High End Make Up Haul

Hi Everyone. Back with a haul for you today. These are the more expensive make up bits I have purchased over the past few months.

Benefit Cheeky Sweet Spot 

I absolutley adore this product! It was part of Benefits Christmas Collection and I was lucky enough to get the very last one on the House Of Fraser website after hunting everywhere for it. It contains 6 very generous sized blushers, Dandelion, Bella Bamba, Sugarbomb, Hoola (Bronzer), Coralista and Rockateur. A 1.5g sample of Watts Up Highligher and a teeny tiny brush. All for the amazing prize of just £29.50. The Rockateur blush in here is actaully full size and would cost £23.50 alone so you can see just how great value for money this product really is. I know you can't get hold of it anymore but I couldn't not share it with you all.

MAC Studio Fix Fluid

Next up is a old favourite of mine, MAC's Studio Fix Fluid in NC15. I used to swear by this foundation but haven't actually purchased one for a number of years now. The coverage is excellent and the staying power is one of the best I have come across. Many people find this foundation too heavy and cakey but for my combination skin it is just right. The pump is actually one I bought a few years back hence why it looks so grubby but it works, so why buy a new one right? I bought this in the Selfridges sale for around £19 the price it was when I first started buying it!

Urban Decay Naked 2

   

I seem to be working my way backwards when it comes to the Urban Decay Naked Palettes. I started with Naked 3, I then decided this one was a must buy and I'm sure I will eventually purchase the original to complete the collection. Naked 2 is the more cool toned of the 3 palettes and suits my pale complexion perfectly. Since buying this, the 3rd palette which I absolutely adored has well and truely taken a back seat, and rarely sees the light of day. This one is much more wearable and is by far my favourite out of the 2. No.3 is definitely a speacial occasion kinda palette nowadays.

MAC 217

 

It's about time I got my hands on this blogger favourite. Gorgeously soft and perfect for blending eye shadow, I definitely understand the hype now. This brush is an absolute gem. Although I am rather disappointed of how wispy some of the bristles seem to have gone after a few washes, a few of them now point in different directions instead of being nice and straight. Very disappointing for the price of this little thing but I love it all the same, I'm just praying it doesn't get any worse.

The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer

Another firm blogger favourite, The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer is officially one of my favourite highlighters. Its the most perfect champagne highlight that looks great on my pale skin. It's super pigmented, you really only need a tiny touch of this to add a lovely glow to the face. This is going to last me a very long time. I'm still yet to even make a dent in it.

MAC Show Orchid & Rebel. YSL Rouge Pur Couture Le Mats 207

Last but certaintly not least, 3 beautiful lipsticks that I'm sure you have all heard of. MAC's Show Orchid is a very vivid fuschia pink with a somewhat blueish shimmer running through it. It is amazingly pigmented and I am so happy to finally own it after MAC made Pro Products more readily available to us here in the UK, once again I am in love! MAC Rebel is another much hyped product and once again for great reason. As with all MAC lipsticks I own the pigmentation is great and you only need one quick swipe for great colour pay off, and built up it is even more stunning. Rebel is a gorgeous berry colour that leans more towards pink on my lips. It is nothing like this picture that makes it look almost black, my apologies for that. And finally YSL Rouge Pur Couture Le Mats in 207 is a very on trend lipstick shade at the minute. Which I 100% purchased because I saw the beautiful Amelia Liana raving about it. It's a lovely dusky rose colour and is perfect for mimicing Kylie Jenner's famous 90's style pout. Although this is a matte shade it is not drying at all, it glides on and sits on the lips perfectly and feels like any other lipstick. Staying power is excellent and I very rarely need to top this up.

As you can tell I have been treating myself quite a lot since getting my new job and these are the more expensive picks from the bunch.

I hope you are all having a lovely day and enjoyed this post. Please do let me know of any posts you would like to see here on my blog as I am just getting back into the swing of things and would appreciate any ideas you may have.

Much Love Gemma 

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.

March Favourites

Hi ladies, Every time I do a favourites post I always say to myself, next month I'll post this before the second week of the month but I just can't seem to do that so here I am on the 8th April eventually telling you the products I was loving in the month of March.

My first favourite product is an extremely popular one from Soap & Glory -

 

Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub - I had been after this product for such a long time after hearing so much about it on blogs and falling in love with the scent on a trip to Boots. For months I pondered over weather to buy it or not, but never did! Eventually back in February I bought it, although I didn't use it til last month. I absolutely fell in love with it after the first use. The smell is even more amazing with use, its a gorgeous mix of brown sugar and lime, that for some reason reminds me of Coca Cola. It also does a fantastic job of exfoliating your skin leaving it super soft and smooth.

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo - When I bought the Sugar Crush Scrub I also purchased the infamous Effaclar Duo, that has been dubbed as the must have product for problematic skin. I won't go into too much detail, as I am planning on dedicating a full post to this product. But it really did start to work for me last month and has become a staple in my skincare routine.

And finally my favourite makeup items from March

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine in Lychee - I love the new Gelly Hi-Shine formula from Barry M. They are fully opaque in 1 or 2 coats and are super shiny without the use of a topcoat. Lychee was my first colour from the range and I love it. Whenever I wore nail polish in March (if your a regular reader of my blog you will know that this isn't actually very often) this is the one I chose, its a beautiful beige nude that works well even with my super pale skin tone. You can read my review of this here!

Nivea Raspberry Rose Lip Butter - As you may or may not know I love anything Raspberry flavoured/scented and this is no exception! I bought this on a whim one day and have been using it most days ever since. The smell is gorgeous. And the formula is lovely and creamy that leaves my lips really soft. It isn't as good as my Carmex lip balm but when my lips are slightly dry I apply this to give them back a bit of moisture. It also slighty tints my lips a very light pink which looks really nice on days where I don't want to wear a lipstick.

YSL Volume Effect Faux Clis Mascara - I have been using this mascara constantly since I got it and it's my favourite out of all the mascaras I have tried so far. Although it's on the pricey side it is really good. It gives amazing length and volume to the lashes and looks fantastic on a night out without the need for false eyelashes. If you would like a more in depth review, feel free to ask!

Once again I actually found it really difficult to come up with a decent amount of products to feature in this post. Because I really haven't been finding any new products that really take my fancy. I hope you enjoyed reading about these 5 little gems though.

Sorry for the lateness again.

Much Love Gemma xo.



Instagram Post #5

Hi Lovelies, My head really hasn't been into blogging recently so I apologise for my severe lack of posts recently. Hopefully I'm back with regular posting from now on. I have a few posts I'm hoping to get up today and a lot more up my sleeve, So lets hope I have the motivation to write them all and keep your eyes peeled.

Here's a look at my Instagram recently to ease me back into blogging :)

First up the YSL Mascara Set I got from Debenhams a few weeks back. I love it! Tesco Express opened on my street last month and I went straight out and got myself some delicious cupcakes! I buy the Cookies & Cream ones all the time now, they are gorgeous! The best chocolate from the box my boy bought me for Valentines Day! It was huge, had bits of Raspberry in it and was white and pink chocolate, perfectly amazing! For anyone that thinks Pole Dancing is 'sexy' and whatever else, NO! your wrong, it bloody hurts and I often come home with bruises, this massive one (the size of my hand) appeared after an hours lesson trying to learn a new move! I'd been dying to recieve this Boots order for over a week, I was far too excited when it arrived. I eventually bought some of the new effects polishes from Barry M, a textured in Kingsland Road and Gelly Hi Shine in Lychee when they were on 2 £6 in Superdrug. The array of different brands I use on my everyday face! I never realised I used so much until I put them altogether for this photo. My new obsession, Old El Paso spicy chicken fajitas, we use the Extra Mild kit and I add lettuce cheese and sour cream and herbs sauce to mine, definitely my favourite food at the minute! A few weekends ago me and my boyfriend stayed at my Auntie's house while she was away, to look after her cats. I took countless pictures of the cats, Ginger one is Tizer the Black one is Sooty and the Grey and White is called Zazzles. Zazzles got on the top of the kitchen door on the first night, so funny! I love these little Milkybar Bunnies they've bought out for Easter. And finally the recent pole move I achieved on Tuesday, I was so happy to eventually do it and I am rather proud of myself, it requires a lot of upper body strength and took quite a while to master! I'm still contemplating doing a post on this sport, because I am still wary of what people will think and the negativity I could receive. If its something you'd be interested in though, please let me know

Hope everyone's had a good week and haven't had anymore problems with this worsening weather. I've had two power cuts whilst writing this up, nothing to do with the weather I'm sure but still, I'm not best pleased.

Much Love Gemma xo.

YSL Rouge Volupte No. 29 Rose Opera

Hi Everyone, another lip product to show you today. This time, my very first Rouge Volupte Lipstick that my boyfriend very kindly bought me way back in April 2012! Post blogging days, so I apologise now for the fact you can clearly tell its been used in the pictures!

I had literally been wanting one of these for about 2 or more years! It was one of the first high end make up items that caught my eyes when I first started watching YouTube videos. But like a lot of things I lust after, it was well out of my price range, at £23.50 a pop! So when my boyfriend bought me one, one day when we were looking around Debenhams I was absolutely over the moon. In all honesty I was actually close to tears and kept on telling him not to buy it. We had been together for all of a week and a half at the time and I was really overwhelmed that he wanted to buy me it! Eventually I gave in and this beauty was mine!!

I got the shade number 29. Rose Opera which is, suprise suprise a bright pink. I wasn't so dramatic with my lip colours back then so I thought instead of buying something neutral, I would push the boat out and buy a colour that I wouldn't wear too often. Therefore having it for much longer, instead of using it all up within a few months. It's a much lighter bright pink than the other pinks in my collection. If that makes any sense at all?! In technical terms this means it is a more yellow toned pink than blue toned like the other pinks I own. But I love it and only use it on the odd occasion because I really don't want to use it up! The consistency of this lipstick is beautiful. Its really creamy and glides on easier than any other I have tried. It lasts a good few hours and leaves a beautiful stain of colour on the lips even when you think it has all gone.

As always packaging was a big factor for me! It is absolutely stunning and looks gorgeous amongst my other lipsticks, that just look boring and plain in comparison! I love the coloured window (which is the same colour as the lipstick) with the YSL logo in it! Its really sophisticated and makes me feel extremely glamorous on the odd occasion I take this out with me and pull it out of my handbag. If your willing to fork out £23.50 for a lipstick, do it! Its well worth it!

Much Love Gemma xo.