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.