Boots Haul ft L'oreal & Collection

I'm With working a lot  lately, I've not been able to take my time and enjoy perusing the aisles of Boots and Superdrug as much as I'd like, in fact I've built up quite an extensive wishlist so goodness help me and my bank balance when I finally do have the time. I did manage to sneak in one evening this week for like 10 minutes whilst waiting for my bus and when I say 10 minutes, it really was just that so I managed to quickly pick up a few things just.  

The first thing I was dying to pick up and have wanted for ages is the L'oreal True Match foundation, I was always a bit wary whether to order it online because of the undertones but whenever I saw the paler shades in store, I got swatching and found the 'perfect match'for my skin in N1. At the time Boots was having a bit of an offer spree and the one that naturally caught my eye was the 2 for £14 one on L'oreal makeup products, now the foundation usually retails around £9.99 so for £4 more I saw no harm in picking up an additional thing. 

After being torn between so many beaut products, I opted for the L'oreal False Lash Telescopic Mascara, I'd recently ran out of mascara and I remember hearing lots of good things about this one so killing two birds with one stone for £4 seemed worth it. After that I stopped by the Collection stand and picked up another lasting perfection concealer, you can never have too many sitting about and realised that there was a foundation alongside it. Now I've heard plenty about the concealer, the foundation not so much and as it was reduced I thought I'd give it a whirl and see if the foundation is just as magical as the concealer so be sure to keep an eye out for that post. 

As I said I managed to pick up these four in the space of ten minutes and althought it's not a massive haul it's big enough for a ten minute stop off and surprisingly, or not so surprisingly I've bought a few more things since writing this post but I might just save that for an extra long haul post at some point. I'm just eager to start using them all :) 

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo

P.s what drugstore items have you been loving/buying lately? & what else from L'oreal is a must have for the makeup bag? I need to branch out more 

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Disappointing Products #1

Products that are not my cup of tea or in a sense, disappointing never really make it on to the blog as much as they should. I feel like most bbloggers, not just myself rave about the beauty gems they find and the rest are just forgotten about, for that reason I've decided that every so often I'll write a disappointing or not worth the hype post to remind everyone, that everyones skin works differently and different products work better for some, worse for others - oh and not everything you ever buy will you fall in love with, how pessimistic of me.

Foundations. I didn't realise how many I had included until it came to editing time. As I loved the Rimmel Stay Matte powder and a matte base at the time of purchasing, I thought it would be a winnner but oh was I wrong, no matter how many times I try to apply this differently it still looks awfully cakey on me, circa secondary school when no one knew how to blend makeup and had three layers of orange foundation. The Rimmel Stay Matte is also the lightest in the shade range but its still far too dark for me so sadly its barely been used.

The second foundation, the Maybelline Fit Me - a bit controversial, I know lots of people that love this foundation, me not so much. It just doesn't work on my skin at all, this isn't my shade either, I accidentally picked up the 130 shade for when I'm wearing tan (a rare old thing) and although I'm not fond of wearing it, I do whenever I'm going out as no one can really tell. The last foundation is the MUA, a lot of their stuff can be really good or not so, this foundation the latter, again its the lightest shade and although it actually suits my skin tone, the coverage is barely there - it doesn't cover anything and for someone who likes a bit more of a coverage its not the same. I might try and use it up in the summer though as a really light base.

Mascaras. Another thing that can totally work for one person and not for the next - it all depends on what you want. I usually like length and some volume but nothing too spidery - something thats very hard to find. The Benefit one is a big no go, apart from changing the colour of my eyelashes to black it didn't give any length or volume and out of the lot, this was probably the most disappointing. I was sort of put of for a while but after trying the They're Real, I can safely say just save yourself the time & money and buy that instead.

Also the Rimmel mascara, they always chuck them in if you spend over a £10 or something and sometimes they're good but this one just irritated my eyes and I don't even have sensitive eyes, the only good thing is I didn't actually buy this so it doesn't feel like money wasted. Lastly the accessorzie lipstick, I think I bought this solely for the packaging, look how cute it is? The lipstick however is way too creamy and slips & slides everywhere, unless I can find a really good lipliner and possibly not eat whilst wearing it I can't see it getting much use - its a shame because its the perfect brown. So you can see that's quite a few products to avoid, let me know if you like this kind of post?

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo
P.s what disappointing products have you tried lately?

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Highlighters: Drugstore vs High End

Highlighters; if you'd have asked me a year ago were a bit of a hit and miss, flash forward a year and I don't feel complete going out of the house without applying some - oh how things change! At first I didn't know where to start - torn between the big question: drugstore or high end? I'd used a highlighter in my sleek face form palette but it wasn't too pigmented so I was dying to try something a bit more glitter-y and ended up with these two little gems, one high end, one drugstore so I thought I'd do a comparison post or 'mini review' of them since my last one went down so well :)

L-R: MUA Undress Your Skin & MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Soft&Gentle

After lusting over the MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Soft & Gentle for what seems like years I finally picked up the courage to put it in my shopping basket and I haven't regretted it since. At the time I wasn't too interested in Lightscapade which is for the paler gals because I thought Soft&Gentle would be slightly darker for the summer months - turns out its not dark at all and produces the nicest shimmer once applied. I wouldn't advise applying a lot to avoid a disco ball scenario, its that pigmented but a light dusting definitely finishes everything off perfectly and brightens up any makeup look in the morning, even if you are faking the I'm wide awake look (something I seem to be doing more and more lately)  

Its definitely a staple in my makeup bag now and for the forseeable future, its hard not to, I mean it just looks so pretty and there's plenty of product so it'll last forever. The only bad thing is for some people its hefty-ish price tag and the newer MAC packaging which I'm not too keen on but aside from that its definitely worth it and if you're ooh-ing and ahh-ing in your head whether to try it or not, its a must or love at first swatch sort of thing. 

Theres plenty of alternatives around though and whilst wandering the drugstore aisles the MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter caught my eye and I wondered if it would be just as good as the MAC version so of course into the basket it went. Its still a lovely product don't get me wrong but I feel you have to use twice as much product to get the desired effect. For the price, being what it is, somewhere around the £2/3 mark you can definitely afford a replacement but it just doesn't seem to have the same impact in regards to setting my makeup, 

I think if I hadn't of tried the Mac alternative and had nothing to compare it to, I would have been perfectly happy. The packaging again has a clear lid so its easy to grab in a rush, has an intricate pattern and is a lot paler in colour so if you're looking for a cheaper alternative to the MSF this is definitely a contender. Otherwise if you want to splurge the Mac version is definitely deserving of the hype it gets and it'll definitely be well loved for a long time especially as Spring and Summer are fast approaching! So there you have it, two lovely offerings, two completely different price tags, its up to you :) 

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo
P.s what highlighters are you loving/love? I'm having a highlighter phase, definitely!

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Guest Posting On Cal On The Move: Valentines Day Makeup

Hi everyone, I'm Jenny and I blog over at Jennys Everyday Life. The lovely Calli from Cal On The Move asked me if I would be interested in doing a collaboration post for Valentines Day and of course I agreed - she's absolutely lovely and if you haven't followed her blog yet, please do! I also guest posted over on her blog so you should definitely pop on over and have a read. With Valentines Day right around the corner and an abundance of date nights we thought we'd create simple Valentines Day makeup looks . Now I know red makeup looks are always a firm favourite but personally I thought the pink would be a lot softer and would suit me a lot more - plus red just screams Christmas to me and at least pink is a bit more Spring-y. 

  I started applying my go to concealer - the Collection Lasting Perfection over any blemishes I had and since I wanted to have a dewy fresh faced glow I applied my Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation with my Real Techniques expert face brush. Now I would use powder normally to set my makeup but this time I wanted it to stay dewy so skipped this.

     The main focus I wanted to be on the eye makeup and the beautiful pinky shades so I used the Maybelline 24 Hour Tattoo in 'Pink Gold' as a base, then opted for the crease colour from my Wet & Wild Trio Palette as an all over colour. I then blended this with the light pink eyeshadow from my Accessorize palette and applied the darker pink shade for in the crease (pictured above). I then applied eyeliner using my Collection Felt Tip liner to give my eyes some more definition and to draw more attention to my eye makeup which is the centrepiece of the look. For my brows I used my MUA Blonde Pencil in Blonde, then a brown eyeshadow from my MUA Heaven & Earth palette to add a more natural look and then set with my Maybelline Brow Drama. 

     For my cheeks I used my Sleek Face Form Palette to contour my cheek bones and for blusher, since I wanted to keep this look fresh faced and mainly drugstore I then used my MUA mosaic blush which doubles up as a blush and highlight. I then used my MAC MSF in Soft & Gentle (I cheated) for an extra healthy glow. Lastly I applied my Wet and Wild lipstick in  Maeve Outta Here, a lilac colour and completely out of my comfort zone  but on the lip it appears more pink than lilac and a lovely shade if you fancy mixing it up a little from baby pinks or berry shades - it also matches the eye makeup perfectly. 

     So that's my finished Valentines Day Makeup Look, I hope you enjoyed reading this guest post :) I want to say a massive thank you again to Calli for asking me to do this collaboration as I really liked doing a different kind of post to what I usually would and if you quite liked reading this feel free to pop over to my blog and say hi! Jenny xo 

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Guest Post: Valentine Day Makeup Look

Hi to Jennys readers! I'm Calli from Cal On The Move and today I'm going to be sharing a Valentine's Day makeup look with you! First I just want to thank Jenny for being so great in this collaboration and wanting to work with me on this. Also be sure to check on Jenny's post that she wrote on my blog here, so lets dive in! I really wanted to keep this look natural and sweet but at the same time have enough definition.   

Basically, I did my usual face routine using the Maybelline Fit Me Foundation and Concealer, then set it with my Covergirl powder. I applied MAC's Woodwinked in my crease and MAC's All That Glitters to the lid. Then I gently patted Urban Decay's Naked 2 'Chopper' shade right on the center of my lid to bring focus to that area. I made sure to blend it out really well so there were no harsh lines too! 

For my brows, I used the shade 'Tease' from the Naked 2 Palette, filled them in lightly and then set them with my Maybelline clear mascara. I also lightly applied Nars Orgasm blush on to my cheeks to add some colour. Lastly I set my whole makeup look with e.l.f's Makeup Mist & Set to finish everything off. 

So there you have it! I really hope you enjoyed my makeup look and thank you so much for reading! This collaboration was so much fun to do, so thanks again to Jenny :) Oh and be sure to check out my Blog, Cal xx 

700 Followers Post

It's scary that my blogs a little over a year old and I have a whopping 700 followers on Bloglovin', I know some people reach that in less than six months but I'd rather less people follow me and for me to post content that I enjoy writing than having to change to suit my readers. Of course I love beauty posts but lifestyle posts definitely find a way of sneaking in and these are actually what I love reading the most so it makes sense but last week I finally reached the massive milestone and I couldnt be happier about it! 

I know I'm not the most regular at posting but with working both full time though the week, with a part time job on the weekend and a three hour commute each day, it's taking its toll. The only irritating thing being the lack of daylight for decent blog photographs but I'm getting there with the bulk photo taking on the weekends, sort of. I always try and take the time to reply to every comment I get on my blog posts as it means so much for someone to give feedback on a post that a lot of time and effort goes into. Sometimes with mass followers its a lot harder to do this and that's why being a smaller blog works just fine for me. 

I do think it's time I had a little makeover but I just don't have the time to sit down and decide what I'd like to change, although I like the whole minimalist blog theme, I think it's too overdone and I like having a colourful background rather than just plain white, any layout suggestions are welcome.... I also tried to take ootd photos the other day for a blog post, who knew it could be so hard without natural light so some more fashion related lists might be up soon, youtubers a definite no for the minute, unless I can get a camera that doesn't drain the battery in two minutes whilst taking videos.

 Also this has been a long time coming but I'm going to do my first ever giveaway soon, I know what I'm buying for it and hopefully you'll all like it, I thought it would be better to do a mix of things rather than just a MAC lipstick (although I would never say no) so yes keep your eyes peeled - hopefully I'll get shopping asap! I'm going to stop myself before this gets too long, a bad habit of mine but I just wanted to say a massive thank you for anyone who's followed my blog so far :) 

Thanks for reading, Jenny xo 

P.s does anyone use GFC? I feel like it's a dying art but I really want to use it still, if anyone does please follow me via that or I'll follow you, either or :) and again thank youuuuu!