Gold and bronze defined look

Hi all,

I hope you are having a great weekend. Why can't it last longer? Sigh... It's been beautiful and sunny here today and I've been out on a long walk.

I tried out this bronze and gold look this weekend which is quite complimentary to all skin tones. You could just go darker or lighter accordingly. I hope you like it!

Products used were:

Base: APt Liquid Powder Mineral Foundation SPF15 in Porcelain

Contour: APt Liquid Powder Mineral Foundation SPF15 in Cream Beige and the dark side of MAC Love Rock Mineralize Blush

Highlight: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Blonde , a dab of Clinique Up-Lighting Liquid Illuminator in 01 Natural and APt Simply Minerals Rocks in the gold shade used on the eyes

Blush: The light side of MAC Love Rock Mineralize Blush

Concealer: Collection 200 Illuminating Touch in 1 Naked and MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC20

Powder: MAX Factor Natural Minerals Foundation 40 Creamy Ivory

Eye shadow base: Too Faced Shadow Insurance and Clarins Soft Cream Eye Colour in 01

Eyebrows: Nina Ricci Exact Finish Eyebrow Pencil No4

Eye shadows: MAC Frost Phloof!, MAC Metal X Cream Shadow Pure Ore (limited edition), MAC Soft Brown Matte, MAC Bronze Frost, APt Simply Minerals Rocks yellow, gold, beige and khaki shades

Eye liner: Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner in black

Mascara Primer: MAC Prep + Prime Lash

Mascara: Lancome Definicils and L'Oreal Voluminous both in black

Lipstick: MAC Syrup Lustre

Lipgloss: Too Faced Extreme Lip Pumping Treatment

Fix: Clarins Fix Make - Up (I think this was limited edition)

Tools of the trade for eyes: Shu Uemura eyelash curler, Mister Mascara eyebrow groomer, MAC 230 shader brush, MAC 224 blending brush, MAC 208 small angled brush, MAC 275 contour blending brush, MAC 209 liner brush

Tools of the trade for face: MAC 168 blush and contour brush, MAC 161 fan brush, Autograph foundation brush, Marks & Sepncer Shimmer & Smooth large body brush, Clarins buffer brush (limited edition)

What do you think?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, I can smell a roast chicken cooking hmmm! :)

LottieB x

Drugstore only contest entry

Hey everyone,

Hope you're all having a great week.

Just in time, I did a quick look for @AbbieAndBrian's drugstore only make over contest.

She has a fantastic beauty blog which I've only recently discovered.

I've got a real mixture of high end and drug store make up so I thought it would be interesting to see if I could pull something together using just drug store make up.

Mainly based on the colours I have in my collection decided to go for a green and gold look with a hint of turquoise on the eyes with nude lips. Again, please excuse my scruffy eyebrows, I can't wait for a wax on Saturday!

Products used were:

Base: Revlon Beyond Natural in 210 Light Pale

Powder: Max Factor Naturals Minerals Foundation in 40 Creamy Ivory (I use this as a powder as it doesn't even come close to providing enough coverage for me).

Contour: Revlon Bronzer in 02 Sunkissed Bronze

Blush: Maybelline Pure Blush Mineral Powder Blush in 40 Quartz Peach on top of MEMEME Pussy Cat Cheek & Lip Tint

Concealer: Collection 200 Illuminating Touch in 1 Naked

Eyebrows: No7 Beautiful Brows Pencil 15 Blonde and No7 Lash & Brow Perfector

Eye shadows: Maybelline Color Definer Waterproof Shadow Stick, Natural Collection Eyeshadow in Spring Green, Barry M Dazzle Dust in 82

Liquid Eyeliner: No7 Stay Perfect Eyeliner in Jewel (this is a fantastic dupe for MAC Liquid Last Eyeliner in Aqualine)

Pencil Eye liners: No7 Metallics Eyes Pencil 01 Green on the outer edges of the eyelids, GOSH Velvet Touch Eye Liner in 006 and a tiny bit of Bourjois Kohl & Contour in 01 Noir Expert in the tightline

Mascara: L'Oreal Voluminous in Black

Lipbalm: A tiny bit of chapstick, not sure what brand

Lipstick: GOSH Velvet Touch Lipstick in 134 Darling

Lipgloss: Barry M Glossy Tube in 2

Tools of the trade for eyes: Mister Mascara eyebrow groomer, Body Shop small shader brush, Ruby & Millie Eye Brush (M) - SHORT, square edged brush from Marks & Spencer (this came in a Christmas gift set), GOSH smudger brush

Tools of the trade for face: Body Shop blusher blush, Body Shop Powder Brush

Hope you guys like it, I'd really appreciate any comments or feedback! I've also included some pictures of the products used.

If any of my lovely friends in the UK who I haven't seen for a while are reading I just realised you will get a sneak peak of my engagement ring in the main picture!

LottieB xxx

P.S I find blogging about beauty so relaxing, it's the perfect way to wind down!

I'm going back to MAC

Hey everyone,

I hope you all have had a happy, fulfilling and productive start to the week.

So, I am very excited to be going to Manchester this weekend and it's going to be very, very girly!

I guess this post is kind of the antithesis of a haul blog post because I am going to be writing about some of my MAC products which are gone but not forgotten.  I have 12 little empty pots altogether and I'll be taking them back to the store as part of the Back to Mac recycling scheme they do. 

It's cool because for every six pots you get to choose a lipstick of your choice to take home for free!  I think they are normally about £12.  It may be a credit crunch, but it's definitely not a creative crunch and I'm hoping to get some lovely pink colours.

So here's what's going back:

Studio Tech in NW20 This is great stuff.  It's really handy when you're in a rush to get ready as you can just put it on with the sponge which comes with it.  Alternatively you can use a squarebrush like the MAC191.   I think I'd probably but this again but it's not something I need urgently.

Powder Blush Satin in Fleur Power This was my first and only MAC blush so I don't have anything to compare it to in the range.  It's a completely different colour to the swatch on the website it actually really looks like the swatch for Frankly Scarlett on the website.    It's a very strong pink, it's almost a 'fake' colour rather than very natural so it depends on what you're looking for.  The pigmentation is very strong so you only need a little bit and it blends really well.  I'm trying a mineral blush at the moment but I'll probably go back to a MAC one at some stage and really want to try Well Dressed which is a gorgeous soft pink.

Select Moisturisercover NC20 I was using this as a under eye concealer.  On the plus side, it does what it says on the tin!  It moisturises which is great especially in the winter and blends beautifully.  I liked it but I'll be trying a few different things before I rush back.

Studio Finish SPF35 Concealer This is a wonder product and I think I shall probably be tempted to buy again. It covers everything even scars and apparently even tatoos!

Fluidline in Blue Peep I had such high hopes for this but sadly things didn't work out.  I had the idea of using a thin brush dipped in water to create the line, however, this seemed to dry it all up and then it started falling apart!  I really prefer their liquid liners but maybe I should try again?

Shadestick Shadow in Shimmersand I brought this in Paris and really loved it!  I was a little sad when I used it all up if I'm honest.  These shadesticks are fantastic bases for really making your eye make up pop and Shimmersand is a fantastic colour which would suit everyone.   I wanted to buy another one but the other day in Superdrug I came across a cheap alternative: Maybelline Colour Definer in 20 Satin Dragee which is beautiful!  I think it was about £6 which is half the price of the MAC Shadestick.  There's a wide range of colours and it even has its own sharperner on the end.   The packaging is bright green which isn't as luxurious as the shadestick but it's a lot smoother and softer, I guess depends what kind of texture you prefer.

Then finally onto eyeshadows, I have two Ricepaper Frosts, Idol Eyes Lustre, Pink Freeze Frost, Phoolf!  Frost and Brill Satin which I obviously was very fond of; I used them all up!  I've replaced Idol Eyes with Barry M Dazzle Dust in 10 and Brill with GOSH Spa.  These are pretty spot on in terms of colour but I haven't really had time to test them out much in terms of texture.  Ricepaper is the perfect golden neutral shade which goes with most looks.  Phoolf is a fantastic highlighter and I'm already on to my next one.  Pink Freeze Frosh is another very pretty and versatile colour which can be incorporated into lots of looks.

So that's all from me!

I hope this might be helpful to somebody thinking of trying out some MAC products.

Please let me know if you have any questions and I'd love to hear your comments and thoughts on these products!

LottieB x

P.S I have a question, can anyone confirm whether there is a back stand at Manchester Airport Terminal 3?  If there is I might be able to save myself a few pennies at the duty free!