I’m back! ……Again

So it’s been a while. Okay longer than a while. For that I’m sorry, but I have a good excuse I promise. And her name is Macie 😊 

The plan was to get back into blogging while I was pregnant but juggling work, home renovations, an 11 year old and extreme tiredness I failed. SO! rather than bore you all with posts about random crap, I took a little break. But I’m back, and my make up collection has  Erm let’s say blossomed. Yeah blossomed, that’s a good word. 

To get back into the swing of things I’ll start off with some short posts, and hopefully I’ll get my blogging mojo back. 

To get the ball rolling I’ll do a little ‘today’s face’ post. You can see it Here

If there’s anything you’d like to see, leave me a comment and I’ll do my best to sort it 👍🏼 

Sam X 

Advertisement

Clarria Cosmetics: Foundation review & swatches

I finally received my products from Clarria! Eeeek! Couldn’t contain my excitement when they arrived!

If you’ve seen my previous post on Clarria cosmetics then you’ll know what they are all about. But for those that haven’t check it out here.

I was really surprised at how broad the range of shades were, considering there is only 7 at the moment.

I tested the lightest 3 on my face and shade Lucky 003 was literally made for me, its the perfect shade.

Application:

I applied with my Real techniques buffing brush & it blended seamlessly into my skin. The coverage I would say is medium, but I’m having a bad skin week due to the weather so needed a little extra coverage. So with my damp beauty blender I added a little extra where needed. Its build able so I easily achieved the coverage I required.

Wearabilty:

Well 11 hours on and it still looks as perfect as it did when I applied. I haven’t used a primer (which is completely alien to me) so I could see its true staying power.

Swatches:

In natural light top to bottom 001,002,003,004,005,006,007

With flash same order as above L-R

Below: Me wearing Clarria flawless foundation in shade 003. Both taken in natural light.  Taken in the morning straight after application.
 12 hours after application. 

Overall I’m a big fan already! I can’t wait to see the other products awaiting launch. 

For more information on Clarria cosmetics and what’s to come check out their blog here

Clarria cosmetics Instagram

To purchase click here

Would you try it? What do you think so far?

Whats to come:

The Anastasia Beverly Hills Self Made palette Is winging its way to me as I type,so as soon as it arrives Ill be sure to share it with you all. I can’t contain my excitement!

Enjoy the rest of your day & don’t forget to follow me on:

Google+

Instagram

Twitter

Sam 🙂 x

Too faced romantic eye palette: swatches & review

Anyone who reads my blog on a regular or knows me personally will know my love for Too faced cosmetics. I literally love everything Too faced! Excellent quality and beautifully packaged products. And the chocolate bar & Cocoa contour products? Erm HELLO! who doesn’t want pretty cosmetics that do what they say on the tin and smell like chocolate?! 

I own many too faced items but there are still sooooooo many more on my wishlist. 

I’ve owned this palette for a couple of months now and wanted to share its fabulousness with you guys. 

 
9 pretty, girly shades that are suitable for day & evening wear. With matte, satin & shimmer shades the amount of looks you can create are endless. And check out the names! 

 Shown here in natural light
  Shown here with flash 
Colours from L-R: 

• Un veil
• First dance
• Bouquet toss
• Soul mates
• Kiss the bride 
• I do
• Cut the cake 
• Honeymoon
• Ever after 

Pigmentation is perfect and the shades blend like butter. As always too faced are consistent with their shadows. 

The tutorial cards are really easy to follow especially for beginners.  And as I already said its so easy to go from day to night with this cute little palette.

For day I wear bouquet toss all Over the lid, soul mates as a brow bone highlight & inner corners. Then for night just add either unveil or first dance to the upper & lower lash lines & outer corners of the eyes and your good to go! 

It’s definitely up there with my favourites. 

Here’s a look I created at the weekend using shades: soul mates to highlight, bouquet toss as a base, I do in the crease & unveil on he outer corners & lower lash line.   

Have you tried the Too faced Romantic eye palette? 

Let me know what you thought in the comments section 🙂 

This weeks manicure

It might be Autumn but Im not ready to give up my bright shades just yet! This week I’m wearing Gelish in ‘scandalous’ a gorgeous bright red.  

 

Is there anything particular you guys would like to see on the blog? 

Let me know in the comments 

Hope you enjoyed.

Sam 🙂 x 

Olympia beauty haul part 2: Swatches!

Happy friday people! I hope this week has treated you well?

As promised here are the swatches from my little Olympia beauty show haul. See part 1 here

My show purchases

NYX butter glosses

I always have at least one butter gloss in by bag at all times. They give a lovely wash of colour that isnt too over the top for every day wear. Definitely a make up bag must have for me.

Tiramisu & Madeline

Natural light without flash 

With flash

NYX Butter lipstick

Lovely feeling on the lips although very sheer. If you don’t like anything too heavy coverage wise then this is for you. I’d be interested in hearing what some of the darker colours are like though. So if you’ve tried them link me to reviews please 🙂

Snow cap

Without flash in natural light

With flash

NYX High voltage lipstick

This is my favourite lipstick ever! I love it more than (dare I say it) VELVET TEDDY!! It stays on for hours and is so pigmented you literally just need one sweep and it gives perfect coverage. I am 1005 buying more for my pro make up kit.

‘Stone’

Without flash in natural light

With flash

NYX Eyeshadows

These are really highly pigmented and for like £4.50 I think they were a bargain!

Without flash in natural light

With flash

Inglot amc gel liner in black 

I’m still new to wearing eye liner myself but this is a pretty intense black liner which can be hard to find. Its easy to apply and glides on like a dream. However once its on it will not budge so if (like me) you find it hard to get your liner right first time remember a little goes a long way, also have some make up remover and q tips handy for any mistakes so you can clean up quickly before it dries. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

Gel liner in Black

Without flash in natural light

With flash

Milani Bronzer & Blush

These had been on my wishlist for some time. I mean just look at them, what girl wouldn’t love them?? And they didn’t fail to impress. I love a coral blush on myself and I also find it suits many other skin tones but some are afraid to try it & are put off by the colour thinking it wont suit them.

Go on, try it and let me know what you think!

Milani Bronzer in ‘Amber nectar’ & Blush in ‘Coral rose’

Simply beautiful!

Taken in natural light

This weeks manicure!

I’m still sporting shorties but went for a raspberry shade this week.

Gelish in ‘Rendezvous’

Have a fab weekend!

Sam 🙂 x

New brand launch: Clarria cosmetics #teamclarria

  
I’m So excited to tell you that Clarria cosmetics launched today! 

I am honoured to have been asked to be a part of this fantastic new luxurious, natural & organic make up brand originating from New York.

As you all know I haven’t been blogging for very long so to have been noticed by Clarria and being given the fantastic opportunity to blog for them is amazing. 

I have plenty more posts coming your way so stay tuned.

In the meantime take a peek here: Instagram: Clarria

Website: Clarria cosmetics

Sam 🙂 x

Olympia Beauty Haul & a quick catch up part 1

I’m baaaaaack!  

Had a pretty much non stop weekend with make up classes & the Olympia beauty show.but I’ll give you a quick run down of what I’ve been up to & what I’ve been buying this week 😊 

Saturday make up class at the Essex hair & make up academy. 

  

I had the pleasure of meeting Rachel at Essex hair and beauty academy in Brentwood (just off the high street) I’d recently attended a ‘mastering eyes’ course which helped me a great deal so I booked another as eye make up is something I personally struggle to get right. It was a very informative day. I’d definately recommend them for make up training to update your skills or to try something new. I’ve improved so much since attending and the prices are really reasonable. 

   Some of what I learned on the day 
 Myself & my fab model Bahar 🙂 make up by me 

Sunday Olympia beauty show: 

I had the pleasure of working the show with Nail Harmony (Gelish) 

  Show selfie 😎 
It was a busy day but I had fun as always & managed a quick shop around at the end of the day. 

The Nyx stand was packed all day long! I literally couldn’t get near it till the end of the day. I purchased a couple of lip sticks, butter glosses & eyeshadows from there. 

Then went onto Inglot for the black gel liner everyone’s been raving at me about. 

Lastly to Beauty B cosmetics for a Z palette, brush egg, a couple of La girl concealers & Milani blushes (my first ever Milani purchases!! I was so excited to see them there) didn’t spend a great deal but it was enough to keep me happy for a few weeks. 

Here’s my mini Olympia haul! 

   

    

Did you go to Olympia? What did you pick up? I’d love to hear from you 🙂 

So I’m currently de potting everything I can get my hands on and sticking it in my z palette! Don’t ask me why I’ve only just bought one, I don’t know where I’ve been either 🙈  

 
I’ll get some swatches of my purchases up from for you guys asap. 

Enjoy the rest of your week Oh and don’t forget to follow me on Instagram Here 

Sam 🙂 x 

30 day blogger challenge: Today’s face

  
Just a quick post of ‘today’s face’ and what was used to create it.

Base: 

• urban decay naked skin in shade 2.0 
• La girl pro conceal in orange- to correct my dark circles
• Pro longwear concealer in NW15 to conceal
• Ben Nye banana powder to set.

Contour/blush:

• Mac ‘matte bronze’ to contour
• Lord & berry blush in lotus
• Mac soft & gentle to highlight

Eyes:

• Anastasia Beverley hills eye shadows in A touch of lilac (all over lid & brow bone) dark chocolate shimmer on outer corner & also used as liner) & Metal (patted onto lid & inner corner.)
• Max factor false lash effect mascara on top & bottom lashes

Brows:

• Naked basics palette colour ‘faint’ used to fill in brows 

Lips:

• Khroma beauty (Kardashian collection) double take lipstick & gloss in ‘nectar’

  
Wow these iPhone photos aren’t very forgiving! Okay don’t mention the brows! They are so not my friend at the moment.  I’m trying to grow one back, hence one being majorly shorter than the other see  Here for an explanation. This was also taken before work and I hadn’t done my hair yet but hey, I can’t be perfect all the time 😏

  Close up of the eyes 

What are your everyday make up essentials? 

Let me know in the comments 

So that’s my face today! Hope you enjoyed. 

Sam 🙂 x

30 day blogger challenge: my skincare regime

  Looking after your skin is really important no matter how old you are. This is something that’s always been drummed into me. But I’ll be completely honest and admit that after a few glasses of vino cleansing, toning & moisturising aren’t exactly on my list of ‘things to do’ before I pass out on my pillow. But brownie points to those who do! Your skin will thank you one day. 

Considering I’m qualified in facials and know a hell of a lot about how to look after my skin, my skincare routine is pretty basic and I really should invest a bit more time and money into it. But I’ll add that to my list of things I should do but don’t. 

So here are the products that are working for me at the moment. 

 

Good old Garnier Micellar water. One of my holy grail products! I can’t recommend it enough. Removes my make up with minimal effort, doesn’t dry my skin out And is cheap as chips! 

  
 Lancôme gel éclat clarifying cleanser. I use this morning and night. It doesn’t make my skin feel tight which having dry, sensitive skin is kind of hard to find in a face wash. Smells lovely and gives me that squeaky clean feeling but doesn’t leave my face feeling dry. 

  It’s an oldie but a goodie! Olay beauty fluid My nan swears by it and she looks amazing for her age just to add. I use this as a night cream as a few specific night creams were way too rich for my skin so I’m yet to find one I like that works for me. And yes I know I need to jump in the anti ageing bandwagon but I can’t bring myself to buy a ’30-40′ version of face cream now that I’ve entered that age bracket according to Olay & Garnier. So thanks for that 👍🏼 !! 
  Embryolisse lait creme concentre is my day cream of choice. It has many uses (find out Here) but it hydrates my skin and acts as the perfect primer before I apply my make up, it instantly gets rid of any dry patches on contact! It’s like a little miracle in a tube. (It’s also in my professional make up kit too) 
  
Benefit- it’s potent: my current eye cream of choice, purely because it came in a recent birchbox. But it does what it says on the tin-sort of. (it’s really a jar) it brightens and hydrates my eye area a bit I suppose but I’m yet to see it fade my dark circles and give me ‘younger looking eyes’ who even writes that stuff?? I’m 30 not stupid 😒 

  
Garnier- goodbye dry facial wipes. I switch between these and the Micellar wipes for those lazy evenings where I don’t have the time or energy to do the usual routine. Better than nothing right? WRONG!! 

Cleansing wipes will dry out any skin type worse than the Sahara! So don’t get attached to those soggy little wipes that pretend to make your life easier. 

Use make up wipes daily & wonder why your skin never co-operates? That’s the reason. 

So that’s my honest, but probably not so great skin care routine. (If you can call it that.)

Are there any skincare products you swear by? 

Let me know in the comments 🙂

See you tomorrow 

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