LOVING NUDE LIPS?!

Nude isn't something that I usually associate myself with in terms of lip colours. I go bold or go home on a very much everyday basis. All about that bright pink lip all year round! So I have shocked myself by finding a nude lip combo that I'm totally obsessed with. Even my mum was shocked to see me without bright lips the other morning to go to work.

So what is this magic combo...

I have been using Rimmel's Exaggerate Lip Liner in 'Eastend Snob' to line and fill in my lips. I absolute love this formula of lip liner. I have Red Diva too and I'm actually on my second one of that. I prefer it to traditional pencils as it's more of a crayon so a lot softer on the lips and easier to fill in.
Everyone is also going crazy for the overdrawn lips look recently (I get the impression that this is due to a Kardashian girl but I know very little about them...) but this liner is so easy to use to go slightly over the natural lip line.
I then go over the top with the new Maybelline Color Drama Intense Velvet Lip Pencil in Nude Delight. I am obsessed with these pencils! I have 3 colours and they are amazing. They are so soft and creamy, they last ages and so incredibly pigmented. They don't drag on the lips and they're not drying and I think they're only about £3 or £4! Bargain.
The Maybelline pencil looks awful on me on its own but under the Rimmel liner, I love it!

I also really love the Rimmel liner just on its own (photo below) but it's not as long lasting on it's own, especially after food and drink. Still, very pretty and I think I have become a nude lip convert! Who am I?!

Are you more a nude or bold lip person? And have you tried either of these products?

THE PERFECT RED LIP DUO

Red lipstick is the best, right? I think we can all agree on that. Wearing a red lip instantly boosts your mood and makes you powerful and indestructible. But getting it to look just right can be a little bit tricky. I think I may have cracked it though...

What do we want from a red lip look? It needs to look smooth, not patchy or flaky, perfectly on the lip line and not smeared all over your face (and teeth).
Enter this little duo...

Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liner '024 Red Diva' | Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipstick 'Hot Pepper'

AUTUMN ADDITIONS

We had a pretty decent summer over here in the UK this year. It was even too hot a lot of the time and when the weather is like that you just cannot be bothered putting effort into make up when it's going to melt straight off your face.
I think that's one reason I prefer autumn. I know that there is no fear of a runny face and having my eyeliner ending up on my chin! I also love that it means I can wear black nail varnish and dark lipstick without being thought of as some kind of vampire. And my milk bottle-esque skin doesn't stand out quite so much in the chilly months!

Now that it has started getting colder, I've added a few extra items into my make up collection and rediscovered my love for a couple of others that got a little bit shunned during the lazy summer days.

The Jergens Ultra Healing Moisturiser is for dry skin and is a sample tube that got sent with an online order I made months ago. I don't have dry skin so I just chucked it into a box in my room. I've recently started using some new cream to battle my spots (more on that in a few posts time!) but it did leave me with some dry patches which I didn't welcome all that kindly. I dug out this and it's really helped nourish and plump up the skin. The dry patches disappeared pretty quickly but I've continued to use this every few days just so the cold weather doesn't attack me too much.
I bought the MAC Sable eyeshadow a few months back too. It's a Frost formula and a lovely shimmery copper-brown colour. It didn't really work as a summer colour all that much though and I didn't end up wearing it that much. It's a lovely warm colour and I've managed to find a way of wearing it with a matte brown blended though the crease to soften it too.
Rose Gold Blush by Sleek is one of those crazily hyped products and with good reason. I'm sure this has featured in my favourites way back and I don't think this is particularly a Autumn/Winter shade as it's got a good bit of shimmer in it but I just prefer blush at this time of year to pop a little bit of colour in to the skin.
A product that is a very new edition is the Benefit Pore-fessional. Another very hyped product that I've wanted for a very long time. This isn't necessarily a product I've wanted because of the time of year - in fact it would have made more sense to have it in summer - but it's a new addition to my make up collection this season!
The Rimmel Apocolips in Eclipse featured in my favourites for last month. I love dark red and berry lips but I feel that it isn't always acceptable in summer when everyone expects everything to be all bright and pop-y! This shade is beautiful and I'm still absolutely loving it and wearing it to death.
Another new make up addition to my make up, and in particular lipstick, collection is MAC's Rebel. I bought this a week or so ago and I'm alternating everyday between this and the Apocolips. This lipstick is a satin finish so it can be quite sheer but very buildable and the colour... oh .my gosh! I've admired it on the lips of Sammi from Beauty Crush for way too long and then seeing Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup also saying she loves it made me sure that buying it was an A+ decision. It isn't as scary as it looks in the bullet and I'm 110% sure this will be on my October Favourites.
I haven't lined my waterline since I was about 15 when the only makeup I did wear was black kohl on my lower lid. I don't know why but I decided to buy the Rimmel Scandaleyes eyeliner. I've heard great things about the staying power of them and I've been wearing it quite softly under the eye and smoking it out and I've also been wearing it as a top liner too and it's done a decent job.
Lastly, a product from this months Glossybox, the MeMeMe Cherub Blush Cheek & Lip Tint. I haven't tried this on the lips as I never like these multi-use products on my lips but a few strokes of the red liquid on the cheek and quickly blended in leaves the perfect rosy glow for this time of year. I'm pretty sure MeMeMe is found in Superdrug so I don't imagine this to be very expensive and I would definitely recommend it.

There's a few bits I've incorporated into my everyday routine this season. What are your favourite products at the moment?

REVIEW: RIMMEL NAIL RESCUE

I've never had particularly long nails and over this year I've got more into painting my nails and nail art more than ever. I'm not all that good at the "art" side due to lack of creativity and shaky hands(!) but seeing hundreds upon hundreds of Instagram posts and beauty blogs, I have got serious nail envy.

I was recently in Superdrug looking for a new base coat when I came across Rimmel's Nail Rescue. The clear polish claims to strengthen and help nails to grow in 2 weeks so I was intrigued. 

I've been using it for just over the two weeks now and I'm very impressed.

I've been using it as a base coat and also on days when I'm not wearing any nail varnish I will put a coat on and I have definitely noticed results. Usually whenever my nails manage to grow, they will start getting to an almost decent length and then snap off. When I look at my hands from the palm side, I can actually see the tips of my nails over the finger on each one. This has definitely never happened before. They weirdly seem to have grown at different rates though. The little finger nail on my right hand is so much longer than the rest, but it's also the perfect length I want my nails to be so hopefully the rest will catch up soon! 

I have a really bad habit of picking my nails, especially when I'm bored, but I've not done at all since seeing how this is working. Also, the little finger in particular, I can tell they are a lot stronger and probably harder to pick/break. Super impressed!

It cost £4.59 and I would definitely recommend it if you're trying to get your nails to grow and not be so flimsy.

MAKEUP STORAGE/COLLECTION

This week the storage I ordered for my makeup arrived so I've spent today sorting that out and thought I'd share. Now, compared to almost all the beauty bloggers I followed at the YouTube channels I'm subscribed to, this is literally nothing. However this photo was taken about 5 months ago...

Just excuse the Instagram photo!

I got the desk tidy from Wilkos and for the amount I had it worked quite well. This is what it now looks like...

(I'll apologise now for these photos being worse than they usually are. And also, I realised afterwards that I could have given everything a good clean before photo taking. Let us just ignore that!)

I got the acrylic storage from this eBay listing. It cost around £22 which seems expensive but it was definitely one of the cheapest I've found. I wanted acrylic ones because I've seen so many people with them and they look really sleek and tidy. Mine came in less than 2 weeks and it came from Hong Kong with an expected delivery of a month so super impressed with that. I've seen you can get acrylic drawers that this unit can sit on top of so I may have to look into that if I start buying even more stuff...

So many compartments! It's just perfect for the amount of makeup I have.

Lots of dirty brushes (oops!) and all my lipsticks. Definitely going to need a bigger lipstick container soon. My brushes are mostly ELF Studio ones and I have the odd Real Techniques too.

I've used each compartment of the storage to hold a different type of product. First up is blushers and highlighters...

Top row: Sleek "Sunrise", Sleek Contour Kit

Middle row: Rimmel 3 in 1 Powder blush "004 Winter Glow", Sleek "Rose Gold", ELF "Peachy Keen"

Bottom row: Benefit "High Beam" and "Sun Beam"

I have two of the compartments for eyeshadow. One for singles (and a few miscellaneous things) and one for palettes...

 Top row: Vivo "Bronze Me Up" Trio Palette, ELF "Wild Wheat" Single Eyeshadow

Middle row: ELF Brightening Eye Colour (not sure of the shade), ELF Matte Eyeshadow "Muted Mauve", ELF Cream Eyeliner "Purple", Natural Collection Eyeshadow "White"

Bottom row: Maybelline Gel Eyeliner, MUA Eyeshadow "16 Matt" and "24 Pearl"

Sleek "Au Naturel", MUA "Starry Night", MUA "Undressed", Sleek "Storm" palettes

Then there are four smaller, square shaped compartments that I have products stood in. So, I have eyeliners...

W7 Deluxe Gel Pencil (I don't know what brand this is or where it's from - sorry!), Barry M Liquid Eyeliner, Barry M Wink Black Marker, Bourjois Liner Feutre "11 Noir", Soap & Glory Supercat Eyeliner, Rimmel Special Eyes "161 Black Magic", Sleek Dip-It Eyeliner, Vivo Eyeliner "White", MUA Eye Primer

A lot of these are either quite old and/or I don't even like them so I should really bin them. I only really like the Barry M and Sleek liquid liners. 

I then have a section for concealers (and a nude eyeliner that didn't fit in the other part!)

 No.7 Instant Radiance Concealer, Garnier Roll-On, Rimmel Scandaleyes "005 Nude", Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer "1 Fair", Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer "010 Ivory"

Then lip liners... and I squeezed the eye lash curlers in there too!

MUA "Pink Me Up", Rimmel Lasting Finish "063 Black Tulip", Rimmel Exaggerate "024 Red Diva", ELF Retractable Lip Brush

Eyelash curlers are some cheap ones I've had for absolute years! Probably from Bodycare or something.

Then I've got mascaras in the final smaller section and it's a teeny bit of a squeeze with the odd shapes of all the tubes...

L'Oréal Telescopic "Noir/Black", Maybelline Falsies "Black Drama", L'Oréal False Lash Telescopic "Magnetic Black", Benefit Bad Gal"

At the back in a smaller compartment than the first lot but bigger then the previous and it just has a few miscellaneous items in there...

 ELF Maximum Coverage Concealer "Porcelain", B.Even Skintone Corrector, Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse "004 Light Porcelain", Natural Collection Corrector Stick

I've got a review up of the ELF concealer which you can read here.

 The last compartment is the biggest one at the front and I keep my base products in here...

Top row: ELF High Definition Powder, Benefit Brow-zings "Dark", Rimmel Stay Matte Powder "001 Transparent"

Bottom row: GOSH Velvet Touch Primer, No.7 Beautifully Matte Foundation "Cool Vanilla", Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation "103 True Ivory", No.7 Blemish Cover Stick "Fair", Vaseline

Hope you liked this post and it wasn't too ramble-y! Well done if you made it to the end of it!

DRESS LIKE... EMMA STONE

Sorry I've been quiet on the blogging front. a mixture of a lot of hours at work, injuring myself and lack of inspiration.
I had a really good response to the Kat Dennings post so I thought I'd do another to get back in to the swing of things but this time with my ultimate girl crush, Emma Stone.

BY DAY

 

Trench coat; Matalan

Tartan jacket; Topshop

Jeans; Topshop

Top; Miss Selfridge

Heels; Dorothy Perkins

Flats; Topshop

Sunglasses; H&M

Lipstick; Topshop

Eyeliner; Rimmel

BY NIGHT

Dress; Missguided

Shirt; Topshop

Trousers; H&M

Jacket; F+F @ Tesco

Shoes; Debenhams

Clutch bags; Dorothy Perkins (Gold & Black)

Lipstick; Topshop

Eye shadow; ELF (Charcoal)

Blush; Topshop

I adore Emma so much and I had a bit too much fun putting these collages together. Her day time style is very casual and she's very much a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl but her red carpet evening style is so different. Lots of pop colours, lovely shapes and structure and simple accessories. Her make up is always so effortless and beautiful too.

WHAT'S IN MY MAKE-UP BAG

Over the last couple of months I've really started to love make-up and I've been buying a lot of it. Like most people I've had the struggle of finding foundation that actually matches my skin. I don't even want to know how much money I've spent on different ones. I have really pale skin. For the last year or so I've been using Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse in 'Light Ivory' (because Ivory was still too dark...) but I still wasn't very happy with how it looks. I was always really paranoid about how my face looked.

Recently, the No.7 make-up brand from Boots launched their foundation match scheme. I saw the advert and was all "pfft, that won't work!" but my friend had it done and she recommended it so off we went to get matched up. It is amazing and I would definitely recommend getting it done if you're after a foundation that actually matches you and is reasonably priced. I ended up being "Cool Vanilla" and I really do feel so much happier with how my make up looks now.

Make up bag; Primark £2

Face:

GOSH Velvet Touch Foundation Primer

No.7 Stay Perfect foundation in 'Cool Vanilla'

No.7 Blemish Cover concealer in 'Fair'
No.7 Instant Radiance concealer

Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder in '001 Transparent'

Sleek Contour Kit in 'Light'

Eyes:

Maybelline Falsies mascara in 'Black Drama'

Barry M Liquid Eyeliner

Vivo Eyeshadow Pallete in 'Bronze Me Up'

MUA Eye Primer

MUA Eyeshadows in 'Shade 16 - Matt' and 'Shade 24 - Pearl'

Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama Gel Liner pot

Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in '004 Black Brown'

Vivo Eyeliner in 'White'

Wow, writing it all down makes it seem like I put so much on but I don't wear it everything there all the time, particularly all the eye stuff. Also as you can see, I do stick to drugstore/high street brands (mainly because I can't afford to buy all of MAC.) The most expensive things there would be the foundation which was £14 and the GOSH primer is around the same but I'm quite willing to spend money on foundation if it's going to look good, be good quality and last. As far as primer goes, I don't even know how I managed without that prior to discovering it! MUA do a primer too for a couple of quid if you're not up for spending that much on it. This is my second bottle and I'll be buying it over and over again.
I probably should have got a new pressed powder before taking these photos, too! Oops!
The Falsies mascara is my all time favourite. I've easily bought it over 15 times now!

Brushes 1-5 all QVS via Superdrug:
(Powder, Foundation, Concealer & Foundation, Powder, Eyeshadow)
Brush 6 comes with Maybelline gel eyeliner pot

Again, I'd love to be able to afford Sigma or Real Techniques brushes but realistically I can't. I really like these QVS ones and I've not paid over £6 for any of those. They wash really well too. I got them from Superdrug but I'm pretty sure they're available in a few other stores too. I would love some higher end brushes though as they must be better at applying make-up for the price they are. I've recently ordered some e.l.f. brushes so I will post about those when I have them.

MUA shade 1

Barry M 'Touch of Magic'

MAC 'Impassioned'

Collection 2000 '5 Pretty Please'

Collection 2000 '6 Sugar Pink'

Rimmel '320 Funtime Fuschia'

Kate Moss for Rimmel shade 20

Kate Moss for Rimmel shade 02

Avon Colour Trend 'Passion'

Avon Colour Trend 'Doll Pink'

Topshop 'All About Me'

Topshop 'Brighton Rock'

Topshop 'Beguilded'

My name is Louise and I am a lipstick junkie. My favourites are the Kate Moss collection ones, probably shade 20 out of those two. It's such a bright pink. I definitely want more MAC ones. I treated myself to Impassioned a month or so back. I know £14 is a lot but they're so lovely. Topshop lipsticks are great too. They're not shiny but creamy and they go on nicely. Pretty much all these are various shades of pink but I'm trying to branch out and be brave and get other colours. The MUA one is a lovely red colour and Beguilded by Topshop is a very deep red/wine colour.

I never realised I owned this much until I did this post.

* I was not asked to write this post by No.7/Boots or any other mentioned brands