MaxFactor Mini Nail Polish: Chilled Lilac

This weekend, the sporty spices among us would have joined me at Twickenham for the English Premiership Rugby Final. It was absolutely sweltering and I was lucky enough to see lots of topless men and even luckier to meet the lovely Scarlett Bowman from Hollyoaks! DUN DUN DUN claim to fame! Anyways, she was wearing a lovely soft white/light grey/lilac polish on her nails and it looked fantastic with a tan. I managed to find a similar lovely little cheapie hiding away in the new MaxFactor Max Effect nail polishes that I loved so much before! This is slightly lighter and pinker version than Essie's 'Lilacism' and 'Body Language' but is a bit more eye-catching than O.P.I's 'Moon Over Mumbai'. It is also similar, but not as bright as O.P.I's 'Mod About You' which is a massive favourite of mine, but this gem by MacFactor is by far the cheapest of the bunch at £3.99!)

A cooler alternative nude tan-popper for the summer! I can't believe there hasn't been more hype around this particular shade what with pastels and nudes being the 'it' colour for SS12. If you've been looking for an O.P.I or Essie dupe lately of the shades I mentioned above, it's worth giving this a look! :)

Here comes the sun, little darling..

Friday has gotta be my favourite day of the week, and when temperatures in England are hitting the 25 degrees mark, I am one happy chappy. It's tricky to go straight from uggs and leather jackets to denim hotpants and vests, but hey ho! I thought I would check in before the weekend with a quick impromptu post to show you what I wore out with my sister today..

Shorts & Vest : River Island

Ring: New Look

Sunnies: Rayban

Nails: Essie 'Mint Candy Apple'

Have a lovely weekend chums, it's meant to be a hot one!

P.s. It's my birthday on WEDNESDAY!!!

♥

Chanel Joues Contraste Blush: 'In Love'

Lauren Conrad is the love of my life and when she revealed that this was her daily blush I was first at the counter to snap it up. This is a beautiful sheer coral/peach with subtle gold shimmer, almost a NARS 'Orgasm' blush with more peach, which is always good!

Even though I enjoy finding affordable makeup that everyone can enjoy, this was a unique item that I couldn't pass up, and it's Lauren Conrad's blush for goodness sake! The texture of this is so fine and soft, it applies very sheer but is buildable, never blotchy, giving a healthy peachy coral glow to the apples of your cheeks. It was so tricky capturing the true beauty of this product while photographing but I tried my best, so sit back and be in awe with the pure luxury that is Chanel..

It is a must have? No. If you are a Chanel fanatic like me, yes. If you are striving along the same path of Lauren Conrad perfection as I am, yes you will enjoy using this. I've worn this every day and night since I got my hands on it, and it is my hot favourite for summer now the sun has started making appearances again. Biggest downer ever.. it retails for £31. Eeek!

I'm on the hunt for a pretty peachy coral lipstick to pair this with, any suggestions ladies, you know what to do!

♥

Elf Haul

Hello lovelies! I feel like I have neglected my little bloggywog lately, it's such a busy time at the moment and I'm arranging to go away to Prague with some friends so it's all a bit manic! However, being a true beauty fanatic, I still found time for some more online shopping.. oops. This week, I found my way on to the Elf website, I'm sure you've all heard of them, but if you haven't it's an awesome cheap makeup site, kind of like a makeup Primark. Most things range from £1.50 to £5 and I use them a lot for brushes, I have the whole studio line, which are amazing quality and only £3.50! Anyway, Here's the stuffs I got :)

Natural Lash Kit (Black) - £1.50

Studio Small Angled Brush & Studio Fan Brush - £3.50 each

(cheap!) Eyebrow Stencil Kit - £1.50 (amazing!!!!)

Blending Wedges - £1.50

Hypershine Lipgloss in 'Bubblegum' - £1.50

Kabuki Face Brush - £5 (this is amazing)

If you follow me on twitter you may have seen me tweet about a free 'spring bundle' on orders over £25 so I got three mystery gifts.. ooooh! Here they are..

Mineral Lip Brush - Brightening Eye Shadow Palette - Mineral Moisturizing Lip Tint in 'Pink'

My favourite was the Mineral Moisturizing Lip Tint. This one was in the shade pink (below!) and also has SPF 8. These are £3.50 and have lots of different shades that I might go ahead and order. I'll let you see pictures of this shade though as it really is an essential!

Left: Hypershine Lipgloss in 'Bubblegum'        |        Right: Mineral Moisturizing Lip Tint in 'Pink'

Hypershine Gloss 'Bubblegum' layered over the Lip Tint 'Pink'

I find that Elf can be pretty hit and miss with their makeup items, sometimes you grab such a bargain and other times products wander in to the bin after one use. I usually only use them for 'tools' such as cheap brushes and blending wedges etc. I was really happy with every single thing that I bought, especially the face kabuki which is the perfect brush for my Soleil Tan De Chanel, it doesn't leave any hairs, applies flawlessly and was only £5! Also, when I reviewed my Too Faced Brow Envy kit, most of you seemed to only be after the stencils, and I found some! The Elf stencils are fab, I used them last night and they come close to the Too Faced ones but for £1.50- Yay!

I hope you've enjoyed my goodies! What a rambly post this has been :)

Have a lovely weekend, we are having a party where my sister is trying to set me up with some beautiful Spanish men! Wish me luck, and I'll see you next week xo

Sigma Mr Bunny Travel Set

I am a big Sigma fan since I picked a few of the new Sigmax face kabuki brushes. I was after more of a 'kit' this time and wanted to explore their eye brushes, I avoided the basic sets because I was only after the Sigmax HD Fibres which are the softest, fluffiest and densest brushes I have ever come across. The fact that these are synthetic and vegan were neither here nor there in my mind (how naughty!).

I couldn't make up my mind between the full set which was way over $100 or the travel size, but once I found out that the travel brushes were the same size as my beloved F80 flat top kabuki I was sold! This set costs $59 for 7 brushes which works out at incredible value for the Sigmax quality. The twin Mrs Bunny Set is identical, apart from the baby blue and pink coloured design. I went for the standard Mr Bunny black and silver ferrules because I like everything to look pretty professional and timeless.

Anyway, ramble over, on to the brushes!

E65           -           E30           -           E55           -           E40           -           F60           -           F40           -           F30     

This set includes:

♥ Pencil E30 - Precise application of color on the crease, outer corner, upper and lower lash line.

♥ Tapered Blending E40 - Rounded and tapered top. Specially designed to apply and blend color on the crease.

♥ Eye Shading E55 - Soft and dense with a rounded finish. Can be used to apply pressed or loose eye shadows and pigments.

♥ Small Angle E65 - Essential for the application of gel or cream eye liner on the upper and lower lash line.

♥ Large Powder F30 - Very dense with a rounded top. Ideal to apply powder products on face and body.

♥ Large Angled Contour F40 - The angled shape makes this brush ideal to apply blush or contour shades.

♥Foundation F60 - Can be used to apply liquid or cream foundation. Recommended to apply moisturizers and conceal large areas.

Another thing that pulled me towards this set was the protective leather case that you don't get on the basic brushes. Also, as I spent over $30 I got a free gift, which was this awesome brown/green eyeshadow in 'Crush'. I wouldn't of tried any of their makeup before so I was happy to get this gem for free. 

These are so soft and easy to clean! I have been using them all week, and the Sigmax HD fibres do not disappoint. If you are torn between the two sets like I was, I'd definitely recommend this one! I live in the UK, so yes shipping was phenomenal, I did have to pay it all in $ and it took just over a week to get here. However, I don't regret it, but for $59 I'm not really in a hurry to be buying any more just yet!

You can buy this set from the Sigma website.
Come and see me talking about this set in more detail here!

Do you have any Sigma brushes?

I wuv mine :)

♥

Maybelline 24hr Color Tattoo

I recently uploaded a haul video on YouTube and got a few comments asking how I did my eye makeup and what I used, etc. I thought the time had come to review this little beauty on it's own properly anyways, so here is the Maybelline 24hr Color Tattoo in 'On and On Bronze'. Now I know you have all seen swatches/reviews of these to death, especially in this shade, but I'm enjoying using it so much I thought I'd give you my two cents worth.

'On and On Bronze' seems to be a favourite among beauty bloggers and YouTube gurus and I can see why. This gorgeous dark shimmery brown cream shadow is transformed in to a pretty and pinky toned champagne colour in the light. I've taken some pictures in different lights (dark to light) so you can see how it changes properly, cos I'm nice like that :) .

Dark Light                  -                   Medium Light                  -                   Bright Light

I only put this in my crease to add depth and to contour my eyes along with Urban Decay's 'Virgin' (Naked 1) all over the lid and it works beautifully. Here's another (cheesy) picture with that combination in action..

I think it compliments my brown eyes perfectly. It's so difficult to make brown eyes stand out or look brighter, but I'm slowly learning! As for the shadow, I'm not sure about the whole 24 hour thing, but who ever wears their makeup that long anyways?! I swatched it in the morning and it was still there before I went to bed, so I'm guessing it can live up to its claims! Clever Maybelline.

The evident JOY brought to me by this product! Yey!

The hype surrounding these little pots is comparable to the whole Revlon Lip Butter craze that everyone went through (don't deny!). I'm so impressed at how drugstore makeup had advanced lately, I'm really enjoying getting a bit more for my money makeup wise and sharing products with you that everyone can afford. These roll in at £4.99 which is perfect seeing as they are exact dupes of the benefit cream eyeshadows, pretty much the same packaging wise too but at less than half the price.

I want more! What other shades do you recommend?

Topshop Lipstick: Infrared

Show me a beauty blogger that hasn't heard of Topshop makeup. I am a mahoosive fan as my regular readers will know. One product that I have had my eye on for about a year has been the lipstick in 'Infrared'. I swatched it every time I went in to a store but always thought it would be too orange. The pictures above make it look really red, but it's more orangey. Anyway, this week I finally bit the bullet and just bought it, it's only £8 anyway. Like most Topshop lipsticks the colour payoff is fantastic, and this one is longer lasting than my others. The only thing I don't like about these is that they are not as moisturising as the other ones on the market at the moment, like Revlon Lip Butters or L'Oreal Rouge Caresse which all retail around the same price.

Sowwy for the poopey webcam pics!

I was so pleasantly surprised by this colour, it wouldn't be a shade that I would naturally gravitate towards. I like my nudes and reds but I've never tried oranges or corals before. It gives my complexion that little bit of warmth that you miss out on when wearing a bright red, it also made my teeth look about 3/4 shades whiter which is always a plus!

Now I must ask you two things.. Firstly, what are the MAC eyeshadows that you can't live without? I am trying to build my own neutral palette, and secondly, I need a nice dress for my birthday, any ideas would be lovely!
Thank you xo

Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover

Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover - £4.99

Eeee! I was so excited to grab the last one of these little pink pots in boots today. I had seen them a few times since they came out, but today was the day I caved. Meet Bourjois new 'magic' nail polish remover. It boasts a one second, yes, one second nail polish removal with no need for cotton wool or any messiness. I am forever changing the colour on my nails, so this was a product I couldn't afford to miss. Sounds good right? Then read on...

First impressions.. the fumes coming out of this pot once you open it are enough to knock out a small cat. Seriously stinky. The pot is filled with a dark sponge which has a whole in the middle for you to put your finger in. You are supposed to twist your finger around in the pot once, pull it out and all the polish should be removed in one second, right? Wrong. I had a few layers of opaque polish on my finger and it took three goes to get all of it off. 

1) Crappy chipped nail polish that you need to GET OFF IMMEDIATELY!

2) Put finger in pot, and twist :)

3) TADA! After 2 or 3 goes you should have a nice smelling bare nail.

Still impressive and much less hassle, but not one second removal. The novelty of this product is what sold it to me. It does actually perform very well, but can't quite live up to its claims. The initial smell will get you high, like sniffing glue, it should have an age restriction. But afterwards it leaves a lovely fruity smell and contains nourishing sweet almond oil. Overall, I like this a lot, and it's pink! But I wonder how long it would last, and would I pay £4.99 for it again? Probably not.

Hope you've had nice weekend chums! I have been spending like there's no tomorrow at the moment, so lots of exciting hauls and posts coming up! YEY!
♥

MaxFactor Mini Nail Polish

Dazzling Blue                    |                    Graffiti

I was really happy when I found out that Max Factor had started making small and affordable nail polishes. I can buy a massive O.P.I. bottle for about £12 and never end up using it all before it goes gloopy and dies.. RIP. I don't care about the price of a nail polish, I just go for colours that I like. Bearing that in mind, the two most eye catching shades for me from the Max Factor line were the holographics. These were pretty similar but not similar enough to leave one behind, and for just £2.99 in Superdrug, how could I refuse?! I grabbed 'Graffiti' a lovely dark teal with blue and green glitter and 'Dazzling Blue' a lighter aqua bluey green mermaid colour. It reminds me a bit of my Topshop polish in Hidden Treasure. 

'Graffiti'

'Dazzling Blue'

I am in love! These little pots are beautiful! They are quite sheer so you need a few coats. I actually applied a white base coat and two coats of polish so that it was truer to the colour in the bottle, it worked a treat. I couldn't decide which one I liked more, so Dazzling Blue made it on the hands and Graffiti is on my toes :). 

With Flash 

Without Flash

These are so difficult to photograph properly to capture the true beauty of them, but just trust me on this one girls! The MaxFactor mini polishes are on offer at the moment in Superdrug for just £2.99 each, watch out Barry M! Have you got any of these? What shades will you be snapping up?

♥

Cheeky Magenta

 I can't get enough of these lipsticks at the moment, I'm wearing different shades everyday but my two favourites have to be Cheeky Magenta and Lovely Rose. At first, I shied away from this colour because it looked so bright and vibrant but it's not that harsh and pretty easy to wear..

 Cringey picture as I was rushing off to meet my sister, but you get the idea! I absolutely loves it :) and they are only £7.99. In other news, this semester is over so I have a lovely 5 months of summer ahead before I even need to think about picking up a book again. I have also treated myself to a nice new Canon for my birthday later in the month. This year is flying by don'tcha think!

♥