Along with my wonderful Miss Selfridges Jacket, today my new floral Dr. Martens arrived. I've never been a big Dr. Martens fan, but I can't resist anything floral. So I've been eyeing up quite a few floral ones of theirs for a while. The only annoying thing about them is that the laces aren't stretchy or thick, so when I pulled them tighter they literally snapped. So now I have tied them together until I can get new laces. :(
So this is my lovely new Miss Selfridges Leather Biker Jacket. It's amazingly pretty. When I took it out of it's packaging it smelt overwhelmingly of leather. I then went to the mall with it later in the day and when I was driving I had to wind down the windows because the whole car stunk of leather. As far as I'm concerned, this means that it's good quality. I've found no faults and it fits me absolutely perfectly. Overall, I'm so incredibly pleased!
Recently I went out for dinner for my work, and this is the make up that I chose to wear. I'm going to talk you through all the products that I put on my poor face. :) These are ones that I use regularly, that I have bought, and that I consider amazing products. I don't use these every day, but when I go out and want a natural look, these are the products I pick up. Enjoy!
Starting with a base:
For my foundation, I'm wearing Revlon Colourstay Whipped Creme Foundation. This foundation is light and not clogging. I've got the colour Nude on. I don't generally like colourstay very much, and I probably shouldn't say that as I used to work for Revlon, but I always preferred Photoready. I didn't actually wear a powder over top, just my MAC Mineralise Skinfinish in Porcelain Pink. It's my new favourite thing. For concealer, I only ever use one and that's my MAC Studio Finish. You can read the post that I wrote about how amazing it is here. I wear colour NW20. I would never go back to wearing another concealer again, this is top notch.
Progressing to cheeks:
I have on a blusher, a little bit of bronzer and a highlighter. The blusher that I use most days and I love to death is MAC's Powder Blush in Peachykeen. For a bronzer I use Beyu Magnum Bronzing Powder which I will blog about at one point (someday). It's from this German brand and it's a gorgeous colour. Usually bronzers are too dark for my face, but this one is just right. The highlighter that I've had for years and bought when I was on holiday is Nars Multiple in Coppacobana. It cost me an arm and a leg, but I'm so pleased that I bought it! I hate it when people's face looks 2D, so using a bronzer and a highlighter is a must for me.
Eyes:
I used a creme base and that was Estee LauderDoubleWear Stay-in Place Shadow Creme in colour 21 Buttercreme to get the shimmery underlay and for the shadow to stay on all night. I then used my Chi Chi Nudes Palette which I love. The browns and nudes are perfect for a natural eye and incredibly cheap too. To line the eye I used the Estee Lauder Stay-in-place gel liner. Finally, the new mascara I have, which I love, is the Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes mascara. For brows, I have the Elizabeth Arden liner in Sabel. This stuff lasts forever. Honestly, I bought mine years ago, and I've yet to run out.
Lips:
The lipstick used is a Clinique one. Clinque's colours are quite vibrant and moisturising. The one that I've got on is the Long Last in Watermelon.
Here in New Zealand, the sun is out a lot. We don't have an ozone layer either thanks to the amount of pollution that the rest of the world emits (think about that next time you get into your massive car). To protect ourselves from the harsh UVA and UVB rays we have to use heavy sunscreen.
It really annoys me when people lie out and bake in the sun over here without sunscreen on because "they don't burn". Everyone burns. You burn even when you're not noticing it. Out walking your dog at 12 during the day and the suns in the sky but it's still frosty and you're rugged up in a massive coat? Yeah, you'll burn.
This Elizabeth Arden Sunscreenis part of their Eight Hour Defence range. It's got an SPF of 50 which means that you can stay out in the sun for 50 times the amount that you would normally burn in. So if you burn in ten minutes, with this on, you can stay outside for 50 times that and not get burnt. The higher the SPF, the more your skin will thank you.
Where I work doesn't sell Urban Decay, in fact, it's not sold at all in New Zealand as far as I'm aware (I've yet to find it anyway). That being said, I do adore the Naked Palette. My friend's mum bought her one back when she went to Texas a couple of years ago. It's a beautiful set of colours and I'm forever seeing people gush over how amazing it is online. So when Chi Chi came out with a palette called Nudes with almost exactly the same colours, I HAD to snatch it up immediately. It was sold out within days.
Chi Chi is an Australian cosmetic company. So If you're reading this elsewhere in the world, i do apologise. However, I felt the need to write about this beautiful colour palette, because it sure is beautiful. I am in love with it and use it every day at the moment. I can't seem to get enough of it. The colours are perfectly nude and brown for every day use. I adore. I'm in love. I can't stop gushing!
The colours are almost identical to the Urban Decay Naked palette. How Chi Chi can get away with this I don't know, but nonetheless I am not complaining. I bought mine for just under $30 NZ dollars, which is incredibly cheap in comparison to the Naked one. The pigmentation is great too. All the colours are very shimmery, something that they have in common with Naked, though the Naked palette does have one nice base colour and the Chi Chi one is perhaps a little more shimmery than that one. Other than that, the colours and the pigmentation are extremely similar.
There's very little difference between the two. So if you're wanting a cheaper alternative, get the Chi Chi one. But if you're wanting the original - I don't blame you, I just wish that I could get it here - then get it because no browns and nudes are more suitable for every day use than this one. It is a beautiful product and Urban Decay did a wonderful job of making it a cult product for beauticians.
UPDATE: Chi Chi's website has more palettes to choose from, including one called Bases that I seriously now want. I also quite like the Classics palette too. Check out their collection here.
Currently, and most of the time really, I am listening to quite a lot of music. I listen when I am at the gym, when I walk my dogs each day, when I'm at uni and in the library, if I'm on my break at work; I listen to music a lot okay? That said, I thought I might share who I've been into recently.
Hurts
Let me tell you a story. A couple of years ago I went to Germany to visit my friend. One day we were driving down the autobahn (at an insanely scary speed by the way) and this song came on. It was soothing and a background type song that we didn't take much notice of as we talked. Then another day we were driving again, and again this song came on and the carload of us found ourselves singing along dramatically. Then again, and again, and again, this song kept playing! And none of us knew who it was! We googled it and found out that it was "Stay" by Hurts, whom we had never heard of before. One of the first things I did when I got home from Germany (besides sleep till 4pm the following day from jetlag) was buy their cd. I haven't regretted it. And now their new cd is out, long awaited I might add, and I am in love with it. These two men that make up this incredible band, are unable to be expressed in simple English. I think that they are genuinely reading my mind and expressing it in lyrics - and not in a corny Taylor Swift kind of way. Their new song "Somebody to die for" expresses everything I feel about falling for someone.
Hurts, "Somebody To Die For"
Ellie Goulding
This girl's voice is insane! I heard her a few years back with her cover of "Your Song" and her single "Lights", both of which I downloaded immediately. But then she was gone for a while here, but her new album "Halcoyn" has really bought her back into the market. I think there isn't a single song that I don't like. My favourite is "My Blood". My itunes already says that I've listened to it 20 times, which considering I've only had the album for a few weeks is actually quite a lot.
Ellie Goulding, "My Blood" live at Itunes Festival 2012
Passenger
I first saw this dude open for Ed Sheeran when they performed at Vector Arena earlier in the year. He was hilarious. The song "I hate" made me laugh out loud. The crowd screamed when he said the line about how people come to concerts and then "talk through every fucking song". Love it! Ed introduced him as someone who's had 6 No.1's and is not signed to a record label. It's brave of him to be an independent artist still; it's a relief to have someone still in the industry for the music and not the money.
Passenger, "I hate"
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
If you haven't heard the album Heist, you must've been living under a rock. These two came to each major city in New Zealand for 'O-Week' which is literally Orientation week for all the newbies. This concert was so big that they had to move venues and go to an Arena instead of just having it as an outdoor concert. The crowd was sweating and the music was loud and everyone had drunk a little too much, and it was ultimately incredible. Macklemore has such inspiring things to say. His song "Same Love" went to No.1 here in New Zealand, and now with the passing of the Same Sex Marriage bill here, it's no wonder that New Zealanders love this song really isn't it?
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, "Same Love"
Imagine Dragons
I love their whole debut album. Other than that "It's time" and "Radioactive" are currently on repeat on my ipod, I don't know what to say.
Imagine Dragons, "Radioactive"
Neon Hitch This girl's real name is Neon. How crazy is that? According to Wikipedia, she grew up with street performing parents as travellers and therefore never attended school. Throughout her childhood and youth she was a trapeze artist, fire swinger, and stilt walker. Eventually she was discovered on Myspace. Insane! Check her out. I love it. She does an awesome cover of "Gucci Gucci" by Kreayshawn.
Neon Hitch, "Fuck U Betta" The Weeknd Found this dude somewhere the other day, can't quite remember where but I think I was going through links of things and just stumbled across him. That's always the best way to find someone. I love his song "Twenty Eight". It's incredibly soulful and the lyrics powerful. His voice is truly spine-chilling. The control he has over his voice is inspiring, I would love to be able to grace up to the notes that he does with such apparent easiness.
It covers extremely well. You only need the smallest amount on your brush to do every blemish and dark circle on your face. It's thick like a paste but it doesn't cake or feel heavy when on. It actually feels creamy and is lightweight, not heavy at all. Something I hate about concealers is when they go patchy or when your foundation lightens during the day and then you can see where you've put your concealer. This concealer just doesn't do that! It's got good coverage and it's long lasting.
The colour range is also huge so there is bound to be a colour for every shade. When matching skin colours for foundations and concealers, darker women struggle to find their shade, especially here in New Zealand where there aren't many Africans or African Americans. MAC is known for having a huge colour range.
Mine is very well used so as you can see I adore this product. I first bought mine in Dubai when I went a couple of years ago through their airport, which if you haven't been, is amazing. I would marry this concealer if I could, I'd have its babies even. It is that good. I've tried a few concealers, but none of them compare to the greatness that is this one. It's absolutely fabulous.
