Fashionista The Double Collection Mascara Swatch and Review

Hey everyone!

I didn't get this for my birthday, but the pictures have been sitting unused for about a week now, and I'd kept forgetting to write about this: the Fashionista Double Collection 2-Step Mascara (£8)*.  This is one of those dual-ended mascara with a white base coat mascara on one side, and a black 'coverage, colour and volume' mascara on the other.

I quite liked putting the white on first, it was fun. And I will admit that my eyelashes looked thicker and had more volume (you can especially see this in the bottom two photos, whilst the top black-eyelashed photos doesn't really focus on my lashes). My lashes do not hold much of a curl, but this mascara neither boosted that curl or lessened it.
The one thing I will say is that it was very, very difficult to get the black to cover the white, and it actually ended up making my lashes look rather grey. You can see in the pictures where I have missed bits, and whilst it is not incredibly noticeable, it does dilute the intensity of the black.
Whilst I like how thick this makes my lashes look, I don't like that it makes them look grey.

What do you think?

What I Got For My Birthday!

Hey everyone!

As many of you know, it was my 22nd birthday on the 28th of August. I had an amazing day thanks to my lovely mum, brilliant boyfriend and some amazing friends. It was a pretty chilled out day - my boyfriend took me to the beach (we passed a farm, hence the picture of the pigs) and then we went round to see my mum and stepdad, who got fish and chips and cake for us! I also got very spoiled, so here's where I'll say another huge thank you to everyone. 

I thought you guys might like to see what I got for my birthday, so here goes. I really am not bragging, although as I said, I was very spoiled for my birthday. If you hate these sorts of posts, I'd click the 'x' now.

Some things I couldn't photograph: my boyfriend got me my provisional driving license and my mum and stepdad booked me in for some lessons, which I am so excited about! My boyfriend also got me some awesome headphones because I kept stealing his.

My lovely, brilliant friend Sam, who has gone back to live in London after graduating (booooo!) , sent me up this mystery box. I swear, it was so hard not to open before my birthday. And then, when I did, I did a dance.

We share an insane Illamasqua love, so when I opened this box I nearly fainted. Thank you Sam!

From my mum I got some amazing books (I had specifically asked for more Steinbeck, as Cannery Row is one of my favourite novels ever). She knows me so well, as these are all books I would have picked for myself!

 Again, my mum got me some beauty things (see what I mean about spoiled?) I'll be covering all the beauty gifts I received in individual review posts but thought that some of you might like to see the full picture!

My dad, stepmum and little sister got me the cute matryoshka doll plates, my uncle got me the peacock watch from the MET, my nana and grandad got me the Camilla Morton book and Troy, my lovely boyfriend, got me the newest Kathy Reichs.

Also from Troy: a refill of all my empty Liz Earle products, plus a lovely extra - the Liz Earle Sheer Skin Tint.

I am so incredibly grateful for the amazingly generous gifts I received. I feel a bit guilty, too. But I will be posting more on the beauty products throughout this month and the next, so keep a look out!

And, if you wanted to you could vote for me as the 'Best New Beauty Blog' in the Cosmo Blog Awards. Voting finishes tomorrow and it would mean a lot to me. Don't feel like you should though - there are some serious competitors who all deserve your vote!

Fashionista Merged Bronzer in Barcelona: Swatch and Review

Hello everyone!

Happy birthday to me! ;)

Another bronzer from Fashionista to look at today. This one is an unusual one though - not matte, and very light indeed. The bronzer is Barcelona (£4)* and it's quite pretty.

As you can see, this is a pale bronzer, which being a pale skinned girl, I quite enjoy. On my skin, it could be used as a bronzer if applied quite heavily, or diffused out as a highlighter. Of course, the shimmer makes it impossible to use as a contour, but the champagney shimmer could also be applied as a brow highlight, or even a shadow.

On darker skins than mine this would make a lovely highlighter.

Sorry for the odd differences in lighting for both pictures, but I like how this adds a subtle warmth to my face (where I applied it across the cheeks, temples and down the nose) without looking overly bronzed, and yet adds a glow. I might layer this with a lightly shimmering blush to add dimension, but to add a warm glow to the face it works well alone. It also seems to help cancel out a little of the redness I tend to get across my cheeks.

I'd also like to apologise for my broken out face - a combination, I suspect, of a bad diet, stress and a change in shampoos of late.
What do you think?

Fashionista Merged Eyeshadow in Custom Fitted: Swatch and Review

Hey everyone!

An eyeshadow today, and a pretty one at that. As part of the palette I am trying out from Fashionista, I got the merged eyeshadow in the shade Custom Fitted (£4)*.

Look how pretty it is in the pan!

L-R: Swatched dry, swatched wet.

This shadow is a very pretty green with silver and gold glitter strewn throughout. Applied dry it takes a couple of layers to build up pigmentation, but applied wet the colour is much more intense. The camera didn't pick up the full complexity of the shadow but it's a lot more shimmery and gold-flecked in real life.
When I applied it to the lid I experienced no fall out - I applied it wet with a wash of dry over the top. In my inner corner is Inglot AMC Shine 49.

It's a pretty shade and lasts all day on me. In real life it is more intense than in photos, as glitter doesn't seem to pick up well. But it's a nice green shade that I think wears well as an everyday colour.

What do you think?

Weekend Supplement #7

Hey everyone!
This week has been a good one - I've been keeping on top of posting, I finally gave in and bought an umbrella (not like we got much summer anyway) and it's my birthday in two days. As always, here are the things I've been looking at on the internet this week:

Image source: Oh Happy Day

Ever wanted to see your name in lights? Now you can make it happen as Oh Happy Day provides a tutorial to creating your own vintage marquee. I would love to have one of these in my house!

Feeling down on yourself this week? A quick visit to The Old Spice You're-a-Wonderful-Person Motivational Website should sort that out in no time. I loved the Old Spice ads anyway, and this is a fun bonus.

If you have any interest in Art History (which I do, as a History graduate) then check out the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, hosted at the Met Museum website. Search by century or geographically to discover a wealth of information.

I know it's usually  a beauty blog I feature here, but good grief is Sweetapolita a beautiful baking blog. This woman is seriously talented, but explains her recipes so well that I feel like I could maybe recreate them. Some highlights: Cloud shaped s'mores, a rainbow doodle birthday cake, and a decadent six-layer toasted marshmallow and chocolate cake. Yum!

Hope you had a great week!

Accessorize Lipsticks in Love-Struck and Passionate: Swatch and Review

Hello everyone!

I have two matte lipsticks to share with you today - and you know I love mattes, I did a whole series on them! These two are from Accessorize and come in two rather bold shades - a bright candy pink called Love-struck (£4.95)* and a darkened plum by the name of Passionate (£4.95)*. These shades are available from Superdrug or Accessorize, but I could not find them online.

First off, how cute is the floral packaging? We all know I like to keep it classic when it comes to packaging but these have such a pretty, retro vibe that they would be fun to pull out of your purse. The tube also comes with a little lid containing a matching glossy balm in the shade of the lipstick, so that you can gloss your matte lipstick or wear it alone as a coloured balm. MUA do a similar thing with their lipsticks.

L-R: Love-struck balm; Love-struck lipstick; Passionate balm; Passionate lipstick.

Love-struck is a bright, Pepto-bismol pink. As a matte lipstick alone it is bright and pigmented, but a little patchy and chalky in places, so I immediately reached for the balm and glossed it down a little. I love the effect with the balm, it's such a beautiful, vivid fuchsia.

Of course, the gloss wears away after a while, leaving a more satin-matte finish which fades pretty evenly, I found. Keep in mind that while I do swatches often in the same day, I test the products properly while reviewing for wear and so on.

My favourite of the two, as you may have already guessed, was Passionate. As a matte it was pigmented and opaque and had a blackberry-stain red-pink undertone to it's blackened purple hue.

With the addition of the purpled gloss, the tone became somewhat more raspberry hued, and very shiny. I love it!

From afar, this is still a crushed berry, black cherry kind of colour that I find ridiculously pleasing.

Do you like these shades?

Fashionista Merged Blusher in New York: Swatch and Review

Hey everyone!

Today I'm looking at a blusher from Fashionista, called New York (£4)*. I already have four Fashionista blushes, but none are merged, like this one.

So pretty!

L-R: Swatched heavily, blended out.

This is a very pretty medium pink blush with a gentle golden shimmer in it.

Here, New York is blended into the apples of my cheeks, with Fashionista Matte Bronzer in Tokyo on cheekbones. This colour is shimmery and pigmented, but I blended it out to what is hopefully a more natural finish with an added highlight.
This lasted a full day on me, fading a little by the six or seven hour mark.
It's smooth and the shimmer is so subtle that it didn't seem to highlight any pores!

What do you think?

Avon Super Drama Mascara Swatch and Review

Hey everyone!

A new mascara I'm trying out today - I ran out of both my Lancome Hypnose and Clinique High Impact (currently my favourite) and was sent the Avon SuperDrama Mascara* to try. 

I kind of like that the brush is slim and easy to use. And purple, like the outer packaging, which is a cute touch! I found the formula a little clumpy on me, and obviously on my problem straight lashes it didn't raise much of a curl. It is very black, but it doesn't add the 'drama' that the name infers. It works as a general mascara, but it's definitely not my favourite that I've tried. In an odd way it made me feel like my lashes were longer, though.

What do you think?