Inside My Makeup Bag

I know there is a lot of 'Beauty Bloggers' out there and people have their own ideas about makeup brands, but I just wanted to do a post of the products I use. I am not one for 'high end' makeup I use your everyday Boots/Superdrug high street makeup. Its affordable and in my opinion the products I use are just as good as some of the more expensive ranges.

FACE

I use L'Oreal True Match foundation in the shade 'N5' or 'Sand'. It is £9.99 in Boots, although I managed to get my last ones on offer, 2 for £15. Also Boots run their 3 for 2 offers every so often. Good to keep an eye out for them.

Its a liquid foundation that comes in a 30ml pump bottle. I use a foundation brush to apply it and the brush I use I bought for £1 so it wasn't expensive either. I think it goes onto my skin easily and it covers well. Also as its name states it comes in 20 different shades so finding your true match should be easily done. I know that it was for me.

For my bronzer I have using MUA Bronzer in Shade 2. MUA Cosmetics is only available in Superdrug stores and this bronzer is only £1! No that is not a special offer. As this post goes on you will be seeing a lot more MUA products and when you see the prices you will understand why I love them so much! I only use a small amount of bronzer on my face as I don't use blusher so I don't want to have big brown cheeks. Even so, this bronzer lasts for AGES! As you can see from my picture the writing has worn of the packaging I've had it that long. Bargain buy.

Then we have my highlighter. This is again MUA. It is called Undress Your Skin. It is a highlighting powder new to the MUA range. They have two shades in this 'Pink Shimmer' and 'Iridescent Gold'. I bought the 'Iridescent Gold'. As it is new I only purchased this recently so I have only worn it a few times, but so far I really really like it. It is applied so effortlessly and I think it sits really well. It does have a bit of a shimmer to it but not in a childish glittery way and for £3 it is another bargain buy. 

Finally to finish off my face section of my makeup bag I have MUA Matte Perfect Loose Powder. This is only £2.50 for a 15g tub and it is Translucent. I LOVE this stuff. It is great for setting your makeup in place and I love that its translucent. I have never liked having a powder that I have had to pick a shade because I find it sometimes took the look of my foundation. This goes on so perfectly and because its 'Matte Perfect' it has what they call shine control. It really does take away any annoying shiny parts of your face. For me its my nose. Plus you don't need to use a lot of this so the tub will last for a very long time. 

EYES

I'll start with my two eyeshadow palettes. Both of these are MUA Cosmetics palettes. The first is the 'Glitter Ball' palette (Black) and the other 'Romantic Efflorescence' palette (White). There is 12 colours in each palette and each colour has their own name printed on the back of the packaging which I think is a nice touch as most eyeshadow palettes just come as they are. These are £4 each which again is very cheap for an eye palette and they are long lasting good quality. I don't have a favorite out of these two. I normally mix and match some of the colours from each palette when I am doing a smokey eye. Although I do tend to use 'Romantic Efflorescence' shades for a more daytime look and the the bolder 'Glitter Ball' shades for nights out. 

For my liquid eyeliner I recently have been using '2True Effortless Eye Liner' and it is 'Shade 1' which is Black. It is only £1.99 in Superdrug stores. Personally I don't know what to make of this product. For me it is certainly not effortless, but I don't know if that is due to the eyeliner itself or the fact that I am maybe not very good at putting it on. I find that sometimes I have to go over it again cause I can see lighter bits and this usually results in me making a mess of it especially when doing winged liner. But once I have it done it is amazing! It doesn't smudge, it stays put. Maybe if I master applying it I might like it a lot more but for £1.99 it is good value.

I then use a pencil eyeliner for my waterline and lower lash line. I use 'MUA' pencil eyeliner in 'Jet Black'. This is only £1 and again it's a great quality product. It stays on all day and the lid of the pencil has a built in sharpener! What more could you want!

I have been looking high and low for my perfect mascara. I've tried numerous ones from 'Avon' and cheaper ones from the likes of 'Miss Sporty'. Then I came across this, 'Barry M Showgirl'. I buy the 'Extra Lengthening' one and it only costs £4.99 in both Boots and Superdrug, not expensive at all. So far I love it. My lashes do look noticeably longer and I will definitely be sticking to this mascara.

Now for the brows! I have a friend who is a makeup artist that recommended this product to me, it is 'MUA Pro-Brow'. I use the 'Fair - Mid' shades. Love, love, love it! As you can see from the front of the packaging it has four sections. Two shades of brown eyebrow makeup, a highlighter and wax. I tell everyone about this product. It costs £3.50! And I think it is the best high street eyebrow makeup there is! It is a proper little kit. Inside is the Pro-brow makeup, mini tweezers, application brush and mirror on the underside of the lid! Honestly I have stocked up on this, definitely one of my "must haves".

LIPS

I have a small collection of lip liners. I only bought ones that I needed to go with the lipsticks that I use. The three 'MUA' ones I have are 'Brooding Plum', 'Pink Me Up' and 'Berry Wine' (which they class as an eyeliner). These are £1 each and like the eyeliners have a sharpener on the lid. Handy. The brown one I have is 'Cinnamon' from 'Natural Collection'. I bought this in Boots for £1.99 and out of them all I use this one the most as I would normally wear nude shades.  To be honest I would recommend them all. They do the job and work well with the lip colours I own.


This lipstick is from 'Victoria Jackson' and unfortunately you need to purchase any of her products online. If you buy from her website (http://www.vjcosmetics.com/ ) it is all in American currency, but you can get some products on ebay. This was a present and it came with a whole set of lipsticks, eyeshadows, blusher, mascara and a set of brushes, so I can't tell you how much it would cost or the shades of any of the lipsticks. But this pinky shade I keep with me as it was my favorite out of them all.


Back to 'MUA Cosmetics' for my everyday, daytime lipsticks. These are from their 'Matte' range and the two I have here are 'Totally Nude' (lighter shade) and 'Fancy Fawn' (darker shade). I really do like these. I'm a bit of a sucker for the matte look. Out of the two I have to say I prefer the 'Fancy Fawn'. I find the 'Totally Nude' a bit light for me, although I have seen it on others and it does look lovely. I will definitely buy more of these and they are also £1 each. You really can't complain.



Now, its time for the mothership! This is 'MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer' and they are £3 each. The reason I call these the mothership is because they have changed my lipstick choices forever! BEST BUY EVER! It is sooooo matte, I love it! I just want to shout about it from the rooftops. The colours available are so vibrant and very nice shades. The four I have pictured here are: (in order) 'Tranquility', 'Dare', 'Reckless' and 'Halcyon'. I'm in love with all of these colours! I can't even find the words to describe how pleased I am to have these in my life!
Want to know more? Read my full review of this lip lacquer! >> CLICK HERE <<

xx

Second Life

Just finished reading Second Life by SJ Watson. If you read my previous post about the book The Girl On The Train you will already know I like to read mysteries with twists and turns that unfold.

I saw this book in Waterstones and as it was in the Crime, Thrillers & Mystery section I decided to make the purchase. It sounded interesting. "Shes living two lives. She might loose both." I could just tell this was going to be a book full of secrets waiting to unravel, and I was right! 

Reading this straight after reading The Girl On The Train I found some similarities in the characters. At times I felt as though I was reading about the same people, I was picturing the same people in my head but in a different situation. There were also some similarities in the story itself. Things like the violence/abuse, the blackmail and addiction (trying not to give too much away). Don't get me wrong though the story line itself is different and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I loved how nothing was as it seemed. Just when I thought I had it figured out the more pages I turned unveiled something which made me rethink. It is another book I didn't want to put down. I just wanted to read chapter after chapter. Even the characters you can relate to. Its written from Julia's point of view and there are certain parts that I know people will have experienced themselves for example, she has a teenage son. I'm sure many parents can relate to some of the issues. There is also some other parts of the story that anyone can relate to. Even someone of my age. But I can't tell you any more than that. You will have to read it for yourself. No spoilers here.

One thing I would say is a bad point is how SJ Watson ended the story. It just kind of stopped in the middle of something (again trying not to give anything away). It was left at a 'Did she? Didn't she?' situation and the reader is just left to use their own imagination and decide for themselves. Some people might like these abrupt endings but personally I don't. I like answers. I want to know. 

If, like me, you are into these kind of stories I do recommend this book.

Also if you click the link above it will take you to my review of The Girl On The Train. 

xx

My New Lip Find

I was out treating myself to some new make up products the other day and one thing on my list was some new lippy.
Personally I love the matte look and I have a small collection of matte lipsticks (most of them are from MUA cosmetics). I am always searching for a lipstick that stays on and that is cheap. This is why I have bought a few things from MUA cosmetics. Their make up products start from £1! And I know people get put off by this as they automatically assume the products are of cheap quality but I love the quality of their stuff. If you were to empty out my make up bag more than half the items in there are MUA cosmetics.
But anyway...
I came across this new "MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer".
It comes in like a lip gloss bottle with lip gloss applicator. When you first open it and apply, it looks like lip gloss and at first it feels kind of similar to gloss but after a few seconds it drys matte. It is amazing! Is thick so you don't need to apply loads and the pigment in the colour is on point. Most importantly, it does not budge! There isn't a huge range of colours, I think they have about 10 maybe but the colours they do have in it are really nice.
The picture below is just a quick picture off the internet to show you all what it looks like. There are more colours available.

MUA cosmetics can be bought online at: http://www.muastore.co.uk/

Or

You can get MUA cosmetics on the high street, only in Superdrug stores. 

As well as this lip lacquer they do have a range of matte lipsticks which I also like to buy. The matte lipsticks are £1 and this lip lacquer is only £3. Mega bargin. 

I personally like the shades "Tranquility", "Halcyon" and "Serene". I'm really into my 'nude' shades at the moment but I am going to be adding "Reckless" and "Dare" to my collection soon as I like a bold colour for a 'going out' look. 

Below is the packaging the lip lacquer comes in. Just so you all know what to look out for. It doesn't look cheap so no one need know you only spent £3! Our little secret ;) 

xx