Wednesday, 19 August 2015

ESQIDO Unforgettable Mink False Eyelashes







ESQIDO Unforgettable Mink False Eyelashes* - $32

I've always been slightly obsessed with making my lashes look as long & voluminous as possible. In fact I currently use three different mascaras every single day in order to achieve my preferred look. However sometimes mascara alone just isn't enough. Lash extensions are something that I would never consider as I've heard some real horror stories about the damage they can cause to your own lashes but I'm happy to use something a little more temporary. False lashes are one of the best ways to add some instant glamour to your look. A pair of lashes & some glue are all you need to take your makeup from day to night. I tend to flit between Eylure, Ardell & Kiss lashes as they're all fairly cheap & readily available. I struggle to get more than a couple of uses out of them though as they get caked with glue & mascara and generally become a bit gross. If longevity & comfort are important to you when buying falsies then you definitely need to try a pair of ESQIDO mink eyelashes.

ESQIDO's luxurious false eyelashes are like no other. Most false lashes are made from synthetic fibres which look unnatural whilst feeling heavy & uncomfortable to wear for extended periods of time. They also come with a plastic band which feels irritating & can be harder to blend in with your own lashline. I always have to coat them with mascara to blend them in the rest of my lashes which inevitably shortens their lifespan. ESQIDO use naturally shed mink hairs which are softer & lighter than synthetic fibres. They feel super lightweight & comfortable to wear plus the hairs have a lovely glossy sheen to them. Every strand is ultra fine with tapered ends to give you lashes that blend seamlessly with your own. ESQIDO also use a handcrafted cotton band which is infinitely more flexible, comfortable & easier to apply than a plastic band. I would liken the difference between ESQIDO lashes & synthetic lashes to the difference between a human hair lace front wig & a wig from a fancy dress shop. The quality just speaks for itself.

The lashes I have here are in the Unforgettable style. They have a gradient of increasing length & thickness across the lash band for a subtle yet beautiful winged out effect. They're really natural looking & are an ideal accompaniment to my usual cat flick liner. They make my lashes look really soft & feathery. There's something very sweet & romantic about them so I think they would be perfect for a first date or bridal makeup. I would definitely wear something like these when I get married. The band is quite long so you'll need to trim it down before applying them. I used one coat of L'Oreal Miss Manga mascara on my top lashes, popped some DUO Dark Lash Adhesive along the band & applied the lashes with my tweezers. I found the application process to be a lot easier with these. You don't really need to break the spine first to apply them & they adhered to the inner & outer corners with little effort. The final look is seamless & you don't even have to apply another coat of mascara on top.

Each pair of ESQIDO lashes comes in this utterly gorgeous white & rose gold presentation box. You'll want to hang onto it for storage because ESQIDO lashes can be worn up to 25 times! Although they're much more expensive than drugstore lashes, you can get so many more uses out of them which makes them excellent value for money. Whether you're a total beginner or a lash expert, mink false eyelashes are definitely the way to go. ESQIDO make a range of styles suited for different eye types with a choice of light, medium or full volume so there really is something for everyone in their collection. They even have a little guide on their website to help you find the perfect false lashes for you. If you are at all concerned about customs charges then don't be. Although they are an American brand with prices in USD they actually have a distribution centre here in the UK so your lashes will arrive quickly without any nasty surprises at your door. ESQIDO's mink lashes have to the prettiest & most comfortable I have ever worn. I love absolutely everything about them & I can't see myself going back to synthetic lashes anytime soon.


twitter / tumblr / youtube / instagram / bloglovin'

Thursday, 6 August 2015

Appleyard London Summer Flowers








In the Summer I love spending my time going on long walks through the park & admiring all the seasonal blooms. I wish I had my own garden to decorate & relax in but for now I'll have to make do with filling the interior of my house with pretty flowers instead. Going to the local market & picking up some freshly cut flowers is always fun but they invariably get ruined on my bus journey home. I much prefer having flowers delivered directly to my door. It feels like such a lovely treat & a skilled florist does all the hard work of putting your bouquet together so you don't have to! Earlier this week I had the pleasure of receiving this stunning Summery bouquet from Appleyard London. They are a boutique florist with a strong emphasis on luxury. This is their Forget-Me-Not bouquet which is an elegant arrangement of blue hydrangeas, avalanche roses, white germini & alstromeria. I normally end up buying pink flowers so I fancied something different for a change. They certainly brighten up the room & have a beautiful fresh scent. The blue, white & green colours look wonderful together & they go perfectly with my polka dot jug from Laura Ashley.

I was really impressed with the delivery of my flowers. They were delivered securely by Royal Mail in a huge box & wrapped in white cellophane. The stems sit in a cube of water which keeps the flowers hydrated during transit. They also include a sachet of plant food to prolong the life of your bouquet. When my flowers arrived they looked immaculate with no damage whatsoever. Appleyard London really go that extra mile to ensure that their flowers look as beautiful when they arrive as they did when they were sent. The alstromeria hadn't opened up yet so I was a bit worried that the rest of my bouquet would wilt before they did. However it still looks as fresh today as it did at the beginning of the week which just shows the quality of the flowers that Appleyard London use in their bouquets. I got to watch the alstromeria bloom more each day which was really lovely. You can probably tell that I love taking photos of flowers, I went a little bit overboard in this post! I just think they make such an interesting subject & it's a nice way of preserving them forever.

Appleyard London have kindly given me a very generous discount code to share with all of you. You can get 33% off your entire order by entering the code BLOG33 at the checkout. This is such a brilliant offer if you fancy ordering one of their gorgeous bouquets for yourself or want to send flowers to your loved ones. I'm sure we can all think of someone who deserves some luxury flowers as a treat. They also offer next day flower delivery so you can make sure that your flowers arrive in time for any special occasion. The only bouquets exempt from the discount are those in the Flowers By Post range. Which is your favourite Summer bouquet from Appleyard London?


twitter / tumblr / youtube / instagram / bloglovin'

Wednesday, 5 August 2015

July Favourites



Sleek Precious Metals Highlighting Palette*
Highlighting is my favourite step in the makeup application process. It instantly brings life to dull, tired skin & generally makes your face look more beautiful. I don't think anything will ever come close to theBalm's Mary-Lou Manizer but I have been loving the Precious Metals Highlighting Palette from Sleek. I received this in my Cohorted Beauty Box & I think it's a fantastic piece of kit. It contains three cream highlighting shades & golden shimmery powder bronzer. Creams tend to look a bit more natural than powders so they're a better choice if you're after that 'lit from within' look. The creams blend in beautifully & add a gorgeous sheen to the skin. I'm a little bit obsessed with the Renaissance Gold shade, it's just so pretty!

Nivea Men Sensitive Post Shave Balm
This might seem like an odd product for a woman to like but hear me out. One of my favourite YouTubers to watch is NikkieTutorials & she mentioned that she uses this aftershave balm as a primer. It has a high glycerin content which is something that is often used as the main ingredient in many primers. Glycerin is a humectant meaning that it draws moisture from the air onto your skin. It is also makes whatever you apply on top of it stay in place all day long. My makeup tends to slide off my face in the Summer so I needed something that could make it stick around longer. A lot of the primers I already own are pore filling or smoothing ones & don't make a huge difference to the longevity of my makeup. I tried this stuff out & I think it's utterly fantastic as a primer! The product itself is a very thin & watery liquid but it dries down quite quickly. It feels cooling & refreshing on the skin. It does have a strong manly scent but this soon goes away after application so you don't have to worry about smelling like a guy. Since I started using this as a primer I've noticed that my foundation goes on a lot smoother & looks really seamless on the skin. My base actually stays put in the heat & looks flawless for hours on end. It gets extra points for being incredibly cheap too!

Bioré UV Aqua Rich Watery Gel SPF 50+ PA++++
At long last I have finally found my holy grail sunscreen! I'm a bit of a Japanophile so it was only a matter of time before I started using Asian beauty products. Although we do have Bioré in the UK, we only get a select few of their products. Over here they're probably best known for those godawful nose pore strips that you should avoid like the plague. This sunscreen is part of a line made specifically for their Japanese market. Asian sunscreens are generally acknowledged to be superior to the ones we get over here. They're lower in price & better in quality. They tend to have higher SPF & PA ratings without the greasiness or white cast. After reading many glowing reviews on /r/AsianBeauty I decided to order the Aqua Rich Watery Gel from eBay. I've linked the seller I used as I had no problems at all with my order. Delivery from Japan took two weeks but it was totally worth the wait! This sunscreen is simply amazing. It uses a combination of chemical & physical UV filters to provide unrivalled daily UVA & UVB protection. The milky liquid feels so light & comfortable to wear. This product is ideal to use under your makeup as it gives a silky feel to the skin & doesn't pill at all. It absorbs super fast & dries to an invisible finish without any shine or white cast. Alcohol is one of the main ingredients but the addition of royal jelly & hyaluronic acid prevent it from drying out the skin. It's not heavy, greasy or sticky plus it has a lovely fresh lemony scent. It's perfection in a bottle!

Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Celebrity Skin
I've been wanting to try the Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipsticks for so long! A little while ago Cocktail Cosmetics starting stocking them in the UK so I'm glad that I waited patiently instead of ordering them from America. These liquid lipsticks are extremely pigmented & matte but they don't dry out your lips. They're so long lasting & you can even eat or kiss with them on without wrecking your lippie. The colour range is definitely a little more out there than most lipsticks but they're such good quality that they make it easy to pull off such bold shades. I kinda want to buy them all, even the black & blue ones! The shade that I was most looking forward to trying is Celebrity Skin & I really love this colour even though it looks very different to what I was expecting. On most people this looks like a nude lipstick but because I'm so pale it leans very brown & dark. It literally looks different on everyone! The lipstick formula is everything I could've hoped for & I definitely need to add a few more of these to my collection.

Claudia Louch Concealer Trio*
Sometimes concealer alone just isn't enough to cover all of my imperfections. If you struggle with hyperpigmentation or dark circles underneath your eyes then colour correcting those areas beforehand can make all the difference. This concealer palette is a fab little product that allows you to mix & match the shades to create your own custom colour. By layering the different shades you can hide a multitude of sins. I really struggle with dark circles & no amount of eye cream or beauty sleep will ever work quite as well as correcting & concealing. The medium shade is slightly orange toned & works well to correct any discolouration. Then I like to apply the lightest shade over the top to match the rest of my foundation. They also cover any active spots or post-blemish scarring really well. The creamy consistency of these concealers makes them easy to blend & layer without looking cakey. This product is very similar to the Bobbi Brown Corrector & Concealer but this palette works out to be much better value for money.


twitter / tumblr / youtube / instagram / bloglovin'