Another Obsession: Highlighters

If you looked at my makeup collection, you would see I have 3 main weakness, lipstick, eyeshadow palettes and highlighters. The most recent of them weaknesses would definitely be highlighters, I can't seem to stop buying them lately. And today I thought I'd share them all with you.

In the drugstore category I have one single highlight, MUA's Undress Your Skin and two palettes, the Sleek Solstice palette and Makeup Revolution's Highlight palette. I have to admit I very rarely reach for these as I tend to favour my high end ones. But after getting them out again and swatching them, I think I will be making an effort to use them more. All of them are really well pigmented for such affordable products, and look lovely when applied. The Sleek palette has four shades in it, a cream champagne pink shade, a pink/purple baked powder highlight, a yellow toned powder and a bronze baked powder. All of them are amazingly pigmented and look gorgeous on the skin. This palette is getting a lot of attention at the minute because Jaclyn Hill has recently talked about it, and I completely understand the hype. I've loved this palette ever since I bought it last year when it was released. My second palette is from Makeup Revolution and is the one that I very rarely reach for, although pigmented in my swatches these powders take a lot of building up on my face and I can never be bothered to use it. In it there is a pink a peach and a yellow/gold highlight. Lastly is the very first highlighter I bought, MUA's Undress your skin its a beautiful well pigmented pink toned highlight that I just don't reach for enough. I adored this when I first got it but like I've said these ones have unfortunately been neglected for my more expensive highlighters.

sleek solstice: ecliptic, hemisphere, sub solar, equinox, makeup revolution: golden lights, peach lights, pink lights, mua: undress your skin.

High end wise I have 5 single highlighters, my one cream highlighter is Benefits, Watts Up this one is a mini from a Benefit set I got, and if I'm honest I've only used it once, I don't really get a long with cream products. Next is the first high end highlighter that I got, which can also be used as a blusher. This is Dior's Rose Diamond and it is still one of my favourite products. This gradients from a lovely white pearly highlight to a pink blush, all the colours can be used separately or swirled together depending on what kind of look you are going for. It transfers onto the skin quite sheerly but leaves you with a lovely subtle glow. Another hyped up product is The Balm's Mary Lou Manizer, the pigment on this is amazing its a gorgeous champagne gold and it looks amazing on the skin, a little goes a long way with this so I can imagine it will last me a long time. Lastly I have two Becca highlights, and these were both 100% purchased because of Jaclyn Hill. First is her collaboration with Becca, Champagne Pop a gorgeous champagne highlight that shows up quite bronzey on me but still looks lovely. And secondly Pearl, this was released in the Christmas palette from Becca and I was devastated that I missed out on it. It's a pale girls dream highlight, a stunning white 'pearl' shade. Being the massive Jaclyn Hill fangirl that I am, I was over the moon when I found out these beauties were permanently being sold in the UK and I bought them both a few days after their releases. These highlighters are by far the best I own, extremely pigmented, long wearing and the softest powders I have ever come across, even my Real Techniques Duo Fibre brushes have made marks in these! Again a little goes a long with Pearl and Champagne Pop so they will last me forever (if they don't break beforehand with their amazing texture)

benefit watts up, dior rose diamond, the balm mary lou manizer, becca pearl, becca champagne pop

So thats my extensive highlighter collection, more shimmer and glow than any girl will need in a lifetime, but I can guarantee I will add plenty more to it. Next up on the hitlist is definitely Anastasia's Glow Kits they look amazing!
Have you got any must have highlighters for me to try, and what are your makeup weaknesses? Let me know :)
Much Love 

Gemma xo.

My Lip Combo Of The Moment

I have been making a conscious effort recently, to change up my make up looks on a daily basis to get through the hoards of eyeshadow palettes that I have. One thing that always stays the same though is my lip combo, as I have the most perfect one for everyday use, or a night out for that matter.

I was drawn to Rimmel's Exaggerate Lip Liner in Eastend Snob (£3.99) from the minute, I saw Amelia Liana say that it was a dupe for her favourite liner from Charlotte Tilbury, Lip Cheat in Pillowtalk. I have since gone through two tubes of it, because I am in love. It is literally the most perfect liner, creamy in consistency, which has led to me snapping it a fair few times whilst applying :( It glides on the lips likes a dream, is amazingly pigmented and although matte, doesn't dry out the lips what so ever. It is a gorgeous mauve pink shade that is perfect for that still, ever so popular Kylie Jenner lip. 

To tone down the matte from Eastend Snob, I go over it with MAC's High Stung (£15.50) this is a frost lipstick from MAC, that is absolutely my most worn lipstick in my whole collection. It is a rosy pink shade with silver shimmer running throughout it. Once again this has a great texture, nice and creamy and glides on the lips with ease. Paired with Eastend Snob it is an absolutely dream. A gorgeous mauve pink with a beautiful shimmery twist on the Kylie Jenner lip trend. This is my absolute go to combo for the moment and I can't see myself moving away from it anytime soon. Weather I am out with my baby, running errands, going to work or even out on date nights or with my girls, I always find myself coming back to this pair. And although it isn't anything extravagant or eye catching, if I am ever unsure of what lip colour to wear this is a fail safe way to give my makeup look that extra something.

What are your favourite lip combos at the minute?

Much Love,

Gemma xo.

Manicure Monday

Hi girls, I'm back with another Manicure Monday for you guys today.

I thought I would go for something really girly for my nail colour this week. And this one from Revlon called Fuchsia Fever is just perfect, its a really bright highlighter pink, that is great for the spring/summer months. I've never actually used any Revlon nail polishes before, I got this one sometime last year in a Scholl Velvet Smooth Express Pedi set, and I have only just got round to using it! Which means I can't really give an opinion on it, but so far so good. I've had this on for a day now and there is no signs of chipping (trust me when I say thats really good for me) and I only had to use one coat for full coverage of the nail. It doesn't streak at all and goes on really easily. Drying time was also really good, my nails were dry within 5 to 10 minutes and I was able to carry on with my day without worrying about any chipping. Depending on how well they last on my nails, I might just purchase a few more of these polishes.

Much Love,

Gemma xo.

Mulberry Zip Around Purse

Hello again my lovelies, kind of a different one today. I have a purse to show you, and not just any old purse either, oh no, I have my first ever designer purse *squeals and does a happy dance*. A gorgeous Mulberry off my extremely generous boyfriend.

The purse is a Zip Around Wallet in Black Deep Embossed Croc Print and comes in at a whopping £325. It comes in a gorgeous small grey box embossed with a gold Mulberry logo and is wrapped in white tissue paper with Mulberry Trees printed all over it. The attention to detail with this purse is outstanding, even down to the packaging it comes in.

The purse has gold toned hardware and is made from a lovely soft vegetable tanned black leather, that has been 'deeply embossed' (hence the name) to create a beautiful crocodile skin effect. It's not something I would have picked out for myself, but as always my boyfriend got it exactly right and I fall more and more in love with it everyday. I swear that guy knows me far better than I know myself. The zip around is as far as I am aware Mulberry's largest purse, with 12 card slots, a zip compartment for change and 5 slip compartments, 3 in the main section and one behind each lot of card slots. Its absolutely perfect for me because I have so many store cards etc that I don't usually have enough slots for, in any purses that I buy. In this one though, I actually have one spare slot. I am also a hoarder of recipets which again this purse would be perfect for but I intend on changing and not keeping as many, so I don't stretch the leather. I am determined to make this purse last and I want it looking its best for as long as it possibly can. As expected with a designer purse every single thing is perfect and so well made. Every stitch is immaculate and I love how subtle it is, there are no huge Mulberry logos on it, instead there are small ones dotted around the purse, the biggest being the gold Mulberry plaque on the front of the purse. There is then another logo stamped inside the purse on the very back compartment. And finally the word Mulberry is etched into the gold zipper.

As you can probably tell, I am so in love with this purse and am beyond grateful to own it. I have a very amazing boyfriend thats for sure! I literally can't stop looking at it and my love for designer goods has just intensified, and let me tell you I was a lover of them long before owning this. I am now doing even more research than ever, into my next big purchase either a Louis Vuitton or Givenchy handbag.

Much Love,

Gemma xo.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Lustrous Lip Gloss Set

As soon as I saw this Anastasia lipgloss set online, I was dying to get my hands on it. But as far as I was aware it was a limited edition Christmas set that would never make its way over to the UK. To my surprise one morning though I had a 'new releases' email from Beauty Bay in my inbox and this was in it. So quick as a flash I bought it, in fear that it would sell out at any minute. 

This set cost £33 and contains 8 lip glosses, some shimmery and some creamy but all very highly pigmented. Gilded is a true golden colour that is full of gold shimmer. I probably wouldn't wear it alone as it really doesn't suit my fair skin, but I am going to pair it up with a few lipsticks to see what kind of colour I can create. Dainty is one of the cream finishes in the set and is a very light baby pink that is fully opaque in one swipe, it looks more peachy than pink on me but it is lovely all the same. Sunset Strip is described as an orange pink shimmer, but on me it is quite a sheer shimmery pink that takes a bit of building for a strong colour, but for a quick wash of pink shimmer one coat is all I need. Metallic Rose is a beautiful rose mauve with shimmer which reminds me of the gloss version of MAC's High Strung lipstick. Weekend Barbie is a total 'me' colour a bright cool toned fuchsia pink with shimmer, which I absolutely love. The name is very appropriate as it is just the gloss you would expect Barbie to wear, and it is a perfect weekend colour. Next is Date Night which is a gorgeous raspberry red with shimmer, again very highly pigmented and looks gorgeous on. Socialite is another red, this time it is a true red and has a cream finish, but again very pigmented and cool toned just like Date Night. Lastly is Black Cherry and I absolutely love this shade. It is a dark plum cream finished gloss and it looks amazing on the lips. Even though we are slowly getting into the warmer months I am still loving the winter trend of deep lip colours.

gilded, dainty, sunset strip, metallic rose, weekend barbie, date night, socialite, black cherry

So as I have continuously said all of these shades are very pigmented and look great on the lips. I think I will get a lot of use out of them all, except for maybe Gilded and Dainty that may take a slight back seat, until I can figure out a way to make them more wearable for me. But for someone that never really buys lipgloss I am so glad I got my hands on this little set. I don't think I will need to buy anymore glosses for a good while, as I have all I will ever want or need right here. Wear time on these all vary but on average I get 2 to 3 hours wear and a few of them leave a stain on lips after they have wore off. If your a lipgloss lover and can still track this down somewhere I would recommend you pick it up asap.

Much Love,

Gemma xo.

Manicure Monday

I have decided to kick off the 'blog series' that I started last time I was blogging. And as I started back at work today, I thought it was the perfect time to do so. I have a full drawer of nail polish that very rarely ever see the light of day, which is really sad. So from now on I am actively trying to use them all and make my nails look all pretty again.

I have decided to use one of the latest editions to my collection, one of my Christian Louboutin nail polishes. I have 4 of these and I absolutely love them all. This one, Rouge Louboutin, is the classic red shade, that is found on the bottom of all Louboutin shoes. It is an absolutely gorgeous true bright red colour, and I want a pair of Louboutins even more now that I have seen what the colour of the soles are like.

this label was horrendous to photograph because of the black glass on the bottle, sorry!

In the picture above I have only used one coat and the colour is completely opaque, which I think is amazing. At £36 these are pretty expensive nail polishes and you definitely do pay for the name, but I love them. The pigmentation is really good and I don't even need to talk about the packaging do I?! It is so extravagant and amazing! The longevity however isn't the best but no nail polish AT ALL lasts well on me, I think I need to invest in some new base and top coats to solve this issue, or maybe just stop doing so much housework ;)

Much Love, 

Gemma xo.

Addicted to Lush

I am absolutely OBSESSED with Lush. And over the past few months I have gained quite the collection that I have decided to share with you today. Enjoy.

As most girls I love nothing more than a relaxing Lush bath, but with a (nearly)10 month old I don't really get much time to actually have a bath as often as I would like. Which has resulted in my collection growing considerably recently, with all the new releases.

I'll start with the less exciting products that I have. The popcorn lip scrub is great at scrubbing away dry skin on the lips and smells good enough to eat (who am I kidding? that's like a lot of Lush products) Shower wise, I have eventually added a 250g of The Comforter Shower Cream, to my collection. I adore The Comforter Bubble Bar so when they brought out a shower cream version I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. My friend bought me a Lush set for Christmas and it contained the Santa's Belly Shower Jelly which I loved so much that I bought another one in the Boxing Day sales. I also bought the Snow Fairy Shower Gel in the sales, and if I am 100% honest I was a little disappointed with the smell of it. Don't get me wrong I do love it but it was completely different from what I expected from the years of hype that it has got.

Bath Bombs now, probably Lush's most popular and well known products. 2 of these are ones I have had before and all the others are brand new to me. Dragons Egg is a repurchase of mine and I absolutely love it, it has a gorgeous sweet fruity smell and is filled with multicoloured pieces. The Experimenter was the one product I was so excited about when Lush released a ton of brand new products last year for their Oxford Street store, I got this in the Boxing Day sales too, in their 'Firecracker' gifts. The smell isn't my usual as it is very musky, but still very nice and I can't wait to see it fizz away in my bath. Below that we have Cinders another cult favourite that I picked up in the sales as a back up for the one I already had at the time, I LOVE the smell of this one, its really spicy and warm because of the cinnamon and I wish it was available all year round. The biggest bomb I have at the minute is Which Came First, this is one of the newest releases from Lush in their Easter Collection, this is a sweet smelling 3 in 1 bath bomb, which when you break in half holds a cute little chick inside it, again this is one I can't wait to use. Next is another limited edition one, this time for Valentines Day, Lover Lamp is a white bath bomb with red love hearts in it, this has been described as smelling like chocolate orange, because of the citrus oils and cocoa butter, personally I can't smell that but it is delicious all the same. Another one from the Firecracker set is Intergalactic which is another amazingly coloured one that I can't wait to pop in the bath. Lastly is Sex Bomb which is one that most people have tried but I have only just got round to it, its quite a floral smelling product but I love it. Instead of being over powering like a lot of floral products, it is quite light and sweet.

And finally, my favourite products from Lush, these are all my Bubble Bars. I've not actually used any of these before, so I unfortunately can't comment on how much you should use or how bubbly they make the bath. Pink Flamingo is one of the cutest products I have had from Lush, this a sweet smelling reusable bubble bar that you can swirl in your bath, time and time again to create beautiful bubbles. Candy Mountain is the final product from the Firecracker set that I have, this is a really girly sweet 'candy' smelling bubble bar. My one and only Bubbleroon is Rose Jam, I think these are just like bubble bars but shaped like macaroons? Please correct me if I'm wrong. As you can imagine this smells like roses and is gorgeous, I'm not one for floral scents but I love this. Granny Takes A Dip is so nice to look at with all them crazy colours, I can't wait to see what this looks like in the bath, the smells is amazing too. Unicorn Horn was again from the Valentines range and is another beautiful one to look at with its pastel rainbow colours. Bunch of Carrots are from the Easter range and are deliciously sweet and look really cute. Ladybird is another really cute one shaped like a little Ladybird (obviously) It is another really sweet sugary smelling product, which if you can't tell are my favourite scents from Lush, as there is a continued sweet theme throughout my collection.

So as you can tell I am a complete Lush Addict, to some this collection maybe tiny, but to others very excessive. But like I say with only getting to have a relaxing bath every now and again, and continually buying from limited collections, my stash has grown so much since Christmas. I am thinking a Lush ban is definitely needed for the minute, so I can make a hole in this lovely lot before getting more. As always I hope you liked this post and will stick around for the ones in the future. I have big plans for this blog and intend to carry on for a long time.
Much Love,
Gemma xo.

Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Blush Palette

I am a huge fan of the Urban Decay eyeshadow palettes, but for some reason I have never ventured into any of their other products until now. I fell in love with the Gwen Stefani blush palette the minute the first pictures of it were released and I knew it was something I HAD to add to my collection. So on a recent trip to Newcastle with my other half, I eventually purchased it and have absolutely fell in love with it since.

Housed in a white and gold palette, are 6 beautiful blush shades ranging from a light barbie pink, a bronzer to a champagne highlight. First up we have Cherry a light cool toned pink that has a very slight sheen to it. Easy is my favourite of the bunch, a gorgeous deep rose pink with golden shimmer. The highlighter in the palette is a true champagne colour packed with shimmer. There is also a bronzer thrown in there too Lo-Fi, it is a completely matte medium brown and although it is slightly on the orangey side it is still a lovely shade. That I can get away with using, to warm up my complexion. Hush is another rosy pink that actually shows up as more of a shimmery brown shade on me. OC is the sheerest of them all that took a lot of building up in my swatch. It's a coral shade with a beautiful pink sheen to it. I just wish that it was a bit more pigmented as I've really been wanting a shade like this in my collection.

All in all I really like this palette and although some of the shades could do with a bit more pigmentation, I do think that for once I will actually use every one of them. All the colours blend really well and wear for about 6-8 hours. I think it would be the perfect travel companion because it has everything you need for on the cheeks and is something everyone needs in their make up collection. It seems to be sold out everywhere at the minute except Selfridges, and costs £35.

Much Love, 

Gemma xo.

MAC Lipstick Collection

Hi everyone first things first, apologies for not blogging throughout my pregnancy as promised! The whole thing seemed to pass by in the blink of an eye, and as usual life got on top of me and I never found the time to blog. But once again I'm back, this time with a brand new laptop and camera and I am raring to get my blogging game back on track. To ease myself back into this, I thought I'd start with a relatively simple one, and share with you my MAC Lipstick collection. I love reading this type of blogpost and although my collection is pretty small I hope you like reading about it none the less.

from top, left to right - new york apples, girl about town, lady danger, up the amp, candy yum yum, rebel, show orchid, high strung.

I think I bought my first MAC Lipstick about 4 years ago and my collection has slowly been growing ever since then. I love each and every one that I own and have many, many more on my 'to buy' list. I currently own 8 shades and have 4 different finishes, matte, satin, amplified and frost. I really like all the different finishes but 'amplified' is definitely my favourite, because they are so pigmented yet very creamy and easy to wear.

So onto the collection itself. First up is 'Show Orchid' which although isn't my most worn shade I think its my favourite. It's a gorgeous bright fuchsia pink with blue running through it with a lovely pearlescent finish to it making it slightly on the shimmery side. 

Girl About Town, was my first ever MAC lipstick and back then was the brightest lipstick I had, now however it seems quite dull in comparison to some of my other shades. Just like Show Orchid, Girl About Town is another bright fuchsia pink with blue undertones, but its slightly dark and less shimmery, still very beautiful and highly pigmented.

My last amplified lipstick is Up The Amp, a lovely pinky purple shade, which again has cool undertones, that make your teeth look nice and white. It is a very creamy lipstick that glides on easily and wears for a good 3 or 4 hours on me.

My only satin lipstick is the very well known and much loved Rebel, a deep violet colour that is very pinky on my lips. I always imagined Rebel to be a very deep purple, so I was quite disappointed when it turned out so pink on me, but to get that deep look I desired, I pair it with Sleeks lipliner in Venom, which makes it a gorgeous vampy plum colour.

Next are my two frost finishes, High Strung is definitely my most worn lipstick out of my collection, as it is so wearable for everyday. It is a gorgeous rosy pink with a silver shimmer to it, which makes it look slightly metallic which I love. For an everyday basis I pair this with Rimmels Eastend Snob lipliner, for a shimmery version of the cult 'Kylie Jenner lip'.

New York Apple is a gorgeous red with raspberry shimmer and it is another of my favourites. Although shimmery this is a very pigmented lipstick and lasts for around 4 to 5 hours. I wore this on Christmas Day and it was perfect for the festive season, although I do still put it on every now and again, now we are into the Spring/Summer season.

This next lipstick, Candy Yum Yum is one that I absolutely love but I haven't actually wore yet, as it is so matte it settles into every nook and cranny and my lips have just not been in the best condition for it as of late. Candy Yum Yum is another firm favourite with MAC lovers, it is a beautiful bright barbie pink that will look perfect in summer.

Finally I have Lady Danger and although this is another matte it doesn't settle into lines like Candy Yum Yum does and is very creamy, so I have worn this much more. Its is a beautiful orangey red which is again perfect for summer.

show orchid, girl about town, up the amp, rebel, high strung, candy yum yum, lady danger

So that's my MAC lipstick collection, sorry for the lack of lip swatches, but as I've said my lips aren't in a great condition at the minute so they would not be nice to look at, at all. Hopefully that nice arm shot is good enough for you and you can get a rough idea of what each shade looks like. Thank You for reading and I hope you enjoyed my first post back.

Much Love 

Gemma xo.