Gwen Stefani for Urban decay palette

  
I’ve not been around in like, forever so apologies for that. Some pretty life changing things have been happening but all will be revealed in the coming weeks I promise 😉 

I was on a spending ban so wasn’t going to purchase the Gwen Stefani palate but those 2 little words ‘limited edition’ swayed me and I caved and ordered one! And I’m not disappointed.

First impressions

I love the box! It looks so smart all in gold, white & black and has the perfect sized mirror for make up application. And the colours! Apart from the pink they are all everyday wearable shades that can take you from day to evening in the flick of a brush. 

I also received some lovely Urban decay samples with my palette. I’m loving the 24/7 liner in ‘Vice’ it’s going to be perfect for Christmas. (Shown in the above image) 

  Shown here with flash 

  Shown here without flash 
I shall get swatches up before the weekend so you can have a nosey. I’m sure you’ll love them as much as I do 🙂 

Take care lovelies! 

Sam 🙂 x

Gwen Stefani for Urban Decay!

  
Urban Decay were teasing us this afternoon by posting a sneak peek of their new palette that comes from their collaboration with Gwen Stefani.  

 

First Impressions:OMG take my money already!! 15 shades of gorgeousness- get on my eyelids now please! 

They say it’s coming at the end of the year. In time for Christmas maybe? If so could someone kindly show this to my husband? Thank you in advance 😘

Are you as excited as I am? 

Let me know what you think 

However in the mean time the next one which will finally be available in the UK is the spectrum palette 

  
A little less ‘everyday wear’ than the Gwen palette but it’s beautiful none the less. And obviously I just HAVE to own it. 

  

Any new releases you guys are excited about?

Drop me some links 🙂 

Enjoy the rest of your week lovelies

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: 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 

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