FOTN - Birthday Dinner

Dinner, Dancing & Cocktails

This is the makeup I wore last night; embracing my K$sha-ness, I went for a rock chick smokey eye, with a perky pink nude lip. A video will be up later on YT, but in the meantime, here are few piccies!

Products used were...

FACEAtelier Foundation

MUFE HD Cream Blush in #6

Chanel Bronze Universel

NAKED UD Palette: Sin all over the lid & as a highlight in the inner corner, Gunmetal over the lid & Creep in the crease. I also ran the 217 along the lower lash line, so a mix of the 3 went underneath.

AVON Gel Shock Liner in Khaki on the waterline

MUFE Aqua Smokey Lash

Clinique Fine Brow Pencil in Soft Blonde

Estee Lauder Lip Gloss in 'Nude Rose'

And this is my outfit! I'm still not brave enough to do a OOTD type thing - whenever I have taken pics, they are awful - so Polyvore will do instead! This is not my exact outfit - the blazer for example here is £1000 from Net A Porter and I think mine was from Tesco! I kept it black & simple! (ps the top I'm wearing above is just a pyjama top...)

My black skinnies were from New Look

Black mid-length sleeve top from Zara

Black patent pumps from Dorothy Perkins

The feather bag pictured is my actual bag from ASOS which I think is like 2 or 3 years old

My current favourite earrings from V Westwood

Xmas/New Year Makeup Matte Eyes & MAC Rebel Lip

Hi lovelies,

Was getting a bit bored of having glitter all over my face & decided to do a matte look. Was also challenged on twitter to come up with a look using MAC Rebel Lipstick & here's what I did!

You can see the video here, but here's a quick break down of what I did...

Skin - MUFE HD Foundation, mixed with a smidge of MAC Face & Body in white, to lighten it slightly. Concealed under the eyes with MAC NW20 Select Cover Up.

Eyes - covered from lashes to brow with Brulee. Created an outer V & kept the crease super dark and defined (don't blend too much) using MAC Carbon. Defined the lashes with a very thin line of Clinique black gel liner. Loads of black mascara on top lashes only.

Brows - defined using Shu Uemura brow pencil, then darkened with MAC Carbon.

Cheeks - Illmasqua Nymph Blush & Chanel Bronze Universel to contour.

Lips - MAC Rebel Lipstick!

hope you like it!

A xx

Clinique '3 Things' App

I got an email yesterday from Clinique, bringing my attention to their new iPhone app. I'm not a big app fan and didn't really pay any attention, until I saw Lipglossiping's post on it this morning and thought it looked quite fun.

It's called '3 Things to do before you're 30' . I turn 29 in a few weeks, so this app might give me a good place to make my last year as a 20's something a winner! Once downloaded, you give it a shake and it gives you 3 random suggestions of things you could do that day. Here are mine!

Invent My Own Cocktail

Done. Tonight I am having a 'Hot Baileys'. It will be Hot Choc & Baileys. Ahh simplicity...

Buy Something for Someone Else

Done; did some xmas shopping this morning

Go Swimming, Indoors or Outdoors...

Not A Chance.

Clinique Strawberry Fudge 2010 Holiday Collection - Video

Hello,

Following on from this sneak peek post, you can see me using the whole collection in my latest video...

A xx

Clinique Strawberry Fudge 2010 Holiday Collection

I recently received* the Strawberry Fudge Holiday Collection from the lovely peeps down at Clinique. I have filmed a video using the whole collection which will be up in a few days, but in the meantime feast your eyes on some pics.

*PR Samples for review. Please see disclaimer for further details

Bobbi Brown & Chanel Brushes

**Warning! Pic Heavy!**

Decided to treat myself to some new brushes... I've used both Chanel and Bobbi Brown brushes in the past (I do already own a few) and I've found them to be reliable, easy to use and stay in top notch condition after washing time and time again. So they were a natural choice for some new investments!

BB Bronzer Brush

Probably my favourite out of the bunch, this has a super chunky handle and is amazingly soft. It's called a bronzer brush, but would be fine as a powder, blush or just as a general face blender.

Retractable Lip Brush

This isn't actually retractable - instead it comes in 2 parts, so when you're finished using it, you just pop it back in it's cap!

Eyeliner Brush

Bobbi Brown actually do a couple of really nice liner brushes. This is a firm, flat synthetic brush that would be suitable for lining both wet & dry, could probably be used for applying concealer to blemishes and for applying cream eyeshadows.

Eyebrow Brush

Super stiff angled brush for filling eyebrows. Made from goat hair, this would not be suitable for using on the eye area as it would be too scratchy, but it will be great for shaping brows!

Foundation Brush

Chanel Synthetic Concealer Brush

This will be a general brush for creamy eye products for me. It's beautifully soft so will be great for concealing around the eye area.

Mascara Spooly/Brow Comb

Random new pot of gel liner from Clinique!

Clinique's Support for Breast Cancer Awareness

Clinique's support of the Estee Lauder companies' Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign continues throughout the month of October, with the sale of this limited edition 'Pink Ribbon Key Chain'.

The key chain contains 3 Long Last Glosswear lipglosses, which are all SPF15. Go on, show your support; £1 from Boots and £1 from Clinique from the sale of each £15 key chain will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (www.brcfcure.org)

A xx

Clinique 'Anti-Blemish Solutions Liquid Makeup'

If you read my blog regularly, you’ll be aware of how often I bemoan my often oily, slightly blemished, dull skin.

I was one of those annoying teens who never had a spot or blemish and didn’t realise how lucky I was. Unfortunately, at the age of 20 when I suddenly got hips and a decent chest, I also got spots. I don’t know what happened – maybe it was payback for being smug between 13 – 19! Until about 26, they didn’t bother me too much. But then I had a few problems with my pill; since then my skin has gone haywire.

I think I’ve mentioned before about how it got so bad I ended up being seen by a dermatologist at the SK:N clinic for a round of chemical peels. Pricey, but they have done wonders, bringing my poor painful inflamed skin, back to mildly spotty.

I have good weeks and bad weeks, where my skin can swing from glowing in the morning to inflamed by tea time, but it has generally remained middling. Products such as Dr Perricone’s moisturiser that I’ve blogged about before generally keeps things to a minimum in terms of large blemishes, but I am still plagued by slightly dull, congested skin.

So, as I am always on the lookout for new things that might help, I’ve agreed to try the new Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Liquid Makeup, to see if that can improve things. I took the ‘skin type’ test on the Clinique website and it diagnosed me as having type 2 combination skin, with my main priority as keeping oil under control.

The makeup works to get and maintain skin clear and lovely in these 4 ways...

Ease of Irritation: The presence of caffeine helps to reduce redness and soothes the skin

Control of Blemish Causing Agents: Hydroxydecanoic Acid is an ingredient that helps control the spread of blemishes

Exfoliation: Salicylic acid works as an exfoliant, working off those dead skin cell debris which can clog pores

Oil Control: Laminaria Sacharrina Extract is a sea algae which purifies and balances the skin, helping to regulate sebum production.

As the Anti-Blemish liquid makeup is all about natural, but good coverage whilst controlling oil, I’m game! I’m going to try the foundation over a couple of weeks to give it a chance to work its magic. In the meantime you can check out this tutorial or you can find out more here.

FOTD Stila Eyes

**edited to add a couple of better pics**

A huge thanks to http://www.getlippie.com/ for the goodies I received this morning; a gorgeous bronze eye shimmer by Stila and a lovely berry/bronzey creamy lipstick from Clinique - yummy! Despite my on-going battle with my owly eyebrows, I've posted a wee pic of what I created.

I used the above products, including Benefit's Playstick Foundation, Coralista, One Hot Minute bronzer, Speedbrow Gel (although I don't know why I bothered! nothing can help me!) and Bad Gal Lash. Also pictured are one of my babies - my 24 carat gold plated Shu Uemura lash curlers.

Let me know what you think!