My Favourite Autumn/Winter Eyeshadows

As you know I have been slightly frivolous with my eyeshadow colours of late and have been particuarly loving dark purple and berry shades. I thought I would share some of my current favourites and recommendations with you.

Charlotte Tilbury Colour-Coded Eyeshadow Palette in Vintage Vamp

I bought this after seeing a picture of Khloe Kardashian on instagram. I loved her makeup in the picture and I also happen to follow her makeup artist, who posted a picture of what he used and this was one of the products. I had been wanting to try one of Charlotte's eyeshadow palettes but would never have chosen this particular colour if it wasn't for seeing it on Khloe. I love the cranberry colours in this palette, they create such a beautiful, sultry eye look. I definitely want to try more of these eyeshadow palettes now.

Available from Selfridges £38.00

Estee Lauder Pure Colour Instant Intense Eyeshadow Trio in Beach Metals

This is another palette which I would never have picked for myself if I hadn't been recommended it. This was actually a recommendation from the lovely lady on the Estee Lauder counter and from those dents you can see this has seen a lot of love in a short amount of time! I tend to wear this in the day time and the Vintage Vamp palette in the evening, as the colours in the Estee Lauder palette are lighter and softer. I wear the lightest colour all over my lid, blend the middle colour just above my crease and the darkest colour in my outer corners.

Available from Debenhams currently on offer for £24.30 instead of £27.00

Burberry Sheer Eyeshadow in Almond

One of my all time favourite eyeshadows, if you like messy, grungy makeup like me you will love this. I blend this all over my lid and underneath my lower lash line, taking the colour quite far down. Its minimal effort but looks amazing. These shadows are such beautiful quality, they blend so easily that they really are foolproof. 

Available from John Lewis £22.50

Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Metallic Pomegranate

Finally a cheap option, this is my newest addition to the cranberry family. Maybelline's Colour Tattoos are one of the best cream eyeshadows I have ever tried. For me they beat MAC Paintpots as they are less than half the price and don't dry out as quick, plus they last all day. I love this slightly shimmery metallic colour, it looks brighter in the pot than it does when its smudged out on the eyes. It gives a really subtle effect which I love.

Available from Boots £4.99

By Terry Ombre Blackstar in Velvet Orchid

This was a rather naughty purchase but in my defence I did have £10.00 worth of points on my 

Space NK card (oh yeah) I saw this used in one of Pixiwoos tutorials and fell in love. This is a cream eyeshadow but in stick form. Its really easy to blend and although it looks quite dark you can blend this out to a beautiful soft smokey purple colour.

Available from Space NK £27.50

I am loving recommendations at the moment, so please share yours with me!

Essie Bahama Mama

I love this colour by Essie. Although I do love my dark nails, its nice to have a bit of colour every now and then. This dark berry colour is the perfect compromise. 

Available from Boots £7.99

My Updated Makeup Collection

This is my 200th post and as I shared my makeup collection for my 100th post, I thought it only fitting to do an updated one for my 200th.

You can see my previous post here. Long story short, I came back from holiday and the unit I used to store all my make up in was on the verge of collapse. One more bottle of OPI and the whole thing would have tipped right over! An emergency Ikea trip later, I ended up with the Alex unit (the ultimate beauty blogger cliche). I actually think it looks like a filing cabinet but its good for storage. 

Im not going to go into detail on everything, we would be here all day. I have an obscene amount of makeup that has built up over the years. Combination of freebies from working at magazines, makeup from my courses and of course a makeup addiction!

You can see an overview of everything I keep on the top in my Dressing Table post. In the frame is my massive scratch off map, as you can see I haven't made it to Antarctica just yet. I have added a few festive decorations but a lot of random stuff does end up here, like the shot glass from Beale Street in Memphis with $10 in!

First drawer - Primers, Foundations, Concealers and Powders. My favourite foundation is the Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua and I am loving the Hourglass concealer at the moment.

Second drawer - Bronzers, Blushers and Highlighters. I dont know how I have accumulated so much blusher! I have used my Muji drawers to separate them into powders and creams.

Third drawer - All things eyes, shadows, palettes, mascara and brows. This is about as organised as this drawer will ever get!

Fourth drawer - A whole lorra lipstick. Theres a lot of Revlon in there, quite a few MAC and then a lot of tinted lip balm! Down the side I have a few lip glosses/crayons/things that don't fit anywhere else!

Makeup wise thats it, the rest of the drawers are pretty boring and filled with random crap! I will just show you this drawer though. Every time I open it Im sure I hear an Angel cry!

;)

Face of the Day with Dior Rosy Glow Blush

This is not a particularly exciting makeup look, no bright lips :( 

This is the type of makeup I wear to work, neutral, fool proof make up! In the week I need to use colours which make me look a bit more awake! So I tend to go for lighter, slightly shimmery eyeshadows and a nice bright blush. Keeping everything else pretty basic.

Face

Smashbox Photo Finish More Than Primer - Blemish Control - A very good primer for keeping your makeup on all day but I cant say I have noticed much in the way of blemish control!

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation - My favourite foundation, this is my 3rd bottle and its almost empty *waah*

Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage - Essential!

Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer - This is definitely needed to make me look more awake!

Guerlain Terracotta Moisturising Bronzing Powder in "00 Makeup Artist"

Dior Rosy Glow Blusher - One of my all time favourite blushers. This looks ridiculously bright but its designed to react with the moisture in your skin, depending on your skin type. Giving you your own, unique colour. I love this, makes my face look a lot fresher and a bit more youthful!

Kevyn Aucoin The Celestial Powder in Candlelight - The best highlighter 

Rimmel Stay Matte Long Lasting Pressed Powder - In the week I need my make up to last all day and this powder works at keeping that dreaded oil at bay!

Eyes

Hourglass Brow Sculpting Pencil in Soft Brunette

Illamasqua Brow and Lash Gel

Benefit Stay Don't Stray Primer - Amazing at keeping your eyeshadow on all day (I just really dislike the packaging, as it always pumps out way too much)

MAC Eyeshadow All That Glitters - I mentioned in my last post that I was trying to make more use of my MAC eyeshadows. All That Glitters is my favourite everyday colour, with just enough shimmer.

MAC Eyeshadow in Saddle - I like to add a bit of this warm toned brown to bring out the colour of my eyes.

Benefit They're Real Mascara - One of my favourite mascaras for a lot of definition but still keeping things reasonably natural!

Lips

Jordana Lipliner in Tawny - The best $1.99 I ever spent. If you are going to America, make sure you try one of their lip liners!

Burberry Lip Cover in English Rose - My idea of a 'nude' lipstick, I love that I can slap it on without a mirror!

The Neglected MAC Palettes

I had left my MAC eye shadow palettes neglected for too long but I dug them out a few weeks ago and have fallen back in love. 

I have done a previous post on all the colours in my MAC palettes which you can read here.

I have been a lot more experimental with my eyeshadow in general lately, I've even deviated from my beloved neutrals into the world of purple. When it comes to my MAC palette however, I like to keep things neutral!

I thought I would just show you a few of the colours I am currently loving.

Saddle - The name describes the colour, far better than I ever could!

Bronze/Romp - These colours are practically identical, I can never tell them apart.

All That Glitters - Possibly my favourite? And, and, and I've just 'hit pan' on it. This is a really pretty peachy/pink neutral, which I just apply all over my lid to make me look a little more awake!

Swiss Chocolate - This is such a beautiful rich, chocolate brown colour. I never like to use too dark colours in my crease, so this is a good middle ground.

Sable - Blend this all over your lid, slightly above your crease and all the way underneath your lash line. Lashings of mascara annnnnd you're done!

If you are doing your Christmas shopping and you know someone who is a makeup lover, I think a MAC palette and one eyeshadow to start off with, is the perfect present. 

I always see so many lost boyfriends at the MAC counter at this time of year and I just want to tell them, put down the pink pigment and buy one of these!

You can buy MAC's Pro Palettes direct from MAC for £14.00 and the pan eye shadows that fit in them are £10.00 each. Makes me want to start all over again!

Topshop Velvet Lips

I do love a matte lip, so when I heard about Topshop's Velvet Lips I knew I had to try them.

These look like a lip gloss but they are actually extremely pigmented, matte lip creams. Although I love and highly recommend Topshop's nail polishes (they are Ahhmazing) I am relatively new to the rest of their makeup line, having only tried one of their lipsticks before. 

The Velvet Lips cost £10.00, which I think is a little bit pricey considering their nail polishes are only £5.00 but as they say, the proof is in the pudding.

First impressions, these are very drying on the lips. In general matte lip products are more drying but I particularly noticed it with these. After wearing these for a few minutes, my lips felt quite tight and there was an overwhelming urge to reach for the lip balm.

Plush

This is a really cool purple colour, but god damn was it hard to apply. I probably have about 5 coats of this on in the above picture. The problem is, it was quite streaky and I kept having to brush more on to even it out. I was really quite disappointed with this colour.

Velveteen Ribbon

I LOVE this colour, I featured it in my Festive Red Lips post. I just cant get enough of matte, red lipsticks. This was much easier to apply than Plush and didn't streak at all. 

If you want to try these, definitely try Velveteen Ribbon and skip Plush. 

Although these are much more drying than the NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil's, I do really like the colour of Velveteen Ribbon. If you don't want to splash out £17.50 for NARS, pick this up but just make sure you have a lip balm to hand!

Available from Topshop for £10.00

Face of the Day with NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dolce Vita

Although I do love my red lips, sometimes I do need to tone it down a little! My NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dolce Vita is the perfect middle ground. Its a soft, rose, red, which gives me the colour I want but is wearable enough to wear on a daily basis.

Face

Koh Gen Do Moisture Foundation

I wanted something quick and easy to apply and this foundation works best when applied with your fingers.

Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer

A must for those dark under eye circles!

Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage Concealer

This is my life saviour at the moment as my skin is really playing up. This stuff will cover anything!

Guerlain Terracotta Moisturising Bronzing Powder in "00 Makeup Artist"

I am loving this bronzer at the moment, stops my skin looking 'flat', adding dimension and warmth.

Kevyn Aucoin Creamy Glow in Pravella

One of my Liv Tyler inspired purchases. Like the foundation this is so easy to apply, I just blend this on my cheeks with my fingers and it gives me the perfect flush of colour.

Kevyn Aucoin The Celestial Powder in Candlelight

The perfect highlighter for a subtle glow

NYC Colour Wheel Mosaic Face Powder in Translucent Highlighter Glow

I used this as a setting powder, it is a little bit chalky but doesn't do a bad job and for £3.99 you cant complain!

Eyes

Hourglass Brow Sculpting Pencil in Soft Brunette

I love this and having a brush on one end makes life so much easier!

Illamasqua Brow and Lash Gel

My brow products rarely change because this combination does everything I need.

MAC Eyeshadow in Sable

I'm trying to give my poor, neglected MAC palettes some love. Sable is one of those colours you can blend all over your lid and you don't need anything else as it has enough dimension on its own. I love these kind of 'slap and go' products.

Benefit They're Real Mascara

Brilliant mascara for defined lashes with a good amount of volume

Lips

NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dolce Vita

Chloe, I need another one of these.....I'm thinking cheeky NARS shop Saturday, you down? ;)