REVIEW - Yves Rocher Grand Rouge Lipstick

Oh, how I love a good lipstick. Be they a £1 bargain buy or a £19.50 luxe buy, show me a pretty colour and I will make it mine. Show me pretty packing too and my money is gone, poof, done, I'm sold. This Yves Rocher offering is definitely more luxe than my usual purchases, and to be honest, I'm not too sure how I feel.

Just look at the tuuuube. That golden tube - isn't it beautiful? If you're prone to reapplying lipstick through the day, that is one flashy tube you definitely wouldn't be embarrassed to pull out of your bag in public. It's sturdy and the lid clicks into place, ideal for travel.

'Rose Equivoque' is a medium mauve toned berry with subtle gold and pink shimmer and an almost frosted  finish. Both the colour and finish (to me) are somewhat '90s, but in more of a classic beauty than outdated kind of way - if that makes sense?! I think it would look stunning on medium - dark skintones and quite striking with paler skintones. Unfortunately such shades don't work well with my very yellow skin, so this will be a welcome addition to my mum's make-up bag.

The formula itself is smooth and well pigmented, I found it a touch drying due to the finish, but it's nothing a slick of balm underneath can't fix. The 'Grand Rouge' formula also lasts quite well, but obviously wears off with chit chat and tea drinking.
Overall not a bad buy if you're after something a little fancy, enjoy that slightly '90s finish and natural type shades. I actually think it would be a brilliant shade for Autumn/ Winter!
Available for £19.50 usually, although Grand Rouge lipsticks are on sale at the minute for £9.75.
PR item. All opinions 100% my own and 100% honest, as always!
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Where Have I Been?!

Heya m'lovelies! You *might* have noticed I haven't been kicking around as much in the blogosphere as usual because finding time to do anything other than work, sleep and eat has been a major struggle. It's not ALL work, though, so what else have I been up to?

 

Loving my skull mug (and Rekorderlig)...

 

Filming and being filmed...

Playing with Illamasqua sealing gel...

 Wearing questionable head gear...

Enjoying teapot tea and feeling festive with my warm spice Yankee Candle...

Slowly making my way through 'Great Expectations'...

I'm feeling mega festive lately, is anyone else? This time of the year is easily my favourite - when Autumn brushes off the remainders of Summer and everything becomes crisp, golden and quietly peaceful. It's also when the most fun happens! Bonfire night, Halloween and my birthday!

On that note - I'm turning 21 on Sunday and I can't wait!

Have you been up to anything excting lately? Anything major happening in the blogosphere that I need to be made aware of?


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OOTD - Leather Look and Sheer Shirts

Something I wore yesterday to go exploring! I've spent all week being super busy with uni (even though it hasn't *officially* started yet) so myself and my flatmate decided to go and look for 'some green' and explore the town. Bolton is mostly shades of grey and rust so far. And the chippies close at 5pm on a Friday - what's the deal with that?!

Hat - New Look

Necklace - Antique

Top - Primark

Sheer Blouse - Peacocks

Leggings - H&M

Boots - Peacocks

Right now I'm listening to the drip of semi-wet clothes hanging from my curtain rail, since I went a bit Cinderella and had to wash my clothes in the kitchen sink ahaha. There are 3 washing machines between 700 people in these halls and no laundrettes -_- Ah well! Time for some much needed Rekorderlig and a City and Colour fest :)

How would you wear these leggings? I felt like Ricky Martin going to fancy dress as a pirate!

NOTD - E.L.F 'Plum'

E.L.F plum is one of those fabulously vampy colour which, if you love dark nails, you will be instantly drawn to. I wore it so much last Autumn/ Winter that I almost emptied the bottle in those few months alone!

I was going to wait until Autumn/ winter to crack this polish out again, but I couldn't resist...I'm blaming the colours in this lumberjack shirt I um...'borrowed' from my Dad for that! E.L.F 'Plum' is a 3 - 4 coater and it dries so slowly I could probably walk to Mongolia and back before I felt safe enough to get changed/ make a brew/ wash my hands without fear of smudges. Despite this, I still love it and will continue to rock it until E.L.F stop making it!

Available from the E.L.F site for £1.50.

FOTD - Wild Berry

Whenever I whip out my Jack Daniels top I feel the sudden urge to back comb my hair, put some power metal on and of course paint on some bold lips...

EYES - A dab of foundation, Yaby white and shell eyeshadows, Illamasqua sealing gel, Kryolan black cake eyeliner, mascara.

FACE - GOSH primer, Kryolan ultra foundation as concealer, Collection 2000 'Matt + Minerals' foundation mixed with Revlon PhotoReady, Rimmel powder, Accessorize 'Bermuda' bronzer, Ben Nye blush.

LIPS - Clinique 'Wild Berry' lipstick.

I'm not sure if 'Wild Berry' is still available or how much it costs...but if you stop by a Clinique counter you should check it out. It's more of a deep purple-red 'in real life',  I think any red lip fan would LOVE this shade - it's quite unique and I've yet to find something close to it. To top it off, the formula and pigmentation is a-ma-zing, so comfortable to wear and long lasting, too - what more could you want?!

What's your favourite red/ berry lip colour?

Sleek MakeUp True Colour Lipstick - 'Majestic'

I've had this lippy for aaages. Literally about a year and a half, but I lost it somewhere along the way and figured I'd probably left it in a bar in town somewhere (like I did with MAC 'Lollipop Lovin' - so sad). I'm so happy that I found it this week tucked away in my drawer in the kitchen because it's a real stunner!

[[ Sleek 'Majestic' swatch ]]

Sleek 'Majestic' lipstick is super dark, brown-plum in colour with a near matte finish. The 'True Colour' range of lipsticks boast rich shades which are opaque in one coat, not only is that true but I've found that 'Majestic' isn't patchy, either! This is a real rarity for dark lipsticks and saves pratting about with a lip brush to get an even coverage - bonus!

[[ Sleek 'Majestic' packaging ]]

'Majestic' has the usual qualities of a matte lipstick - slightly drying but long lasting. I think that with a quick blot an a bit of powder, it could probably see you through a few round of drinks. Even if it were to wear off, the packaging doesn't look cheap and tacky, a sleek NARS-finish-esque tube with no garish labels, so you could safely whip it out of your handbag without feeling a bit embarrassed by naff looking packaging.

Priced at £3.69 for 3.5g of products, I'd call these a real bargain! Would I buy a Sleek 'True Colour' lipstick again? You bet I would - I've already got my eye on 'Amethyst' and 'Orchid'. Available from the Sleek website or Superdrug.

Oh, and (P.S) it's not quite a dupe for 17 'New Black', which is much more red, but close enough that you don't need both.

Vamping it up with Sleek Cosmetics

Hola! I felt a bit vamptastic today, so I pulled out two 'holy grail' products and created a tutorial using them. The products in question were the Sleek 'Storm' palette and 17 'New Black' lipstick, both of which I have mentioned before - but I just can't get enough *starts singing The Cure*...

[[ Click here for the tutorial! ]]

[[ Click here for the tutorial! ]]

I adoooore the blue shades in the Sleek 'Storm' palette, I think the silver-blue is particularly unique. I love rockin' some blue smokey eyes using these shades, they're so pigmented and easy to work with! 17 'New Black' is the perfect black-plum-red hybrid for me, it's actually much darker than it photographs (thanks, flash)...

EYES - UDPP, Hi-Fi base, Sleek 'Storm' palette silver-blue, dark blue and black, Too Faced 'Cream', mascara, Barry M 'intense black' eyeliner (heap o' crap btw, I don't recommend it).

FACE - Kryolan cream foundation (as concealer), Revlon Photoready foundation, Collection 2000 Matt + Minerals foundation, Kryolan powder, The All Natural Face 'Persimmon' blush

LIPS - 17 'New Black' lipstick

(P.S) Super large pics - yay or nay? 

FOTD - Playing Copycat...

While half asleep in college this morning, a girl leaning against the wall facing away from me caught my attention. Knee high, lace up, black suede boots, black mini skirt, black peasant top, pure white skin and white blonde hair - she sure stood out against the sea of orange tanned, brassy blonde chavtastic girls in my college! Then she turned around and I almost squealed in excitement over her make-up!

Thick black eyeliner over the lid, flicked out and speckled with silver glitter, paired with a blackened red lip. Her lips were much darker and her eyes were lined all the way around, but I didn't fancy going 'too' gothic. She looked awesome! Imagine this make-up on somebody with pure, bright white skin?! It was amazing. She had the perfect face to pull it off.

[[ Glitzy glitzy silver sparkles! ]]

[[ Nudest nudey nude nekked lips ]]

EYES - UDPP, Rimmel 'Stay Matte' powder, E.L.F cream eyeliner, Go Cosmetics glittery silver eyeliner, GOSH pencil eyeliner, mascara.

FACE - GOSH primer, Revlon Photoready foundation, Sleek cream foundation, Rimmel 'Stay Matte' powder, The All Natural Faced 'Persimmon' blush

DARK LIPS - Clinique 'Vintage Red' lipstick, 17 'New Black' lipstick

NUDE LIPS - MAC 'Honeylove' lipstick, GOSH 'Darling' lipstick

I hope I bump into the goth girl again, so I can tell her I love her style and her make-up is stunning...even though I'll definitely seem like a stalker or creepy admirer. Ah well!

17 'New Black' - Lasting Fix Lippy

Boots 17 Lasting Fix Lipstick in 'New Black' checks all the boxes for the Autumn/ Winter trend that hits us every year - super dark lips. A rich, lush, deep plum, I can see this easily being a top drugstore pick! Plum often proves a popular choice as is generally suits everyone - from pale as snow, cool toned girls to dark as night, warm toned women. I do, however, think you need a little attitude and an edgy vibe to pull off any dark lip colour.

'New Black' isn't really a 'me' colour, I prefer bright or nude lips, but I can see myself  reaching for this once the cold, dark days kick in!

[[ Plum lips, pinky cheeks, mascara, white eyeliner - sorted! ]]

'New Black' is a few shades darker than in the full face pics since I popped some gloss on and used flash (gloss reflects light etc etc) - the swatch up top is more colour true :) Like the majority of dark, matte lipsticks, 'New Black' applies patchy - I'd recommend filling your lips with lipliner before applying any dark lip colour. To lose the dead vampire look, some gloss over the top will make for a slightly more glam finish.

Available from Boots for £3.49

Will you be rocking the dark lips this Autumn/ Winter? Or is the never ending trend for red lips more up your street?

Playing with Lines

A wee while ago, I found my Kryolan cake 'liner and started to play. I was surprised by how amazingly well pigmented it is when applied with a bit of mixing medium! A thin, fine brush makes for a precise sharp line. Unfortunately, I have no sealant to mix it with to make it waterproof for daily wear - but I do have my eye on the Illamasqua sealing gel, so perhaps I could rectify that soon...

Slightly crazy, bold eyeliner is a fresh Autumn/ Winter trend this year and though I doubt I'd wear this out, I do like the idea of it. Plus, I love a good power brow - but I think this is more a 'world domination' 'brow! A bit too...intimidating for a wearable look, right?

Are you into big, bold 'liner?