MAC Haul

I recently made an online MAC order as my beloved MSF Natural was on its last legs. I use this every day to set my makeup or to even out my skintone if can't be bothered with proper foundation. I got sent the tiny sample of Zoom Lash mascara free with my order. Its an alright mascara but what I like best is how cute the tiny tube is. I keep this in my handbag for quick top-ups. I also decided to cheekily add a couple of other bits that I've been lusting after to my order.




I bought three pro palette refill eyeshadow pans in the colours Club, Brun and Vanilla. Club is a red-brown with green pearl, Brun is a matte muted blackish-brown & Vanilla is a peachy-ivory with a slight shimmer. I've always thought that Club was a nice colour but never really felt compelled to buy it until I saw Amelia Lily wearing it on The X Factor. I think shes bloody gorgeous and her makeup always looks great. I got Brun to wear as a crease colour for a natural eye, to wear smudged under my eyes and I might try it as an eyebrow colour too. I bought Vanilla because I love pale highlighter colours.

I also bought a matte lipstick in the colour Please Me. Its a muted rosy tinted pink. Its surprisingly not too drying for a matte lipstick. I would definitely make sure your lips are properly exfoliated and moisturised before using this colour as it can highlight any dead skin there. My faves for lip preparation are Lush's Bubblegum Lip Scrub and Philosophy's Kiss Me Tonight. It is really pigmented and applies very nicely. I would've taken a picture of it on my lips but I'm being lazy today and can't be bothered to actually put on any makeup, soz!



Top - Vanilla / Malt / Ricepaper / Patina / Brun
Middle - Brule / Naked Lunch / Amber Lights / Woodwinked / Club
Bottom - Shroom / All That Glitters / Expensive Pink / Satin Taupe / Carbon
The addition of those three eyeshadows means that I've finally completed my first (and probably last!) MAC eyeshadow palette. I depotted my Shroom and Carbon eyeshadows to finish it off. I still have 8 loose MAC eyeshadows so I might buy a couple of four pan palettes to give them a home. I daren't buy another 15 palette because it'll only encourage me to buy more!

Favourite Products Of 2011

I have probably spent more on makeup in the last 12 months than in any other year of my life. It sure is expensive work being a beauty blogger! Luckily it means that I've found some products that I really love and can see myself using for a long time to come. Here are some of my favourite things that I used last year. I liked a lot more stuff than what I've listed here but these are the products that really stood out to me.


Skincare
Clarisonic Mia / Liz Earle Eyebright / Dermalogica Active Moist
The best thing that I invested in last year was my Clarisonic Mia. There is no other skincare product or treatment out there that compares to what this will do for your skin. I love how it makes my skin look, almost like I've had a spa facial every time I wash my face. I love all the Liz Earle products that I've tried so far. I use Cleanse & Polish with my Clarisonic & follow up with their Skin Tonic too. Eyebright is a bit of a wonder product as it instantly cools & refreshes your eyes. Its brilliant if you've had too many late nights or need to look & feel more awake. Active Moist has been my favourite moisturiser for a while now. Its perfect on my normal/combination skin type. I haven't really liked any of the moisturisers I tried last year so I'll be sticking with this one for the foreseeable future.


Haircare
Tangle Teezer / Kerastase Ciment Thermique / Batiste XXL Volume Dry Shampoo / Frédéric Fekkai Brilliant Glossing Cream
For anyone still wondering if Tangle Teezers work, yes they do & mine has saved me from some pretty horrific knots. I still really like the Kerastase Ciment Thermique & I don't think that any other heat protection product compares to this one. The grapefruit scent lingers on your hair & its absolutely beautiful. I only recently managed to purchase the XXL Volume Batiste as its been really hard to track it down. Its literally always sold out. I'm so glad I got this as although it does make your hair feel like utter crap, it does give you lots of volume. Just whack some serum on afterwards and you're good to go. The Brilliant Glossing Cream is kinda like a cream version of Moroccanoil so it helps to weigh down your hair more. Some people won't like that but I do as it means less flyaways & a more polished looking hairdo.


Base
Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation / Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer / Bobbi Brown Corrector / MAC Pearl Cream Colour Base / Illamasqua Hollow Cream Pigment / MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural / Dior Amber Diamond
Last year I became obsessed with finding the perfect base products. I bought a ton of different products but these are my favourites and I use all of these every day. Illamasqua's Skin Base Foundation has been a revelation. I finally have a foundation that matches my exact skintone and has no SPF in which stops the 'ghost face' that Estee Lauder Double Wear used to inflict upon me. Like everyone else I love that Collection 2000 concealer. Its practically opaque & covers pretty much everything. I couldn't live without my Bobbi Brown Corrector as although the Collection 2000 concealer is really good, this product colour corrects my dark circles making me look really awake & like I've slept for 12 hours each night. MAC MSF Natural has been my fave powder for ages, I just wear this with some concealer if I have no time at all to get ready. When I use the Illamasqua foundation I just use this to powder under my eyes because otherwise my mascara ends up all over my face. Pearl Cream Colour Base & Amber Diamond are the perfect highlighting duo. I've bought more highlighters than I can count in 2011 and these are the best of the best. I like a lot of glow so using a cream under the powder makes my cheeks look super shiny & it lasts all day. Hollow Cream Pigment is something I only bought recently but it is the best contour product ever.


Eyes
Lancome Doll Eyes Mascara / L'Oreal Carbon Gloss Superliner / HD Brows Palette / MAC Shroom & Patina Eyeshadows / MAC NC15/NW20 Pencil
The mascara that I've most recently fallen in love with is the Lancome Doll Eyes one. When I first got it the formula was a lot more fluid and didn't really give me the volume I wanted. But as it dried up a bit it got thicker and it is everything I could want in a mascara. It makes my lashes super long, thick & black. I use the L'Oreal eyeliner on a daily basis as I think I look weird without it. This one is really black, long lasting and pretty cheap too which makes it the best eyeliner I've bought this year. I love the eyebrow powders in the HD Brows Palette, they're so pigmented and just brilliant. I only use the one in the bottom right corner as the others don't suit me but I use the others as eyeshadows so its a fab product. The eyeshadows I've reached for most are Shroom & Patina by MAC. I don't really wear eyeshadow much but these are subtle enough for everyday wear. I love this MAC eyeliner pencil as it makes my eyes look bigger & brighter without being a really obvious white line.


Blusher
Illamasqua Katie / Illamasqua Thrust / NARS Deep Throat / Topshop Head Over Heels
I like to wear a lot of blush as it adds some pretty colour to my deathly pallor which saves me from bronzing my whole face to an unnatural colour. My fave blusher at the moment is NARS Deep Throat, I think its the perfect colour for me with just the right amount of sparkle. I adore Illamasqua's powder blushers. Katie is a lovely pastel pink & Thrust is a bright magenta. It looks so scary in the pan but its a gorgeous colour if you apply it with a light hand & blend it properly. I want to try some of Illamasqua's cream blushers next as they seem really good too. The only cream blushers I own are from Topshop but they are great quality for the price. I like the shade Head Over Heels best as its a very pretty peachy colour thats perfect for Summer.


Lip Products
Philosophy Kiss Me Tonight / Beaute Wanted Weightless Lip Creme / MAC Hue Lipstick / MAC Enchantée Kissable Lip Colour
I bought a lot of lipsticks this year. In order to keep my lips lovely & smooth I use Philosophy's Kiss Me Tonight lip treatment. Its a balm that you put on before you go to bed and you wake up with beautifully soft lips. I also put some on before I do my makeup then blot it off when I'm ready to apply my lipstick. I bought the Beaute Weightless Lip Creme in Wanted after I heard that Kristen Stewart loves it. Its a lovely nude thats halfway between a lipstick and gloss. The MAC Kissable Lip Colours from their Peacocky collection use a similar formula. I love the colour Enchantée which is a cool toned bright pink. My fave everyday lipstick is MAC Hue. Its the most perfect pinky nude that looks brilliant on everyone.


Nail Polishes
Illamasqua Jo'Mina / Models Own Utopia / Models Own Pink Punch / Barry M Peach Melba
This was such a hard decision as I adore all the nail polishes I bought last year and believe me, I bought a lot! These ones stood out to me as unique colours that I always get complimented on. They all apply really well and don't chip too badly with some Seche Vite on top.

Hello 2012!

Happy new year! I hope that everyone had a good night whether you went out or stayed in. 2011 has at times been a very difficult year for me, a lot better than 2010 but some of the same problems still lingered. At the beginning of the year I think I still had a touch of post-natal depression and couldn't really be bothered with anything. My relationship with my boyfriend was also at an all time low. Things still aren't brilliant all the time but since we moved out of our tiny one bed flat in Leeds city centre to this house in Huddersfield things have improved 100%. I'm hoping that this year things will get even better for us. Not had the most brilliant start to the year as my last remaining grandparent passed away. I'm going to Manchester on Thursday for her funeral. I'd not seen her in about 10 years as my family aren't very close but its sad all the same. The best thing about last year was watching Chloe grow up a bit more. In the past year shes learned to walk, talk, draw, feed herself, sleep in her own room & be incredibly independent. Watching her do new things every day makes me so proud & I love her more than anything. Well it wouldn't be new years if I didn't make some resolutions so here are mine:

Look after myself
I'm pretty happy with my weight now so I just need to eat healthily enough to maintain it. I'm gonna continue with my power-walking and Wii exercise games because I don't think I'd get a chance to do anything more than that. I need to look after my hair more as it feels & looks like straw, its in dire need of a cut and as much as I love my hair colour it might be time to go a bit darker. Urgh I don't know, it felt wrong just writing that. Bleach blonde forever! I need to look after my skin & teeth better too. I think its time I spoke with a doctor about my anxiety issues as I really want to put Chloe in a nursery and get a job but this seems to be holding me back more than I'd like.

Do more with Chloe
While I still am a stay at home mum I need to make the most of it. If we're at home in the day we spend most of it watching Cbeebies. We go to a couple of toddler groups & classes but I want to do more as I think they help me as much as they help Chloe. We go to swimming lessons every week and this year I want to start going to baby ballet lessons too. Can't wait to see how cute Chloe's gonna look in a pink tutu!

Stop swearing
Chloe is around that age where shes learning loads of new words every day. Shes like a little parrot. Therefore I need to stop swearing before she picks it up too. And I swear like a sailor so thats gonna be a hard one.

Blog more often
Last month I wrote more posts than any other month that I've been blogging. I only managed 11 so thats still not brilliant! Ideally I'd like to start blogging at least every other day. The only way to make your blog grow is to keep at it and work hard so thats what I'm gonna do. I'm also going to make more of an effort with commenting on other people's posts, emailing, tweeting & hopefully this year blogger will implement some kind of reply feature to their commenting system.

Stop wasting money
Every month I find myself with less and less money. I'm currently living off my overdraft and its really awful. This year I aim to get rid of the overdraft on my account, even if theres £0 actually in the account its better than it being a minus number. I'm gonna try to save about £25 a month so that I can buy some more investment pieces rather than buying any old thing in Primark. I'm finally gonna do a blog sale & downsize my belongings extensively because I hate clutter and I have a ridiculous amount of junk!

So heres to 2012! I hope everyone has a brilliant year and I hope I do too :)