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!