Hello?  ERM, long time no post! Sorry about that, life kind of got in the way a bit.  But I have a few posts worth of pic saved up for you and so look out for those over the next week or so.  I'm starting with a Face (and outfit) of the day. Well night, technically.  This the makeup I wore for my boyfriend's birthday meal last weekend.

Party makeup season is pretty much here and this kind of fits in well with that. I wanted something glamorous and a bit sparkly too.  So I went for a shimmery smokey eye and classic red lip.  I kept the hair down and with soft waves so it wasn't really the focus.

 

I've been growing my brows out lately and have been going for a fuller look. They need a bit of grooming, but I'm definitely preferring them this way! A bit more unkempt!

 

Full List of products used:

Face

No 7 Instant Radiance Foundation, shade Warm Ivory - CV

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, Shade 2 Light - CV

Pixi Brightening Peach Corrector - CV

Soap & Glory Glow All Out - AV 

Barry M Natural Dazzle Bronzer - V

Revolution Blush Palette, Sugar & Spice - AV

Revolution Setting Spray - AV

Eyes

Limecrime Eyeshadow Helper - V

B. Vivid Eyeshadow in Cinnamon - V

Makeup Geek Eyeshadow, Peach Smoothie, Mocha, Corrupt - CV

Makeup Geek Pigment, shade Insomnia - AV**, applied wet

Lightest shimmery shade from the MUA Undress Me Too palette on the inner corner and the lightest matte shade to highlight the brow bone - AV

Makeup Geek Gel Liner, shade Immortal - CV

Barry M Lash Vegas Fibres Mascara

Kiss Lashes, easy lashes??  Applied with Duo Lash Glue - CV

Anastasia Brow Wiz, Ash Blonde - AV

GOSH Clear Brow Gel - CV

Lips

OCC Anti Feather Pencil - V

Limecrime Velvetine, Red Velvet (I am 99% sure that is what is on my lips!) - V 

**I'm not 100% sure that this pigment is vegan, I thought it was when I purchased but now just awaiting confirmation from MUG! If not, a similar look would be acheiveable with a brown shadow on the lid and a pigment with a teal reflect patted on top (for example, Concrete Minerals pigment in Wicked or Sugarpill's Lumi).

 

I also tried to take an outfit shot, it's a bit rubbish I know, but I LOVE this dress. It's by Cameo Rose and I got it in New Look.  The shoes are from a little cheapy shop that has since closed down sadly. But they are super blingy and high and I love them!

IF YOU'RE STILL READING....

It's almost party season guys, so I'm thinking I'm going to do a series of posts of ideas for party makeup, maybe even pic or little video tutorials of the eye makeup!  What do you think, would you like to see something like this and if so, what type of looks do you want tutorials on??  Let me know in the comments below or come chat to me on social media - links to the right! :)

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

14:02

The Sleek Rio Rio Palette & OCC's Hoochie Lip Tar! Full Face of the Day post today, with a list of all the products I used at the bottom of the page.

On Monday I posted swatches from the latest offering from Sleek and here is the makeup that I created with it this past Saturday.  It was probably a bit much for a birthday party in a friend's garden, but hey... I like to overdo.

I started with a purple lip, using OCC's Hoochie Lip Pencil and the Lip Tar of the same name. I absolutely loved this lip, it's a gorgeous colour!  I did end up changing it though.

Artificial light full face

Artificial light:

 Daylight:

Artificial light

Daylight:

 Daylight full face:

As I mentioned above, I actually ended up changing the lip tar out for another OCC produc; their Stained Gloss in Aurora, because the Hoochie was lovely and would've been great for a night out, but was a bit too much for a garden party! haha.  So here it is with the alternative lip (and a moody face).

And a bonus wet hair/concealer highlighting sexeh face!  Hmmm!

Full list of products used:
Face:
No 7 Superlight Foundation in Calico (CV)
OCC Conceal in R1 (to correct my dark circles) and Y1 (blemishes) (V)
Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in shade 2 Light (under eyes) and 1 Fair (to highlight as in the above dumb selfie! (CV)
SEVENTEEN Skin Wow Liquid Highlighter (CV)
Makeup Revolution Liquid Blush in O' Boy (AV)
Marks and Spencer Autograph loose translucent powder (CV)

Eyes
OCC Conceal in R0 as a base (CV)
Makeup Geek eye shadows in Peach Smoothie & Latte (crease) (CV)
Sleek Rio Rio i-Divine palette, shades: Sao Conrado on the lid & Bossa Nova in the crease. (AV)
GOSH Velvet Touch Pencil in Sky High on the waterline and lower lash line.  I set the lower lash line with a bit of Leme from the sleek palette too. (CV)
Barry M Single eyeshadow in E1 Cream on the browbone (V)
Limecrime Uniliner in Quill (V)
Barry M Lash Vegas Blackest Black with Fibres Mascara (V)
Anastasia Beverley Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Blonde (AV)

Lips
OCC Hoochie Lip Tar & Hoochie Pencil (V)
(& OCC Stained Gloss in Aurora in the alternative pic) (V)

Happy humpday!

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

13:10

So I'm thinking of making Wednesdays a day to post something that I've worn over the last week. Whether it's a face of the day, just a eye or lip of the day, my nails that week or some rad earrings. And I'm kicking off with the makeup that I wore last night to salsa and a mini review of the Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Lip pencils (V).

Firstly, I have 3 of these babies but last night I decided to just take pics with 2 different lip options, as I couldn't decide which one to wear.  So here's a lil pic and a swatch of the ones I have:

Top to Bottom: Shade 3, Shade 5, Shade 1 (look at that, I bought all odd numbers!)

I really like these pencils. REALLY LIKE them. In fact I think there are 5 colours and so I will probably have to go get the other two at some point, because one is very orangey and orange lips are totally fetch this season! (Stop trying to make "fetch" happen?)

They are really lovely, glossy, they go on super smooth and they are nicely pigmented.  They feel really comfortable and also stain the lips a bit so they last a bit longer than a regular gloss.

So here's what I did with them. I decided on a super neutral eye so as not to take the focus off the lips. Then I went and added a tonne of black liner and false lashes! Good one, Sal!  But I digress, a full list of products after the pics.

Option 1, with Shade 1

Lip close up

Option 2 with Shade 5, which is the shade I kept on for salsa. It's a lovely bluey pink and it's really wearable for day or night.

Lip close up

Barry M Gelly Pencils are available from Barrym.com, Superdrug, Boots and some Tescos and cost £4.99 each.

Here's an eyeball close up too

And a full list of the products I used for this look:

Face

No.7 Superlight Stay Perfect Foundation - shade Calico (CV)

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer - shades 1 & 2 (CV)

MeMeMe Blush Me Box - shade Pink (CV)

Sleek Contour Kit - Light (CV)

Marks & Spencer Autograph Invisible Finish Loose Powder - Translucent (CV)

Eyes

Limecrime Eyeshadow helper (V)

B. Vivid Eyeshadow (single) - shade Cinnamon (V)

MUA Matte Palette (CV)

Makeup Geek Gel Liner - shade Immortal (CV)

Eyeko Skinny Brush Mascara (V)

Duo Eyelash Glue (CV)

Random eyelashes from my makeup case that I reused

GOSH Eye Brow Pencil - shade Grey Brown (CV)

Eyeko Brow Gel (V)

Lips 

Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Lip Pencils (V)

As you can see I am not good at taking selfies; in fact most of them make me look like hatchet face! ....

Sorry, I should maybe have put a warning on that!

Happy humpday all.

Love & stuff
Sal xXx

18:57

Can you believe it's March already? Well as February is over I can now share my favourites for February.  I've not done one of these posts before on here (I did do a big 2013 beauty favourites post over on my food blog a while back though) but I love reading them on other blogs / watching favourites videos on youtube, so here's mine.

No 7 Instant Radiance Foundation - £12.50 from Boots (CV)

I've been loving this lately for my everyday foundation. It has SPF 15 and it gives a lovely finish. The coverage is not too much so you can still see your skin through it but it evens out any redness etc. Also, I've found it lasts pretty well even without a primer, on my dryish skin.  I like to apply this with a Real Techniques Buffing Brush, as I think that gives the best finish - even better than my beloved Sigma P80!  One thing I would add, this might possibly flash back in flash photography - not 100% sure on that. I need to test it (SPF can do that!)

Eyeko Brow Gel - £18.00 from Eyeko (V)

OK it's pricey but I think it's gonna last ages and it's awesome! It has just a tiny bit of colour so it should suit everyone and just helps keep my brows in place.  I use it over my Anastasia Brow Wiz Pencil. I also have their Skinny Brush mascara which I LOVE as well - I'll be posting about a bunch of vegan mascaras in the next week or so, so stay tuned for that!

MUA Undressed Palette - £4.00 from MUA (or Superdrug) (AV)

So this is basically an awesome £4, vegan dupe of Urban Decay's Naked Palette. (I never bought the original Naked Palette but I did get Naked 2 as a gift before the whole L'Oreal takeover debacle.) I've been reaching for this a lot lately as the colours are great for blending and finishing off all types of looks from neutral to really colourful. The shadows are surprisingly good quality for such a cheap palette.  Also, the good news is if you don't have Naked 2, they have a dupe for that too, called Undress Me Too. Now if only they'd do an Undress Me 3....!  

ELF High Definition Undereye Setting Powder - £3.95 from ELF (V).

OK so when I first got this after seeing a few youtubers rave about it, I thought it was rubbish. It looks super glittery in the pot and I am not a fan of glitter around the eyes because I have loads of fine lines there!  But I gave it another go and I've really grown to love it. Yes it is a bit glittery but not in a tradition BAM! Glitter kind of way. The sparkles just make your undereye area look brightened and it it's very fine, so it doesn't crease or go cakey. LOVE! I like to apply this with my Real Techniques Setting Brush.

Too Faced La Creme Lipstick - £18 from Beauty Bay (although they're currently showing as £16.20 with free delivery!!) (CV)

I got 2 of these when I was in London (in Debenhams) a while ago and as they were £18 I restrained myself to 2, even though they were a few more that I liked. I love the formula of these and the shine and the packaging - gorgeous. My favourite is Juicy Melons, pictured below, which is a gorgeous corally colour. I also got Marshmallow Bunny which is a lovely baby pink. I will definitely be picking up more of these in the future.

GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliners - £4.99 from Superdrug (CV)

So I posted the recently published GOSH vegan list in my last post and I couldn't wait to try some stuff out. I bought the Renaissance Gold liner first because I love gold in the waterline and I LOVE it. It's really pigmented and very creamy and because they're waterproof they last. I've been looking for a replacement for my NYX Gold Slide on liner because I've been asking them for almost 3 months about what colours are vegan and they just ignore emails, tweets, facebook messages..... bad customer services, NYX! BAD! Anyway I digress.  These liners are great, so I picked up 2 more in Superdrug the other day, because they had an offer on GOSH eye products (2 for a tenner).

Here's a swatch of the ones I have. L-R are Purple Stain, I Sea You and Renaissance Gold. Gorgeous right, definitely gonna have to get more!

Autograph Perfume in Inspire - Full size is 100ml and £16 from Marks and Spencer (CV)

I only have the baby 10ml bottle of this and that was a fiver. I like that you can buy just a purse sized amount of most of M&S' perfumes because sometimes smelling it in store isn't enough; you need to wear it for a few days. And after wearing this for a week or so I definitely will buy the full-size one. It's lovely.  I suck at describing perfumes, so I won't try and instead will cut/paste what M&S say about it:
This modern women's fragrance comes in a contemporary styled bottle. This scintillating fragrance combines top notes of pepper and purple freesia accords. In the middle white heliotrope and jasmine accords go beautifully with hibiscus blossom and rose. Precious cedarwood and sandalwood create a delicate base fragrance, which expresses the essence of feminine beauty

Yeah I know, a bit wanky! But fragrance descriptions usually are. It's lovely anyway. 

Merumaya Melting Cleansing Balm - £14.50 from Merumaya. (AV)

I saw this on a few blogs and was interested as I like the idea of a cleansing balm, but usually they are ridiculously over-priced and not vegan. So when I saw this one was £14.50, had good reviews and checked the ingredients and didn't see anything that appears to be animal based, I decided to give it a go and I love it.  I debated whether or not to include this in my favourites as I've only had it a week or so and skincare products need to be tested a good few weeks. But I love how it melts off all my makeup, including eyeliner, it smells nice and it leaves my skin feeling really clean and very soft. I use a different cleanser in the morning, this one is my current night-time cleanser to remove all that makeup.

Naked Bodycare Rescue Reparing Hair Treatment - £7.99 from Naked (or Boots) (V)

Yes yes I know the picture is a completely different product, to the one linked above, but the tub is the same and I binned the empty Rescue pot before taking a pic as I totally finished it.  The one pictured, I'm not sure they still make it, it's been in our cupboard a while so once I've used it I'll be buying another Rescue Treatment.  But anyway, I try not to wash my hair more than 1-2 times a week as it's colour treated and it just gets even more dry! So I like this to really condition the ends of my hair. It smells lovely and unlike some other 'natural' conditioners, it actually works on my dry hair!  I also love Naked's shampoos and just bought a new one, so maybe that'll be in next month's faves if I like it!

That's all for my February Favourites.  What's been your favourite products this month?

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

11:09