Top 10 Over £10

I love a good beauty bargain as much as the next girl, but there is something so nice about treating yourself to a bit of luxury every now and then. Unfortunately I treat myself a lot more than I should and would often rather forego something necessary in favour of getting my hands on an expensive foundation- I'm trying to work on it, I promise!

I've compiled a little list of my favourite high end products, by no means is it in order nor is it an exhaustive list, but here is my Top 10 Over £10;

1)NARS Sheer Glow Foundation

2)Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel

3) Benefit Box O' Powders

4) MAC Eyeshadow Palette

5) MAC Lipsticks in Crème Cup, Fanfare and Velvet Teddy

6) MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle

7) MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural

8) Urban Decay Perversion Mascara (and Subversion Lash Primer!)

9) Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray

10) Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara.

For more details about why I love each of these, why not watch my newest video? 

Monthly Favourites || July

Here's a little link to my July Favourites video. I always love favourites videos and I hope you like mine :) What products have you been loving lately?

Before we do anything can we talk about those ADORABLE little bug things I found on Picmonkey? They were too cute to be left out.

Hey guys, the whole world and his dog knows about MAC eyeshadows, right? 99% of bloggers seem to own palettes and I've seen various posts detailing the colours they've chosen and various swatches etc, but I've not seen one telling you a) how to do it and b) whether or not it's worth it. Don't worry though, I'm here to answer those burning questions- or maybe not so much burning as simmering? This isn't a post preaching the greatness that is MAC eyeshadow, it's just about the building process.

There are various sizes for the palettes, so you'll have to look and see what would suit your needs best. I just have the single sided, 15 pan one. This is quite a splurge as the empty palette will set you back about £16.50 and each refill costs £10, but I have to say I'm so glad I started building my own. I always found with pre-made eyeshadow palettes there were colours I loved and used up so quickly and then others I never touched, so in theory money was wasted. The perk of building your own palette is that you can only include colours you would use. Also, there is no pressure to buy all the refills at once, I've built this over several months and some people take years to fill theirs.

I've written the name of each shade I have in case any take your fancy- you can clearly see which ones I favour (it's currently Brulé with Charcoal Brown in the crease). While building this I tried to include muted colours I would use regularly and that would complement each other for various looks- although the odd statement like Antiqued snuck its way in. Any time I've asked someone for help in a MAC store they've been great so if you're nervous, just ask! I found myself having 30 minute discussions about eyeshadows and it always helps to have a professional opinion on colours that would suit your skin tone, and I'd usually ask which colours they felt they couldn't live without in their palettes to get inspiration.

Although it's expensive to build, this palette has made all my other eyeshadows become redundant. It's not so much a splurge as an investment, as I said you can build it up over time and tailor it to you. It might be OTT to say, I probably couldn't live without this now! How about you? Do you have a MAC Palette? Do you want one?

MAC Maleficent Beauty Powder || REVIEW

Hi everyone! Sorry, it's another review. More specifically it's another MAC review. I can't help myself man, shopping there has become like a drug to me and I am incredibly unwilling to quit this habit at present. Anyway, if you didn't know the Maleficent film will be coming out in the next week or so and MAC have created a new collection to get her look.

Now, when I think 'Maleficent', I think of the 1959 drawing and can't honestly say I envied her beauty much at all. In the new film, however, the jaw-dropping Angelina Jolie has taken on the role and I will buy any product that gives me even the slightest chance of looking like her.

The powder itself is a soft pink/peach colour and MAC's website advises that it be used as a "highlight, soft blush or overall finish" I haven't used it as an overall finish, and there is a huge amount of colour for me to think it's a suitable blush but boy oh boy does it work as a highlighter. I've never used a powder highlighter before, liquid/cream always worked fine so there was no need for me to venture elsewhere- but there was an ever present problem with my previous highlighters, they were a bit too noticeable. No amount of blending could make them as subtle as I wanted. This beauty powder has kinda changed my life.

There's no noticeable sheen to the powder, but it manages to highlight perfectly. It makes it look like my hamstery little face might have some cheekbones hidden in there- incredible! My main problem with it is that it's limited edition and I can see this becoming a staple in my make up bag, most of the Maleficent range has already sold out online so you'll have to head to a store if you want a chance of nabbing any of it. I kinda wish I'd got the sculpting powder too, but alas I was too slow!

Seriously though, this product is great, a little goes a long way so I'm fairly sure it'll last me a while. Hopefully they bring out something similar in the future to replace it because it kinda looks like you've brushed Photoshop onto your face.The only actual downfall is I can't see it being suitable for all skin tones, it works for me because it just happens to be slightly lighter than my natural skin tone but if you're darker or more olive toned I'm not sure how it'd work. Give it a go though and prove me wrong!


Have you tried anything from the Maleficent range? Or is there something you've got your beady little eye on? Let me know!


P.S. Sorry for the terrible pictures, it's awfully bright in my room lately. Also, there are no pictures of it on my face because a) my camera does not do it justice and b) I look like a goblin today.

Mac Mineralize || Review

MAC Mineralize Moisture Foundation- £27.00

 So, long time no speak...again. Revision and finals are
kinda getting on top of me so this and my attempt at a YouTube channel have been severely neglected- just bear with me until the 31st of May then I will have nothing but time to devote to blogging!
Anyway, let's get to the point of this post, I recently ran out of foundation and fancied trying something new. Very predictably, I fell into my nearest MAC store and asked their advice. Since summer is just around the corner (fingers crossed!) I wanted to go for something a bit more dewy than I normally would, and the lovely lady working the counter directed me straight to the Mineralize range where I ended up buying the foundation, powder and concealer.

We'll start with the foundation. I always love MAC packaging so there's no complaints there, the actual product is a bit of a different matter. As you can see from the pictures at the start of this post, it's definitely dewy so I got what I asked for but I find it might be a bit too dewy. I'm concerned that I look more sweaty than glowy, if I'm honest. As for lasting, today I have just been moseying around and it's faired well, especially for something that's not full coverage (it's more medium, if you were wondering), and even when I worked an 8 hour shift yesterday it held up fairly well without any need for setting spray. That being said, it doesn't feel like it's really worked into my skin, if you know what I mean; it's not heavy at all, but I am very aware that I'm wearing foundation. Would I buy it again? I'm not sure, like I said it's a lot more dewy than I'm used to so perhaps it's that that's holding me back. I'm going to persevere with it for a few more weeks and then see how I feel. If you do want to look like there's a lightbulb inside your skull though, this may well be the foundation for you!

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural- £22.00

Now for the powder, I got this in the shade Light Plus so it doesn't add any colour for me, it just sets everything in place. Their Mineralize Skinfinish Natural powders are all low coverage so should be suited to all skin types. I have been loyal to Rimmel's Stay Matte for as long as I can remember, but recently I've found it goes a bit to cakey and clings to dry patches, so this may have replaced it as my go to powder! settles really nicely on the skin, without caking up around the nose or showing everyone my dry patches. As far as I can tell, it neither adds nor takes away from the glow of the foundation underneath so presumably it'll be great over a range of foundations. Despite being significantly more expensive than Rimmel, I can see myself repurchasing this.

MAC Mineralize Concealer- £16.50

Finally, the concealer. I always need a nice, creamy concealer to cover the ever-present bags under my eyes and I figured that I may as well get the full set. This is probably my least favourite product, firstly it seems to make all my eye makeup smudge a lot more, a problem I never usually have. It feels almost slippery when you put it on so, despite providing full coverage of bags at first, it slides all over the place throughout the day and leaves you with minimal coverage (although that could just be my eyeliner leaking down my face!) Setting it with powder didn't help it to stay either. Honestly, I'm fairly disappointed meaning I won't buy this again. I'm in the market for a new concealer if anyone knows of any good'uns.



And that's about it for this post, what foundation, powder and concealer are you using at the minute? Would you recommend? Let me know in the comments!