My favourite snapchatters!

Today I thought I'd do a post on my favourite people to follow on snapchat. I spend more time on the app than I care to admit, but I just can't help it, it's so addictive! So if like me you're always looking to find new people to follow, then keep on reading, and I apologise in advance for the extra time you'll spend on snapchat after reading this! ;)

First and foremost is the beautiful Marissa Carter. If you don't know who I'm talking about then you must be hiding under a rock! Marissa is the CEO of the phenomenal fake tan brand Cocoa Brown. Since launching the brand in November 2012, the brand has gone from strength to strength, and that's all down to pure graft from this lovely lady. Her snapchat is full of motivational quotes, books that she reads, events she attends, baking and loads of other stuff! This lady is so motivating, and I can't wait to see what else is up her Cocoa Brown sleeve! 

Next up is Rosemary Maccabe. This girl is a journalist based in Dublin and just seems like an all round nice person. Again her snapchat is quite varied, from events, to her laser tattoo removal, clothes hauls (her love of ASOS is something I think a lot of us can understand). There's nothing that this girl won't talk about, which I love! Also another reason I love her is because she's spoken so openly about her mental health issues, which I find so inspiring. And if that's not enough, she has a ridiculously cute dog!

Another personal favourite is Cherry Sue (or if you're so nclined to call people by their real names then it's Sue Jordan. I follow a lot of snapchats, some just for the lols, some to ogle all their amazing designer bags etc, but Sue's is a mix of beauty, lifestyle, but she's also full of super helpful advice, which you can relate to both blogging and real life. Sue works a day job like the rest of us, and also has a fantastic and super successful blog (Her What Rustle My Jimmy Post's are my personal favourite),and just seems to know so much in regard to the blogging world and she has no problem at all in sharing all she's learned with some who are just starting out which is a great help to us small blogger folk!

Next up is Laura's Views, or My Make Up Perspective as she was previously known as. This girl is just the girl we'd all love to have as our best friend, seriously. Bright and bubbly and drop dead gorgeous with such a great sense of humour, what's not to love! Again her snaps are really varied, full of beauty and every day stuff, but at the moment I'm really intrigued by her turning vegan. While I'm not vegan myself  I just find it so interesting to see what she's eating (lot's of bananas FYI). Also, if you love to annoy your boyf, then go watch Laura's snaps, she's also a fan! :)

Last, but by no means least is Karen over at Lovely Girlie Bits. I've followed this girl for ages because she is just so damn hilarious! Her snaps are full of helpful beauty advice, and a lot of the time new products that I want to buy but don't really need! First world problems eh! Besides that she has a great sense of humour and personality that just shines through in her snapchat stories and also in her youtube videos, so if you like to laugh out loud a lot, then follow Karen! (Seriously more often than not I'm laughing really loud when watching her snaps). 

So ladies, that is some of my favourite snapchatters. I could name loads, but these are the ones that genuinely make me excited when a new story pops up from them! Who are your favourites to follow, or are you even on snapchat?

Thanks for reading, 

Alisha xxx

PS Love Matte Lip Crayons

Hello ladies, today I'm back with a bargain buy, in the form of the PS Love Matte Lip Crayons. In case you haven't heard of the brand PS Love before, it's Penney's or Primark's own brand. Penney's have always done bit's and pieces of make up, but to be honest I never thought to even try them. Until recently when they seem to have given the range a  bit of a revamp, and added a lot of products.  I think I may have shown these in a previous post on a few bit's that I picked up, but it's only recently that I've gotten to properly try the Matte Lip Crayon's, so I thought I'd give ye all my thought's.
The packaging is very sleek and professional looking, for something that it so reasonably priced. The cap and the bottom of the pencil is the same colour as the product, and they are exactly the same, you know how sometimes the product and the colour on the outside don't match up 100 percent.

                                                       L-R: Red. Hot Pink, Light Brown

                          So I have them in three shades, Hot Pink, Light Brown, and Red.

 Hot Pink is gorgeous, a nice bright pink. It's going to be lovely in the Summer with a tan! I think it's my favourite out of the bunch.
 Light Brown is again a lovely colour, it's the nearest I'll get to a Kylie Jenner Lip. In the bullet it has a slightly pinkish hue to it, but when I apply it to my lips it has more a grey/purple tone, which at first I wasn't sure if I liked or not, but the more I've worn it, the more I like it!
The Red shade is the one that hasn't got a look in so far! I love red's and how they look on others, but on me I'm just not sure I can pull them off! However, I think I'll try and break out of my comfort zone in Summer. This shade is more of an orange red rather than a full on red, so it may not be as intimidating!

Top-Bottom: Hot Pink,Red,Light Brown.

                                                                     

                                                                Light Brown on the lips

                                                         Hot Pink on the lips



These are really to apply also, with the shape of the bullet, you get a precise line to be able to go
without liner, and they're also really creamy too. There's no pulling or dragging on application, and they're so comfortable on the lips, unlike a lot of matte lip products. Longevity wise, they do ok. I applied this on Sunday morning about 11.30 am, and after 2 cups of tea, a slice of rhubarb tart, a diet coke and burger and chips in Mcdonalds, I was still left with pretty decent colour pay off on my lips!
The only tiny problem I have with these is that the product somehow becomes a bit loose from the packaging and kind of moves upwards, so I'm afraid it may fall out. But then again, for 2.50 it's not a huge issue and you could just buy another one! Cheap as chips!
I know there's a lot of talk around the PS Love Range, and some people think that there's a lot of jumping on bandwagons, but I genuinely love this product. If I was to point you towards anything from them, I'd say definitely try these, you won't be disappointed!
Now if only they'd release more shades!
Thanks for reading,
Alisha xxx
                                                                                                   

Blank Canvas Master Series Palette 1 Palette

Hey Ladies!
!Today I'm here to talk about a palette that's a new enough release, but at the same time I've had it a decent length of time to be able to give my thought's on it! It's the Blank Canvas Master Series Palette 1 Palette.
It's an eyeshadow palette made up of 12 warm toned neutral eyeshadows, 11 being matte, and 1 a gorgeous shimmery highlight shade.
First off apologies for the fact I've used the palette before I've taken pictures!

To start we'll look at the packaging. It comes encased in a cardboard sleeve, which has the name of the palette on the front, and all the shades on the back. The actual palette itself is made up of a harder what would seem more sturdy cardboard with a decent sized mirror, which would be great for travel. It does seem sturdy enough, so while I'd say it would get grubby easily enough, I can't imagine it breaking.
As with most palettes, this one does come with a brush, the double ended E40/E41 Tapered Crease Blender/Smudger. (I didn't take a proper picture of this on it's own as it's a bit dirty)The difference being though, that this brush is actually of good quality, but then again it would want to be considering the company making it are a well known brush company!
The palette itself is like nothing I've had before, which is the main reason I bought it, I genuinely didn't have any warm toned shadows in my collection at all! I can't praise the shadows enough. They're nicely pigmented, really soft and easy to blend with not a lot of fall out.

                                              Lily, Goddess and Core (You can't really see this)

                                                          Hibiscus, Brazin and Carmin


                       
                                                   Cocoa, Downtown, and Forza

                                                            Hickory. Strut, Corruption

Lily and Goddess are the two lightest shades, which are great for either highlighting under the eye, or even to use as a base for other eyeshadow looks.
So far I've used all but one shade, and that's the darkest shade of the bunch Corruption. I don't know what it is, but I never tend to use the really dark shades as I never really do a really smokey eye (well if I do one it's a total accident :P)
The shades I do tend to use a lot more than the others are Core,  which is a great base for any eye look no matter if you're going smokey or nice and natural; Hibiscus, Brazen, and Carmin, and also Forza and Strut get a good bit of use too. Can you see a theme? It's all the lighter toned brown shades! I just find these particular colours quite quick and easy to use, as I'm not that creative when it comes to creating eye looks. I mean I do try my hardest and to try to blend and use crease shades and all that, but I'm just not that talented! So with the particular colours above, a lot of them can be used to create a nice look without having to do too much work!
The only negative I have about this palette is the fact that no matter what primer I use, it won't stay on my eyelids. I've a tried a couple of different ones, and it just makes no difference!
It looks fabulous when I apply first, but as the day goes on it just seems to wear away!
So while I do love the palette, and will continue to use it, can anyone recommend a decent primer for me to try in the hope that it'll keep the shadows on my eyes?
The palette is 34.99 and at the moment is out of stock on the Blank Canvas Cosmetics website, but they are expecting it back in early May!
Have you tried this palette yet??
Thanks for reading,
Alisha xxx

My Favourite Highlighters

Hi Beauties, hope you're all well!
On this dull and gloomy day I thought I'd do a post on my favourite highlighters. Contouring and Highlighting has become huge lately, especially in the last year or two. While contouring is something that I'm yet to come to terms with properly, I do love a nice bit of highlight!
So today I thought I'd come on and tell you about my absolute favourites! Some are palettes, some are singles, some are cream/liquid but either way they are all fab!

First up is the Seventeen Skin Wow 3 Way Highlighter.  It's a silver toned  liquid product  that serves more than one function. You can use it as a primer underneath your foundation to illuminate your skin and give a nice glow, you can use it on the tops of the cheekbones to to highlight, and as of yet I'm trying to figure out what the 3rd option to do with it is, but I'll figure it out! But anyway, my preferred method for using this is to apply a tiny bit to the tops of my cheekbones, and I'm good to go! It's not a highlighter I'd use on a daily basis because it is very shimmery and very obvious, but it's great for nights out. You need so little of it and the bottles so big it'll last for ages! It's a bargain too at only 8.50!

Next one that I absolutely LOVE is the MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter in Pink Shimmer. This was under 5 euro and for the price it's well well worth it! It's so pigmented and lasts all day. It's a beautiful pink toned highlight with a silver almost blue toned shimmer. If you didn't see the packaging and the name on this, I think you'd genuinely be forgiven for thinking it's a high end highlighter! This one is definitely one that can be built up if you want a really heavily highlighted look, or one that  you can just tap your brush into gently for a more subtle effect.

 The Make Up Revolution Radiance Palette is up next, and it's one that has been getting a lot of love lately! And yes, they do look like a certain high end highlighter palette. ;) But I can't answer if they perform the same as I don't have both! But anyway! This palette is a lot more subtle than the other ones mentioned, so if you're someone who'd like a more natural glow then this one is for you. There's 3 different shades, and my personal two favourites are the first two, the middle one I especially like to use to set my under eye concealer as it brightens up the area without leaving it cakey or too glittery! I tend to use the 3rd shade more so when I've tan on. The powders are decently pigmented, and while I don't think they last all day, they last a reasonable amount of time on my skin, and costs around the 10 euro mark. You can also buy these individually so handy if you only want to try one particular shade!

Last, but nowhere near least is the Sleek Solstice Palette. This is the ultimate highlighting palette, it really is! It comes with 4 shades, 3 powders which are extremely soft and highly pigmented and last ALL day, and one cream highlight. I can't even begin to explain how much I love this. Everything about it is beautiful from the gold outer packaging to every single shade. I think the powders could probably double up as eye shadows if you're into something on your eyes that has a bit of dimension and not flat. The only bad thing I've to say and it's my own fault for being so clumsy is how easily breakable the powders are. I only had the palette a matter of hours and let it fall and one powder smashed to pieces. It's still useable, but a lot of the powder has gone into the cream shade so it's just messy. But I still love it regardless! Again this was fairly affordable and was only around 12 euro!

So ladies, these are my favourite highlighters. They're all fantastic and I'd recommend all of them to you really and truly!
Ps Sorry for some of the picture quality, taking good pictures is something I'm still trying to get better at, but I'm going to keep practising!
Have you tried any of these?
Thanks for reading,
Alisha xxx

First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads

I'm a demon for not looking after my skin as well as I should do. But as I'm getting older and noticing lines creeping in where they used not be, I'm getting worried. So since Christmas, I've been trying to put a pep in my step when it comes to my skincare routine. I've been trying different brands, and adding different products to my routine, some have worked, and some not so much. One product however that has worked for me and I've noticed a difference in my skin after is the First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads. I'd heard a few bits and pieces about First Aid Beauty on various social media channels, but hadn't tried anything from the brand. I came across a set on www.cloud10beauty.com that had a few products in it, and the Radiance Pads were one of them, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to give them a try.

The Pads, are free from alcohol, and are made up of ingredients including glycolic acid and lactic acid to exfoliate, Cucumber and Indian Gooseberry to tone, and lemon peel and liquorice root to brighten the skin. Another thing to note is that they're free from alcohol, and are suitable for sensitive skinned folk. First Aid Beauty also claim these pads will help reduce visible pores, and diminish  fine lines.
These pads are double sided, one side has a slightly bumpy texture, and the other side is just flat.
So how did I get on?

I have to say I really really like these. I use them at night after using my Emma Hardie Cleansing Balm, although not every night, (they are safe enough to be used every day, I just choose not to). When I wipe the pad across my face and neck, I can feel a slight tingling sensation on my skin afterwards, so it really feels like the product is really tightening up my skin.  Around my  nose would tend to get fairly red with dry patches of skin, but when I use these pads, the dry patches disappear, so they really do exfoliate the skin.
After I've used them I go ahead and use my normal eye cream and night serum and moisturiser, or sometimes a moisturising face mask if I need it. When I wake up the morning after using these, my skin just looks brighter and fresher and it looks like I've gotten a great night's sleep, even if in reality I've been up late watching my favourite snapchatters!
As for the claim to reduce the size of larger pores, I don't really notice any difference. And I have fairly big pores on my nose, (they're the bain of my life). I don't notice the diminishing of my fine lines either.
But regardless of that, I still really like them! I'm terribly lazy, and so physically exfoliating my skin with a face scrub is a rarity. So these are a god send for me, because I've no excuse as it only takes seconds!
They are available on Cloud10Beauty  Here in packs of 28 which are 16.95, or a pack of 60, which are 30.95. The pack that I got was the 28 as it was included in a gift set, so I think when I repurchase I'll get the bigger one, just so I know I have them!
I'm really impressed with these, and at the moment, I'm sitting browsing the Cloud 10 site looking at some other First Aid Beauty products! Oops!
Thanks for reading,
Alisha xxx

Make Up Revolution Haul

Hello lovelies, how's your week going?
I'm back this week with something a bit bold. I'd been so good and holding out buying make up, but then Make Up Revolution had a discount code on the Leap Year so I just had to purchase a few bits! Make Up Revolution are a very reasonable priced brand anyway, so the discount code just made it even better!
Let's see what I got shall we?

So as you can see, I eh, got quite a bit!! Whoops! 

Starting with face products, I got 4 items.  First off, I got the Pro Fix Amazing Make Up Fixing Spray. I've seen and heard this being used a lot, and I've never used one, so I said I'd give it a try. Now I've used it once or twice, and I'm not blown away just yet, but I'll keep ye posted. 

As if I didn't have enough blush already, I got one of The Matte Blushes in the shade Dare. When I saw it online it looked nearly like a really light purple that I thought I'd nothing like it in my collection. Well turns out I was wrong, I've a Sleek blush nearly the exact same! Oops! I haven't tried it yet, but again I'll fill ye in later on. I also picked up one of the Ultra Blush Palettes in Hot Spice. Now this and the Fixing Spray I got in a pharmacy near where I work, but online this blush palette looks very dark and not like much. However though it's the complete opposite! It's made up of 6 beautiful varying shades of coral tones, and 2 amazingly pigmented highlighters! I've been wearing this quite a bit since I got it, and I think this is definitely worthy of it's own blog post. #Staytuned. Lastly for the face I got the Correct and Conceal Palette in the Light/Medium shade, I bought this to try cream contouring, but realistically I should have bought the darker shades for that, but I'll get use out of this some way.  

 I've heard a lot of good things about Make Up Revolutions eye shadows, so naturally I had to try some. I picked up the I <3 Make Up I Heart Chocolate Pink Fizz Palette. These I Heart Chocolate Palettes I believe are possible dupes for the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palettes, but I don't have any of the Too Faced ones, so I can't compare. But just look at the packaging, just LOOK! How cute is it? Anyway, as you can see below, the shades in here are all different neutral tones, bar the navy one. I have tried this a couple of times, some shades are amazingly pigmented, some not so much. But I think that's to be expected with all palettes!

Another thing I had heard a lot about was the Awesome Metals Eye Foils. Again, Stila have something like this, the name is lost on me but the concept is the same and they're a fair bit more expensive than the Make Up Revolution ones. They come with a mixing tray and a mixing solution that you use to mix the shadow.  I picked up the shade Rose Gold, which obviously is rose gold. This I'm very much looking forward to playing with! 

And no make up look would be complete  without the eyebrows! So I picked up a Brow Duo Brow Arch and Shape in Dark. This has a brow pencil type product on one end, and a pen on the other which is to help draw on light feathery strokes. First off, it's not dark! I've very dark brows for some reason, considering I have light brown/reddish hair. But I'm enjoying using the product so we'll see. 

For lips, I went with one product. And that was the Lip Lava in Shockwave. It's a really vibrant pink/purple shade. It's a liquid lipstick type product but not one of those really drying matte ones, it's a more glossy moisturising type product, which again is a less expensive similar version to the Too Face Melted Liquid Lipsticks.

Lastly, I got some shampoo for cleaning my brushes and a little brush cleaner. The brush cleaner looked a lot bigger online, but it's tiny. It'd be perfect for smaller brushes, say like eyeshadow, but for bigger face brushes, it's far too small. The shampoo is OK, it does take the product out of the brush, but after a few goes. 

So that's all the bit's I've gotten so far from Make Up Revolution. They're easily accessible, they're in a lot of Superdrug stores, and online with international delivery from  http://www.makeuprevolutionstore.com/ 

I'm trying to slowly get back into more regular blog posts, so apologies for the delay, and also the poorly taken photos. I'll get better! 

Have you tried any Make Up Revolution Products? 

Thanks for reading,

Alisha xxx

All About The Base

Hey lovelies, happy Tuesday! Hope the weekend treated you all well and Monday wasn't too bad?
Mine was great, my best friend got engaged recently, so we went out for dinner and caught up on all the gossip,and then went for a couple of drinks afterwards. So it was a nice weekend! I was then off Monday so happy days  :)
I'm back today with a post on my base routine and what products I use to give me the perfect base day to day. If your base isn't right, then obviously the rest of your make up won't be either!
So obviously I cleanse tone and moisturise first, I'm using a Garnier Cleanser and Toner at the minute which are great.Cheap as chips, but make my skin feel really clean and moisturised. For moisturiser I'm using a hydrating serum from Superdrug as I'm always rushing in the morning because I always leave it to the last minute to get up! I will go into more detail about my skincare in another post though.

My first step is always a primer. No matter how much of a rush I'm in I'll always use a primer. The one I'm currently using and Loving is the Rimmel Match Perfection Fix and Perfect Primer. This is a great little primer and it only costs 8.99! Rimmel maintain this is a 5 in 1 product, that has a number of functions including mattifying the skin, and  reducing the size of pores. I don't really notice either of these things, and I've a ridiculously red nose with huge pores. But for me it just makes my foundation last a lot longer than it would otherwise. It's more of cream consistency which I much prefer to the ones that are too silicone like.  I've been using this consistently since the end of December, and I'm almost out, which is a good sign.

For my foundation I've been loving the Rimmel Match Perfection. No other foundation has got a look in since I got this one. I fully intend on doing a blog post on this alone, so keep an eye out for that. It's a medium coverage, which I love because me and full coverage just don't get along. At the same time though it is buildable, so if you're someone who's into fuller coverage you could just build up a couple of layers. It's labelled as a radiance foundation and it is dewy, but a lot of the dewiness is gone once I powder it. For me though the winner for this is the length it lasts. Now seen as I use a primer I would assume that helps, but it lasts throughout the day with no top ups. I put it on in the morning at around 8 45, and when I come home at 6pm it looks more or less the exact same bar a slight shine on my forehead and chin. I find it even lasts relatively OK on my nose, which I find no matter what I use it always slips off my nose first. It's another bargain at 9.99, and comes in a decent amount of shades, so it's worth a try if you want to try a new foundation but don't have a huge budget. My next step then is to do my under eye concealer, and unless I have a whopper of a spot this is the only place I use concealer. I'm lucky enough to have relatively clear skin most of the time, but there is a fair bit of darkness under my eyes.

The concealer I've been using lately is the Catrice Liquid Camoflage Concealer. It's the perfect consistency, it's thick enough to cover my under eye bags  without being cakey and really brightens up the area, and applies nice and smoothly.  I'm yet to find a concealer that doesn't end up looking funny on me by the end of the day, but I think that may be more to do with my powder.  This was only a few euro as well, and it's well worth it.

My last step then is to set everything with a powder, and the one I'm currently using is the MUA Skin Define Hydro Setting Powder. Again this is another product that's cheap as chips but works well. It sets everything into place and makes my make up last a bit longer than it normally would. After a while my forehead does get a bit shiny, but I can deal with it. My only gripe is I find my under eyes get a bit creppy looking, but I'm going to keep trying and testing until I find something to eradicate that.
So that's my every day routine for my base. After this I go on to do my blush and bronzer etc, and I will show you what I use in another post.

What are your current go to base products?
Thanks for reading,
Alisha xxx