40 Beauty Questions.

I'm currently sat here, purple from my hair dye (it's black by the way, not purple but it stains purple) so I thought I'd do this beauty questions quiz.


Skincare Questions



How many times do you wash your face daily? I was my face twice a day most of the time.
What skin type do you have? (dry,oily,combo) I have super dry skin that's also currently suffering with clogged pores =(
What is your current facial wash? I don't use a wash actually, I use like a milk cleanser to take off my make-up and an oil cleanser too.
Do you exfoliate? I do about twice a week.
What brand do you use? well I'm currently between brands, I just bought the body shop facial buffer today and I'm looking for a nice exfoliator.
What moisturizer do you use? Avene rich compensating cream at the moment at night but I have the light one for the day
Do you have freckles? No, I don't actually.
Do you use eye cream? No, but I am planning on getting one to see if it makes my eye area look nicer
Do you or did you have acne prone skin? sort of, I don't get spots but I do get clogged up pores, so is that sort of the same thing?
Did you ever have to use Pro-activ? nope.

Make-up Questions

What foundation do you use? NARS Sheer Glow

How about concealer? MAC's moisture cover but I don't like it anymore so I think I'm after the Bobbi Brown one now

Do you know your undertone color? I think I do I'm neutral with a slight lean to cool

What do you think of fake eyelashes? I love how they look but I aruge with them to look nice so I think I'm going to stick with corner ones, but I think I'll get full on falsies for my prom.


Did you know that you are suppose to change your mascara every 3 months? I do but I also know that is a lie and it's really 6 months.


What brand of mascara do you use? Currently Dior, after I found that it's really 6 months and I have been lied to I bought a high end one I'd craved.

Sephora or MAC?
I'm in the UK so MAC, but If we had Sephora I'd go for Sephora.


Do you have a MAC Pro-card? No but I'll be able to get one next year :)

What make-up tools do you use in make up application? Brushes and sometimes fingers but I like using brushes.

Do you use make-up base/primer for the eyes? I do, I use a Paintpot or Too Face Shadow Insurance but I prefer Paintpots.

For the face? I'm useing a GOSH one but its not as good as the sample one I tried for the new one that comes in a pot, with dry skin I think using a primer helps with application but not with lastings power is has no impact on me. I'm going to get the Laura Mericer one soon I hope.

What is your favorite eyeshadow ? I love NARS Fez or Mekong, I wish I could wear Mekong all over all the time!
Do you use pencil or liquid eyeliner? Liquid pen liner thingys or Pencils, I love both.
How often do you poke your eyes with an eyeliner pencil? Too often I'm natural clumsy and misjudge the distance.
What do you think of pigment eyeshadows? I like the Naked one I have from MAC but I'm not too into loose shadows.
Do you use mineral makeup? NO. I don't get the hype.
What is your favorite lipstick? MAC's Girl About Town.
How about lipgloss? I love my new Dior one, they're such pretty colour all of them!
What is your favorite blush to use? Either Azalea Blossom or I love Topshop Crushed Berry
Do you buy your makeup on ebay? Not often but I have done.
Do you like drugstore makeup? Yeah, I like Revlon alot and sometimes Rimmel.
Do you go to CCO's? (cosmetic company outlets) No, Uk girl :( I shall be visiting in the US though and hauling like a mad woman
Did you ever consider taking make-up classes? I am actually doing a theatrical make up course in September and I can't wait.
Are you clumsy in putting on makeup? no, I think I'm pretty good but I've got plenty room to improve on my skills.
Name a makeup crime that you hate? Spindery lashes, too thin brows, and being orange.
Do you like colorful shades of makeup (lipstick,eyeshadow) or neutral ones? Bright lips neutral eyes.
Which celebrity always has great make up? Kat Dennings, Dita Von Teese and Leighton Meester are all beautiful with great make up. I love Taylor Momsen too but not everyday.
If you could leave the house using just ONE make up item,what would you use? Foundation, but I'd look dead with no blush on too.
Could you ever leave the house without any makeup on? Yeah, I do quite a bit.
Do you think you look good even without any makeup on? no, I don't look very good.
In your opinion, what is the BEST makeup line? NARS I think, I love MAC's range of products but sometimes things are hit and miss on quality.
What do you think of Makeup? I love Make-up! shocker, I know.

I so don't get the deal with...

I don't know what it is about LUSH, but I really don't get it. I've tried and tried to like it and I just can't manage it! I will admit I liked the Butterball bath bomb's smell but I didn't like greasy feeling on my skin, it was too much or me! I also loved the smell off the melting marshmallow moment but it gets sickly after a while, along with the fact it dyed my bath pink for a couple of weeks after. I did buy a sugarscrub from them for my lips which tasted amazing but on it's own it was super hard to use so I mixed it with vasaline, and I do like it, but a 25g pot costs £5.00 and I think I could make it myself for cheaper! (I have also tried a handcream from here but lets not get into that one, when it comes to handcream I'm a very very fussy person)
I will say, I've not written this brand off yet, the shower jelly sounds like a fun concept and the 'Honey I Washed The Kids' soap might be one for me, but from the products I've tried I'm not getting the hyper around this brand.

Mineral Make-up, this is the one brand I've tried myself but I don't quite understand the appeal. Me and my mother were wondering Debenhams (The Monday before Spring Colour Forecast came out which my counter wouldn't yet sell :( I was very sad ) and a woman from the Bare Minerals counter pounced on us and offered to try some products on us, seeing as we had nothing better to do we decided to take her up on her offer as she was also giving away 10 day samples to people who tried the foundation. My mum went first, and loved it! the primer erased all pores, fine lines and visible imperfections (I must say though, my mum has very few) and the foundation colour was a great match and easy to apply, at this point I was sold too and let her take of my foundation and try it on me. Lets just say it wasn't a success, my face felt awful with it on and the lightest colour was all 'off'' and looked very very weird, it also took away from the fact I'm pale, and I may be one of the few but I like that I'm pale! after three hours of wear, I took the foundation off and the next day; spots galore! I thought this was meant to be good for your skin? not make it break out and feel sore and sort of clogged up? This has put me off the idea of mineral make up, but some smaller companies do look good but I've herd a few dozen re-packaging scandals *cough*Limecrime*Cough* I'm not sure who to trust!

I don't know what it is about these but I don't get it. People RAVE about Urban Decay's 24/7 liners but for me, they don't do anything more than any other liner does. Zero is meant to be the be-all-end-all of liners for the waterline but on me, it just looks sheer and doesn't stay on any longer than MAC's Feline or those cheapie Rimmel Kajal liners do and they do it with about 5x the intensity. Coloured eyeliner does very little for  me, but as a base these liners can work pretty well, but not well enough for me to want to buy a full-size, and they are actually about 2/3 the size of a MAC pencil (Which when I first got I was shocked by the size of). I actually don't get Urban Decay in general, I always look but never buy, nothing seems to grab me too much, there eyeshadows are meant to be really good but the one I tried was fallout city! I did want to dry the Alice palette but something stopped me getting it. I do wonder about their lipsticks though...

These are all things I often here talked about, but I just don't get the deal with them! What products do you hear people rave about all the time but just don't understand the hype?

FOTD 1 (Which is actually a face of Saturday...)

You can't see my eye make up very well thought but this was the only one where my face didn't look really bad! my liner was actually even in real life, Promise. This was my look for going to lunch and shopping with my best friend.


Face
NARS Sheer Glow in Siberia 
Illamasqua Translucent Loose Powder
Topshop Crushed Berry Cream Blush
Illamasqua Katie Blush (Lightly to add to staying power)
Eyes 
MAC Blanc Type
NARS Abyssinia 
MAC All Races
NARS Ondine 
Maybelline Define-A-line Liquid Pen Thingy 
MAC Feline (Tightlining)
Dior Show Extase Mascara


Lips 
MAC Girl About Town Lipstick
Rimmel Eastend Snob lipliner (I wear this under practically all lipsticks)


I think this looked nicer in real life and I can't find a good picture for my eye make up! I know it's not the best but I think once I get some better brushes I'll be able to do nicer looks (My 226 is on it's way in a swap!) 


Any blog posts you'd like to see? I have a Fafi Eyes Quad on the way in a swap too so I'll do a review and a look or two with that but are post's you'd like to see? Reviews of anything? If I don't have it I'll see if I can acquire it.


Also! Big thankyou to Camiloveskiwi for the mention on her blog! it was so sweet and thankyou to my new followers because of it!

In's and Out's

I love reading these so I thought I'd do my own.


In's


Clip In Extensions. Something you guys may not know or might have worked out, but my hair isn't my own, it's extensions, for some reason I decided to go blonde about two years ago and my hair is paying the price in having been cut short and my hair is taking forever to grow! so extensions it is and recently I've gotten into the habit of wearing them again after saying to myself it was too much effort when it takes me like 5 minutes! and I look so much nicer with long hair.


NARS Mekong. I'm using this everyday right now over liner pushed on with a 212 brush so all the glitter says on it and looks amazing rather than just flat black! 


The end of school - Thankgod! I've had a horrible 5 years and I can't wait for it to be over, and I must say if school day's are the best of your life then I truly have something to worry about


Glee. I'm a Gleek and proud! I love this show and I'm so happy we started recording it. 


Out's


With the end of school, comes the revision and the exams, when waiting for A MAC package the dogs went into full blown "ZOMG THAT MAN HAS THE CHEEK TO PARK HIS FAN IN MY STREET!!!!!" mode and my mother went to answer the door, as I'm getting excited that this is my parcel from MAC...nope. £50 of revision guides and work books from CGP...


The Sun. I'm a girl who's suffered with migraines for around about 5 years now and apparently the sun is now a trigger for my migraines so the summer means that could get alot worse but hopefully the new medication I've been given will help so my holiday to Florida will just mean alot of having to remember sunglasses, water and Migraleve pink pills.


MAC. Now, I'm not meaning to be blasphemous here but I'm sick of the new collections! all the time I feel like I've just recovered from the money I spent last time and they hit us with a new one I keep trying to stay away from hype but it's so hard.

Sigma Make Up SS197

Sigma Make-up SS197

Before using the brush I would use a MAC 187SE, 190SE or a 109 to apply liquid foundations an had problems with all of them. The 187 sheds a couple black hairs when you use it and it also takes forever to stipple with and it nowhere near dense enough to buff with (I must say, I do not understand why people like this for liquid foundation) the 190 leaves streaks like any regular foundation brush does which I really dislike, I also tried it with my gosh brush foundation brush which is much more 'fluffy' and the same issue an the 109 sheds like an absolute beast! it's super awful for liquid foundation in my opinion and I also don't understand the hype over this one. Right, before I start this review I will admit that I did only get this brush this week so it's a bit of a first impressions review but so far, I am truly in love with this brush. I bought it for liquid foundation as I love my NARS sheer glow foundation but I needed a brush to give me the application I wanted without much effort (Lazy me...) and this brush really does deliver. It's super dense, the most dense brush I've ever felt actually and it gives me a flawless finish in no time. I just get a bit of foundation and buff it into my skin and it's done is no time! I can then go over it again in areas I want a bit more coverage. Now, I must be honest and say that I did think this brush would be a let down as I often find with brushes and things I buy online without being able to see them first but I was so pleasantly surprised by this brush!It's very sturdy with a big thick handle and hasn't shed during use or washing (been washed about 3 times, currently drying out actually) and it's incredibly soft!. It makes me curious about other Sigma brushes and I may even buy one of their kits, because if they're all as good as this one I'd be sorted brush wise!

The Good -

• The Price. I got this for about £15 and that is including post and packaging prices. 
• The Finish. This brush does give me the best finish I've had with a foundation before with no streaks and good coverage.
• Multi-purpose. This brush actually works really well with cream blush, I'm waiting for my 130 brush so that I can give that a whirl but I do like this brush too, it's down fall is only that it's a little big.
• Shipping from Sigma was quick, it took around a week to get to me from the US.

The Bad 

• It takes Forever to dry! I'm currently washing it once every 2 days and that keeps it nice and clean but deep cleaning is a little difficult as the brush is so dense and takes a while to dry, but an easy way around it is to wash it after you use it and it will be ready for using again the next day...or buy two! I honestly think that this brush would be the sort I'd pay close to £30 at MAC so being able to get two for that price is great for something really high quality. 
• Can only be bought online, which might put some people off if you like to have a feel of a brush before you buy it.
• It was out of stock for about 4 months! it's currently back in stock and apparently has some slightly changes from the original (The original had SS197 on the handle where as this one has Flat Top Synthetic Kabuki) so perhaps  the delay was getting the changes to the brush but I'd still say buy it now when it's still in stock!

All round, I love this brush, love it, love it, love it, I've never had a finish like this and the only serious con for me is that it takes ages to dry after washing but I think it's a minor flaw that's unavoidable in having a seriously dense brush so I would buy another one so I could wash it on a night and have a clean dry brush every morning but I do really recommend this brush and if you were thinking of buying it I'd say go for it!

Also quick question ; How often do you wash your brushes? I wash all of my brushes at least once a week and my foundation brushes once every two days, but how often do you do it?

*Pictures found on google images*

Current Lemmings and a bit of an offload

I decided that I was going to make a little list of things I currently wish to own as a way to pass a bit of time. It's almost 8 o'clock on a Tuesday night and I've intended to start working on my case study on Nuclear Power since around half three this afternoon, but I've managed to put it off by playing with the dog, or watching Fringe, I even tried to have a little nap, but that didn't go too good, I think this is going to be the last time-wasting activity that I have before I am actually going to have to start working on it. 

So, onto the actual post topic!

I've been hauling like crazy for the past month and a half, but I'm not done yet! My stash/kit has been growing like mad recently but I still think I need a few things to 'complete' it!

YSL Rouge Volupte Lipstick

Lipsticks actually, I really fancy Lingere Pink, and maybe Rose Culte also. I don't know what it is about these lipsticks but in swatches they look beautiful! the classy packaging is also a plus point for me. Rose Culte especially look like it could be a HG lip colour for me, I thought I had found my HG lip colour in MAC's Blood Rose (LE, obviously...) but that was involved in a terrible accident with my washing machine that I still cannot explain, and the counters near me and the website were all sold out at this point. Despite being a berry colour, I think it was the rose tones that brightened my face up. Here's to hoping...

CHANEL Pro Lumière

I'm in love with my NARS Sheer Glow and when my SS197 arrives I have a feeling my love will grow even stronger, but for some reason unknown to me, I am craving this foundation so much. I like to change my foundation now and then, unless my skin aggressively objects to it, and this seems like a good contender as it also claims to tighten pores which seems to be a massive issue for me at the moment. The only problem seems to be that the shades are confusing, in the Mat Lumière the lightest shade is '05' but in Pro Lumière the lightest shade is '10' but the next shade down in both is '20', so does that mean that the Mat Lumière is lighter than the Pro Lumière? If somebody knows, please tell me! if not, I'll try get myself down to the Metro Centre soon and see for myself...provided my lazy arse can be bothered that is! 

Illamasqua Cream Blush

For about a month and a half, I have been desiring a cream blush. I've never had one before but apparently they are amazing to prolong the life of powder blush and look amazing on their own with foundation. The colour 'Sob' which I swatched it in Fenwicks two weeks ago looked amazing on my hand in store and in daylight and I've herd good things about Illamasqua's cream blush and I am a big fan of their power blush I'm sure these are no different. My only problem, a problem I'm sure is fairly common in Illamasqua is which colour to go for? 

NARS 'Scarlet Empress' Lipstick

After all the red lipsticks I've tried, Ruby Woo, Russian Red, a couple hundred drugstore lipsticks and one or two from Illamasqua, I think I've finally found the  perfect red lipstick. When I found this lipstick in SpaceNK around two months ago I fell in love. A classic red is something I think every girl need to have, there;s a perfect red for everyone and I think, I might have found mine.

A Contour Colour?

I need something to try make my face look a little more sculpted. Having a bit of a rough time at the moment (and over the past year or two) has made me turn to the most wonderful people. Ben & Jerry, the two most calorific men in the world! which also means I've put on a stupid amount of weight which is why I'm trying hard to do something about it, but in the mean time, I need something to make my mainly round face look nicer. I bought a Scuplt&Shape Duo in a blogsale (Held by Lillian who's blog you should check out and follow) but the darker colour is too warm toned so I look a bit funny. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know! 

Review - NARS Sheer Glow Foundation

I've been using NARS Sheer Glow Foundation for around two weeks now, which I think is long enough to give it a fairly good review. I herd about this foundation many times over Youtube Make-up Alley and other forums for a few months but I never bought it untill recently. Two major factors caused me to be a bit put off it, the words sheer and glow which to a girl who normally wore fairly high coverage foundations that were very matte sounded incredibly unappealing. The other, being the price tag, which is pretty steep at £29 at pop for the average 30ml of foundation. but for some reason, I decided I wanted it, partly down to the fact that my foundation wasn't working for me and I realised that matte skin didn't suit me at all and was drying out my skin, and I got it for my birthday.
This foundation really works for me, it feels like there is nothing on your skin at all, and the colour is as close to perfect as I've ever had (Siberia) and offers just enough coverage that it still looks very natural but flawless, I personally think under-eye concealer is needed on me, but may not be for you. I set this foundation with Illamasqua's loose powder but I plan to try some others soon, has this can sometimes make my skin look a little dry.
The downfall of this product is the fact that it has no pump which means that you could waste foundation, and if you were to knock it over or the lid were to come loose when you were travelling it could lead to a bit of a disaster. The only other flaw I've found is that I can't find a brush which works really well with it, but I have that problem with most liquid foundation
for me this is a wonderful foundation and the best I've had to date, the coverage and weightless feel make it worth it's price tag 100%!


Here's a quick pro's and con's list for you


Pro's 
Great Coverage.
Feels as if nothing is on your skin.
Easy to blend.
Great colour match for my pale skin (I'm unsure for other skintones)
Perfect stain finish, not too matte nor to dewy.
Non Drying.


Con's 
No Pump! this leads to wasting foundation by pouring out too much. I have herd that they may be selling one apparently, but I don't now.
Which setting powder?
Bit of a big price tag (By my standards at least)


Since I only have three gripes with this foundation, I really do think it is amazing! current HG foundation, but I won't stop looking for more.
I'd give this foundation at least an 8/10.


What foundation is your Holy Grail foundation? and what do you think is the best brush for liquid foundation?


Thanks for reading, I'll answer any questions in comments :)
Simone xxx