B E A U T Y | M A Y B E L L I N E – G E L L I N E R*

Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner (Intense Black) Review

Where have I been? Like, where? For years I’ve been watching YouTube videos and reading blogs and for years I’ve been completely ignoring the praise for the Maybelline gel liner.

It just so happened that I finally gave in and just threw the thing into my shopping basket at ASDA while stocking up on essentials. It took me another month to even pick the thing up off of my dresser to use. I just wasn’t bothered about it at all.

So I begrudgingly got my camera out and took a few lazy snaps, did my eye makeup and then sat down to do my liner.

AND WOW.

Let’s just get the packaging chat out of the way before I wax lyrical. 

P H O T O G R A P H Y | D O V E S T O N E*

 

A Day Trip to Dovestone Reservoir, Greenfield, Saddleworth

During the lush weather I had a little escape up to Manchester for a week and it was lovely to spend a weekend hitting the sales at the Trafford center and then a few days in the week taking long walks in the countryside and generally winding down and relaxing.

On the Monday I ended up at Dovestone Reservoir, a fantastic National Trust spot with awesome views and numerous trails to follow. We went for the simple loop which took around two hours including photo breaks. There are a couple of hardcore trails for recreational walkers and mountain bikers but generally it’s just a great place for a long stroll.

I had a really strong urge to run to the nearest dog shelter and adopt a companion as Dovestone is just one of those places that I can imagine a dog would love.

In a place as breathtaking as this it makes me glad that I live in England.  I think this may be my new zen place 🙂

B E A U T Y | C O L O U R C O R R E C T O R S – BY BeautyXYZ*

REPOST – BeautyXYZee – Colour Correctors

Model | Nadia Umutoni

Make Up | BeautyXYZee

My beautiful babe BeautyXYZee recently completed a course down here with MINK London and is going to share some of the knowledge with my beautiful followers. You learn something new everyday. One of the essential things she learnt about was colour correcting.

Zee: I’m sure we all have a little something we desperately want to cover up or hide, be it a birth mark, a tattoo or even adorable freckles. What one may want to accentuate others may want to hide completely… and yes we all do it.  I recently found out the solution. You will never look at concealer in the same way. This will also help you concealaholics who use the cake it on technique to hide imperfections.

Colour correctors are pigments that you can use to block out and balance the colors on your skin. They are usually quite dense so only the tiniest amount is needed and once you’ve warmed it up it has a barely there consistency.

How to use:

Okay, so it all boils down to the colour wheel! Don’t have one? Go buy one… now. It helps with every aspect of life, clothes, hair, shoes…. 

F O O D | D U M P L I N G S*

 

REPOST -Easy Jamaican Fried and/ or boiled dumpling recipe

My mother would have beat me about the head if I hadn't included this one as I badgered her about it for days so that I could get the images!!......

So, dumplings. A staple in many cultures but especially in Jamaican/Caribbean culture. You can go almost anywhere and get boiled or fried dumplings which are usually accompanied by chicken, pork or most often ackee and saltfish, Jamaica’s national dish. If someone calls at the house while my mum is cooking saltfish and dumplings, you can guarantee that they’ll ask her how to make dumplings. My mum Is forever showing visitors how to make Caribbean dishes because come on, they’re great, but dumplings (and fried chicken), are always at the top of the list.

S O C I A L M E D I A | F A C E B O O K*

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B E A U T Y | I ♥ M A K E U P – L I P G E E K*

MakeUp Revolution I ♥ MakeUp Lip Geek Review w/ lip swatches – Barbie is Jealous & Colour Overdose

I’ve been posting a lot recently about the amazing budget beauty brand MakeUp Revolution and I’m not ashamed to say that this is another one of those posts! I’ve found a brand where I love and more importantly, can afford to love and I’m not holding back sharing these kinds of savings with you guys!!

As today is National Lipstick day (HURRAH), I thought I’d go right ahead and test out some new lip products.

I was sent these two beauts yesterday and was immediately reminded of much higher end products because of the sleek black boxes. I absolutely love the pink and blue and despite them being such bright colours, they don’t look tacky at all. I also love the MACesq bullets. They click shut sturdily so there’s no chance of the lids coming off either and they just look pretty. I don’t usually like packaging that isn’t black but MUR are winning me over with these little fuscia babies. I also love that both the ox and the bullet have a very accurate coloured sticker with the shade name on the bottom!

B E A U T Y | I ♥ M A K E U P – I N T R O D U C T I O N*

I ♥ Makeup (MakeUp Revolution) Haul/ First Impressions

So I’ve been spamming your WordPress Readers, Instagram and Twitter feeds with my posts about MakeUp Revolution and I’m going to continue in a shameless fashion!!

The sister company…. I ♥ MakeUp also recently launched and the babes over at Revolution HQ thought I’d like to try out a few of the bits and bobs. They were right of course. I’ve already had a bit of a taster with the I ♥ Chocolate palette which I’m in love with so I have high hopes for this little lot!

Sneak peak – Reviews to follow….. Just look at those colours!!!

Check out full reviews below:

Lip Geeks | I Heart Sin | #SELFIE | Makeup Geek

N A I L S | R I M M E L – I T ‘ S A S C O R C H E R*

Rimmel Lasting Finish #504 - It's a Scorcher

You know when you go down the make up aisle just to look and you tell yourself you can’t leave with nothing? This is what I picked up from the Rimmel stand at ASDA just because I couldn’t leave empty handed.

Rimmel Lasting Finish in the shade #504 It’s a Scorcher. A bright, neon orange with subtle gold shimmer.

It’s summer time, the weather here in the UK has been unnaturally glorious and bright nails make me even happier.

B E A U T Y | I ♥ C H O C O L A T E*

 

Makeup Revolution I ♥ Chocolate Palette Review w/ Swatches

Life is a box of…. Pick and mix for your eyes. You will want to try EVERY chocolate in the box!

One of the best beauty related decisions I’ve ever made has to be my purchasing the MakeUp Revolution Flawless & I ♥ MakeuP I ♥ Chocolate Palette’s.  Whilst I have my Naked 3 Palette for fancy occasions or flirty feel good days I now have the Chocolate palette for everything else. (RRP £7.99) And I literally mean everything else.

It’s supposedly a dupe for the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette but I don’t own that and never really had any desire to so I can’t attest to how similar the two products are. I can definitely see similarities in terms of colour and packaging though although if I were buying based solely on pacakaging, I’d choose Revolution over Too Faced. And yet again the collector comes out in me whereby I NEED to get the sister palette, Death By Chocolate just because of the packaging more than anything!

The palette comes in a brown box with a cut out….. it’s a box… I’m not sure I’ll be keeping this one. On the bottom is a picture of the shades, which again is a little too dark to be truly representative of the colours but is a good indication.

T A G | T H E B R I T I S H T A G*

The British Tag

Errrbody seems to be doing this tag and after loving Bethan Nicole’s answers I decided I’d get onto it as well. I was born in Peckham and raised in South Yorkshire and am as British as they come although you may have a different take on that after you read the answer to the first question hahaha.