My Current Face Favourites :)

Today I'm going to show you my current daily face! I love to know what make up people use regularly, because although a lot of us buy the new or highly rated products, sometimes we just have our favourites we go back to again and again.

All pictures are taken of the products in their current, loved, state! =p

Currently, for my base I'm using either Kiko BB Cream (which I purchased in the Kiko store in Westfields, London) or Jemma Kidd Light as Air. I use the BB when I have fake tan on as it blends better.

I have reviewed JK Light as Air here.

I'm not 100% sold on either base, still looking for my favourite!

My current concealer is Collection (previously Collection 2000)'s Lasting Perfection. It is SUCH a bargain and does match coverage to high end concealers I've tried. I'm still looking for my HG under-eye concealer though!

I use Nars Orgasm for my blush for day to day wear, blusher is the make up product I like the least - I never seem to apply it perfectly and it annoys me cause I know Orgasm is so good!

I swatched Orgasm here.

On my eyes, I am currently using ELF Prime & Seal Primer, which I love, and then a combination of colours from my Urban Decay Naked and Naked2 Palettes.

I reviewed the ELF Primer here and have compared Naked and Naked2 here.

I'm enjoying ELF's primer, it's super cheap and is like a crayon so it's so easy to use. You can buy it here, but it's quite often out of stock! I also love love LOVE my Naked Palettes, I never use anything else (I know, how exciting).

I also use Urban Decay 24/7 liquid eyeliner - although I am desperately looking for alternative (animal friendly obv)!! And my new AMAZING mascara is 17 Cosmetics Peep Show. Seriously, I usually use high end mascara but was sent this and now it's my daily go-to!

I ranted about my UD eyeliner here and raved about my 17 mascara here.

I apply all my make up with Sigma brushes:

I have reviewed them here, here and here.

They need a wash hahaha.

And that's my face!

You can see that the products I use I have genuinely reviewed positively and keep using over and over.

Do you use any of these products? Do you have any base or eyeliner recommendations for me? What do you think of my daily favourites?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

MUA Lipgloss Review & ELF Goodies

I'm just back from London town, yay! Had a wee six day holiday there, will blog about it soon but for now here's a post I thought I'd scheduled for when I was away, but clearly didn't get posted. Hm. Oh well! =p

Some of you may have read about the awesome goodie bag I got sent from More! Magazine (check it out here) and I wanted to share a few things with you over time. Today, I'm gonna show you the MUA lipglosses I received, which retail for £1 each. I have tried some MUA products, but never lip products. I was sent three of the new Out There Plumping Lipglosses:

L-R Sienna, Peach Shimmer and Shocking Pink

They come with the standard applicator, but I had to work quite hard to actually get any product onto it.
Here are the swatches:

The most wearable for me is definitely Peach Shimmer. The colours go on true to swatching, and sit 'on' the lip rather than kind of adapting to your lip tone like some lip products do. They lasted a decent amount of time, nothing startling. They made my lips tingle a wee bit, no noticeable plumping action tho, although I rarely find lip plumpers to actually work.

These will not become my go-to lipglosses. But to experiment with some different colours, for £1 you can hardly go wrong.

I also got a few ELF products recently. One is the Mint Green nail varnish, which I posted about in my last NOTD here, and I'm gonna show you the other two now. One is an eyeshadow primer because I'm desperate for one after my UD Primer Potion ran out and my ELF Eyelid Primer turned out to be just 'meh'. I thought I'd give ELF another try, and bought the Studio Eye Primer and Liner Sealer (£3.50).  Here it is:

I actually really like this style. On one side is 'prime', which is a twist up solid, crayon style primer that glides on fairly easily, with a very small amount of dragging. One the other end is 'seal', which is one of those little nibs that you can dip into any eyeshadow to make it a liner. I doubt I'll use this side. Here's an example of some eyeshadows over the primer:

Left of each photo is without primer, right is over primer.

Left photo shows Urban Decay Naked/Naked2 Palette shade Half Baked, and right photo shows Urban Decay Naked2 Palette shade Bootycall

I'm impressed with this, the colours look much more intense. And here's the test results, photo on left is five minutes after I've put my makeup on in the morning, and pic on right is about eleven hours later:

Sorry about the lighting differences, just due to different times of day.

Not too bad huh? There was a bit of creasing on the lid but I think I have unusually crease-y eyelids anyways haha!  I'm actually quite excited about this product! I think it could defo become a staple in my daily routine! :)

I had to buy one last thing to get free delivery in ELF haha so I opted for the All Over Colour Stick in Golden Peach (£1.50). I have yellow undertones and in summer I tan really well, so I figured a nice peachy bronzer would look nice!

It has a lovely smell (in my opinion anyways) and is quite shimmery. I've read mixed reviews on this, but it was only a few pounds and I'll need to wait until I have a bit of a tan before I can try it out for myself! The swatch looks quite pretty tho:

So what do you think of these products? Are you a fan of cheaper brands, like MUA and ELF (they love abbreviations, don't they??)?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

Little NOTD - Mermaid Nails. :)

Just a quick wee nail post for you! The falsies are back on, still not managing to kick the biting habit haha! Here we go:

The aqua is my new ELF in Mint Green and the ring finger is Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kolors in Kendal on the Katwalk (full review on this here). I then added a wee French polish twist using Barry M in Cobalt Blue.

Feels nice and fresh and pretty!

Also thought I'd share some photos from the recent sunny days:

Clockwise from top left: Our little BBQ, me pretending to man the BBQ, the BBQ wasn't cooking my chicken fast enough so we stuck it in the chiminae haha, the cats soaking up the sun, me enjoying some cider and some heat, and the temperature on the way home from work yesterday! :)

How're you enjoying the sun? What do you think about blue/green tone nails?
Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

300 Follower Giveaway! :)

So I've reached 300 followers and I'm super happy about this - THANK YOU GUYS!! I'm doing a mini 'thank you' giveaway, don't have a lot of dosh so it's just a little one but I hope you guys like it anyways. :)

I've picked a few products that I love and have raved about, if you're wanting to know more about them or see them in action / swatches I've linked each one to the review I did on it!

So, the giveaway is:

ELF Matte Topcoat

Post here with before/after pics - really freshens up your old nail polishes with a new look!

**the swatches are obviously done with my product, the giveaway product is brand new and boxed**

Models Own Glitter Polish in Emerald City

NOTD with this shade here - so pretty!!

**swatches are obviously done with my product, the giveaway product is sealed.**

ELF False Eyelash Applicator

Stock photo from ELF Cosmetics because it's been ordered but isn't here yet and my own one is so grubby! =p

RAVED about this here (it's honestly a must have for me!)

Barry M Lip Crayon in No2

I LOVE this style of 'lipstick', it goes on so smoothly and easily and is so glossy. I haven't reviewed this although I wear it all the time, I did then buy the Urban Decay version recently cause I loved my Barry M one so much which is posted here!

**swatches are obviously done with my product, the giveaway product is sealed**

MUA Heaven & Earth Palette

Ok, so I haven't actually used this but I can't afford to give away an Urban Decay Naked Palette I'm afraid and this is the closest to it!! =p

Honestly, I specifically tried to pick products that I love rather than just a random selection so remember to check out the links under each product if you want more info. :)

I'm using Rafflecopter for this giveaway, so you must follow my blog and comment below to enter, and then there are some additional entries available too. This is my first time using Rafflecopter so let me know if there's any problems! I know you have to put in your email address to enter, but please put it in the comments too as I don't know if that info is passed to me and I'll need to contact you if you win!

Good luck and thank you again! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Remember in your comments I want to know what you like best about my blog!

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

Mattifying Nail Polish - Review

Changed my layout AGAIN - more subtley this time tho, I messed about with the HTML a bit to make the centre column wider, what do you think??

In my recent post on my ELF Haul I mentioned that I purchased the Matte Finisher ClearNail Polish. This is currently in the sale here for £1. I bought it because I've been lusting after something like this for a while, it seems like such an easy way to freshen up old colours.

It works as a topcoat to change your regular glossy, shiny finish to a matte finish, and comes with built in Vitamin E for strength.

I used it on these nail polishes (I tried to go for a variety of colours):

On one hand, I painted over the colours with the ELF Matte Polish, and with the other hand I used my trusty Seche Vite topcoat. I wasn't sure whether I'd actually see a difference what with using a £1 product, but I'm actually quite happy with the results!

Here they are, pre-mattification (yes, I made that up):

Oh and a quick apology for the state of my nails. I am losing the nail-biting battle. :( :(

And after!

Comparison photos:

It would also look really cute in a French manicure style. Unfortunately my wee bitten nails (sadface) are too short for this right now, so here's how it would look with falsies. I'm using these polishes:

Tragically I have two Chanel Black Satins and I have lost them both so I refuse to buy another - Asda will do!! =p

These were both taken without flash, but at different areas of my room (I have spotlights in my room). The gold has a matte body and a glossy tip, and the black has a glossy body and a matte tip. They actually look more effective in person, I think it's quite an unusual look!

So what do you think? A nice way to add a little something extra to your own polishes? A serious bargain at £1?! Or is the matte look not for you?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

ELF Haul - some goodies!!

About a week ago I got an ELF haul delivered to me, I only ordered it a few days before so as always their customer service is great.

This is what I received:

Sorry for the poor quality!

Their prices are just too good to refuse, and with free shipping when you spent over a tenner, I was a happy bunny. All of the products above came to £11.45. Amaze.

I got the eyeshadow primer as my UD one I got with the Naked Palette is nearly out and I want to try a cheaper alternative before splashing out on Urban Decay. The blush brush was simply because I was a bit dissapointed in my Sigma one and wanted to try a cheaper version (and also I needed to get my basket to over £10!).

However, you can see the quality of the ELF brush next to my Sigma brush is seriously poor so I doubt I'll be using it.


Their lipsticks are an amazing price, £1.50 each, and I aready own a few so I know that the quality is pretty good for the price. This one is called Gypsy and looks like this:

Left - no flash, right - flash

The brush cleaner was what I was really wanting, it's for daily cleaning of my Sigma brushes. A little spritz on your brush and wipe off and it's decently clean until my weekly wash. Or as least that's what I'm hoping for.

I've tried it on a few brushes and so far so good!

I got this:

.. because I've actually been wanting to try a mattifying nail varnish for ages! Looking forward to using this.

The bronzer/brusher duo I got because I'd heard it was a dupe for Nars Orgasm/Laguna duo.

 Left with flash, right no flash

I don't have Laguna, but here is the blush compared with Orgasm:

ELF left, Nars right. No flash top, with flash bottom.

Seriously don't know who decided they were similar... they're not at all. ELF is a lot brighter and doesn't have the shimmery gold undertones Orgasm has.

Altogether tho, ELF is a pretty awesome place to stock up on cheap, decent quality make up. I know a lot of people love it!

Have you tried ELF? What is your favourite product?

Let me know!

~ Lauren ♥

Haul: Part One - Lush/Superdrug/Boots

If your name is Heather Ryce, don't read this blog post!! Your (delayed) birthday present may or may not be shown below.. =p

So I went shopping today, with the £100 Debenhams giftcard that my sister very kindly sent me. I was all excited because it's 'mega day' which means 10%-40% off throughout the store which would obv make my giftcard go even further! Except, of course, I got my dates mixed up and megaday doesn't even start until Wednesday. Joy.

I am not a very good present shopper, I tend to get distracted by stuff I want for myself. Does that sound selfish? Maybe it is, but I'm just so easy to shop for!! =p

I bought faaaar too much so going to have to split this into two posts so you don't die of boredom. This post will look at my Lush, Superdrug and Boots buys.

My first stop was Lush, it's not somewhere I usually shop but I've heard so many good things so I went in to make some purchases.

False Eyelashes: The Cheat's Way to Perfect Application!

I have recently started wearing false eyelashes a lot more often, I used to only wear them for a night out but now I have my secret weapon, I pretty much wear them whenever I step out the house! Today I'm going to show you how to apply false lashes, both the traditional way and the cheat's way! =p

Firstly, there are obviously a wide variety of eyelashes available. Because I wear them a lot, I tend to go for cheaper, 'throw-away' ones. I bought a set of ten off eBay recently for £1 lol. As you can imagine, they're not fantastic quality, but they do the job and hey - I'm on a serious budget right now.

So here's an example of some of the eyelashes on the market:

They look a bit ratty because they're well loved lol!

So the top one is the one I'm going to apply to show you the 'everyday' look with falsies, the middle I'm going to apply to my other eye for more of a dramatic look. I'm not actually a huge fan of the bottom lashes, think I wore them maybe once, they're just too much for me. I like them to look quite natural.

There are also different glues you can get, typically white, black or clear. I hate white glue, my preference is black but I'm going to use the clear glue with my day lashes and black with my night lashes. The clear glue btw is obviously ELF, and the black I got off eBay (maybe not the safest thing ever...)

Day Eyes

I'm going to apply the day eyelashes the traditional way. So first, I apply all my eye make up as normal. Usually it's a good idea to do a slick of eyeliner as this will help the eyelashes to blend in.

So, Step One. Apply your chosen glue to the eyelashes and leave for 20-30 seconds until it becomes tacky.

Step Two. I then carefully hold the lashes and position them right above/behind my real eyelashes so it's they're almost on the lashline. Some people use tweezers for this.

Step Three. Gently lower the falsies so they are sitting on the lashline right behind your real eyelashes. When they're in position, I gently press down on either corner for about ten seconds and then run your finger along the whole lash line, pressing down to make sure it's all secure. If you're not happy with the first time, just peel them off the re-position, the glue should still be sticky enough to let you have one more try!

Step Four (optional). Use eyelash curlers to help blend your real and fake eyelashes, and another coat of mascara if you like.

Ta da! Finito!

So that's the day look and the traditional application. Now I'm gonna show you the night look using the CHEAT'S WAY!

Night Eyes

Here's my night time make up without falsies obv.

Step One. Whip out the magic tool (not as exciting as it sounds)!!

This is my actual lifesaver. It's a serious beauty essential now. I got it from ELF (obv) and it's bascally a false eyelash applicator. It's so easy to use and basically gives perfect results in about thirty seconds lol. So here's how to use it.

Step Two. Put false eyelashes in applicator (just by squeezing one end to open it up and sliding them in). Make sure they're the right way up. Apply glue to the visible lash line. I'm using the black glue because it acts as like an extra eyeliner for night eyes. Remember let it get tacky for about 20-30 seconds.  

Step Three. Basically just line it up so the falsies are touching the eyelid lashline, and hold it there for about ten seconds. Then squeeze the end of the applicator to release the lashes and they should be perfectly in place! You can use your finger to gently press on them to make sure they're on securely.

You can curl or whatever then if you want to blend more.

Honestly, using the eyelash applicator means it takes me about five minutes to do my false eyelashes and I'm good to go. I highly recommend them, and the one I have from ELF is part of a set that includes the applicator, the clear glue, the thickest eyelashes pictured above and a little eyelash stand for only £3.50, available here.

Well, it's been a long post but I hope I've shown you how eyelashes can be worn daytime or nighttime, and the really easy, fool-proof way to apply them! You'll never look back, I promise. ^_~

~ Lauren ♥