Thursday, 22 May 2014

Topshop SS14 Collection Makeup Haul

Holaaaa!
Summer has arrived, the sun is shining (for now anyway in Manchester) and it's so nice to be able to wear bright clothes and fun makeup and be tanned (even if it is from a bottle)!

Topshop have released their Spring Summer 2014 makeup collection and you can view the whole thing here! It's exciting, fun and includes both summer brights and spring pastels in nail varnishes, lip products, eyeshadows and eyeliners! And it's all very reasonably priced at between £5 and £10!

When I was at home for Easter my mum and I went to Topshops flagship store in Northern Ireland in Victoria Square in Belfast! They have the biggest range of stuff and generally a better size range than smaller stores. 


What I bought!

The main item I went to purchase was the Eye Duo in 'Long Weekend' after my absolutely gorgeous bestie Becca at http://www.rebeccadurrans.blogspot.co.uk/ bought it! It's such a warm corally orange and a goldy brown duo! The orange is absolutely stunning and makes such an impact, it's perfect for sunshiney days! The orange has such a good colour payoff and it really does come out the same on the skin as it looks in the packet! The same can't be said for the goldy shade, it's pretty much invisible and has no colour payoff! I have hardly used it except for a little bit in the crease, but it's nothing special! Swatches can be seen further below! But here's how I wore it a few weeks ago for a family day away :)

Long Weekend Eye Duo - Topshop ft Peaches Lashes
 The second Eye Duo I bought is called 'Time Off' and it's a blue and slate grey combo. The blue is the same as the orange, and is a gorgeous baby blue colour! These eyeshadows are so easy to blend in! The grey has more colour pay off than the second shadow from the Long Weekend set! I absolutely love both of these kits and for £6 they're an absolute bargain! 

Swatches - Long Weekend and Time Off Eye Duo
After recommendations from Becca, I also purchased the Lip Varnishes which are a combination of a lip gloss and a lip stain! They are gorgeous on and the colour is as true in the tube as it is on the lips! They're glossy on the lips and they last for ages! Like seriously, almost all night long even on a night out! I was amazed at their staying power! They're £9 each, and I love them all! I bought 'Field Day' and 'Merry Go Round' and you can see the swatches below :)

On the day that I purchased the things from Topshop there was an offer on that resulted in a free Lip Cream when you spent over £15, as I definitely spent over £15 (oops) I chose the Lip Cream in 'Double Take'. Lip creams are highly pigmented glosses that are really comfortable to wear!

L-R - Double Take, Field Day and Merry Go Round
I absolutely love everything I bought and the thing I love about Topshop makeup is that you still get Student Discount on everything! And even better when I bought these things the discount was 20%! 

What do you think of Topshop's makeup range?
Let me know!

Rachel xxx 

Sunday, 18 May 2014

Crownbrush UK Makeup Brush Haul!

Hello everyoneee!
I've finally made my first Crownbrush UK purchase, after a lot and a lot of deliberation I chose to go with the Infinity brushes that I seen reviewed by the lovely Zoe Newlove over HERE! She loves the brushes so much so I decided that it was finally time to treat myself after a long Lent of no makeup purchases! I bought these on St George's Day so the lovely people at Crownbrush were offering 20% off everything! 


I bought 7 brushes from the Infinity range in total, and another individual one that I'll pop in at the end of the post! The Infinity brushes are designed to give a flawless HD finish to makeup, perfect for blending and creating that celeb look! They all have black patent handles and a silver top! And honestly, these brushes are all SO SOFT! I couldn't believe it when I opened the delivery and put them to my face, they are delightful on the skin!! The bristles of the brushes are synthetic and vegan, which means they are affordable for vegans and cruelty free! The only thing I have noticed that the bristles have been shedding slightly since I started using them, mostly in the larger brush I purchased! But for their pricetag I can accept that.

C452 - Flat Foundation Brush
C454 - Angle Contouring



















I love Flat Foundation brushes for applying my foundation, they glide on so easy and buff in the product so well so it gives such a great application! This brush is almost 100% identical to my Sigma F80 Flat Kabuki, which I love. However the Sigma brush is £18.75 compared to Crownbrushes £12.99, for an almost identical purchase. I will definitely repurchase the Crownbrush version over the Sigma one in future!


I love a bit of contouring now I've figured out how to do it (The ELF Contouring Blush & Bronzer Powder in St Lucia combined with the Real Techniques Duo-Fiber Contour Brush), however my problem for contouring is the Real Techniques Contour brush is too big for my nose, and generally I end up with bronzer on the front of my nose, making it look bigger rather than smaller! This brush is perfect sizewise, its far smaller and really gets the product exactly where I want it! Perfect for chin contouring too to make your bottom lip look bigger! This brush is £4.99!

C457 - Round Blender
C456 - Pointed Blender



















My new go to concealer brush! It gets the product exactly where you want it, I'm loving using it under my eyes and my nose as well, where I have a lot of redness. It works the product in so well and its so comfortable to use! Retails at £5.99!


This brush is huge for my eyes, especially with my little hooded lids, I've been using it for applying an all over base to my eyeshadow, as it covers such a big area in only a few sweeps! It's great for blending out eyeshadows in particular areas too as it's big but it's stiff so it can still target specific areas! Only £4.99!

C460 - Infinity Blending Fluff
C461 - Infinity Precision Crease



















I love blending brushes, they are my favourite brushes in the whole wide worrrrrld. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it! It is the perfect shape for my eyes, and it actually helps me to get my eyeshadow equal (my eyes are different shapes and no joke it's so hard to do!) It really works the product in well and it gives such a good finish! I definitely want more of these, and to try it's big brother version the C433 blending brush! For me it worked just as well as the MAC 217, but for a lot cheaper at only £4.99!


This brush has already got a lot of use from me already, it's great for putting shadow underneath your eyes, and also great for inner eye highlights! It's getting used alongside 'Shell Shock' a metallic silver from the Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette, which is unbelievable on. It lasts all night and glows out so strong, I love it! The perfect combination :) And the brush is only £3.59, bargain!

SS024 - Syntho Precision Powder
C463 - Infinity Angle Liner



















I struggle so much with eyeliner on my upper lid, hooded eyelids usually result in either it all being smudged off or a line forming on the top of my eyelid where they've creased together! I am forever in the ultimate hunt for either a brush or liner that won't do this. Unfortunately this brush isn't the holy grail! But it has made a home in my life for the brush I'm using around my brows with concealer for the perfect brow! It glides on and all the product doesn't end up staying on the brush.. It actually ends up on my face, hurrah! £2.99!


Now this is the brush that isn't from the Infinity collection, however it is extremely similar in design and quality! I chose this brush alongside the Infinity brushes as it's tapered design enticed me! I love the Real Techniques Blush Brush and the shape of the brush, so I wanted to try the Crownbrush option to see if I love it just as much! And I do! It is a little bit more expensive at £11.99 but it's so much softer that the RT version! It's the perfect shape for putting blush on my little chubby cheeks!

I've been so impressed with all the brushes that I purchased from Crownbrush, such good quality and all at a relatively cheap price tag! Definitely going to consider purchasing from them in the future whenever I need a few more additions to my makeup brush collection, which is apparently ever growing! Crownbrush's customer service is brilliant, they're present on all social media platforms and it's so easy to get in contact with someone if you need to! Definitely worth giving them a follow on Twitter, and Instagram as this is where I found the 20% discount code on St Georges Day which brought my total from £53.24 to £42.93! Which for 8 makeup brushes in my opinion is a bargain!

All the brushes I've spoken about in this post are individuals and therefore you can choose which ones you want rather than in a set when sometimes you don't want all of the brushes in the set! It's completely up to you what ones you want to buy!

Hope you enjoyed reading this guys!
Give me a follow over on Bloglovin' at http://www.bloglovin.com/vennardr :)
Have you purchased from Crownbrush before? Tell me what you think in the comments below!

Lotsaaaa love xxx

Thursday, 1 May 2014

Exam Season FOTD.

Helloooooo. 


So it's well and truely into exam/deadline season, Easter celebrations are over and people are starting to drown in assignments, revision and coursework! 

I generally am extremely lazy when revising, I enjoy pyjamas, endless cups of tea and endless chocolate biscuits to accompany my tea. I can't be bothered with getting up and putting on a face to sit in my living room and stare endlessly about the benefits of Physical Activity on Health, or the range of common Autoimmune Diseases in the UK. (My degree sounds so fun when you put it like that doesn't it?) 

I am usually rocking a 1cm ponytail (short hair problems), a plaited fringe and no/or very little makeup! 

Whenever I can be bothered with makeup for a little extra bit of revision motivation I stick to the basics: 
- concealer (to hide my dark circles!)
- foundation 
- blusher
- bronzer 
- mascara 
- and dark brows!!

A few years back this would have been A LOT of makeup to me, but now this is the music of the basic! Check my makeup FOTD below! 

And finally, the thing that tops off all of my FOTD's and OOTD's around exam time are my glasses! They're French Connection and cost me £125! (Ouch!!) but I really need them, I literally cannot concentrate without having them on..! I'm hopefully getting new ones soon because I stupidly sat on them and I've bent a leg of them so they're super wonky on my face! :-(

Check them out below! 


What are your makeup essentials in and around exam times? Let me know!

Chat soon!
Rachel
Xxx

Thursday, 17 April 2014

Eylure False Lashes offers!

Hiiiii again!
Just a short one today!
Eylure eyelashes are probably the best lashes you can buy yourself in the high street other than Ardell! 
However they can be expensive, and my bestie Becca always told me that if you see Eylure lashes on offer, STOCK UP. 

Eylure are changing the packaging of their lashes at the minute to something slightly more 'sophisticated' (see below) and grown up, and because of this a lot of their products have been marked down!


At the minute, Superdrug are selling a lot of their lashes, particularly the bigger styles such as 145's, 147's and even the individual lashes for £2.63/2.65 each! (See below for styles)



You can check out the whole range HERE and try and hunt out your favourites at a bargain price!

And just another little hint, if you go in store, Superdrug are selling double packs of 140's & 145's for £2.65!
I've bought two packets already, they're cheaper than most of the lower quality brands at that price and guaranteed you'll get so many more wears out of each pair!

I'm not sure how long these offers will be lasting for so hurry over to www.superdrug.com or in store ASAP and grab as many pairs as you can!

Much loves,
Rachel xx  

Wednesday, 16 April 2014

Post-Lent Wishlist!

Heyaaaaaaa!
I have just submitted my final piece of coursework for second year and for today I am FREE!
(Until tomorrow when revision officially has to start. MEH.)
For Lent this year I gave up buying make-up.. Basically because I have FAR too much and I was buying make-up for the sake of buying it! I did end up buying clothes instead of makeup but hopefully now I'm gonna buy things I actually need rather than just want!!

However, 6 weeks of no make-up had resulted in me wanting quite a lot of stuff!!
Just wanted to do a quick wishlist, you can help me choose what I should or shouldn't buy!!

Helllooooo, look at this baby!!
It's a duochrome glittery polish and it's a beaut!
I've tried it out on my thumb and I had to do everything in my willpower to put it back on the shelf! 
It's a polish that's gonna need a few coats but trust me it's worth the effort! 
Proper summer nailpolish that would look beaut with a tan!
£2.99 in Superdrug!

Touche Eclat is a such a holy grail product, I think everyone wants to own it at some point in their life!
It's £25 so quite bloody steep, that's the main reason this little beauty has never been added to my shopping cart!! I do have £20 in online shopping vouchers coming my way from online surveys, so this might be a little treat! 
The leopard print packaging is just gorgeous, gold and leopard print.. my favourite combo!

A little bit obsessed with these lipstains that dry matte at the minute!
They last alllll day, require very little effort and barely even need topped up! 
They even last through the challenge of a night out with lots of drinks and a cheeky pizza at the end of the night! These Rough Edition Velvet's come in such a nice range of colours, pretty pinks to rouge reds and naughty nudes! At £8.99 these will definitely get tried out! Similar to the YSL Glossy Stains but a lot cheaper!!

So these are my top 3 wishlist products at the minute..
What do you think I should buy? Or should I just buy them all when Lent finishes on Sunday?
Thanks for reading guys!!
Rachel xx



Monday, 7 April 2014

Market Research Opportunityyyyy for Bloggers between 15-18yo!!

Hola amigos! 
A short post with something beyond the norm...

I'm employed as a Market Research Telephone Interviewer and we're currently trying to arrange at home groups for bloggers between the ages of 15-18 that live in and around the Manchester area! The blog can be about ANYTHING, and you're eligible to apply as long as you're aged between 15 and 18 and you're happy to be filmed on camera as part of the research!

These market research sessions are really fun and all hosted by trained Market Research Interviewers, so you will definitely feel comfortable and be able to share your opinions in a safe and fun way!!

If it is something you'd be interested in taking part in, or any of your friends might be interested pleaseeeee head over to this link - http://www.researchopinions.co.uk/latest-projects/manchester-projects/social-media-a-blogging-research-manchester and take the short poll! If you're suitable one of my colleagues will give you a call and hopefully be able to get you signed up to take part in the research!!

Also, for anyone reading this over the age of 18 feel free to register on our database so that you can be considered to take part in these research groups and get paid for sharing your opinions!!

Thanks again for reading guys, any questions feel free to ask me :) 

x

Monday, 24 March 2014

Guess who's back?

HELLO!
Yes it's me! I'm back!
Not for a long-time but I'm back for nowwwwww!!

Soooo, basically I've been out of action for over two months! 
There's no explanation to this other than the fact I've been busy as hell!
Uni has taken over, I was working two jobs, placement stuff, coursework..
I HAVE HAD NO LIFE.

All this stress has been sending my anxiety haywire, panic attack central.
My head has not been in a good place!
Just wanted to do a little post to let you all know I will be back soon!!

I thought this pic was quite appropriate, I wish it was true!!

Anyway, back to being a busy bee!
I'll be back soon with a proper post!
And if you have any tips for anxiety/panic attacks/stress PLEASE let me know.

Lots of loveeee
Rachel! xx