Urban Decay's Naked Basics Palette!

Hello... it's been a while hasn't it? :P

I'm sorry for the lack of posts, I've just not known what to post recently! I've felt like I've had a blog block sort of thing. There's been things I've thought "oh that would make a decent post!" but then forgot what it was the next day when I come to write it up! pfft! So I've decided to get a blog book haha, and it's actually really helpful! I don't have to sit around wondering 'hmm, what shall I post today...' then not be able to think of anything. So my blog shall be alive and kicking again! I've got plenty of post ideas and all written down in my new handy dandy book and am more motivated than ever to get blogging! :D

Today I thought I'd start with something simple and a fairly recent purchase which is The Naked Basics from Urban Decay.

Now seeing as I own the Naked 1 and 2, I didn't need it...at all. But it lured me in...and after reading all the wonderful reviews I just caved...with a little help from the Urban Decay lady who did a very good job at persuading me too! lol.

The palette is teensy tiny, the same size of my iPhone 3g (I'm retro), and feels quite rubbery which I really like for some reason. :) 

When it's in my hand it feels good! As daft as it sounds, it feels nice to hold. :P And with the large mirror in the lid, it's most definitely perfect to throw in your handbag.

The colours are all perfect to take you from an everyday daytime eye look to a dramatic evening make-up!

They are all matte shades apart from the first colour in the palette, Venus, which my favourite along with Naked 2. :P

They swatch beautifully and blend like a dream. The consistency of the shadows are incredibly smooth and have amazing colour pay off. They are a little bit powdery when you're trying to get colour on your brush but I don't think that's a major problem; not when the quality otherwise is so fabulous! :)

I love this little palette and it's so handy to just grab and do an eye look with super fast! There isn't an over whelming amount colours which works to my advantage because I ooh and ahh about what to put on my eyes for that long, I hardly have time to put anything on in the end! :P

Overall, I definitely recommend it! If you haven't got either of the Naked palettes it's a good one to try. If you do have both Naked palettes, you probably don't need this! 

It's fantastic for anyone who loves their neutrals and mattes or for anyone on the go too!

You get 6 shadows and each shadow contains 1.3g of product... I believe that's six full sized shadows for £20! One potted single eyeshadow from Urban Decay costs £14 in itself!! :O

If you're interested in this palette you can get it *here* for £20 or at any Urban Decay counter! :D

I also just want to say thank you to all my new followers and thank you to everyone who entered my MAC giveaway recently! :) The winner was randomly chosen via Rafflecopter and Random.org who happened to be Marvelle from Blog of Shadows! So congratulations! And I shall be having more giveaways soon! :D

I hope everybody has a happy Monday and thank you for reading!!

Love, Kerry 

xo

300 Follower MAC Giveaway!!

Wow!!

Thank you all so much for following me and my little blog! Imagining three hundred people that follow me... it's amazing so thank you all so very, very much!

To say thank you, I want to do a little giveaway. As it's paid with my own money and I don't have much of it; this is just a very small something to say thank you. :) 

As with my last giveaway, it's for followers, old and new. Whether you follow me whilst this giveaway is running or you've followed from the start, I appreciate every follower and every possible future follower too!

Rules & Terms:

• Follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter widget!
• Please give me up to 2 weeks to allow your prize to be delivered to me, as I will be ordering them online before sending them on to you.
• Please make sure whatever products you choose, that they are not limited edition so I will be able to get a hold of them! 
• It's a worldwide giveaway as long as Royal mail ships to your country. :)
• GOOD LUCK!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Go-To Eye Make-Up for Autumn! | Ft. MAC Cosmetics

These past 6 years I've worn make-up I can honestly say this is the first year I've felt like wearing different make-up/nail polish due to the weather. I'd crave pink nail polish in the middle of winter any other time, but this year I can't get enough of the vampy reds and dark browns. The same goes with my make-up.

Soon as late September hit and the leaves were turning orange, red and brown; I was just craving eyeshadow that mimicked those tones.

I decided to use Cranberry from MAC, a shade I love but always made me look sickly; but I used it as my crease colour rather than my lid colour...which anyone who can pull the Cranberry lid colour look off, I admire you! :P

And as I've been neglecting my MAC shadows for my Too Faced ones I figured it was time to give them some love again!

I know it's not the best photo ever, but it was the best out of the bunch I took! hahah.

On my eyes I have: 

Naked Lunch as my Brow and Inner Corner Highlight

All That Glitters on my Lid

Cranberry in the Crease and Lower Lash Line

Embark in the Outer Corner and Lower-Outer Lash Line

MAC Dipdown Fluidline Gel Liner
YSL Faux Cils Shocking Mascara
And Benefit Browzings in Medium on Brows

All eyeshadows are from MAC. I made a little quad up with the colours and it's like the perfect little fall eyeshadow quad! haha. 

You can purchase MAC Cosmetics *here* and all the shadows are permanent so you should be able to get them. :)

I hope everyone has a nice day... I can't believe it's almost Christmas already! It's insane!

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Ombré Nude Lips? | Yes or No? :)

I know before I even start typing this post I'm not sure this will be many people's cup of tea, haha. :P

Ombré nude lips... hmm.... well it's only a minor ombré effect but it makes my lips look a little bigger compared to a normal lipstick/without lipstick. Granted, once I put it on I don't tend to reapply because it's a faff, but if you have a bit of spare time leftover after you've finished your make-up this is quite fun to do. :D

To keep it subtle I used two very similar shades of lipliner. They're in the same family of colours but one's just a shade or two darker than the other. The colours I used were Caramel and Nude from No.7. Caramel is the darker colour on the right and Nude is the first colour on the left. 

Even though I used a flash with these pictures the colours are very true to real life... I'm having a hard time with the natural light since the clocks went back, pfft!

Firstly I just thickly lined my lips with Caramel before taking the Nude pencil and filling in the center of my lips, slightly over-lining the edge of the Caramel colour to blend them in. 

It melted :(

Then I applied Creme D' Nude from MAC to the centre of my lips as it's the only opaque nude-nude I own that doesn't make me look dead.

Then I got a tissue and lightly blotted...partly to blend but mostly to clean up the thick coating of lipstick I put on because I'm heavy handed! Usually a simple smushing of the lips together does the trick! hahaha.

Which left me with this! Please excuse the close up of my lips... I had a macro cap on the end of my camera and after thinking, "wow, how cool, it's so close up!!" I realised... no one should have to see my lips that close up and in so much detail!! 

 And finally there's some swatches of the products so you're not left with the image of my lips imprinted on your brain till you click over to the next blog... :) 

No.7 are available from Boots in the UK and possibly Target in the US?! 

If you do fancy one of these lip liners you can get them in your local Boots store or online here for £6.75! Keep an eye out for the Boots vouchers though and you'll get £3 off (sadly it's not £5 anymore) any No.7 make-up or skincare. I don't believe they're out at this very moment but if they do come out, it's a great time to grab one of these! :)

Have a nice day...and again, apologies for the macro lips!! hahaha.

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Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation

So... I bought this... And at £34 from Selfridges, it was a complete impulse buy in a moment of madness!

I had an uncontrollable urge and...and I don't have any excuse for myself... the girl asked if I needed help and I said I wanted it... the shop was closing... I felt pressured! ... 

Nah, just kidding; I needed a new foundation so decided to give this one a shot. Although the part about it closing was true, I probably would've thought "meh, maybe another time!" and I'm so glad I didn't! :P

So in a very simple, sleek, frosted glass bottle you get the standard 30ml of product and a pump, yay! As pumps go, it's a really nice pump too. :)

The formula is quite runny and it's a light to medium coverage which I've realised now... that's all I need. I was always going for the high coverage foundations in the past and maybe when I was 17 I could've justified it, but I'm 21 now and my skin isn't as temperamental as it used to be; so this is perfect!

I'm shade 2 and usually an Ivory in most foundations. It's nice to know they have such a great colour range with 18 colours from the palest to deepest of skintones. 

It's lightly fragranced, nothing heavy and I even had to smell it because I've never even noticed the scent before as it's so light! It's a light floral and it's quite pleasant indeed. :)

I apply this with a Sigma F80 or a Real Techniques Stippling Brush which is a very good alternative for those who can't get hold of Sigma! 

The finish of the foundation is just perfect! You can see on my hand and it looks that way on my face; but as I set with a little powder it turns to a semi-matte finish. It's just as long lasting on me as any long wearing foundation I've ever used, apart from this one doesn't claim to be!! 

Granted, it's a dewy finish, I do get a little oil in my T-Zone at the end of the night but I could easily blot and powder the shine away. 

I loved my Lancôme and thought it was the best foundation ever, but do you know what? I love this even more! This post has been in draft since July and it's mid November and I still have about 1/4 left! I will most definitely repurchase this. It's fantastic and if you're near a Giorgio Armani stand grab yourself a free sample pot!

Here are the product links!

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation

Sigma F80

Real Techniques Stippling Brush

What does anyone else think of Giorgio Armani foundations if you've tried them?! I've heard many good things about their Maestro Fusion Foundation!

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day! :) 

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Dior Amber Diamond!

If you've read this post that you'll know I was really disappointed with MAC's Soft & Gentle MSF highligher and ever since I've been on a quest to find the perfect one! ... I think I've found it!

After hearing so many people talk about this it was on my wishlist for an absolute age! But at £32, it wasn't just something I could run out and buy. Finally though, I got it! And it's beautifulllll! It's so beautiful! haha.

It comes in a box accompanied by a velour pouch, (which my pictures weren't very good so I left them out :P).

Five shades of shimmery powder all with warm undertones make up this product. They have a high shimmer but not glitter! On the face it looks like you're glowing not glittering, and when you hit the sun it's even prettier.

Apart from being a fantastic face highlighter, they're lovely eyeshadows! If you're somebody who doesn't wear much eye make-up on a daily basis this would be great for getting more of your money's worth out of it. I can imagine it looking especially pretty in the summer when you're more tanned and want to look extra glowy and don't want to wear much make-up. (Unless you live in England and the only indication that it's summer is the light nights.) :P

This is one of my favorite products I've bought this year and I think I'll love it even more in warmer weather. 

If you're more cooler under-toned rather than warm, then they do one for you too called Rose Diamond! Now I know I'm not pink toned but when my Boots points build up enough that's what I'm going to get!

I love the quality of the powder, it doesn't kick up a lot of dust and it's very silky. 

If you're on the market for a new luxurious highlighter... I think this is a good choice! 

Before I end the post, when I went to the Dior counter the lady there told me this had been discontinued and there'd been that much of an uproar they brought it back, but you have to ask for a tester!! So if you don't see it on display just ask for a tester and if by any chance they say it's discontinued, it isn't! :)

Get Rose & Amber Diamond, HERE.

What's your highligher of choice?

And I hope everyone has had a lovely day! :) 

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