Avene Gentle Eye Make-Up Remover - Great for Sensitive Eyes!

 

This is a really lovely eye make-up remover, especially if you are a contact lens wearer you will find it beautifully calming and soothing on the eyes! Avene Gentle Eye Make-Up Remover is also great for puffy eyes, its cooling gel texture glides easily over the eyelids and relieves any irritation or tiredness instantly. I absolutely love the sensation of that soothing feeling on my eyes when I take my make-up off after a long day, priceless!! It literally feels like cucumber slices on my eyes, so good! It's extremely rich in Avene thermal spring water, which has these incredible soothing properties that are fantastic for sensitive eyes. It removes eye make-up with great ease, it even removed some of my waterproof eye-liners and mascaras!

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Percy & Reed Superstar Supersized Bodifying Cream!

I really like using this Percy & Reed Bodifying Cream on the days I give my hair a break from the old hair dryer. I prefer washing my hair in the evening, as it always looks best next morning. So after I wash my hair I keep it in one of those turbans that you wrap you hair in - they are fantastic for speeding up the natural hair drying process, it kind of sucks up most part of the moisture like a sponge, so after I take it off I just massage one pump of this Bodifying Cream from roots to ends before I let the hair air dry completely. On days when I want extra bit volume I add another pump into the roots when my hair is still damp. Next morning my hair always looks pretty and smooth but not flat, it holds a good shape.

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bareMinerals Ready Eyeshadow Palette in The Next Big Thing!

Nails: Estee Lauder Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Dilettante [Heavy Petals Spring 2013 Collection]

- for more swatches & info click here!

The Top Left shade Smash Hit doesn't look true to life here, it's more bright and colourful in the real!

The Next Big Thing is a limited edition palette from the bareMinerals Spring 2013 Collection! First things first, I absolutely adore the packaging, if this spring packaging is so pretty what is the summer packaging going to be like, woohoo! But I must admit this mirrored turquoise blue compact screams more of summer than spring, it's the type of make-up packaging that makes you think of bikinis and holidays by the beach, l-o-v-e!

The formula of the bareMinerals Ready eyeshadows is of course undoubtedly perfect as always! Now over to the colours, the four shades in this palette provide you with such a variety of looks, which is also something I adore about bareMinerals quads! I have already created a summery bright look with the Rising Star [Top L] and Smash Hit [Top R] but the lighting wasn't great and so I will have to reshoot it, but basically it's a beautiful lemony metallic gold [Top L] and a matte bright peach [Top R].

The look I am wearing in these pics is however a chic and sophisticated smokey eye perfect for a spring evening, as it isn't too dramatic! I have used Smash Hit [Top R] and Ensemble [Bottom R], which surprisingly looks a lot more interesting on the eyelid than in the pan. Ensemble is a matte dark plum, which when blended out almost becomes a warm toned plummy chocolate shade, hard to describe, but very pretty.

Also although it looks matte in the pan when you swatch it it appears to have almost tiny sparkles, not sure if the Hoopla [Bottom L] got into it, which is a bronzy super metallic shade - but you can see on the pics that Ensemble almost looks like a duo chrome with a beautiful satin sheen. Smash Hit I blended through the edges of Ensemble to soften the look and also to add a touch of warmth, also blending both shades under the lower lash-line.

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Nude Nail Trend SS13 with OPI Tickle My France-y!

I really love how OPI Tickle My France-y looks on others, but on my skin tone I found it just didn't look as flattering. So the other night I tried it with OPI I Juggle..Men on top, two coats each. I Juggle..Men is a very pretty blue and purple super fine glitter nailpolish, which makes it very subtle without being too sparkly. It makes any nailpolish look even prettier, and in this case it made Tickle My France-y look flattering even on me! 

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A La Carte Cosmetics Matte Miracle Oil Absorbing Aquagel!

Matte Miracle comes in two shades: Ivory [R] and Freckle [L] - isn't the name just super adorable?!

My skin tone is medium and I can absolutely wear both shades as they are quite sheer in texture, 

perhaps for a very-very fair skin tone Freckle might be a touch too dark, 

equally if you have a dark skin tone than obviously Ivory would be too light for you, 

anything in between would be absolutely perfect with either Ivory or Freckle!

Although Freckle looks dark in the pic, after I work it into the skin it practically blends in 

just giving a touch of colour just like a light bronzer would, but nothing too evident...

Hey beauties, hope you all had a lovely weekend and enjoyed the sunshine today! Today was a true lazy Sunday doing practically nothing other than reading, so I decided to peel myself off the couch and get behind my beauty desk that btw looks rather pristine after I gave it a bit of a makeover/spring-clean yesterday, which some of you might've already seen on my Instagram and Vine...

This is a fabulous product for those of us with combo/oily skin types! Primers are a confusing thing, they are meant to absorb the excess oil like a sponge and keep your foundation in place, but I find their texture actually to be really greasy and heavy feeling in most cases, which subsequently blocks my pores and brakes me out, lovely! And that is why I'm so very excited about this recent discovery! Matte Miracle is basically a primer, but it can be used on its own as well, as you can see it has a tint to it... 

What I love about this product apart from it controlling the oils, making my foundation last longer, and reducing the appearance of large pores - is the incredibly light texture... Aquagel feels clean and fresh on the skin, it's very sheer and very lightweight as you can see on the last pic... It doesn't give you that sort of waxy or sticky feeling a primer usually does... I have tried it with different foundations and found that even my Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua foundation which is beautiful but would start looking pretty oily on my forehead and chin after a couple of hours, lasted much better with Matte Miracle! And have I mentioned the beautiful natural and calming Lavender scent?! 

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Estee Lauder Nail Lacquer in Dilettante - Heavy Petals Spring 2013 Collection!

After I took off the Spring inspired pastel nail-look [if you want to see it click here!] - I couldn't resist painting all nails in Dilettante, my fave summer type of shade!! When the sun is out I love wearing mints, teals, and turquoises on my nails and toes... Dilettante is exactly that sort of by-the-swimming-pool on a hot day shade, it brings out the tan beautifully... Tan or no tan it's a very flattering fun shade, I absolutely love it!! If you want to see all the other shade swatches from the Heavy Petals Spring 2013 Collection - click here! 

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A Hollywood Red Lip & Golden Eye Look with Laura Mercier!

 Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colour in Sandglow

and Laura Mercier Crème Smooth Lip Colour in Hollywood

I am super excited about this Laura Mercier duo! The new Caviar Stick Eye Colour eyeshadows come in wide range of shades, from neutral to more adventurous... My pick is the stunning Sandglow, it's a metallic brassy gold, a very chic shade... I've been wearing Sandglow on numerous occasions with just a black eyeliner, which is a very quick way to create a glammed-up eyelook... The texture is really pigmented and glides beautifully over the lid straight from the stick, to blend out edges I just use a brush or you can also do it with a finger before it sets... Once they do set they are really long lasting and stay put... 

Hollywood is such a fantabulous red lipstick shade, it's quite bright as you can see on the pics... It's a warm tone red which is fantastic for my complexion, I find it hard to make blue toned reds work on me... Hollywood has a gold sheen to it, but it doesn't look shimmery at all, the gold makes it pop in a way, and that's what makes it a quite unique red... Hollywood has an element of 50s glamour to it, I absolutely adore it! It reminds me on the glowing red lips Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell are wearing in the opening scene of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes...

"Beauty, to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin. That, or a kick-ass red lipstick." Gwyneth Paltrow 

 

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Spring Inspired Pastel Nail Look with Estee Lauder Heavy Petals Collection!

From Left to Right: 

Narcissist, Lilac Leather, Dilettante, Dilettante [with OPI Which Is Witch?], Absinthe...

Lilac Leather and Absinthe...

Dilettante and Narcissist...

From Left to Right: Lilac Leather, Absinthe, Dilettante, Narcissist...

This weekend for the first time it actually felt like Spring in London, and when Spring comes so do the flowers and the colours!! This is just a fun nail look I came up with inspired by the colours of Spring, a great way to finally inject some colour! These four beautiful shades are from the Estee Lauder Heavy Petals Nail Lacquer Spring 2013 Collection, there is one more colour in the collection that I don't have - Coral Cult, a pretty peachy shade... All of the shades  are really pretty and they have lasted very well on me! For more info on the collection check out my review by clicking here!

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Lush Fluffy Egg Bath Ballistic Bath Bomb!

I had the Fluffy Egg Bath Bomb left after Easter, and I really enjoyed it too... If you haven't read my Lush Henata Bath Bomb review yet - click here! Fluffy Egg has got a sweet bubblegum candy kind-of scent, great for bringing out your inner-kid... The scent actually comes from the Candy Fluff dusting powder... The lovely bright pink relaxing bath soak is perfect for a girly relaxing me-time...

LOVE

Alessandro Nailpolish in Little Princess!

Although I have so many pink nailpolishes this one is a really pretty colour, I'd even go as far as saying it has become my favourite pastel pink! Little Princess is a super flattering nude pink, it has that nudish/greyish undertone, which makes it quite special... If you'd mix OPI Tickle My Francey with say OPI Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday you'd get Little Princess... It's a perfect pastel pink shade for the spring!

LOVE

Brigitte Bardot Inspired Look with Stila Countless Color Pigments!

As featured in my previous blogpost here is the new Stila Countless Color Pigment used as an eyeshadow in the shade Encore from the Summer 2013 Collection, for more info click here! These hand pressed and baked pigments are beautifully pigmented and smooth, they can be used on face and eyes, as an eyeshadow, blush, or highlighter... Like I said in the previous blogpost you can create endless looks with these pigments by either using them separetly or blending few shades together with a finger or a sponge...

Encore is a very pretty shade, a warm toned reddish soft brown with a satin finish... Swirling all the colours together to me it's the perfect Brigitte Bardot eyelid colour, so that's the look I went for... I also used the lighter colour as a highlighter... To also warm up my complexion I used the Laura Mercier Shimmer Bloc in Golden Mosaic, which I have featured so many times, this definitely will be my summer staple(!) - for a full review click here...  

And on the lips I used the A La Carte Plump & Prime lip primer, which I have featured last week, for a full review click here... It's a plumping primer, but I like using it just with a lip pencil for a gorgeous nude lip - perfect for that Brigitte Bardot full lips look! For extra dimension and fullness I used the Chanel Precision Lip Definer in 59 Palissandre [Spring 2013 Collection], it's a beautiful dark brown - I like to apply it over Plump & Prime, blending the liner to soften the definition and then I go over with the Plump & Prime again, which creates that voluptuous full lip... 

LOVE

Stila Summer 2013 Collection - Festival of Colour!

Stila Countless Color Pigments! [£14]

The tiniest cheesecake in existence...

Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner! [£13]

The two pencil looking lipsticks in front are those After Glow Lip Colours! [£12]

They come in six bold shades...

 shade: Melody

Stila Countless Color Pigments in Melody [L] and Encore [R]...

Few weeks ago I was invited to the Stila event, which introduced the super fun Summer 2013 Collection!! It was a real fun experience - the bold colours were super exciting and intoxicating... This summer Stila will be all about festivals and raves aka pretty pop of colours but still keeping it pretty wearable! The highlights for me were a few really unique items, which I am very happy to share with you... Starting with, Stila Countless Color Pigments with a unique tie-dye effect are mixed pressed pigments, they can be used as a blush or eyeshadow depending on the shades or the look you are going for... 

You can either swirl the brush in all the colours or create an individual colour by mixing a couple of shades in the pan or use them separately, the possibilities are endless and so are the looks... They are pressed in such a way that you can always come back to the original top colours even after swirling them together, which is pretty neat! Also there is a new shade of the best-selling Stila All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner - Turquoise is the right on-trend shade... I love the Stila double liner eye-look you can see in pic - the turquoise above the black eyeliner is a very chic way of introducing a pop of colour to the eyes...

And of course the super fun Stila After Glow Lip Colours - they look pretty ordinary that is until the black-light hits your lips, the responsive florescent pigments come alive under ultraviolet light making your lips glow-in-the-dark, woohoo! The rave-worthy formula has a buildable coverage with staining properties for long-lasting wear... While Algae extract, sunflower seed oil and Vitamins C & E nourish and moisturise lips and oat kernel extract soothes and calms... And they have a delicious cherry scent, very summery!

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