May Makeup & Beauty Wish List

I've been adding a few things to my makeup wish list recently so I thought I’d share what is on it!

I obviously cannot afford to buy all of these products in one go, so as I've said before, I like to keep a list on my phone then I tend to buy one every few months.

1. Tanya Burr Lip gloss in ‘Chic’

This lipgloss looks like the perfect nude, everyday colour and it would be very easy to wear. I've heard a lot of good things about this and even Tanya herself said that it’s one of her favourites from her collection. I already have Tanya’s lip gloss in Picnic in the Park which I love because the formula is great and it smells amazing so I'm excited to try more.

2. NARS Illuminator

You may have noticed already that I LOVE the dewy skin look. I am in need of a good highlighter, I still like the Seventeen 3 way one however I do find it a little ‘too shimmery’ and It can be hard to wear without looking like a disco ball. The NARS Illuminator looks perfect for me; It claims to be a lightweight liquid that glides on the skin to enhance the complexion with shimmer. It can be applied all over the face or used as a highlighter. It sounds like the perfect, instant glow which would be perfect for summer!

3. Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in ‘In Love with Ginger’

Orange lips are big this summer and I really like the look of this Rimmel lipstick. I've heard a lot of beauty vloggers/bloggers talk about this particular lipstick and It sounds really good. I already have an orange toned lipstick however I find that It can be drying and doesn't sit well on the lips all day so this moisture renew formal sounds perfect for summer when you want a more moisturising lipstick.

4. Benefit Total Moisturiser Facial Cream

When I got my makeup done in Benefit a few weeks ago, their Total Moisturiser facial cream was used on my face before the makeup. I absolutely LOVED this moisturiser; the smell was amazing and it felt really moisturising but not too heavy on my skin (what could be more perfect?). I really like lots of Benefit products although I've always been put off by their expensive prices and I wouldn't usually spend £28 on a moisturiser so I would only buy this If I simply couldn't find anything else which seems to match up to its amazing performance.

5. L’oreal Lumi Magique Primer

I've been searching for the perfect primer for a while now and haven’t had much luck yet. I have tried the Benefit professional (I had a sample) although I hate to say this considering the amount of amazing reviews; I am not the biggest fan of it. I found that it slowly dried out my skin throughout the day. I have been using the Seventeen Flawless Poreless primer and I do like the formula so far but I hate the packaging; it’s so difficult to get enough product onto your face and I have a feeling that it won’t last long. My next hopeful is possibly going to be the L’oreal Lumi Magique primer; I haven’t heard much about this product but I'm willing to give it a try. Do you have any good recommendations for me?

6. Rimmel Kate Moss Rockin’ Curves Mascara

Rimmel have just brought out a new Kate Moss mascara and it looks good, I've always loved Rimmel mascaras so hopefully this one will be good! It’s available for just £4.99 from boots at the moment so it’s worth a try and I hope that I’ll be impressed.

I could probably go on and on with a long list of thing’s which I’d love to buy but I think that’s all I want to mention this month. What’s on your wish list? Can you think of anything that you think I’d love? Let me know in the comments! Thank you for reading. X 

Benefit Gimmie Brow- Is It Worth The Money?

I mentioned in a previous post that I had been saving up my boot’s points and I finally decided to buy the Benefit Gimmie Brow with them. I wanted to give it a go after hearing a lot of different opinions of it; is it worth the money? £17.50 for a tiny brow gel, what’s so special?

In this post I'm going to be sharing my honest opinion of the product and telling you if I think that it’s worth the price tag.

Benefit claim that this product has fiber gels which colours the skin and hair. They say that it builds easily for thick, luscious arches thanks to the tapered brush for blending and has a precision tip for shaping. This gel comes in two different shades; light/medium and medium/deep and it retails at £17.50 In Boots.

Gimmie Brow is water resistant, long- wearing, natural looking and buildable. I agree with all of these statements and I think that it is great for every day long- wear use- perfect for school!

After previously using powder and a brush to fill in my brows, I am very impressed with how quick and easily I can now do my brows. If I was in a rush and needed to get out of the house quickly; this would be perfect because it takes me only a few minutes to apply. The brush for this gel is tiny so it allows you to quickly brush through the hairs.

I agree with the claim that Gimmie Brow has fibers which cling to the hairs to create thicker brows.

I think that this product would be perfect for school or for people who are always on the go. It’s a long lasting gel which looks very natural although It can be builded to create a more dramatic brow.

I would recommend the medium/deep shade because I found the lighter one to be too light. If you want to buy this product, you obviously want more defined and thicker brows and I personally think that the darker shade ticks those boxes.

One con with this product is that it can get slightly messy; although If you’re gentle and not going crazy that you’re about to miss your bus, you should be fine!

Gimmie Brow does do wonders, although you still need to keep your brows in shape. I get my eyebrow’s threaded once a month (painful- I know!), my brows grow quickly so you may be able to leave the time a bit longer between getting them seen to! However I have found that if my brows are looking a bit wild, Gimmie Brow works a treat and makes them look great!

(The 'After' photo is using one coat, however you could build it)

Overall, I really like this product and I think that if you can afford to spend £17 on a brow gel, go for it! It’s a great staple product and I can see myself using It for a long time religiously (I just hope that It lasts!)

However I do think that no matter how impressed I am, I do think that this is a very over priced product and I can’t see myself grabbing It without thinking when I run out of this one.

If you hate doing your eyebrow’s and find It difficult to get a perfect shape easily, Gimmie Brow would be perfect for you If you are willing to invest.

I hope you enjoyed this review and that It helped you If you were un sure about this product.  

Bake With Me- Coconut & Oat Cookies

I’ve really loved coconut this month and I discovered this amazing cookie recipe. I’ve made them twice before and they were gone in just one day- they really are amazing!

The recipe was created by Andy Walters and I got the recipe here 

To make these scrumptious cookies’s yourself you will need;

150g Jumbo rolled oats (I used normal porridge oats)

100g Plain flour

100g Light brown sugar

100g Desiccated Coconut

100g Unsalted butter

2 Tbsp Golden syrup

½ tsp Bicarbonate soda

2 Tbsp Boiling water

To start you need to pre heat your oven to 175 degrees / gas mark 4 and then grease 2 baking trays.

Mix together the flour, sugar, coconut and oats in a big bowl until they’re combined well.

Now you need to melt together the butter and golden syrup in a small pan over a medium heat.

Meanwhile mix together the bicarbonate soda and boiling water in a mug then mix that into the syrup mixture.

Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the syrup mixture. Mix them both together until you have cookie dough.

Shape the mixture into small balls and place them onto the baking trays (I made 10 cookies) Now put the cookies into the pre heated oven for 15-20 minutes, I found that 18 minutes was just right for me although it can depend on the heat of your oven.

Once the time is up, take the cookies out and let them cool in their trays. They will feel very soft and you may be tempted to cook them slightly longer however but they will go hard once they have cooled so don’t worry.

Now set them out on a pretty plate and wait for the compliments from your friends and family! Enjoy J

D.I.Y - Zesty Coconut Sugar Scrub

I’ve always been a big fan of the LUSH lip scrubs but with their heavy price tag, I was eager to try and make one myself. I found this ‘recipe’ here. 

You will need-

- 52 grams Coconut Oil

- 200 grams Granulated Sugar

- ½ Lemon

- ½ Lime

The method is very simple- melt the coconut oil in the microwave for about 30-50 seconds until it has melted like and forms a liquid. Then mix together the oil and sugar until combined, now squeeze in the lemon and lime, mix it up again and there you have it!

I stored mine in two small glass pots but you could use whatever you want. I also decorated mine with green ribbon to make them look pretty! J. 

This will be great to be used for a lip scrub or to use on your skin to get rid of dry patches. 

I hope you enjoyed this post from me and you go and make this sugar scrub yourself because it’s a great way to save yourself a bit of money! 

ASOS & Primark Haul - May 2014

It’s very hot and sunny here in England right now so I was in the mood to buy some ‘summery’ clothes when I went shopping (and online shopping) this weekend. 

I'll start with what I order from ASOS, I actually ordered 5 things but only kept 3 so I'll just show you what I'm keeping. I always over order when buying on ASOS because It's free delivery and free returns so you don't loose out If you don't like something. 

I realised that I don't own many summer dresses so I got this one to hopefully build my collection! It's a cami dress with a V neckline. I absolutely LOVE this dress because It's so flattering and I love the pattern. I can already tell that I will be wearing this dress a lot this summer. I got it in the sale for £15 which I think Is great! If you want to order this dress; be quick and head over to the website http://www.asos.com//Blue-Vanilla/Blue-Vanilla-Printed-Cami-Dress/Prod/pgeproduct.aspx?iid=3884479

My second purchase from ASOS was this oversized basic striped top from River Island. I'm always up to buying more basic top's so I thought I'd get this one considering It was only £10 and It's good quality. One thing I would say Is that the stripes on the top seem to be a different colour than the one's on the photo on the website; however I still like it so I'll be keeping it!  http://www.asos.com//River-Island/River-Island-Stripe-Boxy-Tee/Prod/pgeproduct.aspx?iid=3909958

Finally from ASOS I ordered some Ju Ju Jellies!!!!! I've been after a pair of these for a while now after many shoe shops being completely out of my size in the pair I wanted :(
I was surprised to see that ASOS had a good selection of Ju Ju's so I ordered these Maxi Black Slingback Flat one's and I already love them after only having them for a few hours! 
They are so comfy compared to my old cheap pair and I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of them throughout the Summer. 

My local Primark isn't very big and I usually find that the clothes they stock are never very nice although I went in this weekend and I was pleasantly surprised with what I found.

I’ll start with my favourite purchase from Primark which Is something that I usually wouldn't usually go for but once I tried it on, I fell in love! It’s a halter neck strappy pink midi dress with a pineapple print all over. I really like the pattern because it’s very ‘quirky’ and different. I am pretty short so I was worried that the length of this dress wouldn't suit me although it looks really nice and it is very flattering. This dress was also only £8 which I think is a bargin for what it is!

I've noticed Primark have sold this kind of dress for the past few years and I've bought one before which I wore a lot so I thought I’d buy myself one for this year. I'm talking about this lovely green dress which was only £5! They had it in a range of different colours but I really like the green one because it’s something different to the dresses I already have and It will be great for the Summer.

Finally I picked up this beautiful paisley print kimono which I think looks great with the green dress, I can see this combination being a favourite for the summer! The kimono was priced at £13 which I think is a great price considering the quality and compared to many others that I've seen in other shops which can go up to £50+!!!!!

I hope you've enjoyed this quick post from me. Speak to you soon ! 

What's In My Makeup Bag?

I got a new makeup bag from H&M recently and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to show you what I keep in my make up bag!

I have MUJI storage to keep the majority of my makeup in so in my makeup bag I just keep the essentials, mainly what I use every day. I’d probably take this bag with me in my handbag if I was going out for the day to touch up my makeup if needed.

This makeup bag is from H&M and I got it for just £3.99! I really like it because it’s clear so I can see everything inside. I really also love the design!

I’ve got a few sample ‘s in here right now, I have 2 tubes of Clinique’s dramatically different moisturiser and I also have a mini Benefit porefessional which I'm hopefully going to be buying a full size of soon!

The foundation I’m currently using is MAC’s studio sculpt which I am still loving and I think It’s perfect for everyday use. I don’t tend to wear concealer because I don’t get many spots however I like to keep one in my makeup bag just in case, the one I have here is Rimmel Wake me up concealer which I like because it’s very creamy and doesn’t stick to dry patches. I also have the Seventeen Skin WOW highlighter which I did a post about last week.

I don’t always powder but if I have shiny patches I like to use Rimmel Stay Matte powder so I like to keep that in the bag just in case!

One of my essential products which I use every day is MAC’s paint pot in Paintery; this is an amazing base for your eyelids and I like to wear it on its own most days just to get rid of vein lines on my lids. It’s also great to use under eye shadow. I have 2 more MAC eye products which are both eye shadows; Woodwinked is a shadow that I’ve not mentioned on my blog before but I think it’s great for summer! It’s a shimmery brown colour and I really like it. The second shadow I have in my makeup bag is Charcoal brown (surprise surprise!) which I use every day to fill in my eyebrows. This is one of my all time MUST have products because It’s perfect on both the brows and eye lids!

I have my Soap and Glory eye shadow pallet in What’s Nude because it’s perfect for everyday use and I love all of the colours.

For mascara I have my all time favourite mascara which is Rimmel Glam Eye’s Day to Night, I will always go back to this because It makes my lashes look amazing and doesn't go clumpy like most other mascaras do on me.

Finally I have 3 lip products, Rimmel Kate Moss in the shade 110 is one of my new loves, It’s a lovely orange/red colour which is very on trend for Spring and Summer and It has been my ‘go to’ lipstick If I want something bold. I also have my first ever MAC product here which has been very well loved and Is nearly finished; I’m talking about the lipstick in the shade Plink!, I’ve never heard anyone speak about this lipstick before but I personally think that It’s the perfect nude pink which suits my skin tone very well. I keep this in my makeup bag because it’s great for everyday. I’ve never been into lip gloss’s because I always found them too sticky and shimmery but when Tanya Burr bought out her own range of lip gloss’s I thought I’d try one out! Picnic in the Park has become a staple in my makeup bag recently because it’s so easy to wear and a great colour, Well done Tanya for changing my opinion on lip gloss!!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed this post and found It interesting to see what I wear day to day on my face J

Seventeen Skin WOW 3 Way Highlighter Review

I was looking for a cheap/drugstore highlighter after trying the Benefit High Beam which I love (although I don't love it's price tag!), so I went into boots on a hunt! Highlighters aren't very common with the drugstore bands so it was difficult to find one. 

No.7 and Seventeen were the only brands I found that sold one so I thought I’d give the Seventeen one a try considering it was only £5.99 and I've never been keen on No.7 products. I wasn't expecting much from this product but I was pleasantly surprised when I got home and tried it out.

The highlighter claims to be a multi purpose product and says it can be used as a primer underneath your makeup, that it can be mixed with your foundation and that it can be used as a primer over your makeup. I agree with the last 2 statements although I've not tested it as a primer so I can’t comment on that.

This is a liquid product with a pump so it makes it easy to apply with your fingers which I think is best when using a highlighter.

If I want to highlight my cheekbones, leading above my brow bone and down my nose (where the natural light hits my face), I like to dot the product in a C shape then I blend it in by dabbing the skin with my finger.

 I used this highlighter in my summer makeup post (http://aliceemarie.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/summer-makeup.html ) so you can go and see how it works and looks on the skin.

If I think that my skin is looking slightly dull after I've finished my whole face of makeup, I like to get a tiny bit of this highlighter on my fingers, then I apply it to my whole face (like I'm applying a moisturiser) and I find It gives my skin a really nice glow which is perfect if you love the dewy skin look like me!

One con with this product is that it can turn a little TOO shimmery if you pump out too much so make sure that you are cautious with how much you put onto your face because you don’t want to look like a disco ball! I've actually found that one pump is too much for me so I end up wasting some of the product which is a shame.

Overall I really love this highlighter and I am very impressed with the quality considering it's only £5.99. I think that it’s perfect for the summer because it gives my skin that extra boost and makes it look very healthy! 

Tanya Burr's Brownies!

Tanya Burr recently uploaded a video on her Youtube with her own recipe for some healthy chocolate brownies. I decided to give them a go because they sounded and looked very good. In this post I'm going to be showing you photos of me baking the brownies and I’ll include a brief recipe although if you want to watch Tanya’s video where she explains fully how to bake them; here is the link to the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtwBjpFoZow

Ingredients-  (UK measurements!)

105g Coconut Oil

300g Dark Chocolate

400g Coconut Sugar (I used soft brown sugar)

170g Ground Almonds

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Mashed Avocado

1 tsp Baking Powder

3 Eggs 

To start with, you need to melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil together in a pan on a low heat.

Once the two ingredients have melted together, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar.

Next you need to add your vanilla extract, ground almonds, baking powder and the avocado to the mixture. (I had to put the mixture into a mixing bowl at this stage because my pan was too small!)

Once you have mixed the ingredients together until it’s smooth, add the 3 beaten eggs and combine them in.

That’s it! Now pour the brownie mixture into a prepared tin (I greased my tin with coconut oil)

Bake them in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 26 minutes.

Once the time is up, take the brownies out of the oven and let them cool before cutting them up into small pieces. I found mine were extremely gooey (as you can see in the photos!) although I popped them into the fridge for about an hour and they turned out perfect! 

These brownies look and smell really good and I can’t wait to try one! Well done Tanya for creating a great recipe