Sophie Kinsella - Confessions of a Shopaholic (A Secret Message)

Hi Girls,

Today my post is going to be very different, normally I blog about beauty products or wishlists of beauty products or talk about beauty products that I’m enjoying but today I’m going to be going down a completely different route.
Books - I personally really enjoy reading, I read blogs all day long and I also read a lot of books, most of them girly and hopelessly romantic, but still reading none the less. I feel that reading really opens your eyes and to be a good blogger you need to read about and listen to adapt to lots of different writing styles. About 2/3 years ago I was looking for something new to read and I discovered a set of books that I could really relate too, most of you will of heard of them due to the fact that they were actually turned into a movie a few years ago and the movie actually became quite popular. Sophie Kinsella is one of my favourite authors, she’s witty and funny and she knows how to relate with nearly 99% of us girly girls, and therefore she is an instant winner in my eyes. She mostly became famous for the set of books known as “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and that’s what I’m going to be talking about today. The Confessions of a Shopaholic series that now features around 6 books, follows a girl called Rebecca Bloomwood, who is a typical girly girl with a  major shopping addiction, and when I mean major, I mean maaaaajor. It follows her journey with trying to stop her shopping addiction as she spirals in to more and more debt, and it’s absolutely hilarious. Any girl that writes a beauty blog could relate, we’ve all been there, you’re going to be skint for the rest of the month if you splurge out on a new pallet or lipstick, but regardless you seem to NEED the product and therefore you take the plunge with little consideration of your bank balance. These books are fantastic, they are a light read, but they’re chirpy and funny and they can make you smile, you see Rebecca’s thoughts and they match your own when you’re out shopping again, (also, if you’re not a reader definitely check out the film, it’s equally as funny and shows you the same story, perfect for a girly night it).
But the series has a secret message and this is perhaps what I love about them the most, you see Rebecca getting into more and more trouble, fighting with her boyfriend (later to be husband) , struggling at her job, fighting with friends and nearly loosing everything all because she just cannot handle her shopping addiction. It’s true, we’ve all been there and actually I think that it would help a lot of girls to read this book and see that you don’t need anything! Us girls definitely need to try and shop in moderation more. It’s hard times out there in the world at the moment, the economy is falling apart around us but at the same time the world has become more materialistic than at any other time before, therefore the message today girls is THINK BEFORE YOU SHOP! And actually, read these books because they’ll have your eyes streaming with tears, absolutely a 5/5 in terms of the funny factor.

Thank you for reading my rambles once again,

I hope you enjoyed this,

You can pick up the Shopaholic Series at any well known bookstore

Lots of Love

Gem xxxx

Tag - 7 deadly sins

Hi Ladies,

Today I'm going to give this 7 deadly sins tag a whirl, the reason for me posting this tag is because I love reading them on everyone elses blogs, they give me a good insight into the persons blog i'm reading and they help me to relate to the writer as well, so I thought i'd give it ago. Especially as this one was simply a bit of fun. I've seen this particular tag mentioned on a few blogs and you tube video's recently so thought I may as well give it ago, so I hope you enjoy it a little.

1.GREED: What is your most inexpensive beauty item? What is your most expensive?

The most inexpensive beauty product I own would be one of the MUA products, I have some lipsticks from their collection that cost £1.00 but are absolutely ace, everyone needs to give them a try, and I also have a £1.00 blush that I like, so definitely something from MUA, love that brand to death. My most expensive beauty product that I purchased for myself would probably have to be one of the Urban Decay pallets that I own, the Smoked Pallet took me back £35.00 which is quite a lot of money, (although I think it was worth every penny), if you think about it I could have brought 35 of the £1.00 range from MUA, so in this way it is quite expensive.

2.WRATH: What beauty products do you have a love/hate relationship with? What product has been the hardest to get?

The beauty product that I have a love/hate relationship with would definitely be liquid and gel eyeliners, I love the way that they look when I have plenty of time to apply them and also am having a non shakey hand day, they look lovely and add such a massive pop to the eye. BUUUUT on early and hungover mornings they are an absolute nightmare, I hate the fact that for me they’re one of those products that is completely hit or miss, sometimes my liquid eyeliner will look dead on and other times it will look like a blurry, smudged mess and make my whole face look like an absolute disaster. The one beauty product that I would loooove to master.

  

I also have no idea what the hardest beauty product to get was, probably my Mac studio fix foundation, for some reason when I went to order it they didn’t have my shade (NC15) and they didn’t have NW15 either, plus there was no Mac counter anywhere near me where I could go and pick it up, so I had to settle for NC20, which is a completely crappy match for me. My shades back in stock now, so I’ll be picking that up soon as it’s right at the top of my wishlist.

3.GLUTTONY: What are your most delicious beauty products?

Hmm, I don’t really know what delicious means in terms of beauty products, I can’t say I’ve tried a lot of mine haha, probably my most favourite and lush product would be my Diesel Loverdose perfume, because it smells absolutely amazing, I could seriously spray this perfume around me all day and just live in a Loverdose dream. Mmm defo fav for life.

4.SLOTH: What beauty product do you neglect, due to laziness?

The one product that I neglect the most in terms of my beauty routine would probably be my primers, I have the Urban Decay primer potion, but when applying my eyeshadows I can never really be bothered to apply it first, it’s a nice base and makes the colour pop but I don’t think it makes a huge amount of difference. I also go through stages of wearing face primers, but again if I’m in a rush or can’t really be bothered there the first thing I drop from my makeup routine because to be honest I don’t find the results to be very good, even after trying a huge range of brands.

5.PRIDE: What beauty product gives you the most self confidence?

I think the one beauty product that makes the most difference to my face would probably be concealer, I know this might sound like quite an obvious choice, but I have the worst dark circles in the world, and I hate them. If I’m in a rush I will simply pop some moisturiser on the face, chuck some concealer on and then add some mascara to make my eyes pop and I feel fresh and ready to go. I think that therefore concealer and mascara give me the most self confidence. Concealer covers everything that I need it too and makes me feel more self confident about my skin and a light coat of mascara just opens my eyes, makes me look much more awake and together and that’s why they’re the products that give me the most pride.

6.LUST: What attributes do you find most attractive in the opposite sex?

Hmm, I’ve always found this question a hard one to answer, I obviously am attracted to a nice smile and gorgeous eyes but I think the attribute that attracts me the most to any person would be their personality, in a guy I look for someone who can make me laugh, can keep me smiling always and someone like a best friend, I want someone who I can tell my deepest secrets too and confide in, I want someone who will listen to my constant rambling without complaints because they just love me for me. I guess, I just want character, I want a good person, with a huge loving heart and those are the attributes that I look for in the opposite sex.

7.ENVY: What items would you most like to receive as a gift?

I can think of loads of products that I would like to receive as gifts, from really cheap beauty brands to super high end, I would love to receive some Nars products because they just look so beautiful, Mac as well or some benefit products. But if I’m completely honest anything which is beauty related would be a great gift for me and I’d love anything of the sort.

Thank you for reading, if you found it at all intresting give it a go yourself! I adore reading them :)
hope you enjoyed,

lots of love

Gem xxxx

Beauty comes from within

Hi everyone,

A more sentimental post from me today, I'm absolutely loving blogging at the moment, it's so addictive, I definitely get the buzz when I finish a post and can upload it for everyone surfing the net to discover. As I've mentioned a few times, I was reading blogs for a good 6 months before I plucked up the courage and decided to create my own, and whilst I was discovering them I found and followed some of my fav ever bloggers, but my post today is about beauty being on the inside, when I first discovered beauty blogs I discovered ones that were completely crazy to me, blogs and you tube videos where people's makeup collection would have cost more than a mortgage for a house and I was completely overwhelmed. Those blogs and videos were fun to watch at first but I soon found them ridiculous, and it wasn't through jealously but I felt like these people didn't understand true beauty. As much as I would love to have a beauty collection that big and that special, I think I'd have to sacrifice so much else, the money spent on just one of those nars blushes or mac lipsticks could be spent making memories, going to the cinema with your friends or to lunch with your mum, and those are the things in life that truly matter. Don't get me wrong, I live and breathe makeup, but at the end of the day that's all it is, makeup. It's a mask, it's something that changes who you are, and that's fine, I wear makeup every single day, but true beauty isn't the latest mascara or prettiest shade of lipstick, it's your heart, your principles, the type of person you aspire to be, the way you treat people and the way you love and live. And therefore this post is just about considering the role of real beauty within the beauty world. In actual fact the only blogs I read and take a true interest in are blogs that have that sense of heart, who have a passion but understand the need in their life for more than just makeup and clothes and those are the people that I truly inspire to be like.

You can have the ugliest eyebrows, or your face can be full to the brim with spots, you could have no makeup on and still be the most beautiful human to ever walk the earth, simply because you believe, you have a good heart and you have the ability to make everybody smile.

So girls, when your blogging, as exciting as a new lipstick can be (we've all been there), remember its not worth everything and you can still be beautiful without it.

Therefore aspire to be beautiful on the inside, rather than aspiring to wear the most makeup on your face.

Thanks for reading

Lots of love

Gem xxx

The Girl Stash

Hey Girls!

Right today is simply a post that can only be fully understood by the sista's of the world, us ladies and woman, who in my humble opinion go through both the lowest and highest points in our lives. The idea for this post came last week whilst I was sitting in the bath (where I do my best thinking haha). Anyway, over the last few weeks I’ve been through quite a lot and to be honest it took it’s toll on a normally positive and smiley kind of girl. I’m currently free for the summer after just finishing my a-levels, and summer was bringing boredom and a huge amount of laziness (if only there was a summer so I would want to actually leave my house) until the start of August where everything went down hill. On the 8^th of August I had to go into hospital and have an operation to remove some endometriosis, it was horrible and the only positive thing to come out of the whole experience was the fact that after 2 years of pain and thinking I was stark crazy, I finally found out what the problem had been. Que, the hating of being a woman! Anyway, I went into hospital at 7am and didn’t return home till about 8 that night after I had turned blue and the anaesthetic had a positively negative impact on me. The next few days were full of resting, as I felt like the whole of my body had been really badly beat up. I did receive lots of visits from friends and family though, and so many flowers that my room looked like a florists. After resting up for a few days I then had the dooming realisation that it was only 2 days away from A-level exam results day, the panic started to set in, I knew I hadn’t performed my best., my attendance had been crap because I’d been so ill and I began to feel really down in the dumps, I’d eaten my weight in maltesers and anything covered in chocolate and now I felt more rubbish than ever before. The night before my exam results were to come in I was a nervous wreck, I was disappointed at my self and had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. That’s when I decided the only thing that could make me feel better, the Girls Stash. I think every single true girly girl has a plan for days that are this bad, I personally, have a bag. A bag full of goodies that could make any girls day better. So that was it, I took my bag and ran myself one hell of a bath, I had candles, bubbles and magazines galore and it instantly put a massive smile on my face. What was in my bag you ask? A huge amount of beauty products, in this bag I have everything, I have tweezers, eyelash curlers, moisturisers, scrubs, fake tan, body lotions, body butters, lip moisturisers, veet, sudocrem, endless samples, fake nails, fake eyelashes.  This bag is my beauty bag and it has everything I need in order to cheer myself up. I got out of my bath after about an hour, and pampered myself until I finally had a smile on my face. And then I headed to my room, now what does a girl do when she’s feeling rubbish and needs something to cheer her up?! Movies, bed and chocolate. I pulled on my onesie, grabbed my Ugly Betty box set and some minstrels and finally found peace in my crazy head.

So ladies, no matter how bad your life gets, and no matter how down in the dumps you feel, you can make yourself feel better, every girl has it, that stash of products or just simply chocolate that you know will put that smile back on your face. And hey! If all else fails grab your copy of Bridget Jones and your 2 favourite men (Ben and Jerry of course) and cuddle up.

What’s your beauty stash;

Thanks for reading

Lots of love

And keep up being fantastic girls, mwah

Gem xxxx

P.S - Exam results were ace in the end, so I'm in full on celebration mode at the moment!

(Operation, Ugly Betty + Minstrels = Perfect Night)

(Flowers and Cards)

(Bag of Goodies)

Urban Decay Smoked Eyeshadow Pallet - Review.

Hi everyone!

You may remember last week I posted a blog post about the beauty products I was lusting over at the moment, top of my list was the newly released pallet by Urban Decay, the 'Smoked' eyeshadow pallet. Well, the other day me and my good friend Lucy went shopping at the fairly new Gloucester Quays outlet (some real bargains to be had there, plus its position on Gloucester Docks makes its surroundings lovely) and then we went into town because it was a quiet dull Sunday and I popped into Debenhams to find a completely deserted Urban Decay stand with the new Smoked Pallet sat on it, and I just had to have it. After swiping and swatching all of the lovely shades and them feeling like literal butter underneath my finger tips, I just knew I couldn't leave it sat there on the shelf and needed to take it home for some loving! So that was exactly what I decided to do.

Feeling quite smug, I trotted off home, (after a cheeky Nando's of course) and even though I had just handed £35.00 away I went home with the biggest grin on my face, I love love love love love urban decay, I think it is a love story that will go on for years. Anyway, needless to say I am not disappointed in the slightest. My love affair with Urban Decay eyeshadows started back when I first began reading blogs, I heard countless things about the Naked 2 pallet by Urban Decay and was always in awe of the lovely, glossy, perfectly neutral shades that were in this pallet, so back when I first started collecting makeup and taking the whole thing more seriously it was actually one of the first things I picked up, and I love it, it changed my outlook on eyeshadows and pallets forever, and it converted me to Urban Decay straight away.

Overview:
Anyway, on to the review. The 'Smoked' Pallet is Urban Decay's newest answer to the famous Naked Pallets, gone are the days when Urban Decay simply created a neutral pallet, this pallet can take you from day to night in an instant and is absolutely beautiful, it is literally to die for. It contains 10 beautiful shades, that take you from the neutrals you need for your every day, day time look, to the gorgeous jewel tone shades you need to have those intensified smokey looks at nigh time.

What Urban Decay say:

On the US's Urban Decay website the pallet is described as below:

"This is the smoky eye done the UD way: a true range of shades (Neutral mattes! Shimmering jewel tones!) for a range of smoky looks.

We’re giving you everything you need to create the perfect smoky eye, Urban Decay style. Zipped inside this sleek, mirrored case are ten decadent shades (five are exclusive), including neutral mattes and shimmering jewel tones for a range of smoky looks. Sure, you can create a smoky eye with a range of gray and black shades. But what about a touch of purple, blue or bronze? The Smoked Palette lets you keep things simple… or get a little more creative. (TIP: If you need a basic daytime look, stick to the range of matte neutrals. Throw the palette in your bag, and add some smoke as you leave the office.)

Our secret smoky eye weapon? A blacker-than-black matte pencil. Included with the Smoked Palette is a full-size 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion, AND a travel-size Eyeshadow Primer Potion.

Also included is a beautifully illustrated, step-by-step guide to 12 smoky eye looks, written by Urban Decay founder Wende Zomnir. Both smoky-eye pros and shadow newbies will benefit from this detailed guide to looks from “iconic” to “smoldering” to “reality star”.

What I say:

I completely 100% agree with every single thing that Urban Decay says, this is the perfect pallet to take you from a slightly smoked up neutral toned shade perfect for work and the office but it gives you the flare in one small compact that means that you have the best shades to take you straight to a night out on the town, which is probably why I think so much of this pallet. It is just completely versatile, it lets you have the best of both worlds. I think Urban Decay has got this pallet completely right, with the Naked Pallets you had the perfect shades for every day and you could add a bit of drama for the nights with some of the darker shades but they were mainly day time shades, but with this pallet and the jewel tones and the bright pigmented colour selection you literally have everything you need in one simple, sophisticatedly packaged compact, and I have fallen in love.

As mentioned above Urban Decay threw in some freebies with this pallet, firstly with each one of these pallets you got a free sample size of the urban decay primer potion (3.7g, so really sample size), which I am loving using, it's such a good base for the eye. Also you get free the full-size 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion, which must be the most creamy, black eyeliner I have ever had the pleasure of trying and finally you also get a booklet which contains 12 looks that you can create with the pallet, I personally found this extremely useful, this step by step guide is honestly fantastic, it tells you within 11-14 steps exactly what to d, in real simple language so that you can create the perfect smokey eye, and for somebody who has just started to take a larger interest in makeup this has really helped me to begin to get the best out of this pallet, and i've actually tried out several looks already. Something else that is really good about the smoked pallet leaflet is the fact it gives you a kind of dictionary where it explains some of the terms you often hear when professionals are putting on eyeshadow, so for example it explains pencil-shadow fusion, downblending, brow highlight, working the crease, and other terms and it also goes on to explain the differences between crease brushes, blending brushes and shadow brushes, so this is a really great gift to get somebody who is just starting to experiment with makeup.

Also this pallet is incredible value, when I visited the Urban Decay counter I saw that each of these eyeshadows would actually cost you £14.00 by themselves, so to get 10 for £35.00 as well as an eyeliner, primer potion, booklet, and a lovely case is actually a really good bargain. Plus with this pallet you know you are ensured quality, Urban Decay shadows are known to be some of the best in the world and therefore you know if you buy this you are getting quality for your money and you really are investing in your makeup collection.

 

Colour Range

As I have already mentioned the colour range within this pallet is pretty impressive, from neutral shades to jewel toned shades. There are 10 beautiful, creamy shades within the pallet, the shades on the top row are quite neutral shades, they include Kinky, Freestyle, Mushroom, Backdoor and Blackout.

Kinky

The first shade Kinky, is a very light shade that is between a white and a cream shade, it is really creamy and is perfect for highlighting either the brow bone or also being used as an inner corner highlight of the eye if you are doing a really strong smokey look. This is just a really nice choice of a light shade for this pallet. This is a completely matte colour, which some people may like but I personally feel like I wanted a more shimmery highlight colour.

Freestyle

The next shade is Freestyle, this shade is darker and warmer than Kinky, but still fairly light and neutral. This shade would match up with quite a range of peoples skin colours and therefore it makes a great blending shade and therefore is a good option for any downblending you would like to do within your smokey eye look. This is a completely matte colour and therefore without the sheen this is probably one of the best colours you could choose for blending.

Mushroom

Mushroom is one of the shades that actually really intrigued me the most, it is a gorgeous silvery, taupe colour, in the pan it looks like it almost has glitter within it, but once swatched you can see that the colour just has a nice light sheen to it which isn't too overpowering. This particular shade would be complimented with freestyle and kinky for an everyday neutral look and is probably one of the shades within the pallet that actually has the nicest consistency. 

Backdoor

Now, in the pan Backdoor looks like a matte brown colour, that is dark but not that dark, but Backdoor is completely different when swatched, the shade almost comes out black and it definitely has black undertones, this shade would be best used to put in the crease of a really smokey eye.

Blackout

Black is Urban Decay's answer to the darkest and blackest eyeshadow you could ever find, and that is exactly what it is, the blackest, black eyeshadow, great for lining the eye and adding intensity.

The next row of shadows is where the smokey and fun shades come in. Within the bottom row of the pallet we have the following shades: Barlust, Rockstar, Evidence, Loaded, Asphalt.

Barlust

I personally adore this shade, is the most perfect brown I have ever found and it actually really really suits my eyes. Barlust is one of the shades that has that nice sheen to it, without being over glittery, which I hate with certain eyeshadows. Barlust is incredibly creamy and has a gorgeous sheen to it, which when blended out just looks super lovely, I think this is a shade that can suit absolutely anyone, but it would definitely make blue eyes pop.

Rockstar

Rockstar, is just that, this shade would be perfect on a rockstar, it is a deep plumy purple, which is dark enough not to make you look like a 12 year old, and it is a brilliant shade which can be used combined with barlust and backdoor to create a smokey eye with just that extra hint of colour.

Evidence

This shade is my absolute favourite, I think half of the reason I wanted this pallet so much was for this amazing midnight shade, it is gorgeous. For years i've wanted to create a midnight blue smokey eye, and i've never actually found the right colour for it. After searching and searching I gave up, all of the shades that came close were packed with endless amounts of glitter that just looked awful, but evidence is completely different. It has a nice sheen and glow about it, but the colour is just so intense and deep, I'm actually scared to apply it to my eye, it's definitely going to need such a light hand, but I simply cannot wait to do a look with it.

Loaded

A gorgeous emerald green, it is to die for. I think the whole of the bottom row of colours are just out of this world, they're all so unique and nice and they'll just compliment the eye so well. Loaded is slightly darker than an emerald green, it has lovely undertones and if you're not brave enough to use it on your eye it would make the perfect liner for the lower lashes, an absolute win of a shade for me.

Asphalt

Now in the pan Asphalt to me kind of seems such a shade darker than mushroom and therefore I was kind of disappointed to see 2 shades so similar within the pallet, especially as neither of them are matte. Once swatched they are of an identical consistency but Asphalt is slightly darker than mushroom, kind of a shame but I guess you could create a lovely metallic eye using these shades.

Packaging

The packaging of this pallet is the thing that lets it down for me, I haven't heard anybody else say this but I personally feel like it looks like a DS case, I hate the zipper and the whole of the design is quite bulky, yes it looks nice, but I feel like its just going to get dirty every time I touch it. Plus, the inside of the pallet is made of cardboard, and I think this is such a let down for a high end pallet. I personally feel like the packaging of the Naked 2 pallet is much more appropriate and sturdy, where as the packaging of this pallet is to me the one thing that lets it down, it doesn't look like a luxurious pallet and you can tell that if one thing was cut in order to save costs then it would have been the packaging. Some people may love this, but for me it just isn't that nice and i'd have rather had a plastic pallet.

Overall

I LOVE THIS PALLET, the only complaint for me was the packaging, and in actual fact there isn't really anything wrong with it, I would have just personally preferred something that was a bit more sturdy. But the contents of the pallet are out of this world, they're such lovely shades that compliment each other, its perfect for nights out and can also be adapted for the day and it is just an amazing pallet that I think absolutely everyone should have in their collection, I highly recommend it and it is definitely 5* for me! Go and buy this now guys! It's actually worth every single penny!

Lots of Love

(P.S Sorry for the rave review, but until you've tried it you won't understand just how great it is!)

Gem xxx

Face of the day!

Hi lovely ladies :)

Back again today, I must admit I do love this blogging business! it ain't half a lot of fun, and I finally have a hobbie woohoo! Anyway, I was trying to work out what kind of post I wanted to do today and I decided on a face of the day post. I chose to do this because I absolute love look at everyone else's and it's one of my fav blog posts to read! Probably because I'm a huge nosey parker and like to see how makeup actually looks on the face ! Anyway this isn't going to be very interesting, I simply thought I'd start of by showing you my everyday day to day face so that you can get to see the products I use before I branch out and show you some more creative looks, so this is just a simple day time makeup look with a neutral golden smokey eye which I love! also sorry about the crap quality on my photos, defo need to invest in a better quality camera now I'm taking this blogging business a bit more seriously but for now this will have to do!

Anyway, if you have any questions about how I created this look just leave your comments below and i'll try and get back to you as soon as possible, but i've shown all of the items i've used in the list below as well! Also I would like to take this opportunity to mention that I think anybody who puts these kind of posts up are actually very brave, its taken me about 5 days to even have the courage to upload these pictures haha! Anyway, thank you for reading!

 

Products Used:

Face

Foundation - Mac Studio Fix Foundation - NC20 (Too dark for me!)
MUA pressed powder - literally amazing powder and only £1.00, go and get this!

Soap and Glory - Love at First Blush Blusher

Bourjois Bronzing Powder

Eyes

MUA Glittery eyes pallette (Golden and Brown Shades used)

Elf Liquid Eyeliner in Black

Benefit they're real mascara

Lips:

MUA Sugar Lips, Lip Balm

Hope you enjoyed this post,

Lots of Love

Gem xxxx

I'm lusting after...

I'm lusting after.. by gemb featuring urban decay makeup

Urban Decay makeup, $55 / NARS Cosmetics bronzing powder / Maybelline tattoo eye shadow / Rimmel mascara / Revlon beauty product

Hi Everyone!

Still getting used to this blogging business but today I’ve decided to use www.polyvore.com (What a cool website by the way!) to create a collage of a few of the beauty products that I’m particularly lusting over at the moment. I think because I’ve got no money I seem to want much more than usual, but hey ho I’m a girl and that's normally the way it goes. So yeah, on to all of the products that I NEEEEEEEED in my life haha, this is the problem of being a beauty freak.

1)      Urban Decay Smoked Eyeshadow Pallet RRP - £35.00

The first thing that I am eyeing up at the moment is this Urban Decay Smoked Pallet, I absolutely love Urban Decay and all of the cool pallets that they bring out, they’re all really unique and all of their eyeshadow pallets are something special, with different unique shades that all match perfectly together and packaging that is definitely to die for! I’m not actually sure when this particular pallet came out but I think it was either the start of this month or the end of last due to the fact that I haven’t actually heard too much about it, which is weird due to the fact that Urban Decay pallets normally come surrounded with a huge amount of hype. The thing I like about this pallet is the fact that I really do like the smoked eyeshadow look (think Kim Kardashian!) and therefore it was immediately something that attracted me, this particular pallet comes with 10 shades, with 5 completely new shades being introduced. The shades vary from matte to glittery, so there is a good selection, plus the pallet comes with a 24/7 glide on urban decay eyeliner and a mini primer potion. AHH it’s just so beautiful, I am definitely going to be saving up for this! You can buy this eyeshadow pallet here:

http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod_10001_10001_123932019799?

2)      Revlon Colour Stay Whipped Crème Foundation

I’ve read a few reviews on this foundation from US beauty blogs and it looks like such a good foundation that I actually really want to try it, but it’s not actually been released in the UK yet, how annoying! This foundation is between a cream and gel formula which is probably what intrigued me to it the most. It has been released in the US with 16 shades and due to the fact that it’s part of the colour stay line it claims to last 24 hours. But yeah, I’m very excited for it’s UK release due to the fact that it seems to be a completely different foundation to a lot of the others on the market, and normally Revlon as a brand are just a massive hit for me. The foundation retails for around $13.99 in the US so I’m guessing it will be around the £10.00 mark when it is finally released here, I’ve been looking on the internet but can’t find the exact date for its release just yet, but I’ll try and keep you updated.

3)  Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain – RRP £7.99

Another Revlon product making my most wanted products! Eeek told you I loved them, I’ve been intrigued to try this product due to the fact that I’d previously been looking at the Clinique Chubby Sticks, but couldn’t really justify spending so much money on something that I didn’t even know if I’d like. This is why it was so exciting when I finally saw a high store brand release a drug store alternative of the chubby stick, and yay it was Revlon which means the quality is kind of assured. The shades that I would like to try would be lovesick and darling and because the price is good I    could actually get 2 of the Revlon ones for the same price as the Clinique £16 chubby stick! You can buy these stains at Superdrug here, and actually they’re now £5.99, even better.

http://www.superdrug.com/lips/revlon-just-bitten-kissable-balm-stain-cherish/invt/487654/

4)   Rimmel Scandal Eyes Mascara RRP £6.99
Always looking out for my holy grail mascara and still on the hunt for what seems like years, I simply want to try out the Rimmel Scandal eyes mascara for no other reason then a lot of people say it’s a good mascara and for the price you can’t really go wrong. Plus the big brush looks perfect for both lengthening and volumising my lashes, nothing else to say about this really. Just something I’d like to give a go, especially as it is meant to be a really dark black mascara. Again you can buy this from Superdrug on the link below:

http://www.superdrug.com/eyes/rimmel-scandaleyes-mascara-black/invt/300952/

5)      NARS Laguna Bronzer – RRP: £25.00
The NARS Laguna bronzer is probably the product I have been lusting over for the longest time, it is one of those things that everybody in the beauty world continues to talk about and hype up and therefore I would simply just love to try it. Nars as a company is so well respected and their blushes and bronzers are said to be some of the best in the world and therefore I am jealous of everyone who owns them. Laguna is said to be the bronzer that Kim Kardashian (my absolute makeup icon) uses herself and it just seems to be the perfect bronzer to contour your face as well as to just bronze your whole face and give you that sun kissed glow that we’re all looking for. One thing that I love about Laguna after staring at it on Google images for what seems like hours haha is the fact that it has such a sleek packaging and it just seems like such a professional product. The only thing that puts me off snapping up this product immediately is the price tag, £25.00 for a bronzer just seems like such a steep price for me, but one day soon I’m hoping I’ll be brave enough to take the plunge, because everyone who seems to have previously all say that they would never go back. A must have product it seems. You can purchase this bronzer on the below link from NARS directly:

http://www.narscosmetics.co.uk/color/cheeks/bronzer/~/bronzing-powder

6) Maybelline Colour Tattoo's - RRP £4.99
Another product that I have considered buying for a really long time and for some reason never actually have. But I can guarantee every single time I go into boots I am always looking at them. I think that these colour tattoos would make an excellent base for eyeshadow to stop creasing and fall out. I know this due to the fact that the several times that I’ve swatched them they seem to have amazing lasting power so therefore I hope that they would last for longer than ever. All of the colours within the collection all seem to be super pigmented and there’s quite a large selection of colours too choose from, ranging from neutrals like browns and creams to bright colours such as purple and blue. Plus they’re actually quite cheap and have said to be of a similar consistency to the Mac paint pots. Again you can purchase these on the link below, 3 for 2 offer on at the moment too:

http://www.boots.com/en/Maybelline-Colour-Tattoo-24HR-by-Eyestudio_1253778/

Anyway Thank you for reading again!

Lots of Love

Gem xxx

Blogging Debut - eeeeeeek..

Hi ladies!

Just a quick post to introduce myself, I've wanted to create a beauty blog for a really long time now, anyway my name's Gemma, I love everything to do with beauty and makeup and over the last few months i've been loving exploring and reading what all you great beauty bloggers have been up too and your opinions on all types of products. Throughout this time I have always felt like I've been missing out and wanted to get involved within the community as a lot of these blogs actually really inspire me, so i'm going for it and taking the plunge and hopefully it works out! eeeeek, scary times!

 

Anyway I hope you enjoy reading my opinions on various beauty products throughout the next few months and I hope that doing this will help me to discover many more beauty blogs and meet some great new people along the way!

Anyway thank you for taking the time to read this!

Lots of Love

Gem x