I am not a blogger.

Hello beauties!

It's been a while and I apologise. 

I'm a busy busy working bee, I respect anyone that keeps up a full time blog and works full time.. I don't know how anyone does it!

Anyway, this is a quick outfit of the day/face of the day post as I was appreciating my outfit today and I was described as looking 'glam' and that doesn't happen that regularly! 

It was a simple outfit but pretty effective, this top was £15.99 (I think) from Stradivarius! Stradivarius isn't a brand that's particularly well known in the UK but I discovered it a few years ago in Barcelona and now when I have the chance to visit I get rather excited! The Westfield in Stratford (one word for that place - WOW) has one and if you ever go there I highly recommend you check out the store!! 

This top had half length arms that were quite baggy, so I cut them off because it made me look a bit butch! I really like it now, the inside stitching has kind of exposed itself and its just a bit more flattering now! It's made of the softest cotton and it really is a good quality top, definitely worth the money!

Excuse my stink eye in this pic, I blinked and couldn't get another decent one! 

I finished the outfit with my black Next jeggings which are amazinggg! They're £20 but so worth it, the quality is so much better than cheap jeggings and there's no sagging at my knees and falling down at awkward times! I wore my 3 year old Oasis denim jacket, still going strong and my grey handbag is from Primark and it was £10! On my tootsies were my very old and very battered Dorothy Perkins black wedged trainers.. Such an easy/effective outfit :) (sorry most of these bits are old so no links!)

Face was pretty simple:

Maybelline Better Skin foundation, 

Collection Lasting Perfection concealer, 

Urban Decay Flushed Palette bronzer, blusher and highlighter, 

Urban Decay Subversion and Perversion mascara duo (This duo is WOW, so glad I bought them!!), 

Benefit Browzings, 

Essence Cosmetics All About Nude eyeshadow palette,

LA Colours lip liner in Auburn, and 

MAC lipstick in Faux...

Simple face but together it looks pretty good and doesn't take long to do!

What do you think of this outfit? 

Have you shopped at Stradivarius before?

Have you used any of those makeup items before?

Let me know!

Thanks for reading xxx

Best Beauty Offers!

Hi again!
Sorry for posting twice in one day but my phone is dead and therefore I can't play the Kim Kardashian game anymore for a while, and by chance I've stumbled across some amazing beauty products on offer while I've perused the internet!
I thought it would be better to post them incase these offers are ending soon!!

1. Benefit 'The Real Steel' - £17.50 - £15.75***

You get a full-size They're Real Mascara (which is usually £19.50 alone), a mini version of their new They're Real Push Up Liner, and a sample of the They're Real Remover. This is an amazing bargain, especially good if you've never tried the They're Real section of Benefit and wanna give it a go! I love They're Real, it's such a good mascara and really does make your lashes look amazing. I tried the Push Up Liner in a Benefit store and hated it, it smudged on my eyes! But a lot of people are raving about it, so if you wanna try it, you might as well for a bargain price!! 

*****IF YOU USE THE CODE 'HOT10' YOU WILL GET ANOTHER 10% OFF IT AS WELL - £15.75!!! OFFER VALID UNTIL 8AM 4TH AUGUST 2014 (BST)*****

2. Illamasqua Paranormal Palette - £15.00

I love this palette, I don't have it but I've searched so many makeup looks using it, I've lusted for so long! The colours are gorgeous and perfect for any season, such a good mix! And when it's reduced from £34.00 to £15.00 it's a total bloody bargain!

3. L'Oreal Infallible Lip Duo Compact - £3.49

I have one of these Duo's and I love it, you apply your colour and let it dry for one minute, and then you apply the moisturising balm on top of it, it's perfect - and plus, that lip colour ain't going anywhere! These retail for £11, and yes I paid it *shh* but it is so worth it, so for £3.49, you should just buy 'em all!

4. No7 Illuminated Make-up Mirror - £19.99

Yes, it's a light up mirror. I know it's nothing particularly exciting, and yes it's probably cheaper on certain online retailers named after rainforests, but this is only £19.99 and it's down from 50 quid. Plus when you buy from boots you get advantage points so in theory you're actually giving yourself MORE money to spend at Boots. Logic yeaaaaaaaaaah!

5. Illamasqua Lipstick in 'Magnetism'

I love Illamasqua's lipsticks, I think they're amazing.. The consistency, the colours, the smell (mildly smell like Krispy Kreme doughnuts!!) but the one thing I don't love is the price, £18.50 is expensive, like megaaaa. So whenever the lipsticks get reduced in the sale, angels from the heavens above rejoice and send happiness into the world. Magnetism is a beautiful colour and for £10.00, well it would just be rude not to.

Hope these offers help in case you were thinking about buying any of these products.

I've been waiting for that No7 mirror to come down for ages, so I think I'll definitely be purchasing!

If you've stumbled upon any other offers, please let me know in the comments or tweet me @RachelVennard :) 

Thanks for reading!xxx

The Glamour Beauty Edit.

Hellooo lovelies!!

I hope everyone had a brilliant Christmas, ate a little too much turkey, drunk a little too much alcohol and fell over a few too many times - I know I certainly did, in front of a club full of people. SMOOTH.

But anyway, enough about me! I hope Santa was good to everyone and everyone got exactly what they wished for :)

Today's post is about a lovely little beauty box that was on offer at Latest in Beauty! It's currently sold out but if you clicky on my linky HERE you can be entered into a competition to get your mitts on one of these little darlings! The box originally retailed at £14.95 and delivery was £3.95!

So, I hear you ask - WHAT'S IN THE BOX???

I shall show you..

1. Balance Me Daily Care Radiance Face Oil - RRP £15.00

2. Maybelline Baby Lips Balm Repair - RRP £2.99

3. Eyeko Lash Curler - RRP £12.00

4. Philip Kingsley 'One More Day' Dry Shampoo - RRP £5.95

5. Toni & Guy Glamour Firm Hold Hairspray - RRP £2.19

6. Benefit 'They're Real' mascara - RRP £9.00

7. HD Brows Eye and Brow Palette 'Foxy' - RRP - £19.96

So as you can seeeeee there is a LOT in the box, you pay £18.90 and receive 7 products that are worth approximately worth £67!! That's a saving of of nearly 50 quid!! The majority of the products are full size, and those that aren't give you the chance to try something out you would never think of purchasing!

The Balance Me Daily Care Radiance Face Oil is gorgeous!! It's designed to replenish the skin with ingredients to boost and balance your skin! It's particularly effective on oily skin, as oil on oil helps to balance the skins natural oils out! I've noticed it made such a difference to my skin, because since I've moved into my new student house I've suffered from a really oily T zone and it's helped so much! Also the smell is beautiful! It's got chamomile in, and it really helps me sleep if I use it last thing at night, it conks me straight out! I've been so impressed by this product I'm definitely gonna try some more Balance Me products in the future!

The Maybelline Baby Lips have been such a hyped up beauty product over the last few months on Youtube, blogs, instagram, you can't avoid them! I'm glad I got one in this box and was able to try it out because every time I went to Superdrug they were sold out! I'm not going to lie to you, I don't think they're amazing, I much prefer my eos balm to the baby lips, but if you want something easy to carry around with you to avoid chapped lips in the winter it works perfectly.. It's ultimately a pretty looking chapstick! Maybe if I had got a flavoured one I would have been more intrigued or impressed :)

I am one of those people that constantly forgets to curl their lashes, I always forget about it until I'm half way through applying my mascara and at that point it's too late! This Eyeko Lash Curler is super pretty with its limited edition blue velvet handles, it catches my eye on my dresser and now I actually remember to curl my lashes! It makes such a difference and this one is such good quality it really helps my lashes become a lot more curly and noticeable! It comes with 3 silicone pads for the curler, all which last for 3 months! It means for £12 you get 9 months of pretty eyelashes, to a lash freak like me that's a bargain!

Philip Kingsley is some kind of hair product God, however for me with my very short hair I tend not to pay much attention to new hair products on the market. However dry shampoo is my BEST FRIEND. I am a lazy person, I hate washing my hair - even though there is so little of it, so I love being able to reach for a can and getting another day out of it! I also think Dry Shampoo is so good at adding volume to a style for a night out - guarantee it'll help you're hairstyle last all night!! This Philip Kingsley one is brilliant, which is to be expected for the slightly hefty £5.95 price tag! That's like 3 HUGE cans of Batiste when they're on offer! But the price really shows in the quality of the product! Not one I'd repurchase myself but it's lovelyyyy when you get it in these beauty boxes - a treat to my little short-haired head!!

As anyone else with short hair knows, hairspray is essential to ever holding any style! Toni & Guy are another haircare brand I tend to pass buy as I stick to VO5, Got2be and Elnett for my hairsprays! This hairspray gives a good hold without making your hair feel sticky or really stiff! But I'm more in love with my current brands so I don't think I would rebuy this one either! It's nothing against Toni & Guy or Philip Kingsley - it's just once you get used to products that work for your hair and the way you style it you tend to stick with them! 

Benefit do these cutesy little versions of They're Real for magazines, beauty boxes and freebies with other purchases and I know they're valued at £9, however you can't buy them!! You can only buy the full version which is 8.5g and retails at £19.50! I cannot lie, this is a holy grail product to me! I can't just live with the mascara on it's on but it's part of my mascara holy grail trio! I use it first to separate my lashes, as the wand has such small individual bristles it separates them so well! I then have a coat of Rimmel Lash Accelerator Endless Mascara and then finish it off with Lancomes Custom Drama mascara.. As Jay-Z would say, HOLY GRAIL. But anyhooo, anyone who hasn't tried this mascara yet, I advise that you do.. You probably will hate it at first, but stick with it, eventually you'll NEED it in that makeup bag of yours. ;-)

Finally, the real reason I bought the beauty box.. The HD Brows Eye and Brow palette... This is amazing! I have ditched my Benefit Browzing's (for now anyway) as this is such a handy palette, perfect for a good dark brow and also can be used for a great smokey eye.. It's handbag friendly and easily carried!! The colours can be seen below from left to right - 'Nude' (the really light yellow shade), 'Carbon', 'Warm Brown' and 'Dark Brown'.. You have to mix the shades slightly to make sure you get a good shade on your brows just to make sure you don't go full scouse brow or end up looking like you dyed your eyebrows! But it's brilliant none the less! The colours are so matte and so easy to blend in, quick and simple!! It's cheaper than Benefit's version and I think it has more uses as I've really gone off the gel in Browzings! I much prefer a powder for my brows now, gels tend to melt!

Have you ever purchased a Latest in Beauty collection box such as this one?

What did you think - do you think they're good value for money?

Let me know!

Have a great New Years whatever you's are upto and I shall speak to you in 2014 *eek*!!

xxx

Quick FOTD!

Getting a call from your mother at 8.30am to say you've to take your little brother to the doctors for half9 is not the best start to any day, especially after a bad nights sleep! My priorities were to stay in bed as long as possible and sacrificing any chance of looking nicely made up! 

With only 10 mins to get ready, I stuck on a little concealer on my blemishes (which there are a lot of recently!!) and under my eyes to hide any dark circles! I filled in my eyebrows with just the powder of Benefit's Browzings to save time! A few coats of Rimmel London's Endless Lash Accelerator and a coating of MUA's Power Pout I'm 'Crazy in Love' on my lips! 

My hair was a mess, the only downside to short hair is that when you wake up it generally resembles a crow's nest, so I stuck on a beanie.. A comfy tee and a black skater shirt (because it's still warm in Northern Ireland!) and I was ready to go!!

Not the greatest look but easy for running about being Big Sis Taxi's and doing any messages that I had.. How grown up do I sound?? ;-) it actually felt nice to let my skin breathe in the nice weather without layers of makeup clogging up my skin!

Do you have any quick-fix makeup tricks? Let me know in the comments, or drop me a tweet @RachelVennard :-) I'd love to hear from you! 

Until next time! Mwahhhh xx

Benefit goodies!

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Hello again!

Where has the sun gone? Last week we had a few gorgeous days.  And now there's been rain, hail and even SNOW in some places? So much for global warming.. Lets rename it global cooling!

Anyyhooooo...

When I was on the boat from Stranraer to Belfast last week, the weather was awful and then boat was a rocky ride home! They announced over the PA system that in the shop they had Benefit makeup for sale, so to try and rid myself of sea-sickness and possibly due to tiredness I went and had a little splurge!

I'd been wanting to repurchase a few Benefit items for a while but due to low money levels I was waiting to find them at a good deal! Turns out shops on the boats appear to be a bit like buying items in duty-free, meaning there's no tax to be paid on them... YAY FOR NO TAX! I treated myself to two items, the two I'd been wanting the most! And here they are! 

I bought Benefit's "They're Real!" mascara and "The Porefessional" primer! They were both at a pretty good price so I thought why not? If you can't treat yourself who is ever going to ;-) 

My mum bought me "They're Real" after a few (read: a lot) hints for Christmas and I loved it! I have super short, super stumpy lashes that refuse to become volumised or curl, but thanks to this amazing mascara I actually look like I have nice eyelashes! Amazing! I saved £2.50 off this onboard, which is pretty good to me! This mascara does dry up quite quickly, my previous one dried up in April, so I had about 4 months use.. It seems short but after all you are meant to change your mascara every 3 months to stop bacteria.. So it's short shelf life probably makes the product way more hygenic!! 

My second choice was Benefits number 1 selling primer in the UK, "The Porefessional". I got a sample of this a year ago when I bought "That Gal" from ASOS and threw it away at the back of my spares drawer! I stumbled across it about October time and fell in love!! The mini sample nearly did me 6 months because you need so little! So I'm expecting this full sized version to stretch for a looooooong time! To buy this product now it will actually cost you £24.50, so I made a saving of almost £5! That's a big amount in the world of high end beauty! I love it's silicon consistency, really helps to minimise my pores, and my foundation goes on like a dream over it! Thank you ASOS for introducing this to my life!

These are my first ever high end makeup repurchases which is a pretty big deal to me! I was never brand loyal before, but after stumbling across these two beauties I think they'll definitely be a makeup bag staple!! 

What are your favourite Benefit products? Let me know in the comments! 

Or leave me links to any other blogs, I'd love to take a read and find out how to improve mine! I'm only learning! 

Also, can anybody help me with my GFC button? It doesn't seem to work :-( 

Chat soon dearies! Lets hope the weathers picked up a bit by then :-)

Rachel xxx