One make up trend that I don't think will ever die is the nude or neutral eye - you only have to look at the sheer amount of neutral, naked and nude eyeshadow palettes on the market to see that this is a trend that's here to stay. It might not have overtaken the iconic dark, smokey eye just yet but few can deny its ease or its wearability. It's one of those looks that can be as simple or as complicated as you like, you can spend what seems like hours blending shades together to produce a cover girl look, or you can just use one shade for a clean and polished finish.
I have a ridiculous amount of neutral palettes in my collection but whilst I love a palette, sometimes you can do everything you want with just one shadow. I know we're all obsessed with eyeshadow palettes at the moment but please, don't forget about all of those single eyeshadows out there. I'm as guilty as anyone for focusing on my palettes but lately I've been using a single eyeshadow that's made me think again.
I have to admit that when I received Essence Eyeshadow in 15 Hazel Me Not, I wasn't that impressed. The clear plastic packaging was minimalist and utilitarian, and the colour just looked, well, a bit boring but then I swatched it and started playing.
Okay the colour isn't going to win any awards for innovation or pan appeal, but it's one of those beige, taupe shades that you just need in your collection.
Being such a cheap shadow I wasn't expecting a lot pigmentation wise but again this one surprised me. With an almost matte but not flat or chalky finish, this shadow feels soft, and smooth, and the colour payoff is excellent.
This shadow has been my real go to when I'm feeling a bit lazy. It almost seems to even out the skin tone, and it leave the eyelid looking clean and fresh, all day Throw on a few coats of black mascara and you've got a really simple, wearable look that takes minutes to achieve and would work for any occasion when you don't want to look overdone. The shadow isn't showing up too well here,and my wrinkly eyelids aren't helping! but I hope it gives you some idea of the fresh look that you can create.
This isn't the most fashion forward or interesting shadow out there but it's wearable and it's something most people would find a use for, worn either on it's own or alongside other neutral eyeshadow tones. For the price this shadow, the pigmentation and the wear time really surprised me, Essence Eyeshadow in 15 Hazel Me Not, retails at just £1 for a 2.5g compact from Essence stand alone stores, Wilko stores and Wilko online which is amazing value for money. If this shade isn't for you there are loads more single shadows in the Essence range starting at just £1, so you can afford to experiment or even try something new. Are you still a neutral shadow fan? Let me know x
Although today is cloudy and grey at least for the last couple of days, it's felt as though summer is here at last -The sun's shone, and it's been pleasantly warm, and dry. Will it last? who knows but it's certainly made me feel a little brighter.
I've been a reading a few blog posts lately about how you change your make up for summer and it's got me thinking. I'm definitely not one of those people that has a summer and a winter make up bag but I do make a couple of changes here and there
I probably tend to wear less make up in the warmer months but the make up that I do wear has to not only last but it also needs to adapt to my changing skin tone and the changes in lighting and in fashion.
I'm a huge fan of bright colours, as anyone that has ever met me would probably tell you, but in the summer everyone has free reign to wear brighter colours both in their clothing and in their make up. In the summer I tend to move away from my traditional neutral face palette and I tend to play with colour a little bit more. Someone once said that you should only wear blusher the same colour as your cheeks would naturally flush, well I think that's rubbish!.I love experimenting with different blush tones depending on my outfit, the rest of my make up and the changing seasons , but when it comes to the summer time, it's peaches and corals that I reach for.
I have a lot of peaches and corals in my collection but lately I've been reaching for this budget offering from Essence.
Essence Silky Touch Blush is 90 Summer Dreaming is perfectly named, it's one of those gorgeous bright, summer, peachy ,corals with just a hint of shimmer, that everybody needs in their collection.
In a world where packaging is everything, the clear plastic packaging, maybe wouldn't win any awards for glamour or style, but it's practical and functional, a little bit like the blusher inside.
Equally at home when worn for a night out, or for summer sightseeing, Summer Dreaming has a soft, smooth texture, and pigmentation that some higher end brands would crave.
It blends effortlessly into the skin, and leaves the cheeks with a beautiful wash of peach.
This is a pretty blusher that would deserve a place in any summer make up bag no matter what your budget, age or skin colour. Essence Silky Touch Blush in 90 Summer Dreaming retails at just £2.50 for a 5g compact. A fabulous price and a great blusher, what more could you want? If your in the UK , you can get your own, either from an Essence stand alone store, or via Wilko or the Wilko website. Are you a fan of peachy, coral blusher? Let me know x
Well here we are we've survived the first 6 months of the year, this year is flying by and I'm in total denial that in 6 months time we'll be opening the doors on our advent calendars I refuse to even think about it when we haven't had any summer yet - I had the heating on yesterday! seriously what is wrong with this weather?
Anyone enough of the blogger being a typical Brit and complaining about the weather - it's time to reveal May's empties.
Elemis Jasmine And Rose Milk Bath - 125ml May Beauty The Incredible Face Mask - 10ml Beauty Formulas Body And Face Cooling Mist - 150ml Barely There White Lily & Sweet Rose Blossom Bath Salts -100g Total - 4 Items
1. Elemis Jasmine And Rose Milk Bath - 125ml
I've talked about this product before and I have to say it's love. I'm a huge, huge Jasmine fan, and who doesn't like the smell of roses. Add those expensive and pure extracts to Elemis' famous Skin Nourishing Milk Bath and you have the most indulgent bathing experience you can imagine. You can use this in the shower but in my opinion for the most luxurious and pampering experience you need to use it in the bath. The water is delicately scented, and feels super soft and silky on the skin. I love it but I'm not sure I can justify the spendy amount to just use it in the shower - the bath is where it's at and it's the way to see this product at it's best.
2. May Beauty The Incredible Face Mask - 10ml
This is something that I was sent for review purposes and I'm in the processes of testing it out at the moment. It's a face mask ideal for people with breakouts and problem skin and a full review including scary pictures will be on the blog in a few weeks x
3. Beauty Formulas Body And Face Cooling Mist - 150ml
It's not often that a product appears in an empties post before or without appearing in a haul post but this product was bought and used up in less than a month. Basically it's a cooling water spray that you can pick up quite easily in Poundland. Due to my illness and the amount of medication that I take I tend to get quite warm at night, and my skin especially on my feet often feels itchy and as though it's on fire. I've kept this on my bedside table and if I've had a hot or itchy spell I've had a quick spritz, and I have to say it's helped a lot . The pressurised container keeps it's cool so it's great for freshening up especially when the weather is warmer, and I'll definitely be picking another one up this week.
4. Barely There White Lily & Sweet Rose Blossom Bath Salts -100g
This bottle of bath salts came in a gorgeous, hat box gift set, that originally came for Wilko. Bath salts can be seen as a tiny bit old fashioned but these salts had a gorgeous smell. If you've ever smelled either the L'Occitane Shea Butter Body Lotion, or the Elemis Skin Nourishing Milk Bath than you'll know what this smelled like. It had a soft, delicate almost creamy baby powder type scent which I loved. Unfortunately I can't find any trace of this product or anything else in the range on the Wilko website but I still have quite a few of the products still to use up and I'm going to enjoy using all of them.
4 items in one month to be honest is disappointing but I have also finished a lot of Lush and Bomb Cosmetics products including some bubble bars, melts, and a few ballistics that I haven't included so it isn't all bad.
Bath products again dominate my list and it's just as well - After several cancellations we have yet another date for the bathroom refit so I'm really running out time to use up all of my bath products. I've made a serious dent in my bubble bath collection but I still have a few large bottles left, I'm thinking that I could use some of them as shower gels so hopefully nothing will go to waste. Instead I'm going to try and use up my remaining Lush items, I was actually doing okay and I only had a few bits left but I got a few bits for my birthday - I'm not complaining though nothing beats a Lush bath and I'm going to take full advantage while I still have my bath. If you have any questions or comments on anything I've finished or my Trimming My Stash posts then leave me your musings below xx
Hi Guys x Welcome to what is going to the first of 3 haul posts that will be going live over the next week. We've had a fashion post and a beauty post already this week so it's time for a lifestyle post, with a home and stationery haul.
If you've ever seen any pictures of my bedroom or any of my previous home hauls you'll know that I'm a bit obsessed with cushions, I absolutely love the things, so much so that you often can't get on my bed for them. My latest obsession is with animal cushions, I recently purchased a cat shaped cushion from Primark (see it here) and I already have a Sass & Belle cat (read my post on it here) and I was lucky enough to receive one of their owls for Christmas.
My mum is not a bird fan by any means and to be honest she doesn't really like them in the house, but I'm currently in the middle of a bit of an owl phase and whilst searching on the internet for Sass & Belle I came across this gorgeous owl cushion. What struck me was how unusual it was, the majority of owl cushions in the Sass and Belle range are made for shabby chic, floral patchwork fabrics but this one is made from faux leather and faux suede.
This is so unique and as yet I haven't seen anything else on the high street like it. Another selling point was it's name all of the Sass & Bell cushions have a name and this is... Louise Owl. Well I had to get it then didn't I and I have to say that despite the fact that he's a little bit more expensive than some of their other owls, I love him (I still think it looks like a him lol). Louise Owl doesn't appear on the Sass & Belle website any more but I got mine from Amazon marketplace. The seller I used isn't listed any more but there are still two sellers that have him, and the seller that I did use the_peas_knees is also selling Louise The Owl on ebay.
As well as Louise The Owl I couldn't resist another Sass & Belle purchase x Again this one appears to be discontinued, you can still find it on Amazon and on ebay from the seller that I used x Her name is Polly Cat and the fabric matches my other cat and my purple Megan Owl. She's quite a bit bigger than the other two cushions and it's probably more of a small pillow size. I did have to put a bit of extra stuffing in it because it wasn't quite firm enough for me but again I love it and the colours match my room perfectly x
I've got a few more ebay purchases to show you but while I'm on the cushion theme, I'll move on to this gorgeous cushion cover that I got from H&M.
I've wanted this blue, floral velvet cushion cover for ages but I could never justify the £12.99 price tag just for a cushion cover. A little while ago though they had an online home event so I managed to get a little bit of money off it. I love it but the only problem was, it is a really unusual size so I've ended up having to order the correct sized cushion pad from H&M. You win some, you lose some I guess but I absolutely love it, as yet I'm not sure when it's going to go as the blue tones match my office, but the pinks and purples match my room, decisions, decisions.
As well as yet another cushion, since there was a bit of money off, I also ended up ordering another duvet cover.
In one of the pictures above you can see my festive duvet set, which was a grey nordic, style cover with white hearts and snowflakes. I never ever thought that I would go for grey bedding but I was surprised at how nice the grey looked with my white and wood furniture, my lilac wall, pale wood floow and my silver, metal bed head. This one is in white and it has an almost French style, grey floral print. It's nice and fresh for spring, but it's something different from the bright florals and the shabby chic prints that I'm used to.
Saying that I am still partial to my cuter florals, and like most bloggers and You Tubers I love my fairy lights. Up until late last year I had a lovely set of pink and purple flowers that wrapped around my bedhead, unfortunately they broke so I've been using a set of wicker hearts that were originally destined to go around my curtain pole. We're having a bit of general home change around at the moment, involving a new bathroom, a new three piece suite and a bit of an office makeover so I've decided to change my room around a bit too. So I've decided to put the wicker lights where they belong and get some new flowers for my bedhead.
I was initially going to for some more purple or lilac lights but I loved these ivory rose ones, They are battery operated and the warm toned, bulbs can either be used on a steady setting or a blinking setting. These lights were £6.99 including postage from this ebay seller.
Sticking with the floral theme I also got this self adhesive lilac floral hook. I don't think that it will hold a great deal of weight but I just want it to hold a canvas and fabric sign so I'm hoping that it will do the trick. Either way it just just 99p from this seller.
As well as flowers I love butterflies and I've been looking at a few wall art pieces but I've never seen anything that I really like. I wanted something with a bit of colour so I thought I'd give these a go.
What they are is fine plastic butterflies, that have a tiny magnetic attached to the back. Obviously I can't use the magnets to stick them to the wall, so I think I'm going to use white tack so I can move them round at will. They also came with a little pack of sticky, foam pads but I'm so indecisive,I'm going to gave the white tack a go first. They were just 99p for 20 different sized and patterned butterflies from this seller x
As well as a few things for my room, I also bought a few stationery bits from ebay. One of my aims for 2015 was to be more organised and one way that I'm doing it through using diaries and organisers. So in order to mark the pages of my diary I got these cute animal page markers x
They were just 99p from this seller x Alongside them I also got this set of cute lucky cat post it notes x As bloggers we need sticky notes in our lives and nowadays you don't need to just stick the square ones x You name is and you can probably get a post it note shaped like it x Again these were just 99p and I bought them from this seller x
As I mentioned in a recent post one of my favourite shops at the moment is Poundland. Would you believe that between us me and Mummy Lou spent £30 in Poundland yesterday ! Ha Ha never mind I actually bought this a few weeks ago. I already have something similar and it's a bit of a silly purchase but why not.
It's a solar powered, dancing flower, I already have something similar which was a lot more expensive from Urban Outfitters but this is fun and quirky and I think it's going to make a welcome addition to my desk.
My final two home purchases came from Wilko. Me and one of my besties used to have a bit of obsession with pigs - long story but it was her birthday on St Patricks Day and when I saw these I couldn't resist buying them for both of us.
Basically they are Oink Oink, Piggy Wiggy kitchen tools. I got a plastic mixing spoon which was just £1.00, and a fab silicone spatula which was just £1.50. I think they are stupidly cute and I couldn't resist them. I've had a look elsewhere online and they do a full range of things, ranging from egg cups, to mini frying pans and kitchen timers - in love!
If you want to find out more about my haul, you can watch the accompanying You Tube video and listen to me ramble for a bit x
There is one other thing but it isn't technically mine but I love it anyway. I've seen this vase on a few blogs and instagram accounts and I think it just sums up how right Asda, have it at the moment when it comes to home wear.
I bought this gorgeous honeycomb and bee detail vase for my mum for a Mothers Day present, but seeing as it goes with some of the citrus colours in the kitchen, she using it as large kitchen utensil storage jar instead. It's such a nice item and well worth the £12 price tag. It's out of stock online at the moment but I got this one in my local Asda store.
I'm really into my home style at the moment and seeing as so many changes are a foot I can see a few more hauls on the horizon. If you have any questions on the video or anything in this haul please leave a comment x
After another unscheduled break I'm back and raring to go with a nails of the day post. My nails and hands aren't amazing at the moment thanks to the winter weather and a fight with a cheese knife but I really wanted to show you this polish before it's too late.
Too late I hear you cry? Well unfortunately Essence appear to be discontinuing quite a few products and this polish Essence Colour & Go Sparkle Sand Effect Nail Polish in 182 Hello Rosy, is just one item that's saying goodbye.
The Colour & Go line is famous for it almost ergonomically designed mini 8ml bottles. Their polishes have a short but wide brush which I love. With careful application you can paint the majority of your nails in just one stroke.
The line offers a huge variety of shades as well as a few different textures of polish. Unfortunately it seems as though it's the majority of the textures that are being discontinued. Hello Rosy is one of their Sparkle Sand Effect Nail Polishes. Replicated in many higher end brands this polish has an almost gritty texture. It's a cross between a coral and a bright blush pink, and it's crammed full of textures matte and glitter particles.
It took two coats to completely cover my white tips but this polish dried incredibly fast. The polish feels quite rough to the touch and it has an almost semi matte finish. There isn't a great deal of shine to it but you can see the twinkling specks of dark pink glitter.
The rough finish definitely isn't for everyone but it does mean that the polish wears incredibly well. If you wanted to use a top coat to smooth it out and add a bit of shine for another look I guess you could but it kind of defeats the object.
I have to say I'm not keen on the rough, textured feel of this polish but if I was going to be doing a lot with my hands and I wanted a polish that would last this could be a one to go for. If you want to get your hands on this shade you better move fast according the Essence EU website it's only on sale till the end of March -Hello Rosy has already disappeared from the Wilko website but they do have a couple of different Sparkle Sand Effects online and you never know what you might find in store. If you aren't a fan of textured polishes then it's still worth having a look at the Essence Colour & Go line. There is a huge variety of shades to choose from and they retail at just £1.60 each, they are available in their own independent stores, and in Wilko stores and online x
Hi Guys x As promised today's post is a beauty one, and it's a review of a beautiful eyeshadow courtesy of Essence.
Up until last year it was almost impossible to get hold of Essence products in the UK. This German based, budget brand was widely available in mainland Europe, but for some reason it never made it across the channel. Last year though our prayers were answered and the range started popping up in their own standalone stores and in Wilkinson stores throughout country, and on the Wilko website.
Although I live quite close to a few stores, I have to say that it's not somewhere that I go to that often. I love the store and the fact that they sell everything under the sun but I'm much more of a shopping mall shopper rather than a town or city centre girl. Late last year though me and Mummy Lou took a trip to the Sunderland store and whilst we were there I took advantage of the brand spanking new Essence stand, and picked up a few different things to try.
Although the stand drew me in like a magnet, it was the eyeshadows that really called to me. I knew the quality was decent based on a couple of limited editions that I'd already had so I bought 3, one from each of their permanent lines, the original, Metal Glam, and 3D. I will be reviewing them all for you at some point but today's review is all about the Essence 3D Eyeshadow in 04 Irresistible Caramel Cream.
I'm a huge lover of the MAC Satin Swirls, and that's what these eyeshadows remind me of. Big on shimmer, you get two shades in each 2.9g compact. One of the shadows has an almost textured wave, effect and the other one is smooth. Irresistible Caramel Cream contains a gorgeous, creamy champagne shades alongside a beautiful metallic, bronze, brown. The brown shade looks a little flat irl and almost a little bit green but it's totally transformed when it's swatched.
The shadows are soft and creamy but not powdery and are insanely pigmented. The shadows are swatched dry here but you can also use them wet for an even more intense, foiled, metallic finish.
The horrible Autumn / Winter light has beaten me again, so although you won't be seeing any photos of this eyeshadow combo on my eyes, you have to believe me when I say how much I love it and how pretty it actually looks on,
For the last month or so, bar one or two days I've either worn the eyeshadow combination from the Benefit Bronze Of Champions Total Bronze Kit (read my review here) or I've worn this duo. For me it's the perfect everyday, natural eye look. The shades blend together effortlessly, and for the price, the wear time is superb even without a primer.
These fabulous shadows come in at least 9 other shades and they retail for a pretty fabulous £2.80 each. I can definitely see myself making either a trip to my local Wilko store or placing an online order for a couple more. I'm thinking about 07, a sort of metallic, pewter colour, and 02, a silver and lilac combo.
I currently have the biggest Essence wishlist at the moment, but I'd love to know your picks before I take the plunge, so leave me a comment and let me know your recommendations x
