Tomorrow is National Lipstick Day?!

Exciting times! Tomorrow (Tuesday 29th July) is apparently National Lipstick Day and to celebrate, Debenhams have a lovely offer for one day only: £5 off any full price lipstick! (online only)

If you follow me on Twitter, then you'll know that last week I managed to miss both Batman Day and National Tequila Day, so I think I might take advantage of Debenham's offer, particularly as they've also got Mystery Gifts with online purchases above £5.

It seemed rude not to share this offer I stumbled across; so if you've had your eye on a high-end lipstick, or feeling like treating yourself - now is the perfect time! Debenhams lipstick range can be found here.

Weekend Wishlist #7

Haven't done one of these posts for a while! I'm forever lusting after things, but currently my ongoing wishlist is rather large so I thought I'd share it here! (Spoiler alert, it's very Nars heavy...)

Zoeva Rose Golden Luxury Brush Set - £53.50 here

I love Zoeva brushes and rose gold, and these are just lush as well as being great value (working out at about £6 per brush). It's been out of stock for quite sometime but now it looks like this is back in stock so I'm very tempted to snap it up!

Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Roman Holiday - £18 here

I tried this during my Nars makeover, and it's pretty much my perfect pink colour. Technically, I've already ordered this from my nearest Space NK, I'm just hoping it arrives before I go back home!

Urban Decay Ink for Eyes - £15 here

My liquid eyeliner recently ran out, so I'm looking for a replacement. This is a fairly new release from Urban Decay and the felt-tip style of this looks super easy for application.

Nars Eyeshadow Duo in Meditarenee - £25 here

These orangey shades really brought out the blue in my eyes during my Nars makeover and are gorgeous colours for summer. Again, I've already ordered this from my nearest Space NK, fingers crossed they arrive soon.

Nars The Multiple in Copacabana - £30 here

Another product discovered during - you guessed it - my Nars makeover. This creamy highlighter is stunning so easy to apply, but perhaps a little pricey.

OPI Miss Piggy's Big Number - £8 here

This picture doesn't do that colour justice! I saw this on someone's nails on Instagram, and fell in love.

Nars Dual Intensity Eyeshadows in Himalia and Subra - £21 each here

Soft, buttery, pigmented eyeshadows? And these colours would be so wearable... these are pretty high on my want list right now, but can I justify £21 for an eyeshadow?

Marc Jacobs Daisy Dream Eau de Toilette - £50 here

I haven't actually smelt this yet, but I can't think of a single Marc Jacobs fragrance I don't like, and the notes sound like they are to my taste. Plus, how pretty is that bottle?!

Heatwave Heroes

Blimey we're having quite the epic summer in the UK! This is the most consistent summery weather I think I've seen, and it certainly beats the usual 2 day affair we get.

I'm the kind of person who would rather be too warm than too cold, but a girl's got limits, and I thought I'd share a few of the ways I've been coping with the heatwave! (Of course, this is where having a summer job in an air-conditioned office is both a blessing and a curse.)

The ultimate hero of the bunch, are these Cyber Colors blotting papers. I'd never really considered them before, but picked some up on a whim while in Hong Kong, and they've certainly come in handy recently. Personally, I don't find powder helpful in terms of keeping oil at bay - but blotting papers? You can say good bye to that shiny face, while still leaving all your makeup intact. Oustanding stuff.

A lovely skincare combo I've been using is the Yes to Cucumbers Soothing Facial Wipes and Super Facialist Tea Flower Pore Purifying Clay Mask. The face wipes are lovely and refreshing, and with the cooling effect of the clay mask, this is a lovely treat on a hot weekend.

Of course, I have to mention some summer staple accessories: hair clips are fantastic for keeping my massive amount of long hair off my neck and back (thank heavens messy buns are 'in'), and sunglasses protect my eyes and vision, and mirrored ones are useful for quick hair/makeup checks!

Nars Makeover

Orange eyeshadow isn't really a colour I've considered wearing before. That was until I had my Nars makeover on Friday, and discovered how it could be used to really make my blues eyes pop.

Nars are currently touring a few Space NK's across the UK to launch and promote their new Dual Intensity eyeshadows. I booked my appointment and eagerly waited. 

The products used for my look were (all Nars obviously):

- Multiprotection Primer

- Sheer Matte Foundation in Mont Blanc

- Radiant Creamy Concealer in Vanilla

- Pressed Powder in Flesh

- Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base

- Mediteranee Eyeshadow Duo

- Dual Intensity Eyeshadow in Himilia

- Larger Than Life Eyeliner in Martelli

- Larger Than Life Lengthening Mascara

- Brow Perfector in Caucase

- Brow Gel in Oural

- Laguna Bronzer

- The Multiple in Copacabana

- Desire Blusher

- Roman Holiday Velvet Matte Lip Pencil

The Dual Intensity eyeshadows are absolutely beautiful with a soft buttery texture. Some shades are more pigmented than others, but you can apply them wet as well as dry so the less pigmented shades become more pigmented.

The shade Himilia used on me looks so versatile, as an all-over-the-lid colour, or in brighter looks like this one, or even with a bit of black through the crease for a smoky eye. The only downside is that they are rather pricey at £21 each.

Throughout the makeover, and even afterwards, there was absolutely no pressure to buy anything, but I did opt to try the Sheer Matte foundation, as my Sheer Glow has just run out (look out for a comparison post soon!). I've also ordered the Mediteranee Eyeshadow Duo and the Roman Holiday Velvet Matte Lip Pencil, which were used for my look.

As part of the event, everyone got a face chart of their look, and a little gift bag of treats. A deluxe sample of tinted moisturiser, miniature eyeliner, and the cutest miniature size of blusher in Deep Throat.

I also picked up some great tips from the makeup artist, and it seems only fair that I share the love!
- Use brown eyeliner in the waterline for a less harsh look than black
- Gently lift up the hood of the eye while applying eyeshadow to the crease
- Apply blusher in a U shape on the apples of the cheeks, for a more natural look (and avoid clown cheeks!)
- Use highlighter liberally! Cream highlighters (such as the multiple) work well, applied right across the cheekbones to the hairline
- If you have thicker brows like me, only apply brow colour through the bottom of the brow, to add definition
-Don't bother with brown or clear mascara, it's not worth the money!

There are still some dates left for this Nars event over the next week (more info here), so if you can get yourself to one of the participating stores I would highly recommend it. If not, the Dual Intensity eyeshadows are now available to buy, along with everything else by Nars. I know I have a wishlist about a mile long now...

Summer Nail Art

I posted these nails on Instagram the other week and got a really positive response, so I thought I'd share them here too!

After exams and plenty of end-of-year celebrations, it had been a while since I'd attempted any real nail art so I thought I'd have a little practice of patterns, mixed in with some other summery designs like fruit and florals!

I started off by having a gradient of colours (from blue to green) across my nails, and then alternated between basic patterns and more intricate designs to keep things interesting but not over-the-top. I used a combination of nail stripers and nail pens for the various patterns, depending on how thick/neat I needed the lines to be.

Let me know if you'd like any tutorials on these!

Have You Discovered...? Storage Ideas

Back to the Have You Discovered...? series, and I think this is the last category I'll be joining in with. It's been a fun collaboration to be involved with, and I've certainly been inspired to write more creative posts.

This week's theme is Storage Ideas, so I thought it would be appropriate to talk about a recent addition to my beauty products - this Roo Beauty Nail Polish Roll (£7.99-£16.99).

Personally, I think this is a genius idea. An organised way to store nail polishes for travel, that prevents them from getting damaged? I'm in! This nail polish roll stores up to 12 nail polishes, of various sizes, as you can see above. Thanks to each individual elasticated compartment, the nail polishes aren't bashing against each other during travel, so they're not very likely to smash and spill everywhere.

Because I like to do nail art, that means I tend to need a number of colours at one time, so this is perfect to roll up and take with me. Mine has a leopard print design, but they come in a range of patterns and colours to choose from!

How would you store your nail polishes?

xxx

Beauty Travel Essentials

This week, as part of my summer engineering placement, I'm attending a three day event in Lancaster. It's going to be pretty varied, from networking events and a formal dinner, to factory visits and outdoor team-building activities.

Obviously I'll need makeup that goes from day to night, but at the same time I don't really fancy taking my entire makeup collection! So this post is kind of a cross between being nosy at what I'm taking with me, and some of my tips for keeping makeup travel-friendly!

I've got my beauty travel essentials pretty much sorted (obviously I'll have other things like toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant etc but those are boring).

Skincare-wise, I've kept it simple by taking multi-tasking face wipes. These Yes to Cucumbers facial wipes are gentle on the skin, while being able remove makeup and cleanse. I wouldn't use these every day, but they take up far less space than taking my entire skincare routine (although I might sneak an extra moisturiser into my case).

For makeup, my Z Pallette comes in really handy, because I can fit a range of eyeshadows, a blusher, and a bronzer (all depotted of course). Base-wise, a travel sized primer is useful, and putting a smaller amount of foundation into a sample pot is a great way of saving space (foundation bottles can be so bulky!)

This 2-in-1 mascara does both top and bottom lashes, and I think I'd be lost without liquid eyeliner for cat eye flicks! I'll be taking just one lipstick, in a wearable pink colour that can be worn with anything, and my Travalo perfume spray (same concept as taking less foundation).

And finally, when it comes to cutting down on the number of brushes to take, multi-tasking and double-ended brushes are your new best friends!

xxx

Have You Discovered...? Beauty Tools

I've missed the last few weeks of this series (I'm blaming it on the busy life), but I'm back with this week's theme: Beauty Tools.

I had originally planned to talk about some of my favourite makeup brushes, but as I was washing my face this morning, I struck inspiration and decided to tell you about one of my favourite little skincare helpers instead!

Since this is a series about discovery, and I'm not sure how many people will have seen this, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to introduce it. This strange green thing you see above is a silicon exfoliating face disc.

It's the perfect thing to use for cream/balm cleansers, but you could use it with foaming products too. It's effective enough at exfoliation but gentle enough to use every day. I honestly can't imagine my skincare routine without this, and it's way better value than a Clarisonic (or other similar electric facial exfoliator thingy),  takes up less space, and won't get tangled bristles like a facial cleansing brush.

I picked mine up in Sephora back in February for about €5, but I've seen similar ones for a couple of quid on eBay, which is where my mum got hers after I raved about mine.

xxx