My MAC Cinderella Collection Picks

On Friday morning, the MAC Cinderella collection was finally released in the UK, and unsurprisingly, it sold out within 20 minutes. I was really hoping it wouldn't release on Friday with it being the one day of the week that I wasn't in front of my computer as I was attending my part time advertising course at a local London University and was spending the whole day in the classroom.

Luckily for me, I'd given my Partner 'M' the heads up the day before that the collection was being released. As soon as I received a text message from April telling me it had gone live, I began manically texting M, hoping my tutor sat across the table from me wouldn't notice. The boy did good, and I ended up with 4 of the products I was wishing for from the range.

MAC Iridescent Powder - £23.00

From the images alone, I knew I had to have this gorgeous metallic powder. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works with my skin tone. I have a feeling it's going to make for a beautiful pink glistening finishing powder on the cheeks.

MAC Royal Ball Lipstick £17.00

MAC Free As A Bird Lipstick £17.00

L-R Free As A Bird & Royal Ball- £17.00 Each 

The things I can never have enough of in my make up collection, are Pink & Nude lipsticks. I have to admit, I don't actually own any MAC Lustre lipsticks and wanting to add a few to my collection, I jumped straight in. I'm obsessed with a soft lip, and the Royal Ball lipstick was my first choice. It's a beautiful frosted pink shade. The other lipstick in the range is Free As A Bird which is more of a golden nude shade. 

Cinderella Glitter - Reflects Pearl - £18.50

Glitter, oh how I both love and loathe it at the same time. I love a good sparkly eye, but I absolutely hate how much mess it makes. There's nothing that fills me with a sense of dread more, than the thought of a bottle of glitter erupting in my make up bag and having to clean it up for the next few months. Glitter fears aside, I wanted to push myself and try something new, so I added the Reflects Pearl Glitter onto my wish list. I have absolutely no idea how i'm going to wear it - and it's worth pointing out that the glitter isn't eye safe, so beats me what i'll use it for.

So those are my selects from the MAC Cinderella collection! Did you manage to get your hands on anything before it sold out online? Don't despair too much, as it actually hits the MAC Stores and Counters on 13th March, so there's still time to pick up a few bits before you resort to overpriced items on Ebay. 

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts, let me know in the comments.

Em xxx

February Favourites!

After a week long blogging hiatus, i'm finally back and today i'm bringing you the low down on my February Favourites.

The past few months have been so hectic for me, what with working full time, blogging, youtube, being a girlfriend,visiting family and then to top it all off, attending an evening advertising course once a week for my job, needless to say i'm so far stretched, I barely have time to sleep at the moment. I'm pretty sure I'll be back on track over the next couple of weeks before my exam so expect to see a fair few new posts coming your way.

Moving on, I love having a nose at what people have been loving over the past month  in their faves videos and posts as they're likely the ones which gets me feeling like I want to buy all the things. After receiving a few emails asking me to start posting my favourites again, here's where we're at.

So without further ado, here's my brand new February Favourites video, which is actually the first time I've ever filmed a favourites video too! So I do hope I didn't balls it up too badly.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on my choices and the video. Let me know in the comments, and of course, don't forget to give it a big thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe.

Em xxx

Acne Coverage, Date Night Make Up Tutorial!

As many of you know, I'm suffering with 'adult acne' at the moment. It's one of those dreaded things that makes you feel so bad every time you look in the mirror, and It's safe to say that I've had my fair share of sleepless nights over it. 

I'm the first to admit that I have personal confidence issues, and when your appearance can affect how you intrinsically feel on a day to day basis, acne can take a huge chunk of what confidence and self esteem you have away. 

When It comes to dating, I'm in a long term relationship (3yrs+) and although we live together, M  works super long hours, meaning he sees me more bare faced than with make up on. When we try to make an evening a little bit special, I try and make more of an effort with my make up and hair, whilst still remaining natural at the same time. I think of it more like enhancements, rather than an all out club night look - if you get what I mean. 

I wanted to share a Date Night make up look that I wore on a recent date night to the Hakkasan which is a Michelin starred restaurant here in London. The food was fantastic, and we thoroughly enjoyed it as we hadn't been there in a few months.

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this look! Let me know in the comments, and of course, don't forget to subscribe to my channel so you never miss a video!

Em xxx

Pale Test #11 - L'oreal Paris ~True Match La Touch Magique Concealer

I get asked on an almost daily basis which foundations and concealers are the best for pale skin tones, and this series is going to explore all different types of  products from varying brands and at all price levels which will hopefully help you to make a decision on which foundation and concealer is right for you! 

In universal skin tone terms.. I struggle to find a product that suits me. I'm on the hunt for a product that will be the perfect fit for My Pale Skin. 

Product: L'oreal Paris True Match Touch Magique Concealer - Ivory Beige

Price: £8.19

Packaging:  The Concealer has a built in brush applicator, with a twist bottom that brings the product up through the brush. It has a pretty secure lid that clicks shut.

Coverage: I'd say that the product gives a medium coverage which is build-able.

Colour:  There are six shades in the range with Ivory Beige being the lightest cool toned product. It applies fairly yellow on the skin as it's designed to be used as a 'brightening' concealer which can mask and brighten up dark circles.

Finish:  I found the finish to be dewy. It applies evenly, without looking 'cakey'.

Final Verdict:  I wasn't expecting a whole lot with this L'oreal concealer as i'm so used to being disappointed by drugstore offerings shade wise. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by this offering. I mea like i'm really loving this concealer at the moment. I'm wearing it every day!  It applies extremely easily, blends seamlessly and masks dark circles. The ivory beige is a light yellow shade that is perfect for cooler toned skin tones. I'm super happy to say that the L'oreal Paris True Match Touch Magique Concealer has PASSED the pale test (on my skin) and has well and truly made it's way into my make up bag.

As Always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this concealer or what you'd like me to try next, let me know in the comments.
Em xxx

Real Techniques Bold Metals Contour Brush Review

I'm never usually one for buying products on their launch day, but late last year on New Years Eve I headed to my local boots in the hope of having a glimpse at the brand new Real Techniques Bold Metals Collection. However, one thing led to another and I walked out of the store with four of the brushes... as well as a whole heap of other products. 

The Bold Metals flat contour brush retails at £22.00 which is a little eye watering for a single off the shelf brush that you purchase on a whim at boots. 

I understand that Real Techniques are going for a more high end, professional market with these brushes and the new design truly does reflect that. 

It's obvious to look at the design of the brushes that a lot of time, care and attention to detail has going into the new range, They have a gorgeous metallic finish, with soft white bristles and a weighted handle which is designed to help you use the brush to it's full advantage. 

Sadly, there's on thing for me that's letting this brush down, and that's the bristles.When I first saw the shape of the brush, I knew it had the perfect shape for carving out cheekbones and would certainly be useful for recreating that Kimmy K look... But here's the thing - the bristles are just too packed. I find that I have to use an awful lot more product to get it to take on the brush evenly, then on application, I find that the product applies, but in a harsh way.What I mean by that is, it's fairly static. You don't get any natural feathering with the brush and when I used it on a day to day basis, I actually found I needed to swap to a different brush to blend it out.  I also sort of forgot this brush existed after a while. I forgot I bought it, and went back to using a small blush brush to apply my contour and actually got a better result.

If I knew before purchasing it how difficult the bristles would be to work with - I likely would have picked up the Nars Ita Kabuki Brush which is a similar shape but it just has that bit of give to it which naturally feathers out your make up.

I love Sam & Nic and think fantastic at what they do. I just wanted a little more than this brush could give. 

Have you tried any of the Real Techniques Bold Metal Collection? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Let me know in the comments.

Em xxx

Base Product Haul!

I've been wanting to switch up my base product routine for quite a while now and this week It would appear that I was on a bit of an accidental haul mission!

It all started on Monday, when I had an important client meeting at work. I rushed to the other side of London in a cab with my boss, only to get there super early - which was super frustrating, especially as I left my phone in the office. Whilst walking to the meeting, and realizing how early we were - I noticed a Space NK, so popped in to get a new Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer.That counts as work right?

Next up was Mac. On Tuesday whilst waiting for a colleague to arrive at Kings Cross Station, I popped into Mac. I honestly wish every train station had a Mac store... like can you imagine?? From Mac I bought the Mineralize Moisture Foundation in shade NC15 and also a Studio Finish Concealer in NC15. 

Finally, on Valentines Day, I headed over to Kensington High Street to do a weekly food shop in Wholefoods. On the way I passed the Guru Make Up Emporium which I'd heard so so much about online! I popped in and picked up the Ben Nye Neutral Face Set Powder. I really wanted the banana powder, but they only had it in pressed and I just wasn't feeling it, so I thought i'd start my Ben Nye collection off with a translucent powder. I also picked up the Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Concealer in Y0 because I'd been dying to try something from the brand for what seems like forever and thought a concealer would be a good place to start before I jump in to the lip tar world.

So those are the base products I've bought this week. Have you tried any of them before? Would love to hear your thoughts! And if you wanted to check out a sneaky peek of the swatches - head on over to my Instagram! 

Em xxx

An Evening Of Pampering At The #LFWRetreat

Earlier this week I headed to the Red Bull Studios in London for a little bit of Pre-Fashion Week pampering. After a mad dash and some awful traffic, I finally made it and indulged in a few treatments designed to relax and get me feeling in tip top condition for London Fashion Week.

First up I headed to the Pixi by Petra Make Up Stations where I had some a gorgeous make over by the lovely Amanda. Who is one of the most sweetest people I think I've met at an event. Amanda has this way that just makes you feel at ease and is such a great listener.

It was my first time using the Pixi products, and as I'd heard so much about them online, I was pleased to see that they lived up to the hype. My skin was left looking dewy and glowy all whilst still looking incredibly natural - which is hard to do when I'm suffering with Acne. 

I will say that the concealers did take a fair amount of layers to cover up some of the redness, and break out areas, but with a bit of patience, it worked.  If you have great skin, I would recommend checking out their base products as they're just so flawless and incredibly easy to wear.

After my make up session and more naterring with the Pixi girls, I headed  over to the Spa and Massage corner for a quick 'Stress Busting' massage. I'd never had a chair massage before, and y'know I can't say it was the most relaxing experience because I spent most of it thinking I was going to fall off the chair and I didn't really have a chance to 'let go'. I think the main reason, is that having never been to spa for treatments before... *gulp* I just didn't really know how to relax and get into it. 

I had so much fun at the Red Bull Studios and even picked up a few new products to try! 

I'd love to hear your top tips on how you relax and get ready for a big event! Let me know in the comments.

Em xxx