VelvetBlush

I was recently contacted by dress2party to inform my readers about the giveaway they are holding for a prom/formal dress.

Dress2party is the biggest and most exclusive stockists of prom dresses and formal gowns in the UK. They have 3 stores in London, Manchester and Glasgow. You can also order online. They carry the most Sherri Hill dresses.

I never went to prom so I can't really imagine the stress or fiasco of trying to find your perfect prom dress (lucky me), however they have a really big range from browsing their website.

They do a giveaway every month, and this is the dress you can win this month. You can view it here. It's a very expensive Sherri Hill dress so whoever wins it is in for a treat!

My personal pick is this dress here. I love how it's so classy and elegant, and glamorous at the same time.

Prom dresses are extremely expensive, so hopefully one of you may get your dream dress for free. To enter the giveaway you need to have facebook or twitter.

The details are here. I don't have facebook, but you can go on twitter, follow them, retweet and favourite this tweet, as well as reply why you want to win the dress.

I hope you found this post useful, especially those of you who may be preparing for prom or a Christmas party.

This is not a sponsored post.

I think by now you must all know about my obsession with velvet. When the Lime Crime Velvetines came out I desperately wanted one, but alas they were out of my budget. I was really excited when MUA brought theirs out but decided not to get one after seeing some not so positive reviews.

However, I was recommended them on twitter and so I decided to give them a go, and I'm really glad I did!

First of all, I love the frosted glass packaging, it definitely looks more than a £3 product. It's very elegant and cool, and something I'd be proud to take out of my makeup bag.

The shade I got is Funk, which is a bold pink. They claim it glides on like a gloss and leave a matte velvety finish.

I found that the velvet lip lacquer did glide on very smoothly and evenly. It's like a thick matte gloss meaning that you have time to work with it before it dries. It also didn't cling to any dry patches. After a minute or two it does dry down to a smooth velvety finish, you can tell it's on your lips but it isn't a heavy product. It doesn't transfer or smudge around your lips once it's dried. It lasted a few hours on me, and then wore off when I ate. It wore off quite evenly, there were no patches left.

On the lips it's slightly lighter than a medium pink, but not quite barbie pink. It has quite a neon look so I think it would suit all skintones.

Overall, I was really impressed with the product for the price, and would love to pick up more shades! You can get it here for £3.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Have you ever tried the MUA Luxe Velvet lacquers, or do you want to?

Who doesn't love beauty bargains! Following on from my last budget haul here, I am back with some more products that I got from Poundworld.

I've never been to Poundworld before so when I saw the store I literally jumped in, and it didn't disappoint!

I've seen a few people finding the NYC applelicious glossy lip balms so they were the main things I was looking for. Fortunately I managed to find two in the shades 354 Apple Blossom and 358 Garnet Gala. They're tinted balms with an apple scent.

From L to R: 354 Apple Blossom, 358 Garnet Gala

Apple Blossom is more of a raspberry shade, it gives a slight tint to the lips and has quite a sheen like a lipgloss. It looks very natural, and is a sort of your lips but better colour. Garnet Gala is almost like a brick red, on my lips it comes across as a bronzey red with slight coral undertones. It's quite the opposite to Apple Blossom, it has a lot of shimmer in it and would be for those times when you want a bit more colour.

The formula for both of them is very smooth and even, they don't stick to dry patches at all. They are really moisturising so they would be perfect for the upcoming season. Like lip balms they don't last very long, but they're great for topping up when your lips feel a bit dry. I can definitely see myself getting a lot of use out of Apple Blossom.

The eyeliner is the NYC high definition liquid eyeliner in 001 Dancing Diva. It's a soft brown that is great for a neutral look. The nib is very pointed and precise so it's quite easy to apply, it has a felt tip applicator. It didn't last for the whole day like my NYC liquid eyeliner in black (a Poundland buy) but it lasted around about 6 hours. It also didn't smudge or transfer as it wore off.

Finally I got the NYC high definition seperating mascara in 849 Extreme Black. It has a plastic wand and the bristles are quite small, it reminded me of the Loreal telescopic mascara. It would be great for getting into those small lashes, and for the price I think it'd make a good everyday mascara for some definition.

I actually got this eyeshadow from Poundland a few weeks ago, I saw some other shades too but none of them caught my eye like 037 Metallic Lilac. I love the Loreal colour infallible eyeshadows, they're pressed pigments that have great colour pay off. This particular shade is a lilac with slightly grey undertones. It gives a wonderful metallic like sheen without being shimmery. It's a great addition to my infallible collection.

I got this Revlon creme gloss for 50p from Savers, it appears to have been discountinued like the NYC liner and mascara. The packaging is sturdy and high quality, very similar to their lipsticks. To put it on you need to turn the dial at the bottom and the product appears on the brush applicator. You do tend to get a lot of product as it's hard to tell how much to tun it by.

The shade I got is 065 Crush on Coral. The formula is very sticky and it doesn't apply so evenly. It's also not very opaque, more like a tinted gloss. It's much too shimmery for my liking, however the colour alone can be quite a flattering coral if you go for a light layer.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the products I picked up, even if one of two of them turned out to be duds.

I hope you enjoyed this post!
Have you picked up any bargains lately?

Rosegal.com* is a large online shop which sells women’s fashion and beauty products. They sell

everything from clothing (including vintage clothing) to handbags, jewellery and accessories.

They focus on Chinese fashion and their products are all quite affordable. The best part? They offer free worldwide delivery with a 30 day return period.

I had a browse at their necklace range as I definitely need something to pair with the jumpers that

have slowly started coming out of the wardrobe. Their necklace range is stunning and it starts at just

57p! You can view it here.

I could get atleast a few statement necklaces for the same price I would pay for one on the high

street!

These are some of my favourites!

Gorgeous Diamante Colored Faux Gemstone Embellished Waterdrop Shape Pendant Necklace for £3.44 here

I love the Pastel shades of this necklace and it’s definitely something I can see myself wearing a lot.

The Faux Gem Embellished Fashionable Openwork Necklace for £2.34 here

This would look great with a fluffy jumper and add some colour to your outfit.

Characteristic Rhinestoned Alloy Necklace for £1.92 here

Their dress collection is also incredibly vast. They do everything from casual dresses to prom dresses. I loved so many of the dresses I saw but this was would have been an incredibly long post if I were to include them all, so my top picks are:

This Bohemian maxi dress is so stylish and elegant, and it only costs £8.88 here!

This is a lovely flamboyant dress that would be perfect for all those Christmas parties that will soon be coming up. You can get it for £12.32 here.

Overall they have some great stuff on their website. Even if you don't order clothes online the necklaces are worth having a look at! They were kind enough to give my readers a 8% coupon code: joeyCgil.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

In this post I paired up with the lovely Charlotte from Beauty and Bolder. On her blog you'll find her recreating lot's of amazing looks, as well as reviews and lifestyle posts. She's very talented and her step by step tutorials are so easy to follow! As you'll see in this post she recreated each of the trends for you and she's definitely tempted me into trying the metallic eyes soon!

Metallic Eyes

Forget mattes and shimmers, metallic eyes are making a comeback this season. The look is relatively simple to recreate, all you need is a wash of metallic eyeshadow over the entire lid. If you’re feeling more adventurous you could try a similar metallic shade in the crease.

This look isn’t limited to makeup artists with their expensive kit. Affordable options include the Rimmel scandaleyes eyeshadow paints, Maybelline Colour Tattoos or the Collection metallic cream eyeshadows!

Bold Lashes

The bigger the better! Bold lashes look great with a minimal look! My favourite picks for bold lashes are the Max Factor false lash mascara, Clinique high impact, any essence mascara and the Natural Collection lash length mascara for only £2!

Pair bold lashes with a statement lip like Charlotte and you're good to go!

Berry Lips

As soon as the first bit of cold hits us makeup fanatics across the country rush not for their jumpers, but scour the high street for the perfect vampy shade! There’s just something about purple, dark red and mulberry lipsticks that has us eagerly anticipating winter. My top picks are the Make Up Rumours lipstick in shade 13 (for only £1), Revlon Black Cherry, Makeup Revolution Rebel without Cause (also only £1), Wet N wild Sugar Plum Fairy, Sleek Mulberry and Collection Gothic Glam in 3.

Berry lips look great with an otherwise no makeup makeup up, adding eyeliner close to the lashline and a coat of mascara will also add some definition whilst still keeping the whole look quite simple.

I hope you enjoyed this post, I certainly loved this collaboration!

I'd love to hear what new trends you might be trying yourself this season!

It's that time of the year again when we all race to get the Glamour mag with a free Nails Inc Polish and a Body Shop wish card! I've been looking forward to it for a while and I picked up two mags in WHSmith yesterday, although the official release date is the 3rd of November.

You get the choice of 4 shades with each magazine, and the RRP for one is £11. The cover has Claire Danes featuring on it, an American actress.

Here's a close up of the four shades you can get. Top L to R: Wigmore Street, Hanover Square. Bottom L to R: Tate, Marylebone Mews.

I got the shades Marylebone Mews and Hanover Street. Marylebone Mews is a soft silvery grey and Hanover Street is the perfect maroon, it's a must have shade for the season.

The consistency of both shades is smooth, and neither too gloopy or too runny. They are definitely worth the price of the mag and I can see myself returning to get the other two shades. My Nails Inc collection is certainly growing thanks to Glamour!

You also get a H&M 20% discount card on full price purchases and sales purchases valid from the 3rd of November to the 5th December. It does have a minimum spend of £20.

You then get a Body Shop little card of Christmas wishes that is worth either £3, £15 or £100 to spend on full price products. There's also ten cards that have a £1000 cash prize. In the past my card has been worth £3 and I tend to get the Body Shop born lippy balms (my favourite lip balms!) which cost £3 so you don't have to pay extra or a body butter. I might try something new this time!

You also get a sample of the Pantene Pro V breakage defence conditioner and a paper sample of Calvin Klein Reveal perfume.

Overall £2 for the mag and the freebies is a great deal, you get atleast £14 of goods!

I'd love to hear if you're planning on picking up any of the shades!

After all the hype about the Maybelline Baby Lips, the Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser* was a much anticipated sidekick! I'm not usually one for following the hype and so didn't give it much thought until now.

After hearing so much about this being a potential Benefit porefessional dupe (which I didn't get on with) I didn't have the highest expectations for this but I wanted to see how it pared up.

Primers aren't something I wear on a daily basis and so a wedding was the perfect time to try this out, weddings are also the times when I tend to go the most out with my makeup! The product comes in a small tube with a screw top that's great for keeping the product fresh.

The product itself is extremely siliconey and that's when I realised it's actually very similar to Smashbox's Photo Finish Primer that I was received a sample of. They both have the same transparent formula and blend into the skin effortlessly leaving it velvety soft.

It claims to leave pores instantly erased for smooth-looking skin. Now I don't have the biggest pores but I do have a few around my nose. It did not instantly erase them, I could still see them a bit but it did blur them out so overall my skin did look smoother in comparison.

As I've probably mentioned numerous times before my skin is more on the dry side and so I look for a primer that will help my makeup stay on for longer and smooth over any dry patches. The Maybelline Instant Pore Eraser did tick those boxes for me, my makeup lasted till the evening. This primer might also be great for those of you who have dry skin too, whereas those with oily skin may want to try it out beforehand as you might find it too slippery for you.

Pairing this with a silicone foundation rather than a water based one will also make your base last much longer!

For the price, and the fact that there aren't many silicone primers at the drugstore, I do think this primer is worth it and it's great if you want to give silicone primers a go. You can get it on ebay here for £5.40 or for £7.99 here at Boots included in the 3 for 2.

I was kindly allowed to test this out as part of beauty product testing by ProductTestingUK. You can check them out on twitter here.

I hope you enjoyed this post! I'd love to hear what you think about silicone primers!

A girl can never have enough nail polish right! But what do you do when you're all out of storage, when the term collector for you means your mountains of nail polish but you simply have to buy that one (ok few) new polish because it goes with your new dress?

Let me introduce you to Coloristiq, they are an online rental service that provide you with three very expensive nail polishes each month as a subscription. Their mantra is 'Where your nail polish dreams come true..' and if you're nail obsessed then they may be the brand for you!

You receive your monthly box in the post, whereas there are endless beauty boxes to choose from, the Coloristiq nail polish box really is one of a kind! They come carefully packaged in these cute mesh wraps that keep them safe from damage.

There are quite a few advantages of such a subscription box. You get to try out various expensive polishes and you can see if the shade is right for you before you buy them. Upcoming Christmas party? Just create a wish list with the shades you want and you're sorted. Or perhaps you want to try out the new Winter collections without buying each one. The only downside is the monthly cost of £14.49 (including VAT and both sending and return packaging). However, if you're a nail polish fiend who's constantly buying new polishes then less than £15 for some of the highest quality polishes may be easier for you.

The biggest advantage is probably that you're not left with dozens of polishes that have gone gloopy by the time you get round to using them!

The brands they currently stock include OPI, Essie, China Glaze and Morgan Taylor. These are some of the most expensive brands available, and owning some OPI (and Essie) myself I'd definitely say they are great quality.

You can apply each polish 3 times (with up to 2 coats for each time) and a total of 9 applications for the month. They've made it really easy to send the box back at the end of the month, you just stick the pre paid label on the box. You can also keep the box for longer than 30 days if you need to at no additional charge but your following month's box will only be sent when you return them.

The shades I received in my box were OPI I Have A Herring Problem*, Essie Cashmere Bathrobe* and China Glaze Ravishing Darling*.

OPI I Have Herring Problem is a light grey that borders on silver. The glitter in it is quite subtle, almost like a soft shimmer.

Essie Cashmere Bathrobe is more of a medium grey with the glitter being more pronounced. It also has quite a metallic look to it, and both the greys would look lovely for Christmas nails.

China Glaze Ravishing Darling is my most favourite, it's a deep blood red that's perfect for a vampy look. With one layer it looks like it has pink undertones but with 2 or 3 layers it's more of a oxblood.

Coloristiq have also been kind enough to give my readers a month's subscription for free.You register as normal and then send them an email at info@coloristiq.com with the code Velvet1 and they will manually refund you.

I've been lucky enough to be one of the ambassadors for Coloristiq and it has certainly been interesting. Check them out on twitter here for nail inspiration.

I hope you enjoyed this post! I'd love to hear if you're a nail polish collector yourself!

This post has been long overdue and I'd like to firstly apologise for that. You may have noticed that recently (well since October) my posts haven't been very regular. I just didn't anticipate how much of a workload I would have going back to uni and things weren't going my way in my personal life either so I sort of let everything get on top of me.

However, I'm trying to find more of a balance now and I'm actually having a go at being organised (which is quite new to me!).

A while ago I was very lucky enough to win a giveaway hosted by the lovely Little Miss Plus Size. Her blog is a mixture of all things beauty, fashion, weight loss and she also talks about depression. It's definitely worth checking out, she has hauls, makeup reviews and a range of lifestyle posts too which make for an interesting read.

She sent me this card which was simply too cute! It was really lovely talking to Little Miss Plus Size and she was incredibly friendly!

The prize I chose was a New Look gift card as I often find something I like in there.

I haven't spent it just yet but I might pick up a Christmas jumper soon.

Thank you again to Little Miss Plus Size for the lovely prize and being so kind!

Binky London is a cosmetics and nail polish brand set up by Binky Felstead. Before we go on I'd like to say that I don't watch reality tv shows and hence had no idea who she was! However, I got the chance to try out one of the shades from the collection, I received the gel nail polish in Mocha*.

First of all the packaging is decent, it's not the most luxurious or high quality but it gets the job done. Each bottle contains 12ml which is a generous amount and retails for £2.95 here.

The shade itself is a cool toned brown, it's a great alternative to blacks during the winter and it would look lovely with brown coats. They claim to give off incredible coverage and an even finish in one coat which I was quite dubious of. However I was very pleasantly shocked. The brush is quite wide making it easy to coat the nails in a few strokes and the formula itself is very smooth and leaves no streaks.

The formula was opaque in one coat, however a second coat added to the shinyness reminiscent of the Barry M gelly polishes.

Overall, I would say these are worth it at £2.95 and if you like the high shine trend these might be for you! However the shade range is quite limited with most of the other shades being quite bright and therefore it might not be for everyone just yet.

I'd love to hear what shades are tickling your fancy this Autumn/Winter!

Christmas seems to come round faster every year! I put my tree and decorations up a few days ago but I've still got my presents to buy (if you're a last minute shopper like me you can imagine how wild it can get)!

Anyway I thought I would do a post to show you my Christmas decorations because I love looking at other peoples myself.

This is my tree, it's a basic one that cost me £10 a few years ago, I might get a new one for next year though (I'm not too keen of the sparseness).

This year I went for a silver and light pink theme, with a few multi-coloured decorations thrown in to spruce it up.

Here's a close up with the fairy lights on.

I love these giant snowflakes, they really add some sparkle! These were from the Christmas Boutique*.

The Christmas Boutique is an online shop owned by the retail group Urban33. Their Christmas shop is open 365 days a year and they specialise in all sorts of Christmas decorations and ornaments.

These mini glass baubles are really cute, they have small hooks at the end which mean you can stick them on at the tip of the branch. You can get them for £5.99 here*.

The mini silver glass baubles are also for £5.99 here*. The bigger silver and baby pink baubles came in a set from B&M for £1.99.

These heart glass baubles are for £4.00 here*. All the mini glass baubles come in a pack of 12. The tinsel is from Poundland/B&M for £1.

I absolutely love snowglobes so I was over the moon to get these. These come in a set of two for £12.99 here*. One of them is a reindeer and the other is a Santa. I leave these on my mantelpiece and they really set the atmosphere. The purple mini trees also came in a pack of two from Poundland.

Time for the best bit! The advent calendar! I always wanted to have a go at putting your own treats as a countdown. This was £25 but it's now on sale for £12.50 here*. They do a wide range of advent calenders at The Christmas Boutique, from wooden calenders to washing line style, like mine.

I really like how it looks over the fireplace, what do you think?

This is a close up of the stockings, they are shaped like slippers, gloves and hats (if only you could wear them!).

This is how my mantel looks put together!

Here are some of the gifts that I'll be putting in the stockings for my family. The clips are really cute and were for £2, although I don't know how to style them. I then got a small vanilla perfume to carry around from the Body Shop and some cocoa butter lotion. Lastly, I got some lips products for £1 each which I will be doing a post on soon. I've also included some chocolates in the stockings.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

I'd love to hear what theme you're doing this year or if you have a post up too!

A while ago I was lucky enough to win a giveaway from Pixi Picks for a Tom Ford lipstick!!!!

(I'm still in shock)

Pixi Picks is a lovely blog filled with all sorts of beauty reviews, as well as a lot of lifestyle posts. You have to check out her coverage of the Clothes Show Live here.

I was super excited to try out the Tom Ford lippie as it's my first high end lipstick (can you believe that from a beauty blogger!)

The packaging as you can expect is beautiful, it's a black case with gold lettering.

The top has TF engraved which I think is a really nice touch and looks very classy.

The shade I received is 04 Indian Rose.

The packaging is quite chunky and I think this gives it a more expensive feel as well. It's like nothing I've seen before.

In the tube I would say the lipstick looks like a medium dusky rose pink. It's quite a neutral shade that could be worn anywhere and everywhere.

On my lips which are quite a medium rosy colour I would say it's a your lips but better shade. It's about one shade lighter than my lip colour so it brightens them up a bit. It also has a bit of a mauvey undertone on me. It's opaque in one swipe which is great for a neutral that you can quickly apply.

It's not a matte shade as there is a bit of a sheen when you first apply it which goes down after a while but it's not completely satin either. I've worn it on a few occasions so far and I would say the wear time for me is average, around about 4 hours.

The formula itself is very smooth and very creamy, you can feel it on but it doesn't provide extra hydration. I did notice the lipstick had a slight scent which I couldn't place but it was unnoticeable after I put it on. It could also be used as a variation on the 90s trend, although it isn't as brown.

Overall, I'm super excited to try this out more as I don't often wear nudes, and a big thank you to Pixi Picks!

A few weeks ago I was kindly invited to the Bloggers Christmas event in the Bullring. I've already attended one previously which you can read about here and here.

The cookie is always the star of the show!

They out on a lovely spread for us as you can see! We then went round the various stalls to have a look.

Selfridges had a lot of personalised gifts that anyone would enjoy! I've already seen the Nutella jars popping up everywhere but the scarf was a really nice addition that I hadn't seen before. You can get it personalised with your initials or even a message.

At the Benefit stall I saw some of the Christmas boxes which come with a whole host of combinations of their bestsellers, and the boxes are super cute!

I then saw the Charlotte Tilbury supermodel videobox, isn't it beautiful! They do however come in at a hefty price tag of £200 (see here) so I probably won't be getting one anytime soon!

I then saw some new additions to RMK such as the blusher and concealer compact which are also very travel friendly.

Umberto Giannini were also styling peoples hair for the evening, all the hairstyles were amazing! I was watching in the hope that I might learn a tip or two. They also had a jar full of Oreo's which was really cool!

Lastly, we were given some goody bags to take home.

The hair products are from Umberto Giannini and we also received some samples of RMK's products, their cleansing balm is really good for melting away your makeup.

Benefit gave us samples of their eye and face cream packaged in one of these lovely gift boxes!

Lastly, Smiggle gave us a pack of a few of their products. Whilst I didn't see Smiggle at the evening I have visited their store in the Bullring a few times and it's always so packed! They specialise in fun and creative stationary and it's definitely popular with people of all ages. I can't wait to use these (plus being a student means you just love stationary!)

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Recently I was nominated by the blogger behind La Vie Est Belle to do this tag. Thanks for the nomination! Normally I'm incredibly forgetful and often forget to do the tag post but thankfully this time I made a note of it.

This award is all about showing the love for blogs that you love!

Rules:
Thank the person who gave you the award
Tell them 7 things about yourself (it can be anything)
Nominate 15 blogs for the award

Seven things about me:

1. I'm a student and there's literally always something to do! It's hard to get some time for yourself.

2. I'm trying to cut down on the amount of makeup I buy and just pick key pieces as I don't use most of what I have!

3. I have no fashion sense so I'm trying to improve that

4. I'm currently loving Ed Sheeran's songs and I think he's a great performer!

5. I don't really set New Year's Resolutions as such but I believe in always trying to improve yourself and be a better person.

6. I love penguins, especially after I watched Mr Popper's Penguins on Christmas, they're adorable!

7. I haven't really stayed up for New Year's eve in the last few years as it just doesn't have the wow factor anymore (or I'm just lazy!)

I'd like to nominate whoever wants to do this tag, as I know that sometimes people already have their schedules up. However I also want to nominate the following blogs that I read regularly: Speckled Beauty, Beauty with Charm, Speaking Beauty UK, Glam O'Clock, Ayre, Little Miss Plus Size, Blonde of Carbs and Beautylymin.

I hope you enjoyed this tag!

I'd also love to hear if you did this tag too, so feel free to link it!

A few weeks ago I went to the annual Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park for the first time. I got the train in the morning, followed by a 20 minute walk to Hyde Park.

I reached there about half an hour after opening and there was already quite a lot of people making the way there.

It really did look like a Santa's Grotto with all the signs and stalls everywhere!

There was more food places than I could count but there was really limited seating in some places, and none in most.

I went with my Sister and we had booked tickets to the Zippos Christmas Circus which cost about £30 for both of us.

The circus was so much more fun than I had anticipated! There were a whole host of acrobats who were all wonderful!

After the circus we had a look around some stalls although it was getting quite packed!

We had hot chocolate and crepes (with Kinda Bueno). The hot chocolate wasn't that good for £2.50 but the crepes for £4.50 each were delicious.

We then ventured further into Hyde Park by Lake Serpentine after Winter Wonderland! There were lot's of swans and the police riding horseback (which isn't something I see everyday)!

After Winter Wonderland we went to Oxford Street and stopped at Pizza Hut for a late lunch. I got a deep pan which was incredibly filling (I couldn't move!).

We then paid Hamleys a visit which was so packed it took ages to go round the whole shop!

Infact the streets were so packed that people had taken to walking in the road! I have no idea if this is the norm or not!

Finally, a visit to London isn't complete without stopping off at the Kiko store on Regents Street. The atmosphere in there was incredible, it was full of people swatching lipsticks. I got an eyelash curler, to replace my Elf one that broke. Plus a Smart lip pencil in 710 Rouge Noir that was on sale from £2.50 to £1.90! It's back to £2.50 here but it's the perfect shade for a dark/berry lip. I'm pretty sure I'm going to love this liner, I had brought an essence lip liner in 05 Soft Berry but it made me look like I had grey lips.

I also got a Smart lipstick in 914 Amaranth which was on sale from £3.90 to £2.50. It's back to £3.90 here but it's a lovely berry/vampy lipstick. Lastly I got a ultra glossy stylo with spf 15 in 807 Red Coral, which was on sale for £3.50 from £4.90 here. It's actually a present for my Sister as she wanted a more sheer lipstick that was moisturising. She dabs this on and it looks lovely, like a soft coral but not overly glossy.

This all come up to £13.80 however it was also Black Friday weekend when we went so I checked the website beforehand and saw they had a 30% off code which I got sent in an email. So overall I paid £9.66 for all of these goodies! There'll be a full review on each product once I've tried them out for a while.

Overall, I had a great time and I'd definitely recommend it.

I'd love to hear if you went to Winder Wonderland or if you picked anything up from Kiko recently too!

Many of us feel the pinch after the great Christmas shop and with that in mind the Fort Birmingham, which is an out of town shopping centre, have come up with a campaign called ‘Best Buys for Beating The January Blues’ to get us out enjoying shopping on a budget.

I was invited to create an outfit for under £50 and with the vast array of fashion retailers in the Fort it was a challenge that I was quite excited about. They have everything from Oasis, Warehouse, Miss Selfridge, New Look, Next, Debenhams and Dorothy Perkins to name just a few, so some of my favourite shops in there. The Fort Shopping park is located in Castle Bromwich, just off the M6.

This is also my first outfit post, so without further ado...

Metallic Vest Top* – Next£14

Cardigan* – New Look£19.99

Jeans* – New Look£12.99

Shoes - Own

This lovely sparkly top is from Next, I was immediately drawn to it because in winter we often get used to wearing plain coloured jumpers and I wanted something that stood out a bit. This is perfect for dressing up an otherwise plain outfit and it could also be dressed up with some tailored trousers.

The midi cardigan from New Look is from their new season and as well as being stylish, it’s super comfy and warm too.

Lastly, the skinny jeans are also from New Look. They have a big range of various styles so it’s quite easy finding a fit that you like.

That’s not all! The Fort are also giving away £50 of vouchers to eliminate those January blues. All you have to do is comment, retweet or favourite your favourite outfit from the three bloggers on the Fort's page. Here is the link to mine.

I hope you enjoyed this post and good luck!

Concealer palettes are incredibly multipurpose, you can use them for your concealer, foundation and contouring, and so I've wanted to get my hands on one for a while.

This 54 colour concealer palette* from Tmart here retails at £12.82. First of all, the packaging is quite flimsy as it's made out of cardboard but it does a decent job of keeping the concealers compact. It's slightly bigger than your average eyeshadow palette.

As you can see it has a wide variety of shades. The 30 concealer shades are skintone shades and would work well for everyone.

The 24 concealers have a more unusual mix of shades that could be used for colour correcting.

Now moving onto the actual product. I first tried to used it as a concealer with a more yellowy shade underneath to brighten my under eye area up and a skintone shade on top. It didn't look good! The product is really hard to pick up with brushes, it wasn't as pigmented as I expected and it was very hard to blend! It did end up looking quite cakey and after a few more goes I decided it wasn't great as a concealer for me.

I then tried it as a contour and again it was very hard to blend. Whilst the shades looked promising it went on a bit patchy. This is the moment I thought why don't I heat it up? I then gave a few shades a blast with my hairdryer and they softened up! I was then able to get it to blend quite well with my RT contour brush and the contour did look more subtle than a powder contour.

Here's a few swatches of some shades I used. They look more pigmented in the swatches compared to when you apply them.

I mainly used the last 3 on the left as a contour.

Overall, I found that the palette was a bit of a let down as it's not something I would use as a concealer but if you're into contouring and experimenting then you might enjoy the range of shades as they do work a lot better heated up slightly.

I'd love to hear if you've tried any similar palettes and your thoughts on them!

The Rimmel Colour Rush balms were were released quite a while back but whilst there's been a big hype surrounding the Revlon and Bourjois offerings I hadn't seen the Rimmel ones around much before.

On a recent trip I picked up one of these for £1.99 in B&M (now £1.50) and then another one in Poundland, they're still retailing for £4.50 in boots currently! (You can also pick them up from PoundStretcher)

The two shades I picked up are 210 Boom Chic A Boom which is a medium pink, slightly on the cool side and 220 Rumour Has It which is a deeper fuschia pink, and looks almost berry like on.

The packaging is similar to a standard lip crayon, nothing too flashy but bright and colourful! They're quite good however at gaining an idea of the shade. I could just pick up a slight vanilla scent but it's undetectable on.

Onto the application.. These are much more moisturising than I expected! They do provide some hydration when you put them on, especially considering they have quite a glossy finish. It also helps it glide over the dry patches (which is something that I need with the current weather).

They last for about 4-5 hours on me, after which they leave a even stain, the gloss does fade after an hour or two. The shades themselves are quite opaque, almost like lipsticks but with a high shine finish.

Overall, I think they are a great product to snatch up! Whilst I haven't tried many of the Revlon ones to compare, I found these to be just as good as the Bourjois ones, if not better. 220 Rumour Has it has become one of my go to shades for Winter and my favourite from the duo.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Which lip crayons are your favourite?

We all love a bit of online shopping, sitting in our pajamas and hitting up all the shops! Here's what I'm currently loving online!

As well as online shops, online catalogues are also useful as they have everything is one place, plus you can spread the cost of your order. Justcatalogues.co.uk* directs you to the best online catalogues for each category by comparing them to find the best one for you.

Ripped ankle jeans £24.99 H&M - Ripped jeans seem to be everywhere at the moment and I love this pair which keeps it quite simple!

Short Sleeved Dress £14.99 H&M - I think this dress would be perfect for spring/summer as it adds that bright pop of colour!

Dungarees £29.99 H&M - Dungarees are making a comeback and I am really excited! I'm just not sure I can pull them off ;)

Midi Skirt £45 Miss Selfridge - This floral midi skirt is so cute! I love the print too, it would go great with a blouse.

Mini Shoulder Bag £12.99 H&M - Whilst nude bags seem to come out on top for spring, I thought this was a nice little black bag that would contract against the pastels.

Chunky Sandals £24.99 New Look - These sandals/shoes also seem to be everywhere at the moment and I think the time is coming to ditch my boots (not too sure I'm ready for that!)

Beaded Necklace £5.99 New Look - Finally, spring often means lots of pastel necklaces and I love the understated look of this one.

*This post contains a sponsored link

I hope you enjoyed this post!

What pieces are you currently loving?

Recently I got to try out some Smooch Cosmetics products and here's my thoughts on them!

I got an eyeshadow compact in Dare to Bare*, a blusher compact in Sweet Cheeks* and a lipstick in Sweet Tooth*.

First of all, whilst I'm not a big fan of the outer packaging as I feel like the shiny boxes lower down the image, the product packaging is quite nice for an affordable brand. It has the Nars-esque compacts with a velvety finish, which although they do cling to products, they look really good! They also come with nice mirrors which is always useful!

The blusher compact in Sweet Cheeks* features two shades, one is a beige pink and the other is more of a coral pink with very fine glitter flecks running through it.

Whilst the lighter shade is quite pigmented it didn't show up at all on my skin, it also doesn't have a reflective gleam that means it could be used as a highlighter. However, if you're very fair this could be the perfect summer blush for you.

The coral pink on the other hand is definitely one of my favourite shades I've come across, it's the perfect pink with a pop for summer. The glitter is hardly distinguishable on the skin. I only needed one swipe of this for a subtle blush on my medium skin and it can definitely be used on all skintones as it can be very pigmented when built up. It has a matte finish and wore quite well during the day.

The eyeshadow compact in Dare to Bare* also features two shades, the first shade is quite a light beige which can look quite grey, and the second shade is a much deeper taupey grey.

The eyeshadow shades are phenomenal! They have such a iridescent, metallic finish that really makes them stand out. They are buttery smooth with intense pigmentation from one swipe. The colours transfer well onto the eyelids, staying true to shade with a bit of fallout, but that is to be expected with such pigmented products. I have a feeling that people will love these shades, they're great for a neutral eye or even just a single wash of colour over the eyelid.

Lastly, I tried out the lipstick in Sweet Tooth* which in the tube looks like quite a bright coral pink. It fits right in with the name too.

However, on my lips it seemed to become altogether a difference shade. It was quite a light mauvey pink, with an almost lilac undertone. It didn't work well with my medium skintone so I didn't try it out a lot. However, it had a very creamy formula that was easy to apply and it didn't bleed.

Overall, the eyeshadow compact and the deeper pink blush are my top picks from Smooch Cosmetics and they're great value considering the price (the website isn't up so I have attached amazon links instead).

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Have you tried out Smooch Cosmetics before?

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