Mini MAC Haul

MAC is so nostalgic to me. When i first started getting into 'proper' make-up and decided i wanted products that felt more luxurious and special, i chose MAC.

I remember my first MAC lipstick - it was Crosswires which is a creme sheen.

Nowadays way more brands have taken fancy, such as; Charlotte Tilbury, NARS and Benefit. I fancied a few staple items and i knew MAC is that in between-company where you dont have to splash out as much money as you would be on Bobbi Brown, yet you also know its way better quality than Rimmel!

Lipliners: Strip down & Soar
Lipsticks: Patisserie & Modesty
Eyebrow pencil in Spiked

All about the nude lipstick

Recently I've been loving wearing nude lips. The types of nudes I wear are more brown and pink shades rather than the pale skin colour nudes.

This is quite odd for me as i don't usually go for nudes, and i normally wear matte lipsticks. However, these are all moisturising lipsticks. I have mainly been reaching for these because they are easy to apply and no precision is needed as it is for a red or pink lip. I have also been using moisturising lipsticks because as you would have seen if you read by blog post a couple of weeks ago, I've been getting really dry lips.

Here are the nude lipsticks i have been wearing a lot recently;

From L to R; Rimmel lasting finish in 077 Asia, Rimmel moisture renew in 720 Notting Hill nude, Rimmel moisture renew in 180 Vintage pink.

Nail varnish: Barry M in lychee.

Barry M natural shadow & glow blush palette 2

I wanted to buy a new eyeshadow palette that wasn't too big but still had a moderate variety of neutral shades. I wanted a smaller palette because i spend a lot of time travelling to and from my boyfriends house, so its much easier if i travel lightly! I like the MUA and Sleek eyeshadow palettes because they are good quality, cheap and small. But i wanted to try something new and i had my eyes on the new Barry M palette...

I think theres 5 different palettes in this collection. I chose this one because as soon as i looked at it i liked the colours a lot. Not only is this a small palette but it also has a blush in it swell so it means one less makeup product to carry around. 

There are two matte eye shades in the palette which (from the left) are the second and third shades. The other four shades are shimmery and include a; plum, grey, medium brown and a dark brown. The quality of these eyeshadows are fairly good and although i have only used it a couple of times so far, I'm really liking it. The blush has a slight shimmer through it, its a gorgeous rosy pink colour.

Theres a big mirror in the palette on the flap which magnetically shuts which is also very useful for touching up your makeup on the go. I would highly recommend this palette. 

I got this palette from Superdrug for £6.49

Acrylic nails

I had my nails done around a week ago now at Timberhill Nail's in Norwich. I didn't plan on getting them done until a few hours before so it was a spontaneous decision! This was the second time i go my nails done with acrylic nails and i wasn't sure whether to actually have them done as i previously really didn't like them. I didn't like them the first time as they were far too long and they really damaged my nails after i removed them after just 2 days (which was really difficult and took a long time!) and i got those ones done at USA nails also in Norwich. 

I showed pictures of the type of nails i wanted done both times - and both times they didn't really do as i asked, but i didn't mind so much the second time as i actually really liked them! 

When having my nails done the second time i only realised once i was half way through that i didn't have long before i had to leave to get the last bus home, so i left without having them painted! This meant i painted them myself once i was home but it wasn't as well done as they would have done it! 

I still have the acrylic nails on now and i hope when i eventually take them off that they haven't left my real nails in a bad condition. This worries me as the people doing the nails do like to 'sand' down your nails quite a lot!

I kind of got the same or similar style of acrylic nails done both times because its just preference as to what i like, but in the future i may try a simple square tip finish. 

I would like to add that it did hurt quite a lot when i had my nails done the second time and the man doing them wasn't very gentle at all!

I have changed my nail colour twice since having them done this time and i plan on changing it more as i like to switch it up quite frequently!

Here are 2 pictures of my current nails from the top, and the last picture is of my acrylic nails the first time i had them done. X

Blue and purple ombre nails

Ombre nail design

I first saw this ombre nail design as a tutorial on YouTube. I instantly loved it and was desperate to try it out myself. I was a little apprehensive as I've watched many nail art tutorials before and wanted to try them out my self but realised i did not have half the tools it required! How ever this ombre style nail design is so simple and easy and worked the very first time i tried it.

I already had completed step one of this design by painting all of my nails with a base coat colour (which is recommended to not be too dark). My base coat as you can see is a turquoise blue colour by Barry M (im not sure of the exact name of the colour as it was a friends nail polish). I then took a small piece of sponge and painted on a strip of a different colour wide enough to fit my whole nail. I then placed it around a third to a half of the way up my nail from the bottom, i then wiggled it around and dabbed a few times to ensure there was not an obvious straight line which separated the two colours. I later followed the same steps to add a third colour to the tip of the nail which in my case was a purple shade. I used a different piece of sponge for the different colour. I then finished this design with a clear top coat to protect the nails from chipping to make it last a longer.

All of the nail polished i used were by Barry M, these nail polishes are very affordable at £2.99 for the standard polish and £3.99 for the gelly polish range. The quality of these nail polishes is amazing and i would highly recommend them. However i have not yet tried this nail design with the gelly polish range from Barry M so i cannot review how it went.

Equpiment:

• 2 or more nail polishes of choice
• Clear top coat
• A small section of sponge
• Nail polish remover (to clear any excess nail polish around the nail)

Here is the same technique done with different colours:

Without a top coat

Maybelline: Speeding light and Barry M- Tangerine

With a top coat

Thank you for reading my very first blog post! More to come :-)