Review: Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

Rather than have an entire post dedicated to the fact that I've been M.I.A for the best part of two months I decided to jump in with a big ol' review and have just a smidge of exposition as an introduction...

I am officially now a resident of LONDON! I'm at the University of Westminster and am a whole week into my BA Journalism. I've been a total whirlwind of emotion and activity recently and it's so good to finally sit down and just breathe. Right up until the moment I left my little East Midlands town I was working as an Assistant Manager at Coral. I was literally doing 40-45 hour weeks in a desperate attempt to save as much money as possible for university and whilst it has really helped me financially, pretty much everything else fell by the wayside. I hardly saw my boyfriend or my family and organising and packing was left until the last minute (much the aforementioned boyfriend's irritation.) Needless to say I all but abandoned my little corner of the internet and it's looking very sorry for itself at the minute. But! I have a ton of time to myself now so I shall be getting creative with my new frugal student lifestyle and start producing some fun content in the very near future.

But for now...

As a celebration of my new freedom and the beginning of what should be the best time of my life I decided to take a wander to the Debenhams on Oxford Street to see some Urban Decay products in real life, something I'd never been able to do before. In a total contradiction to my insistence that I wasn't going to be spending any money I ended up walking out with the truly lovely Naked Basics Palette. Shout-out to Rickie who served me at the Urban Decay counter as you were super sweet and helpful. Go you.

First things first, I do love the packaging and presentation of this palette. It's neat, sleek and a great size for just slinging in your bag for top-ups during the day. The design and colours are sophisticated, grown-up and seem ideal for a whole host of simple, neutral looks. 

I genuinely wanted to adore this. I mean I spent £20 on it! But I think I may have expected a bit too much. No matter how I tried, I just couldn't get the pigmentation I'd seen elsewhere in my swatches. I don't think the variation between colours is great enough and the fall out is substantial in the darker colours. 

The above is a single, dry swipe on clean, bare skin without primer. I found that the shades could be built up with two or three heavy swipes but that's not how I usually do my swatches and I wanted a fair representation of what I was actually getting. Don't get me wrong, this is by no means a bad product. The pigmentation is fair and I think with a really good primer I could get a much better colour pay-off. However, I personally feel that when it comes to £20 for six shades, I shouldn't need to buy a great primer just to get the shade in the pan. The fact that these are matte shades (bar Venus which has a light shimmer) was always going to mean that they were a little dryer but I still can't help but be a touch disappointed.

It's not all doom and gloom though, as I say, these can be built up to produce better pigmentation and they do work well on the lid. They blend easily and the shade range means that you can pretty much put anything together and it won't look ridiculous. They're ideal for a range of daytime looks and the deliciously dark Crave can smoke out any look for a gorgeous night transition (but do have some tissues/wipes on hand to deal with fall out!) These also wear extremely well, no creasing or migration and easily 8+ hours of wear so they're ideal for a busy working day.

Final Verdict: A compact, neutral palette that may require a bit more effort than expected. Great if you're looking specifically for more matte shadows, but by no means essential.

I would LOVE some advice about how to work with this palette and please let me know if I'm doing anything wrong! What did you think of the Basics? Do you agree that it may have been a touch over-hyped and therefore a touch disappointing like me?

Lauren

June Make-Up Wishlist: Nude Eyes and Bright Lips

I really have my head in the clouds if I think that I'll be able to afford any of this for this month but isn't that what wishes are for?! Recently I've been wearing a lot of neutral shadows and bright lipsticks. I've completely ditched my signature liquid liner flick for a much more subtle, sculpted look and I'm loving it for Summer. I've even started some gentle contouring with bronzer and I'm feeling so much more confident with my beauty choices these days. The bright lips are turning a lot of heads in my small town but I'm putting it down to the classic "jealousy-gawk." As such, I think it's high time to get some higher quality shadows as "investment" pieces (wink) and throw some even more fun lipsticks into my collection!

1. Maybelline Vivid Lipstick Hot Plum, 2. Benefit Most Glamorous Nudes Ever, 3. Lime Crime My Beautiful Rocket, 4. Stila In The Light, 5. Lime Crime Velvetine, 6. Urban Decay Naked Basics

See? Gorgeous. Am I right or am I right? 

1. I have been declaring my unending love for Maybelline's Color Sensational Vivids for a while now and already have 3 (review and swatches here) but Hot Plum is calling my name. I originally deemed it too close in colour to Fuchsia Flash to warrant a purchase but I'm officially retracting the statement, I want! Being the cheapest product in my list it's possible I'll be able to smuggle this one into my collection... I'll keep you posted. 

2. I had Benefits Most Glamorous Nudes in my clutches in Cambridge after I had scrimped and saved my Boots points for MONTHS and what do you know, the tills weren't working and I couldn't spend my points. I reluctantly handed my beloved palette back to the grumpy assistant and never saw it again. My lust hasn't subsided and I'm determined to get it one day!

3. Lime Crime is the stuff of my dreams. I adore oranges and My Beautiful Rocket is perfection in a tube. I have a similar shade from Models Own but I imagine the pigmentation and lasting power of this is infinitely superior. One please!

4. The In The Light palette is so friggin' pretty! I love the colours and the swatches I've seen have been incredible. I'm also really excited about the liner included as I've been searching for the perfect brown liner for a while and I love this deep chestnut shade.

5. Lime Crime makes an impressive second appearance with it's beautiful Velvetines. I've heard tell that there will be some new colours in the future and I can't wait to see them! Frankly I'd take any of them; it's the stunning rose petal texture that has me clamouring for my purse and I think these are the epitome of old Hollywood Glamour.

6. Last but far from least. Velvety smooth and richly pigmented, the much loved Basics have been at the top of my list for way too long and it's high time I took them home. One day, I promise you Naked Basics, one day.

Has your wishlist just grown? I would love to hear any comments about the products shown if you've tried them!

Lauren

Review: 17 Mirror Shine Lipstick in Beehive | A.K.A The Most Perfect Shiny Nude Ever

I've been on the lookout for a perfect natural lip colour for ages and Beehive has been at the top of my wishlist for months. After a long fruitless search I just so happened to nip into Boots for a drink at St Pancras Station and the make up stands caught my eye (as usual.) Much to my surprise, there was the illusive Beehive. All nonchalant and beautiful. Needless to say I was ecstatic and it immediately went into my basket, along with a few other things... read about my day in London here.

I genuinely had no idea that the packaging had changed so dramatically from the old metallic turquoise tubes. I was totally unaware of the handy little mirror that popped out when I opened this! I definitely prefer the new sleek black look and find it much less garish than the old ones. They're still very easy to find in my collection because of the distinctive oblong shape and because this is actually my only lip product in black packaging. The only downside to the mirror is that it often pops out as you open the tube, but I've found that it's doing this less and less as I use it so I guess it's just a little snug at first. The lid fits very securely and there's a satisfying click as it snaps shut which I find very reassuring. There's no strong scent either, just a light typical lipstick scent that's certainly not offensive.

I had to take swatch photos from two angles here because the lighting washed the colour out a little. 

Ahh I love it! It was love at first swatch. Smooth, shiny and moisturising with a beautiful sheer peachy-pink tint. It's almost like a lip butter texture because it's so soft. I've worn this ridiculously often since purchasing and I love how full and shiny it makes my lips look. It's certainly not an opaque lip colour so the natural pigmentation of your lips will change the shade to what I like to think of as a custom match. It's so easy to slick on with any make up look and is the ideal finishing touch to a natural every day look. Wear time isn't amazing due to the texture but it fades very evenly and I really don't mind topping up every three hours or so. I generally try not to buy into blogger hype but this one was well deserved!

£4.59 from Boots and currently included in the 3 for 2 deal!

Final Verdict: The blogger hype is well deserved. A perfect sheer, shiny, neutral for all skin tones.

Have you tried Beehive? What's your neutral lip holy grail product?

Lauren

December Eye Make-Up Challenge: Introduction and Day 1 "Something Natural"

I recently came across a really interesting idea for a month-long eye make-up challenge at Beth's blog All Things Beautiful.  Unfortunately it was for October so I thought that I wouldn't be able to enter the competition that she had created around it. However, I wanted to do it so much that decided to email Beth and see if she would allow me to slightly adapt her competition into a personal December challenge. Being the lovely person that she is, she told me that she was fine with letting me do it and would even allow me to enter my creations into her competition for a chance at the prize! Needless to say I'm thrilled as this is just a wonderful perk to my original goal of getting outside my comfort zone and practising my skills. Thank you Beth. So here is my slightly different version:

I'm going to do a look every other day starting today. You can find all the information about Beth's original challenge here. Make sure you have a look around and see what other people have done!

So without further ado, here is my "Natural" offering for December 3rd:

I used my MUA Undressed Palette Exclusively to create this look! I even used the included sponge applicator to see if I could make it look good. I don't think it did too bad a job at all, proof that you don't need expensive brushes to create a nice natural eye look!

This is how I used my palette. Lots of blending later and I'm quite happy with the result! I also added a single layer of mascara using my Body Shop Super Volume Mascara in Black. I realise that it could have been a lot more natural (for example just mascara) but I really wanted to push myself by combining some neutral eye shadows. I hope you like my interpretation.

So that's challenge number 1! The competition is still open at Beth's blog for her original challenge so get entering if it's something you fancy doing. I would love to see some more of these looks!

What do you think of my natural look?

Lauren

FOTD: Off Duty Cool

I usually don't wear any make up when I'm relaxing inside the house but when I'm out and about during daytime I like a light wash of skin brightening make up. Inevitably, if you go out looking like you just woke up, you will run into your ex/that girl that was mean at school/that person that you had a crush on for like a year and they never asked you out.

1. A smooth moisturised base with light foundation and concealer and little bit of highlighter on the cheek bones.

2. A champagne coloured shimmer shadow washed over the lid and a little under the bottom lash line. I used Marshmallow Shimmer Cube from The Body Shop. Choc Chip was used to just add a slight shadow to my upper lash line.

3. A couple of slicks of mascara, I used Maybelline's Collosal Cat Eyes.

4. For a teensy bit of colour, I blended out a smudge of Barry M's Flamingo Peach on my lips and topped with a Body Shop peachy lip gloss and I used The Body Shop's Macaroon blush to brighten the apples of my cheeks.

My hair here is what I'm most proud of ( I know it's not exactly face!) This was achieved using the Enrapture Totem Styler, which I've been using for the past couple of weeks, on setting 2-2-2 (using chunky sections.) I used Tresemme Heat Defence before blow drying and before tonging and Silvikrin Hair Spray to set before lightly brushing out. Great, effortless-looking big curls! This is my favourite off-duty hair style. I'll do a review on that styler soon and show you a few of the great ways to use it.

What's your go-to relaxed weekend look?

Lauren

p.s. I know that my hair is 3 different colours :( I'm a natural dark blonde and I'm trying to gracefully grow out my chemical laden locks. Please be kind!

FOTD: Casual Work/Daytime Make Up

This is a great casual look for work or school. I tried to work around the idea of "subtle definition."  The main focus here is clear, pretty skin and bright eyes! I work in a clothes shop which can be really draining. I don't need to tell anyone that's ever worked in retail that people can really push your limits sometimes. So feeling down combined with shopping centre dryness can be a nightmare for skin.

I used my moisturising foundation to inject some moisture into my skin and even out my complexion and followed it with a little concealer under the eyes and around the nostrils. I then set this with some pressed powder.

For the eyes I used my bronze body shop shimmer cubes in choc chip and dark chocolate. I used choc chip as a light wash over the entire lid, blended out at the top towards the brow bone, and dark chocolate to add some shadow in my crease and define a little of the lash line. I lined with a black liquid liner coming up into a slight point at the end of the lash line. Two coats of black mascara on the top lashes and one coat on the bottom helped open up my eyes without going over board.

I finished this look with little peach blusher and a slick of lip balm. 

Et voila! A simple, quick day time look that the boss can't argue with.

Lauren

p.s. I know about the eyebrows. :(