Festival Nails with NailGirls

Festival Nails with NailGirls

I'm so excited that festival season has finally kicked off. I'm headed off to Glastonbury in a few weeks and I can't wait!


I love everything (well portaloo's aside) about festivals especially the style and over the next few weeks I'll be sharing some of my favorite festival essentials.
First up is nailing (heehee) the festival mani. I've raided my NailGirls collection to come up with a funky festival look that I'll definitely be rocking this year.

Key festival nail looks are typically bright and bold I've used NailGirls Coral #1 Bright Tangerine* andNailGirls Green #8* on alternate fingers for an eyecatching look.
NailGirls polishes are really pigmented so only one coat is needed for full opacity, I tend to use two out of habit though.

Glastonbury is a five day festival so its essential that my mani lasts it all. I can't bear the look of chipped polish however I can safely say that NailGirls polishes seem up to the job. (I'll let you know after the festival) I've worn this mani for over 5 days now with minimal tip wear which is great. I'm sure with a top coat they'd last even longer!


No Festival Mani would be complete without a little bit of Nail Art, Sadly I'm not the best at this but I've come up with a simple little design which I think captures the Festival Spirit!
I used NailGirls Black #1 Patent Black* to draw on this little "peace" symbol with a thin eyeliner brush.

NailGirls polishes retail at £10.50 and can be purchased via the NailGirls Website or from one of their N

Roger and Gallet Eau des Bienfaits Fragrant Body Mist

Roger and Gallet Eau des Bienfaits Fragrant Body Mist

 

I've been needing a bit of a pick me up recently and I find that citrus scents are always something that make me feel a little more alert.


I've been using Roger and Gallet Eau des Bienfaits recently and I can't get enough of it.
It is a fragrant body mist with hydrating properties which also actively soften the skin.

Eau des Bienfaits is an invigorating and stimulating fresh fragrance with top notes of Blood Orange, Mandarin, Lemon and Bergamot. Violet and orange blossom scents come next and finally while cedar and patchouli linger for hours.

I am a huge fan of citrus scents and I find Eau des Bienfaits provides the perfect fix for this, I physically can't stop getting the bottle out and having a sniff. Its not a heavy or sharp citrus scent, it comes through as refreshing and warm and puts me right in the mood for summer.

Eau des Bienfaits also has skincare properties, containing Aloe Vera which is great for adding hydration and has softening properties and Kiwi extract which provides even more hydration and helps improve the skin's suppleness. Fruit Acids and Ginseng are also included which help to gently give the skin a smoother appearance and provide a stimulating effect.

I love to spray this all over first thing in the morning after I've had a shower and while my skin is still wet. I find that it helps to lock in moisture and the scent makes me feel energized for the rest of the day. Its a great scent for spraying on after a work out too as I often feel so tired that I want to just fall into bed so the spray provides a zesty and refreshing little pick me up.
Its a really light spray and not at all oily as some hydrating sprays can be. I love to spray this all over.

Roger and Gallet  Eau des Bienfaits Fragrant Body Mist retails at around £28.50 for 100ml and will be available from selected stores, pharmacies and Marks & Spencers.

Benefit Fake Up Concealer

Benefit Fake Up Concealer

Those cheeky BeneBabes, really pulled it out the bag with this product, its perfect for me.
I love anything of the "stick" variety when it comes to cosmetics as I'm mega lazy in the morning and would much rather have an extra ten minutes in bed than spend time faffing about with foundation and concealer brushes.

I went along to the Glasgow launch of in House of Fraser's Champagne bar to try and "Solve the Mystery ofFake Up!"
I love Benefit events, they are always great fun and I love meeting up with other bloggers.
The champagne bar is gorgeous I've been in a few times and its always so welcoming (The champagne helps with this too). We were greeted with some lovely drinks, canapes and I adored the cute little Benefit,Fake Up cushions adorning the seats.

Fake Up is Benefit's newest concealing product. Housed in a very sleek and shiny silver case it looks very much like a high end lipstick as it is also a twist up product. (Hopefully you won't get it mixed up and end up with rouge under your eyes, not a good look.

At first glance, Fake Up could be just your average concealer however upon closer examination (under large, detective style magnifying glass of course) the pigmented concealer stick is encased in a hydrating ring of Vitamin E and Apple Seed Extract. This helps the concealing core to blend into the skin effortlessly and last around six hours without creasing.

There is nothing worse than concealer settling into fine lines around the eye area and Fake Up was designed to solve this issue. Its non greasy and feels cooling and light when worn around the eye area.

Fake Up comes in three shades, Light, Medium and Deep. I was a little worried initially that the shade range wouldn't suit everyone but the Deep should help to lift and brighten darker skin tones.
I've been using a mixture of all 3 shades since I got them, I use the Light shade to apply in a triangle shape under my eyes to conceal any dark areas, and down my nose as a highlight.
Medium is great for concealing any blemishes and Deep makes a fantastic contour shade.
I'd happily use all over my face if I didn't think they would run out too quickly.

  After a lovely evening with Benefit and a lot of fun detective style costumes and themes. It turns out, the mystery is, that there is no mystery at all... Fake Up is just plain fab!
Fake Up* is available from Benefit counters and the Benefit website and retails at £18.50 for 3.5g of product.
  

Smooch Ladies Who Lunch Eyeshadow Duo Collection

Smooch Ladies Who Lunch Eyeshadow Duo Collection

Eyeshadow duos are great, they make it really easy to find great complimentary colours to create simple, but amazing looks.
Smooch have recently released a line of 6 new eyeshadow duos which are all equally gorgeous.
The idea behind the  "Ladies Who Lunch" collection of eyeshadow duos comes from  namesake song fromStephen Sondheim's musical "Company".
The duos each have very quirky names, Morticia (black and white with blue shimmer), Social Butterfly (lilac and aubergine) , WAG (rich blue and grey) , Naughty Schoolgirl (bronze and champagne), Posh Tottie(rose pink and smokey violet) and Trophy Wife (Silver and pearlescent white).

They come housed in small, rectangular cases with a flip lid and a mirror. The outer cases are rubberized which mean they do tent to attract fingerprints and draw comparisons to NARS packaging.
My favourites from the collection are Morticia and Naughty Schoolgirl.

Morticia is fantastic for creating a unique twist on a smokey eye and gives a great inky black color with blue duo-chrome. I can see this duo becoming a staple in my makeup bag.

I'm so impressed with the colour payoff from these, I think that the blue/black in this duo, used wet, would make a great eyeliner.

Naughty Schoolgirl is a perfect go-to palette for daytime wear, its great for wearing to work for a subtle neutral look and would also be perfect to create a bronzed look which would be fab with a tan.

Smooch "Ladies Who Lunch" Eyeshadow duos* retail for £9.50 and are available from the Smooch website.
I've also noticed some Smooch cosmetics in Watt Brothers on Sauchihall Street, Glasgow so pop n and have a look if you are nearby.

MUA Matte Perfect Shine Control Foundation

MUA Matte Perfect Shine Control Foundation

 

I was so angry with myself the other day as I somehow forgot to pick up my usual foundation on the way to work.


Luckily there is a Superdrug right beside my work so I quickly ran in and grabbed the first one I saw that looked like it would be up to the job for the day.
(FYI: there was men outside my flat digging up the street with a jackhammer til 2am the night before due to a gas leak, I was far too tired the next morning to even think about applying makeup before going to work)
I picked up MUA's Matte Perfect Shine Control Foundation. To be honest for £2.00 I wasn't expecting it to be up to much and really just grabbed it for a temporary fix however I was pleasantly surprised.

I'm no stranger to Superdrug's MUA brand as I adore their single eyeshadows especially Shade 24 which I wear all the time.
I picked up the lightest shade of the foundation which was Fair, (it comes in three shades, fair, natural and almond) I'm fairly pale and I found it was a little darker than I'd normally go for foundation, if you have very fair skin this might be a little too dark for you.

The foundation itself has a slightly gel-like formula, its not runny, but not especially thick either. It reminds me a lot of the BB creams that Boots 17 first brought out.
It is a buildable light to medium coverage and I buffed mind in with a Real Techniques Buffer Brush as I usually do with foundations these days.
For the price I actually quite liked the foundation. Its not one that I would ditch my usual for but it does make a good backup for travel or leaving at work for emergencies. I can see it being really handy during the festival season too.


The only thing I can't quite get my head around is the description of the foundation from MUA.

"MUA Matte Perfect Shine Control Foundation promises to "leave your skin with a flawless matte finish whilst keeping shine at bay all day. The light-weight formula evens and enhances your facial features without hiding the skin and the sheer soft hint of colour gives your skin a healthy dewy glow all day!"

Maybe I'm missing something, but when I think of foundations and skin bases "matte" and "dewy" are complete opposites. I didn't really find the Matte Perfect Shine Control Foundation "matte" in the slightest. I don't have oily skin at all so my skin type couldn't really have affected it. I found it left me with a really dewy finish which became slightly shiny throughout the day. I had to powder a few times afterwards.
It would be interesting to hear if anyone else thought this too.

Illamasqua I'mPerfection Collection - Shoot Intense Lipgloss

Illamasqua I'mPerfection Collection - Shoot Intense Lipgloss

After Illamasqua's Beauty School Drop in I have been totally obsessed with the I'mPerfection collection's new Intense Lipgloss in Shoot.

Not for the faint hearted, Shoot is an amazing, bright, apple green gloss which glides on beautifully. I'm blown away by the pigmentation in this baby.

I love Illamasqua's intense lipglosses I'm a huge fan of Gender which is an aqua blue shade and is equally as pigmented as Shoot.
Intense lipglosses previously came in a squeezy tube applicator but Illamasqua has revamped the packaging and changed it to a tube with a brush in the lid which makes for more precise application.
I find the glosses non sticky, I'm not a big lipgloss fan due to stickiness but these are fine, more like a glossy lipstick. I also adore the scent of these I think they smell just like Haribo sweets, does anyone else get that?

I find Shoot surprisingly wearable (although my partner doesn't quite agree and said I looked weird) I think teamed with a semi-neutral eye and a toned down blush it doesn't look too far out of the ordinary. I do like to be a little quirky though especially when it comes to my makeup.
Shoot can be mixed with other glosses or worn on top of lipsticks to create amazing new shades, I've heard it makes Illamasqua Box lipstick which is a true red into a really pretty berry tone but I'm yet to try this.
I've been wearing Shoot a lot recently alongside Illamasqua's speckled eyeliner look which I'm also a massive fan of.

To create this look I used;

Face - 
Illamasqua Skin Base in 02
MUA Pro Base Conceal and Brighten Kit in Porcelain - Beige 
Collection (2000) Pressed Powder in Ivory
Illamasqua  powder blush in Disobey (contour) and Lover (apples)

Brows - 
Illamasqua eyebrow cake in Stark
Benefit Brow-Zings medium

Eyes -
Illamasqua Neutral Palette
Illamasqua Precision Inks in Abyss and Scribe
MAC Khol in Smoulder (waterline)
Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Resolute (smudged under bottom lashline)
Benefit They're Real Mascara 
Illamasqua Lashes No. 14

Lips-
Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Shoot 

Illamasqua Intense Lipglosses retail at £14.00 for 7ml and come in a huge array of bright colours.
Illamasqua products can be purchased from Illamasqua counters, standalone stores or the Illamasquawebsite.
The Glasgow Illamasqua counter can be found in Debenhams Argyll Street Beauty Hall.

Carishea Shea Life Soap Bar

Carishea Shea Life Soap Bar

I love finding new products that are created locally and ethically sourced.  When I found out that Carisheaproducts are made partly in my hometown I was really interested in trying them out.

Carishea products are created following the principles of fair trade, sourcing natural ingredients which are harvested and refined by skilled local workers within poor communities in Ghana, West Africa.
The ingredients are then sent to the UK where the final luxurious products are handcrafted by members of disadvantaged communities in Scotland who are fully trained by Carishea.

Carishea care about ending poverty. A portion of the profits made are returned to their respective areas to be used in community projects and incentives, such as building a school in Ghana and supporting drug rehabilitation work in Scotland.

 

Carishea have loads of great soaps and skincare products made from natural ingredients with noparabens, SLS or other preservatives. I try to use as natural and organic skincare products as possible so this range is perfect for me.
I've been using the Carishea Shea Life Soap Bar (100g £4.50)*  recently and I'm really enjoying it. Its great to use first thing in the morning as it has a very energizing citrus scent and leaves mefeeling clean and fresh.

The Shea Life Soap bar contains lemon, eucalyptus and rosemary essential oils which help moisturize the skin and leave a slightly woody, citrus scent. The greenish colour comes from the addition of Moringa herb. The soap itself lathers up really well despite the exclusion of any SLS, some soaps I've used without this haven't been as good and I do like a good lather.