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Autumn/Winter wishlist (and black Friday deals)

This post has been in the works for a while. I tried to write it last month but wasn’t feeling inspired enough by fall trends to find enough items that I liked. This week however, all the talk of holidays and sales has speared e into action and I have actually discovered that I have a bit of a thing for marble print, apparently! autumnwinter16 wishlist

 

  1. Marble print sunglasses by Quay @topshop £24 in the sale! These are the perfect pair of statement sunglasses to shield the winter sun from your eyes.
  2. Hourglass Surreal light palette, £69 SpaceNK  Yes, this is pricey but I loved last year’s version and I would use this all the time too.
  3. Spectrum “marbelous” 7 piece brush set, £24 in the Beautybay sale.  Beautiful affordable brushes with great reviews.
  4. Spectrum marble print bag £16.99, spectrum (I had to update the link as it has sold out on beautybay).
  5. Embellished cold shoulder jumper £46, topshop
  6. Miista Uma shoes £129 but there are various black Friday discount codes available.
  7. Swell marble print water bottle, £25 urban outfitters This appears quite pricey for the size, but as someone who as carried a plastic bottle around in my handbag since I can remember, I think I would be glad to swap it for a non cancer-causing stainless steel version.
  8. Poison moon ring by Dixi, £32 but will be discounted by up to 50% throughout black Friday weekend.

 

I hope you find some things you love in the sales this year!

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New year beauty must-haves

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My most coveted product of the last couple of months has to be the Hourglass Ambient lighting edit palette.

I love the finely-milled shimmery powders, they sit beautifully on the skin and don’t cause the flaky or dusty effects I have noticed when using some others.

The palette contains 3 powers in different shades, 2 blushers and a bronzer. This makes it perfect to travel with as all the powders you need are beautifully arranged in a gold case. The mirror is also quite large which eliminates the need for a travel mirror.

I would love to be able to take this to fashion week with me next month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A second product I have loved this month is the lipstick queen “Ice queen story” set.

I wish I had found out about this before Christmas as it would have made the perfect stocking UK200016145_LIPSTICK_Qfiller. The “wine sinner” is my perfect red and “Ice queen” would have been perfect for my “winter wonderland” shoot and fashion show. I also have a couple more lipsticks in my collection it would look great layered with.

Lipstick queen is fast becoming my favourite lipstick brand. I have 6 of their lipsticks in my current collection and love the cleverness of their products. As well as producing a variety of formulas and finishes (often indicated by the colour of the packaging), their ranges are also conceptual and often include an unexpected property to spark your interest.

This is currently in the sale at SPACE NK. I hope someone buys something off my website so I can treat myself before it sells out.

Lipstick queen, Ice queen story £17.50, SPACE NK

 

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For the past couple of months, I have also been obsessing over the Nars makeup brushes.

They are on the pricey side but I have never come across “good” brushes that I find so aesthetically appealing before so I just have to have them. When I first got the Real techinques brushes, I remember complaining about them ruining my dressing-table colour-scheme, whereas these fit in perfectly. I have 3 so far, trying to buy one every time I have some spare cash.

Nars “Yachiyo” kabuki brush £43, SPACE NK

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This next product is a bit of a surprise. I have never really been that “into” nail polish and the chemicals that Iwork with on a day to day basis ruin it so I don’t wear it often. I ended up picking up a one from “Rococo”, a brand I have never tried before in the SPACE NK sale (it was only £1.50!) and was impressed by both the packaging and the quality of the polish. 

At this price, it’s definitely worth trying out. I really love the box as it goes with my decor and it looks like a lot of the colours have a beautiful iridescence to them.

The shade I like best out of the ones left in the sale is SNO BABY £1.50, SPACE NK

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Next we have another hourglass product. I need a new tinted moisturiser and I’ve heard so many good things about this one.

From the description, it sounds like exactly what I’m looking for but I haven’t tried it yet so I hope I can get my hands on it soon and that it lives up to my expectations.

Hourglass illusion Hyaluronic skin tint, £45, SPACE NK 

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The final product is a hairspray, which might seem a bit odd, but I am featuring it for quite a pointful reason. If you read my “2016 goals” post, you may have noted that I’m trying to turn all of my beauty and household products cruelty-free.

Hairspray is quite a tricky one so I was pleased to come across this Argan oil infused one by Moroccanoil. I featured it in case anyone was also on the lookout for something similar.

Like all Moroccanoil products, it isn’t cheap, but I think it might be worth it as I don’t really use hairspray that often.

Morrocanoil luminous hairspray, £17.25 www.lookfantastic.com

 

 

 

 

I hope you found this post useful! Feel free to share your new-year beauty must-haves, I always love checking out new products! And let me know if you have tried any of the ones I’ve listed here today and what you thought.

 

 

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Pre-fall shopping

pre fall shopping

 

We’re reaching the end of summer but the weather is still quite warm and I haven’t properly started thinking about my winter wardrobe yet (though I have done a small clear out to make way for new pieces) so this month has been about make up, lingerie and comfy shoes.

I desperately needed some new make up and there seem to be quite a few new palettes out at the moment. The ones I decided to go for are the illamasqua sculpting palette and the urban decay smokey eye palette. I was initially sceptical about the sculpting palette as the colours look a bit dark and warm for me but I went into selfridges and got them to try it out on me and decided it was just what I needed. I was immediately drawn to the naked smokey palette because of the greater variety in tone compared to the previous ones. I also love the larger mirror and the fact that the shades really compliment the  ones in the sculpting palette.

My love of strappy lingerie is no secret so I wanted to feature a couple of my recent favourites. The bra is from one of my own recent collection, Vanguard and the briefs are from a designer I’ve loved for a while, so I had to get a pair when they went in the sale. The colour probably seems like a bit of an odd choice but I have loads of black lingerie and am trying to branch out a bit.

Finding stylish comfy shoes is always a bonus and the brogues in particular, are a bargain. I also need some new docs and since I’ve realised black is really the most practical boot colour for me, I decided to go for some texture with the snake print.

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Body Jewellery portraits.

I seem to keep things in my long-term goal pile for years until one day something just clicks and they work. Easily, with hardly any effort, as though this was the day they was supposed to happen and that’s why they didn’t make sense any of the times I had considered them before.

Self-portraits are one of these things. The idea first occurred to me about 6 years ago but whenever I thought about trying it (or even set up the self-timer as an experiment) it just never seemed right. Until last week.

I had been sent some new pieces of body jewellery and decided to present it on a series of beauty portraits in different colour schemes.

The first one I tried features dark red eyeshadow and a nude lip (which I never wear out due to my lips being naturally darker).

silver piercing 2piecing portrait 1 copyBlackline captive ball septum ring, jeweled labret ball by bodyjewelrypiercing.com

tragus ring with star, small jewelled labret balls bodyjewelleryshop.com

Chainmail necklace: Richard Ayres

For the second look, I opted for a classic cat eye and dark red red lip, using my favroutite Dior lip gloss and pencil.

piercing red 1piercing 2 redsmall blackline internally threaded gem, black wooden plug, crystal ball septum ring: bodyjewelleryshop.com

 internally threaded star: bodyjewelrypiercing.com

For the final look I used soft peach and gold hues to create a glowing complexion.

gold piercing 1new gold piercingSmooth segment septum ring and large crystal labret ball: bodyjewelrypiercing.com

glass plugs and small crystal labret balls. bodyjewelleryshop.com

Gold and steel dragon-scale necklace: Richard Ayres.

I think the last set is my favourite at the moment. I’d love to hear which you guys like and also if anyone has any tips for making sure the colouring remains the same accross all the images you are retouching. I’m getting more into retouching recently and this is one of the things I find most challenging.

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