BERRY LIPS

While I feel I struggle to pull off a bold lip, berry tones for Autumn is something I feel I can get on with. MAC's Rebel is a classic, and while it looks terrifying in the bullet, on the lips it turns out much pinker, which I find easier to pull off. You can easily dab this on with your fingers to achieve a stain or build it up for a full on berry. Another classic pick (and more budget friendly!), Rimmel Kate Moss 107 is more of a berry toned red that can carry you through to Christmas - and I find to be the most flattering red I've tried. As Rebel and 107 are satin and matte respectively, they both last on the lips really well. An easier option if you want to get into berry lips is this Bourjois lip crayon in Plum Russian - which I have used so much all the writing has rubbed off! This is much more sheer and glossy than the others (the swatch shows one coat) which can be built up to a quite intense lip, although  as its glossy it won't be as long lasting as an opaque matte finish which might be worth taking into consideration!  If you're a beginner to berry lips this is quite a good place to start as its the least intimidating of my picks.

So I've completely abandoned my blog, I'm eager to make it good and I do have lots of ideas but I've recently started university and its just finding time! Please bear with me xxxx

TOPSHOP BLUSHER IN HEAD OVER HEELS - FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I'd eyed up Topshop blushers in the past but for some reason had never picked one up. However, the recent 5 Years of Topshop Beauty campaign definitely got me interested again, and one night when making a Topshop order I decided to put Head Over Heels in my basket, thinking there must be a reason why it is the most popular shade, and a few days later it arrived at my door.

First things first, the packaging is pretty great- sturdy white plastic with rose gold polka dots and a good sized mirror inside. My only complaints are that I worry it can get dirty easily and opening it can be a little tricky at time - but at least you know its not going to fly open and make a mess! In the pan the cream blusher looks like a really intense coral, which mighty have been why I shied from these blushers before, being  pale and not that interested in blush. However, when applied the colour comes out a bit sheerer (the below swatch features two layers and it still looks wearable) - but you can always tone it down with powder / blended in with your foundation brush if it turns out a little too bright. I've worn it a couple of times since I've got it, by dabbing some on and blending out with my fingers, and the result is lovely and Spring/Summer appropriate. It's early days but so far I think I'll get lots of use out of this in the warmer months!

60'S MAKE UP

There's nothing I love more than an excuse to dress up and experiment a little, so when my History class decided on a "dress up from a period of time we've covered" dress code for our meal (FYI, we're doing the 1951-2007 A2)and I found this fairly 60s-esque dress, I was pretty excited. 

I wanted a quite doll like high coverage base, so ended up dusting a little powder foundation over my normal medium coverage base and it was super perfecting - not something for every day but for a night out, yes. (although you can see one or two spots peeking through all the same, bad skin I hate you). I just lightly bronzed and highlighted and my lips were a simple dusky pink nude, so the focus was on the eyes...For the eyes I wanted to keep the 60s theme, but nothing too harsh - more subtle and natural. I first paid attention with my brows, making them a bit stronger than usual by using the sponge end of Maybelline Brow Satin on the front thicker bit of my brows - where mine can be particularly non existent - then going in with a pencil (Soap and Glory's Brow Archery) to define them further, particularly along the end as the sponge is a little too thick to do that with precision! I then used brow gel and moved on to the eyes, prepping them with a Maybelline colour tattoo (Pink Gold) then going in with a light shimmer (Urban Decay Naked 2 Bootycall) all over the lid (which I went in and made even lighter later with Naked's Virgin) I then put a matte grey into the crease and blended out, keeping adding more eyeshadow until I got the result I was happy with. I lined my top and bottom lashline with a black liner (liquid on top, pencil on bottom) then just added LOADS of mascara to finish off. Benefit Roller Lash everywhere because I love it, Maybelline Big Eyes mascara using the brush for bottom lashes to make sure I covered every lash, then just a little of Max Factor's Falsh Lash Effect to finish it all off. 

THE PRODUCTS

Benefit Porefessional (forgot to photgraph lol) 

Rimmel Lasting finish 25hour Nude foundation -100 Ivory

Revlon Colorstay concealer - 01 Fair

Collection Lasting Perfection concealer - 1 Fair

Rimmel Lasting finish 25hour powder foundation - 001 Light Porcelain

Bourjois Bronzing Powder - 51

No7 Instance Radiance higlighter

Maybelline Brow Satin - Dark Blond

Soap and Glory Brow Archery - Blondeshell

Rimmel Brow This Way - Clear

Maybelline Colour Tattoo - Pink Gold (no photo)

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette - Bootycall (over lid), Pistol (crease / outer corner)

Ruby Cosmetics smokey eyeshadow kit (no idea where I got this from!) - Grey shade (2nd darkest) (crease)

Urban Decay Naked Palette - Virgin (middle of eye)

Maybelline Master Precise liquid eyeliner

Rimmel Exaggerate waterproof eye definer

Benefit Roller Lash mascara

Maybelline Big Eyes mascara

Max Factor False Lash Effect mascara

Max Factor lipstick - 615 Stardust Pink

Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray

MAC REBEL REVIEW

Applied sheerly and dabbed in

Full colour

I've had better ideas than decide to shoot pictures of my face at 9pm, with hair that needs a wash, only mascara, concealer and whats left of my eyebrows (apart from the lipstick obv) but when productivity comes you need to take it and use it. Also reaaaaally need a decent camera - these pictures looked so clear on my iphone but the moment I put them here and enlarge them, um clearly not, apologies. 

Enough about that, time for the colour. I was so set on getting a nude (browny pink, my lips but better, nice and sheer and glossy) and somehow I walked out with a purple - say what? I think the reason I brought it home is that when swatched it comes out a lovely berry pink, which is just enough in my comfort zone for me to justify it, but still feels a little bit wild. The Satin finish feels nice on the lips and the colour is actually fairly wearable (I judge this by how I don't look completely stupid wearing it with the minimal makeup above, but I would still pull this and any other bright/dark colour off better with eyeliner, stronger brows and a fair bit of bronzer)

Today I wore this lipstick dabbed in, and although admittedly it could have met a little Urban Decay Setting Spray when I was getting ready, I got at least five hours wear before wedges, cheese and gravy (new year new me) defeated the lipstick. Still found this impressive -  it survived a banana and lots of glasses of water, much longer than most my other lipsticks (including the rest of my little MAC collection which last a couple of hours at best - maybe because Rebel is the only one that's properly bright?)

Same great bullet style packaging as any other MAC lipstick, same great smell - but this is one lipstick I would really recommend, if it suits me I'm sure it can look beautiful on most other people, and the lasting power is not to be sneered at.

IT'S HAUL O CLOCK

There's nothing more satisfying than a bit of shopping, and although Christmas crippled me a little financially, most what I got this year was money just itching to be spent! This post can be summed up as lovely over priced makeup and lovely cheap and cheerful clothes.

My boyfriend and I decided to take a (very exciting!!!!) little trip up to Edinburgh before we go back to school with a hotel stay, fab food, ice skating, seeing the last of the Christmas market and shopping. Honestly, I hate sale shopping - it's normally so unorganised I struggle to motivate myself to check out the sale rails, and whenever I find something good it's rarely in my size. As a result of this I shopped in the normal section instead, but as everything here is from Primark and H&M it was still cheap enough for me. There's a pretty typical grey theme from Primark - can't stop buying that colour! I was put on a grey ban for the rest of the shopping haha. I also picked up my fourth MAC lipstick, oops, opting for Rebel on a whim, which is pretty special. 

I made a cheeky order from Selfridges as they had 10% off all beauty at the time (although the postage meant my saving was basically £1, nice one) and had my eye on these fairly stable Urban Decay goodies. I own the Naked 2 palette and love it but felt myself gravitating towards warmer tones, and felt I just needed to own the first one. The colours are beautiful - if only this had the same packaging as the others, which in my opinion is more practical. I also picked up the All Nighter Setting Spray - anything to stop my makeup melting off my face in a couple of hours!

I may go into more detail with the makeup at some point - indeed I'm planning a Rebel review - but for now I'll shop you how the clothes actually look in some pretty unimaginative shots!

Dress £12.99 H&M (would maybe advise sizing up if you have larger boobs like myself)

Jumper £12.99 H&M (its blue NOT MONOCHROME OR GREY)

Dress £10 Primark (top positioning there Katrina)

Cardigan £12 Primark (love)

. 

2014

History trip to London - January 2014

Seeing Taylor Swift after years of loving her music - February 2014

Failing horribly at skiing in Germany March 2014

Spending 2 weeks with this lovely person - March and July 2014

Camping and hiring a boat with friends in the Lake District - July 2014

Sitting on the actual Friends sofa - August 2014

Barrier for American Authors at Leeds Festival (and seeing Hayley Williams in the flesh) - August 2014

Passing my driving test - September 2014

Ma bae - October 2014

Partying hard with my gals - December 2014

Making a whole christmas dinner with my friends - December 2014

Excuse me for adding yet another (late) year in review post to the mix but isn't this what the New Year is all about? 2014 has been a pretty good year for me, and I'm excited to see what will become of 2015. One thing I need to do is work on this little corner of the internet - although I started it back in July 2013, through lack of motivation it has got nowhere, despite my habit of reading more blogs than is healthy haha. I'd like to turn that energy into creating more posts myself! On another note, 2015 I leave school and hopefully enter the scary world of university, so I really need to focus academically to get to where I want to! Otherwise, I need to eat better, earn more money and try my hardest to get the most I can out of life :)

RED LIPS FOR CHRISTMAS

I need to stop beginning every post with "long time no see!" but life has been crazy, what with school, UCAS (5/5 offers make me happy), work and a boyfriend, eyy up, that blogging just hasn't been high up on my priorities! Only now its the holidays have I had time and write a super quick spontaneous blog post!

I've forever dismissed red lipstick as something that would never suit me but finally I've found a combination I feel fairly comfortable wearing - or maybe it's just the Christmas spirit? Rimmel Kate Moss 107, beautiful shade but I always panic and dab most of it off until there;s only a stain left. This I find fairly drying so put some Maybelline Baby Lips Cherry Me on top, and BAM, moisture, colour and a finish I enjoy.