Friday 28 February 2014

February Favourites

Does anyone else find it really hard to think of their monthly favourites? I only managed to think of 4 but I didn't want to put anything in that I hadn't really loved. 
My first item is this lip product from Rimmel which is the perfect colour. It's a bright pink but its not over the top; I find I can easily wear it in the daytime without feeling silly. 
My next favourite is this eye crayon from Seventeen. The formula is really creamy and the colour is my favourite kind of colour for my eyes. It doesn't come out as dark on the lids as it is in the crayon but it gives a really subtle shimmer which is perfect for days when I don't want my eyes to be too dramatic. 
This month I've really got back in to using gel eye liner. I used to use it months ago and decided I didn't like it because I couldn't get the precision I wanted. My eye liner wings became so big I could have taken flight with them. However this month much to my horror I found my holy grail eye liner, the Collection Fast Liner, wasn't working out for me so I gave this another go. I think I've got the hang of it better this time around and I'm really enjoying using it. 

Non Beauty Favourite
I might not do a non beauty favourite every month but since I only have 3 favourite make up products I figured I could throw one in. I have chosen Miss Saigon because I have been listening to it for 3 months straight since I saw a school production in December. You'd think that would make me hate it forever more but it sparked a love affair that will continue for a very long time. My mum, my sister and I are going to see it in London in June and I might actually die of excitement before I even get to see it. 

Thanks for stopping by and reading! Lots of love, Annie xx

Wednesday 26 February 2014

ALL BLOGGERS GREAT AND SMALL TAG

The urge to call this post 'FriTAG' (get it? get it?) was almost unbearable. 
Anyway I was tagged by the lovely Isobel to do this tag. It is designed for blogs with less than 1000 followers to help us learn a bit more about each other and build community spirit (?).
So, on with the questions!

1. What makes you want to blog?
When I first started reading blogs I never thought it would be something I could do but after a year or so I kept getting this niggling feeling at the back of my mind that I wanted to start my own. I tried to suppress the urge but eventually just thought 'f**k it, I've got nothing to lose'. I like having a place to talk about beauty and fashion as much as I like without feeling like I'm annoying my friends or family. 

2. Your morning skin routine?
Morning skin routines annoy me a little bit. Seriously, who has the time in the morning to put 20 different products on their skin? I don't even have a job and I don't have time for that. If I don't completely forget about morning skincare then I'll use a Korres 3 in 1 Cleansing Water that I found in TK Maxx. It saves time because it claims to cleanse, tone and soothe all in one. If my skin is dry at all I'll use The Body Shop Vitamin E moisturiser because it's nice and light so it sinks in quickly. This way I can get on to my makeup as soon as possible.  

4. A beauty product you can't live without?
This is impossible. I feel like I should choose something sensible like concealer or foundation but... lipstick, man. Would life be worth living without lipstick?  The answer is no. 

5. Your favourite drugstore makeup brand?
In my Liebster Award post I said Rimmel but I don't feel very strongly about any brand. I'm tempted to say Revlon instead. 

6. Your favourite high-end makeup brand?
I'm the same with high-end brands as I am with low-end. I don't have lots of products from one particular brand, I choose different products from a range of brands. My favourite foundation is Double Wear Light by Estee Lauder so I'm tempted to say that. 

7. What is your staple wardrobe item?
This may come as a surprise but.... black skirts. I know right who'd have thunk it? I'm sorry but they go with everything and I'm not into jeans or trousers (hello thunder thighs) so I get a lot of wear out of black skirts.

There was also an added question which I am going to answer:
 8. What is a product you wouldn't recommend?
A product that was really hyped and is still hyped now is the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation but it doesn't do anything for me. I guess it looks okay when I first put it on but it doesn't last at all and I don't get the hype surrounding it.

And now I tag Luci, Molly and Melissa to do the tag :)

Thanks for reading
Lots of love,
   

Monday 24 February 2014

Recent Purchases

 The Body Shop Hair Chalks- £5 each
 Primark Bag- £8
Dorothy Perkins shoes- £7

I went shopping, what else is new? 
My sister, Molly, has some really good things to say about the Max Factor foundation with the unnecessarily long name so I wanted to try it out for myself. I got it in the lightest colour which is a pretty decent shade for me but I feel like it might go a bit dark if it's built up too much.
I also nipped into The Body Shop to get the new 'serum-in-oil' whatever that means. It takes me a really long time to tell if a skincare product works for me but nothing disastrous has happened to my skin yet.
I know I was supposed to be waiting for the Anastasia Brow Pomade but I had an eyebrow related mental breakdown and ordered this in a 'I can't survive one more day with these on my forehead' moment. I got it in the shade Brunette which is perfect for my hair colour. I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as I had my hands on this, they look so much more natural now and it's really easy to use. I'm still going to get the Brow Pomade though. Will I ever be satisfied??
The Body Shop hair chalks. Yep. I officially want to dye my hair now. Never having used hair chalks before I don't even know how good they are but I like the subtlety of the colour it leaves when you've brushed out the excess chalk. Little warning though- don't wear a white top when you've got it in your hair. Oops. 
I popped in to Primark recently as well and bought this monochrome bag to match everything else in my wardrobe. I like the vertical zip and the contrast of the black and white. 
Lastly I bought these shoes for £7 in the Dorothy Perkins sale which is crazy. They're kind of the white version of every pair of shoes I own. I'm hoping that in summer these will convince me to peel off my beloved tights and bare my legs. 
Thanks so much for reading!
Lots of love,

Friday 21 February 2014

Outfit of the Day #5: ANOTHER black skirt






Primark Top- £6
Mango Coat- Old
Dorothy Perkins Necklace- £2
Dorothy Perkins Ring- £5
Other Rings- Primark

I trotted off to the Job Centre again today and my appointment was finished before the time it was meant to begin so this outfit got a grand total of 1 hour and 10 minutes out of the house, 20 minutes of which was spent in the train station waiting room. What a wild day. 

Coming at you with a black skirt again today; WHAT ELSE?! I paired it with this Primark quilted t-shirt which was only £6. It is a nice, soft material and even though it's quite boxy I find it rather flattering if I do say so myself. I stole this coat from my sister, Molly (don't hate me) because I love the fit and I think it adds to the monochrome look of the outfit. I added a delicate necklace and this new ring which I can't stop wearing, its so fancy!

You may also be able to notice a little blue on the ends of my hair as I recently bought the Body Shop hair chalks and I'm trying them out. It's subtle which I like but I don't know how long wearing they are- I'll keep trying though. 

Thanks for stopping by! 
Lots of love,





Wednesday 19 February 2014

First Impressions: L'Oreal Miss Manga Mascara


L'Oreal Miss Manga Mascara - Black

This is the second installment of something I like to call 'First Impressions' in which I review a product after using it once. I know a lot of the time it's hard to tell how good a product is after just one use but with this product I knew within seconds that I bloody love it.

Being of the short eyelashes variety it is hard to find a mascara that really makes a difference but this worked so well. It was like the second the brush hit my eyelashes they were longer and fuller and blacker. I've tried many mascaras and there have been occasions when I sit there with the wand for 10 minutes and by the end my eyelashes look exactly the same. However with this one I was done in about 2 minutes. I didn't know what to do with myself because I couldn't believe that I was done already. It really grabbed on to my eyelashes and wouldn't let go. This might be to do with the bendy wand or the tapered shape of the brush, I don't care as long as it works. 
I believe I have read some reviews where people said it went clumpy if you put on too many layers but don't all mascaras? They do in my experience anyway and by now I am used to (and quite like) the clumpy look. However I didn't find that this one went clumpy because I didn't even need many layers. 

I am the most surprised by how much I love this mascara after the first use. I don't know if I can say this is my favourite ever mascara until I've used it more but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. 

I'm really interested to know if people love or hate this mascara as I've read such mixed reviews so let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading, 
lots of love,


Monday 17 February 2014

Wishlistin'

Friday Wishlist



H&M Coat
£69.99









New Look Black Skort
£17.99




1. I've heard such mixed reviews about this Miss Manga mascara that I have to find out whether it works for me or not. 

2. This is the first of 2 cheek and/or lip products I've wanted to try one of the Stila Convertible colours for the longest time, the price tag being the only thing that's stopped me. I'm becoming more and more tempted by the day.

3. And the second cheek and lip tint is Lollitint by Benefit. I saw Gabriella of velvetgh0st use this in a recent tutorial and it looked stunning. I don't have any other products by Benefit but I think this would be a great first purchase.

4+5. The 217 brush has been added then removed then added, then removed again from numerous online baskets but I've never taken the plunge. Probably because it's not a necessity in my brush collection. The 208 brow brush however is absolutely essential. The brush I'm using at the moment was only meant to be temporary and my eyebrows deserve better.

6. Okay, so obviously I'm not going to spend £70 on a coat but I saw this on the H&M website and almost fell off my chair. I think it's amazing. It looks like it came straight off a catwalk somewhere. 

7.Here's another product that deep in my heart I know I'm never going to own but I'm always on the hunt for the perfect contouring powder and I've heard nothing but good things about Kevyn Aucoin's Sculpting Powder.

8. At first I was really on the fence about skorts but I'm growing to like them more and more. This plain black one from New Look seems like the perfect start for a skort newbie.

9. This is my most lusted for item at the moment. I am more than willing to spend £15 to get my hands on the Anastasia Brow Pomade. It wasn't until I saw Alix of ICovetThee use it in her Everyday Makeup Tutorial that I knew I needed this in my life. My slugs need some loving and I think this is the perfect product.


Thanks for stopping by, lots of love


Friday 14 February 2014

What I wore to the Job Centre...

 Nice background am I right? Lets call it 'grunge' (Just be thankful I moved the bins)

H&M Jumper (£14.99) and matching skirt (£12.99)- Can't find them on the website.
Primark Top
Topshop Shoes

Some of you man have read in an older blog post that I have recently become unemployed. Well today was my first trip to the Job Centre and where some people might see it as an opportunity to slum it for a day, try and blend in with the locals (oooh stereotype), I decided to throw on a bright lipstick and an outfit I'd been dying to wear for ages. 
The collar is actually from a blue top with tiny polka dots on from Primark which happens to have a collar that fits perfectly through the neck of this jumper. I think its a nice addiction to the outfit and who can say no to a collar?


Thanks for stopping by, lots of love

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Face of the Day #2





Considering I’m not doing anything interesting at all today I’ve gone pretty dramatic with the makeup. Lets just say I’m not one for the natural look.
I went pretty basic (for me) on the eyes today as I knew I was going for a more intense lip colour. It’s not a look I go for often, maybe I will try it more in the future.
Thanks for reading, lots of love

Monday 10 February 2014

A little promotion....

My sister has just started a blog (she was jealous of my crazy success) and she'd love it if you checked out her blog. It will mainly be beauty focused with some fashion thrown in here and there.

Here blog is called Mollywishes is you want to follow her on Bloglovin'.

Thanks for reading :)

Friday 7 February 2014

My favourite..... EVERYDAY PINKS










L-R: L'Oreal Lovely Rose, Rimmel Pink Blush, Revlon Pink Pout, Topshop Beehive

It seems that since the beginning of my blog a whole 2 weeks ago, I've not stopped going on about everyday pinks. I'm not against darker or brighter colours at all, in fact I thought I wore a large range of lipsticks. But apparently I don't. So anyway, I thought I could do a post about my favourite everyday pink lipsticks and then we can put all this behind us and I will try and be more adventurous with my lip colours. I would just like to point out that these aren't ranked in any order, they're just ones I reach for often (also these are purely my favourite traditional lipsticks. I might do another post with my favourite lip crayons, lip laqcuers etc). And the best thing about these lipsticks is that they are all from the drugstore/drugstore prices! 

The first lipstick I am going to talk about is this L'Oreal Rouge Caresse lipstick in 03 which is called Lovely Rose. It's very shimmery and moisturising which isn't something I usually go for in a lipstick but I always find myself reaching for this because it seems to go with every makeup look and it's not too nude that it looks as though I'm not wearing any lipstick. 

Next is the Rimmel Lasting Finish lipstick in Pink Blush. It's a similar colour to the L'Oreal one but it's much less shimmery yet it's not a matte finish. It's not the most moisturising but it's not uncomfortable on the lips either. This is one of those lipsticks that always finds it's way into my coat pocket.

The colour of the Revlon lipstick is a little bit different to the first two. It's definitely got more lilac in it but it's still really easy to wear while putting a different spin on the 'everyday pink'. It's a matte finish which I really like and I really need to get more from this line of lipsticks. 

The last lipstick I have to talk about is the Topshop lipstick in Beehive which is annoyingly now out of stock on the Topshop website. It's probably the nudest of the 4 shades in this post. It looks darker in the pictures than it is in real life but it's definitely not as baby or barbie pink as the others. It has a creamy finish which is perfectly situated between a matte and a shimmery finish. 

My life is a constant search for the perfect everyday pink so this list of favourites will continue to grow. Tell me your favourite everyday pink in the comments!


Thanks so much for reading!