London: What's In My Makeup Bag

Hello again lovely people! As you all know, I had a little trip to London two weeks ago and it was absolutely fantastic; I'll be making a post in the next few days with some photos and stories from the trip! The hardest part of this trip for me was deciding which makeup to take with me, especially because my usual makeup bag is pretty big and I was only going for three nights! 

The first thing I had to do was find a smaller makeup bag, so I decided on this cute little one from Primark. I have a thing for polka dots so I couldn't resist when I saw it. It has two zip compartments, both quite a decent size, and for £3 it's actually really nice! 

Surprisingly for me, this is probably the smallest amount of makeup I've ever taken away in my case. I knew I had to pick things that I would use both day and night so that I wasn't carrying more than I needed to, especially because I'm not the best at packing!

First up is my facial products. As I said in a previous post, I don't wear foundation every day but as we were going out to see a show one night, foundation was a must! I use the Yves Saint Laurent Le Teint Touche Eclait foundation in the shade BR10. I have quite dry skin and prior to this I'd been using the MAC Studio Fix Foundation which wasn't sitting well on my skin at all. My Mum was the person who told me to try YSL and after seeing this foundation mentioned in one of Pixiwoo's videos, I thought I may as well give it a try; it is the best foundation I've ever used! I also took the Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer for using during the day, the MAC Mineralise Skinfinish Natural Powder and the Body Shop blush in the shade 'Ginger'. I also took the Body Shop Brow and Liner Kit in the Shade 01 for blonde and auburn hair but for some reason it isn't in these pictures, oops!

Next up is my eye makeup and this was the hardest thing for me to decide on due to the abundance of lovely eyeshadows I have! I eventually decided on the Revlon Colourstay 16 Hour Eyeshadow Quads in Decadence and Addictive because I absolutely adore nude eyeshadows and sadly, my MUA Heaven and Earth palette is falling to pieces! Another thing I've invested in is the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion- oh my word, it's amazing. I find that my eyeshadow stays on so much longer with this primer and the pigmentation seems to be a lot better! For mascara, I decided on two little Soap and Glory goodies- the original Thick and Fast mascara and also the Flash Extention one (which is a pretty darn good dupe for the YSL Volume Effet Faux Cil and costs £13 less!). I also took the Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner and the Soap and Glory Smoulder Kohl (which has lasted me for ages).

Now for lips! I only took 2 products with me for this trip, one for day and one for night! After my fantastic experience with the two Revlon Lip Butters I bought last month, I decided to buy another, this time in the shade Wild Watermelon which is a gorgeous red. For night, I decided on my favourite red lipstick- the Rimmel London Kate Moss Lipstick in the shade 22.

Finally, a random product- the MUA Pro Base Fixing Mist. I'd been eyeing up the Urban Decay Chill Makeup Setting Spray for a while but on one of my trips to Superdrug I noticed this little MUA offering. For £5, it does exactly what it says on the tin- or in this case, bottle. Just a few sprays after you've applied all your makeup and I can guarantee it stays on for longer. I used it when we went to the show and despite the tears (I shall elaborate in my future post!), my makeup stayed put!

So that's everything! Last post of 2013- I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and here's to 2014!

Sophie

November Favourites

What's this? Another blog post from Sophie in a matter of days? Yes, that would be right! I'm actually going to London tomorrow for a three night stay with some friends, so I'm trying to get all my posts planned and written for the next few weeks. Gosh, I'm so organised!

Anyway, on to the post. Yes, it's that time again...

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer

In case you didn't guess from my review, I absolutely adore this stuff. I think it's such a great product considering the price; the coverage is pretty good and it does make my skin look like it has a little bit of a glow. Definitely one to try!

MAC Mineralise Skinfinish Natural
This is my favourite powder ever; it looks awesome with or without foundation. I wear it every day and I can honestly say it never feels like I have it on, it's so light and has an amazing finish. Although it's quite expensive at £22, I would definitely advise buying it- it usually lasts me about 3 months and that's with consistent usage! There's a good range of shades and I find that the lightest matches my skin tone perfectly. 

Chunky Knitted Cardigans
As everyone probably knows, winter in the UK is always cold so I wanted a nice chunky cardigan that would go with pretty much anything. Let me tell you, I have never had such a hard time looking for a piece of clothing- even finding my prom dress was easier than this! Everywhere I went they were either too thin and far too expensive for what was on offer, or they just didn't look nice. Eventually I found this one in cream in New Look (sadly I don't think they have that particular one on offer anymore, boo!) and oh my word, it's fantastic and yes; it is from the mens section. I love the cable knit pattern it has down the front and also running down each arm, it's so comfortable and actually keeps you quite warm! 

The Originals
Ah yes, another TV show. Basically, the show focuses on three members of the Mikaelson family, Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah, who are the world's original vampires and follows them back to New Orleans, which they built and ran a number of years previously. Now, the town has been taken over by Marcel, a vampire of Klaus' creation, and Klaus wants to reclaim his former power. As a huge fan of 'The Vampire Diaries', I was pretty sceptical when I heard they were going to make this spin-off as it meant that these three characters wouldn't really be featured in the show anymore, and I expected it to flop. Oh how wrong I was. The show is absolutely fantastic, the plot is so clever and the acting is brilliant. The show stars Joseph Morgan as Klaus (an incredibly gorgeous British actor), Daniel Gilles as Elijah and Claire Holt as Rebekah (come on, everyone remembers her as Emma in H20!); give it a watch whether you're a fan of 'The Vampire Diaries' or not.

Flax 9bars
These are an absolute life saver for long days at uni. Being surrounded by so many coffee shops, I'm pretty sure most of my student loan has gone on food from a certain shop.. *coughGreggscough* It was the lovely Hannah that told me to try these and I'm so glad she did. Basically, they're healthy snack bars made from mixed seeds, honey and flax with a carob topping (carob is used a lot as a chocolate substitute) and they're totally gluten and wheat free! I love the fact they're pretty healthy but they trick me into thinking that I'm eating a chocolate bar because of the carob!

Thanks for reading guys, hopefully will manage to put up my next post later today but if not- I shall see you all when I get back from London!
Sophie

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer: Review!

Apologies for my absolutely horrendous posting lately, I've had so much uni work to do but I swear this month will be when I get my blog in shape!

Anyway, on to the reason for this post. I'd been looking for a new concealer for a while and couldn't quite find one I liked. I find it pretty difficult to find a concealer which is relatively cheap and matches my skin tone because of how pale I am, so I had a look online and a lot of people had been raving over the Collection Lasting Perfection one and also the Wake Me Up option by Rimmel. I swatched both on my hand in Boots and decided on Rimmel's offering in Ivory, mainly because I felt the Lasting Perfection one was quite dry and as someone with quite dry skin, this probably wasn't the best option for me.

 I've always had a bit of a love hate relationship with Rimmel's foundations so I was a bit sceptical about this product but I honestly don't know why, it's fantastic. I don't wear foundation every day, so I wanted something that was going to cover up under my eyes, my nose and my awful red cheeks, and this is great. It doesn't have massively high coverage but it does exactly what I want it to!

TOP: applied. BOTTOM: roughly blended (ugh, it looks a bit darker on here sadly)

Now I'm not going to lie, it's not the exact match for my skin tone but it's the closest thing I've found so far! Rimmel say that it has an 'instant anti-fatigue effect' and it definitely makes my skin (especially under my eyes) look a lot more awake. Before this, I had been using the Revlon ColourStay concealer and I can't say I was a massive fan, I found it to be a bit too thick but this one is the opposite; it has a great consistency and blends really well whether you use a brush or just your fingertips. I can definitely recommend buying this, I know I'll be repurchasing it when my current one runs out!

Thanks for reading guys!
Sophie