Wednesday 23 September 2015

Raspberry Is The New Black


(Ignore the dodgy painting I'M ONLY HUMAN)
You know me, I'm a monochrome (minus the white) girl through and through so when I want to get a bit of colour in my life, I head straight for my nail varnish stash. Winter calls for glitter, spring is reserved solely for pastels, summer for the bright yellows and autumn? Autumn calls for the wine reds and deep purples. My favourite nail varnish (perhaps of all time) is an autumn polish, being slicked onto my nails the moment the weather begins to turn; Barry M 'Raspberry'. Each year I buy a new one, and each year I'm left with an empty bottle by the end of the season.

You can never go wrong with a Barry M nail varnish. Cheap as chips, easy to apply, quick drying and a whole range of colours from the very summery to the very wintery. I can't comment on the staying power as I'm very heavy handed with brittle nails, a killer combination for chipping like crazy, however I'm sure you've tried a Barry M polish before and I'm sure you have your own opinion. Whatever the opinion, can you really complain for £2.99?

The shade name 'Raspberry' would suggest to me a more pinky toned red, but I would describe it more of a true red wine colour; a deep red. Two coats gives you the perfect non-streaky finish and I've been reapplying it every couple of days for the past week. Today is officially the first day of autumn, didn't you know?

Thursday 3 September 2015

Dubai Wishing


I'm heading off to Dubai next week and as excited as I am to melt under the sun, I'm possibly equally excited to visit Dubai Mall. I've heard some wonderful things. Another very exciting thing about Dubai is they are home to both Sephora and Bath & Bodyworks. THE EXCITEMENT.

I've formed a little wishlist of everything I intend to pick up whilst I'm over there, consisting of candles and makeup, the two loves of my life. I'm lusting after some of the autumnal Bath & Bodyworks candles (is autumn even a thing in Dubai?!) which I'm hoping I'll be able to pick up and bring home thanks to Emirates massive 33kg baggage allowance. And of course I'm gonna need a top up of my hand sanitisers, however it looks like they've changed the packaging though which is disconcerting. I don't like change. 

I've managed to keep my Sephora list short and sweet, possibly due to the sheer amount of money I spent there on my last trip. When I visited New York in June I fell in love with the all-matte Tarte Tartelette Amazonian Clay Matte Eyeshadow Palette, but of course it was sold out everywhere. I visited 5 NYC Sephora's and nada. I'm pinning all of my hopes on it being in stock in Dubai otherwise I am going to have to bite the bullet and order it online. Other products that have made the cut are the Kat Von D Lock-it Foundation as foundations and my skin have been having commitment issues at the moment, the Bite Beauty Matte Creme Lip Crayon in a yet-undecided colour, the Urban Decay Sheer Revolution lipstick in the oh-so-autumnal shade 'Shame', and finally a few of the Formula X nail polishes, one of my favourite formulas around.

This reminds me, I need to get those ££ changed up...

Tuesday 1 September 2015

Urban Decay Do It Again






I told myself that I wasn't going to buy the Urban Decay Naked Smoky palette. My foray into eyeshadow ends at dark-ish matte browns and I don't venture enough into eyeshadow to justify a £38 eyeshadow palette that I most likely won't use. So naturally, I bought it.

And shockingly, I have actually been using it! The dark matte brown shade 'Whiskey' is obviously my favourite (who would have guessed?) but I've also been finding myself reaching for 'Armor' a super glittery true grey and 'Dirty Sweet', a shimmering champagne-gold, on a regular basis. I don't own any palettes, or even single shadows, similar to this and it's shocked me that I've actually been reaching for it every day. To my friends who have been questioning my dark racoon eyes this week: here is your answer. Who knew I'd ever venture out of my matte brown comfort zone? My inner Taylor Momsen is making an appearance, and I must say I'm rather enjoying it.

Don't get me wrong though, the best thing about the Smoky palette is that you can create a super natural every day look using the matte shades or you can go full out for the evening with ALL the shimmer. I own the original Naked, Naked 3, Naked Basics and now this, and I can say that in terms of versatility, Smoky wins hands down. The only area in which it lets itself down is the lack of a matte black, and I do also think it could have benefitted from a matte burnt orange shade for crease deepening and for blending purposes. Can't have it all though I suppose.

I feel like there's not much point talking about the formula because everyone knows that Urban Decay eyeshadows are some of the best in terms of texture and blendabilty, but for anyone wondering, these do match up to the rest. The more shimmer-packed shades do have some fallout as to be expected though, so I do recommend going down the eyes first, base second route when going for darker looks. 

I'm planning on filming some of my favourite makeup looks using this palette in the next couple of weeks so make sure you keep an eye on my channel for those, but for now I'm going out for dinner with my friend and I have some smoky eyes to apply.