Spring/Summer || Make-up Must Haves

Hellooo my lovelies,

 No I have not just decided to pour half my make-up collection onto my bed and photographed it, this is actually my favourite Spring/Summer picks from my make-up collection. I was going to narrow it down into a smaller amount but I don't stick to one specific make-up look in Spring/Summer so I thought I'd keep it real with you guys and show you the products I'll reach for most this Spring Summer!

Left to Right:- Sleek Contour Kit and a very well loved Nars Laguna bronzer

 Bronze, Bronze, Bronze.. I am all about the bronzed glowy look especially in Spring and Summer! My alltime favourite bronzer for both contouring and bronzing up the skin is Nars Laguna which sadly I think I'm going to need to repurchase soon. It is pricy (around £26) but it lasts a long time and it is truly beautiful especially during the Summer and as always I still love my Sleek contour palette.

 The eye shadows I love in Spring and Summer are usually a lot more warm toned than I go for in the Winter so I love my original Naked palette by Urban Decay especially the shades Buck, Half-Baked, Smog and Darkhorse. I also really love the Collection work the colour eyeshadow pencil in 'Hot Chocolate' and I love it's cute name too!

Left to right:- Nars Orgasm blush and Sleek's Life's a Peach

 I have a lot of blushers that I will be loving in Spring/Summer and my old favourites Nars 'Orgasm' and Benefit's 'Coralista' are definitely included in this list!! Coralista is probably my most favourite and it's on the more coral side comapred to Orgasm which is similar but much more pink toned. The other two blushers I'll be reaching for this season are Sleek's 'Life a Peach' which is a orangey peach tone and Sleek's Californ.I.A. palette. I love this blush palette as it's cream blushers which is a much more fresh and dewy look for Spring.

Left to right:- Benefit Coralista and Sleeks Californ.I.A.

 Okay so my number one essential when the weather gets hotter and I'm sunbathing or out in the sun is a lip balm to protect my lips from burning. Lips are the number one area that gets painful (along with the soles of the feet) because people forget that they need protection too! Obviously the best one's are the ones with SPF in them but any lip balm has always worked for me, as long as it moisturises my lips. The best ones for Spring/Summer are those with a bit of colour in them and I love 'Pink Punch' and 'Peach Kiss' maybelline baby lips.

Tanya Burr lipgloss top to bottom:- Aurora, Afternoon Tea and Picnic In The Park

 Tanya Burr's lipglosses are a definite essential for this Spring/Summer, glossy lips are bang on trend and these three colours are the perfect shades for Spring and I just love them! There's a lot of controversy in the blogosphere about Tanya's lipglosses but I genuinely do think they are a nice product and will repurchase them. In saying that however, there are definite shades that I'd give a miss and I do think they are slightly too expensive for her product market of younger girls. Anywaaaay my shades that I'm Summer lovin' are 'Picnic In The Park' which is my all-time favourite, 'Aurora' and 'Afternoon Tea'.

Left to right:- Pink Pearl Pop and Pure Zen

 Spring/Summer lipsticks is a hard one because pretty much any colour goes except dark reds and purples. I tend to go for much brighter vivid pinks, corals and peaches but I also love a good nude for the Summer months too! I especially love 'Pink Pearl Pop' by MAC, 'Pure Zen' by MAC and YSL's rouge volupte in shade 15 'Peach Passion'.

YSL peach passion #15

 Highlighters I love is obviously my YSL touche eclat, there's no season that I will not love this baby in! My MAC soft and gentle mineralised skin finish which is a gorgeous highlighter all year round and finally my Benefit Watts Up highlighter. Watts Up is a gorgeous champagne shade and it looks especially nice during this season because it's a dewy highlighter so looks AMAZING when the sun hits off it.

  I'm loving these lip crayons for this season too, I have a Revlon one and two Bourjois ones that are ideal for Spring. Obviously orange lips are in season so 'Orange Punch' is fabby for a more subdued, sheer orange tone which is great for those who want to be on the orange trend but don't quite have the guts to pull it off (e.g. myself). Then the second orange shade is Revlon's 'Mischievous' matte balm which is a much more lighter, brighter orange shade. Finally my all time favourite is Bourjois' 'Peach on the beach' which is an amazing peach shade (obviously) and it's so pigmented and moisturising. I loved it last Summer and I shall love it all over again this one!!

Left to Right:- 'Afternoon Tea', 'Aurora', 'Picnic In The Park', 'Mischievous', 'Orange Punch', 'Peach on the Beach', 'Peach Passion', 'Pink Punch', 'Peach Kiss', 'Pink Pearl Pop' and 'Pure Zen'... Can you still I love me some Spring lippies?!

 Hope you enjoyed that lengthy post guys! What products do you love in Spring/Summer? Be sure to let me know in the comments below!

Full Reviews of Products Mentioned:-
Revlon Matte Balms || Review
Sleek Californ.I.A. palette review
Benefit Watts Up || Review
YSL touche eclat review || beauty best friend
Tanya Burr lips & nails || Haul & Review
Tanya Burr lips and nails || Haul, Review & Discount Code
Mac Soft & Gentle Mineralized Skin Finish || Review
Orginal Naked Palette vs Naked 2 || Comparison & Review

Previous Posts:-
Cremecup || MAC Mondays
Lifes A Beach
Skincare Saturdays || Sudocrem Saviour

Lots of Love,

A x x x

Cremecup || MAC Monday's

Hellooo my lovelies,

Since I have now finished uni and I'm blogging a lot more I thought I would start a new series on my blog called 'MAC Mondays' because everybody loves MAC! Also because MAC is quite an expensive brand I think it's nice to know a lot about a product and see pictures and swatches of it before you splash out. What do you guys think of this idea??

 The first MAC Monday is on one of MAC's most popular items that they sell and that's their lipsticks. I love a MAC lipstick as much as the next girl, I don't know what it is about them but I'm seriously addicted. I think it's a mixture of the good reliable formula, the amazing colour range, the pretty names and the sleek packaging.

 The first MAC lipstick I ever bought was 'Cremecup', I wanted a shade that I could wear everyday, that wasn't too bold and would go with every make-up look. It's a cremesheen formula which is my personal favourite of all the MAC forumla's, it's moisturing and glossy so doesn't dry out the lips at all. It's a very pretty, pale pink shade which I'd say would suit pretty much every skin tone and is the ideal beginners MAC lipstick. It's very similar to MAC's 'Angel' lipstick though, almost an exact dupe so if you have 'Angel' then you should definitely give buying this one a miss!

What was the first ever MAC lipstick you ever bought? Have you tried Cremecup?

Previous Posts:-
Beach Walks
Skincare Saturdays || Sudocrem Saviour
April Favourites

Lots of Love,

A x x x

Life's a Beach

Hellooo my lovelies,

I haven't done a lifestyle post in suuuch a long time so I thought it was definitely time that I did one and what better to do it on than one of my favourite things at the moment. I absolutely love the beach, it's my favourite place to go when I'm upset, stressed, angry or anything and I instantly become more relaxed. It sounds very strange but especially at night time when it's quiet there's something beautiful about how peaceful and relaxing it is. I've spent my whole childhood living beside a beach and it just is a little happy place for me!

 As you all know I've had my exams recently and have been very stressed about them and honestly what helped me most was taking a break down the beach and when I went back home I was in a much better position to revise. Obviously I'm very lucky in that I only live 5 minutes walk from a beach but even if you don't have a beach near you, just go for a stroll to the park or around the block when you're stressed and it will make you feel so much better. Even if you just go stand outside in your garden for a few minutes to take a few breaths of fresh air and get away from your books it will give your brain the break it needs. I thought I would share with you some photo's from these beach walks and other walks I have been on these past few weeks (photo heavy post, you have been warned!)

After your walk you should of course go to your nearest local ice cream parlour and treat yourself to some gorgeous scoops. Nutella, bubblegum, mango, irn-bru, chocolate, mint choc chip and fudge anyone?? Don't worry I didn't eat this all to myself! If you ever find yourself in Edinburgh or Musselburgh then visit S.Luca's ice cream parlour...amazing.

What are your favourite things to do when you're stressed? I hope you didn't mind this picture heavy post but it's a bit of a different one and thought some of these photo's were too cute not to share!

Lots of Love,

A x x x 

Skincare Saturdays || Sudocrem Saviour

 Hellooo my lovelies,

 This weeks Skincare Saturday post is actually something I bet a lot of you already have in your bathroom cupboard at home, Sudocrem. Sudocrem is an antiseptic healing cream which makes it ideal for putting it on spots and the packaging does actually state that it can be used on acne. I always previously associated it with being used on cuts and on babies when they have nappy rash but Gary told me it was amazing for spots and oh my was he right!!

 I use this by dabbing it onto spots which helps reduce redness and the size of the spot considerably shrinks down after having this on overnight. Another use I have found for it recently though is using it as a face mask and it can be used with both a thick white covering over your face or can be rubbed into the skin so that it's almost invisible. I find that if I do it in the evening and I'm still awake after an hour or so my face gets quite itchy and I have to mositurise it? Not entirely sure how that works since Sudacrem is meant to be good for eczema and I don't have dry skin but there you go! However, if I put it on just before I go to sleep then leave it on all night I wake up with THE softest feeling skin (if very reminiscent of Casper the friendly ghost). Not to mention the fact that all spots will have considerably gone down and be a lot less red and angry. Do be careful not to smear it all over your pillows though unless you want to be changing your pillow covers loads!

Have you tried using Sudacrem as a spot treatment/face mask? What did you think of it?

Previous Posts:-
April Favourites
Skincare Saturdays || Evening Skincare Routine
Here Comes The Sun || Topshop, Primark, H&M haul & more!

Lots of Love, 

A x x x 

April Favourites

Hellooo my lovelies,

Guess who's back and has finished uni for Summer? That's right meeee! I cannot express enough how happy I am to be back doing what I love! and what better post to come back with than an April favourites post!

 One of my big favourites this month has been nude lipsticks and my recent favourite has been MAC's 'Honey Love'. It's a matte finish which I'm not usually a fan of but it's very creamy and it's just my perfect brown toned nude. (Also I didn't realise that Marc Jacob's 'Honey' perfume was next to it until just now..what a coincidence!!)

 

 Another lip trend favourite I've loved this month is orange lips. As you all know from my previous posts, I've bought the orange lipsticks but never actually had the confidence to wear them. Well April was the month that I broke out of this and I actually got quite a few compliments on my lips! I've actually been loving both these two shades worn together, I feel that it just makes my perfect orange shade. I do like them both on their own but Revlon's 'Mischievous' is quite light and Rimmel's Moisture Renew 'In Love With Ginger' is a very bright red toned orange. So I apply the Revlon one then dab the moisture renew one on top and bam I have my perfect combo!

Left to Right:- Honey Love, Life's a Peach blusher, Rimmel's 'In Love With Ginger' and 'Mischievous' 

 Another favourite this month has been my 'Lifes a Peach' blusher by Sleek. It's just the perfect Spring/Summer shade and it's easy to apply in a rush without managing to put on too much which is a massive plus for me. I love Sleek's packaging aswell, it's very reminiscent of Nars and is small with a mirror which is perfect for on the go.

  

 I have a lot of skincare favourites for the month of April. Mainly because with my exams I've been having late nights and early starts and my diet has certainly not been the best. So my skin has been hating me and letting me know allllll about it by breaking me out!! My trusty duo to combat this have been my Effaclar Duo (+) and Sudocrem. I have a full review of the Effaclar Duo here and I'm sure by now you all know how amazing it is for your skin and handling breakouts. I've always been familiar with Sudocrem but never before have I used it on my spots but it's amazing for shrinking them and reducing redness but there will be a full post all about that on my blog soon!

 Another skincare must have this month thanks to my exams and massive under eye circles has been 'Origins GinZing eye cream'. It's just so refreshing and cool to apply under your eye after a pityful 4 hour sleep or throughout the day when your eyes are beginning to shut themselves against your will, this bad boy has been a saviour!

 My nail polish favourite this month is 100% got to be Huckleberry by Barry M. It is one of their new gelly pastel shades which I featured in a haul last month. It's very unusual and I don't have any other shades like it in my collection, it's like a duck egg blue but a pastel version of that. It's a very milky colour which compliments a tan amazingly and it's the colour I've been reaching for every time I painted my nails throughout April.

 This one will be no surprise to any of you and it's pretty much an always favourite but throughout this month and all the lack of sleep, I have a new found level of appreciation for this. No concealer would ever have been able to cover the bags under my eyes but this paired with concealer was enough to make it look like I hadn't spent half the night hunched over textbooks! If you don't have the touche eclat or are sitting on the fence about buying it- do it, just do it and I promise you you'll be thanking me!!

 This is a bit of a random favourite but my all time favourite body lotion is Johnson's baby bedtime lotion, yes I do realise I'm not a baby but this helps me sleep too!! It smells gorgeous, I can't even begin to describe it but it's just very calming and relaxing and helps you to de-stress and chill out and get to sleep. It's also very mositurising and helps you see where the saying 'skin as smooth as a baby's bottom' comes from!! It absorbs really quick too and the best part? It's only around £4 from Boots!!

 My last favourite this month is a fashion one and it's this statement necklace from Accessorize. I love, love, love this and I want to wear it with everything! It goes amazingly with dresses and tops on nights out, it instantly makes your outfit look more 'made up' than it is. It's also really great for everyday too, I especially love this with white jumpers because the white just makes the blue pop. It was expensive at £22 but considering the amount of detailing that's on it I don't think it's too unreasonable and it's not a specific metal so can be worn with gold or silver jewellery..bonus!

What things have you been loving this April?

Previous Posts:-

Skincare Saturdays || Evening Skincare Routine

Maaaassive Haul!

Skincare Saturdays || Morning Skincare Routine

Lots Of Love,

A x x x