January Loves

Beauty is the focus for this month. I'm in need of facials, smoothening balms and a core make-up kits that will ease me into the summer months. The masters of make-up, MAC, really delivered this year (along with the mother!) and I received the Christmas collection set as seen above. This set contains an eye shadow palette (black and white sheen), which I've been using as a highlighter on the brow bone and to compliment a dusty eye affect. Along with this the set also has Pro Pencil Eyeliner in Engraved,Jet Black Mascara and a beautiful black oval cosmetic bag. Blue eyeliner is a massive trend set to hit the beauty world for the coming season, so I managed to do some research for my perfect blue over Christmas. And although I went with MAC Pro Pencil in Mountain Air, Butter is brand which I've only heard great things about and would highly recommend for bold, bright colours. 

Contouring is a brand new feature to my life and after waisting alot of money, and patience, I think I've finally settled on the best approach fo me to take, based on my tone and skin type. More to come on this later in the month along with a feature on MAC Pro-longwear foundation.

As January is such a crap month, financially and socially, I've been spending a lot of nights in. Ideal for catching up on boxets that I've been meaning to watch over the past few months.  At the minute I'm hooked on Sons Of Anarchy (season 5!!!). But candles, candles are the main highight of my cosy nights in. Already a fan of low, dusty lighting, I strongly believe that these just so much more of a relaxed athmosphere to any room. My fave are Yankee Candles, ovbiously. 

All iteams, including links to buy, can be found here

Love C X

The Beauty Shift

Every so often a beauty trend comes along that revolutionizes the way we look at make up. In recent years the craze has seen everything from the smoky eye, to contouring to the comeback of the statement lip. The one fundamental aspect that we all crave for is a look that fits us! Personally, I believed for years that this could be found in the form of the perfect foundation. For years I tried and tested them all, Revlon, Rimmel, MAC, Clinique,  Max Factor, Laura Mercier, the list goes on, and although I did find a foundation that does exactly what I need it to do I still seem to crave that "natural" element to my look. Cakey make up is something that I think every female dreads, so how do we avoid this if we are a fan of a heavy foundation?

Until recently I believed that I would never truly be able to answer this question truthfully, but that was before I welcomed BB cream into my life. My first encounter was the battling question of; BB VS CC? How can one possibly understand which is going to work best for what we are looking for without testing both? And the answer is you can't. My initial understanding was that CC was going to be my obvious winner, as someone who has suffered with skin blemishes my whole life this seemed like my answer. So I tried No17 CC cream and the results were incredible, for awhile. I suppose my positive reaction mainly develops from my scepticism from the beginning, I genuinely believed that this was not going to work and a waste of money but I'm a sucker for a beauty craze. This product works wonders for those who do not want to apply make up and are looking for light coverage, but this isn't want I want. This product is too light to wear alone but too heavy to act with foundation. So this brings me to re-examine how I shop for BB/CC creams; Can it work with my existing beauty routine?

My next route lead me to a MAC counter. With a few friends who work for the brand I decided to give it a go, already a fan of their lip, eye and powder products I was willing to give it a go. So I purchased the BB compact cream and began to test it. I applied under my foundation and it worked relatively well. It was light enough to work under my foundation and gave me more coverage than my concealer was offering so it seemed like all was well. After time the product just seemed to be drying up my skin which was the tell tale sign that it had to go. Now I suppose at this stage you are probably wondering why I wouldn't just ditch the foundation but for me this probably boils down to an insecurity. As I have previously stated in my posts, foundation is my friend! Again, it has to work with my existing beauty routine.

For those of you who don't know my foundation is Clinique, Stay Matte. I wrote a review on my love for the product here. So I just went to a Clinique counter and asked the question that I probably should have asked at the beginning, what is the best cream to work with this foundation? Naturally, she was going to say a Clinique product, which I had already prepared myself for and was okay with. I just wanted the right product that was going to do what I wanted it to. After explaining what I wanted from the product and the results I was looking for she suggested that BB cream was best, and this was what I went for. I've been using Clinique BB for two weeks now and honestly, I am really happy with it and the effects it has on my skin. The "Naked Face" trend seems like it's here to stay so why not discover a product which can not only achieve the look but gives you confidence also.

Love C X 

Rimmel Scandaleyes Eyeliner: Review

Being an avid fan of eyeliner, both under my eye and on the lid, means that I am always partial to beauty bargains. Last week while shopping for my product "up-dates", you know yourself, every so often you have to have to pop  along to Boots to re-stock your beauty bag. Well, during mine last week I spotted Rimmel promotions, including their latest mascara to the range "Scandeleyes Rockin Curves", offering a few euros off, which I couldn't resist! In the end I bought the above mascara, some Natural Collection concealer and lip gloss and today's featured product "Scandeleys Eyeliner".

The biggest point to note at this moment is that I am very particular with the way I like my eye liner to sit on my lid. For my under eye I tend to stick to pencil liner as it stays on longer and isn't as difficult to apply, but it is strictly gel liner "pitch black" effect on top. My usual Rimmel product of choice is "Exaggerate Eye Liner" and this new liner style does not add up in comparison. First of all if you like your liner really dark this is not the product for you. It comes out more like a faded black which is only really acceptable at the end of the day when you are falling into bed. Well, it doesn't last until the end of the day anyway. If it is still visible at lunch your doing well. Another aspect of the product that has me on edge is that I don't think I am going to get very long out of it , this mainly due to the fact that I have it less than a week and it seems to be drying up already. The "Exaggerate" product has a  refill pot which the brush sits into allowing to achieve the ideal jet black lines above the eyes. Overall I am very disappointed with this product and if you are a keen eye liner wearer such as myself I would say stay away from this.

Another promotion that Rimmel are doing at the minute includes the eye shadow chubby sticks as part of the "Scandeleys", I bought one in the deeper purple shade. Last week I went out with a few friends and wore this shade to brighten up my make up (nude lip, basic contouring) and it did exactly just that, it looked great! What I loved the most is that it lasted until I got home and I didn't have to re-touch once (I wish the same could be said for my eyeliner).  I will be picking up one in every shade available.

Love C X

Best Beauty Brand of 2013

As all hard working women know, it can often be difficult to find a make that will last all day. By biggest issue is the effect that make up leaves after it has begun to fade; scaly, dry and overall unattractive.  So I have been searching for products and tips which can improve the length of my make up since I began to wearing it. During this time I have tried and tested almost every make up brand in the form of foundations, powders, bronzers, lipsticks or eye beauty, which could not only go the distance but have the consistency to continue to give me the look that made me fall in love with a brand.

One day while browsing in Penney's I decided to have a look at the beauty counter which is usually just by the till, primarily Catrice, Essence and NYC products.  Now I love buying new make products and I especially love a bargain so this was the perfect combination. The first brand that I starting picking up products was Catrice and I think on that first day I bought eyeliner, mascara, foundation and an eye shadow, and the best part was the total was around 10 Euro. Not only did I love the price but I went on to love the products.

I started using the "matte mousse" first and loved the results. It gives great results for a flawless effect and lasted longer than most foundations for a reasonable 4.50 Euro, although I think the price may be slightly higher these days. I no longer use this product because I found after time I realized this was not the best foundation for my skin type (combination). My skin feels its best when using "matte" foundations so I now use Clinque "Stay Matte" and the results are amazing. Also with this Catrice foundation it only lasts for about 2-3 weeks which can be irritating having to constantly go in and buy more! The eye shadows are also extremely great value and the brand offer a vast range of colours and tones to choose from.

But it was the following product which was the clear winner for me; Catrice Prime and Fine Smoothing Refiner. I had previously used Smashbox Primer as it is suppose to have the best results but I wasn't sold. It was alright but it was definitely not worth the money and didn't have that much of an impact on my make up so I couldn't understand the obsession and it mad be reluctant to try primers again. But I did! This primer not only kept my make up on ALL day but it retained that smooth, just applied look also. It is by far my favorite beauty find of 2013. 

The brands lip liners are also very effective. As a newbie to the lip liner world I dare not compare it to the effects of larger brands products but it converted me. My grads was a few months ago and it was my first experience using it with lip stick. I went for the nude effect and was very impressed with the  results; long lasting and beautiful natural tones. 

So there you have it, another year and another beauty discovery. Let me know if any of you are using any of Catrices products and what you think of them.

Love C X 

Define Yourself

Make up is something every female has an interest in, even if it is just to some little degree. For me the fascination has always been how to achieve certain looks. My face is round and I have always thought this has made my face seem fatter in photos than it does in person and it was later in life that I learnt about the art of contouring your face. When I came across the image below on pinterest I knew I had to share it. It all starts with the shaping of your face, which seems self explanaotry but it really took me years to realise what shape my face was! After years of debaiting with myslef and my friends it was settled, I had a round face. I found this image very helpful as not only does it make you realise that different shape faces should be applying their brozer in specific areas but it also tells you wear you should be applying the product. Personally I am a fan of bronzer to define the areas of my gace but I know some of you may be a fan of blusher, so I popped a blusher applying sample below also. 

For anyone who is insecure about their nose at all I stumbled across this image which I really think will serve very useful. I sometimes feel insecure about my nose which I think everybody does at some point in their life but this shows that it is nothing that a little make up can fix!! 

If I come across any other useful beauty cheat sheets Il make sure to pop them here. 

Love C X