The Weekend Post: Birthdays and Burgers

This past Sunday was spent celebrating my mums birthday. It's actually on Tuesday but we decided to celebrate on the weekend when everyone was around. We all went out to a local restaurant and were absolutely spoiled by the delicious food! I went for the Lamb and Feta burger, which I actually ended up eating without the bread, and some super amazing chips. I mean seriously look at them! I'm normally a skinny fries girl, but these won me over fair and square.  And then I couldn't quite handle a full on dessert after the almighty burger. So instead I went for sorbet, one raspberry and one blackcurrant scoop. The raspberry was definitely my favourite, it was so creamy you would have thought it was actually ice cream.  A very much appreciated and lovely lunch with the family! 

Pretty Things

It was my mums birthday recently and these were the cards that I got her from me and my brothers. I thought that they were far too pretty not too share. They are from a local store and all handmade, you can see how much effort has gone into each one. Pretty birthday cards always make a good start to your special day. 

MAC Mineralize Skinfinishes

I bought two of these the other week and I can't believe that it's taken me this long to purchase these. There's so much hype around these products but I could never bring myself to purchase them until now. I got them in two colours: Light Plus as my natural colour and Medium/Dark to use to contour/add some colour.  The light shade is great to use as a powder on top of a base to add a bit more coverage (I like to use it over the NARS tinted moisturizer) or you can use it on its own for one of those sheer coverage days. For the darker shade it is great to use on the temples, jawline and under the cheekbone. And best of all there's no cakey finish to it! It's not a product that's going to run out quickly so it is definitely an investment purchase.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish - Link

My First MAC Quad

A very exciting thing happened recently! I bought my first MAC quad of eyeshadows. And when I saw I'm excited, I really mean it. For someone who has been interested in makeup for a while I'm surprised that this hasn't happened sooner but I've always found the amount of colours quite daunting.  But I bit the bullet and I really do love all 4 of the colours in this palette.

From left to right they are Pink Freeze, Naked Lunch, Satin Taupe and Silver Ring.  Pink Freeze is such a pretty colour to use as an inner corner highlight and under the brow bone. Id also like to try it out over the lid as I think that with either Satin Taupe or a light matte brown it would look really pretty. Naked Lunch is a shade known by many beauty bloggers. It is a nude-champagne shimmer shade, great for use as an all over wash over the lid or as a base with other colours. I love to wear this with either of the other two darker shades in the palette. Firstly Satin Taupe is a brown shade with a slight purple/mauve hint running through it. Either using in the crease or on it's own for a darker look. And then Silver Ring is a shade which I haven't heard a lot about but I absolutely love it. It is a slate grey colour which has some deep blue tones which I find is flattering and easy to wear. 

This would definitely be a palette that I could pick up if I was going away for the night as I know that I can create a few different sorts of looks with it. 

Weekly Makeup #4

Back to what I've been wearing on my face after a week off last week. There are a couple of old favourites in there, cue Max Factor Clump Defy Mascara and the MAC Paintpot in Bare Study. I've also been using a couple of new additions, namely the MAC Mineralze Skinfinish which I can't believe I've been living without. It completely stops the oily t-zone from occurring throughout the middle of the day and adds a bit more coverage in places that I need it. I've also been using my MAC quad all week, there's a post coming up about that so I won't go into too much detail but it's mostly Naked Lunch with either Satin Taupe or Silver Ring in the crease. Then to finish everything off I've found my new favourite bold lipstick, Costa Chic by MAC. It's a pink-coral shade which is so easy to wear and I feel very comfortable wearing it which I think is always very important. 

BASE: NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer (Terre-Neuve), NARS Creamy Concealer (Chantilly), MAC Mineralize Skinfinish (Light Plus), NARS Multiple (Copacabana), MAC Blush (Sincere), Bobbi Brown Blush (Apricot)

EYES: MAC Paintpot (Bare Study), MAC e/s Quad (L-R Pink Freeze, Naked Lunch, Satin Taupe, Silver Ring), Max Factor Clump Defy Mascara

LIPS: MAC Lipstick (Costa Chic) 

The Weekend Post: Pancakes, Pancakes, Pancakes

I am absolutely exhausted. This past week has been one of the best, and most tiring weeks that I've had for a while. I have spent the week commuting up to London to go to a makeup course (more on that in another post). So that's meant leaving the house at ten past seven in the morning(!) and getting back about seven in the evening. A solid 12 hour day which was well and truly worth it. I then went straight into work on Saturday and absolutely collapsed when I got home. Spent the afternoon and evening curled up watching many, many youtube videos. Perfection in my eyes. I feel like I haven't stopped for the past 2 weeks and I can't wait to just spend a whole day doing absolutely nothing. 

I started off the weekend just the way every weekend should, with pancakes! (It was my brothers 14th birthday so it was a bit of a special occasion). I like to eat my pancakes in a pool of maple syrup. None of this small amount as you need it business. And that's it.  I'm off to do absolutely nothing which I feel I have earnt after the last couple of weeks. Bliss! 

FIVE: Commuting Essentials

Last week I spent the week travelling up to London. That meant early mornings, time spent travelling and late-ish nights. So I thought I would put together a list of some of the things I carried with me throughout the week which I realised were absolute essentials.

1. LEMON WATER - I put a slice of lemon in my water bottle this week. It just made the water a slight taste which made me want to drink it, therefore keeping hydrated throughout the day! 

2. SCARF - this one is obviously more for the winter months. Since I was getting a very early train a little sleep on the train wouldn't go a miss so the scarf would double as a pillow. Just makes it that bit more comfortable. 

3. HEALTHY SNACKS - let's be honest, picking up a chocolate bar/cake is so easy on your commute and you just want a quick fix. But if you already have some snacks in your bag then there's no need! Also saves you some money which is always a bonus. 

4. TRAVEL PURSE - I don't want to carry round my regular purse with me when I'm travelling on the tube, so I keep my ticket in a small folding purse which is easy to carry on the go. 

5. MAGAZINES - I haven't found a book for a while that I want to read, but I know that reading on the train can make the journey go by a lot quicker so I picked up i-D and LOVE to browse on the train. Voila! Speedy train journey! 

The Trend: Blue

Found on Pinterest - Marc Jacobs Spring 2014

If you were following the trends at Fashion Week over a month ago now you will have seen that using the colour blue as an eyeshadow/eyeliner is the trend to go for at the moment. Of course alot of the trend that you see on the catwalk are hard to follow exactly, except if you are extremely confident. However if you are more like me and prefer your look to be more muted I have discovered a way to subtely incorporate this look into your everyday makeup.

Instead of going for a full on blue eyeshadow on you eyelid I prefer to take a more muted grey toned blue and use it subtly line the lower lashes. It's natural, easy to wear and not too in your face 'look I'm wearing blue eyeshadow'. I have recently learnt that eyeshadow colours of your eye colour are in fact very well suited to each other. As someone with blue eyes it is therefore something which I have been avoiding since a rather bad experience at the ripe old age of 12 when I bought my first ever blue eyeshadow, which let me tell you did not go down well regardless of what I thought back then.

Back to the original topic. The two colours that I have found so far which I am loving using at the moment along my bottom lash line are MAC's 'Silver Grey' and two shades in the original Urban Decay Naked Palette called 'Gunmetal' and 'Creep'.  Of the Urban Decay Shades 'Gunmetal' is the slightler lighter, navy option of the two, whereas 'Creep' is a very dark almost black shade with a hint of navy. As for the MAC option this is a very recent purchase. Don't be fooled by the name as although it does look like a silvery-grey in the palette, it has a gorgeous blue undertone. Of all three shades this is definitely my favourite.  

Let me know if you give this a try!  This is a great option for the colour phobes out there who like to stick to the uniform blacks and browns on their eyes.

Magazines Of The Moment

One of my favourite things parts of reading magazines is to look at the makeup looks and styles that are being worn in the adverts.  So when I discovered these magazines they exactly fit the bill. i-D and LOVE are seasonal

magazines which are based around a significant mix of fashion photography and articles including interviews and features. I was particularly interested in an article in i-D about whether degrees are essential for jobs in the creative industries.

These magazines are larger then the average monthly so I like to read them over the course of a week or so. And at £6 each I'd say that they are definitely worth it seeing as they're only release a few times a year. I picked mine up from a WHSmith in London. 

No Spend April

I don't know about you but March has been quite an expensive month for me. So I've decided that to give the poor old bank card a break and I'm not going to buy any makeup/beauty/skincare products in the month of April. I have a lot of new products to use which I bought last month so I don't need anything right now. As long as I steer clear of Boots and any other makeup department store then I'll be safe.

I am officially calling this month my 'Savings month'. All of my wages will remain unspent and I'm hoping by the end of this month everything will be in a financially happier state.