Night Out Makeup

Hey everyone! So I went out in Stafford on Saturday and I quite liked how my makeup turned out, so I thought I'd write a post on it! This post turned out a longer than I thought it was going to be...

I forgot to include the Porefessional sample in this photo so let's pretend it's there too haha

I had moisturised my skin with the Avene Cleanance MAT Mattifying Emulsion, letting it sink in for a while before I primed my skin with Benefit's Porefessional, which I have a few sample sizes of (one was with a gift set, another with a magazine.) I don't think I like it enough to purchase the full size one when my samples run out - it's a nice product but I don't think it makes much difference on my pores and I feel like the siliconey formula is quite dupeable on the high street. However my makeup did last quite well despite me getting all sweaty in a nightclub - I'm not sure whether it's down to this, my foundation, my powder or just the combination of all three!

For foundation I went with the YSL Touche Eclat Foundation, which is the only high end foundation I own. This contains no SPF so it's ideal for night time makeup. When I bought it my skin was more normal and less blemish prone so because it's quite glowy and my skin became oily I was put off using it a bit. When I applied it last night though I really liked it - it blended beautifully when I used the Real Techniques Buffing Brush. Its coverage was light to medium but buildable without becoming cakey, as I did need to apply a little more than I normally would because of the amount of blemishes I have. (Quick foundation tip: obviously you can start applying it wherever you want on your face, but if you have an area that you think needs more coverage then you might like to start applying your foundation there.) I think I have the lightest shade and it matches me perfectly.

I did still powder it with MAC Blot Powder as although the dewy-ness of this foundation is nice, my oily skin means my face risks looking shiny as the night goes on. Again I have the lightest shade although this powder has barely any colour as it's not intended to add any more coverage! I have very much hit pan but I'm not sure I'd repurchase as it is expensive at £20.50.

I went for a neutral eye look because of how bright my lipstick (MAC's Show Orchid) is. So I blended together the MAC eyeshadows in Satin Taupe and Patina, which I've raved about before here.

Left: Patina Right: Satin Taupe

Swatched in the same order

I also applied Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Stag which came with the Naked on the Run kit. I rarely wear eyeliner but this one is great - a flattering dark brown with a lovely smooth formula. It also stays put for a long time, as the name suggests!

This lipstick is one of my all time favourites:

MAC's Show Orchid lipstick

For mascara, I used two - I used the Seventeen Falsifeye HD Mascara first because it's great for length, then I topped it up with Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara. As much as I like the 17 mascara I think I prefer the Maybelline one as it's better for volume and it also seems to hold a curl longer. I did a full review of the Maybelline mascara here.

I had some spots to conceal so Collection Ultimate Wear Concealer did the job, whilst I applied NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Vanilla (review here) under my eyes along with MAC Prep and Prime Highlighter in Radiant Rose to brighten the area. I also applied the highlighter on both brow bones and my cupid's bow.

Top - Soap and Glory Glow All Out, Bottom left: Mac's Blot Powder, Bottom right: Benefit Bella Bamba

For a mix of highlight and blush (because of how pale I am this product is like a blush on me!) I used Soap and Glory Glow All Out Luminizing Face Powder (review here) at the top of my cheekbones and then applied Benefit's Bella Bamba Blush to the apples of my cheeks - I love this blush but haven't wanted to rave about it on here because it's sadly been discontinued! Benefit should definitely bring it back. As you can see the packaging has faded as I've owned and used it since Christmas 2011!

I used the L'oreal Brow Artist Plumper in Dark Brunette, which is a ridiculously easy way to tidy up your brows, as I'm not fussed about properly attempting to fill them in.

The finished look. I feel like I look a bit evil in this photo lol.

As for my nails, it didn't really match my outfit but my current NOTW is Rimmel's 60 Seconds in Pulsating:

I really like this colour! I wouldn't say it dries in 60 seconds but I think it does dry slightly sooner than normal. (I can't find this online but I'm fairly sure it will still be in stores, if I'm wrong then I'm sorry!) I've had this for about five years and it's still going strong and applying well, and there's some gorgeous shades in this line!

Also if you're wondering (after my last post) if I've used the Nice and Easy Root Touch Up Kit yet - nope! I'm waiting for the right time; I didn't want to use it on Saturday in case it went wrong and I also don't want to use it before Thursday as I have a job interview that day! But I will give it a go soon and report back. :)

Hope you liked this post, and thanks for reading!
Sabrina xx

NOTW - Essie's Tart Deco

Hi! I thought I'd do a little rave and review post about my latest Essie polish, Tart Deco, which you might have already seen me post a picture of if you follow me on Instagram. I was in love with the colour when I bought it but when I got home I wasn't sure whether to return it as it has very negative reviews on Makeupalley. I gave it a try anyway and overall I really like it!

I've had a few minor issues with the formula - same as Mint Candy Apple it is quite runny so you need to be careful not to let it go over the sides of your nails. If I do get any polish at the side where it shouldn't be then I find I can easily chip it off which is actually quite satisfying! However the formula and brush both leave you with a shiny and pretty look at the end. I think this one is also more opaque with one coat than Mint Candy Apple but I still preferred two coats.

I've also found that this polish chips a bit more easily than Mint Candy Apple - not that it completely chips off a whole nail, but more that it repeatedly chips at the tips of my nails, including the day after I'd topped it up and sorted out the chips, which was a bit annoying, but in fairness I had been busy doing stuff that day with my hands.

Overall I can get over any minor annoyances that I have with the formula because I absolutely adore the colours of Mint Candy Apple and Tart Deco. Tart Deco in particular is a polish that I think would be lovely on toes as well as nails.

There's actually since been a very similar coral colour released in their Summer Collection this year called Peach Side Babe so I definitely don't need that one as well but it also looks very pretty. If you're not sure which one to get, Essie Envy did a really helpful post here comparing the two and other shades in the collection. Right now I am really lusting after Chillato, a yellowy lime green shade which is nothing like anything I have in my collection. I wish I could buy and review the whole collection but I can't!

Also if you're a new reader and haven't seen it, I wrote a post about my 10 nail polish picks for Spring/Summer a while ago here. :)

What nail polishes are you loving at the moment? Will you be picking anything up from the Essie Summer Collection?

Sabrina xx

My Top 10 Nail Polishes for Spring/Summer

Hi everyone! I thought I'd share 10 of my favourite nail polishes for Spring and Summer in no particular order. I'm actually sort of 'shopping my stash' with this post as I don't need any more nail polishes and will probably be applying all of these colours in the coming months! I tend to mostly go for bright pinks and oranges as you can see in the picture below, but I also love pastel shades.

From left to right:

1. MAC Morange - this is the only MAC nail polish I own and the most expensive of the bunch at £10. I got this a few years ago when MAC released nail polish and lipglass versions of their most popular lipsticks, including Morange - it is permanent however. As much as I love bright lipsticks, I think this sort of bright orange is probably better off on my nails than my lips! It's been a while since I used this but I don't recall having any problems with the formula.

2. Rimmel Cocktail Colour in Shirley Temple - I am a sucker for glitter polish, despite how annoying it is to get off, and I love this vibrant shade. It doesn't seem to be available on Boots.com at the moment but I have seen it in stores. It's great on it's own or layered over a similar colour, like Barry M's Mango.

3. Maybelline Forever Strong in Tornado Rose - this is a very pretty and girly pink which is right up my street. (Excuse the white label mark - mine somehow got stuck to another nail polish!)

4. L'oreal Colour Riche in Sex on the Peach - firstly, great name! This is a peachy pink and definitely one of my favourites. The only thing with this is I think it's a bit expensive for a drugstore polish in terms of how much product you get for your money - it's £4.99 for just 5ml, so basically a pound per ml, which is the same as MAC as that is £10 for 10ml. I wonder if this will be the first nail polish I use up as I'm already about half way through!

5. Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in Mango - a bright, shiny and very cheerful orange. It's gorgeous! However I do remember this one chipping quite quickly.

6. 17 Fast Finish Nail Polish in Peacock - this is a stunning turquoise with an almost duochrome effect going on - depending on the lighting, it can look quite blue or green.

7. Barry M Speedy Quick Dry Nail Paint in Stop the Clock - this is my most recent purchase of the bunch and what I've had on my nails for the past week. I love this colour! The other day I had to repaint both my index finger nails after they chipped when I was scooping up some coconut oil, but other that I haven't had any problems with chipping.

I wouldn't say it dried that quickly which is slightly disappointing, and it also can be a bit streaky so it needs at least two coats - but other than that, this is a great polish and very summery.

8. Essie Mint Candy Apple - this a beautiful mint green, a very popular shade from Essie and one of my all-time favourites, even though again the formula can be a bit streaky and runny making it sometimes a bit frustrating to apply - you have to be careful not to let it run on either side of your nail. I can deal with this though as the colour alone makes it worth it!

9. NYC In a New York Minute Quick Dry Nail Polish in Raindrop - This is a lovely 'sky blue' shade which I wore to match my May Ball dress in 2013. I would say this is the most bargainous out of all my picks, as for your £1.79 (or £1.49 on offer) you get a very nice quality polish - although again I wouldn't say it dries particularly quickly.

10. Barry M Nail Paint Boots Limited Edition - Sorry to choose a limited edition shade that I'm pretty sure is no longer available! I've included it anyway because I think this shade is quite dupeable - I had a quick look online and one example I've found is Revlon's Grape Icy, which by what I can see is a bit darker and more purple - see here. Essie's Splash of Grenadine also looks similar, but a bit lighter. But I'm sure there are loads more dupes out there for this!

There you have it, those are my 10 favourite Spring/Summer polishes that I'll be sporting this year. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post!

I'd love to know, what are your favourite Spring/Summer nail polishes?

Sabrina xx

High Street Haul: Boots, New Look and Superdrug!

Hi everyone, hope you all had a great Easter! Today I have a haul post to share, because I went to Boots, New Look and Superdrug, and stuff just happened...

I actually only got a few things from Superdrug so I'll start with those. I got two Barry M nail polishes from Superdrug as the £3.99 ones are currently on offer for 2 for £6 and I wanted to get a more expensive product for free when I took advantage of the 3 for 2 offer in Boots.

As I've said before, I do have too many nail polishes - but in my defence these two are both very unique in my collection, as I don't think I had any yellows at all before I bought this one!

I picked up one of the new Quick Dry polishes in Stop the Clock, which is a really pretty and summery pastel yellow. I'm not sure if this will go that well with my skin tone but I love the colour so it's worth the risk. I'm also looking forward to seeing if it does dry quickly as it promises!

The other colour I got was Almond in the 'Gelly Hi-shine' range which Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup said was an amazing dupe for Nails Inc's Porchester Square in this blog post. I don't normally go for this kind of taupe shade but I thought this would be a great work-appropriate neutral which is something a bit different from the light, natural pinks I usually go for when I think of more formal nail looks. I've tried a few shades from the Gelly range and they've all been great, and I love Barry M polishes in general!

Moving on to Boots, I went in knowing I was going to get the L'oreal Brow Artist Plumper, as Renata from Speaking Beauty wrote that it was a great dupe for Benefit's Gimme Brow, which I've tried at a Benefit counter - it looked great, but it's too overpriced for me at £18.50. L'oreal's offering is £5.99, but I got it free with the 3 for 2 offer and it's the first eyebrow product I've ever bought! They had no tester for the darker shade but I tested the lighter one and knew it would be too light so I got the darker one - I have dark blonde hair so I just hope my eyebrows don't clash too much with my hair colour.

'Dark Brunette' swatched

I quite like it so far! It's a welcome new addition to my everyday makeup as it definitely makes my eyebrows look more polished. I had a look at the even cheaper (£3.99) Rimmel version of the eyebrow mascara type product (Brow This Way) but the brush was shorter and larger so I wasn't sure about it. I like the brush of the L'oreal one, it's quite long yet small and it makes me feel like I know what I'm doing when I do my brows haha.

Before and After

But seriously, this kind of brow product did seem best for me as an eyebrow product beginner because I just don't know how to fill in my brows with products like Benefit's Brow Zings and the mascara-like brush does it all in one go so it's pretty effortless. I also wasn't sure if my eyebrows even need much filling in as they're quite thick already!

I also went in thinking I was probably going to buy the No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation - I had a sample of it and quite liked it, but I also noticed that L'oreal had a new foundation aimed at oily skin - Infallible Matte Foundation, which at the time of posting is on offer for £6.99.
It looked intriguing - it promises to stay on for 24 hours which is a slightly pointless claim considering that no one keeps their foundation on for 24 hours! In the end I went for the No7 Foundation as it has SPF which is great for daytime wear (I can use my Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation for night time wear to avoid flashback in any flash photography) and looking on Makeupalley on my phone I could see that the No7 foundation had a higher rating/more positive reviews than the L'oreal one. I would still love to try that L'oreal foundation sometime though! I have never tried a foundation from either L'oreal or No7.

Side note: am I the only one who checks the overall rating of a product on Boots.com and Makeupalley whilst browsing in Boots or Superdrug?! I just don't want to take the risk of blindly buying a product without checking any reviews or ratings first, and I might even return a product unused if I did buy it blindly and then find that it has extremely negative reviews!

The final product I got in the 3 for 2 was the Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara, £7.99, which I've heard great things about on blogs. I've used it a few times now and I like it so far apart from that it's a little clumpy, but I'll let you know how I get on and probably do a full review soon!

I went to New Look just to see if they had any nice work appropriate pieces other than the usual white shirts and black trousers. I bought this dress with a contrast collar. It is a little short (I'm 5'9) so I'd probably wear it with tights. The only size 8 they had in this had foundation marks around the collar so I got 10% off and it's non-returnable. It is £19.99 normally and looking online it's currently on offer for £14.99 which is slightly annoying, but nevermind.

They also had a black version but no size 8s, I tried on the 6 and it was way too tight, so that made the decision for me on which colour to get!

Lastly I didn't intend to buy a bag and I haven't bought a new one in ages, but I fell in love with this one - it is such a classic style but in a gorgeous, unique colour, which I couldn't help but notice is very similar to the nail polish I bought earlier that day, Barry M's Almond.

The rose quilted design is very pretty and it's a good size - not too large or small, and I really like the adjustable strap. It was also very reasonably priced at £12.99!  I'm not sure if it goes that well with my new grey dress, but it doesn't clash either. Overall, everything about this bag is gorgeous, and I think it's suitable for finishing off both formal and casual outfits.

Thanks for reading!
Sabrina xx

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Nail Polish of the Week, and Some New Purchases!

Hello! So firstly - sorry for my absence. I've been pretty busy, having a work experience placement and then visiting my boyfriend. To make up for it, this post is practically two posts in one!

I wanted to share with you all the nail polish I've had on for the past week while I was at my boyfriend's. I don't think I've expressed my love for nail polish yet, but basically I own way too many (though thankfully I've been able to restrain myself from buying more for a while now.)

I wanted to share what I think is probably my all time favourite nail polish - Oh Cabana Boy by Orly.

This is the first and only polish I've tried from Orly but I'm in love with it.

I first heard about this when Fleur de Force raved about it on her blog here back in January 2012, and I bought it shortly after. So I've had this polish for three years now and have used it maybe five or six times, so I doubt I'll ever use up this huge bottle!

In fact, has anyone ever used up a nail polish? I feel like it's pretty unlikely, unless you love it and it's not too big! At 18ml, mine is a bit too big really, hence I've linked to the 5ml one!

Unfortunately, the little lid symbol with the number in (if you don't know what I'm talking about, check the packaging of your beauty products, they should have a lid symbol telling you how long it's good for, so mascara for example is good for 6 months and then you should chuck it) tells me this product stays good for 36 months, or three years. When I applied it I didn't notice that it had gone gloopy at all, and I hope it stays good for as long as possible!

Anyway, I absolutely love this colour. It is a bit like MAC Show Orchid Lipstick in nail polish form, as both are bright blue-toned fuchsia pinks, but I think Show Orchid is darker. It's unashamedly bright, definitely quite a 'night out' polish, and probably not ideal for work or school unfortunately.

This polish is slightly sheer in the first coat so 2-3 coats are needed to make it opaque. It applies nicely as the brush is fairly large and good for applying quickly.

It began to chip around the tips of my nails after 3 days of wear, so I topped it up but it then chipped more on day 5 or 6, so it's not the longest lasting polish, but it wasn't too bad either.

Also, this is a bit random but I do like the 'award winning' gripper cap. It feels safer and nicer than ordinary nail polish caps.

Moving on to new purchases, and I spotted Superdrug's own brand 'Simply Pure' range, aimed at sensitive skin, which basically contains none of the usual culprits that are considered harsh or irritating for the skin.