemons! I definitely want more of these in the future! They are perfect to be taken anywhere - fit right in your handbag. I also like the fact they are in pots rather than tubes, you can use every last little bit!

Do you own any of these?

Work Christmas Meal FOTD

I wanted to do a vibrant look for my work xmas meal, I was wearing pretty neutral clothing so thought it was the obvious option.

I used:

FACE

No.7 Mineral Perfection Foundation in Almond
No.7 Cheek Tint in Maple Silk
No.7 Mineral Perfection Blusher in Soft Damson

EYES

Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

Sleek Acid Palette - 1. inner corner,  2. eyelid
Sleek Storm Palette - 3. outer corner, 4. highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in Electric - lower waterline
Rimmel Kohl Eye Pencil in black - upper waterline
No.7 Amazing Eyes Liner in black - upper lashline
Wet n Wild Mega Length Double Action Mascara in black

LIPS

No.7 Stay Perfect Lipstick in Nude Rebellion
Skittles lip balm in Strawberry Starfruit

What do you think? Have you got any requests - let me know, email me: samwells87@hotmail.com

No.7 Christmas NOTD

I got a few more birthday presents today - I will show you them properly when I have more time to blog over the weekend. But today's NOTD used 2 of the nail varnishes I got! I also think it turned out quite Christmassy which is good because it's my work Christmas meal tomorrow.

I used No.7 - Milan and Rose Truffle for the tip. Then No.7 Matte top coat. I love how shimmery Milan is!!

What do you think guys?

Sleek Storm FOTD

After yesterday's review of the Sleek Storm palette, I thought I would use it for a natural look that was a bit more exciting than normal. It didn't take long to do this as I only used a few products, and I think it looks great considering.

I used:

FACE

No.7 Mineral Perfection Foundation in Almond
No.7 Mineral Perfection Blusher in Soft Damson

EYES

Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy

Sleek Storm Palette:-

1. all over eye - upper & lower

2. upper eyelid

3. crease

4. lower eyelid

Barry M Shimmering Eye & Lip Crayon in Gold - highlight

Rimmel Kohl Eye Pencil in black

No.7 Lash 360° Mascara in black

LIPS

No.7 Pink Crush Moisture Drench Lipstick

What do you think? Have you created any FOTD's from the Storm palette??

Sleek Storm Palette Review

Some people may look at this palette with an "untrained" eye and think the colours are boring. This review is going to prove otherwise.

Here is a picture of the palette:

Here are my swatches of the colours over the top of Pixie Epoxy:

With flash

Without flash

I popped in two pictures because one shows the shimmer more and one shows how pigmented the colours are. I absolutely love them. For the price of £5.99 for 12 eyeshadows they are very high quality. Much better than I thought they would be.

I did notice that the black is a bit harder than the other shadows, it takes more pressing to actually apply. But this is probably a good thing as I don't tend to use black much and when I do I use it cautiously. The fact that it's slightly harder to apply means I'm less likely to apply too much.

The variety of shades in this palette coordinate perfectly. You can pretty mcuh match any of these shades with another and still make it work. I love every single shade and will be using this plenty. If I wake up early enough tomorrow I fancy doing a bronze look...


What do you think?

Sleek FOTD 2

This is a quick blog post because I have been up since 8am and I didn't get in til 3am last night so I need to go to bed early tonight!! Just a quick one to show you my make up from last night. My friend's mum turned 60, so we celebrated in style! I had an excuse to use my new Sleek palettes, however I ran out of time very quicly and found myself with only 5 minutes to do my make up!!

I used:

FACE

L'oreal True Match Liquid Foundation in (W3) Golden Beige
New ID I-Bronze in Rio
No.7 Cheek Tint in Maple Silk
New ID I-Glow in Ice Pop

EYES

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
Sleek Original Palette in shimmer olive - eyelid
Sleek Original Palette in shimmer cream - highlight
Sleek Storm Palette in matte dark brown - outer eyelid
Rimmel Kohl Eye Pencil in black
No.7 Lash 360° Mascara in black

LIPS

No.7 Wild Volume Lipstick in Toffee Apple
Cherry Carmex

Quite a quick and simple look to do in the end I think it took 7 minutes, hehe.

Green Glitter Gradient Manicure

I decided I would try the sponge effect manicure - also known as a gradient manicure. I used 4 colours and thought a little bit of glitter on the tip would look pretty. It turned out ok, however if I do it again I must remember to dab a bit more than swipe, as I seemed to just try to paint it on almost as normal. It is weird to get the hang of I suppose after you've been swiping/painting nails for over a decade!

Anyway, a partial success. Sorry the pictures have been taken pre clean up, I was a little bit excited about getting this up and will probably do the clean up when I'm having a lovely soak in the bath tomorrow morning to warm me up as there is still masses of show outside!

First I added a base coat - No.7 So Smooth, then I added 2 coats of No.7 60's Mini Skirt. Next came the first sponging colour - Barry M in Mint Green (as pictured below).

Then came the second sponging colour, what I liked is that you didn't have to leave the sponging coats long until they had dried. The second colour was Barry M in Spring Green.

After that I added a little bit of Models Own in Peacock Green to the tips and then coated that in a purple/blue/silver flecked glitter and left it to dry. And that was it! Quite simple really, but as mentioned earlier it does show in the pictures that I need to get used to the sponging method a bit more as some of the colour changes just look like bold lines, rather than a complete gradient look.

Better luck next time :D

Have you tried this before? Have you got any tips for me? Thanks!! xx

November Favourites

I haven't bought much this month - I'm not including my Sleek palettes as I haven't had enough time to give them a proper play yet! But these items I have used a lot in the past month.

This liquid foundation surprised me because it actually feels as though it sets on your face, kinda between the texture of a liquid and a powder. It actually dries really nicely rather than your skin feeling heavy and oily. I generally don't have oily skin but this is how some foundations can make me feel - I get a bit paranoid about it sometimes! Yesterday I even tried applying 3 times as much as I normally wear and it still felt soft, a mixture of the powder/liquid setting and stayed that way all day.

The pump is easy to use, it provides you with the perfect amount from one squeeze. It's really easy to blend around your face either with a brush, sponge or fingers. I find there are plenty of shades in the range with specific colours for warm and cool skin tones. This is fantastic for a great priced drugstore brand.

This is how I looked last night after using 3 pumps. You'll probably agree it looks lke quite a heavy coverage, but not fake in any way and sometimes i find when foundation is "caked" on it can look really bad. This doesn't. Even if I just want a little bit of foundation to even out my skin tone it doesn't take much, so this product is perfect for any coverage.


My second favourite for this month is a lipstick I purchased just before Halloween and I realised it had been named with that seasonal holiday in mind. For me, it's a great alternative to a nude lipstick. It's not quite nude - but also not too bright and daring to take all the attention away from the eyes (or anywhere else you may want to enhance).

I really like the fact that this lipstick is not drying at all and actually feels really nice on my lips, it feels soft. It doesn't flake at all and in fact I only have one bad thing to say about it. It doesn't rub off too easily so when brushing my teeth at night it sometimes gets onto my toothbrush. Bu then this just confirms how well it will stay on throughout the day.

I really like how it shows up on my lips. I suppose it's a kinda peachy colour, but I like the way it seems so glossy, without actually using lipgloss. It also has a few specks of gold shimmer to it which I really like, so that when you're caught in the right light it can look quite glamourous.

Do you own any of these items - what do you think??