Bright and Affordable FOTD

Hello!

I was going out into town today to meet my friend Cat and see Magic Mike at the cinema (side note: after seeing this film you will be so excited at the probability of Matthew McConaughey and Channing Tatum agreeing to do a sequel) so before I went I took some photos to show you girls my makeup! All but a few of my products are high-street makeup brands - cheap and cheerful! I will link where you can buy everything :)

This is a very easy makeup look! No challenging false lashes or smokey eye detail, just two eyeshadows lightly blended at the centre of the lid. I teamed this with a thin line of gel liner starting from the centre of my eye, and drawing out into a flick. You can however use liquid liner or kohl pencil for this look too. My skin is currently back to pale, so I paired this eye look with quite neutral face makeup, and brighter lips. 

Eyebrows: 

No7 Lash and Brow Perfector - Boots £10

Lips: 

MAC Keep it Casual lip and cheek colour - MAC £17.50

Face: 

Revlon Photoready Foundation in Shell - Boots £9.99

MAC Studio Finish concealer in NW20 - MAC £14.50

Maybelline Dream Touch Blush in Apricot - Boots £6.49

Natural Collection Blush in Peach Melba - Boots £1.99

No7 Skin Illuminator in Pink -Boots £11

Natural Collection Pressing Powder in Neutral - Boots £1.99

 Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion (Original) - Lookfantastic.com £14.50

Natural Collection Eyeshadow in Soft Pink - Boots £1.79

17 Eyeshadow Limited Edition from Boots

MAC Blacktrack Fluidline Gel Eyeliner - MAC £14

Too Faced Lashlight Mascara - Boots £16.50

Hope you lovelies liked my makeup! And Magic Mike was sensational! Hope your weekend is fabby

Rachael XX

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Neutrogena Multi Defense Wipes Review

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This is quite a quick review today! These are the makeup remover wipes I got in my Neutrogena Hamper, and I have been using these over the last few weeks, and just finished off the packet so thought I'd share some thoughts with you! 

Okay, so these wipes are not only for removing makeup, but have anti-oxidants and are meant to gently purify your skin. Well.. I do not feel I got any skin benefit from using these wipes. Infact, after using them my skin felt very oily instead of feeling clean. The wipe itself is very thin cotton, and when using it to remove makeup, this partnered with the oiliness results in makeup smearing around your face for a while (especially eye makeup) instead of coming off easily onto the wipe. Basically, I am not a fan (can you tell haha). I go through a lot of makeup remover wipes, so gave these a shot, but what I usually use and swear by is the Kleenex makeup remover wipes - which in contrast are thicker and quilted, and are both soft on your face and great at taking stuff off! I actually reviewed these ones here. 

So my advice: Don't invest in these wipes! There are many many brands of makeup remover wipes on the market - why bother yourself with ones which do a poor job and require 'cleaning up' after using them?

Rachael XX

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Eyelure Dylash: Eyelash and brow dye kit Review

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Having dyed my hair black, one immediate issue was apparent: my eyebrows were brown. So off I went to Boots to pick up one of these

I have never used Dylash before, but found it surprisingly easy. The instructions for use on brows is similar to those for lash dying to begin - mixing small amounts of the cream colour with the activating solution in the little plastic dish, but has a much quicker (and safer! think hydrogen peroxide near your eye ball..) application process, using a little plastic spooley. It only takes two minutes to develop, and then you wash it off. 

The result: Well I was going to take a before and after shot but forgot! sorry. You can see from photos on other blog posts that my eyebrows were a medium brown, and now they are black.

This product costs £7.50 from Boots, but has up to 16 applications - each lasting for up to 45 days - so in retrospect not too expensive for what it's worth!

Rachael XX
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No7 Stay Perfect Eye Mousse Review

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Just before the No7 vouchers stopped, I picked up one of these: a Stay Perfect Eye Mousse in the colour Pewter. These are a 5ml mousse-like cream shadow, which comes in six shades (all quite subdued and wearable tones) to create a light sheer cover of pigment. 

Like Urban Decay Primer Potion, not much is needed to create even coverage on your eyelid, but you can build up layers for a higher pigmentation. It also works well as an eyeshadow base. It is prettily shimmery and sheer when worn alone. I don't usually wear cream eyeshadows but make an exception for this one! They retail at £9 each from Boots - so I may wait until No7 vouchers are re-issued before experimenting with the other shades!

Rachael XX

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Holiday Haul: Yankee, The Granite Shop, Wayoutwest, Fisherman's Mission, Mackies

Hello! 

I have already posted here about the No7 lipstick I picked up on holiday, but I thought I'd share some of the other things I got my hands on when I was away. 

Yankee:

For so long I have heard this and that about Yankee candles. Yet never before have I actually come across them (surprising actually!) Well, on holiday I did, and having smelt every single scent of candle I chose to get two sampler size ones - Black Cherry and Pink Sands. I keep these beside my bed, and they are seriously the nicest smells I have come across. The candles are so heavily scented that even sitting on my bed I can smell them. Sampler sizes cost under £2 each

The Granite Shop:

In The Granite Shop I picked up two tin candle holders. (Perfect for my Yankee candles!) These are really sweet, with a cut out heart pattern. They caught my eye immediately and were each £3.50

Wayoutwest:

Soo I have a thing for tin. And in Wayoutwest I came across this tin - made of actual tin.. And fell in love with it! Oscar Wilde is someone I have heard about but I don't think I've ever read any of his works! However here he is with a motivational message - what more could a girl want on her tin? I'm not sure what I'll eventually put in it. Currently its sitting on my dressing table on its side so that the face is pointing at me. It was only £3.99

Fisherman's Mission:

 To set you straight, Fisherman's Mission is pretty much what it says. This is a charity set up to support the fishermen of the fishing port I visited up North. They sell a lot of second hand books, so in I went and stocked up! I also came across a huge box of old postcards. Most from around the 1920's - from all across the UK and also France. Wow. They sold at £1 each, so I took 4: views of Edinburgh, Ben Nevis, Stirling Castle, and Rhum & Eigg (islands) - all of which mean something to me. 

Mackies:

One day whilst visiting a town, I passed a Mackies which had a sale on. In I went. I picked up these statement necklaces for £3 each (originally £12 each). I have been looking for something like this for ages so it was a good find!

Rachael XX

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MaxFactor Flipstick Review

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Another birthday haul review! Again a product from my friend Cat who also gave me the False Lash Effect Mascara. MaxFactor Flipsticks have been available here in the UK for a few months, and have got quite a lot of interest around them as they allow you a quirkier lipstick look, with a metallic iridescent finish.

Above: MaxFactor Flipstick Advert

 I have shade 5 - Bloomy Pink. There are six shades to choose from, each with a darker more matt colour, and a lighter iridescent one. Though for this shade, each of the colours have a shimmer through them. It's really up to you how you apply the product - I tend to either fill in my lips with the darker pink and highlight over the top in the centre of my lips with the lighter one, or line my lips with the darker pink and fill with the light pink. 

The lipsticks are wind up - at each end of the bullet, and have a very creamy consistency. Unfortunately for me this resulted in an almost beheading of the dark pink whilst on holiday - however although slightly bent now I can still use it, just only wound out a little!

As I mentioned before, your colour application possibilities are endless - particularly if you have several shades of Flipstick. Taking these photos I actually found it very difficult to get across the light shimmer in the centre of my lips - but if you have used a Flipstick before you will know that the colour partnership is both  subtle and bright at the same time.

I really love this product! I will definitely invest in more Flipstick shades in the near future - Perhaps starting with Gipsy Red.

Rachael XX
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No more Ombre! Schwarzkopf LIVE COLOR XXL Review

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Here as promised is a post on dying my hair. Until Monday night my hair was dark brown ombred to an auburny blondey brown at the ends. (There's really no exact colour I can say.. It changed depending on the lighting!) You probably know this already from photos on my blog posts! I had wanted ombre hair for the past couple of years, but it wasn't until late March this year that I finally took the plunge and got my friend to help me do it, DIY style.
Recently however I decided to go very dark, taking a leaf out of Snow White's book (Well, she had a new film made about her starring Chris Hemsworth what do you expect!)

 

My hair dye of choice was Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL. For weeks I have been checking out the available black hair dyes in Boots, and I've been reading reviews online. This one boasts its shine quality, and as I got it in colour 99: Deep Black, I was sure of the intensity I was going to get. 

 

My hair is quite long and thick, and from past experience I've known dye to run out, so I thought ahead and got two boxes! I've the experience of using 3 boxes of dye previous to this, each time from a different brand, and so I can safely tell you that this is just as easy to use as any other. Mix the color creme into the applicator bottle, shake and go! This bottle is actually handy, in that instead of snapping off the top of the applicator bottle you unscrew it! (Genius) This means if you have any colour left over you can save it for either checking you didn't miss a spot, or for re-doing your roots. I put extra dye on the ombred section of my hair. I wasn't sure what the result would be (if the ends would actually go black) - but luckily for me this worked, and they are as black as the rest. Unlike other brands, you use the entire tube of conditioner provided with it - although this can only be good for your hair. My hair is indeed a shiny deep black, so it does what it says on the bottle! 
I would say 'I'll be using this brand again' - but really I don't know where my hair journey shall next take me! But I'll keep you updated along the way! :)


Rachael XX
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I nose a solution for dry skin..

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Welcome to my first post with a mildly humorous title. It's probably not even funny, but let's just pretend to appreciate it anyway! Recently I have had the unfortunate luck (is this a phrase? I just don't know) of my nose suddenly turning into dry skin central. It's been so bad that after a week of applying creams like E45 and different facial moisturisers maaaany many times a day nothing was changing and I was getting fed up. One day the only moisturiser I had within reach was the hand cream I had been sent by Neutrogena (I mentioned this in THIS haul) So on it went.

IT WAS LIKE A FRIGGING MIRACLE CREAM.

Seriously, hand cream is the way forward for dry skin. It makes sense - as it is for chapped hands it is intended to instantly rehydrate your skin. It is also in a concentrated form - so not as liquidy as most facial moisturisers, letting it have instant results on your skin. Using this moisturiser allows me to still put foundation and concealer on - something I had to skip previously! It is also helping in the long term, as my skin is quickly getting back to normal. Woo

Rachael XX

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MaxFactor False Lash Effect Mascara Review

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Way back HERE at my birthday post, I mentioned that instead of making a collective haul I would review some of the products in following weeks. So far this just consisted of THIS Mac post. But here is another! I've lusted after False lash Effect Mascara for a while now, having heard its praises sang again and again by one of my friends, who I have mentioned before - Aushnakilops on Youtube - but did not own it until another of my friends gave me it for my birthday.

ANYWAY, to get to the reviewing part, this is one of a small collection of similar mascaras from MaxFactor. I've owned their False Lash Effect Fushion mascara before, but although it's good, this one takes the biscuit! 

Firstly, this mascara won the Style Magazine 2009 Beauty Awards Best Mascara award - if you don't trust my words, trust them! 

The wand for this mascara is chunky, plastic, non-flexible, and is MaxFactor's biggest mascara wand yet, intended (and succeeding in) coating every lash.

A steady hand and a lot of focus will give you nice dark bottom lashes, however if I'm in a rush I tend to use my Too Faced Lashlight Mascara for this job - It simply does it so well (You can read my review of it HERE)

The above photos contrast one coat of mascara to no mascara. As you can see, using this mascara opens up your eye and draws focus to it on your face. One coat still gives a relatively 'natural' look though 

And here is 2 to 3 coats (again contrasted against no mascara). After 2 coats you begin to run the risk of clumpy eyelashes - however perseverance at trying to comb through the clots with your wand does help. You get massive definition with this mascara after a couple of coats! Certainly length and volume are obvious!

You can get it from Boots HERE.

The more observant of you may notice that I have dyed my hair! (And tinted my eyebrows) You may have kept up to date with this from my Twitter Posts, but yes, I shall give more detail on this in another post soon, so watch out!

Rachael XX

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No7 Stay Perfect Lipstick Review

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My second in an upcoming tirade of reviews! Last week I was in a Boots whilst on holiday, and remembered I had a £5 No7 voucher to be used by Sunday 15th July. So in I went! I chose to splurge a little more and pick up a Lipstick from their Stay Perfect collection. It is my fourth No7 lipstick (remember Blooming Pink Vital Brights lipstick from THIS post?) and in my limited experience I have found I prefer the staying power and wear of my Stay Perfect #75 Gay Geranium lipstick (a vivid dark orange!) to that of my Moisture Drench #90 Waterlilly one (- although this is a fabulous salmon pink shade). 

So, having swatched most of their Stay Perfect lipsticks, I chose #55 Glace. Unfortunately for me I had left my voucher on my dressing table at home.. woops! But in my defense I would pay £10 for this lipstick all over again!

The colour of this lipstick is at first tricky to deduce. In the shop lighting, it was quite a strong medium purple, something I've never previously owned. A few hours later I applied it in a cafe bathroom. Confused, I texted one of my friends: 'This is really not as purple as I thought! I put loads on and it hasn't made a difference!' Then, I went outside: 'Oh WOW, this is definitely as purple as I thought..haha I went a bit overboard there..' (profusive rubbing in then took place) 

In daylight this is a medium purple with pink and gold undertones. Indoor natural lighting makes it out as more of a mauve, whilst flourescent lighting brings out its rose gold side. This made it quite tricky to get photos for you! However, it looks really good on, and livens up your makeup look without taking the focus away from your eyes. Hooray! A new favourite.

Rachael Xx
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