Nail Varnish I'm taking to Uni

Hello!

Three days until I start moving into my new flat for Uni! EEE! Really need to do some packing though.. So far I have packed not very much at all (oops) but I have suceeded in choosing which nail varnishes from my vast collection to bring with me! So here it is!

Soooo...this is quite a lot! haha. Maybe two thirds of my collection. The brands include Maxfactor, Ciate, Barry M, M&S, Avon, Topshop, OPI, Nails Inc, Revlon, Collection 2000, and my trusty No7 Base coat and Top coat. I also have 2 nail art colours - black and white. I think I'm covering almost every shade base here other than bright green and yellow (not very wearable colours) so I think I'm safe for every situation!

Now for some real packing......

Rachael XX

twitter ♥  bloglovin' ♥  hello cotton

Eye Style: Haife Wehbe

Hello!

I love experimenting with makeup in the evenings, and when I came across Pixiwoo's Haife Wehbe tutorial I decided to try my own take on the look.

Image from Ladyblitz.com

Above is Sam from Pixiwoo's finished look. You can watch her tutorial here

Image from glamo.se

This is the image of the Lebanese model, actress and singer Haifa Wehbe that Sam took inspiration from. 

My finished late-night look was this:

Because this is a look far suited to darker skintones, I was unsure of the reality of it being a wearable daytime look for me. So I redid the look with a bronze eyeliner beneath my eye:

The next day I tried another take on the original look, swapping to a thin blue line under my eye, and adding in a blue eyeshadow to create a gentle smokey eye effect; I also used an Avon navy mascara on my bottom lashes:

Overall I am still uncertain as to whether any of my takes on the makeup look suit my much fairer skin! But this was quite a fun look to try to recreate. The products I used include a gold eyeshadow from MUA's Pro Immaculate Collection  palette (On which I did a review here) and my MaxFactor false lash effect mascara (you can see it here)

Rachael XX

twitter ♥  bloglovin' ♥  hello cotton

Night in with Love Lettuce

Hello! 

This past week amongst stressful organisational duties and the reality of signing up to help out at lots of things, I have discovered and unused Lush Love Lettuce facemask in my fridge! How it went unnoticed and forgotten I'm unsure, but due to its impending expiry date (due to the 100% natural ingredients they use in all their products) I have found myself multiple times sitting down in the evenings with this slapped on, trying to relax.

And I took a few snaps.

Love Lettuce mask newly applied

What it looks like when dried!

Close up of dried Love Lettuce mask

I absolutely adore love Lettuce - mainly because of it being bright green!! But it also smells good (lavender-scented) unlike many other Lush face masks which may do your skin wonders but are a bit iffy with their scent choice.

The last two photos are after it has dried. Love Lettuce is quite a speedy drier, but is best left for 20 minutes or half an hour or so (until the point when you cannot move your face, at all.) It then takes on the appearance of mushy peas on your face! mmm

Guide to removing Love Lettuce Face Mask:

1. Locate a flannel

2. Dampen your flannel in warm water

3. Wring it out

4. Press flannel against section of face, 

and push whilst moving downwards - 

effectively dragging the facemask off your face

Why? Because filling a basin with water and washing it off is way more time consuming, and ultimately messy. This is an easy surprisingly quick and effective way of removing your facemask where the flannel gets greener than you! Hooray

If you are having a busy day, week or even month, remember to take some time out and pamper yourself. Little things can make big differences to your psyche! 

Haul with Love Lettuce - here!

Rachael XX

twitter ♥  bloglovin' ♥  hello cotton

Massive Autumn 2012 Primark Haul!!

Hello!

Having come into small riches from my day of babysitting, I then spent it all..in Primark. I know this may seem extreme - did I buy EVERYTHING in the store?! No.. Primark is getting pricey! (eek) This was a much needed haul before heading off to uni in a few weeks! Last weekend one of my ballet pumps literally broke in half (and my others are not much better) hence I have a lot of flats in this haul! I feel positive about everything I've spent, so that's an optimisitc start!

Purchase 1 - Black ballet pumps with diamante decorated bows.

Cost: £10

Love or hate: Love! Very comfy, look pretty, a fake velvet feel, and I needed some black pumps!

Purchase 2 - White pumps with gold studs 

Cost: £8

Love or hate: Love! My toes are slightly squished on one foot... but they are generally really nice. I love the stud detail! They are quite a thin material though, so you can see the crease from the bend in my foot

Purchase 3 - Tan ballet pumps

Cost: £4

Love or hate: Not too fussed by this purchase - I was wanting some tan shoes and these were cheap! I previously had these in red though and they wore pretty quickly. Especially annoying was the threads from the bows that unravelled.

Purchase 4 and 5 - Leggings!

Cost: £6 for 2

Love or hate: Primark leggings aren't the best, and the leg length is a little off, but £3 for a pair of leggings to a girl who lives in them is an ideal purchase :)

Purchase 6 - Navy above-knee length polyester dress with bow detail and duck pattern

Cost: £10

Love or hate: LOVE! This dress hangs really lovely and I think it's just so great for a tenner! It is a thin material too, so good for summer/autumn

Purchase 7 - Black multi-strap tote bag with zip

Cost: £12

Love or hate: This is probably my best purchase in this haul! I love it lots! This bag is a perfect shoulder bag for uni! The inside is super roomy, and has a cotton innard - not horrible pvc plastic. It fits A4 standing up, or sideways. There are gold studs on the four corners on the bottom so the bottom of the bag won't touch the ground. There is a proper zip fastening at the top so your goods won't fall out! It is a structured hard plether material. There is a pocket inside, big enough for a normal sized purse - at perfect height for getting things out whilst the bag is still on your shoulder (not the awkward just out of reach struggle) Also, the long strap feels very secure, and I love the metal chains. BUY IT!

Rachael XX

twitter ♥  bloglovin' ♥  hello cotton

Missguided Splash Nail Polish Review

Hello!

I actually got this nail polish free in August Cosmo, and I only opened up recently to try it out, so I thought I'd share a few thoughts! 

 Well I won't say I'm that moved by this nail polish. It's okay as your average varnish goes, but not really anything special. It has a very thin coverage and so is quite watery - although this has the benefit of it not getting gloopy! The colour wears reasonably well, although after a few days it starts chipping quite obviously. The packaging is nice, it comes in a 13ml bottle and on the website it boasts: "‘Pink to make the boys wink’ - a statement colour that is sure to turn heads "

If you are interested the colour is Fuschia, and it costs £5. You can buy it here from Missguided

Rachael XX

twitter ♥  bloglovin' ♥  hello cotton

Babysitting, Eyeshadow and Matthew McConaughey

Hello!

Note: This post consists of both an embarrassing story and another photographed attempt at the 'kitten eye' look :)
I am currently sitting on someone else's couch, 1 hour into an 8 hour shift of babysitting (eek!) with my laptop, a cosmo, and some films for company (The children are at the age and stage of being 'too cool' to speak to their babysitter, weep)

It started off with a blast, when I handed their dad my laptop to connect to their wifi for me, and realised, awkwardly that my desktop background looked like this:

I then actually tried to explain myself, hahaha. Let's just say I'm happy I chose this image over the magic mike poster.. More awkward was that when the wifi window apppeared, all that was visible was from Matthew McConaughey's nipples downwards. Yeh. Well, he told me that he "totally understood" and not to worry

This morning I decided to try out another take on the 'Kitten Eye' look I posted yesterday here. I got so many lovely comments from you all, and I really liked the way it turned out, so I thought I'd see what I could do with alternative colours.

I really like the results! Anything smokey eye style tends to look too heavy on my eyes, so I love that with this style the bottom lid has only a spot of colour in the centre, leaving it a lighter look, yet still highlighting and defining your eye. I feel this is a good basic stencil which you can work around with colours and textures (glitter shadows perhaps!) depending if you're looking for a daytime or nighttime look.

Ooh, so this has taken up half an hour.. 6 and a half hours to go! I think I shall brainstorm some future blog posts and catch up on some blogspot reading! :)

Rachael XX

twitter ♥  bloglovin' ♥  hello cotton

Eye Style: Kitten Eye

Hello!

Recently I've seen quite a few makeup artists experimenting with the 'kitten eye' style. Apparently it originated at the Anna Sui show as a feline eye look. This is where a dark eyeshadow is pressed along the outer half of the lid, buffed into the crease and outlines the eye in a V shape at the outer corner. It is finished with a round dot of the dark shadow under the pupil of the eye at the centre of the bottom lid. I tried to recreate this look using 'petrol', a Barry M dazzle dust, with the alteration of creating a wider thinner line of colour under the pupils to create a more wearable look. Properly done this look has a very 1950's feel to it, and when kept with quite neutral tones across the rest of the face highlights your eyes.

Hope you enjoyed this style steal post! I may start posting catwalk makeup looks more often

Rachael XX

twitter ♥  bloglovin' ♥  hello cotton