30 day blogger challenge: Favourite concealers

  
As you can see I have quite a collection. I’m always buying the latest concealers in a hope that one of them will actually do what they say will & transform my face to make me look flawless, rested & youthful. I’m still yet to find one that makes me look 18 again. But here are the ones that make me look a little more normal. 

Collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer £4.49  This for me is one of my holy grail products! I couldn’t be without it. I use it every day and I have every shade in my professional kit. I’m yet to find something that beats it.

It gives me amazing coverage for my dark circles,doesn’t crease, is light reflecting and it stays put all day & night. And at £4.49 it’s a total bargain! 
Seriously if you haven’t tried it, you need to! 

George @ Asda under eye concealer £3.99 
Another great one!  Perfect for brightening the eye area when you need that extra boost over your regular concealer. I use it for nights out and it also doubles as a highlighter. 

No word of a lie this baby rivals YSL touché eclat for me. And personally I prefer it. 

Barbers Daly for Tesco £3.99 

Excuse the state of this one I’ve had it for a while. It lasts forever!  Another bargain buy, a little definitely goes a long way with this product. It is the perfect consistency to conceal blemishes & it gives full coverage. Lovely & creamy formula, which applies well with a brush or fingers. 
Other recommendations:

Urban decays naked skin concealer £19 

  Another full coverage concealer. I loved using this in the summer when my skin was in better condition. But if you have dry skin (like I normally do) then I wouldn’t recommend it as I found it sticks to dry patches and also badly creased under my eyes. Which is unfortunate as their matching foundation is the complete opposite. 

NYX above and beyond full coverage concealer 

 The fullest coverage I have ever found in a blemish concealer. Stays put and the little pot lasts literally forever! Best applied by dabbing into blemish with a clean finger. 

Next on my concealer list are the LA girl concealers & correctors. I’ll review as soon as they arrive 🙂 

Do you have a favourite? Let me know in the comments. 

Sam 🙂 x 

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30 day blogger challenge: Contents of my handbag

Not exactly the most exciting of posts but it will hopefully give me a kick up the backside to finally get rid of all the crap in there! 

  
So here’s my lovey handbag and its contents 

  

I’ll list the contents just In case you can’t see it very well. 

• River island purse
• Illamasqua make up bag
• Mac velvet teddy lipstick (of course!) 
• Elemis pro radiance illuminating flash balm
• Illamasqua blush in lover – minus a brush might I add!  Makes no sense to me either 
• Mac soft & gentle highlighter-again see above ? Must have been half asleep this morning
• Random pens I’ve stolen from people
• Hair clip
• Hand food hand cream – another essential. Smells amazing! 
• Random allergy medicine- stupid dust! 😬
• Lash curlers not that I ever use them
• Various lids that my bag steals from my perfumes everytime they enter my bag
• Random keys- I haven’t got a clue what they are for or how they got there?! 
• An Allen key- incase I need to urgently assemble some furniture 
• Givenchy hot couture perfume 
• Collection 2000 concealer (my holy grail product!) 
• Car keys
• Neutrogina lip balm 
• Tweezers 
• Doritos- gotta have a little emergency snack

And while I’m being completely honest, here’s the rest of the unimportant crap that was in there  

 
This weeks manicure! 

I’ve decided to go short and dark to get into the Autumn spirit. I used Gelish in ‘Bellas Vampire’ a lovely rich, deep purple. 

  
Tomorrows post is on my favourite concealers.

Enjoy your evening.

Sam 🙂 x 

30 day blogger challenge: My everyday make up.

  
Just a little post on the make up I use on a daily basis. 

Yes it’s a lot for just daytime and no I’m clearly not a natural beauty. But oh well we can’t have everything in life can we? 

I wear a mixture of high street & high end, and what I use at the moment I’m pretty happy with. It has taken me a very long time to find out what works for me and what doesn’t. But one thing I have learnt over the years is just because something has a designer name on it doesn’t mean it’s a great product. 

So here’s what I use on pretty much a daily basis for everyday/work and what I use each product for

Base:

 

• Illamasqua skin base shade SB03- applied all over to create an even base 
• Mac Pro longwear concealer NW15- used to cover any redness 
• Collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer shade 1 light – applied under eyes to brighten & cover dark circles
• Ben Nye Banana setting powder- to set foundation

Blush/contour/highlight

  

• Illamasqua blush in Lover – used on cheekbones to give a flush of colour
• Mac bronzing powder in matte bronze- used to define cheekbones & shade sides & tip of my nose.
• Mac mineralize skin finish highlighter in soft & gentle -used sparingly down the bridge of the nose & on cheekbones 

Eyes/brows 

  

• Make up academy (MUA) eyeshadow in champagne- used on brow bone, Los & along lash line to brighten my eyes.
• Mac factor false lash effect mascara in black- on top & bottom lashes to open up the eye. 
• It cosmetics brow power in universal Taupe- used in soft strokes to fill in any sparse areas & lengthen my brows slightly.

Setting spray 

  

• Mac prep & prime fix+ make up prep/fixing mist -used before applying my base and after Ive applied everything to keep my make up in place & keep it looking fresh & dewy.

Another amazing product I couldn’t live without, for tips on how I use it click Here

Sorry for the horrible car selfie!  I hate posed pictures and this certainly isn’t one of my finest 🙈 

What are your go-to products for your day look? 

Let me know in the comments 🙂 

Tomorrow’s post is : My beauty wish list. It will be a long one, no question about it 😉 

See you then 

Sam 🙂 x

30 day blogger challenge: my favourite perfumes

Another picture post! 

Heres a few of my favourites from my collection. 

 Issey Miyake- L’Eau d’issey summer eau de toilette £41 fragranceexpert.com 
I’m a big Issey Miyake fan and this summer edition of one of my favourite perfumes did not disappoint. I don’t know what I’ll do when It runs out. 😩 but it was definitely my favourite for the summer.

Davidoff- Cool water woman £13.50 fragrancedirect.com  
Another classic that’s always in my fragrance wardrobe. It has a lovely fresh, clean scent. And is very reasonably priced wherever you shop. A nice day time perfume (so I call it anyway) 

Paco Rabanne- UltraViolet £23.99 fragrancedirect.com

Paco Rabanne- Lady Million £39 superdrug.com

 
Both are my ‘evening fragrances’ I switch between the two for nights out. 

Viktor & Rolf-Flowerbomb eau de parfum 50ml £69  

 
My all time favourite! So much so that it was my wedding perfume. 

You know apparently you are supposed to wear a fragrance on your wedding day then only wear it on special occasions and it’s supposed to remind your husband of your special day? Well not me! I drench myself in that stuff at every given opportunity! It smells lush! I’d bathe in it if it wasn’t so bloody expensive. So it’s one I always put on my birthday/Christmas list. I’m yet to meet someone who doesn’t like it. 

Do you have any recommendations or personal favourites? 

Let me know in the comments 

🙂 

Pop by for tomorrow’s post on my everyday make up. 

Sam x 

30 day blogger challenge: My make up collection

Warning! Picture heavy post full of make up porn!

I must admit I found it rather therapeutic arranging all my make up to show you all. The ocd in me wouldn’t let myself throw it all into a pile. I needed to display my babies in a prettier fashion. So I’ve taken up the dining room table for a little photo shoot with my favourite items in the whole wide world. If I had a decent camera you’d be able to see it in all its glory so I apologise in advance for the majorly poor quality, oddly shaped iPhone pics but you get the idea. (I’ll eventually get a camera I promise!)

Its pretty much self explanatory so I won’t bore you with an explanation of every single item (we’d literally be here forever!) but at the end of the post I’ll list the brands that have been pictured.

Brands in my collection:

1. Rimmel
2. Bobbi brown
3. Barbera Daly
4. George (asda)
5. RCMA
6. Vie
7. Natural collection
8. Too faced
9. Loreal
10. Bare minerals
11. Mac
12. Maybelline
13. Collection 2000
14. NYX
15. Ben Nye
16. Revlon
17. Jelly pong pong
18. Max Factor
19. Benefit
20. IT cosmetics
21. Stila
22. Laura mercier
23. Lord & berry
24. Famous by Sue moxley
25. Urban decay
26. Dr paw paw
27. lancome
28. Glossy box
29. Khroma
30. Wild about beauty
31. Provoc
32. Yves Rocher
33. Astor
34. Sleek
35. Clarins
36. Calvin Klein
37. Mirenesse
38. Model Co
39. Barry M
40. MUA make up academy
41. Models own
42. Dr Jart
43. Front cover
44. ELF
45. Illamasqua
46. Elemis
47. Eyeko
48. Cynthia Rowley
49. Avon
50. HD Brows
51. The body shop
52. Colour Unlimited
53. Bourjois
54. Clinique
55. Caudalie
56. The balm
57. Smashbox

So there it is! I hope you enjoyed.

Tomorrows post is My Skincare regime.

Happy Saturday!

Sam 🙂 x

30 day blogger challenge: My favourite foundations

  
Foundation is something most of us use on a daily basis to make ourselves feel a little bit more normal before we leave the house. So finding the right shade, coverage & Consistency that best suits your skin tone & type is rather Important. 

I see so many girls who have orange faces & white necks it’s unreal. So make sure you are matching people! I’ll try to get a post up soon on how to choose the right shade but for now here are my favourites. 

Illamasqua skin base shade SB03 £32.50 
This is my holy grail foundation! It has lovely coverage alone but can also be used as a foundation and concealer. I Just apply with my Real techniques buffing brush, then add extra where I need more coverage with the real techniques stippling brush. This is also in my professional make up kit for clients I love it that much. 

Mac studio fix in NC15 £22

 I had heard good things about studio fix so decided to try it myself. It didn’t disappoint and I wear this on nights out when I need a little extra coverage than what skin base offers. I do prefer this to Mac pro longwear as I find that formula quite drying on my skin. But studio fix stays in place all night long without drying me out. 

Rimmel lasting finish 25 hour- light porcelain £7.99 

 This has THE best coverage in a foundation that I’ve ever tried. And it’s perfect if you are on a budget. I love a full coverage foundation, I don’t naturally have nice skin so this is a godsend for those days when you really need to cover everything up but still look like you haven’t caked your foundation on. I like to buff this into my skin in a circular motion with my real techniques buffing brush (I love this brush can you tell?) it gives you a lovely finish and your skin still looks like skin! 

Urban decay Naked skin shade 2.0 £27

 Please excuse the state of the bottle, it’s now empty and ready for the bin! 

I posted about this for my August empties/favourites post so I won’t go on about it too much. But it has a lovely consistancy and although I’d personally need a lighter shade for daytime this would be a perfect everyday foundation. It’s light diffusing so gives you a nice healthy glow, and it feels light on the skin but you can build it up if you need to.

So there are my personal favourites. 

What is your favourite foundation? 

Are there any that you’ve tried and disliked? 

Let me know in the comments 🙂 

Sorry for the lack of yesterday’s post. I’ll make it up to you I promise! 

Tomorrow’s blogger challenge is:My make up collection! 

See you then 

Sam 🙂 x

30 day blogger challenge: favourite eyeliners

  
Regardless of how many times I try, Eye lining is something I can’t quite grasp 100%. It’s a little hit & miss with me. Now when I say hit and miss I mean one eye always comes out perfect and the other far from it. 😒 it doesn’t put me off of wearing it though I might add.

I’ve been through the stage of buying different liner pencils, pens,  liners with brushes attached etc thinking that all these things will do the job when They really didn’t work for me at all.  

  Pencil liners-Eyeko, Provoc, Rimmel, Bobbi brown, HD brows, Maybelline, Avon, The body shop, Famous by Sue Moxley, Cynthia Rowley, Laura Mercier, Lancôme & Urban decay.  Gel & liquid liners- Illamasqua, sleek, Rimmel, Front cover & Mac 

For me the two easiest ways I’ve found are:

1. Gel liners!  I really like the illamasqua precision gel liner. (The brown comes in handy to fill in brows too!)

Gels give you that little extra time to play and perfect the look you are going for. Or in my case give you more time to hate what you’ve done,wipe away and start over before it dries and you end up resembling Marilyn Manson!

2. Eyeshadow! I often use a highly pigmented black eyeshadow (I use urban decay blackout from my naked 2 palette) with a push liner brush (my fave is the a mac 212) it gives the same definition to the eyes but with a slightly softer look. I find it can look less harsh on mature skins. However if, like me- you aren’t that confident with a liquid you can build the look you want with powder and then use a gel/liquid over the top to darken it & boost staying power.

I do occasionally use a pencil on my waterline. Urban decay 24-7 glide on eye pencil is a favourite of mine for that. And I’ve also recently discovered Provoc semi permanent gel eyeliners which come in pencil form (pictured above & below)These are also a joy to use, they glide on beautifully. Shown below

  
  With flash 
Without flash 

I purchased shades 65 & 66. They are both beautiful used as a highlight on the brow bone and also on the inner corner of the eyes. They really brighten up my eye area and they don’t budge! So I think they are definitely worth a mention. 

Do you have a favourite or is there one you’d like to recommend? Let me know in the comments 

See you tomorrow!

Sam x

 

30 day blogger challenge: Bold lips

  
Hi, Hope you are all enjoying the lovey weather On this sunny Sunday afternoon! 

Today’s post as you probably guessed by the title is bold lips. 

I very rarely wear lipstick but when I do it’s far from bold! I’m a nude lips kinda gal. (Mac blush teddy is my all time fave!) So it’s very rare to see me with any kind of colour on my lips. 

However I recently attended an Urban Decay make up masterclass and received a sample (hence the size) of their Revolution lipgloss in ‘Scandal’ so I thought I’d give it a try. Check it out Here 

  
Even for a sample they didn’t scrimp on the packaging and the full size is just as pretty.  It’s a gorgeous fuchsia pink and the pigmentation is fantastic, it doesn’t have that horrible sticky feeling and it wears off well. It left a subtle wash of pink after 2 hours of wear and I didn’t feel the need to have to reapply. I’m definitely impressed.

 
It may not be enough to sway me to wear more bright colours, but I’m definitely putting this gloss on my wish list for when the spending ban is over but in a more wearable everyday shade.  

 Have you tried the lip revolution range? Let me know what you thought. 

This weeks mani!   

Gelish in ‘sweet thang’ matted with gold filigrees over the top. Find them Here they are a great way to transform your regular manicure in seconds! 

Keep your eyes peeled for tomorrow’s post on ‘my favourite eyeliners’ 

See you there 🙂 

Sam x

30 day blogger challenge: Put your iPod on shuffle & list the first 10 songs

Happy Saturday people!   It’s Only a quick one! Don’t worry. 

I’m being completely honest so promise you won’t laugh! 

I have a really random taste in music (so I’ve been told) and will literally download anything I like the sound of after 5 seconds. 

I think the most random one I’ve ever downloaded was a French song I heard in a water park whilst in Egypt. Thank God for Shazam aye? It’s called Alors on danse by Stromae if you want a listen ☺️Anyways it can’t be that bad really as it ended up in the sex and the city film! 

My poor child is subjected to my random music choices on journeys out, however she clearly has good taste seeing as she knows every word to some Alexander O’neal tunes (criticise is our favourite singalong in the car song) 

So! My 10 songs are: 

1. Say something- Timberland feat Drake 
2. Break of dawn- Rhythm on the loose 
3. You are my starship- Dazz band
4. You give me something- Jamiroquai
5. Come close- Common 
6. Ascension- Maxwell 
7. Tears- Frankie Knuckles
8. Good for you- Selena Gomez
9. Sincere- Mj Cole 
10. Feelings- Shy FX 

Well that’s not as embarrassing as I thought it would be! Apart from ahem- Selena Gomez but let’s say no more on that! 

Do you have a cringey favourite song? Let me know In the comments 🙂 

Tomorrow’s 30 day challenge is ‘Bold lips’ 

See you then 🙂 

Sam x

30 day blogger challenge: My favourite mascara

I’ve bored you all with long posts all week so today’s is going to be short & sweet. 

My favourite mascaras. 

I don’t have 1 particular favourite, I tend to switch between 3. 

Too faced: Better than sex mascara £19.00 debenhams.com    
I don’t know why they’d call a mascara that because it’s definitely not true. I mean, yeah I get excited about make up but seriously? Nope 

The brush is brilliant, it picks up every single lash and makes my lashes look huge. But! And it’s a big but, the fallout is ridiculous. And it Makes me look like a panda by lunchtime. And you need to constantly wipe the brush on a tissue as there’s so much product build up. If they made a waterproof version of this it would be fantastic and be the only mascara I’d ever use as I haven’t found anything better which is why I’ve put it on my favourites list. Can’t have it all eh? 

Have you used this? How did you get on with it? I’d like to know if it’s just me that has this problem.

Max factor: False lash effect mascara £10.99 Boots.com

   

   
Another of my favourites false lash effect & false Lash effect waterproof. Obviously they are both the same mascara but one is waterproof (proof is in the name 😉 the original is great for every day use and makes my lashes look long and thick without crumbling off half way through the day. 

The waterproof is perfect for swimming, holidays,  sporting activities, gym etc the stuff literally doesn’t budge. I can’t fault it. But you will need a waterproof eye make up remover or you’ll never get it off! 

What’s your favourite mascara? Let me know in the comments.

See you tomorrow 🙂 

Sam x