Urban Decay 15 Year Anniversary Palette

Do you know how bloody hard it is to photograph a mirrored palette!

ARGGGHHHHH

I'm a bit late to the game on this one so I'll try and keep it brief! To mark Urban Decays 15 year anniversary they released this palette, with 15 brand spanking new eyeshadows.

I LOVE the packaging for this palette, it comes in this very plush purple velvet box, which I think Bam Margera would love ;) I'm going to store my jewellery in it though, cos you know, dont think I'll be bumping into him anytime soon!

The actual case itself is mirrored so is a real fingerprint hoarder but I do love it!

So these are the 15 shades. Now the reason why I ummmmed an ahhhhed over this palette is because I am a neutral kinda girl. I don't do bright eyes, I think at the ripe old age of 25 I'm kind of past that. I'm all for the dramatic editorial looks, but I'm just not gona rock a lime green and pink eye. Its just not gona happen. So on first glance I thought that this is all this palette was (bright colours) that I would never wear but I'm not ashamed to say I was wrong.

There are 8 gorgeous neutral shades in this palette (I count black as neutral!) So if you are a neutral girl like me you really should check this out because the colours are gorgeous and they make a nice change from the Naked Palette if you already own that.

From left to right;   Midnight Rodeo, Midnight 15, Vanilla, Flow, Chase, Deeper, M.I.A and Blackout

See.....what did I tell you!

From left to right; (My permanent tribute to Bob Dylan, I ADORE him...anyway back to the make up) Tainted, Junkshow, Omen, Evidence, Deep End, Ace and Half Truth

And you know what, the brights aren't too bad either. Evidence, Ace and Half Truth are quite dark so will make a nice smoky eye and Junkshow could even be used as a blush (very, very light hand needed!)

So if you were on the fence about this like me then I hope I swayed you ;) Of course you might be more sensible then me and just wait for Urban Decays Naked 2 (FYI Exclusive to Debenhams early January for those in the UK) But unluckily for me I am a person of very little sense!

Oh and I almost forgot, I got this on Debenhams online where its currently on offer for £35.10p instead of £39.00, now go, make haste!

Little MAC Pro Haul

So this past weekend me and my friends paid a visit to the MAC Pro store in London and of course even with best intentions in mind, a small haul was made!

If you're not aware, the MAC Pro store is just off Carnaby street and if you were expecting a big store you will be disappointed, its tiny in there and gets very busy (Its not a pleasant shopping experience!)

So the reason we went to MAC Pro in the first place was for this blush in Taupe, which is a Pro exclusive. To cut a long story short, my best friends, hairdresser's, sister is a make up artist for the likes of Girls Aloud. She recommended Taupe as the best contour shade and one she uses all the time. So naturally we both had to get one! 

You can see why its perfect for contouring, being more grey toned its much more subtle and buildable. No orange cheek stripes here!

To prove I went with good intentions in mind, I took a bag of 6 items to Back to MAC (If you take back 6 empty MAC containers to a MAC store, you get an eyeshadow or lipstick for free!)

So I got Girl About Town lipstick. This has been on my list for a while but seeing as I recently picked up Nars Schiap and MAC Show Orchid, I didn't really need another bright pink lipstick straight away but as it was free I couldn't say no!

This is a gorgeous bright but slightly darker pink shade. My other best friend who came with us picked this up first and we both fell in love, so again we ended up getting two!

Magenta Lip Liner was another item I had on my list but never quite got round to picking up. I have been wearing and absolutely loving MAC's Violetta lipstick lately. In fact I wore it for my work Christmas party, I might recreate the make up and put some pics on here. Violetta is a gorgeous purple but I didn't have a lip liner that went with it and being such a bright colour I really wanted one. As I was browsing the lipsticks I saw this out of the corner of my eye and shrieked! Again my friend (who is also a Violetta fan) fell in love too and again we picked up two!

This was a complete impulse purchase, we were trying out all the blushes and again me and my friend both fell in love with Something Sweet and to continue the running trend we picked up two again! I really really love this colour, its the perfect neutral peachy colour and the newly formulated cream blend blushes are so much nicer then the old cream blushes, which were horrible and sticky. These aren't sticky at all, in fact out of everything this is probably my favourite thing I picked up! Highly, highly recommended. 

Swatches from top; Taupe Blush (MAC Pro only), Something Sweet Cream Blend Blush, Girl About Town Lipstick and Magenta Lip Liner.

Chanel Rouge Noir vs Barry M Red Black

Now we are officially in Winter, its time to rock the vampy nail colours. Although to be honest I would wear these any time of year! 

I thought I would compare these two colours as in the bottle they both appear quite similar.

Chanel Rouge Noir is a cult classic. Famous for appearing on Uma Thurman's nails in Pulp Fiction. Like all Chanel nail varnishes this will set you back a fair bit at £17.50 a bottle.

Compared to Chanel, Barry M's Red Black is an absolute bargain at £2.99

For comparison I have applied two coats of each polish, with a top layer of Seche Vite.

First up, Chanel Rouge Noir:

I love this colour. Its rich, vampy and gorgeously glossy. I think this looks very luxorious and for such a dark polish its applies very well. Two coats is all you need......did I mention I love this colour?

Next up, Barry M Red Black:

I was surprised at how different these two were on the nails. Barry M is much more red, where as Chanel is more of a rich burgundy. Unlike Chanel, Barry M was surprisingly an absolute bitch to apply, as you can probably tell! This again is two coats but you would definetley need a third coat as after two its stil uneven and streaky. This was a real dissapointment for me as Barry M nail paints are normally always amazing quality and for I find after 2 coats they are completly opaque.

Chanel Rouge Noir

For me Chanel Rouge Noir is a clear winner. There is a real difference in quality between the two which you would hope to see when you paying so much for Chanel.

Of course though there is a huge difference in price and with one more coat I think there would be a huge improvement with Barry M's Red Black. When you think you could buy almost six bottles of Barry M for the price of one Chanel polish you may not be bothered on the difference in quality.

But I am clearly extremely shallow and would pick Rouge Noir over Red Black any day. This is one of those cult beauty shades that I feel everyone should own and it really does add a touch of luxury to your nails. That said I am a big Barry M fan but its just a shame that Red Black doesn't match the high quality of other shades in the Barry M range.

Barry M Red Black

A Nail Tribute to Britney Spears

When I got got Deborah Lippmann's Today was a Fairytale I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to re-create Britney circa 2000 MTV Movie Awards. That's right my nail inspiration has come directly from that sparkly flesh coloured leotard thing and I bloody love it!

Deborah Lippmann Today was a Fairytale is available from House of Fraser online and the other polish I used was a freebie with Cosmopolitan magazine. Its by Misguided and is in the colour Miscellaneous.

What camp nail trend shall I create next!

The Beauty Graveyard

As well as buying far too many make up and beauty products these past few months, I have also been using them up at a range of knots, which is something that strangely gives me great pleasure and a strange feeling of satisfaction!

Lee Stafford Treatment for hair that never grows past a certain length x 2! - I love love love this stuff it truly is holy grail for me and I cannot be without it. As soon as this ran out I had to go and buy a new one the next day. Its quite pricey, £7.99 in Boots but they often do 3 for 2 offers on the Lee Stafford range so you can get a good deal. I'm sure you can tell by the name what this stuff is supposed to do and I honestly believe it works, i genuinely have seen quite a difference in my hair length and a real improvement in the condition of my hair.
You use this in between shampoo and conditioner. I use this every time I wash my hair without fail. I must have used 6 tubs of the stuff by now. Run to Boots and try this!

The Body Shop Strawberry Body Butter - This smells deeeelicious, when I use it you can actually smell it from all the way downstairs. I love it but I think The Body Shop Body Butters are ridiculously expensive at £12.50! For that reason its not an everyday type moisturiser.

James Brown London Scandalous Rock Chick Wave Spray - In short a sea salt spray. I adore the packaging on James Brown's Scandalous range I think its gorgeous but there's definitely some things they can improve. The spray on this was utterly crap, instead of spraying out a fine mist it just spurted out big drips of product so it was horrible to apply and made my hair feel knotty and crispy. I can't really give a true review on the actual formula of the spray because of this but I wouldn't bother repurchasing because theres a lot of sea salt sprays out there which I'm sure work a lot better.

Lee Stafford Dry Shampoo for Mid Brown hair - I very rarely use dry shampoo now after I had quite a horrific experience with it. All I will say is make sure you rub it in thoroughly at the back of your head and if you have dark hair use a coloured powder like this one. I really like Lee Stafford's range and again I would recommend his dry shampoos. There are 3 colours, normal, mid brown and dark all available in Boots

Johnson's Baby Moisturising Cream - I will admit I just got this because I wanted to smell as sweet as a baby! Quite a nice moisturiser though ;)

bnatural Sleep time Pillow Spray - I swear this stuff gave me the most vivid dreams whenever I used it! Honestly since stopping using it I cant even remember my dreams. I wouldn't buy this again because it freaked me out a bit but if you want to give it a try I got it from Sainsbury's! Good luck......

Cherry Pop Lip Shine - You will never guess where I got this lip balm from...Tesco's, in the children's party bag section for £1 and I actually really liked it. 1 - 0 to me then.

Chanel Bronze Universal or Chanel Soleil tan de Chanel - If you are an avid beauty blog reader or YouTube watcher then you know all about Chanel's cream bronzer. It gets mixed reviews some love it, some hate it. When I first got this I was unsure it was kind of orangey and I just couldn't seem to get it to work but once you master it (I personally think its all in the brush and I loved to apply it with a Body Shop Kabuki brush) then you fall in love. I really debated repurchasing this but I decided to give it a break for a while and use up some other products but I will definitely be buying this again. In fact writing this mini review is making me want it now! Argh I'm a bad influence on myself!

Waitrose Essential 3 in 1 Facial Cleansing Wipes - The best budget make up wipes out there. I don't think I'm the only one who's noticed this either as whenever they are on offer in my local Waitrose they always sell out!

MAC Shell Cream Colour Base - I love cream colour bases for highlighters, I wouldn't really use them for anything else as I don't think they are long wearing enough for the eye area. I guess if you got the right colour they would make a nice cream blush but anyway I just use them for a highlight. Shell is a lovely pinky colour with shimmer. I'm really trying to avoid using the description frosty pink here because no one wants to hear that but if I said a good frosty pink would you believe me? Probably not! Anyway this makes a lovely highlighter and I would recommend!

Chanel No5 Eau Premiere - This was released as the modern, younger and lighter version of the classic No5. It is a lovely comforting smell, kind of like wrapping yourself up in a warm blanket and giving yourself a cuddle. Sometimes you need a perfume like that!

Juicy Couture, Couture Couture perfume - I think I got that right! Probably not the best perfume if you like the bottle more then the actual scent!

Collective Haul, Benefit, Too Faced, OPI, Sleek, MUA, Barry M, Accessorize

Finally the last of my October hauls! These are just the last few things I picked up, it was worth cashing in those Boots Advantage card points!

OPI Muppet's Collection Fresh Frog of Bel Air - I picked this up from eBay. For swatches and blabberings I have already talked about this little beauty here and here!

Barry M Raspberry Nail Paint - I think this must be one of the last Barry M nail paints I didn't own. A gorgeous berry colour, perfect for winter. Its photographed much brighter then it really is, I need to do a nail of the day on this one to show you guys the true colour.

Sleek Monte Carlo Pout Polish Mediterranean Collection - I know this collection is quite old now but I found this in Boots in Sutton and had to pick it up. I would say these are a combination of a lip balm and a lip gloss, not sticky at all. I absolutely love this bright pink colour, as you can see I've already created a dent in it. If you can find this in your local Boots pick it up, you won't regret it. 

 

MUA Heaven and Earth Palette - There was a LOT of hype about this eyeshadow palette from Superdrug's budget make up range MUA. At £4 it is a great alternative to Urban Decay's Naked palette. The downside for me is that there are no matte shades in this palette, they all contain shimmer but these are really lovely colours and for £4 you can't really complain. My mum took quite the shine to this and I ended up going back to pick her one up too. With Christmas coming up I think this would make a great stocking filler or, at under £5 an even better Secret Santa present.

Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer - This could possibly be the best bronzer I have ever used, it's that good. This is another product that gets rave reviews and as I had just finished up my Chanel Bronze Universal I decided to finally give this a try and now I'm thinking what took me so long! This bronzer is completely matte, which is what you want as shimmer bronzers give your skin that "muddy" colour. There is no orange in this at all, it really is the perfect chocolate colour and it blends on the skin beautifully. I have used this everyday since I got it. I really would recommend sticking this one on your Christmas list, its one of my finds of the year! Plus it smells delicious!

Benefit Carmella Perfume - I am a big fan of of Gracie aka Ugly face of beauty on YouTube and she always raves about this perfume so I was interested to try it and I have to say its gorgeous. I love the smell of coconuts and am obsessed with any perfume that smells remotely coconutty! Carmella is no exception, if like me you have a coconut obsession go smell this!

Accessorize Aztex Nail Polish - There is one reason and one reason alone I got this. My friend at work was wearing it and it was a perfect dupe for one of my favourite colours of all time, MAC's Mean and Green from the Venomous Villains collection. Again I'll post a nail of the day pic so you can see what you think.