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I'm going on holiday tomorrow so I won't be posting anything this week.  I'll have lots of posts about summer clothes/makeup when I get back! Also, I got my ticket to a music festival today, can't wait! It's on a few days after I get back from holiday :D

Have to get up around 5am tomorrow lol. Bye for now!

Smile!

Yesterday I was outside picking strawberries in the garden and my cat decided to hide in the rhubarb

:)

.

My cat outside in the sun 

Me again. 

40 Makeup Questions

I saw this on another make-up blog and thought I'd give it a go :)

Skin Care Questions

How many times do you wash your face each day? Twice, morning and night.
What type of skin do you have? Combination to normal.
What is your current face wash? I use Simple gel face wash.
Do you exfoliate? Yes
What do you use to exfoliate? A Soap & Glory one, and also Soap & Glory Clean Mary.
Do you have freckles? A few.
Do you use eye cream? I use an eye gel.
Do you/did you have acne prone skin? Sometimes.
Did you ever use Proactiv? No.

Makeup QuestionsWhat foundation do you use? At the moment I'm using Bourjois Healthy Mix.
Do you use concealer? Bourjois Healthy Mix and Benefit Boi-ing.
Do you know your undertone color? My skin has a yellow undertone.
What do you think of false lashes? Don't like them, they're creepy.  Natural looking ones can look nice in pictures though.
Did you know you’re supposed to replace your mascara every 3 months? Yes.
What mascara do you use? Rimmel Sexy Curves and Benefit Bad Gal.
Sephora or MAC? Don't have Sephora here, so MAC.
Do you have a MAC pro card? No
What makeup tools do you use for makeup application? Brushes and my fingers
Do you use base/primer for eyes or face? Not really but I probably should.
Favorite eyeshadow? Couldn't pick one!
Do you use pencil or liquid eyeliner? Used to use liquid but now use gel a lot.
How often do you poke your eye with an eye liner pencil? Not much lol.
What do you think of pigment eye shadows? Haven't really used them.
Do you use mineral makeup? I have used mineral foundations, liked them.
What is your favorite lipstick? Benefit Nice Knickers.
What is your favorite lipgloss? Bourjois Brun Poetic.
What is your favorite blush? Essence Paradise collection one.
Do you buy makeup on eBay? No
Do you like drugstore makeup? Yep.
Do you go to CCOs? Don't know what that is lol. 
Did you ever consider taking makeup classes? No
Are you clumsy w/ putting on make up? Sometimes
Name a makeup crime you hate. Foundation on lips. Eww.
Do you like colors or neutrals? I like both, depends on how it's done.
Which celeb always has great makeup? Don't really care about celebrities.
If you could leave the house using just one makeup item, what would you use? Foundation.
Could you ever leave the house w/o any makeup? I'd like to say yes..but no lol. Couldn't do that :P
Do you think you look good w/o make up? Depends. 
What is the best makeup line? I like loads of makeup lines, couldn't pick one.
What do you think of makeup? Love it!

Review: Benefit High Beam

I got this mini bottle of Benefit's 'High Beam' in this month's Glamour Magazine.  I don't ever buy Glamour but I thought it was worth it for Benefit products.

I'd never used High Beam before, but since it's a ~cult Benefit product and I usually like Benefit makeup, I thought I'd give it a whirl.  When I told my mum it was a highlighter, she thought I meant a pen :P

        

Swatch:

I applied this by dotting the highlighter under my eyebrows and blended it in with my finger.  This can also be used to highlight cheekbones and just above the cupid's bow of your top lip. 

I liked this product, it's a bit of fun and it does brighten up your makeup.  I think this would be most noticable/useful for a night-time makeup look as it would show up more.  Also, I think if you're wearing a lot of makeup this helps to make it look a bit more 'natural' by adding a different dimension to your makeup so your face is not completely the same colour.

Review: Essence Gel Eye Liner

Lots of brands have been releasing gel eyeliners recently and here is one from Essence.  The one I have is '02 London Baby'.

It comes in a cute little glass pot with 3ml of product.  This only cost about €3 I think, which is sooo cheap for something that works this well.

When I bought this first I thought it was black, but when I opened it it's more of a grey/dark brown close up, with a slight metallic effect.  I really like this colour as it's not as harsh looking as black, so it's nice for wearing during the day.

I applied this eyeliner using the Essence gel liner brush from the Denim collection (about €1.50 and it's brilliant!). 

I really liked this eyeliner.  The gel makes it easy to apply and the fact that it's waterproof means it lasts throughout the day.

Swatch:

As you can see from the swatch, this eyeliner gives great coverage.  It's well pigmented too.  As I said before, the colour is really nice and a change from the ususal black for me.  I haven't tried any of the other colours yet but I think I will, this is my new favourite eyeliner :)

Review: Soap & Glory: The Fab Pore Facial Peel

This is 'The Fab Pore' facial peel from Soap & Glory.  I've been using this product for a few months now and I really like it.  I'm not so sure what it means by 'facial peel', to me this is pretty much a mud face mask.

I use this about once or twice a week.  You just apply it like a face mask, leave for 5-15 minutes and rinse off well.  This is a thick formulation and it has little green beads in it.  According to the box it contains Fomes Officinalis extract to tighten pores, Salicylic Acid to loosen up dead skin cells, Kaolin which is clay and Vitamins E & C.

I really liked this product.  It didn't irratate my skin as a lot of masks have done, and my skin felt much better after using this mask.  The tub lasts ages as you only have to use a small amount because the formula is quite thick.  Again, I love the retro packaging too!  I think I will definitely be buying this again when I've run out :)

Review: Benefit Lipsticks

So I have two Benefit lipsticks to review today.  These are two of my favourites: Benefit Full Finish Lipstick in 'La La Land' and Benefit Silky Finish Lipstick in 'Nice Knickers'.

From left: Silky Finish Lipstick in 'Nice Knickers' and Full Finish Lipstick in 'La La Land'.

The Silky Finish lipsticks have good colour and quite sheer coverage.  They don't last very long though, and would be suitable for people who don't usually wear lipstick but want to wear bright colours instead of lipgloss.

The Full Finish lipsticks are much thicker.  The formulation is quite creamy and is really nice to wear.  This lipstick has good pigmentation and lasts ages.  'La La Land' is quite a dark pink/brown colour and I found that, worn with a creamy lip balm, it came out a cute nude pink colour which is nice for daytime.

Swatches:

From left: 'Nice Knickers' and 'La La Land'

Overall I really like these.  I also love the packaging, as usual with Benefit i's really cute and retro.

How to do: Leopard Print Nails

Here's a tutorial on how to do your own leopard print nails.  First of all you will need three nail varnish colours, a light one for the base, another colour for the spots and a dark colour to outline.  You'll also need a thin brush (you can use a paint brush) to paint the outline.

Step One:

Paint your nails with your base colour.  I'm using 'Found My Love' from Essence.

Step Two:

Paint small splodges of your second colour on your nails at random.  I'm using 'Milan' from No7 which is a glittery pink.

Step Three:

Using a thin brush and your dark colour, outline parts of the second colour and do small dots in between too.  It doesn't matter if the outline is a bit messy because it gives a good effect.  I'm using 583 'Mystery Night' by Gosh which is a metallic dark purple.

Step Four:

Paint on a topcoat to make the design last longer and you're done! :)

Trend: Crochet

Here's the 'Hannah' dress from A|Wear. It's a cute light pink colour, fitted around the waist with button detail on the front. The back of the dress has really nice crochet detail, with a flower pattern.

Here's a picture of the back:

This dress costs €45 which isn't bad as you'd probably get a lot of wear out of it. This would look great with a leather jacket. Available from awear.com.


(Images from awear.com)

Shoes I Want:

These pink cork peep toe shoes from Next are so cute! I tried these on a while ago and even though they're really high, I love them.  I had to leave them back and bought shorts instead. Need to buy these in the future :)

(Image from Next.co.uk)

6 Summer Dresses

Here are six summer dresses I've picked out from Asos.com:

(click to see a bigger image)

1.Floral 60's Dress-River Island £44.99/€57.68

2.Denim Mix Mini Dress-Miss Sixty £100/€128.20

3.'Woodstock 1' Print Dress-Beta Fashion by Harriet Holling £120.00/€153.84

4.Heart Print Chiffon Dress-Dahlia £62.00/€79.48

5.Bow Print Mini Dress-ASOS £30.00/€38.46

6.One Shoulder Skater Dress-River Island £44.99/€57.68

:)

(All images from Asos.com)

Favourite: Sunglasses

Seeing as it's summer, I thought I'd do a post on sunglasses.  These are my favourite pair, from Etro.

They're black acetate, with a clear frame around the lenses.  They're quite square, with rounded edges around the eyes.

Here's a picture from the side.  They have a gold circle with a pearly design and the Etro logo underneath.  Love these, just need sunny weather now to wear them :)

:D

Got this yesterday...and it's AMAZING :)

Benefit Primpcess Travel Set Review

I recently got the Benefit 'Primpcess' travel set. It contains a mini 'Bad Gal Lash' Mascara, three eye shadows in a light matte cream colour, a shimmery light pink and a matte brown colour. It has a 1.2g pan of Boi-ing in 02, and a 1.2g pan of Eye Bright.  There is also a cute mini pot of the Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner in 'R.S.V.P'(3.2g) which is a very light shimmery pinky/brown colour.  There are two mini brushes in the set too; a mini concealer brush and a double-sided 'Talent Brush'/'Fluff Shadow' brush.

Benefit Primpcess (colours didn't come out well)

Inside: From Top; Bad Gal Lash Mascara, Eyeshadows, Fluff Shadow/Talent brush, Concealer Brush, Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner, Boi-ing, Eye Bright.

It also comes with a little booklet describing how to do a smokey eye using the Benefit set.

 The Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner in R.S.V.P.  The colour didn't come out very well in this picture, it's a bit pinker in real life.  This is a really nice product, can be worn on it's own as a light natural colour, used as a base for another shadow or to highlight just inside the eye.  You can use these as a liner too but I haven't tried it with this colour, I think it might be too light for that.

Overall I reall like this set.  I love the eyeshadow colours, they have good pigmentation, and the darkest eyeshadow works great as a liner.  The mascara is really nice when you put it on first but I found I needed to apply a few coats to make the curl last.  The concealer was a bit dark for me but it has really good cover.  The Talent brush was really good for eyeliner and the concealer brush was quite good, and the Fluff Shadow brush was ok.  I loved the Cream Shadow/Liner and as usual for Benefit, the packaging is really cute and bright, the colours didn't come out great in my pictures though.