Make-Up Review - Collection Uncovered Eyes : Nude Grey Palette

I know these palettes are old news but I never rated Collection as a brand so I never bought one. They also retailed for just over £5 which I thought was actually pretty steep considering I thought the shadows would be chalky with no pigment. But, they were recently reduced to £2.44 in my local Superdrug so I thought why not. 

I went for the Nude Grey palette because it was the most unique palette of them all, all the others were very basic and I'm sure that I already have dupes for every colour but the greys seemed a little different and beautifully wearable. 

The packaging is made from cardboard with a flimsy plastic insert with embossed text and a magnetic closing. It looks and feels cheap but not tacky which is as much as you can hope for when paying so little, it does feel like it would protect the shadows quite well though should you travel with it. 

L: Parchment   Rubble   Under the Moon   Drift Wood   In a Nutshell   Eclipse :R

The palette contains 6 shades ranging from a light nude to a deep black. I wish palettes would stop including the black shades, every bloody palette has one which means that I now own hundreds. It like a palette ideal that every company aspire to include and it really needs to stop, I kind of feel the same about the light nude swell. How many of the same shade does one girl need?!

The palette boast long rectangle pans with a generous amount of product, they are the perfect size to swipe you finger or a standard eyeshadow brush. It does include an eyeshadow brush but I don't know why they bothered because like any included brush, its rubbish. I can see how it would be helpful to makeup beginners who don't own brushes but honestly, your finger is always your best tool in that case. 

These are the first three shades from left to right, I will talk you through the shades one by one.

Parchment

This is a light yellow toned nude. It is soft and buttery in texture, easy to blend and the wear time is pretty good but its boring. I have so many other shadows much the same which I prefer to this one. It is helpful to have a light colour to blend with though.

Rubble

Im not sure why this shade is in this palette because it contains no hints of grey at all. It is a very warm toned dusky bronze with shimmer, it works really well as an all over lid colour and works well with Parchment to blend. 

Under the Moon

I really love this colour, I have been wearing it a lot as an all over the lid everyday shadow. I like a bold eye and this is light enough to be worn everyday but bold enough to still feel like me. It is a silvery shimmery grey with some warm tones. 

Drift Wood

Drift Wood is a shimmery dark grey with dusky metallic elements. I like this shadow a lot, it is a wearable shade and it works really well as a smokey eye with other colours from the palette.

In a Nut Shell

This is a complex colour, on the lid it looks like a bronze, chocolate brown shimmer but in the pan it has a purple tone. It is a gorgeous shadow that has intense pigmentation but I don't understand why it is present in a grey palette.

Eclipse

This is a matte black shade. It is fully blackest black with no other elements, it is great that the pigmentation is so good but I havent used it and I doubt I will. Black is a harsh colour and can be extremely hard to wear. 

All the colours are extremely buttery and pigmented. They are wearable, blendable and genuinely really nice. I am shocked at how cheap they are, how fantastic the quality is and how ridiculously long it took me to buy it! They are not the best palettes on the market but they are perfect for beginners or for people like me who like to try out new things, they won't break the bank and they certainly won't disappoint. 

Go get one and let me know your thoughts!

Buy Here

KIKO Cosmetics Haul / Review

KIKO is a beauty brand I knew nothing about until a shopping trip to Westfield Shopping Centre in London. I wandered in expecting it to be super expensive because everything looked expensive and was pleasantly surprised by how affordable it all was! I was also surprised by how gorgeous everything was, I bought a couple of nail polishes, loved them but ultimately, I forgot all about it.

Until, a store opened up at my local shopping centre, Bluewater. Memories of bargain prices and gorgeous packaging came flooding back and suddenly my feet were running through the stores doors. 

The whole brand really reminds me of MAC, the packaging is super similar, the colours, the way the store is arranged, even the products themselves. I have never been a MAC fan as I feel it is so expensive for items that are so boring, not that the products are bad but they don't excite me and the stores/counters are always a mess with teenagers swarming the testers and putting grubby little finger prints everywhere. I think the way the MAC stores are run is just unacceptable for such a big brand. 

KIKO is very different in that respect, I have only been in two stores but both have been completely spotless, well organised and the staff have been really knowledgeable. This and the bargain prices make KIKO incredible attractive. 

I bought two eyeshadows, both in light everyday shades. You can never have enough good quality everyday eyeshadows and these two are a little different to your typical nudes. One is a shimmery peach and the other a shimmery pink/grey, I really love them both. They are both super quick to apply, have great pigment and just generally great quality. 

The peach is in KIKO's single eyeshadow packaging and the grey is in the a pan with a plastic lid, KIKO have a clic system which enables you to create a custom palette (much like MAC) and these shadows are intended for those palettes but what is great about this is that they have a lid so that even if you don't have the custom palette you can still keep them as perfect little singles. I actually prefer the clic packaging, I will definitely be buying a palette to keep them in but on there own, they are so tiny and great for storage.

The lipsticks come in a variety of different beautiful packaging and in a variety of types. Matte, sheer, shimmer, cream and so many others. The colour selection is even more incredible.

I chose a cream lipstick in a your lips but better peach. It is really lovely for everyday wear and it is super low maintenance which is something I really love in a product. This packaging is super simple but sturdy and expensive feeling/looking. They also had some lipsticks in a gorgeous rose gold packing which I almost bought just for this reason. 

They also smell like sweet vanilla (like MAC) and vanilla is one of my favourite scents so this is just the best thing ever. 

I don't buy nail polishes much anymore, I have been an art student my whole life and for a long time I have also been a waitress so nail polish is just permanently chipped. But I saw this colour and I thought it would be perfect because it is the kind of shade that doesn't show chips badly. Ive had this on for days and it is chipped but you can't tell without looking closely. 

It is a complex colour, a sort of rose gold but with flecks of bronze and grey as well. I really really really super really love it. 

All in all, I am so crazy in love with KIKO as a brand and I have made it my mission to buy everything in the whole store. A little ambitious but I'm sure going to try. I am so impressed with how expensive looking and how great the quality is. The best part... I only spend £10.60

Fall Edition: Relax and Unwind

It is super important to find time to relax, unwind and have some me time all year round but fall is my favourite time to do so because you can do it all while wrapped in a blanket. I am going to talk you through the things I liked to do to Relax and Unwind, I hope you find some inspiration to help you get some cosy me time this fall! 

1. Take a nap

The most amazing thing in the world is the feeling being curled up in a toasty warm bed, covered in blankets and a pile of pillows and taking a long afternoon nap. I personally like to have the window open so I can enjoy the outside sounds and have a cold crisp breeze on my face.

2. Read a book

Once you have woken from your nap, grab a book and read away a few more hours. I like either an easy read book such as Tanya Burr's Love Tanya or a romantic, tear jerker such as All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. 

3. Watch Vlogs

I find it so cosy and relaxing to watch vlogs on youtube, I especially like to watch "couple" vloggers. It's so nice to watch couples do homely couple type things like just cooking dinner and walking the dogs. My favourites are Zalfie and Aspyn & Parker, I love watching Zalfie play with their little pug and Aspyn & Parker plan their wedding.

Watch Zalfie Here

Watch Aspyn & Parker Here

4. Netflix!

Pile your sofa high with cushions, grab your boyfriend, best friend or pet and watch Netflix all night long. My boyfriend and I have been loving watching Arrested Development recently.

5. Turn off all social media and phones

You can't relax while you are looking at and reading about everyone elses lives and you certainly don't want your quiet time ruined by constant texts and emails. Turn everything off and just enjoy the peace, quiet and being alone.

6. Halloween!

Fall is all about halloween for me, it is one of my favourite holidays. Take some time out to do some DIY decorations, spend time with the children in your life, take them out pumpkin picking and trick or treating and watch some halloween films! I have so many favs...

For the kids

. Hotel Transylvania

. Caroline

. A Nightmare Before Christmas

. Hocus Pocus

. Halloween Town

Even a little Harry Potter and Twilight

For the adults

. Halloween series

. Nightmare On Elms Street series

. Friday the 13th series

. Evil Dead

. Wrong Turn series

. Scream series

. Final Destination series

I honestly could list films all day but you get the picture!

There you go! These are the ways I like to relax and unwind during the fall time. Leave me a comment if you have any great relaxation ideas you think I would enjoy!

Bedroom Transformation

When we moved into this house the bedroom was very old lady looking, it has light rose pink walls with a flowered boarder around the middle of the walls (which wasn't even straight), loads of holes in the walls and the whole room was a general botch job. It was hideous.

We wanted to decorate the room but we didn't have much to spend and so we had to find ways of transforming the room on a budget. We kept the same furniture and bedcovers then we worked with the colour themes we already had. We painted the walls a crisp white to match the white wardrobes and make up table, we wanted to keep the grey bedcovers so we incorporated the colour into the room with a new rug and silver shelves then we added copper accents to make everything feel warmer and more on trend. 

When you are on a budget it is important to utilise the items you already have and do a bit of DIY decor. We painted existing items such as my make up table mirror with copper paint and we vamped up some cheap photo frames with the same copper paint and put printed movie quotes inside them. 

The only new things we bought are.... (Click to purchase)

. Lampshade

. Rug

. White Storage Boxes

. Copper Acrylic Paint (Copper only available in store)

. Silver Shelves

. Frames

. Washing Baskets

We also saved money by using a large tub of white paint that we already had but white paint is very cheap anyway and can be bought from any DIY store and most home stores. 

All together we only spent: £59.45

"And then it's the easiest goddamned thing in the world" Paper Towns

"You are all the colours at once at full brightness" All The Bright Places

"I fell in love the way you fall asleep; slowly, then all at once" The Fault In Our Stars

And something for the boyfriend, a quote he likes from Guardians Of The Galaxy

"Oh, she has no idea. If I had a blacklight, this would look like a Jackson Pollock painting"

I am really happy with how it turned out and I am thrilled we managed to do it for such little money. I think that the copper adds some much needed warmth and the quote frames add a good amount of personality into the space. Before, the room was a dumping ground for junk, we slept there and closed the door when we had guests so people wouldn't see how horrible it was. Now, it is a room that we like to spend time in and we can have the door open all the time. 

I hope you guys love it as much as I do and can get some ideas for your own budget transformations!

Make-Up Review: MUA Single Eyeshadows

I really do like MUA as a brand, I have always found that the products are fantastic quality for the price and the palettes I have tried before have been reasonably good. I find single eyeshadows bulky, hard to store and I find that they get ignored and never used but when I noticed these pearl effect single shadows on sale, I thought for £1 each, I just had to try a few. 

I picked up 4 of the pearl effect shadows... (Top finger to bottom)

. Bronze

. Copper

. Golden

. Champagne

And 1 matte shade... (Below photo)

. Slate 

Let's start with the pearl shadows which are by far the stand outs. As you can see by the swatches above, these shadows have crazy amazing pigmentation. They really are gorgeous. Copper is the stand out for me, not because it is better quality than the others but because the shade is really unique and on trend; I can see myself getting a huge amount of use out of this one. Bronze and Golden are incredible colours that I am sure to get a lot of wear out of and Champagne is a beautiful highlight shade that works amazingly for the inner corner and can even be a multi purpose product to be used as a cheek bone highlight. 

The texture of the shadows is actually quite unique also, they are very soft and buttery, the kind of texture that lends really well to being applied with your fingers. They can be applied with a brush but to get the full intense colour, a finger works best. You can also add a little water to your brush to intensify the colour even further. They are great for a multitude of looks, brushes for lighter delicate colour and finger or water for a more intense look.

The packaging is simple and sophisticated, it doesn't look necessarily cheap but it doesn't look high end either. They can be hard to store due to the bubbled unstackable shape but the clear front is great for distinguishing the shadows from one another and the packaging is sturdy and protective.

The matte shadows didn't stand out to me, they looked basic and like I didn't need them, like I already had other similar colours but this grey slate colour seemed like something I didn't already have, so I thought id give it a go. It is not good. The colour pay off is very pale and looks slightly blue toned on the skin despite this not being present in the pan, it is not a bad shade but it is nothing special at all. 

Overall, I am very impressed with the pearl effect shadows and couldn't recommend them enough. They are truly beautiful and I will definitely be buying all the other shades. The mattes however, I doubt ill buy again.

Movie Review: Maze Runner - The Scorch Trials 7/10

Scorch Trials is the second instalment in the Maze Runner series, I really loved the first film and I loved the book series the films are adapted from. I had high hopes for this film and overall I was somewhat impressed but also ever so slightly let down. 

I had typical second book/film syndrome. You must know what I mean, it feel into the New Moon, Catching Fire trap of a severely boring story building instalment. While Scorch Trials was no where near as boring as those examples, it still feel into the trap.

Maze Runner ends with the group breaking out of the maze and being "rescued" and taken to a sort of safe place. It is explained to them that there is a virus called the Flare which is turning people into zombie like creatures and for some reason a large percentage of the young are immune to this illness. WCKD is the organisation who trapped the teens in the maze in order to study their brain activity and find out why the young are immune to the virus. 

Early on in Scorch Trials, the teens discover they are actually still under WCKD's control so they break out of the "safe place" and embark on a journey to find the Right Arm. The Right Arm are an organisation fighting against WCKD and trying to find an alternative cure to the Flare which doesn't involve the teens. All the while, the infected "cranks" are running riot and infecting people.

Basically, through out the whole film the teens are travelling through the scorch to find the Right Arm, sounds complicated right? Well, it is.

So much is going on in the film that the character development unfortunately takes a back seat. The first film, is very much about developing the characters and the relationships but the Scorch Trials seems to forget all this development in favour of a whole lot of action. 

I know this review sounds like I hated it but I didn't. I feel like it does a really good job of bringing the book to life, the scenery and the cranks look exactly as I had imagined them, the truth is that the Scorch Trials book was a boring one compared to the others. In the adaptation to film so much has been changed presumably to make the film less boring than the book but unfortunately in doing so the film has been overloaded with action and lost the small details.

However, these reasons are why the film slightly let me down but the film did have redeeming qualities. It looked great, there was some really well played out emotional moments and I was super relieved to see that rather than keeping it tame for the young audiences, they pushed the boundaries and made the film more adult and intense. I am certain this will be the worst film in the franchise but it will lead on well to the third film and provided essential build up needed for the third instalment.

It would have been the safer option to follow the book more closely and the changes were definitely a risk. It wasn't a complete success but it wasn't a failure either.

Let me know your thoughts!

Pinterest: Wall Quotes

My boyfriend and I have the hugest dvd/bluray collection in the whole world. Well, that might be a little bit of an exaggeration but it is pretty big. It consists of two huge bookcases and takes up the whole side wall of our living room. We also have unlimited cards which are memberships to our local cinema that enables us to see as many movies as we want.

Basically, we love movies. 

We quote them in conversations, we ever quote them to other people who have no idea what we are saying so just think we are crazy. These quotes have become a huge part of our vocabulary. 

I have been searching the shops and the web for wall art, canvas and general decoration for a while but nothing has felt right, I want our bedroom to be personal and showcase what we like and our personalities. What better way to do that than with our favourite quotes from our favourite movies.

Not only favourite movies but books and music too. 

I have taken to pinterest to find ideas on how to make this idea a reality...

The quote we chose will be different from those shown, these are just layout/theme ideas.

I'll update you on the final look and final quotes when its all done and on the walls!