My Eyebrow Routine ..

Filling in my eyebrows used to be something I was never really interested in, but over time it seems to have wormed its way into my essential make up routine. I get my eyebrows tinted and waxed at my local Benefit counter every 6-8 weeks for £18, and I normally ask for quite a subtle tint as I like the well groomed but natural look. At the moment, I am coming up to about 8 weeks since I last had them done so apologies if they are looking a bit untidy. 

These are my eyebrows without any make up on and as you can see they are quite sparse. The products I like to use are Mac Omega with an angled brush (I can't even remember where my one is from but it was just a fairly cheap standard one from either Boots or Superdrug), and Maybelline's Browdrama in Medium Brown. 

I like to use Mac Omega first, and then Maybelline Browdrama afterwards to set everything in place but give my eyebrows a bit of colour as well. Mac Omega is an ashy brown, matte shade that in the pan looks quite light for me as I have dark brown hair but personally  I think it is just the right shade when my make up is finished. One thing that I really like about the Maybelline Browdrama is the brush which is a small circular brush at the end of a more typical mascara brush which makes it really easy to apply accurately. I also really like the colour as it is not too obvious. Generally, my eyebrows tend to stay in place all day and the eyeshadow doesn't become chalky so overall I am really happy with my current routine. 

The Maybelline Browdrama brush

With foundation and eyebrow make up on just the left hand side

With both eyebrows finished

With all of my make up finished

 What's your eyebrow routine?

xxx

My Every Day High Street Face ...

So I thought I would write a blog post on an every day face with products from just the high street. I personally love the high street for make up, especially because I live in Manchester city centre so there is a really big Boots on my way home from uni (very dangerous) so they have a really good range of everything. Although the branch of Boots closest to me has high end brands available as well, I thought it would make sense to only include the brands you would normally find in a high street shop. 

Well that's attractive! Haha 

In the picture above I had just cleansed using a face oil, toner and moisturiser. I started off using the L'Oreal  Lumi Magique Primer, which I have really enjoyed using. It's the second time I have bought it now and I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for glowing skin. I used it under my foundation here but it is nice mixed in with foundation as well. I then used the Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation in 52 (Vanilla). Foundation colour range is probably where I struggle most with high street foundations. I am just too pale! However, I really like this foundation. It is really lovely to apply, and blends well. It provides light-medium coverage, and leaves a funnily enough really healthy finish to the skin with, in my opinion, a moderately dewy finish (although it says semi-matte on the packaging). I then used the Maybelline, Browdrama, scuplting brow mascara in Medium Brown, lightly through my eyebrows. I haven't used many eyebrow gels so I can't really say if this is amazing or not, but it does the job quite nicely for me. 

I then moved onto my eyes, and as I don't have a high street eye primer, I jumped straight into the eyeshadow. I used a recent purchase, the Revlon quad in Moonlit Clair de Lune, which is a lovely combination of browns in a satin finish. I have to admit that eyeshadows are generally things that I tend to stick to high end brands with because the quality and the lasting power just seem to be so much better, even if they are more expensive. However, I was really impressed with this quad, and even though they might not have as much pigmentation as say the Urban Decay or Mac eyeshadows they were still good. I used the lightest shade all over my eyelid, and then used the shade below it over the 
 rest of the eyelid, with the darker two blended into the outer corner and underneath the eye. I then used my Rimmel Scandaleyes precision micro eyeliner in black on my top waterline and eyelid. I really like this eyeliner, and find it really easy to use and manipulate. I then used my Masterpiece Max mascara from MaxFactor, which I have loved for a really long time and is especially good if you want a heavier mascara look. I then used my No7 Natural Blush in Honey (I'm hoping that No7 count as high street but sorry if you feel it doesn't) for a subtle contour, followed by the L'Oreal blush in True Rose on my cheeks. I love this shade! It is a really lovely subtle colour and is great for a naturally flushed look. I then used my Soap & Glory Glow All Out face powder to set my face, and then another new addition to my make up collection, Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Suede lipstick in 010 Womenswear, which I really love! It stayed on for so long, and was really creamy but slightly matte as well.
 I think I will definitely be looking at more of their range! 

Although it sounds like a lot of products, the finished look isn't too heavy because I have used most things sparingly! In some cases, it is definitely worth spending the money on higher end products, but the high street has some fantastic products too!

xxxx

Maybe it's maybelline ...

Today, I had a little break from revision and went to lunch with my friends. One of my good friends, Erin, is going back to America on Friday :( so we thought we would have a catch up before she left. I'm going to miss her loads! I will also miss all the funny cultural differences that have us all in stitches. Anyway, here is a picture of us all ...

I apologise for the standard of the photo but I still don't have a camera :( . You have seen a pic of Amanda and Carys before but from L-R is Erin, Amanda, Me, Carys.

Anyway, I thought I would do the main bit of my post today on the Maybelline Colour Tattoos which are supposed to be like the Mac paint pots. I have a Mac paint pot in 'Painterly' which I really like, so I thought I would test the Maybelline ones out too as they are supposed to be quite a good dupe. Unfortunately, none of the drugstores near me had any of the colour which are close to Painterly. I guess that just shows how popular they are, so I got the shade 40 - 'Permanent Taupe' instead. 

The Maybelline Colour Tattoos are £4.99 in Boots (which according to the website are buy one get another half price on selected Maybelline products which could be worth checking out), and the Mac paint pots are £13.50 in Selfridges. So if the colour tattoos are a good dupe it is definitely worth getting them price wise. The Maybelline Colour Tattoo is so easy to apply, it has a really creamy and well pigmented formula, but I'm not sure it lives up to the 24h statement on the packaging. Maybe I just have oily eyelids (???) but that has been my experience. I have tried it as a base for other eyeshadows and on it's own, and it has creased within hours. I know other bloggers have found that they have been absolutely fine, so this could just be with me. 

I really don't like this photo but I think it shows how much it has worn off and creased :( This is probably after about 3-4  hours. Overall, I would recommend it to anyone to try and it is reasonably priced, but I don't think it is my perfect cream/gel eyeshadow. I do really like the colour though and am glad I bought it.

xxxx

Gel eyeliners ...

Firstly, I thought I would do a quick update on some of the products I have been trying recently. The most drastic change in opinion has been with regards to the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish product; even though I think it is still a bit of a faff compared to my other cleansers, it is really growing on me and I can definitely feel the difference on days that I don't use it. However, I still don't think my skin would take all that scrubbing twice a day as it is too sensitive so I think I'm going to stick to using it every other day. Another product I thought I would do a quick update on is the silver foil barry m nail polish, which I'm still really pleased with it. It has started to chip now but my nails chip so easily, so overall I would definitely recommend this one. 


I was rooting around my make up drawer today and I came across my maybelline gel liner which I haven't used in ages because I bought a bobbi brown one fairly recently. They are both black so I thought I would review them to give people an idea of how they compare, and whether it's better to splurge on the bobbi brown eye liner or save on the maybelline one. So here is a video I did comparing them ... 

That was so scary doing that! Eeek. But in summary, I would say that although they look pretty similar when you first apply them, the bobbi brown one does last longer and is the one I would recommend. 

I apologise for the pretty bad stock photos, but like I said in my video I haven't got my camera and I really don't want to steal anyone's pics so these are ones off the shop's websites. Sorrrryyy. I know it's an utter blog no no but it's either that or nada. 

xxx