My Everyday Makeup Look

Today I have decided to share with you, what I put onto my face on a daily basis. I don't wear makeup every single day, but when I am going shopping, for a casual day with my friends or running other errands this is the look I will go for. It literally takes me about 10-15 minutes and is super simple to create.

 

  (Sorry I forgot to clean the products before photographing!!)

 

For my face I have recently been using Max Factor Facefinity All Day Flawless, which is a 3 in 1 primer foundation and concealer. The coverage is medium to full and lasts all day on me. My skin doesn't look at all cakey with this, and it blends in easily. I always spend the longest time blending in my foundation (anything up to 5 minutes) to make sure I have a smooth even finish with no harsh lines. I then dot the amazing Collection Lasting Perfection concealer on any blemishes or marks my foundation doesn't cover. After this I use my Sleek Face Form palette, to lightly contour and highlight my cheekbones and add a little bit of colour. This doesn't show up in these pictures because I do it so lightly, I only go for a heavy contour on nights out or other occasion where I like to look more 'done up'.

 

 For my eyes and brows I use the MUA Undress Me Too eyeshadow palette. On my brows I use the shade Lavish which is a perfect match for me. I have severely hit pan on this because I use this constantly instead of my HD Brow Palette that I save for special occasions. On my lids I sweep Wink all over this is a gorgeous shimmery rose gold/bronze colour. In the outer corner and crease I blend in Obsessed a deep brown with shimmer (that doesn't actually show in my swatch). I used to always use black eyeliner on my waterline but I've recently decided to stop doing that, as it can look a bit too heavy and I now just smudge a bit of Obsessed along my bottom lash line. I then use Devotion in the inner corners to make my eyes stand out.

 

 

For my lashes recently I have been swapping and changing the mascara I use on my top lashes to try and decrease the amount of drugstore mascaras I have in my collection. Today I have used the Maybelline Mega Plush Volume Express, which gives me some length and volume but it's not the best I've ever tried. And of course on my bottom lashes I have the Maybelline Big Eyes bottom lash mascara. On my lips I sometimes use a lip balm or gloss, but today I haven't bothered with anything.

 

 

Brush wise I use, Real Techniques Buffing Brush for my foundation, and the Deluxe Crease Brush for concealer. On my cheeks I use the Real Techniques Contour Brush for my contour and blush. And for highlighter I use a Fan Brush from my brush set from my college Beauty Therapy kit. For eyeshadow I use the Crown Brush C417 Chubby Shadow Brush to pack on the colour all over my lid. Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush for the crease and outer corner colour, then Crown Brush C441 Pro Blending Crease to blend the two colours together. For the gold inner corners I use the Real Techniques Fine Liner Brush bringing it down onto my bottom lash line and the Accent Brush for the darker colour on the rest of my lash line. And finally the Brow Brush again from Real Techniques to fill in my brows. Wow that's a lotta brushes for such a minimal makeup look!!

 

 

I hope you like my first ever post showing me actually wearing make up. Any feed back will be greatly appreciated. And next time I will let my hair down for the pictures instead of keeping it up away from my face! I can not believe I forgot my hair was up like that!!

Much Love

Gemma xo.



Manicure Monday

I've been wanting a running weekly feature here on my blog for a while now. And I think this is the perfect one! I've always been a girly girl and loved having my nails painted, but working in Cafés for the last 4 years has meant I had plain boring nails for the majority of the time. Painting them on a Friday or Saturday night then removing it again on Sunday seemed pointless and a waste of time and product, so I only ever did it on the odd few special occasions. Since leaving the Café back in May however I have constantly had my nails painted and thought I'd show you what nail colour I am sporting each week.

 

 

I've been loving have a glitter accent nail recently and this week I went for Barry M 'Princess' from the Royal collection on my ring finger. This is a beautiful baby pink glitter with flecks of silver and gold running through it. And Essie's 'Eternal Optimist' on the other nails. The camera doesn't quite pick up the colour but its a lovely dusky rose pink, that I really do not get enough use from!

 

 

My nails seems to be a lot stronger now I'm not in and out of hot water constantly and using cleaning products all the time. And they have actually been growing really well. I love the look of square nails and once mine grew to a decent enough length I squared them off. I absolutely love how they look and I think these colours really complement my new shape.

 

 

I only have two decent glitter polishes, this one and a Topshop one I featured on my blog a long time ago. All the other ones I seem to come across are chunky and horrible so if you know of any brands that do good glitters like this one, please please let me know! I'd love to try this look with the many other colours I own I just don't have the matching glitters!

Hope you like this new feature.

Much Love

Gemma xo.



What's on my bedside table

I saw many of these posts floating around a few months back and now that I'm back blogging I thought today I would share my version. Here's what I keep on the table next to my bed.

 

It's rather over crowded but I like my little set up. First up we have two gorgeous Yankee Candles, both gifted to me by my lovely boyfriend. The medium sized one is Strawberry Buttercream that he bought me for my birthday, this is really sweet so definitely not for those of you out there that don't like sweet scents, it can get rather sickly after a while. In all honesty it smells like all the other cakey scents they do but with a hint of strawberry, I absolutely love it. The small jar, Black Cherry is one he decided to pick up as a little gift when he got paid this month. It literally smells like cherries and it’s gorgeous. The two of them burning at once smells devine, really fruity and sweet, absolutely perfect for a nice relaxing night.

 

Behind these I have my red Guess glasses, I have two pairs of these, red leopard print ones for when I'm in the house and a nice cream neutral leopard print for when I'm out and about, that I keep in my handbag. Then there's a load of beauty products. On the left hand side I have all my perfumes and other smelly's. I have my Dove roll on deodorant, Chanel Coco Mademoiselle perfume, Elle by YSL perfume, Lady Gaga's perfume, along with a few other bottles, and a ton of testers from beauty boxes, gifts with purchases etc. I've also got a mini L'occitane shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body lotion and soap that I took from a hotel I stayed in (probably shouldn't admit that online but never mind) Then there’s just a few body sprays from Soap and Glory and Lynx. And a room spray from Avon.

 

 

On the right hand side I have all of my skincare products, minus my cleansers and exfoliators that live in the bathroom. My everyday skincare items in here are, my Garnier miscellar water, Nivea eye makeup remover, Liz Earle toner, Clarins HydroQuench moisturiser, La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo +, YSL eye cream and a Clearasil spot cream. I also have a load of others I use from time to time including products from L'occitane, Simple, Nivea, Coola, Monu Spa, L'Oreal and loads more. I really do not know why I have so much. Lastly there is my full size Soap and Glory Hand Food and Heel Genius, and my boyfriend’s No7 moisturiser that I practically forced him to buy and he only ever uses once in a blue moon. Oh and that piece of card you can see with a baby’s head on it. Is my gorgeous invite to my goddaughter's christening, which asks me to be godmother, I intend on keeping it forever.

 

 

So that's what my bedside table looks like; organised chaos. Like the majority of things in my life. Thanks for reading, and if you haven't already done this, I tag you all :)

Much Love

Gemma xo.

My Favourite Lipstick

Hi Beauties, Today I am going to be talking about one of my favourite pieces in my makeup collection. My gorgeous Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet Luminous Matte Lip Colour in La Diva. As you may or may not know I am absolutely obsessed with Chanel, I think it's such an iconic and beautiful brand, and I want nothing more than to own buckets loads of the stuff, including of course a Classic Flap Bag. Unfortunately at the moment my Chanel collection only consists of my all time favourite perfume, Coco Mademoiselle and this lipstick. Let's all pray for a lottery win to buy some more!!

 

 

La Diva is a bright candy pink colour with blue undertones, that has be likened to MAC's Candy Yum Yum. (As I've never owned CYY I can't compare them I'm afraid.) It's definitely the brightest lipstick I own and is absolutely beautiful. I always get worried when purchasing a matte lipstick that it's going to be really drying on my lips, but that isn't the case with this lipstick at all. It's really creamy and doesn't make my lips look dry in the slightest. As long as I exfoliate well before using this it sits really nicely on the lips, settling into a lovely semi matte finish. It lasts for around 5/6 hours, leaving behind a bright pink even stain. If I'm eating however it does tend to wear off easily, starting in the middle then working its way out.

 

 

Chanel Rouge Allure lipsticks retail for £26 but I saved up my Boots points and bought it with them. I did buy this offline without seeing it in person first which was a really massive gamble, but I am so pleased I decided on this one because it really is gorgeous. I did a lot of research into this beforehand and knew it would be prefect for me, and it is a very welcome edition to my ever growing lipstick collection. And will be the start of a Chanel makeup addiction I'm sure.

I'm so happy to be back blogging and I am hope you guys are too. Thank you very much for reading, and I'll speak to you soon.

Much Love

Gemma xo.