December Favourites

Hi everyone,
First of all, I'm sorry for the lack of posts before Christmas. I was attempting to blog every second day, but a few days before Christmas I got sick, then it was Christmas, and I was just very busy. The good news though is that I actually took all the pictures for posts that I had planned to do, and now have this backlog of posts, so you will be seeing a lot of activity here in the next couple of weeks.
Today though, I'm going to show you some of my monthly favourites. December was a very busy month and I tended to just revert to old reliable products rather than trying new things, but I do still have a few things to show you.

 

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in 'Cherries in the Snow'

This is the only new makeup thing that I've tried this month and I love it so much. I talked about it a bit in my pink lipsticks post, so I don't want to go on about it too much, but I think Revlon lipsticks might be my favourite lipsticks. They're really moisturising (which is a big thing for me) and also really pigmented. And they have really nice, unusual colours, like Cherries in the Snow.

 

MUA Undressed Palette

As you can probably tell from the pictures, this palette has been well loved. As I've said before, I wear a lot of bright lipsticks, and so I normally keep my eye makeup very neutral, and I just keep coming back to this palette. It has a nice mixture of matte and sparkly colours, and also only costs €4.95! This month I've particularly liked shade 6, the gold colour (first from right on the top line) and shade 7, (first from left, bottom line) which isn't showing up very well on camera, but it's a kind of metallic gold/brown colour.

 

 

Collection Shimmer Shades in 'Blushalicious'

 



This is another old favourite of mine. I can't recommend this blusher set highly enough, it's very affordable and the blushes themselves are really pigmented. It also lasts a long time; I've had mine over a year and it looks like I've barely used it.

 

Stradivarius Handbag

 

 

I bought this bag in a sale in Stradivarius over the summer, but hadn't used it until I dug it out at the beginning of the month. Since then I've been using it basically every day. The bag has two zip pockets, and although it's smaller than the bags I would usually carry, you can still fit a lot of things in it. It's also very sturdy, the fake-leather-stuff (pleather?) that it's make from is very thick, and despite the fact that I've been dragging it here, there and everywhere with me all month, it hasn't started to show signs of wear and tear yet.

 

Wicked

This is a bit of a random favourite. I was lucky enough to go and see the musical Wicked a few weeks ago, and it was so good, I really enjoyed it. If you like musicals, or if you're a fan of the Wizard of Oz (I fall into both these categories) I really recommend that you go and see it.



The Sweater Weather Tag

I've seen a couple of people do this tag on YouTube, then Kayley (of kayleyscloset.com) turned it into a blog post, so I thought I'd do the same :)

1. Favourite Candle Scent?
 The only candle I've been burning in the last few weeks is the orange Ikea one that I showed in my October favourites, but I've actually completely burned it up. I now use it to hold lipsticks.

2. Coffee, tea or hot chocolate?
I don't like coffee at all, so either tea or hot chocolate. Probably tea. I love hot chocolate, but I actually don't drink it that often, whereas I drink a ridiculous amount of tea.

3. What's the best fall memory you have?
I'm just realising that this may actually be a fall tag and I'm a bit late to the party. I really don't know. I went to London a few years ago during the autumn and that was really nice. That's literally the only thing I can think of.

4. Which makeup trend do you prefer: dark lips or winged eyeliner?
Definitely dark lips. I just can't get the hang of winged eyeliner. One always turns out okay, then the other is terrible. However, this year I've really gotten into dark lips. I particularly like this Rimmel lip lacquer in Stellar.

5. Best fragrance for fall?
I don't own many perfumes, so I don't really have an answer for this one.

6. Favourite Thanksgiving food?
I'm from Ireland, and we don't have Thanksgiving over here. I'm not doing very well with this tag.

7. What is the weather like where you live?
It's cold. And rainy. But mostly just cold. I don't think it's as freezing as it has been other years though, so that's good.

8. Most worn sweater?
This one, that I got in TK Maxx last year.

 

9. Must have nail polish this fall?

I change my nail varnish all the time and never stick to just one, so I don't really have an answer.

 

10. Football games or jumping in leaf piles?

Leaf piles, definitely. I'm so bad at any kind of sports.

 

11.Skinny jeans or leggings

Skinny jeans. I live in skinny jeans, and I don't really wearing leggings that often.

 

 

12. Combat boots or Uggs?



Combat boots! In winter I just wear boots all the time. I don't own Uggs.

 

13. Is pumpkin spice worth the hype?

I've never tried it, so I wouldn't know.

 

14. Favourite fall TV show?

Vampire Diaries is the only thing I watch religiously, every week. I also loved Love/Hate when it was on. And I discovered New Girl this autumn, which I really like.

15. What song really gets you into the fall spirit?
I don't really have a specific autumn song. A song that I've discovered recently though and really like, just generally in life, is Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. It's good.

Top Five Favourite Pink Lip Products

 

Continuing on my little series, here are some of my favourite pink lip products. I tend to go for darker shades of pink or ones with some red in them, pale pinks just don't really suit me.

 

1. Revlon 'Cherries in the Snow'

 



 

I only started wearing this lipstick recently, and I have to admit I'm a little bit obsessed with it. Revlon lipsticks in general are great, they're really moisturising and pigmented, and this one is no exception. Also, the colour is really unusual (the photos aren't really doing it justice) I've never seen anything else like it.

2. Rimmel Apolcalips 'Stellar'

I already wrote about this product in my November Favourites post, so if you want to hear me go on about it in more detail, you can read that. But I really like the Apocalips in general, and Stellar is one of my favourite colours.

3. Natural Collection 'Raspberry'

This is a much more natural colour than the last two. It's sort of like a more muted version of Cherries in the Snow, and a really pretty colour. Natural collection lipstick are also really cheap, so added bonus.

4. Collection 2000 Lip-gloss 'Breakdance'

This is showing up kind of orange in pictures, but I promise it's pink. I don't normally like lip-gloss that much, I prefer lipstick, but this is one of the exceptions. It's a really nice colour, especially for summertime, and it also smells really nice. It sounds a bit weird to say, but it's true. I'm not even going to try and describe it, because in case you can't tell, I'm not great at describing things, but it's nice and I like it a lot :)

5. Kate Moss for Rimmel '08'

Sorry there isn't a picture of me wearing this one. I either forgot to take the picture, or accidentally deleted it. I've written about this line of lipsticks in other posts, so I won't go on about them too much. I think they're really good; very moisturising, pigmented, etc. This colour is probably the closest to a pale pink lipstick as I go, but it doesn't wash me out like other shades do.



And that is part two if my mini series. Also , I realise that I am running a bit behind on posts, but I will be endeavouring to catch up within the next few days :)



Simple Elizabeth Bennet Inspired Tutorial

Recently I was re-watched Pride and Prejudice (the 1995 version with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, not the more recent one) and really liked Elizabeth's makeup; it's really simple and natural. I decided to have a go at recreating it, or something like it.
I used:

• Collection Concealer in Shade1 Fair
• Collection Lasting Perfection Powder
• MUA Powder
• Natural Collection Blush in Sweet Cheeks
• Revlon Lash Potion
• Natural Collection Lipstick in Berry Sorbet

Elizabeth's makeup is really natural looking, so I decided to go without foundation, and just use a little bit of concealer and powder to cover up any blemishes or shininess.

Elizabeth/Jennifer Ehle has really fantastic cheekbones, so I decided to try contouring my cheeks to try and get that affect. I basically just applied a bit of powder that's slightly darker than my skin tone under my cheekbones; I don't really know much about contouring in case you can't tell. I think it turned out okay though.

The powder and my freckles are just all blending together



Next I applied some blusher. I didn't actually use as much as it looks like I did in the picture; the lighting just got very strange, and I sorta look like I have a fever or something.

Next, apply a little bit of mascara...



Add lipstick, and that's it!



Makeup of the Day |12/12/13

Products used:

• Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation
• Collection Concealer
• Rimmel Stay Matte Powder
• Collection Shimmer Shades
• MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter
• MUA Undressed Palette (Shades 6&7)
• Revlon Lash Potion
• MUA Red Lipstick

 

 

Penneys Shoe Haul

Hi everyone,
Over the last few weeks Penneys (or Primark if you're in the UK) have had some really good discounts on shoes and I ended up getting a few pairs, so I thought I'd show them to you.

 

 

The first time that I went into Penneys I had just bought a dress that I'm going to wear for Christmas (I'll probably show it in a later post), but didn't have any shoes to go with it. I walked into Penneys and lo and behold, they have shoes that match perfectly, in my size, reduced to €5.

 

 

While I was there I also spotted these loafers, which were reduced to just €3. I had been looking at them before, and decided they were such a bargain that I may as well get a pair. I'm very good at talking myself into buying things :)

 

I liked them so much that I also bought a pink pair. They're probably not really suitable for the weather at the moment, but I'm hoping to get a lot of wear out of them in the spring or summer.

 

 

 Finally, last week when I was in Penneys I got these combat boots. I don't have any brown boots and these are really fleece-lined and nice and warm for the winter. I like them a lot.

 

Review: Revlon Colourburst Lipgloss in 'Adorned' and 'Embellished'

I'm a big fan of Revlon lipsticks and had never tried one of their lip-glosses before. When I saw that they brought out two new colours, I jumped at the opportunity to try them.

 

I really liked these lip-glosses. I'm normally more of a lipstick person, but these were great.

'Adorned'

'Embellished'

Adorned is a very bright pink colour, and Embellished is a dark wine/purple (it's actually much purple than it's showing up in the photos) and both have glitter in them.



Both lip-glosses have quite a thick consistency, but without being sticky or tacky. They're also really pigmented, particularly Adorned, which is nearly more like a liquid lipstick than a lip-gloss in terms of pigmentation. They also last a long time, which is always a plus.

 

At €11.20, they're a bit on the expensive side, but I think they're worth it. In case I haven't made it clear enough, I really liked these lip-glosses.

 

 

PS. I will try and do another post later in the month for the day I missed.