Bourjois Rouge Edition Aqua Laque

When i saw the new release to the Bourjois Rouge Edition lip range i was instantly drawn in. Im not sure if it was the gorgeous summer shades or the new shiny packaging but i knew i had to try them.

Whereas the Rouge Edition Velvet were a matte formula liquid lipstick, the new Rouge Edition Aqua laque are a liquid lipstick with a glossy finish. 

There are eight shades in the collection i picked three of my favourites 02 Rose on the Rocks a pale nude pink shade thats a great everyday go with everything sort of colour, the hint of pink means it doesn't wash you out and it also goes well over other lipsticks, 08 Babe idole a coralish pink colour thats just a nice in between pink its not too bold and is also very wearable, i think the coral hint makes it a very flattering and pretty shade for Summer, and last but not least 07 Fuchsia perche a pinky/red shade and the brightest of the three, again its a very flattering colour and although bright i think the glossy finish makes it slightly more wearable than a matte formula would be. 

Its the formula of the Aqua Laque that i instantly fell in love with, they are light, moisterising and non-sticky the sort of product that you forget your even wearing. They are incredibly glossy with a high shine finish, i find although they have a good pigmentation it takes a couple of layers for a full even coverage of the lips. Bourjois claim there's no need to line the lips as the formula doesn't bleed, however particularly with the darker shades i just don't think this is true and i think they are not the simplest thing to apply defiantly not a no mirror on the go job. I don't find they last particularly well on the lips but with something this glossy i wouldn't expect them too, the darker colours do leave a slight stain to lips though which is nice. I think they are a great lip product for Summer when you want something a bit lighter, just a simple light wash of colour, they even smell lovely and fruity i will definitely be popping a couple in my holiday makeup bag! 

Have you tried the Bourjois Rouge Edition Aqua Laque? What did you think?

Zoe 

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Benefit Blogger Meet up Exeter

Emily, Hannah, Tayla, Lauren, Dayna, Me

Last month i was invited to attend a Benefit Blogger meet up at the House of Fraser store in Exeter. The meet up was arranged by fellow blogger and Benebabe Tayla, and was a chance to get a few local bloggers together and have an introduction to Benefit and a play with the products.
We arrived to a fun and welcoming atmosphere, there was music playing, sweets, cakes and pink lemonade. It was great to meet the other bloggers there was only five of us but all were lovely as were the two Benefit girls and it was a relaxed easy going atmosphere.
We got introduced to the Benefit products starting with skincare, through to primers and foundations etc with a chance to test any products out we wanted along the way. I was particularly interested in trying out the now infamous Roller Lash mascara and They're Real push-up liner, and i was very impressed with the mascara its now on my makeup wishlist as i can see what all the hypes about it curled my lashes like a dream.
I had such a great time it was fun to really get to play and test out all the makeup and ask any questions you wanted to both Tayla and the other lovely Benefit girl.
Before we left we given the cutest little goodie box that included a few Benefit skincare samples along with the cutest little mini Porefessional, They're Real push-up liner and Remover.
Massive thanks to Tayla for organiseing, it was great to meet the over girls and i hope to see more events like this in the area soon!

Zoe

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Summer Mermaid Eye Look, With Bold & Nude Lip Options

With a nude Lip..

Face-

Hourglass Mineral Veil Primer

Mac Studio Fix Foundation

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer

NYX Cream Conceal, Correct, Contour Palette

Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit

Dermablend Setting Powder

Benefit Coralista Blusher

Benefit Watts Up Highlighter

Makeup Revolution Oil Control Setting Spray

Eyes/Eyebrows-

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz

Urban Decay Vice 3 palette (shades used) Truth- Brow bone, Undone/Downfall- Crease, Dragon- Crease, Freeze- Lid/bottom lashline, Heroine- Outer corner.

L'oreal Gel Intenza Eyeliner

Bourjois Volume 1 Second Mascara Ultra Black

Lips-

Bold- Maybelline Super Stay Tangerine Dream

Nude- Mac Hue with Bourjois Rouge Edition Aqua Laque 02 on top.

The Urban Decay Vice 3 palette is still without a doubt my favourite eyeshadow palette, i constantly find myself reaching for it and considering i've had it since November last year thats a long time for it to have stayed as my firm favoutite. What i love is the mixture between more wearable neutrals and more bold out there colours, as i love to experiment with my makeup particularly eye looks its just gives so many options. The last eye look i did and posted about was using the gold, orange and cranberry shades for a winter look (post here) this time i thought i would have a play and come up with something for Summer. 

There is a few colours in the palette that really stood out to me as great Summer colours a bold metallic green, blue and a darker matte blue shade. I've listed above the shades i used and where i used them and i love how it looks, it actually a lot more blue the camera just hasn't picked it up as well as it looks in person but i think its got a very Summery Mermaid vibe. I thought it would be interesting to pair it with a bold coral lip as i think in Summer you can just be brave and rock full on colour if your feeling it, however if your not into so much colour with your makeup i've shown it with a nude lip which is a lot more subtle and just lets the eyes do the talking. 

What do you think of my Summer Mermaid Look?

Zoe

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LiLash & LiBrow Review with Before & After Results

I was very excited a few months back to be given the chance test out a couple of new products Lilash* and Librow* serums that claim to help your eyebrows and eyelashes grow longer and thicker, having always wanted longer and fuller eyelashes without the help of false lashes i jumped at the chance. 

The Lilash & Librow duo came beautifully packaged inside the box with purple paper and ribbon which i think was a lovely touch. Inside the box itself you receive the two boxes of serum and a cute little crystalized compact mirror with the the logo on. 

LiLash claims to condition and fortify your lash follicles to help create the most beautiful eyelashes you have ever experiences whilst LiBrow claims to enhance the fullness of your eyebrows by conditioning the brow follicles and gently darkening brow hair with a unique botanical tinting agent to help achieve striking arches and gorgeous brow definition. 

They are both to be applied once a day to clean lashes and brows, i apply them both at night after removing my makeup giving them plenty of time to really absorb into the lashes and brows. Now if your anything like me and your night-time beauty routine is a bit all over the place you might struggle to remember to apply it, i actually did pretty well and pretty much managed to apply it every day, if you forgot you could always apply it the morning instead just leave a few minutes for it to really absorb and dry before applying any makeup to those areas. 

They say it takes about six weeks to see results however after applying the LiLash and LiBrow serums for a couple of weeks i quickly started to notice results, i think the LiBrow started to become more noticeable first. I'm not someone who really has a problem with brow hair although quite light in colour their definitely not sparse and as I'm pretty terrible with brow maintenance and plucking there never over plucked, however i started to notice i was having to pluck them a lot more as they were getting a bit out of control. I think the results of the Lilash took a bit longer to set in but i started to notice them looking a lot more wispy looking and definitely longer there also seemed to be a lot of new lashes growing and filling out any sparse gaps. 

After having applied the LiLash & LiBrow serums for twelve weeks i am happy to share the results as you can see from the pictures below they have made a difference. I think the results of the LiBrow has been hard from me to show as i obviously have had to pluck my eyebrows in that time a hell of a lot more than usual may i add and because they were pretty full before anyway its hard to notice a difference from pictures. The LiLash on the other hand you can clearly see my lashes are not only longer but fuller they also look a lot wispier which i really love. 

Before...

After....

I have been really impressed with both serums, i would definitely recommend them to anyone who perhaps has over-plucked their brows and wants to help growing areas back or who wants to give their lashes a bit of a boost.

What do think about my LiLash & LiBrow results?

Zoe

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Top Five Tips to Keep Your Makeup Lasting Longer For Oily Skin

1= moisturise

You may think that because your skin is so oily the last thing you want to do is put more moisture on to the face right? 

In fact oily skin or not you should still use a moisturiser, i find if i don't use one my skin tends to get even oilier, as when my skin feel more dry it tends to over compensate for that by producing more oil which you obviously don't want. Oily skin doesn't need a hardcore heavy duty moisturiser like more dry skins may require. I like to use light versions specially targeted for oily/combination skins, my current favorite is the La Roche-Posay Efaclar Duo.

2= Prime the skin

To keep your makeup lasting as long as possible it is essential to use a good primer, after all if you want your makeup to do the distance you need to prep the skin as much as possible. 

There are a lot of different varieties of primer available, for oily skin i would recommend an oil free primer or one designed to be long wearing. Primers will give skin that extra barrier between your skin and foundation, also oily skin is commonly associated with having more open large pores which a lot of primers aimed at oily skin will be designed to eliminate. I am currently testing out the Hourglass Mineral Veil primer a previous favorite of mine is the Estee Lauder Matte Perfecting primer. 

3= Use a targeted foundation

If you have oily skin its best to use a foundation specially created for oily skin types, as with the primers these will be oil free or formulas that claim to be long lasting/wearing. Im not saying if you have oily skin you have to go for this type of foundation i've just found in my experience theses formulas are you best bet when you want your foundation to last as long as possible. The majority of more long wearing foundations tend to be slightly thicker heavier formulas for example Estee Lauder Double Wear is probably one of the best foundations i have tried at keeping shine at bay however i find it feels slightly mask like and due to that i just don't use it anymore. Mac's Studio Fix is one of my most recent foundation purchases (full review) it has a great long lasting formula and although quite thick it doesn't feel mask like or make the skin look flat like Double Wear. For a much lighter long lasting formula my everyday favorite is the Nars All Day Luminous Weightless foundation which is a lot lighter than most. Application wise i really like to us the Real Techniques Stippling Brush, i find that really working the foundation into my skin works a lot better at making it last longer. 

4= Set your foundation

Probably the most important advice i could give for keeping your make up on for longer is to set your foundation. I know if i don't set my foundation with powder i will be facing an oil slick situation within the hour. To set my foundation i have been using the Vichy Dermablend Setting powder, its a translucent powder so it wont add any extra colour to the skin, its very light and just helps to set the foundation and give the skin a matte finish. A little tip that i have been doing to really set the makeup underneath is to wet a beauty blender or makeup sponge, i've been using the Real Techniques one and to then dip it into the loose powder quite heavily and apply it to the areas you want to set, it looks a little crazy but it will blend in i promise, i leave it to set for a few minutes while i do for example my eye makeup and then work it into the skin with a Kabuki Brush. I think the technique is called baking, i've seen You Tuber's use it for contouring but i find it works well at setting my makeup. 

5= Setting Spray

Setting sprays are designed as a finishing touch to your makeup, to keep all your hard work looking good for as long as possible. There are various formulas available, for oily skin types again its best to go for ones that claim to be long wearing and oil controlling. 

I really find i don't feel my makeup routine is complete without using one, once i've set my foundation in place with powder applied my bronzer blusher etc i just want to finally set all of that in place. Also if your somebody that perhaps prefers a more fresh dewy finish to the skin that sometimes products aimed towards oily skin do not provide a setting spray can really help to give that fresh look back to the skin. Right now i've been loving Makeup Revolutions Oil Control Fixing Spray, there is also various versions available from Mac and Urban Decay. 

I hope there tips have been helpful, do you have oily skin what are your top tips?

Zoe 

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Outfit, Icy Blue Checks

Jacket- River Island

Blouse- River Island

Jeans- New Look

Shoes- New Look

You may not be able to tell from the pictures but it was actually raining fairly heavily whilst these pictures were being taken, got to love the unpredictable British weather. The jacket is actually perfect for this time of year, the light drapey style is so easy to throw on to add an extra layer without being too much. I love the icy blue colour it seems to be very popular at the moment as are checks so i thought i was definitely onto a winner.

The trousers are actually wet look jeans, they do look a lot like leather trousers but i expect there miles more comfortable, very thin and stretchy i also really like the ripped knees they were a mega bargain from New Look. The blouse is just a simple wrap style that goes well with so many things, i've been wearing it quite a lot lately even though its an absolute nightmare to iron which speaks volume of how much i like it. The shoes are still a firm favorite of mine and are also getting a fair bit of wear, i think they just dress up an outfit nicely.

What do you think of my outfit?

Zoe

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