The Perfect Nude Lip

I recently picked up a new lip liner the other day from Rimmel, which is the first lip liner I've owned. I chose the shade Spice which is a warm toned brown shade. I was expecting the lip liner to be drying, but it really wasn't it had a matte finish, but it wasn't drying at all. As long as you moisturise you're lips before hand, i like to use my Nivea balms as they always work for me. Then I apply the lip liner all over my lips, firstly doing the outline and then filling them in. You could leave it here, the colour of the liner is very wearable on its own, but I like to go in with a lipstick. I usually use the MAC Blankety lipstick on top. Together they create the perfect nude lip and it lasts a long time as the lip liner makes sure it lasts long.

What's your favourite nude lip combination?

Beauty Favourites of 2015

Firstly, let me just say Happy New Year to you all! It's been a bit of an on and off year in terms of blogging for me, but that hasn't stopped me from finding some great beauty products throughout the year. Today's post is a yearly round up of my favourite products from 2015 - and what a great year it has been!

Starting with the base products, this year has been a new discovery of the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum. I finally bought it after hearing so many good things about it, and I have to say its an amazing foundation. I've also loved the Maybelline Baby Skin primer as it makes my makeup last a really long time, it also smells great which is a bonus. The Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer has been my favouirte concealer of 2015, it gives a brightening and glowy finish. The powder I've been using has been the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder. As always, my favourite brushes have been the Real Technique Brushes, the ones in the photo are the Multi-Tasking and Buffing Brush. Bronzer-wise, one of my favourites has been the Stila Bronzer, it's subtle and natural which I like.

I don't know how I ever used any other eyebrow product before I used the Soap and Glory Brow Archery, it's incredible. It is so simple to use which makes filling in eyebrows so easy. The best eyeshadow palette of 2015, for me, has been the W7 In the Nude palette, which is a dupe for the Naked 3 Palette. Although the pigmentation isn't as good quality, the shades are very pretty and wearable. I also recently discovered an amazing mascara, its the Maybelline Lash Sensational. My eyelashes are so curly and defined when I use this.

I have 3 lip favourites for 2015. The first one is MAC Patisserie, this is the most perfect lipstick as it is such a natural every day shade. The next lipstick is the L'Oreal Colour Riche in JLo's Nude, this again is the perfect nude shade. I have also loved the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Nudist, the formula of these are incredible.

What have been your Beauty Favourites for 2015?

Products That Need More Love

While rummaging through my makeup collection, I found some products which I just haven't used enough. It's not that they're bad products, but they just were never one of my ultimate favourites. So I thought I would put all the products together and maybe this would encourage me to use them more.

Starting with the Maybelline Gel Eyeliner, I'm not really an eyeliner wearing person, I find it doesn't suit my eyes that nicely and looks to heavy. But this pot eyeliner is really lovely and I have been tying to use it more, the brush it came with is not particularly the best, but it works anyway. I will say that make sure you keep the lid tight as it may dry out otherwise. Saying this, I have another eyeliner as well which is the Collection Fast Stroke Eyeliner. This one is a bit easier to use as it is a liquid one, but I find this one more heavy as the colour is a lot more intense.

A brush which I don't really use that much is the Real techniques Stippling Brush. This brush is really amazing for blending in face makeup, but it is a bit more time consuming which is why I don't use it as often.

Onto the lip products, I have chosen the Revlon Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie, Rimmel Kate Moss 101 and the Collection Lip Butter in Vintage Rose. I don't really have a valid why these aren't really used as much. I guess the shades are a bit different from my usual go-to lip choices. 

Another Maybelline product, which is the Maybelline Colour Tattoo in On and On Bronze. This is such an amazing product and it's a shame that I never use it as much, I actually think it's beginning to dry out on the top which can't be good! But the colour is actually really pretty and I am definitely going to try and use it more.

Last but probably not least as I am sure there are more products which don't get enough love from me. This is the Sleek Blush in Pixie Pink, I remember I used to love this blush so it definitely is a shame that I don't use it as much. The colour is so gorgeous, even though it looks bright it can be toned down a bit. Plus Sleek blushes are so pigmented and definitely worth getting!

Its a shame that I don't use these products as much as I should because they really all are lovely makeup pieces. Are there any products that you think need a bit more love?

Autumn Makeup Edit // Burnt Orange

Although the most typical autumn makeup look is the dark lipsticks, I think burnt orange is a really nice trend for this autumn, I went for a brown toned nude lipstick and also orangey brown on the eyes. Something quite different about the products I used, was I actually used a bronzer as an eyeshadow to get that orange/brown tone. I think it actually works really well and I will definitely wear it as an eye shadow more often.

I primed my face using the Benefit Porefessional and then applied the Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation because recently my skin has been quite bad so I need a bit of extra coverage. I concealed my blemishes with the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer and then set all my make-up with the Rimmel Stay Matte.

I wanted a pop of colour on my cheeks, but I didn't want to use a pink shade which could clash with the orange toned eyes. So I used an orange blush from the Barry M Starry Eyed Palette, this shade really reminds me of pumpkins and Halloween! I then took the bronzer, which I also used on my eyes, which is the Stila Sun Bonzing Powder, and bronzed/ contoured my face a little bit.

I always do my eyebrows before my eyeshadow, no particular reason its just a habit. I used my new favourite Soap and Glory Brow Archer which I did a review on here . Onto the eyeshadow, I loaded my brush, I used the Real Technique Domed Shadow Brush, with the Stila Bronzer and patted that onto my lids, also blending it through the crease. I think it gives the eyes a really subtle colour without being too orange. I also applied a little bit on my lower lash line. The mascara I used was the Soap and Glory Thick and Fast.

The lipstick I used was a brown/nude shade, I wanted it to compliment the eyes. So I used the Estee Lauder lipstick in Barely Nude. Its definitely more of a dark nude lipstick but I think dark nudes are really suitable for autumn!

Soap and Glory Brow Archery

Recently I picked up a new eyebrow product from Boots and it is the Soap and Glory Archery. I got it in the shade Brownie Points because that was the only brown shade, which I was a little disappointed about as there was only 2 shades. But my first impression definitely has to be the packaging - it is slim and practical and the box was also really nice with the whole colour co-ordination going on.

On one side of the product is a 'precision shaping pencil' but it is basically a very fine felt tip. On the other side is the 'brow tint' which is a crayon-like product which twists up. I do have to say though, the amount of product in the crayon/wax side is a little bit disappointing as I feel like I might go through this very quickly. When I was buying this I was expecting to prefer the felt tip, but after using it for a while I definitely prefer the crayon side.

The crayon is very easy to apply and is very natural, which is something that I was looking for. Although if you tested it on your hand it does come out quite faint, when you apply it onto your brows, it does actually come out pigmented, but not too strong to make it obvious you have filled your brows in. The wax on the other hand, is a lot more pigmented so I have to be a bit more careful when I use this side. However as it has a very thin nib, this comes in handy when you just want to define very carefully. The colour of the product is a little bit too brown and red-toned for me, I would prefer a more ash-toned brown as that would suit my eyebrows more.

But overall I am really happy with the purchase of this product, and I would recommend it to you if you are looking for a brow product, it is so easy to use and I really like using it do define my brows. I think next time I will just buy the original Brow Archery which, I think, only contains the crayon and not the felt-tip as it is cheaper and I don't really use the felt tip too often.