Mac paint pot and eyeshadow

So. I haven't blogged since August. I went to New York and totally got out of the habit of blogging, and then I went back to uni and just never got around to it. But my new year's resolution is to blog more. So here I am!

Now, on to this post. The lovely Charlotte over at Lipglossiping (whose site is down at the moment, so I can't link to it right now.) posted about a Laura Mercier cream eyeshadow in a bronze colour. Ever since then I have been on the hunt for my perfect bronze cream eyeshadow.

Enter Mac's Indianwood paint pot and Antiquated shadow. And so begins my love affair.

Five Minute Face

Picture this, it's one of those mornings. You've over slept, and you're running really late, but you need to put something on your face, otherwise you might scare small children. This situation happens to me more times a week than I'd like, mostly because I like sleep a lot and I'm terrible at time-keeping.

These are the products I reach for. My Five Minute Face. I've gotten this down to an art. I know where everything is, and I know how to apply it. I don't have to faff around with new or difficult techniques. I just put this on and go. It looks good, and it mostly stays on all day.


My Five Minute Face products.



Firstly, foundation. I either use Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation SPF 15 (in Porcelain) or Mac Studio Fix Fluid (in NC15). I use the Bobbi Brown foundation to layer it on, and then the Mac 187 to buff it out and make it look less streaky.

I then use Bobbi Brown's Face Touch Up Stick and the Benefit concealer brush. On my cheeks I use Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Powder Pink. Recently I've been using my Bobbi Brown highlighter pen (in Opal) on my cheek, but it's new and I've not gotten in the habit of using it yet.





On my eyes I use Bobbi Brown (are we sensing a pattern here?) Tinted Eye Brightener (in Light Bisque). I'm going to do a review of this one day, because it sounds like one of those "pfft, who really needs that" products, but I find it essential!

Then I use the tried and tested Urban Decay Primer Potion. For eyeshadow I reach for Bobbi Brown's Shimmer Wash (in Champagne) and then I use the gel liner in either black or brown.

Mascara wise, I use Urban Decay's Skyscraper mascara. This is a mini size I got with my Primer Potion. I love love love this mascara. It's a great 'base' mascara. It separates my lashes, which are long and usually really clumpy. And then to add definition and volume I use Bobbi Brown's Lash Glamour mascara.

And that's pretty much it. I usually leave my lips bare, or shove on whatever gloss is closest. I'm not really much of a lip person.



Do you have products that you always reach for when you're in a rush?

Denim and Rose

So, if you follow me on twitter you'll know that last weekend I finally got my hands on the Bobbi Brown Denim and Rose collection. I've been lusting after it for ages. I also picked up a few other things from the collection.

As always, the service at Bobbi Brown was brilliant (although filled with drama, a woman had collapsed by the Clinique counter and there were paramedics everywhere!) and thorough. I spoke to my usual make up artist, Lauren, who is just brilliant. She remembers my name and what I've bought previously. She talked about how I could use the pallet with my surf cream shadow from their Beach collection. She's just generally lovely and excellent at her job. I fear she's spoiled me for any future sales assistants!

Anyway, onto the photos.



I love those little black boxes.

Model's Own Magenta Pearl

This nail polish is my most recent purchase from Model's Own. It's called Magenta Pearl and it's SO pretty.



Here it is, with a base coat and a top coat. I applied this on Sunday. As usual, no problems applying. This was, I think, three coats.

Now, I work with children. Right now I'm working in a créche. As I'm sure you can imagine this isn't really a nail polish friendly environment. What with the heavy lifting, form filling in, play-dough, ball pond, giant connect four, etc etc.

This is what it looks like today.

I'm really impressed. Normally nail polishes chip loads more than this, this is all on my dominant hand and I've got virtually no chipping on my left hand.

So, Model's Own seems to stand up to the '6 hours in a sweaty, no air conditioning, busy créche' test very well!

Front Cover Rainbow Eyes

A little while ago in Boots I spotted a book of lovely looking eyeshadows in a whole range of colours.



It was the Rainbow Eyes book by Front Cover Cosmetics. Now, I'd never heard of this brand before, and the Rainbow Eyes book was quite expensive, so I decided to get one of the much smaller pallets to test it out. I got the Easy On The Eye Hot pallet.

Model's Own

One day, not so long ago, I was in my local (quite large) Boots and I nearly had a heart attack. Where had the Urban Decay counter gone?! Fortunately, it had just been moved, and to my delight there were loads of new counters of stuff for me to play with. One of these was a Model's Own counter. I'd seen loads of stuff written about them on various beauty blogs, so I decided to pick up a few things. I got a free 6 way buffer too, which was cool.

The lovely Bicky over at Tastes Like Glitter did a post on the brand today, which prompted me to get all of my stuff out of my drawer and look at it.

Here's my, admittedly quite small, but well loved Model's Own collection.



I have just realised I do, in fact, own another polish that isn't shown. It's called 'Snow White', which is a pretty accurate description. So that one isn't pictured.

What is pictured is five polishes, one lipgloss and one lipstick.



From left to right there is 'Magenta Pearl', '25 Carat Gold', 'Top Turquoise', 'Coral Reef' and 'Golden Peach'. These are great polishes, and there are loads more colours. The only ones I haven't tried yet are 'Magenta Pearl' and '25 Carat Gold' because they're new and I'm still in love with the yellow Barry M polish I'm sporting at the moment.

Like I said, these are great. They take about two coats to get good coverage. And I use a base coat and a top coat. They usually last for about three days before they start to chip. But I do an extremely physical job (with 5 year olds) so nail polishes always chip for me.

The 'Top Turquoise' looks a bit funny in the bottle though. A little unmixed. It doesn't seem to go away when you shake it either, which is annoying. It doesn't seem to have any affect on the polish on the nails though.

Here are some macro shots. 'Coral Reef' looks really pink in the pictures, it is in fact more of an orangy red than a pink.











Next up is the lipstick. I bought this because I have lipstick phobia and I didn't want to invest loads in a lipstick I wasn't going to wear. I LOVE the packaging. It's funky and I think it's perfect for their target demographic (assuming that's younger people, which I am). It's also great if you have more than one. You don't have to take the lids off to see what colour it is.

I haven't worn this out in public yet (I'm not 100% sure it suits me, and I'm still a lipstick phobe) but it stays on for a while in my bedroom and it goes on nicely. I've also just noticed in the photos it has a slight gold shimmer. You can't see this AT ALL when you look at the product. This colour is called 'Coral Pink'.







The swatch picture is out of focus but I'm too lazy to go and take another one.

The last product I have is my least favourite. The lipgloss I have is called 'Ballet Pink' as none of the other colours really appealed to me. It looks like a very pale pink, but I don't see any trace of the colour on my lips. It looks like a clear gloss with a bit of shimmer. It smells weird and doesn't taste very nice either. You can really feel the glitter on your lips and it doesn't stay on very long. It's quite sticky too.





So overall, I rate the nail polishes quite highly, and I'll definitely be buying some more of them. I might invest in some more wearable shades of the lipsticks too, because I like the packaging so much. I won't be going back for any glosses though.

Bobbi Brown Basics Eye Pallet

The star of today's post is the Bobbi Brown Basics Eye Pallet.



The website describes it as "the ideal starter set for a makeup novice". That's me in a nutshell, so I bought it. I have a hard time resisting anything with Bobbi Brown's name on it.





It contains four great colours for a neutral, every day look. It also comes with a dual ended brush. One end is a fluffy shadow brush and the other end is a liner brush. I am in love with the liner brush. I intend to buy a full size one eventually.





The colours are 'Navajo' the lightest, 'Cement'a lighter brownish grey colour (as the name would suggest), 'Heather Mauve' which is a shimmery glittery colour that I like to put in the crease and then 'Mahogany' which is the darkest brown and I use it as an eyeliner.









I would definitely recommend this pallet. It's great for beginners and people who generally have no idea what they're doing (like me!). It's pretty hard to screw this up, and it looks very pretty and natural. It can be adapted to be a little more glamorous by adding more liner or more shimmer.





Here's what I look like wearing it.