The MAC Quad Complete!

Having received my MAC quad with patina in it for my 18^th birthday by my beautiful best friend Beth (check out her blog even though we both kinda neglected them for months #busybees). It has taken me a year to finally fill it up, which is crazy considering it feels like years ago that I was actually given it (sobs as she realises she’s growing up!). 

So obviously what you’re all here to find out which MAC shadows made the cut to be put in the coveted quad. Well the second shadow that made the quad was ‘Sable’ this is a gorgeous colour!!! Purchased in St Pancras MAC store on the best friends 18^th as we were heading to London to see Wicked (side note best musical ever!!!), I could not leave the store without this shadow in my life hence it had to be bought.  I cannot tell you how freaking pretty this shade is and it graced my lids for well over a month straight #dedication, this shadow is prefect for sweeping all over the lid add some liner, lashings of mascara and voila you have a quick and easy eye look that will honestly take you from day to night. If you like over dramatic eyes, which I’m all for sporting during the day or at night, life’s a party right?

Now the third shadow was given to me at Christmas by my sister who bless her had to tackle the dreaded MAC counter, although she knew what shades I like (basically anything neutral, shimmery or a combination of both) she still thought it best to confer with, Beth the best friend. So my third shadow was ‘Woodwinked’ a gorgeous antiqued gold colour with a hint of bronzey tones, perfect for again sweeping all over the lid and with this shadow in particular once blended into the crease it almost darkens, it’s a lid and crease shade all in one shadow. Perfect for on the go or when doing makeup in a rush it’s full proof!!

 Finally the last shadow that completes the quad was given to me by my sister and on my birthday so a whole year later the last shadow is placed in the quad and the one that completes it is ‘Satin Taupe’. Which is a dark taupey brown colour, it’s more cool tone in comparison to the rest in the quad but nice to have as a contrast and great for again all over the lid or as a crease shade too it would be perfect.

MAC quad is complete and it’s all neutral colours but I love each and every one that’s in this quad and I know all will get good use out of them all. I’m a lover of mac shadow the colour payoff is great and the shade selection is extensive, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want more, but maybe this time I upgrade to a 15 pan palette you know just in case!! Big love to Beth and Becca for pretty much buying most of this, you are both too kind!!

What would make the cut in your MAC quads? X 

So Ciate...

Yes I know it’s been a while, like a whole 4 months of me being away from blogging. The end of 2014 was slightly crazy, what with me working, starting university as well as the work that comes with that and of course the festive season rolling around so soon; blogging got put on the back burner a bit, so I’m sorry!

 So I thought why not end 2014 with a roundup of all the ciatè nail polishes I collected from my advent calendar this year. I have to say first of all opening up an advent calendar full of nail polish for 24 days was just amazing, I was so gutted when it all ended! Although now I have quite the collection of nail polish that I don’t think I’ll need any more anytime soon.

The calendar itself contained 24 polishes, one was full sized and the rest were miniature. The full sized one was well just gorgeous, hello pink glitter that suits me to a tea! Plus I’d actually said this calendar was missing a pink glitter so my beauty prayer was answered on day 24. As for what else was in the calendar a base coat and top coat, standard, 2 sets of caviar beads (both in very pretty colours!), some sequins and a pot of red glitter very festive! Then of course there were 17 other bottles of nail polish in a multitude of colours. 

Now don’t get me wrong this advent is amazing however some of the colours in this calendar are very similar, well they have slight variations but there really isn’t any need for both to be there. For my liking there were too many red/orange tones and too many silver glitters. The ones I feel I don’t need in my collection I’ll give to my sister another fellow nail polish lover!

Ciatè nail polish advent calendars I have to say I was impressed it’s given me a chance to try caviar nails and try adding glitter to my manicures and I have been super impressed with the formula of the polish and the brush that comes with them is very good! All in all nail polish lovers will adore this advent and I have to say if ciatè bring out another one next year I will certainly be picking it up!

 So once again sorry for the absence here on the blog, I will try a bit harder in 2015 to make sure I’m uploading content to me blog, hope you enjoyed this post, and Happy New Year’s Eve everyone! X

L’Oreal Glam Shine Stain Splash in Romy

Now I meant to write up a post about this lip product ages ago but got side tracked with other posts that I wanted up, but it’s better late than never, well that’s how the saying goes anyway…

So these L’Oreal stains have been hailed as the dupes for the YSL glossy stains, or so I’ve heard I’ve never actually tried the YSL offering but I guess I'll believe the other beauty bloggers.

The packaging for these really is lovely and I think looks more expensive than it actually is, even with its £7.99 price tag.

Formulation wise, it’s first very cooling on the lips when you first apply it, after layering up this product you are then left with this super gorgeous stain on the lips along with the glossy finish. It also stays put for hours and that’s including it staying put whilst eating and drinking, and I have put that to the test a few times and it has passed each time with flying colours. The gloss itself has this berry scent to it which I personally love! The only issue sometimes is that it can take a few coats before becoming completely opaque on the lips which can be annoying if in a rush!

Another downside to the product has to be the shade range, whilst it has some nice shades some of the others are quite odd, let’s say it really isn’t the best shade selection I’ve seen. The only two that I actually liked from the collection were Romy and Juliet.

Overall this product didn’t disappoint and the shade Romy is a gorgeous pink colour that I feel really suits my skin tone and I will definitely have to use this a lot more throughout the summer! Have any of you tried these stains, what did you think of them? Hope you enjoyed this and I hope you have a lovely weekend! X 

Most Loved: Benefit Cosmetics

I thought I would dedicate a post all about my love for Benefit Cosmetics, as they are one of my favourite makeup brands and I can’t help but be drawn in by their products and cutesy packaging. So here are a few of my favourites from the brand.

They’re Real Mascara- Oh this is such a shock, nah just kidding!! I freaking love this mascara and it is by far my favourite mascara of all time!! It just lengthens my lashes, makes them look fuller and overall just makes my lashes look amazing, I highly recommend this mascara and it’s definitely the perfect product to pick from Benefit if you have never tried anything from Benefit before. It’s highly raved about and for good reason, if you want to know what all the hype is just go and try it!!

Dandelion Lip Gloss- The accompaniment to the Dandelion boxed blush, this lip gloss was the one I wore to Prom over posie tint lip stain (another favourite). This gloss is a lovely baby pink colour with shimmer running through it. It’s great for everyday wear and isn’t overly sticky. Oh and I forgot to mention that it smells like cupcakes, amazing!!

Kiss me I’m tipsy eyeshadow- This is probably the perfect crease shade for me and my favourite eyeshadow from my Benefit neutral eyeshadow kit, review here. It’s a dark chocolate colour that is just great for blending in the crease to smoke everything out. The shadows are buttery and lovely, plus isn’t the name just adorable?!

Creaseless Cream Shadow in Birthday Suit- I love the Benefit creaseless cream shadows and they live up to their name, well on me anyway they do not crease!! I love this shade it’s described as a brushed chrome colour and that suits it, it’s great for putting all over the lid on more natural days and it’s also a great base for layering eye shadows over it!

So that’s a little round up of some of my favourite products from Benefit, there are so many but these are definitely top of the list for me. What are your favourite Benefit products? Hope you enjoyed this and I hope you have a lovely weekend! X 

Take Me To Fiji...

This is a short and sweet post about my favourite Essie shade Fiji. It’s a beautiful light baby pink almost white colour. This is by far my favourite Essie shade, it’s great to wear all year round and I know I’ll get a lot of wear out of it this summer. If you haven’t got this Essie shade in your collection, then I highly recommend you get it, it’s a gorgeous girly colour, and it’s just perfect. Enough said it’s clear I love this polish and I can’t recommend it enough!!

What's your favourite summer nail polish? 

Social Media Beauty Product Tag...

So again another tag is coming your way in the form of the social media makeup tag, which I got tagged to do by my best friend Beth, so thanks Beth!! Basically there is a list of social media sites and with each site is a question and you answer with a beauty product. I hope that makes sense if not continue reading and you should get the jist of it.

Twitter- Your smallest Product

For this one I chose my Harajuku Lovers Perfumes, I’ve had 3 in my collection and I love them all the only thing is they only have 10ml of product which really isn’t that much. So the award for the smallest product that can be used up so quickly would have to go to these perfumes.

Facebook- A product that everyone pressured you into buying 

Hmmm this was a difficult one as usually I’m the one that pressures people into buying products that I adore, sales woman of the year!! However one product that I think mainly a lot of YouTuber’s, Bloggers and friends made me kind of buy was the collection concealer, having not tried it until this year (yeah a little late on the bandwagon). So is suppose this is one product in my collection that I kind of felt pressured to buy and try.

Tumblr- A product you used before it was cool

I remember ages ago picking up the Revlon just bitten kissable balm stains, probably around 2 years ago maybe? I didn’t pick a colour that was really suitable for everyday and it doesn’t exactly suit me, it’s a kind of orchid colour, you know the colour that everyone was flaunting at the start of the year. Then of course Revlon launched their new matte and lacquer balms and there is a lot of hype surrounding them, so I guess this is one that I believe I used before it was cool.

Instagram- A product so pretty you had to Instagram it 

My Deborah Lippmann nail polish in glamorous, review here, it’s the most gorgeous rose gold colour that I absolutely adore, so pretty and definitely worth instagramming. (I'm saying this as my answer and I haven’t actually instagrammed it yet, whoops!!)

MySpace- A product you’re not so sure you like or not

Now this is going to be controversial as I’m not so sure I like the body shop body butters, having tried a couple I just find that sometimes the consistency of them is off. Plus they take forever to absorb into the skin!! I don’t know if it’s just me I’ll finish them off but as for repurchasing I’ve found other body lotions and butters that work a lot better for my skin.

Goodreads- A product you would recommend to everyone 

Okay this is an easy one and one that I totally agree with Beth on is the They’re Real mascara I cannot stress how much I adore this mascara, it’s freaking amazing and makes my lashes look freaking amazing as well!! If anyone asked me, what should I buy from Benefit? My first answer the They’re Real mascara!! 

Bebo- A product in your collection that is so old but you don’t know why you haven’t got rid of it yet 

This question made me laugh as I knew straight away which product it was, it’s my lip smacker (does anyone remember these?) in sugar crystals. Now this I have had for years and it was right at the bottom of my DKNY bag. I have no clue as to why I have this still but it still smells of sugary goodness I guess I’m just sentimental about it, oh goodness beauty blogger problems!

Bloglovin- Something a fellow beauty blogger made you buy 

This one would go to the L’Oreal glam shine stain splash gloss, and it was Fleur from Fleur de Force that made me pick up the shade Romy after reading her blog post and watching a YouTube video of hers with these products in, I knew I had to have one. So I blame Fleur for making me pick up the shade Romy which by the way I love and a post about it will be up soon!!

So that's it for the tag I really enjoyed answering these questions, again thank you Beth for tagging me! I'm going to tag Brittany from As Seen By Bea to do this tag next plus anyone else that would love to do it! A sneaky little extra post this week and I hope you all enjoyed it!! X 

L'Oreal Heat Protection Spray Review

The L'Oreal Line Studio Hot & Smooth Hot straight spray, now that really was a mouthful, basically in short terms it’s a new L'Oreal heat protectant for straightening your hair. Now normally I wouldn't stray away from my beloved heat protectant from Lee Stafford but I kind of wanted to try something new and this is the one I chose to trial.

So I've put this to the test for a few weeks and my overall view is that I do like it, plus it also smells amazing!! It does claim to give you up to 3 days polished sleek style, which I disagree with unfortunately it’s alright by day 2 however my hair isn't still straight and polished looking with the ends of my hair tending to curl and lose its straightness. Then again when do any miracle claims actually work, eh? It does protect my hair that is as much and protects up to 230 degrees which is good! I use this after I've towel dried my hair just before I blow dry it as well as after before I then straighten my hair and I think it does a good job. Is it as good as my Lee Stafford one, maybe, but if someone asked me which one out of the two Lee Stafford would probably take the cake!

L’Oreal’s heat protectant gets a thumbs up from me and I am glad that I tried something new! Have any of you tried this product, what do you think of it? Hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope you have a lovely rest of the week! X