My Favourite Mascaras ♡

I must admit, I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I've tried pretty much every single drugstore mascara out there ... oh well. Here's my favourites from my vast ventures in the drugstore mascara world.

Firstly, I don't think there's a huge difference in quality when it comes to drugstore and high end mascaras, they all essentially do the same thing and the only huge variable (apart from price) is the brush. So I've vowed to only stick to drugstore mascaras, but if there are any really outstanding high end ones be sure to let me know!

My favourite mascara brand is Maybelline, I think their mascaras are just plain good. I can't really fault them. One of my favourites is the Maybelline Falsies. The brush has fiber bristles and it really fans out my lashes and gives them length and volume and is overall a great all rounder. The only criticism I've got is that once this mascara starts to dry out it gets extremely flaky and throughout the day bits of the mascara falls off from my lashes onto my undereye area, so I can only wear this mascara for about two months before it starts dying. But I love the way my eyelashes look with this mascara on, so for me it's worth the risk! :P  

Another favourite of mine is the Maybelline Pumped Up! Colossal. Me and this mascara have been through a lot together. When I first got it I wasn't a huge fan of it, I found the consistency of the mascara way too fluidy and I found it difficult to build coats of it on my lashes and I just didn't find that it too much for my lashes. I came back to it a few weeks later and gave it one last try and I absolutely loved it! I think the mascara itself had dried out a bit over the weeks, and so the formula was much easier for me to work with. Now this mascara gives my lashes a TON of volume, and lengthens them a bit as well, and unlike the Falsies it hasn't flaked on me yet. Definitely worth the wait for it to dry out. 

I have a third favourite as well, but I seem to have lost the bottle? No idea where it's gone to *cries* but my third favourite would've been the Maybelline Colossal Volume Express - Cat eyes. It comes in a yellow bottle and has a very skinny, curved wand. It doesn't give you a ton of volume but it makes your lashes look super duper long and I find that my lashes look slightly more curly when I wear this. It gives you long, spidery lashes so if that sounds like something you'd like then I highly recommend trying this mascara

Any other mascaras I should try out? Dare you to suggest one I haven't already tried x 

Ciao x

♡

2014 Holy Grails ♡

It's crazy to think that 2014 is over, but it was one of the best years of my entire life and I want this year to be ever more full of laughs and memories so that when I'm old and have thirty grand children I can tell them that I had the best teenage years ever! :P

I've used a lot of products throughout the year but there are some that have definitely stuck out to me more than others, stuff that I've always gone back to and always have in my collection, in other words my holy grails haha 

Foundation - Revlon Nearly Naked. It's very liquidy and easy to blend and gives low-medium coverage, which I like. It looks very very natural on the skin and if you're looking for a low coverage foundation I would definitely recommend this 

Concealer - Collection Lasting Perfection. I cannot say enough good things about this. This is very very high coverage so it's perfect for your worst spots or dark under eye circles and it lasts for aaaages! I've also swum with this on and found that it's actually waterproof as well :)

Blush - Nyx Cream Blush in Rose Petal. Shannon from shaaanxo on YouTube raved about these a while back and said she prefers the Nyx cream blushes to the Mac ones. I've never tried the Mac ones but I agree that these are incredible! I can't really fault this product, it's just incredible

Powder - Rimmel Stay Matte. Everyone has raved about this powder at one point or another, it's lightweight and finely milled and just does the job wonderfully. It even smells delicious haha

Eyebrows - Milani Brow-Fix. This was in my last haul and I mentioned how it might be my new holy grail eyebrow product. It is. Pigmented, stays on for ages, not powdery at all, if you like powder for your eyebrows you should definitely give this a whirl 

Cream Eye shadow - Maybelline Colour tatoos. These have been a staple for me all year and I have two in my collection, Bad to the Bronze and Barely Branded. I tend to use Bad to the Bronze on a daily basis, usually on its own and I just smoke it out slightly. It's very pigmented, creamy, easy to blend and long lasting and looks very very pretty on it's own, or even as a base :)

Eye shadow - Wet n Wild Colour trio. Again, I can't fault these. These eyeshadows are just incredible. They're also really super cheap which is an added bonus and means you can buy ALL OF THEM!! I just love these eyeshadows to death, the one I have is in Walking on Eggshells 

Eyeliner - Maybelline Eyestudio. This is the first gel eyeliner I've ever tried and I'm like completely converted now. It lasts sooo much longer than liquid eyeliner and it's not as difficult or scary to put on as I thought. If you've never tried a gel eyeliner I highly recommend them

Lipstick - Rimmel Kate Moss 107. These are slightly drying so I normally wear a chapstick under them first but they're mega mega pigmented, smell delicious and last ages (considering you don't eat haha)
L'Oreal Colour Riche in Make me Blush (left) and The Muse's Kiss (right). These are slightly glossy and smell SO GOOD. They're also well pigmented and also last decently :) The packaging is also really cute ... just saying haha 

Brushes - BH cosmetics pink-a-dot brush set. I got these a while back and have absolutely fallen in love with them. They're ridiculously soft and haven't shed yet and most of the brushes in the collection are very dense and just very well made. In particular my staples from the set are the powder brush, blush brush, smudge brush (which I use for eyebrows) and the eyeshadow brush.
Real techniques duo-fibre collection (limited edition, sorry!). I don't tend to use the other two in the collection but the contour brush I love! I don't actually use it for its intended purpose, I use it for concealer. I find it fits underneath my eyes perfectly and unlike brushes with dense bristles that just pack on the product the duo fibre just lightly pats it on and feathers it out ... I can't explain it, I've just found that this brush applies concealer like nothing else. It's also dirty in the picture, I know but I couldn't be bothered washing it just for the sake of this photo haha

Day moisturiser - Clinique moisture surge. I've raved about this before, it's very very liquidy and dissapears once it's on your face. It's also very moisturising and since it absorbs instantly, makeup is super easy to apply over it 
Nivea Day cream. I use this instead of the Clinique when I'm gonna be outside since it has SPF30 in it and the Clinique doesn't have sunscreen. It's very moisturising although I prefer the Clinique cus the Nivea one doesn't absorb as quickly as the Clinique and sits on my skin for a while

Night moisturiser - Aveeno positively radiant. This is another new find for me but I absolutely love it. I've seen results from it that I haven't with other night creams I've tried. It feels like water and it absorbs very quickly and it's just incredible and every morning my skin feels sooooo super soft :)

Comment down below what your favourite parts of 2014 are! Beauty or otherwise :)

Ciao! xx
♡

Clinique Moisture Surge Moisturiser - Review ♡

I got this moisturiser a few months ago and I've been meaning to make this post for a while now because I love this moisturiser SO MUCH! 

The moisturiser is very liquidy and feels very water based. It sinks into my skin INSTANTLY and  I can't feel it on my skin at all after it sinks in. It's not greasy or oily in the slightest. A little bit goes a very long way because it's so liquidy. It doesn't really smell of anything either and makeup applies really well over it cus it sinks in so fast that it doesn't get in the way of the foundation. 
It's super moisturising and after I apply it any dry patches on my face feel instantly hydrated, and my skin always feels incredibly soft after applying this.
This moisturiser is a little bit of a pricier one but if you're after a super quick and effective moisturiser then this is an incredible one to go for, and I'll definitely be re purchasing this after it runs out! 

Let me know your favourite moisturisers in the comments :) x 

Ciao xx
♡

My Holiday Makeup Bag ♡

I went to Auckland on Friday and stayed there for the weekend so I thought "what better time to do a 'Holiday makeup bag' type post?" and the answer was never so here it is :)

This is the makeup bag I took with me, it's black with a geometric pattern on it and it's big which is what I needed. I got it from Bed Bath & Beyond.

I'll list the products inside the bag in order of how I'd apply them if I were to use them :)

Makeup

•  Revlon Nearly Naked foundation in 120 Vanilla 
• Garnier BB Cream in Light 
• Collection Lasting Perfection concealer in Warm-Medium 3
• Maybelline Fit me concealer in 15 Fair
• NYC Big Bold bronzer in 601 ManhaTan
• Rimmel Stay Matte powder in 001 Translucent
• Revlon Colourstay eyeshadow in 500 Addictive
• Maybelline Colour Tattoo in 75 Bad to the Bronze
• Wet n Wild eyeshadow in Walking on Eggshells
• Maybelline the Falsies Flared mascara
• Maybelline Mega Plush mascara
• Maybelline Masterliner in Black
• Maybelline Master Precise eyeliner in Black
• Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in 820 Pink Cognito

Brushes

• BH Powder brush
• Real Techniques Blush brush
• BH Small smudge brush
• BH Tapered Shadow Blending brush
• BH Classic Shadow brush
• Eyelash curler

Would you like to see a similar post to this but with skin care items instead of makeup? If so, then let me know in the comments section :) 
And if you'd like the see the mountain of clothes I bought then also let me know in the comments!

I hope you have a great day, and let me know your travel essentials! 

Ciao xx 

♡