Recent Purchases - Nars

Okay, title probably quite misleading, these have been purchased in the past 5 months I'd say, this is the first of a series of recent purchases posts, starting with my favorite brand Nars.

I have to say, I think I go crazy at times, and it's really scary putting all these products together into one post, as I thought I was doing pretty well with not buying too much makeup...

But anyway, I thought I'll share the joy and show you the products I've purchased! 

Starting with these Larger than Life Long-Wear Eyeliners - AMAZING! I love these so much, got the brown one first and fell completely in love, so had to get more. They are very long wearing, smduge proof (couldn't get the swatches off my hand), very creamy, easy to glide on, beautiful shimmer and pigmentation... the list goes on - all one could want from an eyeliner I'd say. And I never thought about using green eyeliner, but this sort of olive-y green looks beautiful with brown eyes!

Colours are Abbey Road (blue with shimmer), St. Marks Place (purple), Via Appia (brown with shimmer), Rue de Rivoli (olive green with green and gold shimmer)

I would say I love the brown one the most, but I love them all!!!

Also purchased the Nars Night Series Palette - wanting to try the Night series singles for ages, and this palette was perfect for me, haven't had a chance to use it much though... however I would say that you don't really need this palette, as the 3 dark colours looks pretty much the same on the lids.

Also duos Habenera & Sugarland - both I've been wanting for ages, will talk about these more in the future

And Angelika & Laguna duo - have to say I'm not in love with Laguna yet, I do use it everyday, but not too sure about it.

And lip products - Turkish Delight, Chihuahua & lipstick Honolulu Honey (got the last two today, so not too sure yet, Turkish Delight I really like, and of course, I got it with Mac Angel lipstick... the whole Kim K thing finally caught on me)

And finally a lip swatch of Chihuahua, really like it so far!

Hope you have enjoyed this, and next one in the series will probably be Mac, or Laura Mercier, and I'll leave Chanel till around Christmas

Wow.... can't believe I've bought so much... feel quite guilty now, I'll work hard till year end and try not to buy any more..

Hope you're all doing well, and stay warm, it's sooooo cold in the UK at the moment!

xxxx

OOTD - Topshop Boots

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I  haven't posted for such a long time, moved to a new place, starting my first job, so it's been quite hectic. Hopefully I will be able to post more often, I've been taking a lot of pictures but haven't had time to write/upload.

After seeing these shoes from meganisobel's video on YouTube, I just had to get them, love the zip detail on both side, I have worn these so many times since I got them! They are a bit pricy at £75, but they are very comfortable, the heel is the perfect height, and make me feel really good when wearing these.

Okay, another angle...

And a late summer / fall OOTD - the boots in action! This was taken two weeks ago, it's freezing cold now, but two weeks ago it wasn't too bad, however it was very windy and the skirt caused a bit of a problem.

Blouse: Miss Selfridge - about 4 months old now, but similar styles easily avaliable

Blazer: Zara - about £30, very good quality and I was really surprised that it was only £30

Skirt: Miss selfridge as well... got it online about a month ago, £20ish

Topshop Boots - £75 Ambush boots- ahh just seen that they have a brown version... looks really good

Bag: £100 something, Massimo Dutti, which actually belongs to the company that owns Zara, I love this bag and I think the quality is on par with designer bags. This brand has really good quality pieces, and the price are not completely scary, so really starting to like this brand more.

 Oh and something really exciting for me, I finally got the side cross necklace, that was first seen on lollipop26, I always wanted it and finally got it, it was only around £25. (sorry, it's about 2am here in England, and I really can't remember the place I bought it from, but so many people on YouTube/Blog world have talked about this, I'm sure you can find it) I absolute love it!!!

And finally, the amazing Lola's cupcake... just look at how beautiful/sparkly it is!! It tastes great too!! (got them at Selfridges, London - quite pricy though, but ok to treat myself once in a while) :)

Have a happy happy week everyone!!!

xxx

What I'm using right now:

This was grabbed from the lovely Megan from Beauty in the Sky blog. I thought it was a very fun post and decided to do one as well, check out her version of the post here .

It would be really interesting to see what you're currently using, so please do a similar post on your blog too!

Shampoo: James Brown London High gloss shampoo.

Conditioner: James Brown London Volume boost conditioner. (Really loving this conditioner!)

Styling products:

Shu uemura Essence Absolue - similar to Moroccan oil, at the moment I like the Moroccan oil better, but the Shu one feels lighter.

Umberto Giannini Backcomb in a bottle - I really really like this product, it provides instant volume without hair feeling sticky or greasy.

Umberto Giannini Natural Curls Styling Spray - I really like this product too, I might do a review on these and write about how I use them.

Shower Gel: Nivea Happy Time shower cream - only £1 when I got it and it works good as a shower gel, it claims that the scent will make you feel happy, not quite sure about this... but I do tend to tell myself "I should feel happy now I'm using this", haha and it works.

Body moisturiser: Marks&Spencers Ingredients Coconut Body Butter - This was recommended by Stephanie in her March Favourites , so I just got this recently and really love it! It smells sooo nice, very coconuty, but still fresh, not overpowering at all. However, I'm not too sure if it's very moisturising though.

Deodorant: Dove invisible dry deodorant.
Fake Tan: Never used any.

Cleanser: Shiseido White Lucency foaming cleanser & Clinique rinse off foaming cleanser to remove makeup

Toner: Shiseido the skincare hydro-nourishing softener.

Exfoliator: Not using one at the moment, my skin is really sensitive.

Peeling: Not using any...

Mask: I have a lot of samples or gift with purchases that I'm trying, haven't found one that I love yet.

Serum: Kiehls midnight recovery concentrate - LOVE! I will do a review of this soon.

Moisturizer: Shiseido White Lucency day and night cream, and sometimes Chanel hydramax+ active moisturizer when my skin is really dry.

Primer: Nars primer with spf, they're coming up with new ones now I think, only use it occasionally, sometimes I just use sunscreen as primer.

Foundation & brush: Chanel Vitalumiere 20 and Nars sheer glow in Gobi mixed, Sigma Sigmax brushes.

Concealer: I have a few and just go for whatever I can see first, favorite for concealing spots is the Benefit Boi-ing, for undereye Elis Fass concealer.

Powder: Guerlain meteorites compact powder.

Blusher: Changes constantly but I'm loving Nars Orgasm at the moment!! I know a lot of people think it's overhyped, but been reaching for it a lot recently. Also love Nars Cactus Flower cream blush with MAC My highland honey on top.

Bronzer: Benefit Hoola - Only bronzer, use it to contour.

Highlighter: Nars Albatross - it's nice, but it's a bit too gold on my skin.

Eyeshadow base: Nars eyeshadow primer

Eyeshadows: Oh god... this changes every day, if I had to pick one, I'll say MAC Satin Taupe, so versatile, use it for all over lid, crease, to blend out other colours. I really love wearing colour on my lid and then using Satin Taupe to blend out the edges, this makes the look a lot more wearable.

Eyeliner: Urban Decay 24/7 Liner Pencil in Zero.

Curler: Shu uemura

Mascara: Clinique High Impact or High Length.

Lipstick: MAC Shy girl for nude lip, Nars Barbarella for peachy/coral lip, Nars Roman Holiday for a pick lip.

Lipgloss: Not a fan of lipglosses at the moment, not sure why... maybe it's too hot?

Nail Colour: Nails Inc- St.James on toes, Barry m Berry Icecream on fingers.

Wow... this is sooo long, hope you like it!

Have a good weekend everyone!!

xx

What's in my Easter vacation travel makeup case?

This post was inspired by this post by Pleasureflush, I really liked her post so I thought I'll do one as well.

I have been back to university for about a week now and still haven't unpacked completely. I have a deadline for a piece of work on Friday so been working on that all week and I have almost finished it now, so I thought why not take some pictures of what I took home with me over Easter vacation before putting them back. Easter vacation was 6 weeks and I didn't go anywhere, just stayed at home and relaxed while doing some work as well, *sigh*, the life of a finalist...

Anyway, I'll show you what I took with me, bearing in mind that I was home for 6 weeks and I know I always over pack. 



 Overview

 Eyeshadows

 Face products

 Other eye products (I forgot about Satin Taupe for the Eyeshadows photo)

 Lip products (and the cheek products that I forgot to include in the Face prodcuts photo)

Okay, I know it's an awful lot of products that I took with me, but I was really trying to cut down when I packed, for Christmas Vacation, I actually took home all my makeup! So I see this as an improvement and I am proud to say that all the products have been used at least once! But about 70% of the products have only been that once. I think this is a great way to experiment with products, not taking everything means I need to come up with more ideas on how to use one product.

I bought with me the Urban Decay palettes because I didn't really use them much, I think they're great palettes but sometimes I found that because they contain so many colours, I have to think about what combination to use, so I always just go for the simple eyeshadow duos, trios or quads when I'm doing my everyday makeup. Taking them home with me really made me appreciate them more.

And finally a NOTD - Barry M 308 Berry Ice Cream (I think this is the right name).

A truly magical and beautiful Royal wedding!

I think a lot of us are currently addicted to the Royal Wedding, it was really beautiful and I loved every moment of it. The service was beautiful and touching, it's really an amazing event not only for the Royal family, but also for all the people in Britain. I think it'll really make an impact on our society, making more of us feeling more proud to be British.

Of course, I was so interested to see Kate's dress, hair and makeup... And she looked stunning, elegant and really happy. I really liked her makeup and considering that she did it herself, that's pretty amazing. It's not a typical bridal look but still very nicely done and suits her well. I was so amazed when I saw her makeup, since I watched the lovely Kandeejohnson's Royal wedding inspired makeup tutorial yesterday! Kandee's predicted look was exactly like what Kate had on! Kandee, you're soooo amazing!!!

The link for Kandee's video is here

I apologise for the excessive use of 'amazing', but the whole day was truly amazing!

Let me know what you think about the wedding! And have a good weekend everyone!

Nars Summer 2011 collection - Now available online!!

Just a quick post to say that the new Nars Summer Collection is now available on narscosmetics.co.uk.

I really want to get the New Order blush and maybe Dogon eyeshadow duo. I haven't made my mind up yet, as I really don't need another blush, and I really want to cut down the amount of money I spend on make up. But this collection just looks so good to pass... I will wait a few more days and if I do get them, I'll definitely post pictures!

One of my favorite makeup guru - Fleurdeforce have posted very nice swatches and reviews of all products from the new Nars collection, the link is here:

http://fleurdeforce.blogspot.com/2011/04/sneaky-peak-nars-summer-collection-2011.html

Are you excited about anything from this collection? Let me know.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Exciting discovery!

I was just browsing online for some travel cosmetics bags, I really want one of those roll up cosmetics bag with separate compartments, but couldn't really find any... Anyway, back to my point, I was looking on next.co.uk and discovered that they have started selling beauty products. I don't know if I was just being really slow and never found this out or they have just started doing this.

Next are selling some really cool brands, like 'theBalm', 'DuWop', 'MakeBelieve' which are familiar to me from hearing youtubers and bloggers from the US talking about them but I was never able to locate them in the UK. They also have brands like 'Rimmel' and 'Tweezerman'. I think you can only get these online, maybe some stores have a small selection of cosmetics, but at my local Next store, they only stock the Next brand cosmetics.

I really want to try out some of the 'theBalm' products, but haven't made up my mind yet. I will let you know if I do get something and post reviews.

I was just really excited about this news and wanted to share.

Hope you are all having a nice week!!

NOTD- BarryM Grey & Nars Orgasm Nail polishes

A quick NOTD, actually, it's more of a NOTW (nail of the week), I paint my nails every weeks and I will try to post these more often in the future.



As the title suggests, I have BarryM nail polish in Grey and topped with Nars Orgasm nail polish. I used Nails Inc Base and top coats as well.

I got a mini bottle of Nars Orgasm nail polish as a GWP, and ever since I got it, I've been trying to make it work. It's such a beautiful colour in the bottle but just didn't flatter when on my nails. I have lots and lots of nail polishes but for some reason, I've just been really wanting to use this mini bottle of Nars. After many failed attempts trying to wear it on its own, I've tried it layered over other polishes, and failed many times as well. So the other day, I suddenly saw this BarryM polish, which doesn't work for my nails either, and thought why don't I try these two together. And this is the finished result.



More pictures with flash:





I'm still not sure how I feel about this combination, all I can say is I think it's very unique, haven't seen anything quite like this. Since I'm at home at the moment and not doing much, it doesn't really matter if my nails are not nice. I do kind of like it, I don't know.

Let me know what you think!!

Oh and please excuse the terrible paint job...



SpaceNK Skin consultation

I received an email from SpaceNK today about their new skin consultation tool, just tried it and I really like it.

You only need to answer 7 questions and they will provide a customised skincare routine with six products - Cleanser, Serum, Day cream, Night cream, Eye cream and Treatment. Also, when you press VIEW/PRINT MY REGIME, you will see a pdf document with the products and also how and when to use them.

What I really like about this is that you can gain a lot of skincare knowledge, as well as knowing the products that suit your skin type that addresses the problems you're most concerned with. I don't think I will get all the products recommended, but I will certainly try some when my current products run out.

Here's the link to try it out.

 

Begin your Space NK Skin Consultation here.

 

Have a great day !

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine Swatches - LIBERTE & AVENTURE

More swatches of the Rouge coco shines from the sample I got.

This is Liberte, it's a peachy coral colour with fine shimmer. The four Rouge coco shines in the sample set all contain shimmer, but it's very fine and you can hardly notice them. It does give a nice shiny finish. 

The above is Aventure, it's a very nice pink colour with a golden shimmer. On my lips, it looks like a very cool toned pink for some reason, but I do really love this colour, I think it's my favourite of the four.

I tried swatching Monte-Carlo, it's a very pretty red with pink undertones, but I couldn't get it looking right in photos, it always shows up very light. I will try again soon.

With the four colours I've tried, I think these Rouge coco shines are very very sheer. You can build up the colour, but one or two coats looks very sheer. I think it's great as a everyday lip stick/balm, but not great if you like pigmented lipsticks or wanting a dramatic lip look.

Each colour provides a different tone for my lips, but they do look very similar, because they're so sheer I think. The colours are not that unique, but the formula is very nice, very hydrating and I think it's a nice lipstick to own for daytime use.

As for which one I'll purchase, still haven't made my mind up yet... :) 

My new favourite bag!!!

 

Yes, this is my new favourite bag!! I got it about a month ago and have been loving it since.

It's from Warehouse and they still have it on their website, so these should still be in stores. It retails at £32, I had 10% student discount on it, but thinking about it now, it's not that cheap, for some reason, I thought I only paid like 20 pounds for it. But I do think it's worth the money and love it!!!

It is a causal everyday bag, it's quite small so great for when you're just going outside for a short while to get food or going to the post office... (I don't know why I came up with these, but you get the idea)

It's like a nude/beige/ light brown colour, it's got a long strap, but can also remove the strap to use it as a clutch. I'm sure I've read it in a magazine that holding these types of casual bags as a clutch is a trend this year, maybe a micro trend?? I can't remember... Here are some photos of the bag...

 Okay... I haven't told you what I like the most about this bag yet, I ramble too much.
Anyway, in case you haven't noticed, the 3 separate zipped compartments!!! When I saw this in store and saw the compartments, I just had to get it. It's very unique and so useful! It also has pockets for your phone, and more zipped pockets inside the last compartment and at the back of the bag. Don't need to go through your bag for keys anymore.

I just really really love it!!

Hope you're all having a great day!

Chanel Rouge Coco Shine Swatches - Boy

The Rouge Coco Shines are the newest additions to the Chanel lipsticks range. I believe they launched on March 11th in the UK.

"As soft and melt-away as a balm, ROUGE COCO SHINE introduces a texture that becomes fluid on contact with the lips, making them sparkle with intense luminosity. A precise blend of wax and plant-based derivatives ensures that Rouge Coco Shine glides onto your lips, giving all day lasting colour and up to eight hours optimal hydration. In 18 different semi-sheer, vibrant shades, lips will be ultra-shiny, elegant and perfectly pretty for spring." This is the description on the Selfridges website, for some reason, debenhams.com don't have these yet, but I know they have got them in store.

I went to Debenhams to get my mum a Chanel eyeshadow quad for mothers' day, and the sales assistant was so nice to give me these samples to try! And I thought I'll try them out and show you the swatches. I will only show the colour 54 Boy today, and will try out the others and post them as soon as possible, as well as doing a review on the formula and if I will be purchasing.

I think these swatches are really true to colour, and I forgot to do swatches on my hand, so...

These samples also came with a mini lip brush, and to my surprise, it actually applies the lipstick very well.

Looking at the product itself, 54 Boy seems like a nude pink colour, quite beige looking, however on my lips, as you can see, it's quite a pale baby pink colour, I suppose there might be a bit of beige there. I thought it was my camera washing the colour out, but the colour on my lips does look like their printed swatch (2nd photo of this post, with BOY written over the swatch).

As for formula, it glides on very nicely, very smooth. As you can see, it is quite shiny, in a good way, I do like how it looks, it doesn't feel dry, however I'll need to wear it longer to see if it has the claimed hydrating properties.

Have you tried any of the Rouge coco shines? What do you think of them or are you thinking about getting one soon?





Product review: MAC Pink Cult Blush - Love it!!!

I  know it's probably a bit late putting this up, since most places have already sold out this blush. I just checked the MAC uk website, it has been sold out, and I couldn't find it on the Debenhams website either. I really don't know if local counters might still have this, but if you can get your hands on it, and you feel like you really need another blush, then GET IT!!! I promise you won't regret it.

First, it is such a unique colour, I have a lot of blushes and nothing is quite like this. It is a muted light nude pink colour, that's the best way I can describe it. The picture below is a pretty good representation to the actual product. The swatches are not that great, but hopefully you get the idea. It is a very natural colour that brightens up my face, makes me look really healthy and awake. (I am NC15ish I think, fair asian skin)

This is a light colour, so not sure how it works for people with darker skintones, but looks great on fair skin.

Secondly, the pigmentation. It looks like such a light colour, but it's actually very pigmented and very buildable at the same time. I love that it's pigmented, yet it's hard to overdo it. I normally use two layers with my MAC 116 brush. I love this brush too, it's my first MAC brush and it applies the product so well. I might do a seperate post about the brush and I certainly can't wait to try more MAC brushes.

Thirdly, umm... I did not think this through. Oh, the texture, it's a matte finish, but somehow I feel it gives me a glowy sheen on the cheeks, makes my skin look really smooth after application.

I have been using it ever since I got it, so about 2 weeks or 3. Overall, it's a great great product and I love it!!!

Help Japan - Donate through iTunes

This is a super fast and easy way to donote to help with the Japan Earthquake. The images in the news certainly shocked many of us and every little bit would help the people in Japan to go through this hard time as soon as possible.

I found out about donating through iTunes from pandacakes03 on YouTube, here's her video about donating: (she does really good makeup videos too)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oPl80JBCZk&feature=feedu

To donate through iTunes, click here:
https://buy.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/buyCharityGiftWizard
It literally took me 10 seconds to do, I do have an iTunes account already, it's so easy.

I will be writing more posts in my blog from now on, since I have just started my Easter vacation.

Hope you're all well!

January 2011 Favorites

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year, I was home over the holidays and didn't really have much time to my blog. I'm back at univeristy again, and lots and lots of work since I'm a finalist! It's so crazy, can't believe I'm going to graduate in about 6 months!!!

Anyway, I thought I'll do my January Favorites. Back to uni for most of January, and lots of 9am lectures meaning I don't have much time at all in the morning for makeup. So most of the items are pretty easy to work with, and very safe colours. I've been using these pretty much every day since I got back, and really been liking them a lot.

Okay, here's a picture of all the products:

Face products:
umm... i actually forgot to take pictures of these. Mainly been using the Nars primer with spf, but I'm not quite sure how I feel about that product yet, since haven't really been using it that long, so I'll post an indepth review once I feel I have used it enough. My favorite concealer has been the Benefit's Booing concealer in #1 and #2. I have these in the Confessions of a Concealerholic set. I found these are great for concealing redness and blemishs, but too dry to use for undereye areas. I still haven't found anything I love for dark circles, I tried erase paste, but that's too dry for me as well. Any recommendations?

I don't really wear foundation a lot, so I just use Nars Nico blush as a setting powder, use that all over my face. Nico is a favorite too, it's like my all time favorite, so I forgot to take a picture of it, but it works great as a setting powder and also makes my blushes go on easier.

Blush and Bronzers:


From top left, clockwise: Nars Orgasm Multiple, Nars Albatross, Nars Penny Lane, Benefit Hoola bronzer, Nars Orgasm blush



I've been loving Penny Lane and the Orgasm multiple, they're just so easy to use when you're in a rush, very creamy and easy to blend, almost impossible to mess up/use too much! I also really enjoyed using the Nars Orgasm blush, it's a colour I always reach for when I'm in a rush, don't really want to think too much about which blush I want to use. Albatross, absolutely favorite highligher, full stop. Hoola, my only bronzer, so I can't really compare it to anything else, but I really like it, it's a basic matt bronzer and I use it mainly for contouring.

Here are swatches:

From top: Nars Orgasm multiple, Orgasm blush, Albatross, Penny Lane, Hoola

The Nars Orgasm multiple and Orgasm blush does look almost identical, so I do prefer the multiple form, since it's a lot easy to apply.

Eye products:



Chanel Mystic Eyes Quad, MAC Bare Study Paintpot, Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero, Clinique cream shaper for eyes in Chocolate luster (105)

I pretty much used these products every single day since I got back to uni. I got my Chanel quad a while ago, used it once and thought it was very nice, but never really used it again. I just have way too many eyeshadow palletes and quads and duos and singles, you get the idea. I just have too much that most of them don't really get used at all. I didn't have much time in the mornings, so I just used this everyday and applied them with my fingers, I love the silvery colour for the inner corners, looks really nice!

I really want to mention the Clinique eyeliner, it's so gorgeous, it's a brown with silver shimmer, it's so wearable for day and looks so great on the lower lashline, very natural looking.

Swatches: 

From top: Clinique eyeliner, Urban decay zero liner, Bare Study paintpot, Chanel Mystic Eyes quad.

Lip products:

I have been loving my Nars Best of Lips palette, I think you can get this on the Nars website, I'm not sure if they still sell these in stores. You can probably tell which colour I like the most. I love Dolce Vita lipstick (top right) and Eros lip lacquer (bottom middle). Dolce Vita for me is the MLBB colour and Eros on top gives a nice berry winter lip colour!

 

 Also another combo I've been wearing a lot is MAC Costa Chic lipstick, with this Clinique sample lipgloss. The swatches shows up a bit too orange than it actually is, it's the perfect pinky peachy colour. I know it's like a spring/summer colour, but I just really like it and I've been wearing it a lot in January.

It's a super long post, I apologise, hope you all had a nice/fun/productive January!!