Fashion | A Winter's Tartan

I bought this tartan skirt on a whim back in December. I was browsing through my local New Look and was determined to find a new outfit that I could wear to work. On the premise of hitting the gym hard again after Christmas, I wanted a new look (see what I did there) to show off the efforts I was making at bootcamp and boxercise classes. As soon as I saw this tartan skirt, it was a sure thing that I was going to be buying it. Of course, with a nice new skirt, you have to buy a nice new top. This  simple yet gorgeous grey ribbed cropped top was a lovely find to pair the outfit together. It was a look that I wasn't used to and that wouldn't have normally be in my comfort zone, but it was definitely a nice change. 

During the Boxing Day sales, I also completely fell in love with these  heeled Chelsea boots on a search on ASOS. I was in the market for a pair of heeled boots and at a bargain price of £22, I couldn't say no to these. They arrived 2 weeks later (poor service ASOS) and I am still absolutely in love with them. I manage to pair them with most outfits for everyday and work, but I think they really suit this outfit! It's a perfect outfit for a wintery walk with a Barbour style coat or for a casual day at work. I love matching this outfit with my MAC Amorous lipstick, which is a deep purpley-burgandy and  with some smokey brown and gold eyes! 

How would you style this skirt?

INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN' 

Beauty | The New Favourite Liquid Coverage with Clarins Everlasting Foundation

My skin can be a stubborn thing; so much so that usually the tiniest drop of liquid foundation or an alien makeup product can make me break out in seconds. I stick to the base products I know and I've completely stepped away from Liquid foundation on a daily basis, choosing instead to use a mineral based powder foundation. For the last week I've been trialling Clarins' Everlasting Foundation*  (Link) which for me, has been a massive gamble considering my face has been absolutely spotless recently. If there's one thing us girls don't always like, it's change and I have to say that in this situation, this gamble has really paid off. I've used this foundation six days in a row now and I haven't had one single breakout. That's like none, zero... When I usually have a Liquid Foundation one-night thing when I go out, I break out like crazy over the next few days. This foundation has definitely agreed with my skin and I'm over the moon that I still have no spots! 

Liquid foundations can be quite heavy-duty and this is what I've always struggled with in the past. I don't think my skin can quite handle too much on it at once. With the primer, concealer and then a gloopy foundation, it has a hissy fit and breaks out on me to teach me a lesson (well maybe not quite but you get the idea). The Everlasting Foundation never once made me feel like I was wearing too much; It has a really light formula and minimises all of those little creases and wrinkles (not that I have any of those at 20 years of age). Nothing seemed to congeal or dry out and I honestly felt like I had great coverage all day long. I wouldn't say it quite lasted the whole 15 hours that it claims to hold, but it did a darn good job at it, especially when I hit the gym hard and had sweat dripping down my face (too much info?). 

As you can see from my swatches above, 103 Ivory was my perfect match - In fact on my face, this blended really well with my RT Miracle Complexion sponge and I couldn't really notice too much of difference between my actual skin tone and the foundation. Obviously, it enhanced my complexion and eliminated some redness on my cheeks and forehead, but I really really liked that you could still see my freckles through it. The makings of a good foundation for me are ones where it only covers the skin with a light veil instead of a heavy slap of makeup. For me, I love a natural look and this gave me a lovely natural and healthy glow and enhanced my skin tone to one that looked more even. Unlike other liquid foundations that I've tried in the past, I didn't find this to be too dewy or shiny and loved the look that it gave me - it's hard to describe, but it' some kind of  healthy balance between shiny and matte. 

Overall this foundation has completely brought back my faith in liquid coverages. Ever since I changed to my BareMinerals Mineral Powder back a couple of months ago, I kind of swore off of liquid foundations (minus for the occasional night out - and I don't go out that often).  Having been introduced to this great Clarins foundation I'm starting to change my mind about banishing the wet stuff all together. I've loved the look and feel the Everlasting Foundation has given me this week and I definitely think I'll be using it a tad more frequently than just on a night out. The bottles will just look perfect on my dressing table too, the frosted glass and modern gold lid is so pretty and with the slick pump its just perfect for using quickly and for on the go. Can I also mention quickly that this smells like watermelons?! Delicious.

Clarins Everlasting Foundation | £27 | Link

Have you ever tried a Clarins foundation?

What other foundations do you think I would like?

INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN' 

Competition | BareMinerals and Ted Baker Giveaway

Happy New Year! I know it's a bit late, but after my blog re-launch and makeover, I thought it would be the perfect time to wish you all a Happy New Year and launch my first giveaway competition of 2015. You know me, I'm not one to always having giveaways on my blog, but I thought as it's a new year, I'd give you all a little thank you for sticking with me whilst I've been away! 

This Ted Baker makeup bag is perfect for carrying your makeup around with you on an everyday basis. It's the perfect size and length to fit in all of my every day favourites (yes, I have one of these myself). As you can see from the photo above, it's just about the same length of the BareMinerals palette that I'm also giving away. Can we also just talk about how pretty this Ted Baer design is? I really love the designs that are sold in Boots, they're just as pretty as the more expensive Ted Baker designs and at a very reasonable price for the brand name. I especially love this design as the pastel houses are so cute and right up my street! 

The second prize within this giveaway is the BareMinerals Magic Act Limited Edition Christmas Palette. I have been completely obsessed with BareMinerals recently after converting to their Mineral Powder foundation a couple of months ago. I love the way their products feel on my skin and the way that the seem to be helping reduce the amount of breakouts that I have. I have had my eye on this palette for some time now and snapped it up as soon as I could. This palette is from the limited edition Christmas collection for 2014, so I'm not sure if it's still available or whether it will be available again next year, but it was definitely worth the buy. It contains six nude 'Ready Eyeshadows', three 'ready blush' blushes and a 'Ready Luminizer' highlight. I also love how the Palette is cleverly designed as it folds in to make it more compact, using magnets to keep it together nice and neat!

Ready Eyeshadow. 

1 - Celebrate

2 - Fortune

3 - Shazam

4 - A-Ha

5 - Pumped

6 - Foreshadow

Ready Blush.

1 - The Close Call

2 - The Natural High

3 - The Indecent Proposal

Ready Luminizer

1 - The Premiere

The Rules.

- UK only

- Must be following BekyLou.com  on Bloglovin'

- Optional entries can gain you extra entries

- Winner will be picked randomly through Rafflecopter 

Competition is open from 6pm Saturday 24th January 2015 to 12am Saturday 7th February 2015

a Rafflecopter giveaway

INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN' 

Beauty | Clarins 'Garden Escape' Spring Lip Collection*

I think that over this last year I have completely fallen in love with Clarins. I was first introduced to the brand in July of last year and I've been dying to get my hands on more and more of their products ever since. As I mentioned in my first Clarins post (Review | Clarins 'Eau Des Jardins' Treatment Fragrance) my original reasoning for never trying Clarins products before was that the packaging was too 'blah' for my liking. I had the preconception that Clarins was a brand for the older lady and that their products were mostly bubble baths and anti-aging potions. I have never had a moment in my life where I have ever had such an 'I told you so moment' to myself. I will definitely never be judging a book by it's cover ever again; Clarin's have such a great makeup range and I'm so happy that I gave them a try.

Instant Light Lip Balm Perfector* | £18 | Link

Lip Balms are a bit of a 'hit or miss' product for me and because of that I tend to only go for the ones that I know I love. As always, I'm a 'stick to what you know' kind of girl and deviating from those products sometimes scares me a little. The new Instant Light Lip Balm Perfectors from Clarins are a lovely balance of all that I love in a lip balm; they have a perfect colour pay off and also are lovely and moisturising on the lips. One thing that I hate about lip balms normally are the crappy colour pigmentation; I often find that within the pot or moulded into their 'lipstick' shape, lip balms look a lot nicer than they do on my lips. Do you find that? It could look gorgeously bright prink within it's packaging and then applied to your pout it's as if you haven't applied a colour at all. These Instant Light Lip Balms are the complete opposite to that and they really are almost exactly what they say on the tin. As you can see from my swatches above, 01 Rose and 06 Rosewood have really great pay-offs with near perfect-matches applied to my arm. I can also say happily that the colour pay-off is also replicated on my lips and the natural colour of my lips doesn't inflict on the shades almost as much as I originally thought it would. As for 03 My Pink, this one does look slightly more sheer swatched than in it's packaging. It is a little disappointing, but when applied to the lips it does give a really nice natural shine and doesn't look bad at all - with this one, the natural tone of your lips really does play a nice part.

Lip Balms are famous for their moisture abilities, but these have also got to be praised for their pluming qualities. My lips most definitely look so much more 'Kylie Jenner-esque' with these lip balms on and it's such a lovely difference to my usually flat lips. A plumped up pout is something I've been trying to achieve for a very long time and with these gorgeous lip balms able to be warn alone or on top of your favourite lipstick, they're just the perfect makeup companions!

Joli Rouge Brilliant Perfect Shine Sheer Lipstick* | £19 | Link

Lipstick is definitely my one true makeup love. About a year ago I first started buying my first lipsticks and since then I've become a little obsessed. My collection is insane but no matter how many shades or finishes or brands I buy, I just can't help myself when it comes to wanting more. I recently blogged my MAC lipstick collection (Link) and I think it's giving me a bit of a shock to the system about how much of an addiction I actually have. Nevertheless, when this beauty of a package dropped onto my doorstep, I got very excited. I've tried a couple of Clarin's lipsticks before and they've always been so great. This Joli Rouge Perfect Shine Sheer Lipstick has not disappointed at all! I was very generously sent shade 22 'Coral Dahlia' which, I'm not even kidding is the perfect shade for me. It's such a lovely everyday kind of colour for me and something that I can see myself getting a lot of use out of. Despite it's name, this lipstick isn't at all that sheer when applied to the lips,  which is just perfect. It does look quite sheer when swatched (above) but with a lovely build up, you can make it as sheer or opaque as you like - either way, you get a brilliant shine and such a lot of moisture. I never felt my lips go dry once throughout my daily wear of this lipstick and although with my long tresses my hair occasionally flicked into the formula and stuck a little, it was no where near as bad as I thought it would be with a lipstick this amount of moisture.

Have you ever tried any Clarins' lip products?

INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN' 

Lifestyle | Life Lately

Before I start this post properly, I'd just like to thank everyone who has been reading my blog, commenting on my posts and following me since I re-launched BekyLou.com at the beginning of this new year. I've had an overwhelming response to my new layout and new posts and I could not be happier that it has all paid off. I know that towards the last few months of 2014 I was quite a bit absent from this blog and I do apologise from that. A boyfriend is never a good excuse, but I'm afraid that I'm going to be using that excuse. At the beginning of October, I met my current boyfriend and I've been very happy just to get to know him in my own time. I wasn't 'feeling' my blog and in all honesty my passion for writing posts had died for a bit. I wanted to make sure that when I wrote posts and published them for you all to read, I wanted them to be worth both my time and yours. I hope that I've managed to achieve that so far and with the help of my blog re-vamp, I hope that BekyLou is something that you will continue to read and enjoy. Now, wasn't this called a 'Life Lately' post? Here's what I've been getting up to whilst I've been gone!

Photos from Left to Right: 

Christmas Dinner with my lovely friends and work colleagues - As my group of friends at work are mostly Graduates, they were all going to be heading off home for Christmas. We all decided to have a 'Christmas Day' together before they all left. It was such a great day with Secret Santa, a 'bring a dish' Christmas Dinner and of course, board games! Definitely was the best way to say goodbye to each other before the break. I'm so lucky to have a group of friends like this. 

My Gorgeous Eltoria (Eltoria Secrets) started working with me. I work for Siemens Rail Automation (I'm sure I've mentioned this before) and as there are new projects happening within, I've been offered more training to backfill another colleague's role whilst she is working on those projects. Transferring into a backfill role for a couple of months means that my best friend and fellow blogger Eltoria is now working with me! After referring her for my current role and having an interview, we now get to see each other every day! For some this may be a bad thing, but I absolutely love working with her!

I spent a lot of money at Bicester Outlet Village with this beautiful girl. I've been wanting to go for so long and after realising we both had the day off just before Christmas, we took to the road with my sister and her friend in tow and came home with a lot less money than we went with! I managed to nab a gorgeous Michael Kors bronzer, some Hugo Boss goodies for my boyfriend and an absolute bargain of a Jack Wills coat!

Who can have a Christmas break without making Gingerbread Men? It's become my yearly tradition by the looks of it and they tasted delicious (at least the first time that I made them). 

This photo of my lovely boyfriend was taken as we were swapping our Christmas presents. Unfortunately, we had to give each other our presents a week before Christmas because he was going home to Leeds for the holidays to be with his lovely Mum, but it was just as special as it would've been on the 25th. I was definitely spoiled and I couldn't be happier. 

Clearly I'm loving my new darker lips! I took a lot more time to spend money on new clothes and makeup for work, with Eltoria starting I had to step up my game a bit when it came to my work attire.   I found a new love for Asos and Boohoo, so you can definitely expect a lot more Fashion posts in the future!

Then came Christmas eve and present swapping with Eltoria, we definitely know each other very well! She got me the coveted NARS Laguna, MAC Ruby Woo and a MAC eyeshadow in a glittery smokey grey (I forget the name) and a lovely E.L.F blusher and I gave her the Naked 2 Palette, NARS Orgasm, Benefit Benetint and Benebalm mini and a Benefit makeup bag. For best friends and bloggers, we don't half make sure we can get a good post out of our presents! 

This is my wonderful boyfriend. Don't worry, I've asked him if he's okay with me talking about him on my blog. I've told a couple of stories on here about my past relationships, one in particular and I have to say that this man has completely changed my whole view on men. Yes, some can be the worst people on the planet, yes I was unfortunate to meet one of the terrible ones, but this boy is the best thing that has happened to me and I really could not be happier. Three months in to our relationship and I know I've found a darn good one. I won't gush on too much, but he's become a massive part of my life and although some of you may dislike him from parting me with my blog for a while, he's also the one who has convinced me to get back into it and has helped me so much with my posts and my confidence for blogging again. 

He is also the guy behind picture number two. For Christmas this year (some of you may have read my 'What I got for Christmas' post here) he bought me tickets to see Les Miserable in London, along with a hotel for the night and a lovely meal beforehand. I was absolutely amazed that within two months he'd managed to figure me out so well and buy me an experience that I'd love so much. Les Miserables has to be my favourite musical and I cannot wait for 7th February to roll around! If you're also wondering why there's a key in the photo, he also surprised me with a wrapped up key to his flat. I've never had this much trust in a relationship before and I literally burst into happy tears when I saw what it was! 

Cocktails on New years Eve in York at Yates'. For the second week of Christmas, I travelled up to Leeds to spend it with my boyfriend and his lovely Mum. Obviously, I was really nervous on my way up - meeting your boyfriend's Mum for the first time is always going to be a nerve-wracking thing! I honestly don't know what I was worried about though as she is the loveliest person I could have imagined, I was made to feel right at home and we got on really well. For New Years eve, Jordan and I hopped on the train to York for a night out with his Uni friends. It was a really great night and even though the countdown at the Minster was a huge let down and we had to stay in a Hostel, it was a memorable night!

Back to reality and back to work. 2015 will be my year and I will get back into my healthy eating and fitness. Within the first week I'd already bought myself a Breville Blend Active and had smoothies everyday for work, had my first personal training session of the year and attended my first Boxercise bootcamp of the year. The first photo above is of my new healthy lunches - I now like to have chicken (with some kind of Nando's marinade or Fajita spice mix) with lettuce and peppers and also some pepper and cucumber for snacks. You can see my smoothie effort in the next photo! I love experimenting with new combinations of fruit!

I actually bought a recipe book. Okay, it may have been a recipe book for Students and I'm not a student, but if you're a fussy bish then you have to start somewhere. I've actually found some really nice recipes, one of my favourites being the Spaghetti Bolognese recipe that I featured a few posts back. I've had such a turn around in my way of thinking when it comes to what I eat and am actually really proud of myself for starting to try new things. The last photo above shows my Beef Stir Fry, something that, believe it or not, I had never tried before this new year. I really loved it and have had it a couple of times since. I feel like I'm changing my habits and I definitely think it's for the best. 

I am so glad that I had the time away from my blog. I think I've learnt to write for me instead of writing for everybody else and for once I'm incredibly proud of myself for the content that I am producing. I know it's only a couple of weeks into it, but I can see this really sticking. I have a real passion for writing my blog and I feel so much better about it all now. I'm so much more motivated and with the backing and support from Jordan and my parents, I know that I'll be a lot more confident when it comes to keeping my blog going and growing it into something that I know it could potentially be. I hope you all continue to enjoy my blog and continue to support me.

What did you do over the Christmas break?

INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN' 

Lifestyle | Healthy Homemade Spaghetti Bolognese

If anyone knows me at all, they'll know that I absolutely adore Spaghetti Bolognese. If I could, I would honestly eat this for every meal of my life with generous helpings of cheese every single time. 

As I'm now taking on a healthier 'way of life' and changing my eating habits, Spaghetti Bolognese is something that I definitely cannot have as often as I would like. Today, I've found a gorgeous recipe for my favourite dish in the 'BBC Good Food: Easy Student Dinners' recipe book, which I thought I would share with you all. It's brilliant for a Saturday treat with a slice or two of Garlic Baguette and a minimal amount of Parmesan cheese. 

Even though I'm not a student, I've found this little recipe book to be the best thing that I've bought recently (along with my Breville Blend Active blender). I am and have been a very fussy person in the past and trying new recipes and foods is such a scary thing for me. My boyfriend has much more of a varied palette and enjoys a lot more meals and so to get myself out of my foodie rut, I've been challenging myself to try at least one different meal a week, this BBC Good Food Student's recipe book has been a great little help into easing me into new meals as a lot of them are based around foods that I like. I hope that I can share a lot more of these recipes with you as I try them and hope you enjoy them! 

*This is not my recipe, it is that of the 'BBC Good Food: Easy Student Dinners' recipe book.

In the recipe book, this delicious bolognese recipe is actually meant to be to serve 12 people, but with some amazing math skills and the art of my skilful eye (and stomach of course), I managed to adjust the recipe to create enough for just me and my boyfriend. Below is the recipe that I followed, with  quantities that I used for a 2 person serving in brackets beside each ingredient. I've also detailed the method below for how to make this at home, but please note that I have not copied this direct from the book and that I have written the method in my own words.

   

Ingredients:

4 tbsp Olive Oil ( 1 tsp)

6 smoked rashers of Bacon, chopped (2 rashers)

4 onions, chopped (1.5)

0.5 carrots, chopped (3)

4 celery sticks, chopped (we didn't add any)

8 garlic clove, chopped (1)

2 tbsp dried mixed herbs (2 tsp)

2 bay leaves (we couldn't find any in the shop so didn't add any)

500g mushrooms (we hate mushrooms, so didn't add any)

1.5kg minced beef (500g)

6 cans 400g tin chopped tomatoes (1 tin)

6 tbsp tomato puree (1 tbsp)

large glass red wine (small glass)

4 tbsp red wine vinegar (1 tsp)

4 tbsp caster sugar (1 tsp)

grated parmesan to garnish (we like parmesan a lot!)

spaghetti to serve with. 

Method (1):

Using a very large frying pan, heat the oil and cook the bacon, onion, carrots and celery until golden brown, then add the mushrooms, garlic, herbs and bay leaves for another couple of minutes.

Method (2):

Heat another large frying pan and brown off the minced beef adding it into the veg once cooked. Add the tin of tomatoes and the puree to the veg and mince and then rinse out the empty tin of tomatoes with your red wine, adding it to the pan after along with the red wine vinegar and caster sugar.

Method (3):

Season generously and bring to a simmer. It says to simmer for an hour for the 12 person serving, but mine simmered lovely for 10 minutes and was ready to go! Then you can serve with spaghetti and parmesan. 

We both absolutely loved this recipe and will be making it again very soon for my family (we're all massive spaghetti bolognese lovers). The recipe from the BBC Good Food book also gives you a rough guideline of the nutritional information within the bolognese! I think this is such a great feature as I'm trying to be quite health conscious at the moment and love to know how much salt, sugar and fat I'm putting into my body!

What recipes do you like to make from scratch?

Let me know in the comments below! 

INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN' 

Lifestyle | What I Got For Christmas 2014

When I was little, Christmas was always such a massive deal. As soon as school ended for the Christmas break, that was it; it was officially Christmas. I could never stay awake long enough to 'see' Santa Clause dropping off my mountain of presents and I'd always be up at the crack of dawn jumping on my Sister's bed and dragging my parents downstairs to the big reveal. This year (and for the past couple of years) it's most definitely been a lot different. I woke up at about Ten AM, had a shower, waited for my parents to wake up and then we all sat around and opened presents. I feel like Christmas went by too quickly this time around and it's really sad to think that it's another year away until we get to sit around the living room unwrapping presents again.

One thing that I absolutely love about the aftermath of Christmas (minus New Years Eve of course) has to be the 'What I got for Christmas' posts. I'm the absolute nosiest person ever and I just adore those kinds of posts! I haven't really done one before and so this year I thought I'd jump on that bandwagon and let you all in on what I was generously given this year. Christmas definitely isn't all about receiving the presents for me, I really love the family time and buying for other people in my life. I am completely grateful for every gift I have received and I do not mean to brag or show off in any way by writing this post - this is for the nosy readers out there!

The Boyfriend

This year is the first year that I have had a boyfriend over the Christmas period. It's been so lovely to have someone I love being around me at this time of year and my Lord did he spoil me! As we're a new couple and only just starting to both earn a good wage, we decided to put a limit onto our spending for both main gifts and stocking fillers. As the main present this year, my gorgeous boyfriend bought me tickets to see Les Miserable at the Queens Theatre in London, along with a meal and hotel for the night. I have never been so spoilt in my life and I am so so happy that he knew exactly what to get me, even after only a couple of months together. The next most special thing that he gave and that was 100% sentimental  to me was worth more than anything he could have ever bought me. I genuinely had tears in my eyes as I unwrapped it - think ugly, happy crying! He had had a key to his house cut for me - this kid definitely knows how to treat a girl!

Other little bits and bobs that he gave to me (he clearly knows me so well from everything he got me)  included a Ferrero Rocher gift box (my favourite), Zoella body mist and body lotion, a keyring for my house key (a cupcake, an inside joke for us both) and a gorgeous Ted Baker iPhone 6 phone case. I was incredibly happy with everything that he got me and I loved spending our pre-Christmas day together before he headed home to Leeds for the rest of the holidays.

The Family

This year, there's nothing that I've really wanted that's been a 'big' main present from my Parents and so for Christmas this year they asked if I would like to have vouchers or whether I wanted them to chose anything for me. Knowing that I was heading on up to Leeds for the second week of my Christmas break, I asked for the vouchers and was surprised when I opened up an envelope with £200  of Love2Shop vouchers in - I never expected that much at all and have been very lucky! With these, I managed to buy myself a gorgeous Love Moschino bag, a Bobbi Brown Mascara, DKNY My NY perfume gift set and still have £56 left to splash! You've got to love the sales! I also got some other gorgeous little bits and pieces from my parents including some lovely pyjamas and some new makeup which I will review soon! Again, my parents know me really well and I'm so grateful for how much they have given me this year.

From other members of my family I received a lovely Jumper from my little sister, a New Look voucher and some fluffy socks from my Brother and Sister-In-Law and (probably the best of all) a Hangover Hoodie from my older sister along with Batiste Dry Shampoo and some Macadamia Oil hair Treatment. I honestly love all of my present so much and am unbelievably happy that my family know me so well!

The Best Ones. 

I wouldn't say that I have a lot of friends, but the ones I do have I definitely value with my life. I couldn't live without these three main girls and they've spoiled me yet again! From one of my closest friend Abbee, I was lucky enough to get the one moisturizer that I have been lusting over for months now! I unwrapped the coveted Origins GinZing moisturiser and almost sequealed in excitement! She also got me a lovely coffee cup (which will be filled with lots of Hot Chocolate at work), a Lindt chocolate bear, a gorgeous book of 'Live, Laugh, Love' quotes and a pamper pack!

From my girl Eltoria (blog: Eltoria Secrets) I receievd the gorgeous NARS Laguna bronzer, MAC's Ruby Woo Lipstick (after I'd lost my original at a Halloween party with her), a MAC eyeshadow in a stunning shiny dark silvery/grey and an Elf baked blusher. You can clearly tell that we are both beauty bloggers! I'm so grateful for everything and so glad that I get to write many a blog post with the products she has given to me! 

Last but not least, my amazing friends Melody (blog: A Simple Melody) and Beki (blog: Beki Lousie Beauty) both got me the Benefit 'Watts Up' higlighter - a complete coincidence, but completely appreciated as I can now keep one at my house and one at my boyfriends! Melody also bought me a Lush gift set with a mini Snow Fairy shower gel and a Snow Fairy Fun! 

I am so beyond grateful for all of the presents that I have been given over Christmas and cannot wait for the big day to come around again next year!

What did you get for Christmas?

INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN' 

Beauty | MAC Lipstick Collection

As a beauty blogger and as a huge lover of all makeup, it's kind of inevitable that at one point I would have stumbled across MAC lipsticks. After that initial meeting of the two of us, I fell in love and became a lipstick fanatic. My collection is ever growing and even though every time I enter a MAC store or walk excitedly up to a counter I find it incredibly hard to walk away without one, I am having to put myself on a spending ban for the foreseeable future. *Cry face* Because of this I though that this would be the perfect opportunity to showcase my collection.

I have to admit, that even though I have 5 shades of dull / nude pinks, that I don't really wear these that often. As you can see from the first picture above, these haven't been used all that much. I really do love all of the shades, however with the everyday makeup I tend to wear, most of these don't really fit. Creme Cup has to be my favourite of the bunch, as this is more of a baby pink, I find this works really well with a natural face. Please me and Hot Gossip are more of a purple-pink shade and as much as I love these in swatch form, on my lips, they don't quite work all of the time. I think Please Me doesn't work as well because it's a Matte colour and I do struggle with those occasionally.   It's a shame that these shades don't all work that well for me all the time, but don't worry - I definitely make sure I do find the days to wear them!

Nudes have to be my favourite lip. For an everyday makeup look, brown smokey eye and a nude lip is the ultimate easy but classic look for me. As you can tell from this picture above, I really love my nudes! Creme D'Nude is my ultimate fave (and newest addition) and I've definitely been wearing this almost everyday since I bought it. I love that it's a Cremesheen as they seem to work really well with my lips and last quite a while before I have to re-apply.  Before Creme D'Nude came along, Hue had been my favourite, I love the muted nude colour as it's not too orange-tinted. You can clearly tell I'm a lover of it as I'm going to need to repurchase it soon! I'm certainly on the look out for more nude MAC lipsticks; they're such a staple for me. 

A little pop of bright pink every now and again is just the perfect pick me up. I really love wearing a bright lip and when my hair is a little darker, it can really suit me. In the past I've always been too scared to try out colours such as Speak Louder and Viva Glam Nicki, but now I love embracing the 'scarier' shades that I own and don't even shy away from buying them any more either. I absolutely love to wear Viva Glam Nicki on a night out or when there's a hint of bright pink in my outfit; I do find, however that the Satin finish isn't that great for me, which is definitely a shame. I love most of MAC's finishes and even really like Satin in Amorous (below), but something about Viva Glam Nicki is just not completely right for me.
I'm also a massive fan of the coral shades above, Coral Bliss is definitely my go-to when I'm feeling a little 'in-betweeny' (most likely because it's more nude - oops) and I also really like Flamingo. As you can tell, I'm a huge lover of the Cremesheen Lipsticks and with these kinds of colours, they work really well for me.

Reds. As with the bright / darker pinks, I've always been scared of bright reds / oranges and darker colours. Since I've gotten older and experimented with different makeup looks and different coloured lipsticks, I've come to realise that with my pale skin, these colours really do suit me. I absolutely love So Chaud, which is a bright orange with red tones and even though it is a Matte lipstick, it really does work well on my lips. Another shade that I never thought I would be able to pull off is Amorous. Amorous is a deep purpley-red which goes really well with dark greens / burgundy's and darker colours within my wardrobe. I really love the vampy look and Amorous is the perfect colour to get me moving with baby steps towards the bigger boys such as Rebel!

I actually do have two other MAC lipsticks, one of which I was given the day that I am writing this (after I had taken my photos) and one that is currently in Leeds with my boyfriend ready for me to go visit at the end of this week! Both are Reds, Viva Glam 1, which is a dark deep red and then Ruby Woo which is a gorgeous bright Red - I love both and have to thank my bestest buddy Eltoria (blog here) for buying me Ruby Woo for Christmas after I lost the one that I purchased when drunk a couple months back! I am clearly obsessed with MAC lipsticks and cannot wait to get my hands on some more shades!

Which shades do you think I should get next?

INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | BLOGLOVIN'