AKF apologies and NYC lip sliders

For a new blog I an being sooo neglectful but I have been busy with work and any one who does nights will know it can be a bit unsociable :o( plus the school holidays are now under way, I seem to blink an loose 3 days! So plenty of Away From Keyboard time going on sorry.

Any way back to important things .....

NYC lip sliders!

I'm not a big fan of tinted lip balms. If I have chapped lips I treat them if I want colour I use lip sticks or glosses etc. I know the NYC lip sliders have been around for a while but being a tinted gloss never really grabbed me, however at 2 for £1 its just impossible not to try! Sugar Angel didn't even make it home to be photographed with being tested lol.

I got Sugar Angel, Sugar Coated, Sugar Kiss and Sugar rush. 9g of product per tin. they have a slightly vanilla smell and the packaging is so cute. 

I love the little tins being different from the usual screw top pots. I'm really surprised at the colour quality. Not enough to give my lips a hugely strong block of colour but defiantly a glossy tint with the plus side of not being so strong they stain your finger. Nothing to sticky but a good lip smacking feel. I'd definitely recommend them to balm an gloss lovers and I can definitely see them being thrown in to my bag for those low / no make up days!

Accessorize - X-mas set & You Are Everything

At Christmas Superdrug had an Accessorize set on 3 for 2, then on half price! So don't mind if I do after all it would be rude not to! I used 2 for gifts and the 3rd as a treat for being such a bargain spotter lol. After all 3 sets for £20 deserves a treat! Each set contained a blusher, cream highlighter mascara, body butter and 3 eye shadows. 

Accressorize is not a brand of cosmetics I've ever used before but at such a bargain and because a luuuurve the butterfly packaging this was the perfect way to give it a go.

I've not used the body butter yet, I'm still working my way through the truck load of butters, balms, scrubs, lotions etc I got for my birthday/Christmas. It has a nice fresh floral smell (I'm sooooo useless at describing smells!). I've used everything else and nothing has disappointed!

The highlighter (50ml) is smooth and pearly. Gives a really lovely iridescence with out being glittery and turning my face in to a disco ball. The eye shadows (2.5g each) are well pigmented and apply nicely There is a small amount of fall out but nothing more than I'd expect from any darker shades (silver - silver dove, purple - ultra violet, black - graphite). The blush in Scandal (8g)  is a lovely almost dusky pink glow with a tiny hint of peach and gold shimmer. My favorite thing in the set is the mascara (5.5ml). the brush is long slim an a straight "classic" twist of bristles. Its black, it doesn't flake, there is very little trans-fare an no clumping. No bells or whistles it makes my lashes black...simple.

During one of my "I'm just looking" sessions I decided to indulge in some more Accosserize cosmetics. I do love their packaging. Fun and girly with out looking like it just got sneezed out by the glitter fairy. I grabbed the "You are Everything" palette for a purse pleasing £8.95.

Its a slim palette in a stiff cardboard fold held shut by a strip of elastic in the usual multicoloured union flag design with random butterflys and wild flowers. Decent sized mirror and ideal size for traveling. 

32 little round pans totaling 16g of product. there are a few mat shades in the lighter shadows the rest are pearls and shimmers. The lighter colours don't match the darker and brighter ones in pay off and I found them a little chalky. The darker shadows have a tremendous pay off for the price they are a little powdery too in the pan but apply smoothly to the eye with an almost creamy feel. I like the way they are arranged in 8 columns of 4 shades of each colour: naturals, purple mauves, greens, bronzes, pinks, silvers, blues and purples. Having pinky tones is quite unusual but I'm liking! 

I don't regret buying this palette and I will use it but I doubt I'd replace it, I may buy some of the individual shadows. I am planning on getting my fingers on some more of the Accessorize blushes and of course I will replace the mascara!

Thank you for taking the time to read.

ELF 50% off haul

I got this mahooosive box of loveliness for just £25.47 (inc p&p), averaging a piffling £1.27 per item! How could I resist? Well I have no will power at the best of times but when it comes to make up AND bargains an attempt as self control was futile!

Blending eye brush (75p) and Contour eye brush (£1.88) where no brain-ers, 2nd purchase of both. Lovely soft brushes perfect for the right amount of colour in the right place and smooth blending.

Dramatic lashes, Natural lashes and Individual lashes (75p each) are a "suck it an see". I do like a lot of lash but being a contact lens wearer & having droopage in the lid area (as well as most other places) I'm always looking for a really comfy lash! I will up date when I've given these a go.

Make up Mist & Set (£1.88) 60 ml. Love, love, have always loved my MAC fix plus (I know its not technically a setting spray) but at £12.50 a bottle and me going through it by the shed load I was really intrigued to try this. Ive only used it the last 2 nights in work and so far so good. Its got a lovely fresh smell that doesn't linger. Face still reasonably intact by the time i got home this morning!

Exact Lash Mascara (£1.88). Bought this purely for the tiny brush to be used on my bottom lashes. I have dark colouration round the luggage in that area and any transfer from the lower lashes look soooo bad. Like the Mist & Set 2 nights in work and all seems pleasing!

Cool Bronzer (£1.88) 13g. I have been meaning to get this for a while. Despite having dark brown hair (with natural silver highlights :op) and brown eyes I'm quite pasty skinned with a smattering of pale freckles. Most bronzers are either waaaay to dark an I look like Ive been fighting with the baby's chocolate pud or I end up an attractive shade of orange! ELF'S cool bornzer isn't overly pigmented & having the 4 colours in blocks mean with selective brush swirling  you can customise  to your own personal shade. I have had a good play with the colours individually and used this for bronzing, contour, highlight and even a nice light natural eye.

Eye Liner in plum (75p). Ive got a few ELF eyeliners an like the others this 1 has a good pay off, smudges well for smoking out or under a shadow. I don't find they last massively on the water line but to be fair there are some very pricy liners that last even less. I does also come with a sharpener.

Nail Polish (£1.25 each) 10ml. 4 lovely looking colours, excellently matching the website swatches an 2 glittery bottles. Nude (pinky finger) an desert (ring finger) are perfect neutrals. Teal (middle finer) is an amazing pop of bold colour. Twinkle (thumb) has small holographic silver based glitter in its very pretty! It has a slight milky iridescence to the polish so could be worn alone but no so much it cant be layered over another colour. Golden Goddess (pointy finger) has tiny golden glitter in and some larger holographic bits, like Twinkly the polish has a slight colour too. A pearly gold (obviously) and i really liked it. Until I came to take the picture. I'm the 1st to admit that my camera skills are a bit dire but I tried light, dark, flash, natural light, warm, cool etc in various combinations. Below is the best (slightly blurry) picture no matter what I did the lovely golden pearl polish made it look like I had some nasty unholy staining under my nail! So nice "in person" don't wear alone if you gonna be getting you photo taken.

I'm wearing Lilac, nice warm soft mauve & 48 hours of wear with no chipping isn't much for most people but as Ive usually mangled the colour before its dry I'm well pleased!

Lip stick in Fantasy (75p) Never had a lip stick from ELF. Like the colour, matches the website swatch. Feels really creamy and not greasy, nice pay off and build-able colour. Big bonus for me..smells of sherbet!! Me likey!

Liquid Lipsticks (75p each) Long time love affair going on with these lil babys! One of these (Maple Sugar) is a 3rd purchase. They smell an taste a little bit of mint choc chip not strongly so an its very pleasant. Lovely glossy colours in a twist up doe foot applicator. From a tinted gloss to full on colour with out being overly sticky. I wear these on their own, layered over lipstick or liner.

(l-r maple sugar, caramel candy, perfect pink, cherry tart.)

 (all prices are inclusive of the 50% discount)

Well my lovely's, if u managed to stay awake through all the ramble thank you so much for reading!!

June / July budget blow!

I've trying to be strict this last two months with my cosmetic purchases, as you can see that didn't exactly go to plan!

Personally I blame MUA for the release of the Undressed palette and ELF for their 50% off pro-mo - -  minxy little temptresses!! :o)

I was planning to give my 1st impressions of my shiny shiny haul but given my tendency to waffle on a bit I've broken them down in to sorta brand/when I got them chunks, save any one dieing of boredom.

I am going to quickly cover the Superdrug BB cream now, basically because it wont take long. (bottom of the pick slightly left of center)

So far my experimenting with BB cream has me agreeing with most blogs I've read an YT videos I've seen. Its re packaged over charged tinted moisturiser. But ....

Superdrug 5-in-1 day cream, is £8.99 for 50ml, it has SPF 15, is has antioxidant and UBV/IBA filers an is paraben free. It give a nice light coverage, slightly more than the other BB creams I've tried (all be it thats only 2 Garnier and Boots no7). Still needed extra coverage on my under eye suitcases and the odd blemish but unlike my tinted moisturiser it has the SPF. It doesn't have much of a scent which is good, (whiffy sun block smell not good!!) 
Good for a quick light/natural face when in a rush or just wanting minimal coverage. Almost defiantly going to re purchase this product.

Who wouldn't want to get Undressed!

By now there are probably a zillion blogs doing a comparative on the MUA Undressed palette an the Urban Decay Naked...so here is 1 more lol.

Colour for colour they are incredibly similar.

I've had my Naked for a good while and I do like it but never thought it the be all an end all. I don't really like Virgin for a highlight, maybe because I'm knocking on a bit now and its to shimmery for droopy lid highlighting :op and I found it quite chalky. 
So, I was very prepared to feel the same about undressed.....how wrong was I!! 

Undressed is smooth and creamy an the swatches above just don't do it justice! They are as super pigmented as you would expect from MUA and the only way I can describe how they feel is fluffy butter! I wore it from lunch time till about 1am when I when I took it off for bed an the colours hadn't budged!
If the makeup devil decrees I could only have 1 palette there is every chance this is the one I will pick! 
And like all the MUA palettes....it only costs FOUR POUNDS!!!! yep £4, just 4 tiny little pounds! This is the very definitional of how reduced cost does not mean reduced quality!
Even thrown on VERY quickly I was sooo pleased with the results!

P.S special thanks to my middle daughter and her long skinny arms :o) xx
P.P.S sorry for the sulky puss face, I have no idea why I look like I've just lost a lottery ticket :o) xx 

Nail Numpty!

Picked up 2 lovely shades of nail varnish from boots this week at the "cant be complained about price" of £1.98 each.

Possibly not the most coordinated colours but I thought they might look nice together (possible because the where next to each other on the shelf).

 As I applied the first coat of the baby pink I was a little concerned about how sheer it was but persevered it wasn't until I was on coat FIVE that I looked at the name "pink manicure"!! what a numprty/muppet (insert appropriate idiot type name of your choosing) It wasn't with the rest of the manicure colours so I assumed it was true solid baby pink.....you know what they say about assumption!!
By layer SEVEN its almost what I had thought it was and it is a lovely colour but it will be going with my other manicure colours, don't think I will ever have the patience for 7 more coats :op
The other colour is called Antique Coral and 2 coats would have been just fine but I did 3 just to make sure. I'm realy please with this lovely orangy (< not a word) coral.

Topped off with a coat of No17 glitter top coat - everything feels good with a sparkle!

Who's me, whats my stuff???

 Well quite obviously I'm me lol! Most people call me H.

I'm a full time mum who also has a full time job. I have 3 beautiful daughters.

I've always been obsessed, interested in and played with makeup and the creative process but it was always just me, doing my thing. I have secretly had a a desire to do the whole YouTube & blogging thing for ages but never had the confidence, made excuses about work, kids, no time etc.

Why now? About 2 years ago I got a really nasty infection that went from my throat and ears to my nose, eyes and skin. I was so paranoid about contaminated bacteria I threw out ALL my make up and brushes!!  Having to replace all my beloved shiny stuff whilst on maternity pay wasn't going to be easy and prompted me to look for more cost effective alternatives and I was amazed at the wonderment of beauty products that are available with out breaking the bank!

As my youngest daughter starts full time nursery soon and I'm already finding my self at a lose end on my days off I'm keeping my fingers crossed this will be something to distract me from any "broody" feelings, keep me out of the kitchen (unsuccessfully dieting....as usual) and share with some lovely people (you) the "stuff" I have found!

Thank you for your time.