Back Again - Current make-up routine

Hey guys,

So it's been a very long time since our last meeting, in fact it's been me passing my A-levels, a whole 2 years of me being at university and now working up in London. I'm not too sure why I stopped doing this as I was thoroughly enjoying it but I think my A-levels were getting in the way -more the blogging was getting in the way off my exams- and you know what they say education sets you up for life and all that which is very true. So I made the smart decision of taking a break from writing and focused on the time-consuming and life-draining revision. I don't really have a reason as to why I didn't put down the revision books and pick up the laptop after exams were over but I suppose I just didn't.

But now I'm in the working world and I'm not going to lie but I'm feeling the stress that working daily brings to the table. I'm trying many things to help myself calm down and feel better and re-starting blogging is one of those attempts. One of my favourite parts of the day is to put on my make-up, so I started thinking what could be better than writing about something that relaxes and calms me, so fingers crossed this can act as an outlet for my stress. You guys are going to -hopefully- be bombarded with beauty and fashion posts,probably with the odd post that is massively unrelated to these topics, but hey-ho, just got to go with what you feel like writing about!

It's actually very late as I am writing this, as I had a weird revelation to just sit in the dark and silence to write my introduction to the world -maybe I'm a bit ambitious there!- I just thought I would share something very light and show you my current make-up routine.

  

So starting with the face products, as the base I used the Happy Light Base Serum from Bourjois, I'm actually really enjoying this product, it apply's as a very slippery consistency but as you rub onto the skin you almost feel it tighten up and become mate. I've only just started using this as I fancied a change from the Bourjois Bronzing Powder which gives you an amazing glow underneath your foundation of choice, but as it's getting a little colder I thought I would embrace my pale pasty skin and so far I'm loving it! As for foundation I've been alternating between Gosh CC cream illuminating foundation and the Bourjois Happy Light Foundation. In the photos I have shared here I am wearing the Happy Light, I think it gives a pretty good coverage, it the moment I prefer to enhance my skin with foundation rather than cover up completely like a mask and this foundation is a good way to do this. However on days where I fancy an even more natural look the Gosh CC cream is amazing! It gives such an illuminating appearance and I could not praise this enough, the best CC/BB/Tinted Moisturiser I've used. For concealer, I use the Revlon Colorstay as I could not get hold of the sought-after Collection Lasting Perfection, but this does the job!

Moving on to cheeks...I LOVE HIGHLIGHTER...I'm a fan of 'strobing' as I think you kids call it these days. I think it's a great way to bring some definition to the face in a more natural way than contouring, even though I do dabble in a light contouring as well. To achieve this highlighted look I use the Makeup Revolution Baked Highlighter in Peach Lights, this is an absolutely gorgeous highlighter which I apply to all the high points of my face -cheekbones, tip of nose, cupid's bow and sometimes a little on my forehead and chin-. For the blusher I use bareMinerals in The Endless Celebration and its gorgeous, a mixture of a pinky shimmer and a light dusty pink which works perfectly against the pinky toned highlight! I apply this to pretty much my whole cheek for a proper rosy cheeked look which I think looks great against pale skin. 

As for my eyes that's pretty simple and boring, I love the apply and white eyeliner pencil to my waterline but honestly most of the time I can't be bothered. Also adding a pop of purple into the corners of the eye looks gorgeous with blue eyes. However in these photos I did neither of these things because I'm lazy! So just the big standard mascara, the one I use is from the brand Une, it's nothing special and I'm definitely looking for another one -suggestions please-!

My eyebrows are tricky things as I'm sure are many peoples, one day the are perfect the next I wish I could shave them off! But I do love the product I am using which is the Makeup Revolution Arch and Shape Brows. This has a pencil on one end and a 'felt tip' on the other -which I tend not to use as my foundation dirties it-. It's a great alternative to the Soap and Glory Archery brows, it dies exactly the same thing but at a fraction of the price -£3-! 

Lastly we have the lips, for this look I used a lip pencil from New Look in a dusty pink which goes great with the blush! Applied over the top is the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in So Hap' Pink .I love this colour and the formula is fantastic, very creamy but still gives a matte finish.

To set everything in place I have my trusty setting spray by MUA, I hate the days where I forget to use this as I really see a difference in my skin. It makes it last longer, gives it a hit a moisture and gives a glowy look to the skin. 

So there we go, that's makeup at the moment. It's really working for me and that's not really anything I'm desperate to change - apart from maybe a new mascara but there's no rush-!

Thanks for reading, and speak soon!

Becci xx

Follow

Paul & Joe Wishlist.

It's my birthday in about 2 weeks -I'm 18 finally- and as I'm going shopping for it, I've been checking out some websites to get some ideas of what I want. I've never been into Selfridges, Space NK or anywhere like that but this shopping trip is commencing in London so I will finally get the chance to! I've just been looking on the Selfridges website and have come across some gorgeous products but particularly Paul & Joe has caught my eye. After seeing Vivanna Does Makeup's recent post which you can see here, lead me to Paul & Joe, and I'm so glad I've found their brand!

1. Nail Base Coat- I've been looking for a decent base coat for my nails, as they just manage to get really stained even if I use a base coat. I've never heard anything good about this, but for only £10 and it's in such a pretty bottle I'm willing to try it!
2. Moisture Cream- Again this is just something I've been needing as I still don't think I've found the perfect moisturiser for my skin. It is scented which I'm always sceptical about, but orange flower and orange oil sounds very appealing! I must admit though that I was only drawn to this because of the detailing on the lid, and just a warning, I chose most of these because they look pretty!
3. Beauty Mirror- I need a compact mirror to keep in my make-up bag and this is just beautiful, it reminds me of the shells that have a pearl in -or oyster shells!-. On the inside there is a mirror on one side and a silver base embellished with a chrysanthemum motif which is just stunning.
4. Floral Make-up Bag- This is such a cool idea, and I can't wait to get my hands on it! It has lots of inner pockets and two removable pouches for any extras! This will be so handy as you can separate your make-up into chucks I have a pretty hard time finding things in my huge make-up bag!
5. Blusher Stick- This is just so cute!! I don't really understand how this could work as a blusher but I suppose that you could just use your finger or a brush to blend it out which would make sense. Again so very cute!
6. Lipstick Case- I don't really need this in my life, but at the same time I really do! It's so gorgeous and would be quite handy to keep your lipstick in, as the top comes of my lipsticks a lot of the time while it's in my bag, which is a nightmare! And for only £5 its a really cute accessory to have.

Keep an eye out for a post in a few weeks, hopefully featuring some of these pieces! You can also found these on Paul & Joe's website, I just chose Selfridges as I'm going there. Well I hope you enjoyed this post and liked some of these products as much as me, speak soon becciixx.

What's on my Face #1.

Well I'm backkkkkkk! It's been a while, maybe about two weeks, but now my exams are over I can get back to doing what I love! So to start my blog off again, I thought I would do a What's on my Face post, as I was particularly liking my make-up today. This was just a popping down the shops look, so I tried to keep it quite minimalistic, didn't want to look like I was going out clubbing when going to ASDA!

Face.

As my foundation is a bit on the pricey side, when I am only going somewhere quickly I prefer to use a BB cream rather than a full coverage foundation. The BB cream I use is Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream in Light, I like the coverage this gives for a BB cream and the colour is just perfect. Being a BB cream it doesn't cover blemishes but does reduce the redness and evens out skintone. To cover up blemishes I use the Collection Concealer which is just fantastic, I also use this the cover up dark circles and along my nose as it needs a bit of extra coverage. Lastly to set this all in place I use Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Peach Glow, this is perfect for oily skin like mine as it keeps the skin looking matte.

Eyes.

For my eyes I used a MUA eye liner pencil in white and took this along my lash line, I love this technique as it makes your eyes pop and just look instantly brighter. I also applied a shimmery gold eye shadow across my lid, with a light brown in the crease to define my eyes. The mascara I have on is the BareMinerals Big Tease, I would usually do a few coats on this mixed with L'Oreal Telescopic but, to be honest, I could not be bothered to apply it!

Eyebrows.

For my eyebrows, I usually use Avon Perfect Eyebrow Pencil in Dark Brown, but I fancied a change to I used my MUA Pro-Brow Palette with a Real Techniques Angled Brush in define them. I much prefer the finish of a pencil as supposed to a powder when I want to really define my brows, but as I keep saying this is just a quick pop to the shops.

Cheeks.

For some definition I chose to use a Bronzing Powder by Lacura Beauty, I just did the fish face and took a large angled brush along the hollow of my cheeks. For a pop of colour I used Pink Ice by BareMinerals on the apples of my cheeks for a really rosey glow.

Lips.

And lastly for my lips, to keep in with the rosey cheeks, I used Classy by Elf. I love the formula of this and it is probably my new favourite in my collection at the moment.

I hope you enjoyed this post and I'm going to get my bum in gear and get back into my blogging routine! See you guys soon, becciixx.

Can you get any brighter?!

It was about time that I jumped on the band wagon as got myself a proper Spring shade of lippie! This is absolutely perfect, it's just got the right amount of warmth in it as it is pale pink, so it could have been a bit risky! At only £2.99 Collection, have really impressed me! It's a fantastic formula, is totally non-drying lasts for a reasonable time and there is a great colour range too. The colour I chose was Bubblegum, all that's left now it for me to get a purple shade, but lets stick to this colour first.

Sorry I didn't show this on my lips, the pictures just couldn't do it justice! I really need some practise with taking pictures of colour on my lips, I just manage to make them look wonky. I'm not a massive fan of the packaging -think it's a bit childish- but for 2.99 I can't complain! To sum up, this colour is gorgeous and is a great lipstick!

Let me know if you've tried any of the Collection lipsticks and what your favourite is! See you hopefully soon, my first exam is tomorrow so I may not be around! Until next time, becciixx.

bareMinerals Blush.

I've never been much of a fan of blushes, I've been using the same one for about 3 years, and I haven't even replaced it once -slightly gross I know-. To be honest I didn't even really like it that much! But I recently got my hands on some bareMinerals products, including a blush duo of Pink Ice and Ginger Spice. Ginger Spice is the Bronzer in the set and it is a lovely golden shade, which is not even slightly orange. I don't tend to use bronzers but for someone that does this would be a gorgeous colour. The Pink Ice shade is an incredibly bright pink that looks so scary but goes great with my skin tone, it also has a gold shimmer to it which just adds to the prettiness. 

 

Honestly I have never seen such a beautiful blush colour, and it's definitely spurred me on to try out some more blushes as the really can change your look which I didn't realise before. So basically it's a life saver, but unfortunately I can't find it anywhere, so if you know where I can get it please let me know!

Hope you're all well, becciixx.

My Lipstick Collection.

I love wearing lipstick, I think I look dead without some colour on my lips! I don't have a massive collection but it's worth a show, I really want to add some MAC and Topshop lip colours as they have some beautiful colours to offer. Give me any suggestions of lipsticks that you think I should try!

Kate for Rimmel, 107- This is a really lovely matte shade, and looks beautiful with really simple eye make-up to keep the attention on the lips.

Elizabeth Arden, Sugar Plum Shimmer- This shade is pretty much the same as a few of the others, but it's my favourite out of the few.

Elf, Gypsy- I love this colour, it's probably my favourite colour of the bunch it's a matte berry shade.

Rimmel, Sugarplum- I don't really use this one as it's very similar to the Elizabeth Arden one but just a bit purpler.  

MUA, ?- Now this lipstick is the brightest of the bunch, hot pink jut looks so good on the lips. Unfortunately, I do not know the name of this.

Rimmel, Rose Passion- Can't beat a red lipstick, I definitely need a bit of variety on my reds.

Natural Collection, Berry Blush- I'm not a massive fan of this one, I don't think it matches my skin-tone  very well., but it's still a lovely colour.

Elf, Classy- This is the same formula is the other Elf lipstick, which I personally think is really nice, the colour is gorgeus too!

Natural Collection, Pink Orchid- I love this one, this is the lightest of the pinks that I have and the shimmer to it is lovely.

MUA, Juicy- This is a beautiful colour, if you put it on over a red lipstick, the colours look beautiful together.

Versace,?- I really don't wear this one at all the golden tone does not suit me, but it's gorgeous still.

These are swatched in the order they are shown in the previous picture, my camera had a hissy fit at this point for some reason, so sorry the pictures are not fantastic. I made a rookie mistake and had already finished my make-up before this post so I couldn't show them on my lips or I would have ruined my make-up! 

I really don't have that many lipsticks, I should invest in some others! Maybe you'll see a haul featuring just lipsticks.Hope you're all well, becciixx.

Pretty Pallets.

I have noticed recently that pallets or compacts -whatever you want to call them- are getting prettier and prettier. With intricate flower designs etched into them, or just a mix of beautiful colours, they are just becoming gorgeous. They make me want to buy them just so I can look at them, and if I did buy them I would never want to use them in case I ruined them. So it's sort-of a catch-22, I think that's the right saying...

But anyway I'm not going to go into lots of detail about them as the pictures will tell you all you need to know and I have never used any of these before so I cannot review them. I just really wanted to show you just how beautiful some of them are and I feel like so much work has gone into just one product, but I'm not actually sure how much effort it takes to do!

Looking at how many products I have to put into this post, I think there's a slight chance I have gone overboard. But oh well! You can never go overboard when it comes to make-up!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

These are all so beautiful, I put this ones together as they have embossed patterns on them, from flowers to birds. I just think they are so beautiful to look at, my favourite is the one by Aerin, the blend of the colours as well as the flower pattern just makes it so pretty. The Sisley compact is also really beautiful, the little pieces of glitter are so pretty.
1.Aerin 2.Mac 3.Paul & Joe 4.Art Deco 5.Sisley 6.Elizabeth Arden

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

These compacts are just so pretty, it's more the colours and logos etched on the power that drew my attention to these. The Clarins Aztec sort-of pattern and the Nars 3-D effect with boxes are both just so cool! The colours in the Bobbi Brown compact are just beautiful, I really wish I owned it!

7.Estee Lauder 8.Bobbi Brown 9.Clarins 10.Nars 11.Lancome

Hope you found these as beautiful as I did! Leave me a comment if you know of any other pretty pallets, becciixx.

Best of the Brushes.

Like every person that's interested in beauty I have a vast amount of brushes, but I only really like a handful of them. It's taken me a very long time to find the brushes that suit me and that I really like, but I'm sure some of them won't come as a surprise to any of you guys!

 I use brushes for a variety of things but there are only 4 that I find are really with mentioning, these consist of an eyebrow brush, a foundation brush, a gel liner brush and  a powder brush. I still haven't found a eye-shadow brush worthy of being a holy grail brush, I just find I get the most pigmented colour when using my finger to apply it. Also I tend not to use a brush for my concealer, as I find that the warmth from my fingers helps blend the concealer in easier and not give it a sort of caked on effect.

The first brush I'm going to talk about it is the real techniques buffing brush -told you it wouldn't come as a surprise-. It's just the perfect size and texture to apply my foundation, I find that the flat foundation brushes just don't work for me so the round head to this brush is ideal. The brush handle itself is actually a really good length, some brushes just get in their own way or are just not workable. I got this brush from the core collection of the real techniques which you can purchase here. 

May as well go straight to the next real techniques brush -of course their was going to  be more than one featured!- This time it's the brow brush from the starter kit, its the perfect angled brush I've come across, before this I was using brow pencils, but this gives me the best shape. I use this with the MUA  Pro-brow Ultimate Eyebrow Kit to get the best results. You can purchase the starter kit here, and the eyebrow kit from Superdrug.

This next brush is from a brand I haven't heard of before, it's just something I got in a gift set and it's the Blush Professional eye brush. Again this brush is just at the perfect angle for me to apply gel liner with, it's not too bendy that you can't get a precision line but not too hard that you feel like you're stabbing yourself in the eye. You can only purchase this brush with the set with either comes as a 7 brush set or 18, both of which you can buy from here.

Now this last brush is one of the newest in my collection but it has quickly taken over as my favourite powder brush. The bareMinerals Flawless Face brush is so soft on your skin -there's nothing worse than a scratchy make-up brush. It packs just enough product onto it with out giving a really obvious powdery finish, which is never good! You can pick this up today here.

Hope this helps you to chose some brushes for yourself, the real techniques brushes really are a great investment! Also another brush brand I really want to check out is Stigma, I have heard great things about their brushes so check those out too!

Hope you're all well, beccixx.

Follow my blog on bloglovin'!

Big Tease Mascara.

I'm having a slight obsession with bareMinerals cosmetics –so expect a lot more posts on their products, maybe even an extremely long post on a few all at once-. But any way moving on, I have finally found a mascara that love and with a perfect brush. The mascara is called ‘Big Tease’ and is just in black –I can’t really pull off the whole coloured eyelash thing.- It adds really great length and volume to my lashes, which I actually find really hard to get with a mascara, but this finally lives up to what I want. And I’ll tell ya how it does it…

The brush is like nothing I have ever seen before, one side of the brush has long bristles which allows the separation of lashes and to lengthen the lashes, whilst the other side has no bristles more of a spiral shape which increases the volume. This brush is probably the best brush I have ever used, it provides clump free lashes and gives the perfect amount of drama to your lashes.

Before the mascara is applied.

After about two coats of the mascara

And unfortunately I can't find where it can be purchased, it is no longer on the bareMinerals website but I think you should probably be able to just it on amazon or ebay. It's not a cheap product however -and I don't usually say this- it is definitely worth the money.

If you know of any really good mascara's -cause I don't think  can get hold of this one again- please let me know! Thankyou for reading, becciixx

Follow my blog on bloglovin'!

Disappointing Products #1.

Taking about disappointing products is never a fun thing to do, I always feel a little bit bad! But remember these are just my views, it doesn't mean they won't work for you as I know a few people who love some of these products.

Olay Complete Care Gradual Tan- I am seriously struggling to find a suitable fake tan for my face, the one I use on my  body is St Morez which is really good but is not suitable to be used on facial skin. This Olay Face Tan just does not do anything for me, I've used it numerous times and I just don't see a difference in my colour, maybe it's just so gradual that it's just about to kick in before I stop using it cause I'm bored! But all I know is I definitely won't be repurchasing this again, however one plus is that it does have an spf of 15, which always justifies a thumbs up in my book!

Maybelline Fit Me Foundation- Now I don't want to slag this product off too much simply because I did get the wrong shade, I thought this was the lightest one but it was much to dark for me, so maybe I'll give it another try when I have a tan. I just found that for me it did not give enough coverage and I didn't like the finish of it either. I like the concealer from this collection so I'm not saying the whole collection is bad, just that this foundation was not my favourite.

Great Hair Shampoo- I have both the shampoo and conditioner to this set and I love the conditioner it leaves my hair feeling soft and nourished which it should as it has Moroccan Oil extract in it. But with the shampoo, I could just not get it to lather up no matter how much water I put on my hair so I just felt like it was a little useless and wasn't really washing my hair.

Maybelline Dream Fresh BB- I'm not painting a very good picture for Maybelline here, both make-up products I'm featuring are by them but I do love Maybelline just a shame about these! This just has no benefits at all, I see no change with my skin, I thought that BB creams were must to do at least something not just sit there completely invisible on your face. -Sounds a bit harsh but it's true-.

Clean & Clear Blackhead Clearing Cleanser- I just don't know how to right about this product, it did what it said on the tin but did a lot more than I wanted it to. I found that after using this for about a week my skin around my nose started to become oilier making my make-up not sit as well as previously. The product smells strongly of alcohol so much so it made my eyes water, and I think the harshness was striping my skin and making it produce more oils. As I have quite oily skin anyway this was not ideal at all so steer clear of this if you have oily skin.

Santa Monica Self Tanning Wipes- Lastly I have another fake tanning product that I wanted to use on my face, and again this was a let down. To be honest it did only cost 99p so I didn't expect too much, I was just hoping to find a little gem, but unfortunately not. 

Hope this gives you some insight if you were thinking of buying any of these products or similar, thanks for reading, becciixx.

Follow my blog on bloglovin'!

Rimmel Apocalips.

I finally jumped on the beauty band wagon and got my hands on some Rimmel Apocalips lip lacquers. Anyone who follows beauty bloggers or keeps up with hyped up beauty products themselves will have heard of these gems from Rimmel. I had been putting of buying them simply because I didn't need them, but I gave into temptation -mainly due to them being on offer but shh!- That being said I am so thrilled that I got them!

It took me forever decide on what colour to get as the colour range is so varied and all the colours are gorgeous, but I finally decided on 'Stellar' and 'Nova'-definitely going to be getting more though.- There are 8 different shades, ranging from nude to a mauve, making these a great choice of colours as there's something for everyone.

Rimmel says that 'it's neither a lipstick nor a gloss.' 'The intense rich colour of a lipstick, enhanced by a satin smooth shine.' I totally agree with this, the pigmentation is incredible and drys almost completely matte with just a hint of shine. The matte finish on this is only a little bit drying, but I find this with most matte lip products, -so don't take my judgements on this into account.- The doe foot applicator makes applying the lacquer very precisely and the pool of liquid in the applicator means you only have to dip in once or twice. 

The colour 'Nova'(left) is a gorgeous barbie pink and I fell in love with it straight away -this is definitely my favourite of the bunch!- I find that it has a slight neon feel to it -but maybe that's just my pale skin translating.- 'Stellar'(right) is a fantastic mix of a bright red and a coral, which I have been after for a really long time. For anyone that finds red lipstick intimating maybe this would be a perfect starting point to ease yourself into some bright colours.

As boots have a three for two on all beauty product and at a special price of £4.99, these are fantastic for the price and even if they were more expensive I'd jump at the chance to buy them!  I do believe that YSL do a high-end version which is obviously wayyy more expensive but I've heard that Rimmel's are just as good. You can purchase these from Boots here.

Speak soon, becciixxx

Follow my blog on bloglovin'!

Urban Decay dupe.

Now, I am one for a dramatic eye look -still need a bit of practise with that...- but I just think it adds a pop of glamour to your everyday make-up. To get a dramatic eye you need eye-shadows with a good pigmentation or all that effort will be for nothing if you can't even see it!

I do find it quite hard to justify spending a lot of money on make-up simply because, being a student, I need the money for other things! This is exactly why I haven't brought the Urban Decay Naked Palette's yet, so I did some research and found great dupes for both the Naked and Naked 2 for a fraction of the price!

MUA is a brand that is only available within Superdrug -or you can buy it from the MUA website-. I love a lot of their products as they are so affordable, really good quality and work just as well as more expensive ones. The dupes I found are palette's called Undressed and Undress Me Too, it may be a little bit cheeky that they even adapted the name to be similar but oh well! The best things about them is they are only £3 each, that's £6 for 24 different colours! 

I've never actually owned the Urban Decay palettes so I'm sorry I can't show you swatches of them together so you can compare. Most picture of my make-up will have these eye-shadows featured a they are my go-toos.

I hope this helps you out if you were looking for a new palette or an actual dupe for the Naked ones!

Speak soon, becciixx.

Follow my blog on bloglovin'!