The Urban Decay Primer Duo That's Awesome

Urban Decay are a brand that I think have killed it the past couple of years, they set the trends and know what makeup needs people are craving before we know ourselves. I don't think a day goes by where I don't use at least one item of makeup from them, and just yesterday I've ordered more from them.

High End Beauty Wishlist

I seem to go through phases where I'm not interested in buying any beauty products at all, and then phases where I want to buy everything within sight, there's no real in between. I'm currently in the phase of wanting to buy everything I can get my hands on, but after my MacBook Pro broke last week, I've ended up £800 down replacing it, meaning there's no beauty spending for me. But my birthday is next month, so hopefully I might be treated to some of these!

I've really got in to buying skincare recently, after my skin had a major breakout last month I pretty much ditched everything I was using and started again, meaning a lot of Space NK trips happened. But I'm still to get in to chemical exfoliants, I thought the First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads would be a good start, they're gentle, exfoliating and don't contain a bucket load of alcohol like a lot of cheaper alternatives do. Another skincare item, that also featured in my first ever wishlist, is the Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair, I nearly took the plunge last week but I'm still needing that extra push, but the fact I've wanted it for over a year says something right?

I've also become massively into watching Sali Hughes recently, she knows what she's talking about and her videos are so addictive. She constantly mentions the Charlotte Tilbury Air Brush Flawless Finish Powder, and from what I've gathered I have similar skin to her, so I think this will work amazing for me, I'm constantly needing a new powder. Another Charlotte Tilbury product is the Eyes to Mesmerise in Marie Antoinette, I'm loving cream eyeshadows at the moment and when I watched this in Selfridges recently it felt so creamy and blendable, and was the most gorgeous colour.

I've also really been in to watching Lisa Eldridge a lot recently, and this has got me really craving Laura Mercier's Undercover Pot Concealer. She made the great point of rather than layering loads of medium coverage concealer on to the skin, just put a small amount of a high coverage concealer, aka pinpoint conceal, and you get a more flawless finish. Another makeup wish is the Lancome Hypnose Mascara, I got a sample of one around Christmas and I'm not sure which it was because there are so many to pick from. But I absolutely loved it, I'm so picky with mascaras because I have long straight eyelashes, that don't curl for anything or anyone, but this added so much volume and curl. At the moment I just can't bring myself to spend £22.50 on a mascara.

Two little extras are a Z palette, for years I heard American YouTubers speak about these, but I've noticed I have a lot of random single eyeshadows, and bulky palettes that would be a lot better deported in to one of these. Finally is the Urban Decay Primer Potion, I wear eyeshadow pretty much everyday and I constantly have random samples, but I think it's about time I actually got a proper full sized primer. 

What is on your wish list? 

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The Pinks To Make You Spring Ready

Despite it still being freezing cold outside and the rain doesn't seem to want to budge, Spring has apparently sprung. This means the dark vampy purples are being put in to hiding for another 8 months and the fresh girly pinks are making a come back - although I love pink all year round, I just love it that bit more in Spring.


You can't really talk about pink makeup without giving a shoutout to the Urban Decay Naked 3, the twelve shade palette containing mauvey and rose gold pink shades, some mattes, some shimmers and two very glittery shades. I only really use this in the Spring and Summer months because I prefer a more deeper eye in Winter, but it's already started to make a return this month and I can see it creeping back even more in the coming months. It's the perfect palette for any pink lover and complete makeup addict this season. An alternative palette if you're on a bit of a budget, or you're just not massively in to pinks to make the commitment to a £38 palette then the L'Oreal Color Riche Quad in Smokey Eau de Rose is for you. They're all shimmery shades which are perfect for adding a shine to the eyes and they blend and last on the eyes wonderfully. They're slightly less pigmented than the Naked 3 and a bit more peachy pink than golden pink, but if you're after a condensed Naked 3 this is the way to go.

In terms of lipstick Rimmel's Kate Moss Matte lipstick in 101 is a staple all year round for me, it's a pretty muted blue toned pink which matches well with any makeup, but looks especially gorgeous paired with glowy cheeks and pink eyes in the Spring. If you're going to buy one new pink lipstick this season I'd make it this! However, if you're feeling spendy and you're going to invest in a second lipstick I'd make it MAC's Pink Nouveau, a bright barbie pink lipstick which is sure to turn heads. It doesn't seem to appear as bright in the summer, presumably because I tone the rest of my makeup down, so it's the perfect bright pink and a lipstick I found myself wearing on a daily basis last summer. If I'm ever wanting to feel a bit brave or need some confidence for the day I wear this, it sounds silly but if I can have enough confidence to wear a colour this bright, I can have the confidence to know I can pass an exam.

Finally we've got blushes and one of the easiest ways to make the transition from Winter to Spring is to add a bit of cream to your makeup, one of my favourite blushes for this time of year is the Max Factor Miracle Creamy Touch Blusher in Soft Pink. It is a real cream blush - none of this cream to powder - that blends like a dream on the skin and leaves a gorgeous healthy glow to the skin. It can be easy to go a bit overboard but it's easy to just blend it out with your foundation brush. The blogging world had a bit of a moment with this blush a few summers ago and I'm still having that moment, it's one of my favourite blushes of all time! Despite saying that creams are the easiest way to transfer to Spring I still love the Sleek Blusher in Pixie Pink which is a completely matte blue toned pink. A little really does go a long way with this one, it's super pigmented so you just need to dab your brush lightly, it can be a bit of a struggle to blend but I like to use a slightly fluffier brush rather than your standard dense blush brush and this sorts the problem. It really brightens up the face and is the cheapest product mentioned here so it's the perfect colour for Spring!

What are your favourite makeup items for Spring?

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Don't forget I have a MAC giveaway up here

The One Sweep Wonders

When it comes to eyeshadow a lot of the time I find it impossible to just leave it at one shade on the lid, I always feel like it needs the extra crease definition or just deepening up on the outer corners, it's probably down to having that many eyeshadows that I just want to play with them all in the morning. But in the past couple of months I've been putting the blending brush down and realising that some eyeshadows can work wonders just swept over the lid on their own, meaning they're the perfect shades for when you hit the snooze button one too many times leaving you 10 minutes to get ready.

The Urban Decay Naked Palette is 100% my favourite palette, it's my go to palette for every occasion because I just know it's never going to fail me, whether I want a girly daytime look or a deeper smokier look. If I'm in a serious rush my favourite from the palette to reach for is Toasted, a gorgeous warm bronze toned pink with an almost metallic finish. It's the most amazing shade on the eyes, it blends out beautifully and is an amazing colour for the winter months. It's my most used shade with a serious dent in it, I can feel the pan getting worryingly closer every time I use it.

An amazing alternative to Toasted, just slightly less warm toned and a bit more silver, is the L'Oreal Color Riche in 201 Cafe Saint Germain. The product looks a bit bruised and battered because the eyeshadow is essentially a pressed pigment, so after getting it home when I bought it the shadow had completely smashed in the bag. Partly my fault, but on closer inspection I think it was partly the manufacturers fault. However, this wasn't going to stop me trying it, so I pressed it back in to the compact and have been reaching for it a lot recently. It has an amazing wet look about it, and even has a wet but creamy feel to it on the fingers. It isn't the easiest shadow to blend out because of it's texture, but the colour is simply gorgeous.

I imagine by the end of February people will be bored out of their brains hearing me talk about this one, but it really is that good! The Bourjois Colorband in 04 Rose Fauviste is a golden beigey pink, after doing some online searches it's very MAC All That Glitter's esque. I mentioned this in my Everyday Makeup post, so I won't go on too much. But it's just an amazing cream eyeshadow stick,all it requires is a few swipes across the eye, a quick bit of blending with your finger and it sets like paint, this seriously isn't budging for anyone!

The next two I'm going to speak of in a more broad term, because they were both limited edition shades that I got in Christmas sets last year. The pink glittery shade is from Soap and Glory, and I have an inkling that you can get it in their Off The Wallflowers palette, but this style of shade is one which I feel everyone needs, it's a frosty pink with glitter running all through it, similar to MAC's Naked Lunch. The next is a simple champagne shade, this one is from No7 but I have no idea what shade it is, but not only are these shades great for your base, but they work perfect for just swiping over the lids to cancel out any redness or veins on the lids. Both of these style of shades are perfect for if you're just starting out with makeup, because they're so simple and easy to pull of.

What are your favourite 'one sweep wonders'?

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Top 15 Discoveries of 2014

My initial intention for this was to do my top 14 of 2014, but when I was taking the pictures and writing down my choices I couldn't kick one out, because they're all amazing products, and whilst I feel I'm a bit late to the 2014 favourites I still want to do one. Exam revision is slightly taking over my life but I've been thinking and planning this post for a few weeks now. Instead of doing top products I've decided to do my top discoveries, because I don't think I could whittle down my top products in to a select number and I wouldn't have a favourite for every category. Some of these products are new to the market this year and some are just new to me, but hopefully you'll find something you'll want to try this year!

Beauty Gift Guide: £25 and under

Beauty Gift Guide: £10 and under

November Favourites

Okay, I'm going to be a cliche blogger and say I have no idea where this month has gone! October didn't really go that fast, it was just a normal month, but this month seems to have just flown by. I've been caught up in work for university these past couple of weeks so maybe with that preoccupying me I've just not noticed the days passing me by. But, on to the favourites of November.

Review | Urban Decay Naked Basics 2

Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 - £22.00

There's nothing quite like a new Naked palette to create hysteria in the beauty world is there? So when Urban Decay announced they were releasing a new Naked Basics palette, just like a lot of people, I was excited by it. I don't actually own the original because I thought the shades were a bit too warm and basic? Yes they're called Naked Basics, but the original shades just weren't unique or interesting enough for me to get use out of them. When I saw pictures of this version, I was interested and was keen to snap it up.

What I've Bought #1

You might be thinking, "who needs five new lip products in the space of two weeks", well that person is me. But in my defence, one is a new release, one was for my birthday and the others were from Poundland! 

To start, I've wanted the YSL Rogue Volupte in #13 Peach Passion ever since I saw Zoella use it in her everyday makeup video, but £24.50 on a lipstick isn't exactly student friendly. I also wasn't sure if I would suit a peachy shade because I'm quite pale, and previous attempts at orange lips haven't worked out. But after countless times of swatching it, I gave in when I was able to order some stuff for my birthday, and I love it! Along with that I also ordered the Urban Decay Naked 2, I never thought I'd buy this because I've always preferred warmer toned eyeshadows, but I've been using MUA's version a bit more recently, so just thought I might as well have the real thing. Now I just need the Naked Basics to complete the family!

Then today I popped in to Boots and picked up a few things. Firstly I picked up the Yes To Grapefruit Brightening Facial Wipes, and I know facial wipes are quite a taboo in the beauty world, but sometimes you just want to remove your makeup and cleanse quickly, so after about two years of avoiding wipes, I picked some up for those lazy times. I also picked up the Haute Couture Individual Lashes, because I have quite straight lashes so I'm hoping they'll help make a difference. I was after a new powder too, so I chose the Rimmel Stay Matte which I've not used in a while just to test it again. Finally from Boots, I picked up two of the Revlon Colorstay Moisture Stain's, after seeing Fleur De Force rave about these I was keen to try them out. It took a lot of time to decide on the colours because a lot of them didn't look like they'd suit me that much, but I decided on India Intrigue and Barcelona Nights, they were 2 for £10 and I also had a £3 off, so I got them both for £7, which is an absolute steal!

I finally went to Poundland, where I saw they were selling the Rimmel Apocalips, which I've wanted to try to ages but have just been put off because of how glossy they seemed, and I always got the impression they might bleed a bit too much. But for £1, it seemed too much of a bargain to leave behind, so I picked up two of the three shades which are Apocaliptic and Stellar, so I'm excited to finally try them. Then finally, a rose bath bomb because I love Lush but £3 a bath can get expensive, so I thought I'd see what the Poundland ones are like. 

I'm looking forward to trying all of this stuff out, and I'll try and get reviews up of everything soon. I'd love to know if you've picked anything up recently, although I shouldn't go near a Boots anytime soon, I can always make note of what to buy for the future!

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