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?

Monthly Favourites | July

Yes, another month is come to an end and it's time for me to show you my favourite beauty bits and bobs, that I've been using over the past few weeks. I will warn you though that this months favourites aren't going to be that exciting, because I'm saving up for a shopping trip so I've been using some old favourites recently.

Revlon Lip Butter in "Cotton Candy" £7.99

I have been wearing this stuff on my lips an awful lot recently, a perfect sheeny pink shade that manages to keep your lips hydrated and looking luscious at the same time. I won't ramble on too much about it, as I'm sure everyone of you will have heard about the Lip Butters before but it's a lovely balmy texture and fuss-free to apply. A delightful bubblegum pink shade with a touch of shimmer, perfect.

Boots Coconut & Almond Intensive Hair mask £1.99

Particularly in the Summer I always need a tad more moisture in the ends of my locks, to avoid the frizzy look. With this being cheap I wasn't expecting a miracle but after a few uses I can tell a difference in the feel of my hair. I apply this to the ends of my hair, leave for a few minutes and rinse out. The next morning your hair will feel super soft.

Benefit Hoola Bronzer £23.50
This is actually one of the very few bronzers I own - surprisingly - and it's been hidden away in my stash for a while, until I decided to give it a go for some contouring and I fell in love, again. It's very pigmented so you don't need too much product on your brush and it's great to contour your face with without looking dirty. I like to apply a small amount using my Real Techniques Contour Brush whilst pulling the 'fishy face' and blend it out to look more natural.

Urban Decay Eyeshadow in "Half Baked" £14
Half Baked is a very shimmery golden bronze shade which I've been using on the outer corner of my lids daily this month. I was expecting this to be a pain to apply (because of thee shimmer) but it applies very easily and it has a very smooth texture. The pigmentation is great too, I would definitely getting the Naked 2 palette as all of the shades are fantastic.

Bourjois Bronzing Primer £9.99
I did a full review - here - on this, but I had to include it in my favourites for this month. As all of you in the UK will know, the weather has been very hot this past month so due to this I haven't been wearing a full face of makeup everyday and this primer has come in very handy. I apply this (using my fingers) all over my face, making sure to blend it well and then go ahead and use a BB Cream over the top for a perfect Summer makeup base.


Non-Beauty Favourites

Hay Day (Available from the App Store)
I've been spending so much time on this app - warning it's very addictive! - and it's free too.

Watermelon!
I've been eating Watermelon like crazy at the moment, but at least it's healthy!

Skater Skirts
I never used to be a skirt fan but this Summer I haven't been out of my Skater skirts. I have three in total - note to self: buy more - two from Topshop and one from New Look. They go with EVERYTHING and look so pretty as well.


Phew. That was a long post, what have you been enjoying this last month?

The Makeup: Peach Madness

Spring time always has me sporting a fresh peachy/coral makeup look, so I though I'd show you a selection of products that have me head over heels. I don't know what it is about peach... I just can't resist it.

Essie Nail Polish in Tart Deco £7.99
Essie have a huge variety of shades to choose from, so picking a suitable shade can be difficult but this is one of their original members. A good quality polish for a reasonable price and don't get me started on that brush of theirs!

Bourjois Rouge Edition Lipstick in Peche Cosy £7.99
No doubt you've all heard/seen these lipsticks before but I had to share this particular shade with you. A light creamy peach shade, that will brighten up any makeup look.

Nars Blush in Gina £21.50
Pricey, but well worth it. Claims to give you a healthy, natural glow to any skin tone and is build-able  depending on how intense you want the colour to be. Gina is a very popular shade and you'll probably find most beauty lovers will have this lurking in their makeup bag somewhere...

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in Papaya £3.99
I'm pretty sure everyone and their dog owns at least one of these nail paints. Gel-like nails with a high amount of shine are what everyone's talking about right now. This shade is bright, bold and a stunning shade for the Spring months.

Revlon Lip Butter in Juicy Papaya £7.99
Revlon Lip Butters are very popular in the 'beauty world' so when I heard about some new shades, I was very excited! If you'd like to hear all my ramblings about this product then click here. But in a nutshell... this lipstick adds a lovely sheer wash of peachy colour to your lips.


So there's a quick round-up of some coral products that have caught my eye, will you be picking any of these up?

Monthly Favourites | April

This month has been jam packed with new releases and I found it quite hard to keep up, but I've managed to whittle my favourites down to a few items I've been using non-stop. I've been breaking out some more Spring-appropriate choices so here's what I been loving...

Revlon Lip Butter in Juicy Papaya. (also mentioned here) If you haven't already heard that Revlon have released some NEW lip butter shades, then where have you been?
Juicy Papaya is a peachy coral shade and it leaves my lips with an even wash of colour. Their new shades don't contain any glitter, which is a bonus for me as I'm not too keen on lipsticks with glitter, and there are some brighter options if you prefer a more bold lip.

Natural Collection Blush in Peach Melba. This stunning peachy shade will add a nice subtle colour to your cheeks, and I've been finding myself reaching for this recently. As cheap as chips and good quality as well, some people might avoid the Natural Collection stand and head straight for the higher-end brands, but believe me, you need this in your stash

Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh. (also mentioned here)
A captivating light scent that's perfect for this time of year. Very fresh and feminine with notes of

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Polish in Lychee. (full review here)
Nudes are what everyone's talking about, and Barry M's Gelly nail polishes are some of my favourite ones to choose from. Lychee is the perfect nude that will suit a lot of different skin tones. I am very pale at the moment and it surprisingly looks okay. I'd uuhhmed and ahhedd in the shop about purchasing this particular shade, but as I loved the formula for their gelly nail polishes I thought I may as well give it a go. I am very happy with this and it's been featured on my nails a lot this past month.

Soap and Glory Face Massage Mini Mitt. I bought this a while back and never got round to mentioning it on my blog! How?, I don't know... I love to use this handy little 'gadget' in the evenings with a dollop of cleanser to give my skin a nifty 'deep clean'. It's made of soft silicone, so it would be suitable for people with sensitive skin. I massage my face in circular motions which will help to cleanse my skin and remove any dirt from my pores too. It'll remove any dead skin cells and leave your skin feeling instantly refreshed and squeaky clean! And the best part is, it's only £4 from Boots! So if you fancy a little pamper without spa prices, this is for you.

So that concludes my April Favourites, I've also been loving my Stila Convertible Colour in Lilium, but as I mentioned it in my last favourites post, I thought I better not ramble on about it too much! (If you'd like to hear my thoughts on the Stila Convertible Colour then click here)

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!