MAC Velvet Teddy

So now I feel like I am well and truly on the MAC lipstick bandwagon since adding the current bestseller Velvet Teddy to my stash only a week after trying my first (Mehr). Since the World discovered that it was supposedly Kylie Jenner's fav, MAC counters across the globe have been regularly selling out of this beauty.

I can see why it is so popular; as a matte deep nude pinky beige it is the perfect lipstick for day or night. It is not too bold to wear to work, yet strong enough to glam up your out-out makeup for the evening.

I have a feeling that my MAC lippy collection has only just begun...

MAC Mehr lipstick

I've just jumped on the MAC lipstick bandwagon and I have a feeling that my collection is going to grow.

I've had a wish list for a while with lots of different shades that I add to after watching YouTube videos or reading blogs. I always browse eBay for a good deal and I managed to get my hands on Mehr last week for only a tenner. You may turn your nose up at me buying MAC from eBay with all the potential fakes out there, but I did my research. First off, I messaged the buyer to confirm the authenticity and they assured me it was. A lot of the fake sellers will ignore these messages as they will be in huge trouble with eBay if they do indeed be found out to sell fakes after denying it. Or they will word their response carefully so it does not confirm authenticity. I felt this buyer was being honest. Secondly I read numerous articles about how to tell a fake and when I received the lipstick it matched up with what to look out for with the 'real'. 

When I first tried on Mehr, initially I didn't think I'd like it, I thought it was a bit too red. I headed back to the Internet in search of photos and inspiration to try and make it work for me. In some pictures it reminded me of my Rimmel lip liner in Eastend snob, so I thought I'd give it a go with the liner. The result was a new found love! 

I've been wearing the combo the last couple of days; to work and just out and about and it's a really wearable colour.

I am definitely a fan.

What colour should I get next?

Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker review

Big lips never seem to go out of fashion. When I was at school it was all about Angelina Jolie and now it's Kylie Jenner, but wherever you look, big lips are in. Now if you're like me and do not want to take the cosmetic surgery route to enhance your pout you may be open to trying makeup to give you a boost.

 

I've heard good things about Soap & Glory plumping glosses from a number of  YouTubers and so I thought I'd see for myself. I popped into Boots and went for the shade "Nudestar". I swatched it on my hand in store and it looked like a subtle nudey brown shimmer. It cost £7 which is a gamble for me on a gloss I was unsure on, but I'd heard great things so went with it.

The before pictures are on the left where I have nothing on my lips. The after pictures on the right are about 10 minutes after applying the gloss. 

After application my lips do go extremely tingly and feel cold like I've had something really minty on them. But I just can't notice any difference in their size. It feels like it's working because it tingles a lot, but my before and after look the same.

I am really disappointed with the so called sexy mother pucker as it has done nothing to cause any pucker for me! 

Have you tried these glosses? What did you think?

How to get the "your lips but better" look

Long time, no post! Life got a bit hectic and I was lacking inspiration. Anyway, two products have just entered my life that have given me the inspiration to post and tell you about how amazing they are.

Rimmel exaggerate lip liner in Eastend Snob and Rimmel nude collection by Kate in 45 make the perfect 'your lips but better' look. (Also the blusher above is bloody lovely too).

To apply, I first line my lips with Eastend Snob accentuating my Cupid's bow and then use the liner to fill my lips too. With this method the colour pretty much lasts all day! Then I apply the nude lippy in 45 over the top and the look is complete. 

It is the perfect lip colour for autumn and makes your lips look lusciously full.

Have you tried the Rimmel nude collection? What are your favs? 

Emma

Tanya Burr lip glosses

I got sucked into the twitter excitement of the Tanya Burr range being launched in Superdrug stores a couple of weeks ago. I was going into town on the launch day anyway, but thought I'd go and have a look to see what all the fuss is about.

I'd seen "picnic in the park" on a few blogs, and although the bright pink is a little out of my comfort zone (you may notice that I'm heading out of that zone more regularly at the moment) I got it. At the till about to pay; I decided to get "first date" too as it looked like a really nice lighter pink.

On first application picnic in the park and I made good friends. It's a great colour for spring/summer and complements my skin tone well. My relationship with first date was a little slow starting, I initially considered it to be too light and didn't want to look like a barbie doll. However, I have worked on it, and with a lighter application and sometimes a mix with another gloss, the friendship is now blooming.

These lip glosses seem to have great pigmentation, so I presume the rest of the range must be similar. I think I shall be trying more, as soon as I start to use up some of the many other glosses I already own. You could call me somewhat of a lip gloss hoarder, or addict if you will. But whats the harm, eh?

Emma x

Lush lip scrub review

Lush lip scrub:  ★★★★★

I recently saw Holly Wakeham raving about the lush lip scrubs, so naturally had to pick one up. I carefully took my time sniffing the four available flavours (popcorn, bubblegum, mint and Santa aka cola) and after some deliberation I went for popcorn.

In the winter I guess many of us find ourselves with dry lips at one point or another, especially the lip stick wearers. The idea of this lip scrub is to remove those annoying bits of dry skin and leave your lips silky smooth ready for lipstick and/or kissing that special person under the mistletoe.

 

One set of unscrubbed December weathered lips:

  

Dip your finger in the scrub and gently rub it over your lips. Because of the popcorn flavour this one tastes both sugary and salty and you can't help but have a little taste.

   

Afteryou have finished 'scrubbing', wipe the excess off and your lips will be feeling soft and good to go.

Then select your lip stick or gloss of choice and enjoy the velvety smooth application. I've gone for MUA's matte in wild berry.

I would 100% recommend this product as it does the job and it tastes great. I haven't seen any other brand do these yet, and at £5.50, the next time you are purchasing a bath bomb I would advise you to treat yourself to a lip scrub too. 

A spot of luck

I haven't blogged for ages! I've really wanted to, but literally haven't had the time. Work has been crazy and then I went to New York for my birthday, so it's been non-stop. Anyway, I'm here now and shall vow to be more regular in my blogging.

Today I want to tell you about some luck I had recently; I won my first ever blog giveaway! Sophie from sophiejanethorne.blogspot.co.uk ran a giveaway to win a Wet n Wild nail polish in red - and lucky old me won.

Sophie is so lovely that she actually included a couple of extra items for me to apologise because she had a slight postal delay. So not only did I get the Wet n Wild polish, but also a Maybelline one and a strawberry flavoured Lypsyl.

As I got these items a month or so ago now, I have had time to fully try them out and review them.

Wet n Wild Wild Shine nail colour
Love the colour, it is a really bright red with a hint of pink in a certian light and as it's a gel polish it looks great on. It's really shiny, especially with a top coat on. It lasted well, but not quite as well as the Maybelline.

Lypsyl Strawberry Polka-dot
Tastes great and contains SPF. It claims to be tinted, but I couldn't notice much, maybe a slight pale pink, but not really. The downside to this is that it is quite a hard textured balm, you really need to rub it on. It worked best when I had it in my pocket and then used it as the heat had softened it. 

Maybelline Super Stay 7 Days gel nail colour
This is amazing! The red was probably a shade darker than I'd normally go for as I have quite fair skin, but it looked great and lasts soooo well. In fact I put this nail varnish on for my 5 day holiday to New York and it last the whole trip. So not quite 7 days, but I don't think I had time to put a top coat on.

I will definitely buy more of these Maybelline 7 day polishes.

To finish, thank you very much Sophie for the gifts, it's so generous of you to run these giveaways. Everyone else head over to Sophie's blog for beauty reviews, recipes, fashion and more.

Perfect red lips for £2!

Any regular readers of my blog will know that I really rate MUA from Superdrug, it's just such a reasonable price that you end up trying out looks that you might not normally dare to as you don't want to waste your money.

Red lips have made a major comeback in the last year or so since people like Rita Ora have been seen sporting them. I have only just started trying to up my lipstick game since becoming a blogger and reading so many other blogs about these amazing lip colours I should be trying, so I must admit I was a little bit scared to go for red. However, I had a hen do to go to and an oxblood red dress, so it was my perfect excuse to try it.

I didn't want to spend loads on a red lippy in case I hated it and ended up never using it, so where better to start than good old MUA? I bought their red lipstick in shade 13 and hurried home to try it out.

It wasn't working. I liked the colour, but the edges were bleeding on to my skin, so it looked a bit cheap and tacky. I tried applying it with a lipstick brush which helped, but it still wasn't perfect.

So back to MUA I went in search of a lip liner to use to help get those edges nice and neat.


This worked perfectly, and with a bit of blotting and the finger trick I even managed to keep it off my teeth. The colour on the photos below don't do it justice, it's a really nice bright red colour, quite a close dupe to Mac's Lady Danger so I've read. The swatches show it slightly better.

 

So if you want a perfect red pout for the grand total of £2, get yourselves down to Superdrug. Or even better, on the date of writing this post, they are offering free delivery until the weekend.

EOS organic lip balm

EOS lip balm: ★★★★


I discovered EOS lip balms in some YouTube makeup collection videos I had seen and loved the idea of an organic lip balm with lots of yummy sounding flavours in such an adorable egg-shape container.

EOS is a USA based company called "Evolution of Smooth" and unfortunately there aren't currently many stockists in the UK at present. For the reason these little beauties are quite pricey at the moment. I got mine from Amazon for £6.99 (free P&P) in the Summer Fruits flavour.

Absolutely love it. The egg-shape container is cute and quirky and the lip balm leaves your lips feeling thoroughly moisturised. It seems like it will last for ages too. Although I will mention that I'm not 100% sold on the summer fruits flavour, but it is growing on me.

I've given it 4 out of 5 stars at the moment as £6.99 is rather expensive for a lip balm. I wouldn't actually be willing to pay this, I just happened to have an Amazon voucher I was looking to spend.If the price comes down to around the equivalent of what it is in the USA ($3.29 on EOS website) then it would definitely be worth 5 stars.