[guest post] 7 Fall Beauty Trends Revealed

Source

Depending on what kind of calendar you rely on – meteorological or astronomical, Fall has already arrived with the arrival of September 1st or will arrive come the 22nd. Regardless of what belief you cling to, the reality is this – the minute temperatures dropped signified the arrival of glorious Fall, and the season comes with its own set of unique rules and trends to abide by, in terms of fashion, skincare, makeup as well as hair. This is a huge shift and you should welcome it fully prepared.

My current make-up routine

I tried to do this post back in 2016 but as I really wasn’t into blogging it just sat in my draft for a while (the only thing I’d written as the title). So I thought I’d give it a go again, it also made me revisit my 2015 post (My Daily Make-Up Routine + Swatches) and see what has changed and I’d say about 50% is the same. So we have progress and progress is good! As much hasn’t changed in terms of my tools, I didn’t go ahead and photograph everything, but I thought I’d share the new products that I’m now using.

ASOS Beauty Calendar 2016 - reveal

Happy 2017!

I know we’re in 2017 but, I thought I would kick off the month by rounding up all the products I received in my ASOS Beauty Calendar last year – I was sharing a lot of the pictures over on my Twitter and Instagram, but it was such a lovely calendar to have that I had to share it on my blog. I will have to make a mental note to myself to share this in November this year but until then, here are my thoughts about the calendar and a full list of everything I received.

My Daily Make-up Routine + Swatches

I’m not very experimental with makeup and so I reach for the same thing everyday, so I thought hey why not write about my every day make-up products. Although I’m hoping to switch things up with nude/neutral lip colours and different colour blushes, I thought today I’d talk about my make-up stash. My products and brushes are not in pristine condition because I actually use it on a day to day basis (read I am too lazy to wash anything for my blog). 

The first thing I do is prime my face. I’ve been switching between the Benefit Porefessional and my Smashbox Photo Finish Primer (oil free version) I got with my first purchase of my Smashbox foundation. I either use them separately or mix them. I didn’t really think I needed a primer but the other day I put my makeup on without it, because I was only wearing it for a few hours and I was like this feels WEIRD.  I then go in with concealer, I use the Becca Compact Concealer in the shade Chestnut (I think). I purchased this from Fragrance Direct for like £5.00 but it isn't available there any more. I didn't take picture of it open because it doesn't look all that great, but click the link and you'll see a much better one! I know people like to conceal after but this one states to conceal first. And I kind of prefer it that way if I'm honest. I use the Real Techniques Concealer Brush from their Core Collection.

I use the Real Techniques Buffing Brush to blend my concealer in. I then take the Foundation Brush from The Core Collection and dot the Smashbox Liquid Halo HD Foundation in Shade 10 around my face. I then go back with my buffing brush and make sure everything is blended in. Next I powder my face with the powder I got in my Sleek Foundation Base Duo in Henna (the foundation ran out a long time ago) and the Elf Powder Brush. I was completely clueless about powders when I bought this foundation and I still kinda am, but I keep this with me during the day to deal with the excess oil. 

Next is bronzer. I don’t always do this, but sometimes when I feel I am looking lacklustre I like to use it on my temples and under my cheekbones.I use the Elf Baked Bronzer in the colour Bora Bora. I have had this for over a year and I looks like I haven’t used it at all! I use it the Real Techniques Blush Brush, as I feel it just distributes the perfect amount and is a good size.

I then move on to blush. The only blush palette I own and really the only blushes I do own, are the Sleek Blush Pumpkin. As you can see it comes with three shades - P Pie, Squash and Latern (L-R). I used to use Latern a lot because I didn't really fancy the other two and I hated the shimmer in P Pie, but lately I have actually been reaching for P Pie and when applied lightly it is actually very nice.

Next I move on to my eyes, I use the Rimmel Exaggerate Eye Definer in my waterline and then comes mascara. I use the Jordana Best Lash Extreme Volumizing Mascara followed by the Rimmel Lash Accelerator Endless Mascara until I get my desired affect. Then I move on to my brows. Sometimes I do this before anything else (primer, concealer etc) and sometimes I do it last - it actually just depends on when I remember to do them!  I brush the hairs with the spoolie on the Maybelline Eye Master Studio Brow, I actually just use the spoolie now as I ran out of the product, I hated the product but I love the spoolie. I then fill them in with the Rimmel Professional Eyebrow Pencil, sometimes I set them in place with Revlon Brow Fantasy (not a fan of it). I don’t really like (name) but I’m just using it up, I desperately love the Maybelline Brow Drama, so will be getting that again.

Occasionally I will do in with the winged eyeliner and when I that I use the Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Liner which I reviewed here, with my Zoeva Fine Liner Brush 315.

 L - R Sleek Smother, Revlon Black Cherry, Wet n Wild Sugar Plum Fairy and Avon Lucky Kiss.

Then my lips! I have a couple of colours on rotation that I use and like I mentioned here, I am just drawn to purple plummy shades. The ones I reach for weekly are Wet n Wild's Sugar Plum Fairy, Revlon's Black Cherry, Sleek's Smother and Avon's Lucky Kiss. Sorry one of the swatches is smudged, I totally forgot I had it on my arm!

So that’s it! I carry around a few bits with me for touch ups and definitely take my powder and powder brush with me.

I have a small make-up collection and really only plan to increase it with a few more products, but even what I have feels overwhelming to me sometimes. I am definitely a lip product lover, I just love how they can transform any look.

What products do you reach for on a day to day basis? 

 | find me on bloglovin’, twitter, tumblr & instagram |

Wishlists - Looking Back

Sorry things have been quiet over here for a bit, I've been struck down by some sort of Winter bug, I guess I should have added flu mediciation to my November needs eh? Anyway on to todays post.

I was searching through my blog for something and came across some of the wishlists I posted during the year (does anyone else end up getting distracted by reading all their old posts and then spotting all their errors? No, just me?) I was pleasantly surprised to see that actually I had purchased some of the things I wanted, not a lot of them mind you, but considering I forgot about them about a week after posting I was indeed surprised. 

I mentioned in this post that a lot of the time wishlists seem to be something of a passing thing, you post it and then forget that you want it and look for the next thing you want. I think it’s super important to go back and revisit these things and see if t here is actually anything there that still makes you go ‘oh I still want that!’ I got that with my February wishlist, I seriously still want all of them apart from the NARS Bronzer. 

So everything I have bought has actually been from my March wishlist, although one was a sample that I deffo did not buy. I thought I’d round up briefly how I found them and whether I would repurchase. 

So I wanted the Vitamin E Overnight Serum-in-Oil and I did end up purchasing it, I actually loved this when I first got it. I had never used a serum or a facial oil prior to using it so I was really excited for it. It worked really well in the beginning, it made me skin plump and brighter and I absolutely loved it. But as I said here / lately I think its benefits have worn off, so whilst I enjoy using it I’m not sure how effective it is on my skin right now. I’m really unsure as to whether I would buy this again. 

Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Gel Exfoliant was another product I was after and you can see from the review I did here, that I was just not impressed with the product, it didn't deliver any of the promises for me personally. I still have it now because I use it occasionally but this is not something I would buy again. Tried and tested and it failed. 

The NUDE ProGenius oil was another thing I wanted but I was lucky enough to receive a sample size in my August Birchbox. I’m super disappointed that I didn’t see or feel any benefits from it because I really wanted to. The sample size was great I felt because I got at least 2 weeks use of it. After a week of putting it on at night and not seeing any results, I switched to using it in my moisturiser (using just the one pump) to help with the change of weather. Considering how expensive this is, I just know I couldn’t buy it because I saw no benefits. 

--

Have you bought yourself anything that you’ve put on your wishlist? Was it worth it? Stay tuned as I've just purchased something that's been sitting in my Feel Unique wishlist and I'm so so excited to try it out! 

| find me on bloglovin’, twitter, tumblr & instagram |

October Birchbox

I know what you're thinking, why are you so late with getting this up. But my box was late getting to me! The postman (or lady) decided I obviously didn’t want my box and delivered it to someone else (I don’t know this for sure). So the lovely people at Birchbox sent me another one, and this time it made it to me! I actually ended up with two because after I got my replacement, I also got sent another one, so I e-mailed them asking if they wanted me to return it and they said I could just keep it. I'm just going to give it to a friend haha. As it's been a while since I got it, I have used some of the products for a bit now I thought I'd comment on if they worked or whatever, rather than just give you a run down of what's in the box.

For October, Birchbox teamed up with the charity Coppafeel to give us a dose of pink and a guide on what to look out for when you check the boobies for lumps. So with that came this lovely pink pouch, which I just love because it can be re-used! The theme for this month is actually “Work It” to help us 9-5 people out there keep motivated. They actually included a 14 day checklist for things to keep you going which I thought was super cool, and in order to make you use it one of the samples was Birchbox Pink Lipstick Pen, super cute and handy. So moving on to the beauty bits we have.

The Shaveworks The Cool Fix was something I was really looking forward to because ingrown hairs are a pain and I was looking into getting Tend Skin, when this came along. But I think as this suited to preventing ingrown hairs, it didn't meet my needs as such. So will have to continue using before I make up my mind. The KMS California HAIR PLAY Playable Texture was a meh product for me, I've only used this once. I'm a bit weary of hair products that say texture because ever since I used a sea salt spray in my weave and it turned into a dry mess. So I only stick to what I know.

One thing I was super excited for was the Balance Me Cleanse & Smooth Face Balm because I really thought the eyecream I received from Balance Me in July's box was great!  I do enjoy using this cleanser, can't say I have seen any sort of improvement in my skin but it hasn't broken me out. The only thing is the smell, I know Balance Me is super natural and all, but goodness this thing just smells so funky. It only lingers for like a few seconds upon application, but urgh it is not something I am getting used to at all. I do love using it because of the tiny grains it has, my other balm is Lush's Ultrabland but it super smooth, so this is nice for those days when I want to remove the nitty gritties.

I'm always looking to add to my nail varnish collection so the Lollipops Voyage a Paris Nail Varnish was perfect for me! I own a few reds but this one is still different from the other ones I own. I love the colour as it's a very bright red. Looks gorgeous on the toes as well as the fingers! So I received Pixi by Petra Shea Butter Lip Balm in Honey Nectar as my lip product, I was really hoping for the other colour because I just knew this wouldn't suit my skin tone and I was right.

I'm super excited for my November box, I've read that the theme is based around being cosy and I'm all about that life..!

| find me on bloglovin’, twitter, tumblr & instagram |