Wednesday Wishlist 2

Wednesday Wishlist 2
 River Island Khaki Waxed Faux Fur Collar Jacket - £55
Alexander McQueen Skull Print Scarf - £165
Converse Black Canvas All Stars - £42.99
Essie Muchi Muchi Nail Polish - £7.99

Monday's Face 1

Foundation: Rimmel Wake Me Up in Soft Beige
Concealer: Rimmel Wake Me Up in Ivory
Blusher: Revlon PhotoReady Cream Blush in Flushed
Mascara: Yves Rocher Sexy Pulp in Black
Eyeshadow: Urban Decay Naked Palette - Sidecar & Creep
Eyebrows: 2true Expert Eyebrow Pencil
Lipstick: Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake
Lipgloss: No. 7 High Shine in Smile
Hey everyone! This is my face from earlier today, I know it may look a little bit too caked on to just sit around the house watching the football but I just really wanted to attempt a smokey eye, without the embarrassment of anyone I know seeing me in person and thinking I've got a black eye instead. I don't know how it turned out, I think it looks a lot better in this photograph than in person. But it's all a learning curve, isn't it?!
I guess you could say this post is crossed with a "Shopping My Stash" post as the majority of the make up used (minus eyebrow pencil, foundation and concealer) are ones that haven't seen outside of my make up bag for a while! I'm definitely going to purchase a full-size Yves Rocher mascara when the sample runs out, the brush is so voluptuous (haha) and makes my eyelashes look incredible! I've also fallen back in love with the No. 7 lipgloss - it tastes really sweet and smells loooovely too. I also have to mention the Revlon cream blush, it's so easy to apply and is such a vibrant pink that makes your cheeks look just the right amount of flushed (hence the name). I'll definitely be using it more often.
Rachael Amy x

Sunday Summary 2

1. Still have this interview with my dad & me on my Sky+! 2. Curly ginger hair. 3. Amazing rain.

4. Love my new ASOS high tops. 5. My beautiful orchid. 6. Planning extensively for Paris.

7. Doing my thing for nature & being a National Trust member. 8. The Comforter. 9. Pink bath.

10. The most beautiful sky I have ever seen. 11. My ugly mug & my new favourite trousers. 12. Smiles all round.

13. Kisses! 14. The best homemade Carbonara ever. 15. Pink pout.

This week has actually been quite a busy one for me: lots of work, going to the gym, the dentist, seeing my boyfriend and a lovely family BBQ. This week I don't have much planned except two football matches so I plan to get lots of posts scheduled - hopefully they will be interesting. I also have a brand new love for patterned trousers, jeans are just so boring to me now and I'm loving mismatching prints. Expect some outfit posts too!

Rachael Amy x

ps. follow me on instagram: rachaelamyy

Wednesday Wishlist

Wednesday Wish List

Lace dress
$120 - dahliafashion.co.uk

Cropped jacket
topshop.com

ASOS high heels
$80 - asos.com

Michael kors handbag
stylebop.com

Chanel lipstick
nordstrom.com

Review: Neom Complete Bliss Hand Cream

I bought an issue of Bazaar a few weeks ago after I'd noticed they were giving away a free 50ml Neom hand cream. I'm not too familiar with the Neom brand except I know that they're well known for their luxury candles.

This hand cream is the Complete Bliss Morrocan Blush Rose Organic Hand Cream, 75ml of this will set you back £20, so it's quite pricey (more than double my beloved Crabtree & Evelyn hand cream)!

The hand cream is packed full of beneficial ingredients: anti-oxidising extracts for anti-ageing, acai extract and argan oil to help collagen production and keep the skin tight.

The formula is very light and penetrates the skin so quickly - it's barely there after a few seconds of rubbing it in! Very impressive. My hands feel softer than usual, but I was actually quite disappointed as I was expecting amazing results - I swear my mini Cath Kidston hand creams create better results!

I also usually really love rose scented lotions but this one just reminds me of washing up liquid. Either this smells quite bad or my washing up liquid smells amazing, I can't decide. The scent doesn't last for too long, a few minutes and it's barely there. I guess this is a good thing if you're wearing perfume but if you're at work and fancy a quick scent boost then this isn't really going to do it for you. I love to put hand cream on at work as spraying perfume/deodorant is a little bit frowned upon.

I don't think this hand cream justifies the £20 price tag, if it was around £5 maybe this review would have been a little more positive!

Rachael Amy x

Make Up Haul: MAC & Rimmel

L-R: MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Star Wonder, MAC Mineralize Blush in Solar Ray and MAC Lipstick in Vegas Volt.

L-R: Rimmel Clear Complexion Clarifying Powder in Transparent, Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation in 200 Soft Beige, Rimmel Mono Blusher in Santa Rose and Rimmel Lash Accelorator Mascara in Extreme Black.

I recently decided to splurge and treat myself to some items from MAC's Heavenly Creature collection, which is mostly sold out now. I purchased a Mineralize Skin Finish in Star Wonder and a Mineralize Blush in Solar Ray (after Supernova sold out :(). I've never tried a MSF before so I was super excited to try this out! I love the look of this product, such a plum coloured powder that could easily double up as a blusher too. I've not yet worn this on my cheeks but I can't wait to see the effect it has! The blusher is probably my new all-time favourite blush, it's so shimmery and quite orange! It doesn't look too scary on the cheeks though - in a way it reminds me of NARS' Orgasm blush, but more orange and less coral. Both the MSF and the blusher are very shimmery and contain more glitter than some people might be ok with. MAC Vegas Volt is a lipstick from their core lipstick collection - it's a bright coral colour that can look more orange in some lights, and more pink in others! It's an amplified lipstick which is so creamy and moisturising on the lips. I think amplified is my favourite sort of MAC lipstick to be honest! It glides on perfectly, doesn't dry out your lips, is extremely pigmented and lasts a good few hours! Overall, I am incredibly happy with my latest MAC purchases!

I went to my local Boots purely to repurchase my favourite foundation - Rimmel's Wake Me Up foundation in Soft Beige, and ended up coming out with three extra products... Oops. Firstly, let me start by mentioning the most disappointing product I bought that day. This was the Lash Accelerator Mascara. It's not often I'll buy a make up product without reading reviews to find out whether it's worth it or not first, but this was one of those times. I was intrigued by promises of longer lashes due to the "grow lash complex" inside. Even if this mascara does make my lashes grow, it's still pretty much a complete waste of time! It's hard to apply, the formula is too wet and takes ages to dry so it smudges around your eyes and even drips off the applicator on to your cheeks! It does nothing for my lashes, they look like I'm barely wearing any mascara even though in the photo above it's probably about three coats. It doesn't last all day, it's barely visible when I finish work after 8 hours. I don't recommend this product, but I will use it up otherwise it's just a waste.

The Clear Complexion powder was another spontaneous buy. I've been wanting a translucent powder to use on my forehead/nose when my skin decides it wants to be oily, and also to help set my foundation and I haven't gotten around to buying the Laura Mercier powder I've had my eye on so I thought this one might do in the meantime. Maybe? I actually think it's decent, it applies really lovely and doesn't make my skin look cakey or too matte. I did notice it took away all of the deweyness of my foundation (I do like a good dewey look) and made my skin a hint paler. It also made my skin look more flawless than with just the foundation too! As for setting my make up, I've not worn this long enough to see how long it will last, but now it's getting hotter this week I shall definitely be trying that out. If you want to see how it looks on my skin, along with the blusher, foundation and mascara I've inserted a photo below.

The blusher was recommended by YouTube beauty guru Tanya Burr and it looked so pretty on her in a tutorial she filmed. She uses very high end make up usually, so to see her using a drugstore blusher means it must be flipping good! I always choose rose coloured blushers over any other type of colour, I think they give just the right amount of colour on my cheeks so that it looks natural and not over-done. I didn't think the colour would really translate onto my skin at first glance, but it is a lot more pigmented than I was expecting which is great news. I really love this blusher and I'm so glad I picked it up!

I have already done a review of the Wake Me Up foundation here, so I won't bore you with that!

What have you been buying recently?

Rachael Amy x

Five Friday Faves: Blushers!

L-R T-B: NARS Orgasm, Topshop Powdered, Chanel Blush Duo Tweed Effect Tweed Rose, No. 7 Mineral Perfection Blusher Rose Pink and MAC Mineralize Blush Solar Ray.

L-R: No. 7, Chanel, Topshop, NARS, MAC.

Hey everyone, I can't believe it's Friday again this week has flown by SO QUICK. I also apologise for not posting since last Friday - my boyfriend visited at the weekend and then I've just been so busy working and exercising and, to be honest, napping. Also, when I started writing this post it was Friday so it's not technically late.. right?

Anyway, this week I'm focusing on my favourite blushers. Unlike my five favourite lipsticks I think there's actually quite a range of different shades here. The photographs don't reflect the order of preference, I don't really have one except that Orgasm and Solar Ray are my absolute favourites, and the Topshop blusher is probably my fifth favourite.

NARS Orgasm is probably the most hyped about blusher in the beauty blogger world right now. I did believe the hype, I ordered the limited edition palette with Albatross and Laguna and instantly fell in love. It is the perfect blusher for me and I wear it almost everyday. The first time I wore it I got so many compliments about how lovely my skin looked. It is a coral-y toned shimmery blusher that has flecks of gold in it too. It looks amazing with a hint of a tan, is really pigmented and looks amazing with a highlighter such as NARS Albatross. I've also noticed that it lasts on my skin quite a long time, at least until I finish work after 8 hours.

Topshop Powdered looks like a really intimidating blusher at first glance - probably because it's almost neon. It's so bright that I almost shied away from buying it at first, but after blending it in on my hand I realised that it was just the prettiest colour. It is really pigmented but doesn't take much blending to get it to a lovely natural rose coloured pink. You do have to be careful how much you apply though because it is easily build able and you could look like a clown without much effort. The powder is so finely milled and it doesn't look clumpy on the skin. I'm not convinced it lasts all day, but a quick reapplication will sort that out. I also love Topshop's cute packaging even if it does get dirty easily.

Chanel Tweed Rose is an amazing blusher, and was my number one favourite until NARS and MAC came in to my life. This was a Christmas present last year and I used it every single day for months. I love the rose shade, the packaging and the effect on the blusher before I used most of it was beautiful, tweed is so pretty! I have used it so much that the two colours have split on either side, the darker colour has more shimmer in it that the lighter colour so I make sure I get an even amount of the two shades on my brush. This blusher gives such a subtle hint of colour on your cheeks and I like to use it in winter when my face isn't as tanned.

No. 7 Rose Pink used to be my all time favourite before Chanel came along, but I still love it quite a lot. This is actually my second pot of this blusher as I used the other one up completely. I have had it for around a year now so it's probably time to say goodbye soon. This is a loose powder so it's a little tricky to get the right amount on your brush but because it's such a pretty, subtle shade you can't really apply too much anyway. It gives a really natural blushed effect and the powder is so so fine it looks as if you're hardly wearing blusher. It is quite shimmery but not to the point where your face resembles a glitterball. I would recommend this blusher for a no makeup makeup look, if you get me.

MAC Solar Ray is my newest addition to my blusher collection and has entered at no. 1! It is limited edition and unfortunately I think it sold out recently. But it's just so beautiful I can understand why. It's quite an orange/peach shade, kind of like Orgasm but less coral and more orange. Although it doesn't make your cheeks resemble oranges! It's a very sparkly blush so it's probably best to make sure you don't pile too much on, but because it's very pigmented you don't need too much on your face.

Which blushers are you loving?

Rachael Amy x

Five Friday Faves: Lipsticks!

L-R: Topshop Whimsical, YSL Rouge Volupte Perle in 114 Sparkling Fuchsia, Topshop Brighton Rock, Paul and Joe in 24 True Red, Kate Moss for Rimmel Lasting Finish in 02.

I have decided that my blog needs a little bit of structure to it - mainly to give me more motivation to get out of bed and find things I can post about! I've seen this done on a few blogs and have actually discovered some great products from it. Every Friday I will post about my five favourite items in a certain category - this week is lipsticks!

I have sort of ordered these lipsticks in order of preference, Whimsical being my absolute favourite and the Kate Moss lipstick being my fifth favourite.

Whimsical is a lovely pale coral shade, that doesn't look too 'out there' so I often find myself reaching for it before work. I was wearing it in this post here. Topshop lipsticks are quite matte but not drying - I often find it moisturises my lips and never leaves them feeling dry but they DO show up any dry marks that might have been there before so a layer of lip balm before you put the lipstick on is a good idea.
YSL Rouge Volupte Perle lipstick in Sparkling fuchsia is such a lovely blue-toned pink with lots of sparkles in it. It's quite sheer and very soft on the lips, it also smells amazing - quite fruity but somehow reminds me of the smell of cake mixture? Is that weird? I love how it looks on my lips and the colour is just amazing. This is a lipstick for a special occasion.
Brighton Rock, yet another Topshop lipstick but they're just so good! I'd originally bought this shade for my old housemate but ended up wearing it myself constantly until we couldn't find it anymore. Then I bought it for my sister and ended up borrowing it a lot too until she moved away so borrowing her lipsticks wasn't an option anymore. I finally decided to buy it for myself a few weeks ago and have worn it many times. It's such a bright neon pink but when it's on the lips it doesn't look as shocking as you'd expect. I've worn it for work a few times and think it's the perfect way to add colour to a somewhat boring outfit.