Nars Deep Throat

Nars Deep Throat £20.50

heavily swatched

My first Nars purchase...yes I am a bit late on the bandwaggon.

Nars are pretty famous for their blushers and bronzers, I chose Deep Throat (Nars are also pretty famous for their risque names) which is a beautiful light pinky/peach with a slight gold shimmer. It has been described as Orgasm's toned down sister, which is perfect for me...whilst Orgasm is a beautiful blush I don't actively welcome strong pinky/red tones on my cheeks (I'm more a shimmer girl) Deep Throat provides a beautiful wash of colour which is pretty and flattering.

The powder is finely milled and the colour is quite light but easily buildable and well suited to my pale skin. This is a great everyday blush, it looks very natural and has become my go to blusher since I purchased it. At £20.50 it's not particularly cheap but it's good quality, long lasting and very pretty. The only complaint would be the packaging, whilst it looks good and is very sturdy (and comes with a good sized mirror) the black packaging is a magnet for grubby fingerprints.

Sleek Pan Tao Blusher

A high pigmented show stopping shade that will see heads turning

This blusher is from the very pretty Avoir La Peche collection by Sleek. I first clocked it last weekend and after some swatching decided against purchasing anything as it all seemed a bit too orange. Then the online reviews emerged, and I instantly regretted not having a proper look at the collection.

So a week later I trundled back to Superdrug fearing it would have sold out (I never did find Molten Metal in store) but luckily all three items were still in stock. As a somewhat pasty girl, I recognise that orangy/coral colours are more suited to warm skin tones, for this reason I overlooked the Sugar May pout polish and whilst I was tempted by the beautiful Paraguaya palette, realistically I would only wear a few of the shades, as proven by the fact I have barely touched the Good Girl idivine palette. Recently, I have been watching a number of You Tube tutorials featuring coral colours, and a coral blusher was definitely on my mind. The Pan Tao blusher, retailing at a reasonable £4.30, seemed like the perfect option.

This blusher is a really bright orange/hot coral colour, completely lacking in pink tones. I will warn you, in the pan it is bright orange.....I mean really orange... frighteningly orange! which is the main reason I overlooked it in the first place. As with all Sleek blushers it is highly pigmented, you need a very light hand to apply, but when worn it gives a lovely peachy glow. I have attempted to take a picture of a swatch showing it fairly lightly applied, so you can see it's not some horrible highlighter pen orange colour.

I also just have to mention the packaging, it comes in the normal sturdy blusher holder not too dissimilar to NARS packaging. Just like the other Sleek Blusher I own it is very stiff to open and I worry I will break a nail/shatter the product when opening. However, the flowers on the lid are a very cute addition to the bog standard black Sleek packaging!

All in all I'm happy with my purchase, a coral coloured blusher is something which my make up collection has been lacking up 'til now. If you like coral colours the Avoir La Peche is worth checking out.

February

I can't quite believe January has come and gone already, it's going to be Spring before we know it. Already I am noticing that the mornings are slightly lighter, and the evenings are growing a smidgen longer.....now we just need some decent sunshine.

I wanted to do a post to reflect on my January goals and establish my new goals for the month of February. Find my January post here.

January progress:

♡ Perfect the art of natural makeup. I would like to take a more natural approach to my makeup this month rather than always reaching for the black eyeliner.

Throughout January, I definitely perfected the natural make up look...the Urban Decay Naked palette became my new best friend. 

My January make up generally consisted of:
Eyes: Mac's Brule or Urban Decay's Sin on the lid, with UD Naked or Smog blended under the eye.
Cheeks: I either wore nothing or went for Accessorize's Pretty Pink blusher or Mac's Highlight powder in Chez Chez Lame from the Cham-Pale collection.
Lips: Just lip balm.

I really love the natural look, it's soft, pretty and completely work appropriate, this tends to be my go to, everyday makeup look.

♡ Look into the possibility of running my town’s half marathon....something I’ve always wanted to do but never got round to doing.

I looked into it, and even though the deadline for applications isn't for a while, they have already filled all the places.....boo! This will have to go back on the shelf 'til next year.

♡ Finish reading Eat, Pray, Love. I am really enjoying the book, but the latest issue of Marie Claire/Grazia keeps enticing me away.

I finished this relatively easily, and even made my way through Michael McIntyre's Life and Laughing: My Story, a very funny read.

♡ Try not to spend so much time on the computer (perhaps a little crazy given that I have just started a blog). The internet sucks away such large sections of my time without me even realising, my aim for January is to use the internet constructively rather than spending hours faffing around.

hmmm.....

Moving swiftly onto February, here are my goals:

♡ Read at least two books this month.

♡ Do some baking - can't believe we're into February and I am still yet to bake anything this year.

♡ Go make up free as much as possible.

♡ Buy a decent pair of jeans - I have been putting this off for so long - dress shopping and jean shopping are two of my most dreaded tasks!

Products I'm Loving

A little collection of products I love at the moment...

Batiste Brit...buy it for the scent!

I don't think I could live without dry shampoo, it's such a cheap and effective way to refresh your hair between washes...a godsend when you have long locks like moi. I have tried various other brands of dry shampoo, but with Batiste doing such a fine job and costing a mere £2, why bother with high end products?

When I first started using Batiste, there was only the original version available, but with the rising popularity of dry shampoo came more fragrances. The latest offering is Brit, which is exclusive to Superdrug and costs £2.13 a bottle. Firstly, I love the fragrance!! Definitely the nicest smelling Batiste product out there, the scent reminds me of Chloe by Chloe. It refreshed my roots just as well as any other Batiste product does, but as usual you have to watch you blend it in well or you run the risk of having grey-looking hair.
The thing I love most about Brit is that the scent was long lasting and my hair smelt great all day! This replaces Diva as my favourite Batiste product, I will definitely be repurchasing!

Glycerin and Rosewater Toner - lovely stuff!

A classic rosewater toner from the traditional skin care range at Boots. I use this all over my face, including on my eyes to remove eye make-up, as you can see I have already made my way through a quarter of the bottle since Christmas. The product is described as toning and moisturising and as a result does leave my skin feeling tacky, this doesn't bother me as I only use the product at night. The old-school bottle is very cute looking and has a handy top which means you can control the amount of product you use. The toner smells like roses....mmm turkish delight! I would definitely buy again, it's a lovely gentle toner and leaves my skin feeling clean, refreshed and soothed rather than tight, dry or oily.

Merged Baked Blusher in Pretty Pink

Shimmery pinky, lilacy marble-ness

Lightly swatched - top, heavily swatched - bottom (please excuse my veiny wrist!)

This product is so pretty! My first purchase from the Accessorize make up range, I think it cost around £5. Pretty pink is a light pink colour with peach and lilac shimmer marbled through it, the product looks more shimmery on the skin than pink. I personally cannot get enough of glowy, shimmery looking blushers so this is right up my street, but the colour pay off might not be adequate for those die hard blusher fans. This product would be perfect to use as a highlight, but I have worn it alone everyday since purchasing and it gives me a light pinky-peachy glow. I will definitely be checking out more of the Accessorize range next time I'm in Superdrug, very pretty packaging and decent sized products.

Magic golden tube of wonder

My absolute favourite mascara ever! No clumping, no flaking, just gorgeous dark lashes. I haven't used it for a while as my mum kept buying me mascaras (lovely mum!)....Maybelline falsies (hate - caused dry itchy eyes - gave it to my sister in the end), and Revlon Grow Longer (nice mascara with huuuage wand, but bad flaking), so I was overjoyed to find my faithful Masterpiece mascara in my Christmas stocking. I don't have to worry about having panda eyes anymore, yay!

I popped into Superdrug today in the hopes of snagging a Sleek molten metal cream duo, but they were all sold out. I'll just have to make do with the ridiculous amounts of make up I already own 'til I can get my grubby paws on it.

Stuff

I took advantage of the last few days of my Christmas break to have a nosy round my local shopping centre.

The shops are a bit of a mess at the moment...sale items everywhere, including the floor, and a weird mix of winter and summer clothing.....bikini in January anyone?

I picked up a few items....nothing of much interest, but I thought i'd share them here.

2011 Diary - WHSmith

The all important 2011 diary, this is actually really teeny....even smaller than A5. I buy a diary every year, whether I get round to using it is a different story. I chose this one because its handy size makes it perfect for shoving in my handbag, and I'm feeling pretty committed to being organised this year!

Clutch bag -  Zara

There was absolutely no need for me to purchase another clutch bag - particularly one made out of a material that will inevitably find itself covered in my grubby fingerprints. I had previously lusted over this bag on the Zara website, so when I saw it on sale for a mere £9.99 I grabbed it. I love the vibrant hot pink colour, and it comes with a detachable chain....yes I am a pro at justifying my purchases.

Cream blush in Neon Rose - Topshop

I've read good reviews on this and thought i'd branch out from my usual nude colour blusher/highlighter. I love the packaging of these products, so simple and cute.

Purse - Topshop

I have been on the hunt for a new purse for months. I hadn't come across one I liked, but with my current purse practically falling apart it was time to bit the bullet and pick one. I chose this leopard print number from Topshop. I don't think I'm completely sold on it but it has all the required compartments.

Et Voila!