My current favourite Lipsticks/Lipbalms!

Hello everyone, I'm freezing! In the south of England where I live, the temperature has dropped from a lovely 18oC to what feels like -18oC. It's raining, its very, very windy and apparently on Monday, we are meant to have a hurricane. A hurricane. It's England not Siberia, what is happening to the world! At an attempt to warm up, I am sat here eating a bowl of porridge and I must say, it's quite delicious! :)

So now its moving into the colder months, I have ditched my summery lipsticks for some more autumnal colours, except for 1 or 2 I really, really, super, duper love!! In Autumn I tend to wear warmer colours such as reds, nudes, dark pinks and sometimes, some sneaky corals and the odd barbie pink!

 Left to Right: Mac Mehr, Rimmel Moisture Renew Oxford Street Fushia, Maybeline Colour Sensation Coral Pop (420), Maybeline Baby Lips Pink Punch and MUA Shade 2.

**MUA (Make Up Academy) by Superdrug are currently having a 3 for 2 sale!**

I shall also try and keep my reviews relatively brief as not to bore you! 

Starting Off with MAC, I went into MAC a week or so ago looking for a nice autumnal lipstick, I swatched about 30 and walked out with 1 in the shade Mehr, it really is Gorgeous, if you want to read more, about it you can read my post on it here!

Secondly is the Rimmel Moisture Renew, I have a couple of these now and I think this one is my favourite, it's good value for money (£6.49) but if you ask me, its not moisturising at all, in fact, quite the opposite, I find it very drying on the lips and that's even with a moisturiser underneath. However, its a beautiful vivid colour and because it is quite drying I find it quite matte.

Next is our friend Maybeline, I don't have much to say about this other than its lovely, Its a little bit on the pricey side, around 80p less than the Revlon Lip buttter range but its pigmented, it lasts and is super hydrating.

The Baby Lips were much anticipated in the UK. They had been out in America for ages, so long, there were a couple of Collections out including the Originals and the Electro. About 6 months ago Baby Lips arrived and I love them, they make my lips visibly healthier and the scents, Oh my god they are just bchbcbvfubt *keyboard spaz*, amazing! Not to mention the lovely bold packaging. I just really hope they do decide to bring the Electro collection over to the Uk because I am desperate to try them! 

Lastly its little old MUA, the bargain of them all! MUA lipsticks are available online and instore at Superdrug, and they retail at just £1! I love the range of colours they have. They glide onto the lips and are incredibly smooth. however, They do come off quite easily, long lasting is definitely what I wouldn't use to describe them. But taking into consideration the price of the lipstick and the pigmentation, I would recommend these. MUA have other great value products worth checking out here!

Where did you come from Hello Kitty! :)

I hope you enjoyed this rather long post and if you did stick to the end, thank you! 

What is your favorite lipstick? Anything I should try out!

Bye bye for now xxx

MAC Mehr Lipstick

Very short post today!

I went to my favourite make-up brand.. MAC!

I only purchased one thing today [much to my amazement] but it was a new lipstick! I walked into MAC, swatched about 30 different lipsticks and I bought 'Mehr' its a gorgeous pink, its quite dark but lovely all the same, its from the matte collection. I not only love to wear this on my lips but I also love putting a swipe on each cheek and blending it in. It creates an absolutely gorgeous blush! I really love this lipstick, it is also a good dupe for 'Sheer plum' by Lady Gaga by Mac which is one of my all time favourite lipsticks.
 'Mehr' by MAC retails for £15

What is your favourite MAC lipstick? Is there one you would love to try!

Bye bye for now xxx

Pumpkin Carving Fun!

Hello, it's half term here in the UK! It means little old lazy me gets a week away from school. This half term is the Half term of Halloween and what do we do at Halloween? Go trick or treating.. get fat on sweeties.. have parties and best of all.. Pumpkin Carving!  

Every year I tend to go for the bog standard face, 2 triangles for eyes, a triangle for a nose and mouth full of goofy teeth, well actually, quite like this!

But this year, I decided to be a bit inventive and unleash my creativity on a poor unsuspecting pumpkin, it went surprising well! I went for a spooky dead tree... mwahahaha!

Overall I am very pleased, I even managed to make a nice pumpkin pie and some lovely roasted and spiced pumpkin seeds, mmm, delicious! I had great fun doing it and am definitely going to purchase a couple more pumpkins to do some more crazy designs! Everybody loves to carve pumpkins, but here are a few tips I found very helpful which I am now passing on to you!

1. When cutting your lid, cut it at an angle inwards, this way, it will prevent your lid from falling through.

2. To prevent pumpkin hands, cut your regular lid shape, then instead of joining up the circle, cut a rectangle going down about 4 inches and about 2 inches across, then join up to your circle. This way its easier to reach inside and spoon out the guts out and you still have a perfectly fitting lid.

3. Draw your design on first with a dry wipe marker to plan your design out and make it easier to cut.

4. If you cant be bothered to carve, why not, hammer a metal cookie cutter into the pumpkin to easily make the shape and then just pop it out! Simple designs with minimal effort! 

So, I hope y'all have fun carving and making some creepy designs and I hope my tips help a bit! If you do make one I'd love to see, leave an image URL in the comments below and remember, be safe with fire kids! 

What are your plans for Halloween? I'd love to see your pumpkins too!

Bye bye for now xxx 

October Empties!

Hello everyone, how are you..? Im quite good too, I presume you asked... Oh, you didn't? Oh ok, on with the show, Wednesdays half hearted attempt at a joke, oh dear!

Today's post is my October Empties! I haven't used this many new products this month however the new one I have started to use are on the whole pretty good!

Number one is Bioderma, before you all go gaga at me saying 'Bioderma, you've never used it oh my god!', I bought it about a year ago, and never used it, it sat on my dressing table gathering dust and back at the end of september, I started thinking, where is my Bioderma, and low and behold there it was, staring right back at me! I have been loving it, I have used a small small bottle and can't wait to get a new one! It makes my face feel so soft and rejuvenated, If I only recommend one thing to you on this blog it really would be Bioderma, hands down. 

Number two, in my opinion is a very under rated facial scrub. Its the St. Ives blemish reducing apricot scrub. Let me first of all say that it smells absolutely glorious, and insanely fresh! It doesnt at all smell factory made and clinical, just very natural. I use it about one a week, I smother my face in it and go and lie down or do something for about 15 minutes and use it as a face mask. When you scrub it off, I like to go in circular motions and buff the skin and I find that that tends to do my skin wonders, it make my skin feel soft and gets rid of any blemishes I do have. It is very reasonably priced at £3.99 per tube. 

My third empty bottle is the Alberto Balsalm shampoo and condition set. You can pick the 2 up for £1.99 in many stores and it comes in so many lovely scents. My person favourites are the Raspberry and Juicy Apple. It's shampoo, it cleans my hair, I can't really say much more about it, It makes my hair feel so soft and shiny and is an incredible low end shampoo. The condition is also great, it visabley fixes split ends [I have so many!] and also makes my hair feel extra soft. What a bargain! 

My last empty bottle is the MAC brush cleaner. It cleans my brushes so so well, I really don't know why I didn't purchase it sooner! I bought this for spot cleaning. I don't have to wash them as often as I used to do and I found that an absolute pain. After all when you do have relatively expensive brushes [MAC, Sigma and Real techniques] you really don't want to be throwing them out because they have gone crusty, it just makes my life 10x easier! However I'm not keen on the bottle, I find I incur a lot of waste so upon my next purchase I may buy a spray bottle to direct the fluid.

   

.My first empties post is complete, Have you been loving any products? Let me know!

Bye bye for now xxx

My tips to Clear Skin!

Welcome back to my blog, today I'm going to show you my almost fail proof way to get clear skin! Now I know nobody is perfect and neither is their skin however by following these simple rules, I'm pretty sure that you can come rather close to clear skin. I am by no means an expert and I am not a doctor, so you will be following these tips at your own risk however I'm not sure anything can actually go wrong, they are just simple lifestyle tips and tricks [If you suffer from acne or a skin problem I can't gurantee this will work]!

1) Wash your face! I find the best way to wash my face in the evening and morning is by using some warm water [To open your pores] and a bar of sensitive skin soap like Dove or Simple, something unscented and unperfumed [To remove any oils within your open pores]. After washing your face, pat it dry and now, this is where it gets a bit weird, rub an ice cube over your face to close your pores to stop any dirt getting into them.

2) This is probably the hardest step to keep up with, but it is to have a healthy varied balanced diet and to drink lots of water, by maintaining your bodies health, it will consequently aid your skin by looking naturally bright and radient. Seeing as I am not a dietician, I recomend checking out Eat well on the NHS.

3) Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep and maybe a bit more sleep for luck. Quite often dark circles are caused by a lack of sleep, some are inherited however the vast majority are through sleep deprivation. You may say that you had 11 hours sleep last night and your dark circles still remain, how it is accumulative, have maybe a month or so of getting a great night sleep or going to bed whenever you start to feel sleepy, I can almost guarantee that it will do you so much good. It will also give you more energy to get up and go!

4) Try and have no make-up days. If you aren't going out or seeing anyone, try and go a day without make-up, or maybe if you are just popping to your local store, just wear minimal make-up, it makes your skin cleaner and not as clogged up and generally keep your skin in better condition for longer! Ps- If you do wear make-up, make sure you take it off!

5) Cleanse, Moisturize and tone, it is important to keep your skin moisturized, even if you do have oily skin. Toning isn't a must for younger people however you might as well if you are older and your skin isn't as in as great condition. 

6) Finally, be gentle with your skin, don't pull it super hard in directions because over time you will end up with wrinkles, you may not see them now but in time they will soon become visable!

So I hope these tips help you a little bit, I follow these and my skin is pretty much clear apart from a small patch of dermatitous around my nose.

Do you have any tips on clear skin? If so I'd love to hear!

Bye bye for now xxx

September Favourites!

Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been super lazy recently, indulging in sleeping, eating and shopping in any free time I may have. In the UK in years 10 & 11 you take the most important exams of your life so far. I have just started year 10 and have had such a magnitude of work, I have had hardly anytime to enjoy my life, consequently meaning a lack of time to blog. We are no in October *dances* and getting further into the year (ok, it is only a month but still), my life is getting back to normal, not as much homework, not as many extra curricular activities, it feels good to finally start to regaining my life!

So let it begin... Drum Roll Please, here are my September favourites! 

My first favourite which is without a doubt a serious addiction now, is Revlon Nail Polish's. I have several but find whenever I go into to town, BAMMM! Suddenly I find 2 more in my bag. I know, it's terrible, I am running out of space for nail varnishes and am just buying dupes of colours I already have, instead of buying totally different colours. These 2 are my current favourites.

Left to Right: Sweet tart and Charismatic.

My second favourite this month is MAC brushes. I have recently been using my Zoeva brushes (buy here, they are amazing!) but have started getting back into MAC. The main one I have been using recently is the 194 concealor brush. It is so soft and fluffy and really is amazing, it does wonders for my under eye circles!

MAC 194

My next favourite is a lipstick by Rimmel, in the shade 130 Oxford street pink, it is a fabulous barbie pink. I believe it is from their moisture renew collection which I absolutely love. It retails for around £6.50 and has lovely bright purple packaging. It also lasts a very long time, but i think that is down too, the hardish formula. But all in all, one of my favourite lipsticks of all time! 

(Buy here)  

Oxford Street Fuchsia

Moving onto one of my favourite palettes. It came in a sample gift set by Estee Lauder which I got for my birthday. I never used the palette and then upon a make up clear out, I came across it and I have fallen in love since. It has 4 lovely colours, Sugar Cube, Silver Bell, Tempting Mocha and Newport Blue. If you do manage to find it anywhere, would so definetly recommend purchasing it.

I have also been loving Miley Cyrus' new album 'Bangerz', it has so many great songs including her 2 massive hits 'Wrecking Ball' and 'We can't stop'. Some of my favourite songs on her album are '4x4', 'FU' and '#GETITRIGHT'. I did a post on Miley a while ago (read here) saying how excited I was for her new album and it has certainly not failed to fulfill my anticipation.

And finally, my last favourite is winter. I love winter. I can't wait for winter! I can't wait for snow, I can't wait for hot chocolate and cream and marshmallows, and Christmas jumpers and My birthday and Christmas itself and lights and cold days by the fire and Christmas dinner and, and, you can tell I'm excited, I thought so. But on a serious note, Christmas/any other religious festivals/atheist hoedowns, is a time for giving and remembering Jesus and helping people who are alone or cant afford a comfortable life. If you can, speak to one senior citizen and try and cheer them up, whether it is just a talk or if its a couple of good deeds to help them out. Or if you are feeling super nice, volunteer at a charity shop or a soup kitchen and for all you ambitious entrepreneurial people how about trying to raise money for a charity which helps out older people and homeless people or people in severe poverty, I guess what I'm trying to say is donate something this winter. Whether its an old toy for children in poverty, your time to a charity fundraiser, a blanket to help keep someone warm, every little helps.

What do you want for Christmas? I would love to know, it may give me some ides!

bye bye for now xxx

OPI Rock Goddess Nail Polish Collection Review

I'm blogging mad tonight, but then again, on a roll!

On Monday my new Autumn OPI Rock Goddess collection came. So far I am loving it! My favourite colour so far is definitely Yellopalooza, it makes a pleasant change having a different toned Yellow on to Topshops 'The Bee's Knees' which I use on a regular basis. Please be aware, these are not full size. There are 4 bottles, all of which contain 3.75mls.The shades that come in the collection along with the free bracelet are:

• Yellopalooza ([Yellowy colour] My personal favourite!)
• Stand in Lime for days (Lime green colour)
• Rolling bones (metallic grey)
• The drummer is hot ( the warm toned red)

These kits vary in cost ranging from around £10. After all, for one thing it's OPI a prestigious nail brand so paying extra is worth it, besides, who wouldn't want an adorable free skull bracelet to get you into the Halloween mood.. Ooooh, Aaaah!!

 

Picture from Ebay trader.

What is your all time favourite nail polish and whats your favourite shade? :)

Bye bye for now xxx

.

Haul! MAC, Boots and Ebay #1

Peekaboo! 

So today is Wednesday and half way through the week, and I got a couple of parcels in the post! One from M.A.C, another from Boots and the last, Good Old Ebay! So here is, I guess, a mini cosmetics haul, Oooh!

Lets start with one of England's Largest Drugstores, Boots! This was a relatively small order, I purchased a Maybeline Colour Sensation Lipstick in 'Coral Pop' which is a beautiful creamy, long lasting Lipstick and a New Mascara (very exciting) by Rimmel. What can I say, the Rimmel 123 volume lash is amazing, it has 3 settings so you can adjust how voluminous you want your lashes to be! 

 From Ebay I ordered an incredible palette for £14.99. It has 88 neutral shades and is by a brand called Jazooli. It is super super pigmented and has a massive collection of colours. It has a largest mirror and comes with 2 double ended foam applicator (which I am not keen on ever).

So, from M.A.C ( I tend to purchase online because my nearest store is about an hour away *cries*) I got just a lipstick. But not just any old Lipstick.. A Viva Glam one, Yeyyy! Its the LADY GAGA Viva Glam in sheer plum, I believe.. But don't hold me too it!

                                                                                                          

 What is your favourite MAC Lipstick? I'd love to know!

Bye bye for now xxx

Mascara Madness!

Hola! 

It's Sunday, and tomorrow is Monday *cries*, and that means back to school for another week of grueling work :( However, to make myself feel vaguely better, I am doing a tad more blogging, I know its silly, but thank you for 7 followers already, it means so much! I just hope that number, keeps going up and up, but on with the show!

So today I bought another mascara, The Rimmel Volume Flash Scandal Eyes and as far as I can see, it's great! First of all can I just mention the packaging, it is the most beautiful fluorescent Orange. It seems Rimmel is going through a slight, how do you say, Orange Fetish? The Orange on this, the Orange on the Wake Me Up foundation/concealer range (my current favorite) it's like they can't stop!

Secondly, I adore this formula, it is slightly on the clumpy side, contrary to Rimmel's claims, and I also found it is very waterproof which is an added bonus, however this can be a disadvantage, as I shall go on to say. When applying this mascara I do find a lot of clean up is needed due to the hefty applicator. Because it is so bulky, it is incredibly hard to reach the inner lashes without decorating your eye and thanks to its waterproof formula, I find it can be hard to neatly clean any excess.

So yes I do really like this mascara and the price tag of £6.99 isn't too bad, however I think I will be sticking to my nearest and dearest, MAC Zoom Lash. It is a tad pricey at £14.00 but is definitely worth it. 

If like me want to have a back up Mascara, that definitely in no way breaks the bank, I recommend the Milani Lotta Lash (you can purchase it here.. but you can also get it in poundland!). It is a lovely formula, volumizes well (with a couple of coats) and also lasts a long time.

What is your favourite Mascara? Do you have any recommendations? If so I would love to hear!

Bye bye for now xxx

Rediscovering Old loves #1 - Miley Cyrus

It probably won't come as much as a surprise to anyone, about 8 years ago, my life pretty much revolved around the whole 'Miley Cyrus' and 'Hannah Montanna' saga. I had all her CD's, album soundtracks, the films themselves and somewhere, even tape recordings of the TV programmes, yes, I did just say Tape haha.

 Now almost a decade on, Miley Cyrus' reinvented image has hooked me yet again. Yes, there has been some controversy about Miley's new look, however, who really cares? As long as she can still produce good new music with a catchy beat, I don't have a problem with her 

new  'bad gal' style, after all, she can't be known as Hannah forever!?!

I Love the new Miley and can't wait for her newest Album 'Bangerz' to be available

(you can pre-order here). 

What do you think of her new look? Love it or Loathe it, just don't forget it!

 Bye bye for now xxx

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Ickle Baby Bot

I went shopping in Lush on Sunday.. I may have purchased a couple of things too..

Ok I confess, I bought 11 bath bombs, and yes I know this may sound excessive, but when you are there in Lush, the smell affects your brain, makes you do things you probably wouldn't

normally do... it's like they put  'Buy me'  essence into each bath bomb.

 So yes I purchased:

• Ickle Baby Bot
• Space Girl
• Honey Bee
• Sex Bomb
• Dragon' Egg
• Happy Pill  (makes me very happy!)
• Phoenix rising
• Fizz Banger
• Rose Queen
• Think Pink
• Butter Ball

Many of these I have already used before apart from Butter Ball, Space Girl and Ickle Baby Bot. Last night, I had a bath *Gasp*, and used Ickle Baby Bot and it is incredible. I currently have a cold and have been having trouble sleeping, sometimes taking a couple of hours to get off too sleep and with this bath bomb, I literally passed out the second my head hit the pillow, (maybe a slight exaggeration, but nevertheless a damn sight faster than usual). This is down to the 3 sleep inducing oils, Chamomile, Lavender and Sandle Wood.

Lush claims that its Ickle Baby Bot will 'Exterminate tiredness and send your baby off to the land of nod' which it 100% does. I love this Bath Bomb and would definitely repurchase, seeing as it is only £1.95 and is by far one of my favorite. 

Besides, who wouldn't want an adorable, blue robot to spruce up your bath time! :)

Lush is fighting animal testing. Click Here to find out more.

Bye bye for now xxx

Hello, Bonjour, Hola, Konnichiwa, Hallo, Ciao, Nǐ Hǎo!♥

Hello, Bonjour, Hola, Konnichiwa, Hallo, Ciao, Nǐ Hǎo!♥

I have finally decided to set up my own blog *does a little dance*.

 

Drowning In Sparkles is a pretty little space, specifically dedicated to beauty, fashion, babies and little handmade treasures. I hope my humble blog will inspire you to pick up a pot of paint, and give you the self belief to make something beautiful for your home, friends or family. There is nothing nicer than having the satisfaction of knowing you made it yourself!

I welcome you on my adventure, and hope to make some friends along the way.

Bye bye for now xxx