MAC Favourites

Despite moving into a house with my boyfriend and having next to no money, I still decided to purchase my two favourite MAC products; Prep + Prime Face Protect SPF 50 & Cremesheen Lipstick in Pink Pearl Pop. Got to treat yourself sometimes, right?!

The lipstick

Cremesheen Lipstick - 'Pink Pearl Pop' £14.00

There's approx 137 different colours to choose from in the cremesheen lipsticks on MAC.co.uk. I suffer from dry/cracked lips so I use the Lip Conditioner Stick SPF 15 on a daily basis to moisturize my lips and keep them supple. It also works as a really good base or top coat for the cremesheen lipsticks to help them last longer or add a glossy coat.

Described as a 'Frosted Midtonal Pink'

The longest I've ever had to go without needing to reapply a cremesheen lipstick is nearly 5 hours, which as I'm sure you'll agree is pretty good going! I find the brighter, more vibrant colours tend to last longer as they act as a mild stain on your lips giving the appearance of lipstick even when it feels as though it's worn off - but they feel so great to apply that I don't mind reapplying every now and again!

The colour is slightly different to the one on the website but I wasn't disappointed. It's quite a bright pink but my pictures make it look a bit fuschia when it's more of a peachy rose. It's similar to the colour lipstick I would wear on a daily basis and goes really compliments my pink blusher! 

The angle of the brush is perfect for applying straight from the lipstick without the need to use a brush. It contains a lot of natural fruit and seed extract and also beeswax which helps it to moisten the lips as well as give great long-lasting colour.

The Primer

The first thing you notice about the primer is the gorgeous packaging. It's in a glossy black box with a purple and green shimmer as opposed to the plain black matte packaging of most of their products, so immediately I was pleased!

The bottle itself is smaller than I thought and is quite heavily dominated by the lid. However, as with all things in life, it's what's inside that counts!

The opening is sealed with a foil tab to keep the product fresh which I thought was a really nice touch. The bottle is quite stiff and the primer isn't as easy to squeeze out as I'd like but these are just little details in comparison to the product itself.

The product itself is thicker than any other primer I've used and a little really does go a long way - unfortunately it is a water based primer which don't tend to be as good as silicon based foundations when it comes to oil breakthrough but according to the description on MAC.co.uk is it "specially formulated with oil-absorbing powder, helps prevent oil breakthrough." 

I have to say, I am very impressed with the Prep + Prime; It feels lovely to apply, it creates the perfect base coat for my foundation and really does help prevent oil breakthrough! I usually have to have a little touch up of powder every 4 hours or so just around my t-zone to keep up my matte look but this primer has eliminated the need for me to do this. Admittedly, I have been busier than usual and have probably had less time to examine the results as I normally would but when I looked in the mirror after 5 hours of unpacking boxes and putting up flat pack furniture, I was really happy with how freshly applied my makeup looked and would quite happily have left the house without tweaking anything! 

Here's a couple of quick pictures of my look, below are all the products I used to create this:

- MAC Prep + Prime Face Protect SPF 50

- Revlon Colorstay 24hr Makeup: 110 Ivory

- No7 Perfect Light Loose Powder: Translucent 

- MAC Cremesheen Lipstick: Pink Pearl Pop

- Revlon Colorstay Pencil Eyeliner: Black/Noir (bottom lash line)

- Maybelline New York Eyestudio Lasting Drama 24hr Gel Eyeliner: 01 Black
- Rimmel London The Max Volume Flash Mascara: 003 Ultra Black

- Eylure Naturalites false lashes: 107 (two pairs)

- Benefit Brow Zings eyebrow wax & filling powder: Medium

The Perfect Palette

Hello again lovely Bloggettes!

It's been far too long since I posted on here - what with my new job and moving home (soon to be 2 times!) it's been quite hectic. But I'm back and really excited about getting back into it again.

I thought I'd start with a review on my new favourite palette, Naked 2 from Urban Decay. I know it's been done a million times before but I love it so much that I wanted to blog about it anyway!

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

I've always loved Urban Decay products but never invested too heavily in their eyeshadows because most of their colours are too bright and glittery for my taste - I've always been conscious that my eyes are too big and I might look like a bit like a child who's gotten hold of their mums makeup collection if I wear bright eyeshadow!

However, when I first saw the Naked 2 palette in the shops I fell in love instantly with how versatile and natural the colours are. There's a mixture of matte, shimmer and glitter shadows in 11 neutral shades and a black - all as gorgeous as the next!

I never thought I'd say this but I actually use this palette every day. And I mean every day. It's absolutely perfect for that 'barely there' look that's so popular now - I use 'Foxy' and 'Bootycall' as highlighters for my every day look. If I'm out with family or want my look to be a little more suitable for the evening I go with either 'Verve' all over my lid and 'YDK' in the crease or 'Suspect' over my lid and 'Half Baked' in the crease. I just add a little black to these looks to give it a smokey effect if the occasion calls for it! All of the colours go great together and you can mix them up as much as you like to make your look as natural or as glamorous as you want it. The lovely thing is about this palette is that it doesn't matter that the size of it isn't particularly portable because once your shadow is on, it's there to stay!

The Brush!

I had given up hope thinking that brushes that were included in palettes were going to be any good, what with the vast majority of them being small enough for even the borrowers to be able to glam up their look. But to my amazement, Urban Decay have pulled it off - not only have they included a brush that's big enough for real life human people to use, it's actually really good too!

It's a double ended brush, a flat applicator on one end for the lid and a fluffy smudger on the other for the crease and around the brow bone to create a smokey look.

The palette also came with a mini lip gloss (I think it used to come with a sample size of their eyeshadow primer which would make more sense - nevertheless, it's a cute little addition!)

I got my palette from Debenhams for £36.00 (that's £3.00 per shadow - absolute bargain!) I've used it every day for the past 3 months still have plenty of every shadow left.

So there you have it, my first blog in nearly 3 months. Let me know what you think - share your thoughts on Naked 2 and let me know if there's any more palettes out there I'm missing out on!