- New Year Makeup Ideas: Liner -

I have been playing around with smokey eyes and liner for my new year makeup over the past couple of weeks and I have come up with some potential candidates for my makeup on new years eve. I will have a smoky eyeshadow post coming tomorrow with more ideas but today it is all about liner!

For all of these looks I used the Stila Waterproof Liquid Liner in black which I have had for ages! I think I bought it from Asos. I love liner, especially winged liner but as I have fairly deep set eyes it can be difficult because my socket/crease is quite strong and the liner would get bent or lost! 

Here is my step by step guide to liquid liner for fairly deep set eyes. Firstly, I always use a primer and base shadow - I use the Nars Pro Prime and the soap and glory quad in 'whats nude' as a base(both of which I adore). I then start by shaking the liner  to get the liquid moving and I draw on my hand to make sure the liquid is coming out evenly. Then I personally start in the middle on my eye really close to the lashes then I extent out. At this stage I am only lining the upper lash line really close to the lashes as a starting point. I like to take the liner right out the the outer corner and close to the inner corner as a point. 

Then thicken the line, make it as thick or as thin as you like - start thin and small as you can always add more but it is a bit harder to get rid of the liner. Although if I do need to remove some liner I use Bioderma and a cotton bud. For the first basic flick (top left photograph above) I just looked straight ahead and made a dot where I would like the point of the flick to be - you can make it as high or as low as you like (I usually have it fairly low for day to day). As my eyes are fairly deep set you can see the problem I have, the crease is where the liner should be so the wing can look disjointed or bent when you open your eyes. 

 I find that I need to extent the liner further than usual to compensate for the liner that is lost when I open my eyes. I join the dot I made with the outer corner of my eye - lightly at first to avoid mistakes. Then with some trial and error just fill in the triangle between the dot you made, the line with the outer corner and the rest of the liner on the upper lash line. It definitely does take practise especially if you have deep set eyes. As well as deep set eyes, my eye are quite close together in my opinion so extending the liner makes the eyes appear further apart. 

For the extra little flicks or curves in the liner, I just used the Stila liquid liner to extend the liner, curve the liner, add small dots, or add a second wing extending from the outer corner and lower lash line. I finished with Avon supershock liner in the shade 'golden fawn' on the lower lashline and waterline. 

PRACTISE, PRACTISE & HAVE FUN WITH IT! 

Let me know if you have tried any of these eyeliner looks and what are your eyeliner tips? 

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- OOTD: Sale Shopping -

I went to Manchester shopping today, I usually don't brave the sales this close to new year as it is usually incredibly busy with sale shoppers - especially as Manchester town centre has soooo many shops! Today was rather quiet at first though and I bought a few things from Primark (gotta love Primark, so many items were on sale too!). I received a couple of comments for more outfit of the day posts so here is my sale shopping OOTD. 

Photos taken using my iPad mini

My jacket is from Forever21 and it is a couple of years old, I rarely wear it but I have been loving it recently. It has military style buttons and an incredibly soft faux fur collar. I think I got it in the sale for around £17 at the time. My deep burgundy thin jumper is from H&M, I love it - I have it in a few other colours, they may still be online. Jeans are plain black petite skinnys from Asos a while ago. Finally my boots, they are a recently Asos sale buy (I posted a pic on Instagram of them) and they were reduced from £50 to £25 - I freakin' love them! I'm calling them my 'Noel Fielding boots' as they look like ones he wears (If you don't know who noel fielding is, shame on you - you need to check out The Mighty Boosh tv show). I might have to get another pair as a back up as I have tiny UK size 1/2 feet so it is difficult for me to find shoes/boots.

As for my hair and makeup - I just used the Bumble and Bumble thickening creme contour in my hair (no styling tools needed, it is my bed hair). Nails = Loreal Riche 402. And for perfume I have been loving Burberry Body. 

OH check out my Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish (150ml) & more Giveaway, click here. 

There is my OOTD, what do you think? Also would you like to see more outfit posts? x

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Halifax Giving Extra Campaign

I was contacted just before Christmas to see if I wanted to take part in an amazing campaign by Halifax, whereby I was kindly given a *£50 Amazon gift card and I had to buy presents for someone important in my life as a extra gift at Christmas. I think the campaign idea is very generous and I am grateful for being contacted. I picked my younger sister as the recipient of my extra gifts as she is living away at university and as I have just graduated I know how stressful it can be. 

Here are the gifts I picked as a giving extra hamper at Christmas. I made this small hamper up with items that I knew she would love and also that we could share together and she can take the items back to university with her too. My theme for the hamper is: movie/tv night in. Myself and my sister love movie nights with family and friends so I put together a selection of tv/film, food and home ware picks. 

The tv pick is Sherlock, we both love the BBC tv show Sherlock (so excited for season 3). For the film pick, I knew she wanted this film for a while so I chose The Impossible dvd. Both picks are not very christmasy I know! As for food I chose popcorn, well you can't have a movie/tv night in without popcorn. I also saw these cute popcorn boxes (eight in pack) on Amazon and I just thought they were so cute! I added a novelty mug to the hamper as  we both have a small large mug obsession and this one with the little pocket at the front for biscuits is adorable! Staying with the cute, food theme I added some Yankee Candle Christmas Cookie tea lights which smell amazing, Aimee loves anything that smells like cookies and baking (as do all of us I think!). Movie/TV nights in are all about cosiness, I added a couple of pairs of Sleeperzz soft bed socks which are incredibly soft! The last couple of items are more home ware, generic additions - the wicker basket that I used to store all of the goodies in is obviously really practical and also well made and cute. Finally, a patriotic cushion - Aimee loves my union flag cushion so I bought her a 'british & quite relaxed' cushion cover for her room at university. 

Here are the links to all of the items I bought from Amazon UK (the prices have changed since I bought these items, I have put the prices I paid): Sherlock seasons 1 and 2 (£9), The Impossible dvd (£5), Orville Redenbacher popcorn (£3.79), Popcorn boxes x8 (£3.50), Biscuit pocket mug (£5.59), Yankee Candle Christmas cookie tea lights (£6.05), Sleeperzz socks (£3.98 for both), Wicker basket small (£5.59) and the British cushion cover (£7.99). 

There is my cute (although not very festive) giving extra gift hamper - thanks so much to Halifax! Such a great campaign and my sister was over the moon with her extra gifts on Christmas day! x

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Simple DIY Christmas Nail Designs

I have quite a few christmas, festive nail art designs - I am not very good at nail art so if I can do these designs, anyone can! I am calling this post Simple DIY Designs as I do not have any actual nail tools - I use things that everyone would have such as cellotape, coloured paper, bobby pins, cocktail sticks and a thin brush.

1. Penguin: To make these cute, simple but effective festive penguins. All I used was the Rimmel Black Cab polish all over - I had to use two thick coats (I would recommend this polish) then white dots for eyes with a black dot in the middle of the white. I didn't have an orange nail polish or an orange eyeshadow to make into an orange polish so I had to use tiny triangles that I cut out of a orange piece of paper. 

2. ELF Hats: I just applied a blob of red and green at the tips of my nails and moved it with the brush into a pointed shape. The I used a bobby pin to dot white polish at he tip of the hat. I used two polish from ciate - Red hot chili and stiletto. 

3. Presents: I used an OPI shade 'A-rose at dawn...broke by noon' all over the nails then when it was completely dry I used a black CD marker to draw on lines and a bow. When using nail art pens or markers on the nails make sure the polish underneath is completely dry. 

4. Christmas trees: This is my favourite design, I applied cellotape in a triangle on the nail then used the Ciate shade 'stiletto' in the triangle. When dry I drew on black diagonal lines for the lights and then dotted red and gold polish for the baubles and star. 

5. Red/Gold Glitter: So simple but so festive. I applied Ciate 'red hot chili' then when dry I applied two coats of the Topshop shade 'stardust'. 

6. Snow Queen: I used the Color Club polish in the shade 'mod in manhattan' in two coats and then the Topshop polish in the shades 'stardust' at the tips.

7. Pink Fairy: Another simple glitter combo! I used loreal color riche int he shade 402 as a base then applied loreal color riche in the shade 836 over the top which is a gorgeous metallic pink glitter topcoat. 

8. Snowy Forest: Another Topshop polish in the shade Fallen Leaf as a base. I then mixed the Topshop Stardust shade with the white half from the Revlon nail art Miss perfect duo to create a creamy white with gold glitter for the snow on the tips of the nails. 

9. Silver Trees: I applied the new Essie winter trio shade 'Parka perfect' as a background and when it was completely dry I stuck two pieces of tape in a triangle shape on the nails. I painted the ciate shade 'Fit For a Queen' in the triangle. For the baubles and star I used Nails Inc Baker Street and Revlons Fall Mood. 

10. Snowflake: You will need the ciate caviar set or beads for this design. I applied Nails Inc Chesham Place over the nail and while the polish was wet I used my Tweezerman tweezers to place individual ciate caviar beads onto my nail in a snowflake(ish) design. 

11. Snowman: For the snowman I used the white shade from the Revlon Miss perfect duo and used a cocktail stick to move the polish into a snowman shape. I the used a bobby pin to dot the white as a background for the snowman. While the snowman was drying I painted the other nails with Ciates Pepperminty and dotted the white on them too along with Nails Inc Baker Street. When the snowman was dry I used a bobby pin to draw a scarf in Baker Street and I used a black CD marker to dot on eyes. 

12. Candy Store: This is the easiest design. I painted my nails with Color Club Mod in Manhattan. The when the polish was completely dry I used a red CD/DVD marker to draw on designs, such as a snowflake, heart, stripes etc. I really need to buy actual nail art pens! x

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My Dream Christmas Wish List!

If you had been given a lot of money to spend at christmas time and you could only spend it on yourself, what would you spend the money on? Here is my ultimate dream christmas wish list...it is a very long list!

All images from Google and the stores websites

1. Marc Jacobs oh Lola perfume /  2. Jouer set /  3. Aromatherapy associates set /  4. Kevin aucoin sculpting powder /  5. Caudalie beauty elixir /  6. Dixi necklace /  7. YSL youth liberator foundation /  8. Hourglass rouge liquid lipstick /  9. H&M book storage /  10.  After Noah Alice in wonderland sticky notes /  11.  Lush bombardino bath bomb /  12. Zara bag /  13. Laura mercier mini cavair stick set /  14. &otherstories body scrub /  15. Beanpod soy tea lights /  16. H&M grey blanket /  17. Assassins creed black flag xbox game /  18. Asos lace up boots /  19. Seattle pull & bear jumper /  20. Splinter cell blacklist xbox game /  21. Asos Chelsea boots /  22. Inglot eyeshadow palette /  23. Lush Eau Roma water /  24. Pull and beat parka /  25. Himalayan detox bath salts /  26. iwhite teeth whitening set /  27. Elementary tv show /  28. Topshop lipstick /  29. Essie penny talk /  30. Nars radiant creamy compact foundation /  31. Michael Kors rose gold watch /  32. Forever21 boho dress  


Phew, that is my ultimate, dream wish list! I have already purchased the Zara bag as it is reduced from £30 to £17.99 (I posted a pic on my Instagram). Obviously I will not get all of these, this is my ultimate fantasy wish list - hey, a girl can dream! What would be on your ultimate dream wish list? x

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Review: Priddy Valencian Orange Hand Cream

I was sent this hand cream from the shop The Mercantile London through the Blogger Programme website (If you are a blogger I would recommend joining). Even though this product was sent for review it does not change my views on the product/brand, I will always be honest in my opinions - for more information about PR and my disclaimer, click here. To see more products from The Mercantile London including clothing, beauty products, gifts and more, click here. 

I received the *Valencian Orange hand cream scent, there are three other scents (Bergamot and lime, Rowan berry, Hyeres lavender). I have the 30ml size which is £12 but there is a smaller 15ml size for only £5 which would be great as a little present or as a tester to see if you like the cream/scent. Firstly, the packaging from The Mercantile London and the brand Priddy is just gorgeous - it looks so unique, quirky and modern, love the packaging/presentation. 

The cream comes in a metal (but flexible) tube, the ingredients are clearly listed and it has a similar feel to the L'Occitane hand creams in terms of packaging and quality. The cream itself is a off white colour and the scent is divine! It smells like sour oranges and gorgeous musk - it smells really similar to the Molton Brown Valbonne unisex fragrance. This hand cream would be great for men and women as the scent, in my opinion, is definitely unisex. The scent is quite unique, it makes me think of harry potter and other magical mysterious type films (think Tim Burton films) as it is a unique, musky gorgeous scent. 

Even after washing my hands the scent remains, it stays on my hands for a good couple of hours at least. The cream has a smooth texture, it applies quickly and easily - you only need a really small amount of cream, a little goes a long way so I think this 30ml will last me quite a while. It leaves my hands smelling amazing and feeling silky smooth, soft and moisturised. It is very moisturising and the moisturising effect lasts for hours, for my skin which is very impressive. It is also great as a cuticle/nail cream.

Overall, I love the packaging and scent! The hand cream is up there with L'Occitane in my opinion, it is fantastic and it will last a while too. It is super moisturising (if you use too much it can be a little greasy though) and it keeps my hands moisturised for a while - very happy with this product. I will be looking out for more products from the brand Priddy! The Priddy EDP and festive spice room spray sound gorgeous. To see more products from Priddy, click here. 

Have you tried anything The Mercantile London website or the brand Priddy? x

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