Oh Hey Stanger! ♥

Helloooo! Oh my gosh, it's been a while hasn't it? Do you even remember me?! Well I thought I'd return after a long time away from this blog. I have been on holiday, moved into a new house, work, general life and trying to lose weight. I'd love to continue with this and I aim to! I am always interested to read blogs that have posts on weight loss on them, so even though this isn't one of those, I thought I'd pop in a 'before and now' picture. I am not calling it 'after' because I'm not at goal yet, but just in case you want a peek, here is a picture.

      March 2011         October 2012 

To keep this post make-up related, I thought I'd just share a couple of make up looks I have had over the last few weeks!

This is a pin up look I did for a Charity Lunch we went to. I did a white waterline, smokey eye and a red gradient lip, although that doesn't show too well on this picture! I am loving MAC Diva lipstick at the moment, it is such a great autumnal deep red. In the centre of the lips. I used MUA Shade 13 I think, great combo! I also have on Primark lashes, £1.00 bargains.

Here is the witchy witch look I did for our Halloween party. I used Snazaroo face paints, and MAC Diva on the lips. Contact lenses from Beautifeye.

And on actual Halloween, to creep out the trick or treaters, was a 'dead doll' inspired look. Snazaroo paints again, and MAC Diva.

Some more posts coming soon, sorry for my absence! 

Make Up Haul, MUA, MAC, Illamasqua ♥

Ahoy there! Did everybody have a nice bank holiday weekend? I hope so! Even with less than a week to Beauty UK, unfortunately I could not fight the make up minions that live inside my brain, and well and truly overspent in Birmingham. Although I only got two higher end products, it all adds up and I ended up in Primark too! Man alive, am I paying for it now.

You only live once is one of my favourite sayings ;)

So I'll just whizz through, just to give you an idea of what is out there at the moment! As you may or may not know, MACs new 'Hello Sailor' collection was launched this week, and as only this year I have learnt about MAC *shock horror*, I haven't had any of the patterned, limited edition collections. I loved this one though,  so I had to get something from it! I picked up the Frost lipstick in 'To Catch a Sailor', and it is a gorgeous sheer gold colour. I know the frost lipsticks aren't the best for colour, but I find that this one is buildable, suitable for everyday wear, or build it up and it is a very metallic bronze gold. It is a different colour for me, but I'm all into trying new things! That was £14.00. 

Talking of new things, I have been lusting after Illamasqua's Apocalips since the Human Fundamentalism collection came out! As you know, my hair is turquoise so this is a must have! Obviously not for everyday wear, but it's just something I need in my life! It is a little darker than the advertisement photos, but with a blue lip/eyeliner, or a white one underneath, that soon brightens it up. The make up artist in Selfridges put it on me so I was walking around town with blue lips, which made me look like a drag queen because she extended my cupids bow, and didn't do the best job. I don't want to tell my grandmother how to suck eggs, but I soon wiped it off. That was £15.50.

Primark have bought out their own lipbalms! They smell a bit dodgy I must admit, like more clinical than the smell they are meant to be, but for £1.00 I got two, just to shove in my bag!

I have got a fancy dress party for Ed's brothers birthday in June, which doubles as our Queen's jubilee date so we have to dress all patriotic! Most people are going as the Royals, so I thought I would be different and go as a Union Jack! I have a Union Jack dress, deely boppers, lip tattoo...the list goes on! In Primark I found these nail wraps for £1.00! I have never tried nail wraps before, but they are perfect so I will give them a go! 

I then came across this spray rapid dry for nails. It was on the test table at Superdrug and I was extremely sceptical about it. I had a go however, and it works like a dream! It's a bit wet at first but I felt the nail after about 30 seconds and it was already pretty much dry. I am looking forward to properly trying it out, and I shall later review it. This was £3.59. Next up, MUA.

We all know and love MUA, and I have tons of the stuff, but I hadn't got the red lipstick yet! Louise at Sprinkle of Glitter always says how much she loves it, and I have four other pink shades but not the red, so for £1.00 I had to get it! I am yet to try, but I'm sure it shall be fabulous!

I also naughtily got a couple of other bits while I was there. I am actually determined to have the whole collection. I got the face powder in shade 1, because I usually use the Sleek Luminous face powder, but this is £1.00 so I thought I should try it, and compare. I got the two remaining blushers that I don't have, in shade  2 and shade 6. I absolutely love the MUA blushers, I couldn't recommend them more because the colours, application and price are all beautiful.

I then picked up the new brush on concealer. I don't think this is going to be a product I stick with, as my 'go-to' concealer is of course the Collection 2000 lasting perfection. It is in one of those applicators that have the twisty, clicky bit on the bottom, to which you have to wait a lightyear for the product to come out - then it all comes out at once! Does that happen to you? It seems to dry quickly too so not that easy to blend, and although it is the light shade, it is still a few shades dark for me. That was £2.00.

And finally the last few items. Eyeliners and plumping lip gloss. In Illamasqua, when I had Apocalips put on, the Make up artist lined my lips with a blue liner, and then put on the lipstick. Of course, she tried to sell it to me, but I knew I could get the exact colour from MUA for a pound!! And lets face it, I'm not gonna wear it everyday. It is in shade 'Turquoise' and is a very close dupe to 'Debonair' from Illamasqua, just £12.00 cheaper. I got the 'Royal Blue' shade also, and the Illamasqua dupe is called 'Paddle'. I can't believe how close it is really!

For the lippies, I got two of the plumping 'Out There' glosses, which were £2.00 each. I got them in 'Shocking Pink' and 'Buff'. They do sting a tad! But no pain, no gain!

So I hope you liked my little haul, please go out and try the MUA products yourselves if you haven't already, I think you would be pleasantly surprised! 

If you are still with me, here is an adorably cute picture of our bunny, Peanut. She is the most spoilt bunny in the world, and I wouldn't have it any other way! 

Ciao for now XxX

Make up and Thrifty OOTE ♥

Hello everyone! So today I am doing a little post on a few make up looks I have had over the past couple of days, and a few things I picked up from my local charity shops recently. I am really getting into the habit of looking round the charity shops, because you just never know what you might find. I actually really enjoy the  little challenge of going into one, and trying to find a thrify outfit, or piece of jewellery that could look up to date, or relatively decent. I used to never set foot in them, (oh the shame) because I used to be worried someone would see me coming out of it which is pretty bad really. Now I realise there are bargains to be had, and vintage is the way forward!

Ed and I went into the main one near us first, and spotted a few nice things. Ed got himself a chiming wall clock for his office at the fraction of the price he had been looking for online. As you may or may not know, I really love animal jewellery and so when I spotted this little guy, it was love at first sight! It was £8.00 though which I thought was a little steep, but there wasn't a scratch on it. I decided to leave Lenny the Lizard or Gary the Gecko (I'll shut up now ), because I didn't have the change in my purse anyway.

I told my Mom about it later on, and the next day she went and got it for me! Bless her, she is a super Mom! So he will make a home on one of my handbags.

Next were these vases (apologies for pic quality, I hadn't got time to snap them properly), my Mom also went back and got me these because I was umming and ahhing. Basically, for our wedding I want to collect lots of pretty small-ish vintage vases, so we can put clusters of different flowers in them on the tables. I thought these were lovely, just the right size and £1.50 each! What a bargain. The hunt is on for plenty more.

Then I saw these little badboys, which I am pretty sure I have previously seen in House of Fraser where they are about £22.00. Here they were £2.00, and being little lion heads I had to snap them up! As well as animal jewellery, I love big stud earrings, so they fit the mould - especially for that price.

Last but by no means least, I found this pastel pink polka dot shirt. It was my size, and I absolutely loved it. The collar is perfect, almost peter pan but slightly more pointed and I love the ribbed detail down the front. It is a lovely shirt for spring/summer with the pastel colour bang on trend. With a little bit of imagination, for £3.50 I was hoping I could make it work! It was originally from Marks and Sparks, so not your average old rubbish I'll have you know ;p !

This was my outfit of the evening (OOTE) on the day I brought it. We decided to go out for an Italian so I thought what better excuse? Sorry about the blurry picture again, this was taken on my SLR but unfortunately my hubby to be won't quite make it as David Bailey just yet, bless his cottons.

So I whacked my hair into a vintage style roll and high ponytail. Shoved on the blouse - £3.50 st Giles, shoved on the skirt - £3.00 from Matalan, the black blazer - £10.00 from Primark, some tights and some patent black heels from New Look - £20.00 (which you can't see...). I then added my gold chain from the vintage fair - £5.00, pearl vintage earrings - £1.00 Charity shop, and a gold belt that came from another skirt somewhere along the line. And there you have it, thrifty outfit of the evening.

A bit closer up, this is Ed & I, just to show what my make up was like. 

Face Base - Nars Sheer Glow in Deauville 4, MUA Bronzer in shade 2 I think - it is matte anyway (which I totally adore), MUA light pink blusher in shade 1, sleek luminous face powder to set.

Eyebrows - MUA clear mascara (used as a brilliant brow gel!) MUA eyeshadow in shade 19, applied with Models own angled brush.

Eyes - Asda lipbalm as primer, Urban Decay Naked Pallette colours - sin, toasted and hustle, MAC fluidline in Blacktrack, Primark lashes, Maybelline falsies winged mascara.

Lips - MAC Sheen Supreme in Insanely It.

And thatsh'allot!

Another quick make up look I did the other day, kind of like a 3 tiered smokey look using Maybelline colour tattoo in gold, a few colours out of the Naked pallette and MAC Hue lipstick. I have been thinking I may do a tutorial on something like this, because it's pretty easy and structured so it would be an easy step by step.

Bit of a random post for you there, but at least it may give you some inspiration for braving the charity shops! As always, thanks for reading!

Ciao for now! XxX

Mini Make Up Haul ♥

Bonjour mes amis! Over the weekend I had the pleasure of meeting up with my very lovely friend Sarah, and we had a little mooch around Birmingham. I was going in with pretty much empty pockets, but of course I just can't come out with nothing; why break the habit of a lifetime?

I got the train into Birmingham for the first time in ages! I usually hate hate hate public transport, but this time around I felt that it was actually much easier than battling through the Sunday traffic, losing my car in Selfridges as I do every single time, and it gives me a good walk either side of the journey. Win win situation.

SO, onto the bedlam of the every burning hole in my pocket!

This is what my hand looked like after we decided to venture into Selfridges at the end of our trip. I told myself not to go in there and risk buying anything, but I can't actually do it. Anyone else suffer with the same issue?

Ok, so first I headed into Boots, and after recently trying out Models Own nail polish in Tropical Sun, I was very impressed! So of course I went back, and they are currently on offer at Boots 2 for £8.00. I had seen on a few beauty bloggers/vloggers channels that Indian Ocean is one that is majorly sought after, and I can see why! Oh my life it is absolutely stunning! I found it and there were only about 2 bottles left on the shelf, so I snapped me one right up!!! It is a beautiful iridescent pale blue with an added pink tone running through it. It dries super quick in seconds, and here's what it looks like with two coats, and what I currently have on! 

(Used with Boots falsies)

I also got the Models Own nail polish in Aqua Violet, which is part of the Beetlejuice collection. I always go for colours like this because my favourite colour in the whole world is Turquoise, and my hair is this colour so it's great to match! Aqua violet is quite a deep teal colour, and is a duotone with purple running through it.  I haven't tried it out yet, but I can't wait to! Also as you can see there, is another duotone iridescent colour from Barry M called Silvery Purple. In the light you can see purples, greens, blues and silver flecks in the bottle. I have only done a little test coat on my natural nails and it is quite sheer, but I think after two coats it would be perfecto. It's another gorgeous colour from Barry M and for £2.99 it's another bargainous buy. 

I also got the magnetic varnish in the black shade from Barry M, but I need to have a proper fiddle about with it first!

I finally got my first Illamasqua product! And my gosh I am excited about it! Sarah and I spent a good old while rummaging through their collection, with plenty of 'Ooo's' and 'Aaah's'. I actually couldn't come out of there empty handed, I think it is my new lust brand. I always love bright and wacky make up and they fit my every need! I think I am going to find myself going there every week getting a new product. This is a pure pigment, which is priced at £15.50 which I don't think is too bad as I think this will be a product that lasts a hell of a long time. This shade is called Static, and is a glittery iridescent (can you feel a theme here?) pinky purple. It is amazing and looks just like fairy dust! It can be used on the eyes, cheeks or mixed with an existing product. I can't wait to have a go with it!

Then we headed into Primark because we had heard they were doing nail art pens, but unfortunately ours had ran out! However they are doing a few beauty products so I picked up one of their lipsticks. They aren't named or numbered but it is the spotty one in the picture below, and is priced at £1.00. It is a light muted pink, and actually isn't the best product in the world and smells a bit like playdough. It's quite drying, but over lip balm it's actually a nice colour on the lips. For a pound I guess I can't grumble, but I doubt I would re-purchase.

Next was MUA at Superdrug which you know I love, and for a pound each these lipsticks are no comparison to the Primark one. They are just great! So moisturising and glossy with such a great range of shades! The colours don't pick up too well on my Iphone camera but it gives you an idea. The second from the left is 'Shade 12' and is a shimmery pink (not coral like it looks here), the next is 'Shade 5' and is a shimmery very light pink (gorgeous for everyday wear!) and the last is a deep pink with bluey undertones, and is 'Shade 3'. All gorgeous and I don't ever have a bad word to say about MUA really!

Swatched from top to bottom: Shade 3, Shade 12, Shade 5 and the Primark muted pink.

So here we are in Birmingham Bullring after we got attacked by Illamasqua! It was a lovely day and nice to see Sarah and I look forward to catching up again soon!

Have you bought anything new recently? Anything I should try? I would love to know!

Ciao for now XxX

Trip to Cyprus ♥

Greetings! I Hope you are doing diddly dandy! What a week. I am going to have to split it into two posts so as not to bore you! I will warn you that these are going to be picture heavy, but I like to look at pictures so you might do too. Firstly I am going to waffle on to you about our holiday to Cyprus. Not to make you well-jel or anything...but just to share our experience! 

This is a little picture of the make up and nails I did for the journey! I went for a coral look, especially as coral nails look fab when you have a bit of a tan! So this is Models own nail polish in Tropical Sun...I think it  is called, available at boots. Eyebrows are MUA matte brown in shade 19, available in Superdrug, and my lips are a number 17 lipstick, in lasting fix Hot Chilli. It really does last quite well, and they aren't too expensive! One of my favourite corals.

Waiting to board the plane, I grabbed these amazing sunnies from Claires at the airport, they are a great match for my hair! Also, Monarch give you these fit to fly tags for your hand luggage! Me likey. I also forgot to mention I got full body searched through security, as I always do, because I have ears full of metal with 9 piercings, 2 in my belly and then I had a big chain necklace on and set the bleepers off =/  I am an idiot. I just walk through with my arms out ready now!

On our plane, a woman decided to neck back neat vodka from a bottle she bought at the Duty Free. As you can imagine, always fun when you are confined at 30,000 feet. She kicked off and luckily we were at the back of the plane, but she ended up punching a passenger and pulling an air hostess' hair! We had to wait for the police to arrive when we landed before we got off the plane. This was about 11pm. Then, we had a transfer from the airport to our hotel in a little minibus, which to our suprise, also was to carry the drunk woman to her hotel. Unfortunately, Mr Cypriot minibus driver didn't believe us, and so didn't leave the airport until an hour later without her.

At 12.30am, we arrived at our apartments. We checked in, got our keys and headed up. It looked a nice enough place, until we went in. Long story short, electrical wires over the floor, bathroom full of dust and grime, unsafe cooking equipment, and last but not least a smoke alarm which intermittently bleeped every 10 seconds. You pay all that money and get all these extras for free! Hmm...not extras we would prefer to be honest. So after trying to fight the annoyance of the smoke alarm, we gave up, packed up and headed to reception to ask for a room move. They moved us to the one underneath, which was exactly the same but you could hear even more bleeps down the corridor! We just couldn't stand it, so at now 1am, we ventured to the hotel next door which was a large complex, as our reception had locked up and gone home! So no security either!

The manager at the new hotel gave us a lovely room with a view, so we went and took our cases, unfortunately had to pay for a whole other week, but at least we were happy. We checked out of the rubbish one the next day! This is what we could see from our window now. =)

Just a little poster that amused me...

The first day was sunny and overcast so I didn't think I needed any sun cream...I was incorrect.

It was pretty rainy for a couple of days then it brightened up towards the end of the week, so it was cocktails all round!

As it was easter when we went, they had these huge plastic bunnies and eggs all around the roads! Very different to the UK!

A Praying Mantis. I don't think I had seen one before, but someone had trodden on his leg =( poor thing, so I was trying to help him into some safer bushes. Good deed for the day!

Ed and his mammoth Pitta Kebab!

One of the nights out to eat. Liner is the usual Fluidline in blacktrack from MAC, and the lipstick is the MAC Chenman range in Force of Love, with matching Lipglass.

Finally, I gathered up the guts to Parasail while I was there! It was a great experience, really relaxing actually! Just gliding smoothly over the sea as you do! I was a bit hesitant and nervous at first, but my inner adrenaline junkie always gets the better of me, and I am really glad it does. Experiences like this make me feel glad I am alive!

Which gracefully brings me on to my next blog which shall be up very soon, about my Skydive!!!

Thanks for reading guys, sorry for the waffle!

Ciao for now XxXx

Recent Make up ♥

Hello lovlies. Today is a little bit of a haul post I guess. I have gone a bit mad over the last week or so on getting some cheapalicious bargains, and then having a naughty treat or two! As you know, I am not one for splurging a lot of money on one product because I was a born bargain hunter, but I have finally purchased a couple of higher end products because well...I have given in.

Ed and I went into Birmingham on Sunday, for a bit of retail therapy. Well, me dragging him round really. It was nice though because we haven't done anything like that in a long time. When you have a business like he does, it really does become your life and quality time away from it doesn't come up very often. I am very proud of him and everything he does, but sometimes you just need an hour or two together in a different scenery. So anyway, we headed to the Bullring, and I dragged him to Selfridges, somewhere I very rarely go considering it is on our doorstep.

Sorry about the picture quality it was taken at night, but at least you can make out what there is. So I have my first EVER MAC products! I am so excited! Ed was very kind enough to treat me to them, because I think he knows how much it means to me (cheesy as it sounds). I am so grateful to have them, and hopefully it is the start of my collection. So I thought I would buy a couple of staple items, the queue for a foundation test was 20 minutes long so you can see why I haven't began with that. I got the lipstick in 'Hue', that many 'Youtubers' and beauty bloggers say is a great all round nude lipstick to have. I have to agree, it is a lovely creamy formula and a nice neutral colour that will go with any make up look. Then I got the Fluidline gel liner in Blacktrack, which is another staple for me as I wear gel liner most days. I did want the 263 brush to go with it but they were sold out. The next items were part of their new collection which is Chenman Love and Water, which is an oriental inspired collection. The lipstick and Lipglass shades are called Force of Love, and they are a bright coral-pink. I absolutely love the colour and couldn't just walk past it! As for foundation, I went over to NARS and managed to get a consultation immediately. The lady on the counter was so helpful and friendly, whereas the MAC staff seemed pretty narky and stressed out, but they are really busy I guess.

This is the Sheer Glow foundation and it looks awfully yellow in this picture! I actually don't have the skin of a simpson, but I do have dodgy lighting! So this is in the shade Deauville light 4, and is the perfect match. I am saving it for the weekends though, don't want to waste it for work!

We then went to Superdrug, where I was really after the MUA love hearts collection but they didn't have it?! It's one of the largest Superdrug stores I have been in, and they hadn't got the Love hearts stuff in. I was a bit gutted, but maybe they are having it in later...So anyway, I got some dry shampoo because I had ran out, and I have used this brunette coloured one now, but it did still make my hair grey! I'm not fussed about it because I give it a good rub in, but I know a lot of people hate that so it might not be for you. I thought I would try out one of their new brushes too, this was £5.99 and is the 'slanted eye liner brush'. As I was let down with the MAC 263, I thought for the price I'll give it a bash. Then I got the Poptastic Palette from MUA as it had been reduced to £3.00 and I could do with some brighter shadows! Then I got two of the bronzers which were a pound each, and one is shimmery and the other matte. The Matte shade is very similar to the Laguna bronzer the NARS make up artist put on my face, but about £25.00 cheaper...Bargain!

So enough rambling, I thought I would just share a vile picture of myself with you just to demonstrate what the new Number 17 miracle matte foundation did to my face throughout the day! Blotchy Blotchville. I can't even see that I have any foundation on and this is about 8 hours after I first applied it, which I know is pretty hardcore but I would like to think it would look as if I had even the tiniest of layers on. I am not a big fan of the freckles I was unfortunately blessed with so I like to at least cover those. This foundation isn't really great for me. I do have combination skin, so I thought it would be OK as my T-zone gets incredibly oily through the day, but it kind of just clung to the little hairs on my face rather than sinking in to my skin - Cakey! I personally would not re-purchase this, but I have seen some people that very much like it, so if you have super oily skin, it may be one for you. 

Ciao for now! XxX