Blog for Uni

Hey everyone and anyone reading!

Check out my make up blog that I'm doing for uni with some of my course mates.

The URL is http://beautifulyoumua.wordpress.com

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Thanks everyone :)

Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit

Oh my god.

OH MY GOD.

My new favourite make up product on this whole entire planet.

Seriously this kit is amazing! I can't believe how simple it is to use and the results that it gives you.

Before I start chatting on let me show you the kit itself. It comes in a sleek black sleeve and package, making it look very professional.

Open it up and you have 6 shades, 3 to contour with and 3 to highlight. I love the depth of the contour colours! The shades in the highlighters (l to r) are Vanilla, Banana and Sand. With the contour shades it's (again l to r) Java, Faun and Havanna.

The kit also comes with a contouring guide for those who aren't 100% on where to put everything. It just adds to the ease of using the kit.

All I can say is that I am SO impressed! I bought the kit because it is known for it's cult following and I see so many people using it on insta. I'm so happy I decided to get it now. It eliminates the need for even buying bronzers and highlighters because you've got it all there in one complete kit.

I chose to use Java to contour most of my face and Havanna on my temples. Probably should have just stuck to using Java as Havanna is a bit dark for me without any tan on but I still like the way it has come out. To highlight I used Sand on areas where u wanted a bit of a shimmer and Fawn where I wanted it to look more matte.

This is how it ended up looking:

I tried a variety of different angles and using flash etc so that you could see how it looks. None quite got the complete effect but from these you get the idea.

I absolutely adore this product and don't plan on being without it anytime soon. It's amazing. I suggest anyone with a love for all things bronzed and beautiful to go and get this. You may have to wait a couple of weeks as the only place you can get it in the UK is the Anastasia Beverly Hills site but you lucky US people can get it much faster. It's totally worth the cost, I think I paid £36 including shopping but it's sooo worth it!

In terms of other recent buys, I got a new mascara. MAC mascara's are one of the only MAC products that I don't really like. I find they go dry really quickly so you're buying a new one before you've barely had your current one. Therefore as my old mascara was dead I bought this one.

It's the new Loreal Mega Volume Manga Eyes Mascara. I got it for £8.99 at Boots, think this might be an offer cos it's new but you get a vague idea of price.

What mainly attracted me to this was the fact that it has a bendy brush. One of my favourite mascara's is Benefit Get Bent which I believe has now been discontinued, but it was because of it's angled brush. As you can say, this brush has gone one better, and it is mobile so can bend both up and down getting at all those hard to reach lashes.

After looking forward to using this so much I have to say I was a bit disappointed. I found the formula a bit clumpy making my lashes stick together. Nobody likes a spider eyelash look lets face it. After separating them out a bit using tweezers I was much happier with the results.

I'm going to give this mascara a few more chances but I don't know if I would recommend it. Volume Million Lashes by Loreal would definitely still be my go-to.

Boxing Day Make Up

I've had such a good Christmas so Boxing Day was made for spending time with my closest girl friends.

We'd booked a table at a bar called Lola Lo and it was so much fun. The cocktails were amazing there!

My outfit was very plain and I wanted to make it look better with big hair and striking make up. This is how my overall look turned out.

As you can see I went for purpley berry coloured lips and a smokey eye. I'm really annoyed cos the picture I've taken of my eyes shows up barely any of the blend but oh well.

I'll start off with my lips. I used MAC Currant liner on my lips and Rebel lipstick which has got to be one of my all time favourites. I could've used Heroine but I wanted it to be more berry than an obvious purple. I tried a bright pink as well but thought the darker colour suited the outfit better.

On my eyes I primed my eye with NYX jumbo pencil in Milk up to my brow bone. I then used the Urban Decay Vice 2 palette to create my base with Habit all over up to the brow bone again and Dope in the tear duct. I then used Rewind on the lid. On top of that I used MAC paint pot in Constructivist before pressing on MAC Blue Brown pigment. I find that using a cream eyeshadow helps it stick better. In the outer corner I used MAC Gilt By Association pressed pigment going into Blackout from the Naked 2. I feel like Blackout is a much bolder black than Carbon by MAC so if I want a really dark edge I'll use that over Carbon. I lined the eyes with MAC Blacktrack fluid line and smoked out the line using Carbon. In the crease for a transition colour I used MAC Brown Down, which is my favourite matte brown and good for blending.

To line the bottom of the eye I used a flat defined brush with MAC Gilt By Association again. I LOVE this pigment because of the gold and black combination, you never know quite what colour you'll get and it looks gorgeous. Every pigment has a different pattern on as well.

Look how gorgeous it is!! Probably one of my new favourite products.

The lashes I used are Eldora H105s which are lovely and long but not too full. I will never go back to any other lashes after Eldora, they are the best I've ever used. They're extremely long lasting and really good value.

On my skin I contoured my face with my Sleek concealer palette. I also used a darker foundation, MAC studio fix fluid in NC40 to really being out a contour in m cheekbones. I then used NW25 on the rest of my face and highlighted with NC20 studio finish concealer. I used Medium Deep mineralize skinfinish natural to bronze my jawline, cheekbones, temples and down my nose. I highlighted using MAC Gold Deposit mineralize skinfinish and used MAC Peaches on the apples of my cheeks. My brows are the usual, MAC Dipdown and Brun to set them.

I'm sorry the pictures are so crap! Wish they came out better so you could see some of the detail but oh well.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas, New Year and a great start to 2014 :)

Bold Lips and Sparkly Eyes

I can't sleep at the moment because I'm just getting so giddy for Christmas so thought I may as well blog.

In terms of looks for Christmas time I think it's all about a bit of glitter and sparkle. I've dug out my old glitters loose pigments from one of the old MAC holiday sets, think it was 2011, and can't wait to use those.

First off, I got this gorgeous gift off one of my best friends for Christmas and as we weren't feeling really Christmassy yet we decided we could open them. I've been after this little pot of beauty for ages and that is the MAC pigment in Blue Brown. I can't even describe how amazing the colour is and a great alternative to any normal black or brown. Here I used it pressed all over my lid on top of Constructivist paint pot and with Shadowy Lady in the crease. It's such an easy colour to incorporate into any eye look and the pigment is so so pretty. I'm in love!

As you can see the two tone colour of the blue makes the eye pop. I absolutely adore this pigment and it's so easy to use. For an even more dramatic effect try spritzing Fix+ spray on before hand to make it a wet application.

I have always been a fan of a pop of colour on the lips especially with a toned down muted eye. Purple is a definite alternative to a traditional red for Christmas and I will be rocking it for certain.

Have you heard the fab news that MAC are bringing back Heroine from the fashion sets this year for good? A great move in my eyes as I am a big fan. Here I'm wearing Heroine on the lip lined with Currant and Snob in the centre. It created a sort of ombré look to the lip but you can't see it so well because of my camera.

If you're feeling mega brave, try adding black to the outer corners of your lips. Be sure to blend it in properly and don't go to mad though cos otherwise you may look a bit crazy!

Those are a couple of my looks for Christmas. More to come on the lead up to Santa's visit!

Christmas Meal

Me and my girls from home went out for our Christmas meal to Spinningfields in Manchester last night. We ended up going to this really nice place called Artisan, I'd definitely recommend it. 

For a meal out I wanted to go with a casual but classy outfit and then have my make up be more of the focus. I decided to go with a soft smokey eye rather than a full one and contour my face properly. This is how things ended up.

As you can see my eyes are dark but not completely smoked out. I finished with a pink lip which I thought made the look pop a bit.

I primed my eyes with Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden, which leaves a clean skin-coloured base to work with. I love this product and it's consistent isn't too drying. I then used by Urban Decay Vice 2 palette and applied a wash of Habit up to my brow bone. In then applied Toxic all over my lid, using Dope in the inner corner and under half of my lower lash line. I used X-Rated in my crease as a transition colour. I loved doing a smokey look with pinks for once, it's nice to do something a bit different because sometimes browns or blacks are a bit same old.

After this I went to my Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. This palette is still one of my favourites and has all the colours you need for a natural eye. I used Chopper on the outside half of my lid and blended it with the Toxic from before. I then blended Busted into my outer v.

From here I used a MAC shadow called Amber Lights on my lower lash line and the centre of my lid. I blended a small amount of Carbon also by MAC into my outer v and lower lash line. I lined the top of my eye with MAC Blacktrack fluid line and my waterline with NYX jumbo pencil in Milk. The lashes I've used are eldora H105 and they're gorgeous long length lashes but not too full, so you get volume that looks natural. I used my MAC False Lashes mascara to complete the eye.

On my skin I contoured my whole face with my sleek palette and bronzed with MAC Mineralise Skinfinish in Medium Deep. For my blush I used MAC Warm Soul which is a mineralise blush and perfect for a natural glowy finish. On my brows I used Dipdown fluid line by MAC as well as a MAC shadow in Brun to set.

I lined my lips with NYX pencil in Bloom,  a dupe of MAC's Magenta but I prefer the finish of this pencil. I then used MAC Snob lipstick all over my lips and finish with Long Love Love Pro Longwear gloss. I went back in with my NYX pencil in the corners of my lips to deepen the colour.

So there you have it, my simple make up look for the Christmas season. Sometimes at this time of year less is more but I can't wait to do a bit of experimenting over this holiday. I've dug out some of my MAC glitters from the Christmas collection 2 years ago so can't wait to be reusing them!

NYX, Sleek and MAC Goodies

Haven't posted for so long it's ridiculous! Definitely need to keep up with this and I know I say it all the time but over Christmas I'm going to get the ball rolling again.

As I haven't posted in a while I thought I'd do one about my new bits and pieces that I've been using recently. I've been branching out a bit and trying some new products that I've heard of through artists, mainly on Instagram.

This is my most recent set of purchases that I've made over the last 6 weeks or so.

Here we have products by my favourite MAC, as well as NYX and Sleek.

Starting off with the NYX bits. I've heard so many good things about this brand but as at the moment it's only available in the US it can be hard to get hold of things. Luckily I hear that it's coming to the UK and Next are going to be stocking it. I however got my bits off eBay.

From NYX I bought a lipstick and the colour is Hestia. It's a deep oxblood red and it's gorgeous for Christmas. The colour is very rich and it does stay on for ages. My only issue with it really is that it can bleed quite easily without liner and it does stain your lips and can be hard to get off! However I love love love the colour and would buy another NYX lippie.

My other NYX purchase was a jumbo eye pencil in the shade milk. This is a white chunky eye pencil with a quite a waxy consistency but don't be put off by that cos it's fab. It's so easy to use and doesn't budge, making it perfect to use as a primer. The consistency helps here too because shadows, especially loose or pigmented ones, will stick to it easily. It's so multi-useful as I also use it as a brow highlight and on my waterline to make my eyes pop. As you can see I've already used it a lot!

Moving on to my Sleek, I purchased a Correct and Concealer Palette. I've been after one of these for ages as I love using concealer to get the perfect contour. I got shade 4 as I wanted one of the concealers to be quite dark. I love how the set also comes with a powder to get rid of any excess shine. I don't think I'd use this as my go-to concealer though as this one is quite a lot lighter in terms of coverage compared to MACs which is practically industrial! However, it is perfect to use it for highlighting and contouring your face and making it look natural.

Finally I have the MAC Pro Longwear Lipglass in the shade Long Love Love. As far as I'm aware this colour isn't available in the UK as I got mine from my favourite bargain place, eBay. The colour is beautiful. It's a blue based pink which makes your teeth look whiter supposedly. It also smells really nice which is always a plus. The gloss is quite slick when going on and it can be quite difficult to get the placement of colour right with the Pro Longwears I find. However keep blotting and dabbing and you can get it to look perfect. I find that it looks gorgeous on top of Snob lipstick.

Apologies for the lip pictures looking messy, I have no other make up on but want to show what these two lip products look like on!

In terms of what's coming up, it's getting closer to Christmas so I will try and post a few looks for the holidays. As well as that, I am on the look out for some MUA Lip Lacquers which I've heard great things about, so I'll try and get hold of a couple of them to review. I also have some more of my favourite Eldora lashes on their way to me so I can't wait to use those!

Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette

I'm doing this via mobile as for some stupid reason my lappy won't allow me to upload any pics onto my blog which for this post would be an absolute disaster. Please excuse the lack of formatting, I'm pretty new to the blogging app.

Anyway moving swiftly on, I have an exciting new purchase to share with you. I heard about this palette coming out and was SO excited by it as the previews I had seen made it look amazing. I fell in love as soon as I saw the Vice 2 Palette and saw it as an investment and bought it home.

The packaging of the palette is to die for, rocking the strong Urban Decay amethyst purple and a bold silver logo. I'm told that every palette is individual and no two cases are the same which is pretty cool.

Open it up and look inside and you are met with an array of gorgeous and brand new colours, making it essential to any UD collector. You can create any look with this, whether it be a bold colourful eye or a simple muted smokey affair.

I love every single one of the colours and every shade you could possibly need is there. My personal favourites are Shellshock, which is this amazing reflective bright silver colour, and Toxic, an orangey-pink shade with a shimmer.

I had to have a play straight away so I did three eye looks to try and test out as many colours as possible.

This is my first look. I wanted to go for a simple quick easy goldy brown eye. For this, I primed my eye with UD Eden eye primer and used Dope as a base all over the lid up to the brow bone. I then used Toxic on the lid, leaving a small amount of Dope visible on the inner corner. I added Ambush in the centre of the lid and blended this out into the Toxic. In the crease I used Radar and then smoked out with, you guessed it, Smokeout, and then used Smokeout again on the lower lash line. I lined my eyes with MAC Blacktrack gel liner and added Eldora H142 lashes and some MAC False Lashes mascara.

My second eye look was a complete contrast colour-wise to my first. I wanted to use the greens and blues in the palette together, as these are also the colours in my eyes so I thought it would compliment them.

I primed my eyes as before with UD Eden and then used Habit as my base colour. I blended Stash on top all over the lid. I used Poison on the outer corner and half of the lid, blending it right out to make a wing. I used Madness in the crease and Damaged and Strike in the inner corner. Smokeout was used on the lower lash line with Damaged and a tiny bit was also blended into the wing. I lined my eyes as before with Blacktrack and added Eldora H140 lashes, my absolute favourites. My brow highlight is MAC Retrospeck as well as again using False Lashes mascara.

I love a good girly eye look so my last one is pinks and purples. I primed my eyes in the same way as before and highlighted my brow with Retrospeck by MAC. My base colour this time was Rewind which I blended into my crease. I the applied X-Rated all over the lid blending it in with Rewind. Coax was then used on 3/4 of the lid from the outer corned in. Betrayal was used in the crease and Voodoo along the upper and lower lash lines. Shellshock was used in the tear duct and inner corner. I lined my eyes and used MAC lashes although I have no idea which number because I bought them in Spain. I completed the eye with mascara.

Here is the two eyes together to compare the colours.

I am totally in love with this palette. I love the selection of colours and the way that the shadows blend so easily. It isn't cheap, but I would definitely say that it's worth the money. Consider it an investment!