Slate Fizz – Today’s Nails

I completely adore my Pink Fizz nail varnish by Models Own but for some reason I find it just doesn’t really go very well with my other pinky shades. It has almost a silvery tone to it so I’ve paired it with Slate Grey and I think it works much better as a big pink kick on a statement finger.

Models Own – Pink Fizz

Models Own – Slate Grey

If anyone owns Pink Fizz and has found a subtle pink that it goes nicely with I’d love to hear as all of my pinks make it look quite garish and ready for Barbie times only!

I lost my MAC virginity to a lipstick.

So a week or so ago when I stayed with my wife Miss Holly we made our way over to Westfields. One of my main reasons for being deadly excited to go a part from the obvious mass of amazing shops was the MAC store. Living in Southampton one of the largest cities on the South Coast my entire town does not have a MAC store or even a MAC counter. (if any girls of Southampton know of one I'm missing then please let me know?) 

Since TLC released 'Unpretty' in 1999 singing about owning everything that MAC had to offer I have always wanted a piece of 'magic.' So living in this big town without one you can imagine the excitement an entire MAC store held. 

How disappointed we were. We had to queue outside at 4pm on a Saturday which I didn't mind too much although I did feel like one of those teenagers who had trekked to Hollister to queue on the other side of the shopping centre walk way for a t-shirt vest but the beauty version. (It might only be people who have visited West Quay that understand this comparison) So anyways I was willing to put this to one side as it was MAC after all and the queue wasn't that big. 

I knew exactly what I wanted after lusting over their website for months so I headed in on a mission. It wasn't enjoyable at all. If I'm going to spend serious money on products I want a bit of an experience or something to make it seem kind of worthwhile. It was jam packed I couldn't find anything, all of the shop assistants were tidying eye shadow racks instead of actually assisting anyone and they didn't have any fluidline - the one product I was armed to buy for my best friend who specifically wanted dip down. 

So we left kind of quickly and from the comfort of my home I ordered the things I wanted in bliss. I'm sure a Saturday at Westfield wasn't the ideal time to hit MAC but we did leave it until 4pm - basically they just need a bigger store. Most beauty counters are bigger than their entire store and with such a large range it just didn't work. It definitely didn't put me off my complete lust for getting some MAC goodies though. 

Choosing a lipstick shade was crazy hard there are easily about 20 shades I could purchase straight away. I chose the frost lipstick 'Ramblin' Rose' because I've been looking for a perfect every day shade and I thought this would hit the spot. 

The packaging is spot on like everything MAC does - it's simple and effective and I love it. 

The colour is lovely it's a nude tone with a pinky shimmer going through it. 

I didn't actually expect the lipstick to feel a lot better than other lipsticks that I have. It might have been the placebo effect but I found this super creamy and perfect on my lips it didn't dry them out at all and I was shocked at how good the quality felt. Converted me a little bit more to the brand as if I needed anymore.

Apologies for my skin in these pics winter breakout just won't budge :(

I really love this shade it's promptly been put in my hand bag and I have been using it all the time. Looking back I'm shocked I haven't bought anything before - please bring a MAC counter to Southampton!

(there is a John Lewis and a Debenhams to place your counter :) )

I have a few other things I've bought and a mini order on the way (couldn't resist a code for Viva Nicki) 

Ssssh don't tell my bank manager he's not my friend at the moment as it is ;/ 

So I'm very excited to bring a few MAC things into my make-up bag. 

Are there any must-haves I need to add to my Birthday/ Christmas wish list? 

Erase Paste - Benefit

This Erase Paste was also part of the PorefessionallyPretty Kit I received, it was another product I’ve always had my eye on but haven’t wanted to part cash for in the past. It’s £19.50 RRP and available here. My little tester pot is adorable it came in shade medium which I probably would have picked from the three shades on offer - Fair, Medium and Deep. 

The Benefit Website Says - This concentrated, creamy concealer brightens and camouflages in one easy step! Targets dark circles, discolouration and imperfections. Three shades with brightening melon undertones to suit every complexion. Comes complete with a fully illustrated, step-by-step lesson and mini-spatula for easy application.

This concealer is very thick and the medium shade is very pinky which is something I’ve never really found in any concealer I’ve previously owned. I thought it would be far to pink for my skin but it actually blends well onto my skin. For me it doesn't sit well on top of my foundation where I mostly use other concealer but as it is so thick it works brilliantly underneath foundation. As my foundation wore off during the day this kept cover on my blemishes somewhat longer which I really liked. 

The peachy colour of it is brilliant if you wanted to brighten up some dull skin tones I'm not really sure its right for my skin and complexion overall as I think it would work brilliantly over foundation to really brighten up eyes. It’s only a little tester pot so I will definitely make my way through it for breakouts as it’s so thick it’s perfect to go under foundation to cover all kinds of blemishes. 

I don't think I'd buy this product again mostly because its not completely right for me and has a hefty price tag in my opinion. I also find the little pot a bit annoying in terms of application for a concealer I like a tube or brush, the sample didn't come with a spatula like the full size one does but I can't see myself loving a spatula either to be honest. 

Nicki Minaj for OPI

As a huge Nicki Minaj fan I was very excited to see she'd collaborated with one of my favourite nail brands O.P.I. Altogether their are 6 shades in the collection. The four included in the mini selection are: 

Did It On 'Em - A lusty little lacquer that loves the 'lime' - light. 

Fly - I came to win, to fight and to wear this aqua 

Pink Friday - Kick off the weekend with this pop! of bubblegum pink. 

Metallic 4 life - The enhanced sparkle flies with the stars in the skies 

The other two not in this selection that are available are Save Me - a rainbow glitter sparkle and Super Bass Shatter - a deep purple crackle polish. I'm not a huge fan of crackle polishes but would love to try Save Me and am tempted to buy it in full size as it looks delicious! All six full sized are available here. 

I love this little collection I think all the colours are so Nicki Minaj and you can imagine her wearing them all!  For me Fly is my favourite as I don't own any blue's in that shade and it creates such a strong colour in just a couple of coats. I know a lot of people have slated the choice of a bright lime green in the selection but I actually really like it - it's so different to anything you'd buy normally and I think it will be fun to create statement nails with this summer! Pink Friday is brilliant and couldn't not be included due to Nicki's album name, I have a few pinks in very similar shades but this one is brilliant and creates a good solid bubblegum pink. 

The one I didn't like quite so much was Metallic 4 Life - alone the colour build up wasn't very good and other than wearing it over black I don't think the black tinge to it would really work. I found it a little gritty too for a glitter polish. I think if I want to build up a strong black with silver glitter look I'd probably turn to just black polish and silver glitter alone so can't see myself using this that much overall. 

The polishes are available all over the internet here's a link to an amazon seller  They are pretty much £12.99 across the board! 

I love this collaboration and it's probably the first range I've actually been desperate to buy. They really work well as a collection and really are very Nicki Minaj. I think a lot of the time the polishes are just renamed to singers single titles but I think this range is that and also colours she'd wear herself. 

Has anyone tried any of the range or Save Me? 

Front Cover Eye-Shadow Palette

I've seen a lot of the kind of magazine looking make-up kits that front cover sell in Boots but their not something that really appeals to me so I've never purchased anything by this brand before. I bought this little palette and selection of eye shadows simply due to price. In boots this little selection was 75% off :0! I'm kind of thinking this range might be being discontinued either by boots or altogether as this is the same thing that happened with my much loved Ruby and Millie range that they stocked. 

Originally the shadows were £4 and the palette was £5. In sale the entire palette full of four shadows came to £5.25. I've search on-line and they are still showing up at full price on the front cover site here. 

I couldn't find this selection in my local Boots as the one I bought was in the large Westfields store however this link should take you to their discounted price on-line at boots.com. 

They are currently £1 for each shadow and if you buy the four shadows you get the palette free! 

The link keeps changing for me and I've had to keep re-linking a few times so if that doesn't work just search front cover and they all come up for me. 

Anyway back to the actual eye shadows they have a lovely selection ranging from darker blacks through browns, golds, blues, purples and through to creams and whites. I really like the idea of making up a little palette to suit you and its an opportunity to try some new colours and not just end up with the standard light to dark shades you get in most palettes. 

The shades I bought and that are pictured are: baked bronze, twinkling grape, pale gold and powder puff. They are baked shadows and the palette comes with a double ended brush. I really like the shadows they blend well and the selection of colours are gorgeous. I will definitely be picking up some different shades to make some more palettes up as they are bargainous!

Reaching Utopia – Today’s Nails

I have wanted this nail polish for months. Sadly Santa didn’t bring me it and I’ve been weighing up whether or not to make an extreme purchase on the Models Own website of like 10 polishes. I decided against this as I am a student and I need to prioritise ... or something like that. This shade is always out of stock in my local Boots so when I was visiting the haven that is Westfields London I had to buy, and it didn’t disappoint.

Utopia is a delicious light lilac shade that will go brilliantly with so many other shades I have. As a self-proclaimed nail varnish addict this little purchase has made me a very happy girl. It’s available for £5 on the Models Own website or in some Boots. 

Life Catch-Up, February 2012.

This blog post feels like a long time coming ... I had the best week last week and haven't had a chance to get on here and do much due to being crazy busy. I only slept in my own bed 2 nights out of 7! 

Myself and my best friend Sophie are mad Olly Murs fans. We were present at his first ever X Factor audition so we kind of feel like we know him haha. We stayed at a very cheap hotel which was a little like an old people's home but it was so cheap you can't complain we just needed a bed really. However the power cut during the hour we attempted to get ready did make life quite difficult :) 

Olly Murs was so amazing we had such a good night! 

Then for the weekend I headed to London town to visit my wife Holly Salter who's recently moved there. We had an amazing weekend drinking cheap wine, shopping and just generally being ridiculously girly. After living together for three years its weird not being able to go next door and share nail polish and watch trash TV together. I think that's kind of why my blog has evolved to fill this gap in my life since I moved home again. We were vaguely healthy in Pizza Express and ordered two of their new leggara pizza's which were actually really filling and delicious! We had a valentines meal and shared cards and even popped some Valentines crackers (they literally make everything for this day now)

I also included a little picture of my give blood bandage as I gave blood for the first time this week. It's something I've been meaning to do for so long as I think it's so important and it was kind of a new years resolution to get round to doing it properly this year. If anyone's thinking about it definitely take the plunge its so easy and quick and it can do so much good! I've already signed up for my second visit in July! 

R Kelly, Trapped in the Closet - love.

Between the years of 2005 - 2007 as I was leaving school and making my way through college R Kelly did something that has been a huge part of my life ever since and I wanted to share my real love of it with you today. I know this is completly off course from my normal blog entries but it needs to be said. 

R Kelly created 22 chapters of the music video movie/collection Trapped in the Closet. 

Buying the full DVD box set of these chapters was one of the best investments I have ever made. Some people really don't get it but listening to this story via the same melodic tune of 22 different three minute or so sections makes me so happy. 

It basically depicts a story of R Kelly cheating on his wife and ending up trapped in a closet - I won't ruin it by telling the entire story but the following chapters involve, a lady allergic to cherry pie cooking it for her midget lover, lots of shooting, people coming out of prison, a gay love affair, and the most messed up love triangles you've ever witnessed. It's a guilty pleasure and my love for it has recently reignited following a drunken evening in with youtube at our finger tips. I recommend buying the full DVD box set as it's nice to sit and watch it in its entirety but all chapters can be found on youtube.com for free. 

There are many news stories that R Kelly has written dozens more chapters for this series - and I hope that sometime soon they get released as it is probably my favourite thing ever. 

I can predict that no-one will probably understand my love for this music video collection but if you do please let me know as it's one of my favourite things ever and no-one I know appreciates me putting it on everytime I drink wine ... 

Girl Meets Pearl - Benefit

This product came a part of the Benefit Kit - Porefessionally Pretty. I’m still giving Porefessional major use before writing a review as right now it’s a little too good to be true? But anyways Girl Meets Pearl is labelled as a liquid pearl for face. It retails for £24.50 on the benefit website and the full size packaging is much prettier than the sample size it's a gorgeous shiny pink. 

It’s a standard highlighter cream product and I don’t think it’s much different from all the other products I’ve tried and is very similar to the Benefit High Beam but it does have a tube application which I think some people will prefer. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing bad to say about this but it just doesn’t blow my socks off.

I will be keeping this product in my handbag though or for nights out as it’s a good little highlighter. I however will not be repurchasing as for it’s price tag it just doesn’t do anything exciting in my opinion - and I’m kind of glad I got this as a sample instead of a full size product. 

MUA Lipstick - Shade 7

I've heard an read such great things about MUA cosmetics but sadly my local Superdrug MUA stand looks less than happy. However I ventured into town the other week and luckily their stand was brimming full of goodies. Obviously the major plus to buying MUA is their price point. I picked up a few goodies but have only had a chance to try out this lipstick so far. 

Their entire lipstick range comes in at £1. :0 It can be bought here on the Superdrug website. Despite reading so many amazing things about the range and in particular the lipsticks the price still left me a little unsure. Surely a decent lipstick couldn't come in at £1? And the answer is yes! I loved this lipstick Shade 7 that I tried is a lovely pink shade with slight corally tones. It's a brilliant cross between nudey pinks and bright pinks and could be worn day or night. It's super creamy and considering I have very dry lips it didn't dry them out at all. 

My only criticism (and it's a stupid one) is that they name their lipsticks more memorable names. I know it's silly but buying online is so much easier when products are named things that have reference to their colour. However I can't really fault the product itself £1 is spot on for me. I don't wear lipstick all the time so with prices like that you can play around with colours and try new things without worrying. 

I'd love to hear any shade recommendations if you've tried MUA lipstick, although I am tempted to pick up nearly the entire range ... 

Estee Lauder - BB Cream

I got my hands on a little Estee Lauder BB cream sample this week and as ever was very excited to try it out. I reviewed the Garnier version early last month here. I love the Garnier tube I bought and have been using it nearly every day since. 

The meaning of BB creme on all products across brands has been 'Blemish Balm' however Estee Lauder are marketing their version as Beauty Benefit Creme. Which does make it a little confusing but for me makes more sense to what BB creme actually is and does. 

I only had a little sample tube to try but it's lasted a few days and I've enjoyed using it. It has a really fresh scent almost like cucumber, it has the same consistency as many of the other brands I've tried. My sample was in light which was fine for my skin tone maybe a little too light but it worked as it blended in well. It didn't offer as much coverage as my Garnier tube though but it did feel a little smoother and softer on the skin overall. It contains an SPF35 which I think makes it perfect for delicate skins for holiday's and the summer as most other cremes are lower in terms of SPF. 

However a full size version of this cream comes in at a whopping £32 (can be bought here from Debenhams) I know Estee Lauder is a high end cosmetic brand but for me that is crazy money - this product is not a foundation and doesn't offer in my opinion anything more than the £10 tubes made by other brands. I think if you're really into having brands on your make-up table then this is a lovely creme but for me it doesn't do much more than any of the cheaper versions you can pick up. 

Has anyone tried this BB cream? Does it match up for you? 

Natural Collection Cream Blushers

I bought these cream blushers along side an eyeshadow product in a 3 for £5 offer. My benefit cream blush recently came to end and sadly they've discontinued it now. So annoying as it's probably my favourite benefit product and cream blush I've ever used :(

Anyways ... I couldn't decide in the store which one to get so I bought both considering they're so cheap. I got Bourbon Bloom and Rosy Pink. They retail for £1.99 each weirdly can't find them on the boots website but there was about 5 different shades as far as I can remember. 

These two colours are brilliant for me the rosy pink works for a more natural look and the bourbon bloom is perfect when I'm tanning. They are quite thin in consistency and you do need to build the colour up with them when applying. I love them because they are so cheap but I really need a longer lasting thicker cream blush to replace my Benefit one in the long term. My benefit one was also a cross between these two colours that worked with a tan and more naturally so ... if anyone has any recommendations I would love them! 

Umberto Giannini - Flirty Curls Scrunching Jelly

This is definitely not a product that's been lost amongst others. I'm actually on my second tube of this delicious jelly. I've always been the girl with straight hair wishing to of been born with curls. So I'm always looking for quick ways to help boost any curls I put in. I love this product. 

It costs £4.79 in boots and is currently in a 3 for 2 offer so you can pick up some of their other products too! I've loved everything I've used from this brand so always end up buying 3 or sometimes 6 products when these kind of offers are on. Its 200ml too so is such good value as it lasts for ages my last tube went on for months and I use it alot! 

You can work this into the ends of damp hair and scrunch dry, it leaves great tousled hair sometimes a little curly too. I actually find that after using this product and scrunching dry if I then put my rollers in afterwards my curls last so long. It's not sticky or gloopy but it holds your hair neatly and without the horrible look of too much hairspray. Also it's pink, what's not to love. 

Valentines Nails.

As much as I dislike Valentines (see here for more on Valentines Scrooge) I thought I'd add a little heart to my nails to mark the occasion. I wanted to do some garish pinks for this day but none of my colours seem to go together for me at the moment so stuck with two trust Model's Own shades and a bright pink diamanté. I recently bought some smaller diamonte's to the ones I've used previously. They were only 99p on eBay with P&P. From Hong Kong they do take a long time to reach you but if you buy well in advance you really can't go wrong for that kind of price. 

Models Own - Champagne 

Models Own - Vintage Pink 

I hope you all have a beautiful Valentines whatever you are up too :) 

Shine Shock - John Frieda

This is yet another product lost in the tardis that is my beauty boxes. I think this one actually got put back when I changed my hair colour red but I've played around for it for a few days and despite it's brunette packaging it doesn't matter what hair colour you are. 

It's available on eBay at varying prices but mostly less than £5 including delivery. It's basically a glossy styling product. My hair isn't particularly thick but I have a lot of it so keeping all of the ends tamed is always hard. Putting this product through the tips of my hair when it's wet means it's left much more manageable dry. It gives a lovely gloss and keeps all fly away ends down. It has a great consistency as it doesn't leave you with horrible sticky hands and it has what almost looks like glitter in it's formula even though you don't get any glitter on your hair. 

I love John Freida products and if I could afford them I would use all the ranges shampoo's and styling products as I find they are just perfect for my hair. This product is very reasonable though its a 75ml tube and you only need a small amount to cover your hair. This product (when I remember to use it) leaves my hair looking a lot glossier and less fly away it also smells delicious. Again I'm very happy I found this amongst everything! 

Sunday Saying.

Precious Beige, Color Sensational - Loreal

Again this is another lip product that made it to the depths of my cosmetic collection - but one I do really love. I can't find it on-line anywhere but I didn't buy it that long ago so doubt it's completely gone. It's shade 605 Precious Beige Color Sensational.

 I kind of hope the reason I can't find it on-line is because they've just re branded the product as the packaging on this for me is hideous. It's in like a translucent brown plastic case over it's silver tube. I know they used brown for the cream shades and pink for the pinks etc. but for me the brown tube is just ugly. 

I do love this lipstick though mostly as it goes perfectly if you're going to va va voom eyes its got a little bit of shimmer in too which makes it a lovely product and it's super creamy and easy to apply as most lipsticks are. I think if you were slightly more pale skinned it would completely melt your lips into your face though as it is very pale. Mine just make I think. 

Just Bitten, Passion - Revlon

When I enter Boots I seem to lose my senses and most of all any thought of how much money is in my bank account. So last night the internet was down (fabulous service from Virgin Media once again) and I decided to go through my masses of boxes of the many cosmetics and hair products I seem to have accumulated. I found about 5 things that I absolutely love which have some how managed to find their way to the bottom of a box or the back of a cabinet. So I'm going to be sharing them over the next weeks or so. 

The first thing I found and was completely gutted I'd let make it to the bottom of a box was this Revlon Just Bitten lipstain and balm. It retails for £7.99 in boots and is available in 7 colours. My one is in 'Passion' which for me is a very bright pink but I've actually noticed they do a brighter pink called 'Flame' which looks gorgeous. 

As I've said before I can't wear lipgloss products as there's something in them that makes my lip swell and puff and go all horrible so I stick to lipsticks and lip creams. I love the idea of lip stains because if your lazy like me and don't want to top up your lipstick whilst you're out they're perfect for keeping colour. Revlon isn't a brand I would normally buy but this product just stood out for me for those reasons. 

This product has a felt tip type applicator on one end which makes it super easy to apply. The other end has a flat completely colourless balm. I find the lip-stain isn't actually that drying and I don't have to use the balm applicator much at all. It's perfect that it's included though as it does really bring the colour out when applied on top. 

I really love this product it's perfect for me. I'm so glad I found it amongst everything that had been lost. I will be getting a more neutral tone soon for smoky eye days. 

Valentines Scrooge.

It is officially less than a week till Valentines Day. I kind of hate this day, it leaves single people feeling awful and people in a relationship never matching up to the hype. Don't get me wrong I love, love but it is just so over done now and holds far to much anticipation for things that no-ones even sure they want. It's everywhere this year (even my local post office has a stand) lines of teddy-bears holding hearts that say 'I love you' and cards with long winded poems. Surely it would be nicer if someone just said I love you every day and maybe bought a bottle of your favourite wine than the £10 bear you won't know where to put? 

I'm the worst culprit of getting over excited and expecting too much. But this year I have have decided that love is a brilliant thing and it shouldn't just be about teddy bears and flowers that you don't really want from your loved one it should be about just being with people you love. I have planned a massive week of love as usual one day isn't enough. A lot of it is coincidental but I also think it has worked out pretty nicely. 

Some of my best Valentines days have been with my single friends and this year I have one with each of them! A weekend in London post Valentines to drink cheap fizzy wine and eat a dine in for two with my Wife Miss Holly Salter! The night after will be spent with my best friend Sophie seeing Olly Murs in concert (yummy) and having a student night out in Bournemouth town! Hopefully recreating memories like these ... 

Actual Valentines night will of course be spent with my boyfriend, staying in away from the triple priced set Valentines menu's swopping cards and eating some of our favourite food and watching a film we've been meaning to catch. Nothing at all out of the usual - he may even get a small present just because as much as it's over commercialised rubbish ignoring it and not doing anything also shows a distinct lack of love. 

(Haha I'm so complicated- does that even make sense to anyone outside of my head?)

So single or taken just spend it with the people you love, eating food you love and drinking the wine you love! 

I don't think many boys read this but if they are - never under any circumstances buy your girl a bear that is holding a heart saying 'i love you' tell her and if you want to buy her something get her that bag she's been lusting over for the last few months. It will give you far more brownie points. 

Purple Party Pleaser - ELF, Today's Nails

Nothing more satisfying than a free manicure :) Used my free polishes from my recent ELF haul . As I mentioned in my previous post I loved getting these colours as I think they work brilliantly together. ELF polish costs £1.50 and is still just a two coat varnish. I love it - and these colours. I wouldn't normally pick these out as I prefer pinky tones to purple but I love the combination. The darker glitter purple tone is my favourite of the two it has more of a charcoal silver glitter tone to it than purple and is so smooth considering its glittery effect. 

ELF - Purple Pleaser

ELF - Party Purple

Benefit High Beam V's Technic High Lights

I've wanted to get my hands on Technic High Lights for ages! The gorgeous Shay from Shayyinwonderland.com did this post on it and sent me in the right direction to find it. I love cream highlighters and the Benefit High Beam is one of my favourites. However I've been sparsely using a sample I got in an issue of glamour magazine due to not really wanting to spend so much on the full size. A now discontinued No7 highlighter product in the biggest of tubes has sufficed in between (200ml!!! its lasted forever no wonder its been discontinued - no-one had to rebuy). 

So when I saw technic's high lights I was very excited to try it out. 

Benefit High Beam - 13ml - £18.50

Technic Highlights - 12ml - £3 (cheapest I found on eBay)

Pictured swatches are high beam above and high lights below. These products look so similar it's unreal, the packaging, an even the fonts of the two brands are so near each other. The actual product is a little different. Highlights is a looser more creamy colour whereas high beam is a little thicker with a slightly pinker tone. 

However that's me being picky - the brushes are nearly the same (which I love - so easy to apply) high lights is a little thinner and more nail polish'y and high beam is slightly fatter - they both do the same thing. No longer do I dream of buying full size high beam - high lights has well and truly filled the gap in my make-up bag. My miniature high beam will be popping back in my hand bag make-up bag for top ups. 

I love the benefit brand but I think sometimes it's the packaging and whole gifty experience that I buy into with them. Some of their products are in my must-haves however it's always a bit of a weighing up situation as it is all so expensive. Finding these little gems is perfect if your on a budget and I love finding dupes! Technic have come up with the goods in terms of price and product once again for me. 

Has anyone else used highlights or a massive high beam fanatic? 

Rimmel - Wake Me Up

I'm sure most people have seen the hundreds of adverts filling this months magazine's and the television campaign showing Kate Moss' flawless face. I really need to splurge out and buy a new foundation but I'm still torn in a MAC, Estee Lauder, Smashbox triangle. My clinique super moisture is coming to the end of its life so I'm trying to just use it for better occasions whilst I search for my next buy. 

So after being drawn in by this new foundation from Rimmel partly due to many samples in magazines that were actually the right shade (so strange) and also the fact that this was on offer in boots for £5.99 I thought it was a good buy. (RRP £8.99 normally)

It claims to be anti-fatique and give a radiant glow. I hate it when foundations write 'anti-fatique' on them because all foundations make you look less tired simply due to the nature of what they are. I've never used a foundation that doesn't not do this so I always think it's a little pointless. However it does have a lovely glow to it I love the dewy look so this gives a nice finish. 

It's a medium coverage foundation and the downside to this for me that even after playing around with primers it just seems to fall off my face by the middle of the day. Leaving work I look like I had no foundation on. It's good if you have time to retouch or you just want a light dewy effect foundation for a few hours or event however for me it just didn't last for a full day like I need. But I guess that's the kind of thing you get with lower priced foundations. It definitely works for the interim though whilst my skin isn't perfect and I'm choosing which brand to go with next. 

If anyone has any foundation recommendations I would love to hear them as it's proving very hard to choose!

E.L.F Haul.

I've read lots of reviews which have mentioned little bits of E.L.F products here and there and when I saw they had a brilliant coupon going last weekend I thought I'd make an order for some of the things I was looking at. They always have free delivery on orders over £30 but when I ordered it was over £10 and a free gift included which I thought was amazing value. (E.L.F Store Link.)  Altogether my order only came to £13 which I think when and if you scroll through the mass of products I received you'll agree is amazing value!

I was expecting maybe a free polish or make-up bag type gift but actually got the above. I thought this was amazing considering the low value of order needed and it made me very excited as the nail polishes included were colours I probably wouldn't buy normally. Also the little mirror is so cute and is perfect for out and about make-up bags.  I've included the products in categories below to review so hopefully that makes more sense I had so much stuff it was hard to work out how to include it all!

Nail Varnish: I ordered two polishes the matte finish and light pink which I reviewed previously here  and the more I've used this product the more I'm impressed with it. The light pink is very thin in colour but gives a lovely glossy pink shimmer so is perfect for a top coat or just for really plain nude nails. 

I also received party purple and purple pleaser as part of my free gift. These two go so well together which I'm not sure if its intentional but brilliant to do as part of a gift. I've been wearing them a lot so they'll feature in a future Today's Nails post. 

E.L.F nail varnishes can be bought from as little as £1 but most are £1.50. Bargain! They are definitely not to the quality of Models Own or any high end nail company but they are perfect to try out some different colours, two coats coverages is really good I found it chipped quite quickly and the brush was kind of big which I actually liked but takes a little getting used to. Brilliant for the price though. 

Shimmer: I'm a sucker for all things sparkly and shimmer so bought a few. Shimmering Facial Whip in Citrus is a really thick shimmer product that comes in the tube really easy to apply and great to add a bit of shimmer over foundation. So easy to use and was only £1.50. 

I also bought two all over cover sticks in Persimmon and Spotlight. I love the idea of these as they are so compact and versatile and were only £1.50 each again. At first they are quite hard to use quite literally but after a few swatches they softened up a bit and added lovely colour to wherever you want it. They are chunky so you will need a brush for eye application and you do need to push quite hard onto cheeks to make sure you get a decent amount of shimmer.

Brushes: I bought an eye smudge brush, foundation brush and blusher brush. Again all were £1.50 each. I bought these mainly to keep at my boyfriends house as I always manage to forget to take brushes for some reason. The blusher and foundation brush are good they I like the diagonal slant to the blusher brush makes it a lot easier to use. The foundation brush is lots smaller than my usual one but will be fine for occasional use if I leave it at my boyfriends house. 

However the smudge brush has made it into my everyday make-up kit. I love it, I used to have an eyeliner (No7 I think) with the same sponge type applicator on the other end, this is perfect to hide any imperfections when in a rush doing your make-up. Which I am most of the time. 

(Swatch: Black Bandit above - Ash Eyeliner Below)

Eyeliners: I bought the ash eyeliner here and the Black Bandit shimmer pencil came as part of my free gift. Both come with sharpeners which I thought was quite a nice little extra considering again they were only £1.50 each. I've wanted to try a greyish eyeliner for ages as I've always used black and I love the colour. These eyeliners are budget they are perfect for make-up top-ups but for me they just didn't smudge very well or blend into anything. I'm not knocking them as they are so cheap but they're definitely not for me as I prefer to smudge eyeliners into each other rather than just having a strong line. However these will make it into my night out make-up bag as losing these wouldn't break the bank. 

WOW after all of that I can't really believe it was £13 including delivery. I was very impressed, I think E.L.F products are brilliant quality for the price. They are ideal for make-up to keep at the boyfriends house or in your hand-bag. My favourite product is definitely the matte finish top coat nail varnish and the shimmer whip. 

Have you tried E.L.F before or their Studio range?