A Pop of Purple

I have been so in love with adding pops of colour to my eye looks at the moment, and purple has been my newest experiment. I adore this look so thought I would share with you how I achieved it. All the shadows are from the Morphe 35W palette.

To begin with, I ran the orange shade through my crease and slightly above, to act as a transition colour. You may think "orange and purple...really?!", but honestly you can't tell its orange and it just makes the final look really smooth and flawless. I then added the purple shade underneath the orange to the outer 3/4 of the eye, before popping the champagne shade on the inner corners and inner quarter. After a good three minutes of blending out the edges, I applied the brightest purple on my lower lash line to make the look brighter, and really make my brown eyes pop.

The final steps were just tightlining and adding liner to my waterline to darken up the look a little before adding a tonne of mascara. It's honestly one of the easiest eyeshadow looks to create, but it is still super flattering on those with green or brown eyes. 

What colours do you like experimenting with on your eyes?

What is Baking?

I've always been one of those people that struggles to achieve the perfect contour, with it being sharp yet fairly natural at the same time. When I stumbled accross Baking it really changed my contouring routine and now I don't struggle at all to achieve a good contour.

The basis of baking is that once you apply your contour, you apply a line of loose powder, which is lighter than your normal shade, underneath the contour line. You essentially "bake", as you leave the powder there whilst you do the rest of your makeup, and eventually brush off the powder at the end. It reveals a super sharp contour, without looking too Drag-Queen-esque. 

Can we just take a moment to appreciate that highlight? Thanks to MAC Soft & Gentle. 

In terms of which loose powder to use, a lot of people seem to be in love with the Laura Mercier Loose Powder, or the Ben Nye Powders, but for me I found a super cheap alternative in Boots, which is the Natural Collection Loose Powder. It was only £1.99 and works amazingly with the Sleek Contour Kit!

 Have you guys tried Baking? If so what powders do you use?

Estee Lauder Modern Muse Le Rouge

Could I be any later on the bandwagon with this one? I am absolutely in love with this perfume, I have been lusting after it for months now, and my birthday finally bought it to me!

The campaign was headed by Kendall Jenner which just made me want the perfume ten times more, I mean, who doesn't want to smell like Kendall? The scent is very sophisticated, with very fruity and floral tones to it, with rose being a predominant note, along with jasmine, raspberry and vanilla. I think the scent is perfect for both daytime and evening, and it sticks around for a good few hours which is unlike most perfumes you find these days. 
As for the packaging, I think it is super sleek and I love the red detailing at the top. I am much more of a gold girl so the fact that the metal hardware is gold is much more appealing to me, and I will be putting this bottle at the front of my perfume display!
It is very unlike my other perfumes and it will definitely be saved for special occasions due to the price point. Starting at £45 it is available here.  Have you tried any Estee Lauder perfumes? 

Illamasqua Skin Base

After being matched at an Illamasqua counter and getting a sample pot, which I fell in love with, I thought it was about time I took the plunge and bought my first proper high end Foundation - if we exclude MAC. 

Skin Base is a light to medium coverage foundation, but can definitely be built up to be more of a full coverage foundation. It is inspired by Asian BB Creams which seem to be increasingly popular nowadays. The shade range is pretty decent, however the shade I was matched to is a little too dark for me which is extremely frustrating considering how much I paid for it. I find that the finish is not too matte and not too dewy, it is perfectly in the middle for me although I do still powder to make my T-Zone a bit more matte. In terms of staying power it is pretty decent. I don't tend to wear my foundation for longer than 8 hours so I cannot say, but for me it did start to wear a bit round the nose as the day went on.   

I love the bottle for this foundation, its a squeezy bottle and the shape is very unique to Illamasqua. One other complaint I do have is that you really don't get that much product considering the price you pay, especially when there are foundations just as good on the high street. If you have the money to spend I do recommend purchasing Skin Base, although I do think there are plenty of other good foundations on the high street if it is a bit out of your price range. 
I will definitely be saving Skin Base for nights out or important events, but will definitely have to invest in the Body Shop Lightening Drops to make it a bit more suited to my skin colour. It is available from the Illamasqua website here, at £32.50.
Have you tried Illamasqua Skin Base?

Valentines Day Makeup Look

Valentine's Day is one of those love/hate days for me, as on one hand I think it's really commercial and just a money making scheme for big brands, but at the same time, who doesn't like being treated like a Princess for the day and feeling all loved up?

I thought I would put together a makeup look which I think is perfect for Valentine's Day, whether you're staying in and cooking a romantic meal with your partner, or going out on a girls night out with all your single friends. It's not too dramatic, but it's a really gorgeous fresh look, with dewy glowing skin and a pretty pink lip. 

For my base I used MAC Face & Body as it has a medium coverage and leaves the skin looking super dewy. I then concealed with the one and only Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in the shade 3, which is slightly lighter than my skin tone and therefore brightened up under the eyes. To set this all down I used the 2true Pressed Powder. I felt like my face needed a bit of bronzing so I used the matte bronzer from my Makeup Revolution Palette, and also added a pink flush to the cheeks using the third colour in at the top. To highlight the tops of my cheekbones I used the white highlight from this palette which is insane, but took a lot of blending so as not to just look like a white line on my face. 

I cheated a little with the eyes and didn't prime them, but used Substitute for Love from my Zoeva Cocoa Blends palette all over the lid and up to the brow bone. To act as a transition colour I used Freshly Toasted, before adding a little bit of  Beans Are White to deepen up the crease. I absolutely love the lilac shade in this palette called Delicate Acidity, and I thought it would look pretty all over the lid. After applying this I added a little bit of Sweeter End in the inner third and inner corner of my eye to brighten things up a little bit. To keep with the bright theme I went for a nude liner in the waterline, before adding tonnes of mascara. 

For brows I stuck with my trusty Sleek Brow Kit in Dark Brown and set them in place with my Maybelline Brow Gel. To create the soft pink lips I used my GOSH Lip Liner in Nougat Crisp, and that was all. 

It really is a super easy look to create, and I wanted to keep things fairly natural so didn't go over the top with the eyes or use a bright lip colour. I think Valentine's Day should be about enhancing your natural features, after all, people should love you for the way you are. 

I hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day no matter what you're doing!

P.S. I realise my blog has been pretty beauty heavy recently, but it is my passion and therefore I love writing about it. If there's any posts you would like to see in the near future please drop me a comment and let me know!

MAC X Ariana Grande

The latest collaboration that MAC have bought out for the Viva Glam range is with the beautiful Ariana Grande, showcasing a beautiful dark autumnal purple lipstick, and a nude shimmer lip gloss. I managed to get my hands on the Lipstick thanks to my lovely boyfriend who picked it up at the airport for me. Its a very me colour and I think it will be creeping its way into my most used lipsticks. 

It claims to be a matte finish, however I think it still has a slight sheen to it, so if you like your matte's to be super matte, then this wont be for you. I really like that it isn't too drying on the lips, unlike some other MAC Matte lipsticks, however I did find that the colour clinged to my dry patches on my lips a little. The colour did take a little bit of layering as it applied a bit patchy, however the overall finished look wasn't too shabby.

Paired with a dark eye or even just winged liner, it creates a really brave but beautiful look.

I was super surprised when this was released, as I'd never have imagined this sort of color being one to be associated with Ariana, but I am totally in love with it. For £15.50 it's definitely not the cheapest option out there, but it is absolutely gorgeous, and the fact that all proceeds go to charity makes it a guilt-free purchase!

Will you be picking up this Viva Glam Lipstick?

Morphe 35W Palette

I have been dying to sit down and write this post for you guys for so long, but University work has got in the way, once again. I got the Morphe 35W palette for Christmas, and I'm not going to lie I wasn't expecting much from it due to the price point being very low for the amount of shadows you get. Let me tell you now, despite the price point, this is one of the highest quality eyeshadow palettes that I own!

Each shadow is incredibly buttery, and although some are more pigmented than others, they all have great colour payoff and not to mention they blend beautifully. You can create so many looks with this since there is 35 colours, with a mixture of mattes and shimmers. This look has been one of my go-to looks, and I personally love it. I use the bright orange shade as a transition colour, and then gradually add the darker browns through the crease, and finish off by adding a light shimmer all over the lid.

I am desperate to try more of the Morphe palettes, but I really don't think I will ever need to buy another palette again. This has everything I need and I cannot wait to take this travelling with me. 

Thank you Jaclyn Hill for raving on about Morphe shadows!

Have you guys tried anything from Morphe?

How I Kick Started the Year

With the pile of Christmas goodies finally gone now we are in February, it's a great time to truly kickstart your new year the healthy way. I don't know if other students feel this way, but when you come home from University for Christmas it seems as if your family think you are the Christmas Turkey and you need fattening up, it's almost impossible to eat healthily. When I moved back to Uni, it was the perfect time for me to get back into my healthy regime, and I'd like to share with you how I've been keeping myself feeling fit and healthy for the first month of 2016. 
Food Food is my biggest weakness, I would eat all day if I could. However, being on a very tight budget almost helps me to stay healthy. I picked up a Meal Plan sheet from Wilko's which is brilliant at helping me do my weekly shop, and means that there is no temptation for take out as I know what needs to be eaten and when. Last year I bought myself a roast chicken once a week, and it gave me four or five dinners which worked out so cheap yet so healthy. On the other days I have salmon or wholewheat pasta with homemade Pesto, these are all meals I will definitely be continuing to stick to this year.
Exercise Exercise used to be my worst enemy, but 2015 was my year of fitness and my body really changed thanks to regular workouts and shocking my body out of its lazy state. I intend to be keeping up with my 5 gym sessions a week, and perhaps adding in some morning Yoga, as this is something I really miss doing and I feel like it just makes everyday much more calm. I cannot explain to you how different I feel when I exercise, no more feeling lethargic, far less bloated and far less moody strops. 
Organisation I have been really successful this past month with keeping organised, and that's all thanks to a £1.50 diary from Wilko's. Writing down all my activities really helps, even down to writing down what my workout will be in the gym. My mind is so much clearer knowing what I am doing and I cannot recommend it enough.
How are you making 2016 the best year ever?!