Back To School Series #2 | Natural School Makeup

Going back to school after the Summer holidays can be nerve racking, so it's best to plan out a simple everyday makeup look, so you're not late for your first day back because of a makeup mishap. So for the second post in this 'Back To School' Series I'm going to share a natural, everyday makeup look with you that you'll - fingers crossed - be able to complete in 10 minutes.

For your base you're going to want to use a light/medium coverage BB cream -I really like my Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream at the moment- it's better to use a BB cream rather than a heavy coverage foundation because it will look so much more natural, and more appropriate for school. As for concealer, I'm sure you'll all have your favourite but I'd recommend the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, because it does a great job of concealing under-eye circles and any blemishes you may have too! Finally set your base with a powder, I love my Rimmel Stay Matte Powder because it looks natural and doesn't make your face look cakey, plus it helps to stop you getting an oily face throughout the day.

 For blush you'll need a soft and easy shade to wear, so a light pinky-peach is perfect! I really like Benefit Hervana blush for more neutral days. If you have time you could use a little highlighter too such as MAC MSF in 'Soft & Gentle' or -as a cheaper alternative- MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter.

Now onto eyes, you're going to want to use either a shimmery neutral shade -like MAC 'All That Glitters' / MAC 'Naked Lunch'- or an almost-skin colour matte shade -like Urban Decay 'Walk Of Shame' / Urban Decay 'Foxy'- it's up to you weather you go for a shimmer or a matte as long it's natural-looking. You don't want to go over-board on eyes, so a little slick of eyeliner and a few lashings of a mascara should do you just fine.

For your lips, a light pink lipgloss or a glossy lipstick will be perfect. The Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfectors are great for a neutral gloss, and Revlon's Lip Butter in 'Strawberry Shortcake' would be great to use for shiny healthy-looking lips. And of course if you don't fancy a lipgloss or lipstick then you could use a lip balm of your choice to help prevent dry, chapped lips. I'm really liking the Maybelline Baby Lips right now.

So that is my natural school makeup look! Thanks for taking the time to read through this lengthy post and if you give this look a go yourself be sure to send me a picture on Twitter! My Twitter is: @Amybfashion35

Will you be using any of these products mentioned in this post? What do you think of my 'Back To School' Series?

The Makeup | Currently Coveting #2

I'm revealing my hot new must-haves for the up-coming months, and showing what's been on my beauty radar recently...

UD Revolution Lipsticks £15
Urban Decay have re-vamped their lipsticks and ,from what I've heard, the quality too. These new lipsticks come in a range of shades so there's bound to be one to suit everybody. Urban Decay claim them to "deliver insane colour payoff with creamy shine" so they sound right up my street! I particularly like the look of 'Native'.

Revlon Lip Butter Autumn/Winter Shades £7.99
Revlon are releasing two new Lip Butter shades for their Autumn makeup collection: Invite Only and Provocative. They're very natural shades - considering their for an Autumn collection - but I'd quite like to get them to add to my collection - haha!

Revlon Lash Potion Mascara £9.99
Yes, another Revlon product, but I definitely think it's the packaging that gets me with this mascara. It just looks so magical and lovely - strange I know. I've read a couple of reviews and they've all said good things so once I've got some of other mascaras used up I might give this a go.

MAC Lipstick in 'Angel' £15
This wouldn't be a makeup wishlist without something from MAC on here, and I'm always wanting a new lipstick too. Angel is a soft pink shade and it's a great daytime colour to wear on your lips. Plus Kim Kardashian wears it.

L'Oreal Paris Brow Artiste Eyebrow Pencil £5.49
Usually I prefer to use an eyeshadow to fill my eyebrows in, but it's the double-ended pencil that does it for me. One end has the coloured eyebrow pencil and the other end has a clear wax to set them in place, so it's super quick and easy.

Rimmel Scandaleyes Shadow Paint £4.99
After seeing Lily (from Lily Pebbles) use these I've been eyeing these up in Boots but I think it's about time I got around a bought one. My favourite shade is 'Rich Russet', a shimmery bronze/brown shade, which would be good to use as a base or just on its own.

The Body Shop Camomile Cleansers £?
These aren't actually on The Body Shop's website at the moment but I have seen them in-store already. Their new camomile range consists of; makeup removers, cleansing butter and a silky cleansing oil, all of which sound heavenly and I'd love to try. I'm not sure of the prices but I think they're around £9-£12 :)


What's on your beauty wishlist right now?

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in 'Soft & Gentle' | Review

'Soft & Gentle' has been on my wishlist for ages, and whilst browsing the MAC counter at the weekend I went ahead and bought it, and I am so glad I did. On MAC's website it's described as; "a glided peach bronze" which is just my kind of shade for a bronzer/highlighter. It retails for £22 which I do think is over-priced but it's such a gorgeous product.

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in 'Soft & Gentle' £22

A stunning shimmery highlighter with chunks of glitter to add some sheen and colour to your face. I like to apply this - lightly - like blusher and blend it out over my cheeks, but people with a darker skintone could use this more heavily. 

 You can use this product in a few different ways, as an eyeshadow, a subtle highlight or you can create a very bronzed look by using it a bit more heavy handed. Another thing I adore about 'Soft & Gentle' is how well it catches the light and makes your skin look so glowy and healthy.

 This product is huge, weighing in at 10g (the amount of product) and I'm sure it's going to last me a long time. The packaging is very simple - which I love - and it looks so pretty on my dressing table or stored in my makeup collection.
 The powder feels very smooth but as I said it does contain some chunks of glitter, which would usually put me off but it looks lovely on and I just love using this!

What do you think of the MAC MSF's?

Mac All That Glitters | Review

This is my first ever Mac eyeshadow, so when it arrived in the post you could say I was a little excited (okay I ripped the package open).
 I basically wanted a neutral everyday shade, and one that every beauty blogger seemed to own - and love - was All That Glitters. It has got the thumbs up from many of my favourite beauty bloggers, so I was expecting good things and I wasn't disappointed.

All That Glitters is a gorgeous pinky-gold champagne colour which is described as a beige colour with gold pearl on Mac's website, and in my opinion it's a perfect all-over-the-lid shade. It blends very easily and contains just the right amount of shimmer (not too much, but not too little) and it feels very smooth too.

  I have worn this eyeshadow during the day and I used it when I went out the other night for a meal, and I think it's very versatile because you can apply it on it's own or use some slightly darker shades in your crease to create a night-time look.

As this Mac eyeshadow was a hit, I'm already noting down some more shades to add to my - small - collection. What do you think of All That Glitters? 

My Everyday Makeup #2

I wanted to do a short post to show you what products I enjoy using on a daily basis, at the moment I'm loving quite natural makeup but one I get bored I'll switch things up a bit. I do change my lipstick colour a lot but I just chose one that's my all-time favourite for this post.

FACE

Dr Jart Water Fuse BB Cream

Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer in "Eclat Clair"

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in "Peach Glow"

Bourjois Bronzer in "51"

MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter

Bourjois Cream Blush in "Nude Velvet"

EYES

Urban Decay Eyeshadow in "Tease" (to fill my eyebrows in)

Benefit "They're Real" Mascara

Mac Eyeshadow in "All That Glitters"

Urban Decay Eyeshadow in "Busted" (to slightly line my eyes)

LIPS

Nivea Lip Butter in "Caramel Cream"

Mac Lipstick in "Creme Cup"

So there's the products that have been on my face recently, I always enjoy having a good nosy through peoples makeup bags and see which products they love to use.

Did you enjoy this post? Tweet me a pic of some products your using at the moment! (My Twitter username- @Amybfashion35)

The Weekend Post #15: The Natural Eye

Whatever the weather, you'll pretty much always find me sporting light and natural eye makeup. A sweep of eyeshadow, a flick of eyeliner and some lashings of mascara is all I need these days. I thought it would be interesting for you to see what my eye makeup menu consists of on a daily basis.

source

First on the menu is Mac All That Glitters, the perfect all-over lid shade (full review coming soon!). I sweep this all over my lids and move straight onto eyeliner. Oh, but not forgetting a subtle highlight on my brow bone and inner corner, I use one of my old favourites, enter... Urban Decay Bootycall.
Using a liner brush, I build some of Urban Decay's Blackout up and apply this with a small flick at the end. A good tip is to slightly dampen the liner brush to intensify the line. For mascara I'm currently loving Benefit They're Real, for lots of volume. A few lashings of this on my top - and don't forget the bottom - lashes and my eyes look wider and much more awake.


What's on your makeup menu for a natural look?

The Makeup: New Purchases

I like to change my makeup routine up quite a lot but once Spring is here I like to whip out my coral lipsticks and peachy blushers ready for a glowy and healthy makeup look. Hidden away are my deep reds and raspberry shades, and out come some more Spring-appropriate choices.

First up is 'Pink Punch' from the Models Own Ice Neon Collection. This super bright pink is getting me really in the mood for Summer and I can guarantee you this will be on my nails for the foreseeable future. Beautifully opaque in two coats, but it's not incredibly matte. It does say matte effect on the bottle but sadly it's not as matte as I would of liked.

Revlon have recently released some new shades of lip butters and with me being a huge fan of them already, I had to pick up at least one of their new shades. It has the same qualities of the original lip butters, a soft, creamy butter-like texture, hydrating and pigmented on your lips. How could I not resist? Juicy Papaya is a warm-toned peachy coral shade and instead of having shimmer in it (like the rest of the lip butters do), it's just one block of colour. Overall the pigmentation isn't fantastic, it's just a nice sheer lipstick to add a subtle wash of colour to your lips. Other shades that have been released are: Wild Watermelon, Pink Lemonade and Sorbet. All ideal shades for this time of year and I'll look forward to picking up some more soon.

Something else that's been on my wishlist for a while is the Rimmel Lasting Finish Soft Colour Blush in 'Santa Rose' and it wasn't until the other week that I managed to get my mitts on it. Santa Rose is a stunning muted pink/peach shade, and for £3.99 you can't really go wrong. It adds a subtle, healthy glow to your cheeks. This is a blusher I reach for on a daily basis, as it's great for everyday wear. The packaging isn't anything to rave about but as long as the product itself is good, then it doesn't really matter (although a beautifully designed casing always ticks all the right boxes for me).
A few days ago I purchased my first Mac lipstick (I'm hooked already by the way) and I wanted to pick a shade that would be easy for me to wear, so I went for Patisserie. A brown/pinky nude shade and I know a lot of people hate this phrase but, it is a 'my lips but better' shade. Sheer on the lips, so it's perfect for everyday wear and would probably please people who don't even like lipsticks, as you can't feel it on your lips. For my first Mac lipstick purchase, I am very happy and I look forward to my next buy!

The Edit: 5 Product Face

We all have those days where we 'simply cannot be bothered' to do anything but we still want to hide those dark circles and those pesky spots here and there. Or maybe you're just in a rush because you've spent too much time lounging about in your onesie, when you should of been getting ready? Well here's a round-up of quick makeup products that you can throw into your makeup bag and do on the go.

Dr Jart Water Fuse BB Cream (full review here) £18
This bb cream will save a lot of steps, it has advanced water bead technology to help hydrate your skin and give you a natural, healthy glow. It contains sunscreen, aloe leaf juice (which slows the water loss from your skin), and will soothe and calm your skin covering any blemishes, uneven skintone and red-ness. No need for powder because the bb cream will take care of the oil.

Max Factor Eye Brightening Mascara £7.99
These come in three different shades, one to suit everybody whether you have green, blue or brown eyes. The formula contains light reflecting particles to instantly brighten up your eyes and the gem-toned colour beads will help enrich eye colour. As well as diminishing dullness this mascara will also give you long lashes and lots of volume.

Stila Convertible Colour £16
This is versatile, so you can use it on your lips and cheeks, so you don't have to faff about with lipstick. This creamy lightweight product will effortlessly brush onto your skin leaving you with a healthy pop of colour on booth your lips and cheeks. One to suit every skin tone and trust me ladies, you won't regret picking this up. I also talked about this in my March Favourites post.

Mac Omega Eyeshadow £12
Just run this through your brows to make them look a but tidier (obviously you may need a different shade but this is my particular choice) as I can't be going out without sorting my brows out! A soft muted beige-taupe shade, it's easy to use and you'll never look back once you've got within your grasp.

Maybelline Colour Tattoo in 'Pink Gold' £4.99
I use this shade on a daily basis, it's excellent to use as a base for other eyeshadows to make sure they stay in place all day long. Or to use on it's own, the creamy gel-like formula makes these babies easy to apply and blend onto your eyelid. They come in a range of different shades so there's one out there everyone. A lovely long-lasting pop of colour that won't fade throughout the day either.