Dupe Alert!

Now I can finally cross NARS Albatross off my want list as I think i've found the perfect dupe and at a considerably cheaper price might I add.

I placed a small order from E.L.F a few weeks ago which consisted of Natural Nymph mineral lipstick (love!) and Gotta Glow blush from their Studio line.

I would not refer to this product as a blush. For one it's not your everyday cheek colour and two it's not a product you would want to be heavy handed with. However it's a beautiful product none the less and at £3.50 you couldn't beat it with a big stick.

In real life it appears as an off white with lots of shimmer...

Swatched - a beautiful champagne colour

And on application has pretty much the same effect as MAC's Vanilla pigment

You don't have to take my word for it seeing as I don't own NARS Albatross to do a proper comparison but feel free to google a swatch and form your own opinion.

What dupes have you found lately?

Let me introduce you...

to the Goody Start Style Finish 43mm Ceramic Ionic Porcupine Hot Round Brush. Now exhale!

I stumbled across this bad boy in Boots whilst looking for a round brush, something similar to the BrushLab Thermal Jumbo Hair Brush so that I could attempt LolaMarie7's "round brush your hair" tutorial. I'm sure you have already seen it but for those who haven't you can watch it here.

I've never heard of this brand before but after a bit of research with the aid of Google i've discovered they produce a wide range of brushes and combs for every stage of hair styling. They claim by selecting a tool from each step you'll see your best results yet.

This brush promises to:-

- add volume

- help reduce frizz

- straighten

I can vouch for 2 of the 3. I've come to accept that my hair doesn't retain volume. If your hair is thick/heavy like mine I wouldn't expect miracles from this brush. Saying that however the bristles have reduced frizz and made my hair feel uber soft plus it takes me half the time to blow dry my hair due to the quick dry ceramic plates.

Despite its bulky size, it's relatively light therefore it's easy to maneuver through your hair. I'm a big fan of the porcupine bristles. A lot of brushes are made entirely of the flexible bristles however the Goody brush has a combination . For my hair type I need a sturdier bristle to get through my mop. My hairdresser always jokes that I have a lot of hair hence why it's so thick.

This brush has pushed my Denman paddle brush to the back of the drawer.

The Goody brush range is stocked in Boots but you can also check out their website. Prices range from £3.49 to £11.99.

Have you tried any Goody brushes?

What Sundays are all about

For me Sundays are about 3 things:-

1) sleeping in late and lounging about the house all day (pyjamas optional)

2) catching up on blogs, YT etc.

3) experimenting with makeup

When you have no plans it's great to play around with different makeup looks, at the end of the day no one will see you and you can remove it and start over if you wish.

Today I stepped away from my usual black gel liner and opted for an eggplant shade in the form of Gosh's Funky Violet Velvet Touch Eye Liner. I can't remember the last time I was without my Blacktrack Fluidline, so you can say this is definitely out of my comfort zone.

I'm not usually one for pencil liners either however this has a creamy formula and is waterproof. This is true to it's word and will be a job for my cleanse off oil to remove.

This is how it looks on. You can apply it lightly or as heavily as you like.

The weekend also welcomes a change to adventurous nail colours. My nail of the day is Models Own Jade which I first spied in Augusts edition of Cosmopolitan and just had to have it.

With Flash

Without Flash

If like me you don't like Barry M Mint Green. Try Jade Stone. It's got a thicker consistency so no streaking however I only applied this last night and already there are signs of chipping :s

What other colours are must haves from Model's Own?

Another FOTD...

This week i've been dabbling in wearing more makeup. I returned from Turkey on Monday :( and whilst away I didn't wear a lot, if any at all, except a thick coat of mascara and some lip balm. Usually I don't like my freckles but this year I embraced them.

So without further ado this is the slap that featured today and the day before that etc.

Face:

* A bit of MAC SFF to allow my freckles to show through and even out my skin tone

* Chanel Bronze Universal as a bronzer and contour

* NYX cream blush in Glow

Eyes:

* MAC Style Snob all over the lid

* MAC Antiqued in the crease and on lower lashline

* MAC Blacktrack fluidline on top lashline

* Maxfactor 2000 Calorie mascara (my HG)

Lips:

*good old Carmex

* YSL Rouge Volupte No. 2

Holidays are perfect for giving your skin a chance to breathe not to mention a healthy glow which is a shame really to mask it in heavy coverage foundations. Thankfully my MAC Face and Body foundation arrived today and I can't wait to give it a whirl tomorrow.

N.B. must go on more holidays in 2011.

I've already decided on Cyprus for next years adventure with hopefully a few city breaks in between.

Where should I go in Cyprus? Let me know about your experiences there.

Things I'm Currently Lovin'

I have a few things i've been using/wearing consistently these past few months.

1) Water - I know it's not really an item as such but i've increased my intake of H2O. I haven't quite reached the 2 litres a day but the pitiful amount I have been drinking has made an impact on me. By keeping me that little bit more hydrated, my skin and lips have become noticeably less dry which is a definite improvement to what they were like previously.

2) Nuance mineralize blush - This was released way back with MAC's Sonic Chic collection. It's a peach colour with gold throughout. I don't know what drew me to pick this out of my vast blush collection and I'm very happy. It's a summer staple for me and works well combined with the next product I'm going to mention.

3) Benefit 10 - I "borrowed" this from my mum two years ago to take on holiday as it saves on two products. It is a contour/highlight combined in a cute box and will be coming to Turkey with me in July. It works well with my skin tone but for those who are darker, you might find it a bit light.

4) Urban Outfitters - It's a shop I never really go into because I find some of their clothing is not to my taste and can be overpriced. However saying that their jewellery range is fantastic and recently i've made a few purchases, one being a beautiful gold chain bracelet with the words "love you" intertwined in the links. It's very delicate and is my favourite piece of jewellery at the minute and is constantly on my wrist.

What are your current loves?

SOLD: NARS Sheer Glow

I have for sale a bottle of Nars Sheer Glow foundation in the shade Gobi.

It has been used a maximum of three times.

I colour matched myself to this shade with the help of Temptalia's Foundation Matrix. In reference to MAC shades, this would be the equivalent of NC15. I'm slightly lighter than this so this foundation is not an exact match to my skin tone.

This was purchased from HQ Hair for £29 and am selling for £18.00 including postage and packaging.

Please note that I no longer have the box and I will only ship to the UK.

If your interested please leave me a comment with your paypal email address so that I can invoice you. It will be first come first serve :)

Tempting FOTD

Today's "Face of the Day" consisted of a few products I haven't used in a very long time but I have to say I really like the results.

For foundation I used my NARS Sheer Glow in Sante Fe. This will be the third time i've ever used it considering I purchased it in December. I find this foundation really hard to describe. One word that sort of sums it up for me is "magical" (cheesy, I know). It blends in effortlessly, cutting down the application process and leaves a luminous glow. For those who suffer from dry/flaky skin like me this doesn't cling to it and I haven't needed to touch it up. Overall this gets two thumbs up from me!

Now onto the cheeks. For my contour I used Expresso by NYX. I found it best to use the tiniest amount as it's quite pigmented and just build it up. I'm also going to try using this as a blush. So we'll see how it compares with my skin tone. On lazy days I usually just apply a darker blush which adds colour to my cheeks but also contours at the same time. This could be one of those blushes.

Lastly the eyes. I started with Gleam by MAC on the first third of the lid and inner corner followed by a light dusting of Tempting on top. I was going to leave it at that but instead I added some Carbon to darken the crease. I finished the eyes with some fluidline and a slick of mascara.

Feel free to leave me a comment with your current shadow combinations. I'm always looking for new ideas :)

First ever IN and OUT post

I'm finally only getting round to doing one of these posts now. I needed a simple post to ease myself into blogging again.

So lets begin...

IN

1) No more spending ban - I've only been spending money on the essentials recently in order to save some money but now that I have my Balenciaga (it makes me smile every time I look at it) my spending can resume however I'm now more careful with my cash. Pre ban I would have my wages spent within 2 weeks of payday which would leave me miserable the rest of the month. Now I carry a list when I shop and only buy what's on it leaving no room for unnecessary purchases.

2) Being pale - Never thought it would be IN but I'm enjoying be pale. It's feels good to get out of bath/shower and not have to stress about applying fake tan and then removing it = tedious job. It is nice to have a healthy glow but it's also nice to rock your natural skin colour from time to time. The only downside is all my foundations match my skin when I was tan and I have to replace them.

3) My birthday - On the 21st February i'll be turning 23. It's not great to be getting older but my boyfriend has planned something special which is a surprise that I'm looking forward too. I've also booked a few days off work for a much needed break.

OUT

1) Allergic reactions - Recently I had a delayed allergic reaction to fake tan hence why I have to embrace the pale. My skin was itchy and very sensitive, I also had break outs on my face. This has happened once before so I'm assuming that I'm allergic to DHA, which the primary ingredient in sunless tanners. Now the St Moritz is saved for nights out only.

What are your IN and OUT's this week?

Anniversary Outfit of the Night

Last night me and my boyfriend finally got the opportunity to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. We booked a table at one of our favourite restaurants and I ate a little more than I could handle and was ready to sleep by the time we ordered dessert.

Because of the weather I didn't want to get too dressed up so choose jeans and boots that were not on the practical side.

The bf still hasn't quite mastered how to get a full outfit shot.

Blazer - New Look

Plain black tee - H&M

Black cardigan - Zara

Jeans - Topshop (their jeans are the best fit for me)

Chanel style bag - ASOS

Black ankle boots (not shown) - eBay

and my attempt at the full thing..

I was trying to get a better picture of the boots but this is the best I could do. They are faux suede with a 5 inch heel and not the easiest to walk in especially on ice but they kept my toesies warm, thats all that matters.

My lastest obsession

Move over beauty blogs I've found another addiction this week...

...In the form of fashion blogs!

It's nice to have a bit of variety in your google reader :)

I found myself extremely bored last weekend and was looking for new bloggers to follow. I stumbled across one blog in particular and then found many others via her page.

Here are a few i'm loving:

Closet Full of Nothing - Coco proves you don't have to be tall and skinny to look great in clothes. Most fashion bloggers i've come across tend to have the same model-esque image and that can be quite boring. She also has a fabulous shoe collection.

Style Scrapbook - Andy is in my top 2 and I would say a large part of her wardrobe is from H&M and Zara (these stores seem to feature a lot in fashion blogs along with ASOS) which makes me wonder why I can never find anything half decent in them. I must not be looking hard enough.

Comer Over To The Darkside - This is my no. 1 fashion blogger. She reminds me of Roxanne McKee (aka Louise in Hollyoaks). Her style to me is edgy but yet still feminine. I'm now lemming leather look leggings and over the knee boots.

To name a few more:

-My Fash'

- All About The style

- Fashionnerdic.

All their individual styles are wearable and thats what I prefer to read/look at. I like the idea of being able to recreate it (minus the Louboutins), just like a makeup tutorial!

Please check these amazing girls out and feel free to link me to your favourite fashion bloggers.

My New Years Resolutions

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and fabulous New Year. Mine were both low-key and consisted of chilling out with family and friends and consuming lots of food and drink.

What better way to begin my first post of the new year than with my 2010 resolutions.

Lets see how many I can stick with.

1) Be more healthy - I think this one is on everybody's list. Me and my boyfriend have agreed that tonight we had our last takeaway, it's only home-cooked meals from now on. I will also be back to drinking 2 litres of water a day, this took a backseat during the holidays.

2) Spend less and save more - I admit none of my wages goes into a savings account, I seem to spend it all and if I keep on going like that I'll never be able to afford to move out which is on the cards over the next few years. My aim is to only buy the things I need and to go shopping with lists which I will hopefully stick to (a little tip I picked up from Shopaholicjo).

3) Get back behind the wheel - I passed my driving test little over 2 years ago but haven't been in my car within the last 8 months. I'm terrified of driving by myself mainly because I'm not very streetwise and would probably get lost. I've since given my car to my sister as a wedding gift although I'm still on the insurance and should really get back to driving to build my confidence. I'm also encouraging my bf to start lessons so that I can have my own chauffeur :)

4) Find a new job - I know a lot of people don't actually enjoy what they do for a living, its basically a means to pay the bills but I would like to be one of the few that can say they like going to work. These past few months have really made me realize how unhappy I am in what I'm doing and is also one of the reasons behind me enrolling in a makeup course. At least I have something to look forward to after work on a Tuesday. It's my own secret pastime.

5) Make more YouTube video's - It's been a few months now since I made a video, I just haven't felt very inspired and it's not often that I have the house to myself. I also need more ideas on what video's I can make because at the minute I'm not spending so if you have any suggestions please let me know.

What are your New Years resolutions?