• Gracing my face today // Spring MOTD •

Mineral make up, baby pink blush, barely there eye shadow...

I love Spring.

I started off by applying the Seventeen PHWOARR paint in 'fair' under my eyes to brighten them up a bit, then followed up with the Sheer Cover UK Mineral Foundation (review on this here), swirled all over my face in circular motions. I then moved onto brows, using the Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil in Black/Brown (which isn't raved about enough, in my opinion), and use both the pencil and the brush to tame them and thicken them up. Using benefit creaseless cream shadow in birthday suit from the benefit world famous neutrals most glamorous nudes ever (review on this here), I primed my eyes for the colour. I swiped benefit long wear powder shadow in call my buff all over the lid as a base colour and applied kiss me i'm tipsy lightly into my crease to create a shadow. I then applied the Soap and Glory Super Volume Thick and Fast Mascara in Superjet Black to the top and bottom eyelashes to open my eyes some more and give them a doll-like effect. Moving back to my face, I used the Stila Breast Cancer Awareness Palette in 'Positively Pink' as a blush and highlight as it has pearly pink flecks in the bows. Lastly, I applied the Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Native (review on this here) to my lips for a girly, pink pop of colour.

Quite a neutral look with a subtle hint of colour here and there; I tend to prefer a natural, fresh-faced look around this time of year. Lots of pinks and soft browns!

I hope you liked this post, it's a little different from my usuals but it was really fun to write!

Daniela

• Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner // review •

I was really chuffed to purchase the Stila Seeing Stars Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner set for £6.25 considering the Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliners alone are £14 (click here to be directed to the Boots site) and was really excited to review them since the first application a few weeks ago. I thought I'd try them all before writing up a post about them because I wanted to see if they all had the same formula, finish, pigmentation and staying-power - in short, they do.

Packaging

I love the sleek and tiny packaging but most of all I love the fact that the eyeliners are wind-up. There's no need for a sharpener which is perfect for me because I never seem to have one on hand. Another plus is that the eyeliner comes to a point so you can get a really thin line!

Colour

The set contains five shades:
stargazer - a black/charcoal with a silver shimmer
angelfish - a champagne colour with a metallic-like sheen
tetra - a purple with silver shimmer
moray - a khaki with fine gold shimmer
oscar fish - a dark brown with fine gold shimmer

Finish

When you first apply the eyeliners, they are creamy and soft to use. They blend beautifully and are very easy to work with - you do have to work fast, though, as they set pretty quickly to a budge-proof, smudge-proof finish. Although the eyeliners have shimmer in them, this doesn't translate strongly to the lids which is great.

Longevity

They literally do not come off, which is absolutely amazing for someone with watery eyes (and for someone who constantly rubs her eyes...) so I can definitely vouch for the waterproof-ness of the product. Although they set really well, it doesn't take long to remove the product with make up remover which is always a bonus.

Opinion

I think these liners are really gorgeous. Before trying this product, I would have avoided the Stila aisle in Boots as I thought that the products were pricey and that I would never spend £14 on one eyeliner, however after trying these out I'm now really interested in the rest of the brand. When the dreaded day of running out of eyeliner arrives, I will quite merrily skip on down to Boots and take my purse out of my bag because for £14 you really are getting a good quality product. I'm in love with these eyeliners and they're definitely smudge and waterproof. Products that do what they say on the tin really do tick all of my boxes.

Have you tried anything from the Stila range?

Daniela

• Got some goodies // beauty haulin' - high end & drugstore •

This was the last of the hauls until February now as I simply keep spending my money far too often. You have no idea how sad this makes me *sigh* but it needs to be done. So for my last haul for the next few weeks, I decided to make it a good'un.

Stila Seeing Stars Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner Set,

Nail Wheels,

 Rimmel London Space Dust Nail Polish in Total Eclipse, 

Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in 05 Candy Shimmer, 

Stila Breast Cancer Awareness Palette with Lipglaze Set in Positively Pink, 

Soap and Glory Thick and Fast Super Volume Mascara in Superjet Black.

Stila Seeing Stars Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner Set
Currently £25 from Escentual, click here to be directed  to the site.

I've heard so many good things about the Stila Smudge Sticks so when I found them in the sale for £6.25 (£6.25!!!!!) down from £25 with a value of £60, I popped them straight into my basket. With a deal like that, it would have been rude not to. I've not tried these yet so I can't say much about the longevity, but from the swatches on my hand, I can definitely see they are really very pigmented. Here we have Stargazer, Angelfish, Tetra, Moray and Oscar fish (love the names). I've tried to rub them off and when I went to remove the swatches, I had to really work to remove them, which is a plus point for someone that is constantly rubbing her eyes! I will write a full review of these as I'm rather intrigued by them! (The smudge sticks are usually £13 each so I think I bagged a real bargain here!)

Nail wheels

Currently £2.99 from eBay seller, click here to be directed to the site.

I bough these nail wheels from this eBay seller as I thought that nail posts would be made a lot better if I had some nice long nails to swatch on. For £2.99 I received 10 wheels of 18, which is an absolute bargain! Like normal nails, you can remove the nail polish with nail polish remover, but unlike human nails, you don't have to apply a base coat. Winner!

Rimmel London Space Dust Nail Polish in Total Eclipse
Currently £3.99 from Boots, click here to be directed to the site.
Whilst reviewing and swatching the Rimmel Space Dust in Moon Walking in this post, I bought it upon myself to add more of the gorgeous polishes to my ever-growing collection. Sure enough, I hopped along to boots the next day and picked up this beauty! I haven't tried this on my nails yet but judging by moon walking, I'm sure the formula is much the same - packed full of glitter and opaque in just one coat. I'm so excited to try this one out as Rimmel never disappoints!

Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in 05 Candy Shimmer
Currently £17 from Boots, click here to be directed to the site.

This is a repurchase as I've already used a tube of this and I absolutely love it. The formula is so moisturising and the gloss doesn't dry to a sticky, tacky feeling which is a must have for me when it comes to gloss. It's surprisingly pigmented and the colour 05 Candy Shimmer is a beautiful peachy pink colour. It looks perfect with a 'no-make up make up' look and as the name suggests, is very natural. Great for work or school! The scent is a really light, faint vanilla scent which I looove - the scent reminds me of a toned-down version of MAC lipsticks. The sponge applicator is really soft on the lips and a great way of applying the product - you can really control how much you put on. The final plus point is that this tube lasts aaaages - I bought it in Spring of 2013 and used it most days, and I've only just run out. Love this stuff!

Stila Breast Cancer Awareness Palette with Lipglaze Set in Positively Pink
The set is unavailable, however the blush is currently £12 from Stila, click here to be directed to the site.

Again, this product was in the big Stila sale and was an absolute bargain at £3.25. There was no way I was resisting great quality products for that price! From the swatches on my hand, the blush is a gorgeous light pink colour that I'm sure will give a very natural wash of colour to the cheeks and is quite pigmented so is best used with a light hand. The matching lip glaze is not as pigmented as I thought it would be, and is slightly sticky, but I can't judge yet as I haven't tried it on my lips. I will write a full review on these products when I've had a proper chance to play with them.

Soap and Glory Thick and Fast Super Volume Mascara in Superjet Black
Currently £10 from Boots, click here to be directed to the site.
I'm always on the hunt for a new mascara as my favourite of all time is rather expensive (a post on this is coming soon!) so I've been trying a variety of drug store mascaras lately to reduce cosmetics costs. This one has a super fat brush which gets smaller towards the tip and from what I can tell, the formula seems quite wet. I've not tried this yet as I'm currently finishing off my Maybelline the Falsies, but when I do, I'll be sure to write a review!

There you have it, my last splurge this side of February. I just cant help myself! I think if I sing this mantra in my head before bed, don't buy any more cosmetics, don't buy any more cosmetics, I might wake up and actually not spend any more money. Hmmm...we'll see.

Have you bought anything for yourself lately?


Daniela