Ben Nye

I have only just discovered the brand Ben Nye and I L-O-V-E it!!  Ben Nye is a brand which is mainly used for theatrical purposes.  I first heard about the now famous, Banana Powder.  It seems that this is the powder which Kim Kardashian's make-up artist uses as the highlighting powder under her eyes to get that brightened look. As soon as this was announced Ben Nye's Banana Powder was so much in demand that there was a worldwide shortage!  Of course I had to try it out!  Browsing through the products there was so much more that I wanted, so I also bought the Conceal All Wheel.

I'll start with the Conceal All Wheel NK1.  When I first saw it, it reminded me of the pretend make-up I would use as a kid, I expected it to be very hard and one of those concealers that tugs at your skin when you try to blend it, but I couldn't be more wrong!  The consistency is so creamy!  The colours are great, especially for mixing to make new shades.  I have fair skin and was a bit concerned that the 3 darker colours would be too dark for me but when I had my usual light fake tan on they looked great!  I love this concealer so much now and the price is so affordable, I paid about £9 for what is really 4 concealers.  

I have previously use cle de peau concealer and Bobbi Brown and would say that this product is just as good, even better as you can mix the colours so easily.

Banana Powder

Banana Powder blended

The Banana Powder is a yellow toned powder that really suits skin with yellow undertones.  When I first seen this product I was concerned that it would be too dark for me.  Doing my research it seemed that for people with darker skin this is a perfect highlight, for my fair skin I can not use it as a highlight but I use it as a all over face powder.  I have an olive skin tone and find that this powder suits me very well.

The powder is great for correcting a foundation which may be too pink also.  I would say though that if you get the powder, do cover up most of the holes at the top with sellotape as it has a tendency for going all over the place!  You do get so much for your money,  I bought the 3oz and think it will last me at least a year.  Overall I am very happy with my new Banana powder, which only cost me about £8.50!

I have ordered more Ben Nye products and can't wait to do more reviews on this brand!!

Lanacane

So I have stumbled upon an A-MAZING make-up "secret".  I'm always on the lookout for new products, useful tips, dupes etc and stumbled across this beauty!

I have used make-up primers in the past but haven't been overly enthusiastic about them, I could take them or leave them but I have discovered a dupe for a very well known make-up primer (Smashbox primer) and surprisingly, it's not a primer at all, it's Lanacane, Anti-Chafing Gel.  It is designed for helping those that suffer irritating chafing but it doubles up as an excellent make-up primer.

You may have heard from American make-up enthusiasts, talking about a product name Monistat which is also an anti-chafing gel, well Lanacane is the UK equivalent.

Lanacane contains ingredients very similar to high end primers and is only a fraction of the price, around about £6 and can be found in Boots, Tesco etc.

I was a bit unsure when applying the product as I was obviously using it not for its intended purpose but when applying, my skin began to feel incredibly soft!   I couldn't believe how soft and smooth it became!  I then applied my foundation on top.  I was left with an almost perfectly smooth finish.  What a difference it made!  I am so happy with the results, I'll be telling all my friends and family about my miracle find!!

 

It's quite a thick consistency but you don't need much.

I have rubbed the product on the right, there is nothing on the left.

DIY Trout Pout

I was super bored today so decided to have some fun doing a mad make up look.  Last Halloween I had used pritt stick for making a special fx scar for my little brother's Joker outfit so thought I'd have some fun using the pritt stick to create other looks.

I have fairly small lips so decided I would make them massive, a la Jodie Marsh.  I did not intend for this look to be wearable, far from it, I was just having fun.  I'm quite impressed with how it turned out though!  I've discovered pritt stick is my new best friend when it comes to fancy dress and special fx looks!

I spread lots of the glue across my lips, careful not to get it in my mouth though and then using the sharp edge of a nail tool, anything would do really, I created a lip outline.  I then smoothed everything out with baby oil and cotton buds, put on foundation as a base then applied a ton of lipstick and gloss and voila, my trout pout is complete!

My normal lips, very small top lip!

Lips with glue

Red, red lips!

Majorly colour altered to go with the dramatic lips!

L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Cream

BB creams kind of arrived out of nowhere and I wasn't too sure what it really was, until I read a blog by pixiwoo explaining that it was really just tinted moisturiser rebranded.  For the past few weeks I have stopped using foundation.  I usually use Chanel but wanted to look a bit more fresh faced and found the Chanel to be quite opaque so decided that maybe a BB cream would be for me.

Every brand seems to have their own take on the BB cream so I was a bit bamboozled to which one to try.  I played around with the testers but when I tried the L'Oreal BB cream I was surprised when it came out white with little purple dots in it, when rubbed in though it gave a gorgeous dewy fresh look on my hand so I decided to buy it.

When I applied it to my face I was amazed, my skin looked so healthy and luminous but didn't look like I was wearing any make-up! I absolutely love this BB cream! It feels like I'm just applying moisturiser but it makes me look wide awake and polished.  I love the fact that I can wear make-up without it looking like I've applied loads, I would definitely recommend this product!

Coloured Contacts

I have a weird colour of eyes, sort of bluey/green and have always fancied a change.  I've always wanted brown eyes but never really tried contacts before so decided I would bite the bullet and try them.  I ordered them from cosmeticlenses.co.uk.  I also ordered a lenses case and lens solution, this is an absolute must as the solution will keep your lenses clean so you can re-use them and the lens case will keep them safe.

At first I found it quite difficult to put the lenses in but have practised a few times now and am finding it much easier each time.  There are instructions inside to help you know how to put them in which really helps.

The lenses I got were "Expressions Colors Brown".  I didn't know that the lenses were sold separately so I had to buy two.  I'm sure these contacts you can use for a month or 30 times which is great!  It was a strange feeling when I first put them on but you kind of get used to them.  I would definitely recommend them if you fancy a little change!

outfit ideas

Just a few looks I made up and their inspiration ...

Neon sin

 

Mint Julep

Valentines Rose

Psycho Doll

I've not posted in ages, I've got so much going on ... found out I'm pregnant and having a little boy! I'm so excited!  Hence the few posts!  Anyway, it's that time of year again, Halloween.  I have a family party this weekend and it's strictly fancy dress, so I thought I'd do something ALOT different with my make up and go as a psycho doll!

I blanked out my eyebrows with pritt stick and concealer, packed on the foundation for that doll like skin.  Went in with deep contour lines for the cheeks and ott blush!  I added false eyelashes on top and one set on the bottom, I like the bottom effect! Then I added freckles with a brown liquid eyeliner and purple/black lips.  Was a very fun look!

I also did my little brothers make up too, he wanted to go as the joker, so I used fancy dress white make up, gel eyeliner and red lipstick.  I'm so happy with how it turned out.

I wanted to make the Jokers scar look quite authentic and tried some shop bought halloween special effects, but to be honest it was useless.  So I used 99p pritt stick and made my own scar,  I think it looks rather good if I do say so myself!

Happy Halloween!!

 

Free Benefits

So as soon as this months Glamour magazine came out I rushed to the shops to get my hands on 3 copies for 3 beautiful benefit goodies.  Benefit is an amazing cosmetics company that have such cute and kitsch items.  The packaging is adorable and the products are extremely good quality.

 

The 3 items were: posietint, benetint & highbeam.

Here's a run down on each product ...

Posietine was a new one to me, I'd never tried this product before.  I was a bit surprised at the thickness of the product, I think I was expecting it to be a bit more runny but it's quite thick. It's a gorgeous glowing pink colour and is very subtle once applied.  I would say this is for someone who likes their makeup very natural as it will give a healthy blush to the cheeks without it looking like you're wearing makeup.  As with each of these products I would recommend them to be worn with a tinted mousturiser, mousse foundation etc as they does not work well with a powdered base. 

Benetint and me go back a long way.  My nana used to buy me this for my christmas when I was 16 but I did used to over do it and look a bit doll like, big mistake! This product is a beautiful colour and gives a healthy flushed look.  It can be used as a cheek tint or lip tint.  It is a bit stronger than poisetint and is more liquid like.  Excellent for a natural look again.

Last but not least highbeam.  This is a thick creamy product that is an excellent highlighter.  I mainly use it on my brow bone, the top of my cheek bones and my cupids bow.  It gives a slight shimmer and glows perfectly.  It can look quite natural and catches the light beautifully.  A lovely product!

From left to right, posietint, benetint & high beam.

GOSH Extreme Art Eyeliner

I got this product a while ago and forgot all about it.  It's a liquid eyeliner which claims to be waterproof!  Mine is in shade 11 which is a beautiful greeny blue, it reminds me of the ocean.

Now personally I find the application brush a bit fiddly and quite thin.  I wouldn't say it's the easiest liquid liner to apply but it does the job.  However the actual product is out of this world.  I've never used such a pigmented, opaque coloured liner before.  The colour is so vivid and bright and once it's on there it doesn't budge!  It is a pain to get off when you do eventually get round to it but at least you know it wont let you down on a night out.

I could honestly say that I think you could go swimming in this and it wouldn't move, not that I'm going to try it though!!  I think this product would be perfect for going on holiday when you want to wear something bright and different at night time as heat and humidity would not be a problem..  I really want to try more colours now, I think I'm hooked!!

 

Birthday!!

It was my friends birthday so I thought I'd put up a few pics of what I got her.

 

Shoes: River Island, Cava & chocolate: Marks & Spencers, Nail Glitter & Nail Polish: GOSH, Bow wrapping paper: New Look.

Lady in Red

Just a little outfit design for a very vampy look.

 

Cheeeeesecake

Had a BBQ at the weekend and made the most delish baileys and malteaser cheesecake, sooooo yum!  Just had to put up a pic!

Skull Nails

So I was shopping in Primark a while ago and picked up these nail stickers, white with silver skills.  They were only £3!!  I thought they would only last less than a day if I'm honest but what a bargain, I'd try them anyway.  I have little short nails so I stuck the stickers on (they didn't feel too sticky) and then cut to fit.  They looked quite cute and to my suprise lasted over a week!!  How nice are they!  I'm going to look out for some different styles, Primark, well done!

 

Goody Bag

I received an e-mail from Harvey Nichols a few weeks ago saying that they had lovely goody bags to give away if you spent over £110 in a single transaction in store or on-line.  Unfortunately I didn't get paid until a week or so later so thought I'd missed out.

So on pay day I toddled along to Harvey Nics to stock up on my Chanel foundation.  On the off chance that they had some goody bags left I asked the lovely Chanel lady and she said she thought they had 1 left, woohoo they did!!  

I had to make a few extra purchases so I went over the £110 minimum spend, I'm terrible I'd do anything for a bargain! lol but the freebies are awesome!!  It says in the e-mail that the bag and its contents are worth over £150!! 

Here's the lovliness of it ...

 

Some things that stood out:

Shu Uemura complimentary corner lash flare application with voucher

Mintglaze Fx Lip primer - leaves my lips so soft

3 mini NARS lipglosses so tiny and cute!

Trish McEvoy eyeshadow primer

Spreeee!

Woohoo!  Pay day rolls around again and I am drawn to the glorious-ness of Boots!  Here's my shopping for the day.  I've decided to go down the dark cherry route hair dye wise, hopefully it's nice =) ...

 

Loreal Dark Cherry Hair Dye

Boots Own Cotton Buds

Sally Hansen Nail Polish Remover - Sooo good (actually from Asda)

Elegant Touch Rapid Dry Nail Spray

Macmillan Cancer Support Keyring

Boots Own Hairgrips

Bourjois Bronzer - Why am I so late to discover this bronzing wonder?!

Models Own - Lemon Meringue, Pastel Pink & Grey Day

17 Matte Nail Polish

Boots Own Hand Cream

 

 

Fix+

 

I usually use Urban Decay, all nighter to set my make-up (which I keep meaning to do a review on!!) but find it so hard to get a hold of so I decided to give mac's fix+ a go.

I really love Urban Decays make-up setter and thought fix+ would be on par with my expectations or would exceed them but I have to say I'm pretty disappointed.  From the name I assumed it would fix/set my make-up, although I've heard people say that that's not it's purpose at all, hmmm a bit misleading with the title there!  To be honest, reading the description on the mac website, it's use isn't too clear at all.  Just sounds like gobblydygook to me, haha I've not said that word since I was about 5!

The first time I sprayed it on, it wasn't as fine a mist as I would have liked but I just put up with it.  To be honest I didn't notice a difference once it was on, some people claim it makes your face more dewy, not for me anyway.  I then tried using it a few hours after I'd applied my make-up as I'd read on a few blogs that it revives your make-up.  No to that one too.  I've tried putting it on before my foundation, can't say that made a difference either.  

After many attempts, I just don't see the point in this product.  It seems to me that it's pretty expensive smelly water!  I really wanted this to be one of my HG products but I'm definitely going to stick to my all nighter!!  On the plus side fix+ is pretty good to mix with eyeshadows to make home made liquid liners!  That's the best I can do with this product I'm afraid!