MAC Cranberry + Woodwinked Eyeshadow Review

Cranberry (left), Woodwinked (right)

Enter two of the prettiest eyeshadows ever. My two best chums bought me these to start off my own MAC palette (love you guys) and though I had 4 colours I'd like on my wish list, they chose the best 2 out of the 4. Cranberry is the most stunning red shade. I always thought that red (along with blue, green, purple etc - 70s/80s/90s I'm looking at you) was a colour to be avoided in eyeshadows but this is not the case here. It's hard to describe but it's subtle enough not to be a full on red, yet still pigmented enough to tell that it is red. This even as a wash all over the eyelid looks amazing with heavy black mascara contrasting against it.

Woodwinked is a true gold shade that can easily be built up. While both are highly pigmented and give great colour this is the one you want to be light with when applying - it's beautiful when applied lightly or if you go for a full eye look using it heavier as a highlight looks amazing. This one can literally be used for any kind of eye look you want to create.

Being MAC shadows of course the formula is great - pigmented, long lasting, smooth to apply - no complaints here. Now just to finish those 2 empty spots..

Forgotten Loves: The Blusher Edition

As I'm sure many of us do, earlier I was rootling through my stash of makeup to see what I hadn't used in a while.. When I came across these. Both of these are well loved and well cherished blushers, but for some reason I'd been neglecting them *taps wrist*

Estée Lauder Pure Colour Blush in Witty Peach (21), £25

I bought this blusher because my best friend had an old one that I kept borrowing, til it got to the point where really I should buy my own. The photo doesn't do the colour justice - it's actually a gradient blush, starting with a light peach colour and graduating into a soft pink. When you swirl them together you get a wonderful soft, girly glow.

MAC Pearl Matte Face Powder (Archie's Girls) in Flatter Me

So technically a face powder and not a blush, but I tell you if I put this all over my face it would not end up. Another powder that you swirl the two colours together, these two combine to make a very glowy almost tan colour with a hint of pink. I find it quite subtle and I think it looks so pretty in summer when you have a more tanned face. Sadly this was limited edition so if you fancied yourself one you'd have to trawl the likes of eBay for a genuine buy.

Instax Mini 8 - Bringing Photos Back! (Review)

Instax Mini 8 Camera, £57.49 (price correct time of posting)

I uhhhm-ed and ahh-ed about getting one of these cameras for the longest time. On one hand I thought I have all camera needs covered - iPhone camera for on the go, and Canon 1100D for blogging/big girl pictures. But on the other hand my brain was going 'pleeeeeease please please please'! So I kind of met in the middle and added one to my Christmas wish list - if I got one, fabulous, if I didn't, still fine. Amazingly though my dad listened and bought me my baby pink camera!

I love the snaps I've taken on my camera - these ones are from my dad's wedding and I tried to shy away from the typical posed 'let me retake this 10 times' posing that we all do now. The great thing about it is that there is literally one chance - and if someone closes their eyes (*cough* my boyfriend) or sneezes or something - it's in the picture. And that will then be a hilarious picture you have for the rest of your life, not a picture deleted straight after taking. They really get people taking and having that minute or two waiting for the photo to develop is really exciting (or that might just be me) as everyone nervously awaits to see what their face looks like!

The only downside is the film - best price for 20 pictures is around £15. However all that's done for me is make me want to use my camera on special occasions where I know I'll be keeping photos I want to look at, not just random pictures because me and some friends are bored!

If you don't have one of these but have a love for photography then I highly recommend getting one. Like I say really it's not that cheap but it depends on how worth it the pictures are to you. I love mine personally and will be using it for a long time to come.

Topshop Matte Nails in Milk And Honey Review!

Matte Nails in Milk And Honey, £6

I'm in love! After having acrylic nails put on for my dad's wedding, I got a bit bored of the french manicure and decided to treat my nails to some new polish. Wandering in Topshop, I saw this beauty! I absolutely love all things matte - and having matte white just seemed like such a clean, lovely idea. My nails above are with 2 coats which is absolutely opaque - the consistency is thick without being gloopy and has a good drying time. After a few days wear I have zero chips (but my nails never chip when they're fake!) and the matte effect is only slightly wearing off around the edges. I love the way this looks with spring outfits too - whether you're wearing pastel or brights the pop of white looks so nice against it. I just want to use the words 'clean' and 'polished' repeatedly when talking about this! I think I've found a new favourite..

Disappointing Products 1: MAC Eye Shadow Gilt By Association

As many beauty bloggers will find, sometimes you lust and lust after a product and then when you get it - it breaks your heart. This is most definitely the case with this MAC eyeshadow.

Can we all just appreciate how freaking beautiful this shadow is?! It is stunning. A true black flecked and swirled with a pure gold. I could rave about how it looks in the pan all day.. but on my eyes, not so much. The two colours together actually make it very hard to work with - you cannot achieve a true smoky eye because the gold throws it off, but the black makes it hard to use the gold (err… that kind of made sense right?). 

This is swatched with no flash and natural lighting - and it almost comes off brown in this picture! I could have taken a million pictures with my arm turned this way and that to show the different flecks. The consistency is also a bit of a problem - you don't get a lot of colour payoff with one swipe so you have to work to build it  a lot. And I mean a lot - the above picture was 4-5 firm swipes. 

It makes me so sad as I literally love this eyeshadow to death but you cannot use it in an eye look without looking terrible. I'm sorry, MAC. I thought we got along with everything. *violin music*

Disappointing products will be a recurring theme on here (sadly as I have quite a few). Have you had any luck with shadows like this? 

Back to blogging!

So. It's been a while. Kind of forgotten how to blog. After all of my 'new year, new blog' posts I completely went the opposite way and managed to pretty much not blog at all. I won't lie, I was in a rut, I was going through things at home, and I had nothing that I really wanted to blog about. It was depressing me. And it was a lot easier to sit and read everyone else's blogs than try and write posts of my own. So, I'm not going to promise I'm back full steam, but I'm definitely back. I'm a lot happier and I want to start writing about the things I love again. Keep your eyes peeled, there will be a blog post or two coming your way this week (I promise this time) (...really).