what's taking my fancy right now...

<3
Hello Lovelies!
I wanted to share with you a few of the products I'm loving right now and seem to gravitate towards in the mornings.
Let me know if you've tried any of these or have a special favourite this month!
:)

cheeks

1.  MAC 'Pinch o' Peach' (sheertone blush)- gorgeous natural flush with no shimmer or sparkle and so easy to wear! 
2. Benfit's 'Thrrob' blusher-this is a much paler and cooler-toned pink to the MAC blush and really compliments fairer skin. I use it to emphasise cheek bone highlighting because it does have a small amount of noticeable glitter particles.
   

face
3. Clinique Superbalanced foundation in Alabaster-this foundation doesn't dry out my skin and has pretty good staying power for me. I find appliacation easy with our without a brush and the finish is healthy and dewy without shine.
   
   
   
4. MAC select moisture cover concealer in NW20-I have loved this concealer since I got it from the MAC in Westfield. Although the help wasn't 'great', the MUA matched me up with the colour NW25. It is slightly darker than my skin tone, however NW15 would have been too light and I primarliy use this just for under my eyes. It works great at evening out my dark circles and moisturising the area, decreasing puffiness!
   

   

   
   

   eyes
   
5. MAC eyekhol in 'phone number'-for those of you wanting a softer black but don't want to opt for brown, this is the eye liner for you! In the swatches which I'll include at the end you will see the difference betweena black eyeliner and 'phone number'. I find that this has pretty good staying power on the upper lashline and just softly defines the water and tight lines although doesn't stay for hours on end- for me this isn't a problem as I don't often wear liner.
   
6. BadGal pencil in 'black
   '- In a different way to 'phone number', badgal is a very thick liner which I love to used as a black base best. It is so easily blended and lovely to work with. Whether you want an intense black or messy sheared out smudge, badgal will work for you.
   

   

7. Badgal lash mascara in 'plum'- I was bought this as a gift recently, and granted I would have prefered the black version (which have owned many of!). However I have made this work for me as the formula is just as a-maz-ing as the black badgal lash. So what I have done often is coat my lashes with this plum beauty and lightly gone over with a nondescript mascara or my 'sexy curves'. This tones done the brightness but still gives a warmth to my face which is less harsh than blunt black lash.
   
   
   

   
8. Sleek Storm e/s palette- for those of you who love the neutrals, this is the sleek palette for you! The more plum colours and navy can be really wearable for day and night when you use them with the more natural shades. Absolutely love the pigmentation of the e/s and although there is a little fall-down- for this price, it's amazing : )

   

   
   

   

   p.s. excuse my palette being in a pretty sorry state! I took it on holiday and the
   black e/s broke off a bit, maybe I should take more care...

   lips
   
   Hollister lipgloss in Vanilla
   -another present to have made its way in to the favourites, my friends must have good taste! It is kinda wierd though, that Hollister would have a lipgloss- but they have loads! There are so many different colours with corresponding flavours and what makes this gloss good for me is the yummy flavour. This tastes goodenough to eat. Literally. Not an offensive gloss either- not too sticky, but sticky enough : )
   
   
   
   
   
   *miscellaneous things I'm loving...*
   *the tv programmes I'm loving- Strictly, X factor, The only way is Essex(shut up! ahaa)*
   *the song I'm loving- 'Hollywood' Michael Buble (swoooon)*
   
   -Hattie
   xxxx

Top 5 Summer Essentials

So when I go on holiday, like most other girls, minimal effort and bother is key when it comes to make-up! I want to spend as little time as I can primping to maximise sunbathing, shopping and sightseeing time!
I have formed an elite group of products which provide a summer look in mere moments...

• Rubenesque paintpot- M.A.C
  

Like any summer appropriate product, Rubenesque is versatile and super easy to apply. Thanks to the gorgeous shimmer, when applied to either eyelids or cheeks it provides dimension and depth.
Application takes just secconds also doesn't need as brush as your fingers are enough to warm up the product and smooth on evenly to lids or cheeks as a highlight. The golden tones also enhance blue eyes as well as any tan we get!

• Sugar lip scrub in bubblegum -Lush

Like many other people, my lips do not like being exposed to the sweltering heat or sun. (Living in England you can't really blame them!) You never want dry and flaky lips as a holiday souvenir and since discoving the Lush sugar lip scrubs thankfully I won't be bringing back memories of uncomfortable smackers!
This lip scrub not only softens and smooths irritable lips, but it is edible! Yes, that's right, you read correctly -you can eat it! Once the sugar grains infused with organic jojoba oil have worked their magic, you can lick the little sweeties off!


My holiday flavour of choice is bubblegum because it is fun, girly and a beautifully summery colour.

• Snob Lipstick (Satin)- M.A.C
  
  
  
  When applied after a Lush lip scrub, Snob is a fab easy to wear lipstick for your summer hols. With sufficiently moisturised your lips will be beautifully pigmented and not dry out.
  As a cool blue/mauve undertoned pink, this lipstick detracts from possible redness caused by heat instead of highlighting them like a warm pink would. The abscence of shimmer or glitter tones down the lipstick to a wearble pretty colour enabling you to use shimmery highlighters/eyeshadows/blush to your little heart's content.
  
  • Sugarbomb- Benefit
  
  
  
  
  Although this is a powder product, I usually have fresh and clean skin when I am on holiday. This is also a fairly light powder with good quality pigmentation which prevents a cakey look. Sugarbomb provides a pretty pop of colour and shimmer without overdoing it and making you look like a glitter bomb exploded onto your face.
  
  
  
  As sugarbomb is made up of four different colours, when applied with the correct brush you can create five different blush/highlight colours from one product!
  
  
  Either swirl a large blush brush in all four for a golden pink or a smaller brush in a individual colour.
  
  
  My favourite individual colour is the golden peach as it can work as a highilght on fairer skin or tone down redness in the skin.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • Daisy- Marc Jacobs
    
    
  This is definitely my perfect holiday scent.It's a gorgeous fresh floral fragrance- perfect for a girly summer. You never want to have an overpowering scent, especially not in the summer! However we definitely don't want to smell too see salty fresh, Daisy is a wonderful balance of effortless and interesting.
  
  

Welcome to my blog :)

Hello all, for this shiny new blog of mine I thought a sweeping overview of my fave picks for this month may be the place to start!

Ok, so I know it's a bit of a cop out, but I'm easing in to this blogging malarky with what I know and love best...

make-up! :)

Let's get started..

1. (2 and 3!)

This week like any other devoted follwer of the metaphorical beauty world, I trundled out to my local supermarket and picked myself up three of Glamour(UK)'s July issue...

and tadaaaaaaaaaaaah:

...3 Benefit eye crayons worth £45 for £6- who could resist!?

So I won't bore you with an indepth anylis of each product- pretty tedious and there are plenty of better informed girlies on here to do it for you!

However I will put my 2 cents in...

All three are unbelievably creamy in consistency and texture making them easily blendable and malleable. The pigmentation is not half bad either!

I find that 'It Stick' is the least universal of the trio due to it's fairly restricting colour. However has a pale-faced and pinky-toned gal I presonally benefit from the peachy accents which calm down the dark circles under my eyes.

I've tried to snap a few swatches in the hopes of capturing a pretty good representation of each pencil...

here goes:

(from left to right= 'eye bright', 'it stick', 'bad gal')

In conclusion...

Sold? What are you still doing reading this then!? Get your kind self swiftly off to a shop and buy these bad boys. Admittedly you're pretty slacking on this front if you've not already got them - but there's hope for you yet! My darling father informed me there were still a couple of each stick still left in our local Tescos. (He's fairly bemused by the offer and enjoys a treasure hunt!)

So hopefully where ever you are a few may be left!

Case closed.

4.

I finally finished my tiddly sample sized high beam from benefit's 'celebutante' palette (unfortunately limited edition) and purchased the big mamma herself.

Cue comparative family photo:

Now that lil cutie lasted me an unbelievable amount of time- I was truly shocked at the amount of product packed into the little'un. I therefore cannot fathom how long full sized will last me!

Mini review- A well deserved staple product in my make-up collection. This does not budge all day unlike a powder highlighter would and provides a beautifully natural glow and shine. The versatility of this product as a highlight and base furthers the value for money- good job 'Benefit'!

However...


It may be personal preference, but I prefer the sponge tip applicator of the sample to the actual brush of the full sized product. I found I had more control over product placement and even coverage with the sponge than the nail varnish-esque applicator.

Solution? Keep the sample and use the applicator in the new product! Yes a bit excessive but worth it in my opinion :)

5.

Reccently I discovered Maybelline's 'Volum' Express Lift-up Mascara' (oh so memerably named)

This beautifully gimmickless mascara has replaced my beloved 'sexy curves' as top dog. Creating both volume and separated lashes in balanced proportions, I am able to effortlessly slick it on in the morning and have no need for touch ups or worry about flaking.

I feel that in a few weeks the formulation will have dried out to optimum consistency even further bettering this mascara! At utmost carlessness I have smudged this onto my lids a couple of times as it is slightly wetter than preferred. Other than that, kudos to Maybelline :)

6. Finally for today's post....

MAC's 'Melba' blush is a matte and perfect for adding a girlish flush minus copious amounts of unnecessary glitter and pink.

I haven't heard much about 'melba' via the youtube guru community or otherwise and though it deserved it's moment in the spotlight...

[INSERT SPOTLIGHT HERE]

Extreme pigmentation allows a sharpish swoop to be enough, as a light hand is all that this blush requires. Whilst niftily avoiding 'orange' status, 'melba' is unmistakebly a coral and perfect for those long summer days to come. Yipeeeee! (fingers crossed those in England, we can hope)

That concludes my first ever blog post, I could go on for hours but I doubt you'd stay awake!

Until next time lovlies,
stay swish!

Hattie
xoxo