Quick Holiday Face of the Day

I'm back from my holiday in Glasgow and The Lakes!  I had a fantastic time, although it wasn't very relaxing after my half marathon last week - I drove there and back and we did a lot of walking!  I was packed all the wrong things - I know that Scotland has a reputation for being cold, but it never has been when I've been before, even in November.  And last Sunday, I was running in Cardiff in 15 degrees sunshine - I didn't think I'd need a hat, gloves and winter coat 2 days later.  Well ladies, I was WRONG!  Luckily, we were staying in the centre of Glasgow, which is fantastic for shopping so I was able to pick up a few essentials (and non-essentials) - a haul post will follow shortly.

Anyway, I took a huge bag of makeup, but hardly ended up using any of it - in cold weather, I just didn't fancy doing a full face, and for the last few days in the Lakes, I would've looked ridiculous stamping around in my hiking gear in the rain wearing eyeliner!  I did manage to do one full face whilst I was in Glasgow, but kept it simple - here it is.

Face:
Lancome Teinte Miracle in 010
Mac Studio Finish Concealer in NC20
Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil
Mac Cream Blush in Lady Blush
Benefit High Beam

Eyes:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Nars Strada Eyeshadow
Mac Smoulder Eyeline
No 7 Exceptional Definition Mascara

Lips:
Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in Nude Pink

I keep meaning to do a proper review and swatches of Nars Strada - I will do it soon, I promise.  Sorry about my wet hair, and half dressed state!

Thanks for reading! xx

My Nail Polish Collection - The Blues

As promised - here's a blog post!  Today I've been sorting out my nail polish collection and tidying it into a new box.  Before I started blogging I rarely used to wear colour on my nails, but now I wear lots of outlandish colours and I think that nail polish is one of my beauty 'things'.  I've rushed out to buy the latest Chanel must-have and gone to considerable lengths to get my hands on certain colours.  Gone are the days of having a french manicure and a few reds, pinks, lavenders and a single brozey/gold polish which all fitted neatly into a small makeup bag.  Over the past 8 months my collection of polishes has expanded rapidly and I've had to change my storage several different time!

I know that I still don't have a huge collection - I have around 60 polishes, and I must admit that there are some that I've never worn, and some polishes that cost a lot of money and I've only worn once!!!  There are also a lot of brands I've never tried - China Glaze, Barielle, Orly and Leighton Denny are all on my wish list of brands to try. 

Rather than bombard you with a huge post full of polishes, I thought I'd break them down into colour groups.  So first off - the blues:

Left to right are Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe, Marvala Smoky Blue, Nails Inc Diet Coke Collection Denim, GOSH Gypsy Blue and Rimmel Sky High.

I've done NOTDs with the Lippman and Mavala polishes, but none of the others, so let me know if you're interested in seeing them.  I've worn all of them except the Nails Inc polish, and I like the colour of all the polishes.  I've bought all of these polishes over the last year - if you'd told me I'd have 5 blue polishes a year ago I would've laughed!  I bought the Rimmel one first, last spring, and I thought it was quite a bold and daring colour at the time.  I restricted its use just to my toes!  Now I'd think nothing of wearing the Mavala polish on my fingers to work... oh how things have changed.

By the way - I have the blue Mac Wonder Woman polish on order as well - I can't wait!

I have a few more of these colour themed posts to come - let me know if you're interested in seeing any NOTDs of any of the colours.

Thanks for reading!  xx

Eye of the day

I thought I'd do a quick eye of the day.  But first off, another confession.  After blogging about my makeup and beauty kit for my weekend away, I snuck in another couple of shadows - Shale and Nocturnelle both by MAC.  And I used both of these in my look for my friend's baby shower.

Excuse the mess I made of my winged eyeliner!

First off, I used UDPP.

Then Shale on the lids

Mystic Moss by Elf in the crease and the outer corner

In the outer corner, I used Nocturnelle by MAC

A random No. 7 shadow as a highlighter

For liner, I used MAC's Smoulder on the waterline, and Blacktrack on the upper lids.

Finally, I used my sample of Chanel's Inimitable Intense on my upper lashes (I need to get this).

For the rest of my face, I used:

Technic Hide It! concealer paletter

Prestige Skin Loving Minerals foundation

Rimmel Powder

Body Shop lip and cheek stain (on lips and cheeks)

Bourjois Brune on my cheeks

Rimmel Nude Pink on my lips

This was all topped off with a glittery bindi, as all us girls attending the baby shower were given one as a present!  I loved it, and everyone looked so cool with them on - I might try and incorporate it into my look again!

Ooops - I'm a bit shiny here - it was the end of the night!

Thanks for reading!  xx

First NOTD

My nails are in a right state at the moment, all peeling, flaking and breaking off.  Ordinarily, I’d go for a week without varnish and treat the hell out of them.  However, I’ve got to go to a swanky work event on Wednesday in London which I want to look professional for.  It’s business dress, not black tie, so I don’t need a flashy nail colour, but I do want to be groomed!

I decided that I would get rid of the worst of my flaking tips using nail scissors, and file them short.  Harsh, but necessary I think!   I used Mavala cuticle remover and then Mavala ridge filler as a base coat to disguise some of the damage.  I then followed this with a couple of coats of OPI’s Barefoot in Barcelona, a classic, neutral beige shade, topped with Rimmel top coat. 

I’m pretty pleased with the result!  I think it looks professional enough – hopefully it will last through to Wednesday evening and then I can whip it all off and start some nail treatments.  By the way, it looks darker in real life,

As an extra NOTD, I wanted to show you a small picture of my pedicure – I used Minted by Revlon for the first time.  I’ve wanted to try Minted for ages, but I have to say that I wasn’t that impressed.  I love  the colour, but the application was a bit thin and I found it a bit messy – after 3 coats I got the look I was after. 

But then I decided I didn't want to show you my feet, I don't want to put off any readers, so I won't!

Welcome to my blog

Welcome people to the first post of my new blog - thanks for stopping by!

First, a little about me: I’m in my early 30s and live in Bristol with my family – that’s my boyfriend and our two babies (that’s our cats for normal people).

I spent the whole of my 20s stuck in a beauty rut, with just the odd splurge on a random bit of make-up outside of my ‘normal’ make-up purchases. Every single lipstick I owned had come in a free No. 7 gift when I bought my foundation. I had just one eyeliner pencil, bought from Rimmel, I suspect in the 1990s (and there’s still loads left)! I was using a rubbish 17 concealer which didn’t even work – for over 10 years. Don’t get me wrong, I liked to look nice. But I was totally unadventurous with make-up, I’ve had almost the same hair-cut for years and other than a French manicure, hadn’t worn any coloured nail varnish for a decade.

Now, I remember when I first left home, I splurged quite a bit on beauty and cosmetics and would regularly buy different make-up colours and products (although not premium). I’m not sure what happened, where my love of make-up went, but it went somewhere! I didn’t earn a lot of money in my 20s, coupled with going back to uni as a mature student, and a loathing of debt, killed any make-up urges.

The first piece of proper make-up (aside from Tinkerbell) I ever owned was a brown Dior eyeshadow given to me by a friend of my Mother’s when I was about 8. This was the only premium make-up I ever owned until my sister gave me some unwanted Clinique freebees for my 30^th birthday. Somewhere, I’ve still got the little brush that came with it! When I was a child, we were always playing make-up, and I remember a face palette from Boots I got for Christmas when I was 10 – one of my favourite ever presents!

Anyway, earlier this year, I went to a fancy dress party and decided to attempt a complicated hair style for the event. I decided to look on YouTube for some tips...and I’ve not looked back! I discovered the world of beauty gurus and blogs, and I’ve become well and truly addicted to make-up and beauty again! I realised that I can afford to splash out on Chanel, to treat myself to MAC and that I should try different colours and styles, foundations and concealers.

So I thought I would document my deepening spiral into beauty in this new blog. Apologies for rambling on, hopefully you won’t be too bored and will come back to read some of my future posts on all things beauty!