Empties #3

It's been a few months since my last empties post and the products have been building up so I've decided to throw them into a post! I'm always nervous about there being too many products but I think this is the sweet spot. Not too little that I would have to do empties posts all the time but not too much that it's overwhelming. Anyway, let's see what's in my trash! 

Body Shop Brazil Nut Body Butter
The body butters always rule and I've spoken about them so often that I don't even see it necessary to go on. The Brazil Nut scent was a new one for me and I loved wearing it in the winter because it had a beautiful warm smell to it. 

Marc Jacobs Lola Perfume
I have had this perfume for so long it seemed to be permanently attached to my nightstand! Though I am sad to see it go, there is nothing more satisfying than completing a perfume. I talk about this in more depth in THIS post so I won't try start describing it other than saying that it is floral, as the bottle would suggest. This perfume was beautiful while it lasted but I think I'm going to branch out to other things for a while. 

Ren Clearcalm Clarifying Clay Cleanser
This was a bit of a 'meh' product to me. It was a nice enough cleanser, it got the job done, but it wasn't anything special. The clay formula was a bit difficult to work into the skin and the scent was rather odd. I've moved on to other things and I'm not missing it. 

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel
I spoke about this in both my morning and evening skincare routines because it is such a staple in my life. I have never really tried any other moisturisers so I don't have much to compare too but I truly enjoy it. It is simple, moisturising and good on my sensitive skin. 

Clinique Rise-Off Foaming Cleanser 
When I first started with all of my Clinique products, the lady suggested I purchase this to use as a makeup remover. It is quite competent at removing the makeup but it feels quite unusual to do so. The formula is so thick that it doesn't feel as though the makeup is being removed. This is another product that worked fine but I would prefer to use other things. 

Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour Nude Foundation
One of my favourite foundations has come to an end! Oh no! I'm not actually that distraught about it, I'm already well into my next bottle. This foundation is so cheap and it provides a satin-matte finish with a medium coverage and long wear. 

Origins Clear Improvement Mask
Another product that I have a whole post dedicated to (HERE), so I won't harp on too long. This is the best mask I have ever used and while I'm trying out a cheaper option right now, I know I will come back to it one day. 

Batiste Dry Shampoo (For Brunette Hair) 
Bastiste is my staple dry shampoo brand and I'm a bit frightened to try anything else. The brunette formula doesn't leave any white residue in my hair and it does a miraculous job at sucking up any oil in my roots. This is another product I have already replaced!

Body Shop Camomile Cleansing Oil 
I couldn't include this in the picture because the packaging was so gross and oily when I pulled it out of the bag that it was untouchable. Other than the fact that it can get slightly messy if laid on it's side, this is an awesome makeup remover. I must be on my second or third bottle by now but I did THIS post about it way back when I first bought it and my feelings remain the same. I am already near the end of my next one.  

Covergirl Clump Crusher Mascara
If you've been reading this blog for any length of time you will know that I blabber on about this mascara far too much. It is my favourite ever and I actually keep a back up of it now, it's quite sad really. I talked about it most in depth in my Mascara Round Up post if you would like to check it out. 

There is another round of empties! I'm sure I will have another collection in another couple of months to share. 

Lots of Love, 

Shannon

Want to Stay Up All Night?

First off, I would like to apologise for being so absent lately. Life has just been insanely busy and my poor blog suffers. That being said, I'm back for another Friday Review! This week we are taking a look at the much revered Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray. Since Urban Decay finally launched in Australia a couple of months back, I reviewed their lip liner but it took me a bit longer to formulate my thoughts on the setting spray. 

Setting spray is an odd product to begin with. The whole idea of spraying a liquid over my face once I spent so long perfecting my makeup seemed ridiculous at first but I heard such good things that I had to give it a go. It says to spray it 2-4 times in a 'X' and 'T' formation on the face, or you can be like me, throw caution to the wind and spray willy nilly. It leaves my face feeling refreshed at the beginning and then once it dries you can't feel it at all, which is exactly what I would want. 

I'm very impressed by this because it does what it says on the tin. It actually makes my makeup stay on longer, something I didn't think was possible. Primers are a bit iffy on me but this seems to work. I wouldn't say it made it stay ALL NIGHT but I doubt anything could make my makeup stay on that long. The unexpected benefit of this product is that it makes my makeup look better. It has the ability to even things out and add a bit of dewiness, which is certainly an added bonus. 

Quickly touching on the packaging, it is pretty spot on. The spray is the perfect mist, rather than the aggressive droplets that some sprays have. My only issue with the cute packaging is that it attracts stains. It is that odd rubberised packaging that soaks up any makeup that is on your hands. A minor flaw in an overall impressive product so I don't really mind. 

There's my thoughts on the first ever setting spray I have tried! Have you tried UD's All Nighter? What did you think? 

If you're from the UK you can pick it up HERE and if you're from the US you can pick it up HERE.

Lots of Love, 

Shannon

Beauty Interview: All or Nothing

Another month, another beauty interview with a blogger far more successful than myself. This beautiful lady is Marie and she runs the blog All or Nothing. Hailing from London town she has been blogging for just over six months now. I was lucky to stumble across her blog after she left some lovely comments on mine and I'm looking forward to keeping up and reading all of her great posts! Lets get right into it... 

1. What is the first piece of makeup you remember owning? 

My 1st piece was a lipstick given by my mother.

2. What is the number one beauty product on your wish list at the moment? 

Better Than Sex Mascara by Too Faced.

3. How many different foundations do you own and which is your favourite? 

Right now I have 4 different foundations and they are : Even Better by Clinique, Dream Satin by Maybelline, Skin Luminizer By Max Factor & Healthy Mix Serum by Bourjois. My favourite is the Maybelline one. 

4. What is the type of beauty product you hoard the most? 

Lipstick, lipstick and lipstick :)

5. How many steps do you have in your morning skincare routine? 

It depends but between 2 to 5.

How about your evening skincare routine? 

As for my evening skincare it will be 2 (night cream and lip care cream) 

Now on to some quick fire this or that questions

1. MAC or Nars?  I do not know (sorry)? I never tried MAC or NARS products

2. Rimmel or Revlon?  Rimmel

3. Mascara or Concealer?  Mascara

4. Skincare or Haircare?  Skincare

5. Purifying mask or hydrating mask? Hydrating mask

6. High end or Drugstore?  Both because I have as much high end (Chanel, Clinique, YSL etc) as Drugstores (Rimmel, Bourjois etc.) I am loving as much high end and Drugstores. I cannot really choose. 

7. Blog or Vlog?  Blog

8. Hair up or hair down?  Hair down

9. Red or Pink Lipstick? Red

10. Highlight or Contour?  Highlight

Make sure to follow Marie on her BLOG and her TWITTER to show her some love. Thank you so much to Marie personally for participating, I have loved interacting with you! 

Lots of Love, 

Shannon

5 Steps to a Perfect Pedicure

Though it is nice to go to the salon and get mani/pedi's, we don't all always have the time, money or inclination for that. Luckily it is actually super easy to recreate the experience at home. It only takes five steps!

Step 1: Tidy The Toe Nails 
Start by taking off any old nail polish, a fresh slate is key. Then tend to your toe nails however you see necessary. There is many different ways to cut your nails but I personally prefer the nail clippers for my toe nails because I don't want any fancy shape. They cut off the nail nice and flat, which is all I really want. I tend to cut my nails as low as possible so that I don't have to cut them too frequently. As I said, cut your nails in any way you like, file them (if you can be bothered [I can't]) and move on to the fun stuff. 

Step 2: File Your Feet 
This is an important step that people often forget about. Think about it, if you want your legs to look really nice you exfoliate them, don't you? Well your feet have 20x the layers of skin than your legs do, so they need exfoliating even more. For this I like to use my Scholl Velvet Smooth Express Pedi* because it grinds all of the dead skin away quickly and painlessly. Just run the Express Pedi over your feet and the hard skin is gone in seconds. On top of that, it's just really fun to use. 

Step 3: Soak Your Feet 
Time to bring a bit of the salon to your home but soaking your feet in a nice bath. I love to add oils to the water in order to maximise the luxury. I add an essential oil for some scent, this time I used peppermint which I think is super nice on the feet because no one wants a foot smell lingering around. Then I add some Josie Maran Argan Oil (or something of the sort) to make the water nice and moisturising as well. I soak my feet for around twenty minutes or however long I feel because it can never be too long. When you take your feet out and dry them, they will feel as soft and clean as they have every felt. 

Step 4: Moisturise
This one is pretty self explanatory, you must add moisturiser in order to maximise and extend the super soft feeling. I enjoy using the Scholl Eulactol Heel Balm Gold* because it makes my feet feel really nice without that slippy feeling. You can walk around pretty much straight after applying this and not know that you have put it on. There is nothing I hate more than that 'I just put moisturiser on my feet' feeling. Moisturiser is especially necessary if you have cracked heels to lock in some hydration. 

Step 5: Paint Your Toe Nails 
Another self explanatory one but painting your toe nails is necessary because once your feet are feeling this soft and beautiful you will want to show them off! I like to go with a nice bright colour and this time I used the Sephora Formula X Nail Polish in Push The Limits. 

Now I'm going to include some step by step pictures of the pedicure. If you don't like feet, click away now. 

Lots of Love, 

Shannon 

*These products were sent to me for review from Scholl. All opinions expressed in the post are my own. 

April Favourites

I had been working on this post for a good couple of hours before I realised that the title of 'February Favourites' was totally wrong. The year is going by so quickly, I can't even keep up with the months. 

Nars Sheer Glow
The foundation to end all foundations, or as they say. With all of the acclaim in beauty circles, I just couldn't help but invest in it. I keep it for special occasions but when I do break it out, I am always impressed with how natural it looks and how well it applies. It also helps that there is actually a shade light enough for my skin! 

L'Oreal Brow Artist Plumper
I'm not sure if I have mentioned this in a favourites post before but, hey, it deserves to be praised more than once anyway. My brows are pretty crap naturally so they need all the help they can get. This is a tinted brow gel that adds a bit of something something. The fibres make even the sparsest (ahm, mine) of brows look full and voluminous, which is about as good as it could get. 

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Lip Pencil in Turn On
This product has already had an entire post written about it on the blog, that's how much I love it. Check that post out HERE. 

Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray
There will be a proper review of this product coming up soon so I won't reveal too much. That being said, I'm really enjoying using this. I genuinely think it extends the length of my makeup wear and it manages to even everything out and make it look more melded into the skin. 

YSL Rouge Volupté Tint-In-Oil in Pink About Me
I did a post just a couple of days ago about my overwhelming love for this product so I will spare you any more gushing. Just check out the post HERE. 

Sephora Formula X Nail Polish in Push The Limits
The Formula X polishes are always some of my favourites and this colour is no exception. It is a gorgeous bright orangey red that adds a much needed boost of bright colour into the winter dreariness. 

Zoeva 104 Buffer and 129 Luxe Fan Brushes
All of my new Zoeva brushes (see a full post HERE) have been favourites this month. However, these two rose to the top of the bunch. The buffer brush makes it so easy to blend in foundation quickly and the fan brush applies highlighter perfectly so that I don't look like a disco ball. 

To Pimp A Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar
People say that I don't strike them as a rap lover but I actually enjoy it, dawg. Kendrick's album has received universal praise for good reason, it features so many great songs. Each song is so different and within the songs there is so many different sections. Beat changes, spoken sections, other cool things. Music reviewing isn't my forte but this is good. Trust me. 

Uncle Tobys Fruity Bites
It's not one of my favourites posts unless I include something incredibly random. This time we have a very childish snack food. It's basically cereal that has been packaged so that it looks like something else. They're wheat crisps filled with fruit paste and surprisingly delicious. 

I can't get over the fact that it's May already... 

Lots of Love, 

Shannon

The One With The Tint-In-Oil

Like my catchy title? Obviously my creative juices aren't flowing as freely as usual today. Sorry. That's not the point anyway because we're here to talk about the Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupté Tint-In-Oil in the shade 8 Pink About Me. 

Let's first address the elephant in the room, this is very expensive. I don't think it is at all necessary to spend $49 on a lip product but as a special treat it sure is nice. With these products you are usually paying purely for the brand name. This is true for this product to a degree but it is also an innovative formulation of lip product. I'm sure we will eventually see drugstore dupes but for the time being it is very unique. With that out of the way, I'm moving on to the important stuff. 

This is the most moisturising and unobtrusive lip product I have ever worn. There is absolutely no stickiness or thick feeling on the lips, as you often get with a lipgloss or a lip balm. I have never used an oil on my lips so it is a totally new experience for me. The oil goes onto the lips with only the slightest of tints and a very glossy look. Then over the first couple of minutes after application it develops and the tint comes out more and more. It ends up being quite a bright pink shade, though it still looks very natural and (ugh I hate this phrase but I can't think of anything better) 'bitten'. Over time the oil sinks in but it leaves the beautiful tint behind. 

As per usual with YSL, the packaging is beyond gorgeous. It is unusual because the tube is silver, whereas most of their products are in gold packaging. I like the silver, it's different. The colour around the centre reflects the colour of the tint, which makes it a lot easier if you end up with multiple shades. The applicator is really good because it has different sides for the top and bottom lip. It's not that you need to be precise with this product at all because it's so subtle, but the applicator makes it easy to be precise anyway. The concave side fits perfectly to the bottom lip and the concave side is perfect for the top lip. It also holds the perfect amount of product, not too much but not too little. Plus, the applicator is randomly bright purple. I don't understand it but I kinda like it. 

Ugh these are so expensive but I love this so much. Life problems. Please tell me if you have tried the rouge volupté tint-in-oils, what did you think of it? And if you haven't tried it, would you like to? 

If you're from the UK you can pick it up HERE or if you're from the US you can pick it up HERE.

Lot of Love, 

Shannon