ELF 32 Piece Cool Eyeshadow Set

The "cool" palette

I picked up this eyeshadow set at TK Maxx at the weekend for £4.99, which I thought was quite a bargain, but after some researching, realised it retails at $5 in the US, so it could have been even cheaper! The set is described as being cool in tone, but I wouldn't describe gold and browns as cool, which is what the last row of the palette is. There are also a couple warm pinks in there too, but for £4.99 I wasn't going to argue.

I wasn't really expecting much from the colours, but to be honest they aren't too bad. I've done some swatches, but bear with me, I had no idea what I was doing and tested them on the top of my arm first, then realised it would be better without arm hair.

First row with and then without flash:

I'm not normally one to wear bright greens but the third and fourth from left appeal as they aren't too over the top. I'm not sure how much wear I'll get from the turquoises and unfortunately the two next to the smoky black shade are pretty similar, so that's a quarter of this row I most likely won't use. They all have really good pigmentation though, especially for such an inexpensive set.

Second row with and then without flash:

I thought this row would be my favourite from looking at the palette in the shop, but seeing how little pigment the pinks and purples give off was kind of disappointing. I really like the last three blues though, especially the midnight blue at the end, and I don't have anything like this, so that makes up for it!

Third row with and then without flash:

These are pretty nice, as the darker shades all have a slightly different base colour with differing shimmer particles, I really like the greeny gold third from the right, but I expect I will use all of these, as I'm a bit of a rocker at heart! The only two that let the team down was the two fairly similar silvers at the far left, they are still wearable though, so not as bad as the turquoises!

Fourth row with then without flash:

I really like these colours and will probably wear all of them, they are pretty much all shimmers, the last one being the only matte shade, but that suits me fine as I find matte colours don't always show up as well. I think the first three colours will be good base shades and the coppers are really nice for autumn. 

I think the palette is a really nice addition to my make up collection as I didn't really stray far away from purples and silvers before. With the exception of the second row they are all strongly pigmented in mostly wearable shades, so I really recommend having a hunt in your local TK in case they have any lurking about :)

L x

Favourite things

I'm aware that I said in my first post that I was going to talk about my favourites, and not just make up/cosmetic favourites, and then preceded to only talk about make up, followed by a deathly silence on the topic. I thought I might rectify that. Last time I went into quite a lot of detail which is why I stopped short on general favourites, as I thought I might bore people to death. So this time I'll keep it snappy.

General favourites

Food - Chicken chilli - the best recipe I've ever discovered!
Drink - Caipirinhas from Las Iguanas, the easiest way to get me tipsy.
Treat - Sweet potato Graham cracker French toast sticks - these are super bad for you, but soooo good.

Book (fiction) - His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman
Book (non-fiction) - Tactile, High Touch Visuals
Book (ebook only) - Design Professionalism by Andy Rutledge

Film (Top 5, as I have no idea what my favourite is!)

• The Dreamers
• Se7en
• Monsters
• The Fall
• Nausicaa

Music (Again, top 5, as top position changes frequently, and might surprise you!)

• Tool
• Nine Inch Nails
• Cloudkicker
• A Perfect Circle
• Incubus

Artist - Fiona Rae

Illustrator - Kustaa Saksi

Maker - Hello Sandwich

Hobby - 26thMay (shameless self promotion!)

Game - Fallout New Vegas

So those are my favourites, hopefully it might have inspired someone to discover something new, or rediscover something they'd forgotten about. 

What are your favourites?

L x

Wedding outfit and makeup

I have a wedding reception to go to in a few weeks and until a couple of days ago I hadn't really thought about the total lack of appropriate clothes I have for an autumn wedding. I bought a really nice deep purple lipstick from 17 last week and thought it would be a nice opportunity to wear it as I don't usually do anything daring with my lips, so have been basing my outfit around that. I found this dress on Asos (half price too!), and the shoes in New Look. I wanted to have a nude coloured dress to compliment the plum coloured makeup and accessories etc. It has tiny little flower sequins all over it, it's really pretty in the flesh.

With the outfit sorted I decided to get planning the makeup, I didn't want to leave it to chance on the night and run out of time, so have been practising today.

First of all, I used my new Barry M lipliner in Plum, which was pretty much a match for my 17 Lasting Fix lipstick in New Black. I put it on pretty thick as it was a bit streaky, and I thought it looked ok until I took a photo and realised just how dark it was, and how pale I am!

I have the world's wonkiest mouth, so apologies for that, but I don't think I'm that bad at applying lipstick, this to me just looks a mess. I decided that it was too dark for a wedding, and set about sorting it out, I took it all off and started again, this time using it as a tint, then applying lip gloss over the top to make it less streaky. I used my Bare Minerals Moxie Lipgloss in Show Off, which I was much happier with.

Onto my eyes, I thought with quite a strong lip (even as a tint) I would go for a subtle eye. I used my MUA undressed palette, using shade 1 as a base and shade 9 in the crease, and then used my new 17 eyeshadow trio in Enchanted Smoke (the plum matte shade) on the outside and underneath my eye. I then finished it off with some mascara, as I didn't think it needed eyeliner or kohl. So here's the final result, which I was pretty pleased with!

What do you think?

Links

Warehouse flower sequin dress

New Look red cross strap shoes

Liz Earle Essentials Try-Me Kit

Again, sorry about the terrible image quality, I really need to steal my bf's camera!

So I bought this at the weekend and have been using it for 5 days now. I honestly wasn't expecting much, I'd read a few things about how people loved the cleanser and admittedly it does get a lot of good press, but my skin is so annoying and temperamental that I wasn't sure it was going to have any effect. I have dry skin, but I also get a few spots, and when they heal they become horrible dry patches that no amount of moisturiser or make up can hide, so for years I have just been used to having dull, boring looking skin. Not anymore!

These are the first products that I can actually hand on heart say that have changed my skin for the better. My skin normally has loads of bumps around my cheeks and forehead, and looks patchy and dry. This cleanser/toner/moisturiser (am fairly certain it's the cleanser) has changed all that, my skin is not only smoother, but also has a more continuous tone. I really wasn't expecting that, and am so pleased with the results that I have bought the September specials from the Liz Earle website. I'll be getting my full sized products any day now.

I also couldn't resist getting the Sheer Skin Tint; as I said in my previous post, I've been using a sample and really loving the look, it goes on amazingly well after I've cleansed etc. It lasts pretty much all day too, which I wasn't expecting from a non powder foundation/tint. As someone that relied on Bare Minerals for pretty much a year, its a nice change to have such an easy process after all that buffing.

I tend to stick to a product once I find it has a positive effect on my skin, so will probably use this for a while, but I've read on missbudgetbeauty that your skin can get reliant on it, so will watch out for that.

L x

Make up favourites

So yesterday I mentioned that I was going to put together a list of my favourites, be it make up, skin care, music, art or anything that might gently ease me into the world of blogging and talking about myself. I'm going to start with make up!

I think of myself as kind of a newbie at this sort of thing, I haven't really got a whole lot of make up, and have only really just started getting into it, but I really like the sense of community I've witnessed on other bloggers sites, and that's what has really made me want to join in.

Really sorry about the noisy image - I don't have a DSLR so have to use my iPhone!

Favourite Make up (Might be slightly BM heavy, as I stocked up on my recent USA trip)

Foundation - BareMinerals original foundation in Fairly Light, which I also use as a concealer. I think this might change with the weather though, as it does tend to highlight my dry patches, which will only get worse in the winter. I got a sample of Liz Earle Sheer Tint in a magazine that I have been using recently, and really love it, so might give that a try.
Bronzer - BareMinerals Warmth (actually, it's pretty much the first and only bronzer I have had, so a favourite by default). I once bought a Paul and Joe eyeshadow duo just because I love their packaging and it was in the sale on ASOS, and I must admit, I've used it as a bronzer as the colours are a reddy brown and gold - mixed together I thought it worked quite well, but I might have looked hideous. Who knows.
Finishing powder - BM hydrating Mineral Veil. I'm not sure if this step is entirely necessary with a powder foundation, but it feels nice to have a set of actions to go through and know that I'm not doing it all wrong. It's slightly sparkly in the sifter, but doesn't really show on my face, which I was ever so slightly disappointed about.
Blusher - BM blush in Hot Shot. This is a colour I really didn't think I'd get any use out of - I got it as part of a free gift set when I spent over $50 or something like that. It's a really bright pink that I thought would look awful, but I really like it on days I'm not wearing so much on my eyes, it's such a nice burst of colour, and doesn't have any shimmer really, which makes a nice change from all the shimmery dusky pinks I seem to have accumulated over the years. I've also been trying to use my Benefit Hervana as my best friend bought it for me for my birthday, but I always seem to forget I have it, it's such a nice subtle pink, and it smells amazing!
Eye shadow - I really don't want to say BareMinerals again, but it has to be, as I've worn it so much over the summer. It's BM High Shine Eyecolor in Glisten. It's such a beautiful colour, like a pale silvery gold, and it's really easy to blend out to have as an all over eye colour, or to pack it on for full impact. It does create a bit of fallout sometimes, but not enough to make you not want to use it.
Eyeliner - Guerlain Terracotta Loose Powder Kohl. Yes! A non BM product! I bought this a fair while ago, but it's still available on the House of Fraser website. It's ridiculously expensive for such a little vial, but so interesting. The vial has an integrated stick applicator that applies the product on your waterline (you close your eye around it, then drag), but seriously, I make such a mess when applying this. I made the mistake of doing it after all my other make up the other day, and I got into such a state I was 10 minutes late for work! It's still my favourite though, as I really enjoy the process when I get it right, and it looks amazing, it completely fills the waterline. I'm tempted to do a review on it, to show how amazing it can look, but also how wrong you can get it!
Mascara - BM Flawless Definition Curl and Lengthen Mascara. This is terrible isn't it? It looks like I'm a secret BM mole, but I can assure you, I'm not. I'm just one of those people that jumped on the BM bandwagon a couple months ago, and suddenly had a much larger interest in make up. I'm much more willing to test out other products now than I was a couple months ago, I had such confidence in BM and their ability to make me look nice that it kind of made me reluctant to change something that was working. I've worn this mascara pretty much every day for three months now, and it's just starting to turn and get a bit clumpy, so I'm in the market for a new one I think!
Lipgloss - Ahem… BM Marvelous Moxie in Show Off. I don't think we can get these in the UK yet, the girl in the BM store in the US said that the Moxie glosses were brought out to replace the Buxom ones we get here as there were complaints about the level of tinglyness Buxom caused - people actually said it was painful! I've got a Buxom lipgloss and I would never say it was painful, just a nice tingle, I don't know what they were on about!

Well that's all of my favourite daily make up, it's not a great start as I had hoped to have more variation, but I guess that's something to work towards.

Some links:

Guerlain Eyeliner - House of Fraser
All other make up - BareMinerals

L x

Brand new

Hi there, I'm new. I have no idea if I'm talking to anyone, if anyone is likely to listen, or care about what I have to say. I think I'm ok with that for now. For now I just want to have something to say. A little background first I think.

My name is Libbie and I have a bad track record with blogs. I started one for my art but gave up as I had to get a job and it took all the interesting things I had to talk about regarding art away from me. I then tried to start one for the web design side of things (I'm a web designer by day), but I quickly lost interest in that too. Hopefully, this will be the start of something interesting and fun for me, which should make me more inclined to keep it up. I plan to talk about beauty, skin care, fashion, food, and anything that takes my fancy really. I have no idea if it will last any longer than my previous efforts, but I can only hope.

This is me, I am pretty average, with the exception of my height - I am 5ft 11 and a half.

Tired, make up free and lit up with a screen flash!

I look super tired because I am, it's almost 11 and I just took my makeup off - sorry about that. I am always searching for the perfect solution to my eye bags, untameable hair and occasional spot, so that will probably feature a fair amount in reviewed products!

I've just re-read what I've written so far and come to the conclusion that I sound like a pessimistic arse. I can only apologise, I'm really not. I think I just need to get the hang of talking about myself and not being self deprecating.

The first post I want to do is my favourites - just so anyone who might be out there can get a better idea of me, not just cosmetic wise, but my interests, and hopefully find me interesting.

Anyway, it's time for bed, and I need to think about those favourites....

L x