Autumn/Winter essentials

aussie
Top to bottom: L'Oreal Color Riche 500 Gold Mania
L'Oreal Color Riche 507 Pin Up Pink 
Seventeen Eye Shadow Funfair

Of course as it's nearing the Christmas season - the best time of year in my opinion - it's time to get out the sparkle. I think it's fun to jazz up your makeup at this time of year with some eyeshadow that you wouldn't necessarily be brave enough to wear any other time of year. I like the warm/pinky tones of these eyeshadows and I often wear them mixed together for extra sparkle and shimmer. These are great all over the eye on their own as an everyday look with an extra something; or can be transformed into a smokey look with some dark matte browns and warm colours through the crease and some eyeliner. 

Revlon ColorBurst Matte Balm 225 Sultry
Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liner 063 Eastend Snob

It's no secret that everyone loves a berry lip during the colder months. Recently I have been enjoying matte lips, which is rare as I am definitely a gloss girl! My favourites at the moment are this lip liner to make my lips look a bit fuller while making the colour last a lot longer - mentioned here and here. I have also been a bit late to the party in discovering the Revlon Matte Balms. These are lovely and creamy, easy to apply and wear really nicely on the lips. I picked up a more muted berry colour as I wanted something slightly more subtle. Although this combination can make my lips quite dry as long as you layer up with a lip balm you should be fine - making lip balm another essential!

Garnier Ultimate Blends hair oil
Aussie Miracle Hair Insurance conditioning spray

With the cold weather also comes dry hair. Also, where I have previously used bleach and dye on my hair I need to take extra care of it to keep it in good condition. In the shower my favourite conditioner to use is the Herbal Essence Moisture Balance from the classics collection. Unless I need a more intense condition in which case I use the Tony and Guy Nourish Reconstruction Mask - full post here. After the shower while my hair is wet I spray the Aussie leave in conditioner all over  to lock in the moisture. This product also makes it so much easier to brush through my hair. I then put a couple of pumps of the Garnier oil onto the ends and lengths of my hair to keep them lovely and soft. The combination of these products help to keep my hair from looking damaged and dry. 
I would also like to add dry hair shampoo to my essentials...with wooly hat weather who can tell whether you have 3 or 4 day hair or not?! Am I right?

St Tropez In Shower Gradual Tan 

During the colder months I find using regular fake tan can be slightly too intense - and a lot more obvious that you're wearing it! Where I usually use the Rimmel Sunshimmer Instant Tan mousse, or the Rimmel Sunshimmer Instant Tan - mentioned here - which are both great self tanners;  they can be too dark to look natural in the winter. A great, more natural looking, alternative is the St Tropez in shower tan. This was released during the summer and received very mixed reviews. Many had said that it was a bit of a faff to apply as you have to stop the shower and stand in the cold for 3 minutes. However for me this was not a problem as this time flies if you're listening to music - having a good shower jam. I would recommend this for those of you who are more on the paler side, as I'm not sure it would make much of a difference on tanned skin. I did notice a difference after I had used this a couple of times. It gives a nice natural glow to the skin which is perfect during the dull weather!

What are your Autumn/Winter essentials?
~ Lucy xx

My Love Affair with Lip Pencils | Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liners

addiction
Lip liner was never something I used to be into. I would always skip past looking at lip liners, instead heading straight for the lipsticks thinking that they didn’t really make a difference, they weren’t really necessary. Whilst they certainly aren’t necessary, they really do make a difference, something I discovered fairly recently. My love affair with lip liner, more specifically the Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liners came one time when Lucy and me were getting ready for a night out and she made me try hers. I would say it was love at first sight if I believed in that sort of thing.

The Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liners stick around for a long while, are highly pigmented but are still soft and moveable. They also come in a retractable pencil so there isn’t need for a sharpener which makes them an A+ in my book. My favourite shades are East End Snob which I love to wear underneath the Kate Moss x Rimmel Lipsticks in 03 and 08 - and is also a great dupe for Charlotte Tilbury’s Lip Cheat Lip Liner in Pillow Talk - Addiction which is also great underneath 03 but I also love underneath the Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Nude Delight, and Obsession which is great underneath Charlotte Tilbury's Matte Revolution Lipstick in Bond Girl. These liners are also a steal at just £3.99, I just wish there were more shades.

My favourite thing about lip liners though, besides making your lipstick last a lot longer and be more pigmented, is that you can perfect and ‘cheat’ your lips slightly. Now, personally I’m not into the whole Kylie Jenner, make your lips three sizes bigger thing - if you are then kudos to you, but it isn’t more me - however I do like to balance my lips out slightly as my bottom lip is slightly more full than my top lip and lip liner is the easiest way to do this. You can also exaggerate your cupids bow with lip liner or cancel it out if you think yours is too pronounced. Really, lip liner is a great tool to have in your arsenal and a weapon every girl should keep up their sleeve.

What’re your favourite lip liners?

~ Jade xx

Current Favourites | #10

barry m
Bourjois Healthy Balance Powder | To combat oily skin I have to use a powder but often that comes with having an over-matte base which leaves your face looking dry and having exaggerated pores. With this powder though that doesn’t happen. Your makeup is set, your face is matte but you still have a radiance about your skin and pores are left looking invisible - full review here. 

The Body Shop Camomile Silky Cleansing Oil | This was a recommendation from Lucy and one that I was very weary of. Having oily skin the thought of putting oil on my face terrified me but it removes makeup like nothing I’ve ever used before and leaves the skin feeling nourished and moisturised, but not greasy.

Barry M Quick Dry Nail Paint - Eat My Dust | I’ve been obsessed with this shade since I picked it up all the way back in March. It’s the perfect pastel blue that isn’t too pastel and the formula is fast drying for any impatient people out there like me - full review here. 

Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Pencil - East End Snob + Revlon Moisture Stain - London Posh | As of late this has been my favourite lip combination. The Rimmel Lip Pencil is another recommendation from Lucy and the colour is a great pinky nude with the formula being long wearing but not drying, I had to go back and pick up some more shades - full review here. I’ve had the Revlon Moisture Stain since last year and loved it when they first launched but it became lost and buried in my makeup collection. I was recently looking for a nude gloss though and digging through my stash found this beauty. The texture is unlike any other gloss product but isn’t sticky and sticks around a long while. I like to put East End Snob all over my lips for colour and add London Posh to the centre of the lips to add dimension.

Bourjois 123 Perfect CC Cream | Recently I was on the hunt for a summer base that was light in feel but still had coverage - quite hard to come by. I picked up this CC Cream from Bourjois to test out and ended up loving it - full review here.

What are your current favourites?

~ Jade xx

Current Favourites | #9

colorburst
Over the past few months I have been feeling much more adventurous with my makeup. Recently I have been enjoying trying different looks, out of my comfort zone, with new products. Here are some of the products that have made the cut of my top 5 favourites:

Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liner - 063 Eastend Snob | I bought this mainly due to the recent Kylie Jenner 'plumped' lip craze. I personally don’t like to go quite as big as Kylie does but this liner is great to give a natural bigger look to your lips. I like that it isn’t too nude as I have naturally quite dark lips so it blends in well, and it also lasts all day. As it gives a matte finish I think it would go great with the much sought after 'Velvet Teddy' by MAC but if you can't get your hands on Velvet Teddy or would prefer a cheaper alternative, I like to wear this lip liner with either 03 - post here - or 08 from the Kate Moss x Rimmel range.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter - SweetTart | I feel like I'm a little late to the game with this one. These lip butters were quite the rage a couple of years ago and I already had one in my collection, although it isn't a colour I grab for so often. 'Sweet Tart' is the perfect pink for me, which will be perfect to wear during the spring/summer months coming up. As the name suggests the formula is lovely and smooth on your lips and is very easy to wear. One layer gives a sheer colour or it can be built up to be more opaque. Although it doesn’t last a long time on the lips, it gives a nice shine and is a product that wears nicely so you don’t have to worry too much about reapplication.

Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer - '220 Perfect Plum' | This is a much unexpected love of mine, I bought this late last year to give an autumnal colour to my eyes. I liked that it wasn’t too purple but it was enough to not look black or too intense. As a lot of the time I have to be ready for work by half 7 in the morning - a big struggle for me - I use this just to add a bit of something to my top lashes rather than spending time trying to create the perfect black line. It smudges easily and is quick to use on days where you don’t have time to do much with your makeup but want it to look like you do! I also find this great to add a bit of colour to my lower lashes for a more smokey look - when I have time to do something more interesting with my make up that is. I will definitely be looking out for more colours when I go to pick up another one of these. I didn’t expect much but have used it so much that it's almost time to buy a new one, although I think the purple has been discontinued which I'm very upset about.

L'Oreal Super Liner Perfect Slim - Intense Black | On the other end of the scale, this is my favourite eye liner to - attempt - a winged liner look. My hooded eyes make this a very difficult task for me but this eyeliner has changed that. I've tried many of these 'felt tip' liners in the past but none of them have worked out too well for me. Jade had always told me how great she thought this liner is so I thought that I would give it a try - thanks Jade! The tip of the liner is very fine so it allows me do small lines to plot out the wing and gradually build it up but is also great to just do a simple thin line. I would definitely recommend this liner for those with hooded eyes.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Concealer - 010 Porcelain | I won't go on too much about this product as Jade has already reviewed it - which can be seen here - but I've also been really enjoying using this concealer. In contrast to Jade I like to put this in the inner corner of my under eyes as it's the only concealer I've found which is light enough to brighten underneath my eyes. That being said I have found it to be a love/hate product as it takes a while to work out how best to use it. As Jade mentions in her post, it is thick in consistency so it is best to warm up the product before use. I also find it works very well if I apply the concealer before my foundation, I never used to like doing this as I used concealer to cover whatever my foundation didn't, but I found that my makeup tended to go patchy throughout the day. This way of application has completely changed the way my makeup looks on my skin. Putting this concealer on first means I use less foundation and it goes on smoother and lasts a lot better on my skin. Also, where the concealer is think and slightly drier in consistency, when putting foundation on over the top, it doesn’t move around and stays in place all day. The dryness also, I have found, helps dry up any spots you have making them go quicker. Which is always a good thing!

What are your go to products at the moment?

~ Lucy xo

Photography information

Canon 600D with 18-55mm lens, Canon 24mm lens or Sigma 70-300mm lens. Canon EOS M with 18-55mm lens or Canon 24mm lens. Any edited photos are edited using Photoshop CS6. Picture source is given for any photo used that is not directly ours.