FOTD | Quick and easy everyday spring makeup

Hello there :) 

How is everyone today?! Hope all is fine and dandy and that the sun is shining nice and brightly with you :) I hope you are all having fantastic weeks, not long to go till the weekend and Mothers Day! Have any of you got any nice plans for Mothers Day? I'm working, we are fully booked twice over so it's going to be a busy old day fingers crossed we might get some good tips though! My Dad being the best Dad in the world took me to the cinema today as I'm really struggling at the moment and feeling quite low. Friendships seem to be a big problem at the moment I don't seem to have any, apart from the lovely Hannah from Suitcase and Sandals ( go check out her blog it's a lovely one). Having Aspergers has meant that friendships have always been a struggle for me and well at the moment I'm just feeling very lonely! Have any of you lovely people got any tips for how to make friends? 

Anyway we went to see Big Hero 6 which is a new Disney film, and it was brilliant and rather funny! Definitely recommend going to see it! I really want to go and see the new Cinderella film, looks so good! Is anyone going to see it? Let me know what you think of it!! 

So today I thought I would do another beauty post as that is where my passion really lies and I could talk about beauty products all day long! My favourite bloggers chat at the moment is #bbloggers. I love talking with like minded people about beauty! 

Seen as the weather has started to improve I have changed my makeup a little bit. During the winter months I tend to wear much heavier makeup but when the sun starts to shine I much prefer the subtle and natural looks! Also as the weather gets warmer I don't like to have too much on my face as it makes me feel hotter if that makes sense so I tend to opt for as little as possible. 

For my base I like to use a tinted moisturiser as they provide SPF which is great for added protection in the spring and summer months. Tinted moisturisers are also great because they give your face the moisture they need as well as providing your skin with a subtle tint to even out your skin tone and give your skin a healthy looking glow! I'm currently using No7 tinted moisturiser in fair/medium. I'm not 100% sure yet whether I love this particular one or not, I used it all last summer and my mum is a big fan but I'm just not quite in love. I think I may try some other brands this summer to truly make my mind up. I have heard lots of good things about the Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser so I think that's going to be the next one on my list. 

I don't really tend to use a powder or bronzer when I'm using tinted moisturiser as I don't feel my skin needs it so I jump straight in for the blusher. I sometimes use a bit of concealer when I need it but forgot to add it in the photo opps sorry! My current favourite blush at the moment is the Bobbi Brown Cheek Palette in Pink. I absolutely love the colours in it and I think they add a really healthy looking pink colour to my cheeks. 

For an everyday easy makeup look I tend to keep my eyes super simple and I also think simple eyes really helps me to keep a natural looking face. At the moment I'm using a MAC Paint pot in Painterly as this is a lovely nude shade and just provides a lovely base and covers up any veins. 

I then just put some of Benefit Cosmetics roller lash mascara on as this makes my lashes look extra long! And then thats my eyes done, boring I know but it's super quick to do makeup look. 

I'm obsessed with having good brows, always have been since I was about 13! So this is the most important part of any makeup look I do. If I'm really short of time I will just do my brows because having good brows just makes me feel ready to go into the outside world! Crazy I know! Anyway I'm currently using Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade as in my opinion she has some of the best brow products currently on the market (I'm also a big fan of brow wizz) and the great thing about the Dipbrow is that it's perfect for the summer months as it's waterproof and doesn't smudge so even if your face is dripping in sweat your eyebrows still look great! And this product really doesn't move! 

I then use some of the Anastasia Beverly Hills clear brow gel to set everything in place :) 

Then to finish off this look I use my current favourite Lipstick which is MAC Pink Pearl Pop. I absolutely love this lipstick at the moment and think its the perfect colour for spring :) You can read my review on it here. 

What are your favourite products for spring and summer? 

Today's Barney picture is one of him on a walk the other day! This lovely weather is amazing as it's meant that we have been able to go on some fantastic walks and not come back covered in mud! He looks so handsome in this picture he really does love to pose for the camera! We have just been over the road to play ball which he thought was amazing and is now completely shattered and fast asleep on my bed bless him! I'm so grateful for my dog, he always makes me smile even when I'm feeling down, 100% best dog in the world (well to me anyway). 

Hope you are all well and jolly :) 

Anna-Louise

xx

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Review | MAC Pink Pearl Pop Lipstick

Hello there :) 

How is everyone today? Hope you have all had lovely weekends, and if you have had the amazing sun and warm weather we have I hope you have been able to make the most of it. If you haven't had any sun I shall send some your way :) I swear the weeks seem to go by quicker and quicker I don't know where this week has gone! I've been working everyday this week which has been great as it has given me something to do but it's fair to say I'm knackered now so can't wait to curl up in bed later! 

So today's post is another beauty post because why not!  Okay I know it's another review of a MAC lipstick, you are probably all bored of seeing MAC lipstick reviews but they are just so great it's hard not to review them, and well they are kind of an all time favourite for everybody! MAC lipstick reviews seem to pop up all the time in the blogging community so I thought I would jump on the band wagon and do one because why not join in hey! Some of you might be big fans of these reviews so are probably over the moon right now (slight exaggeration). If this is you then welcome, keep on reading, however if this isn't you well it would still be nice for you to keep on reading but not to worry if not! If we all liked the same things life would be very boring.

I had never really heard about MAC lipsticks or MAC in general till about 9 months ago, and oh my I wish I had found out about them sooner because not only have I fallen in love with them but Mumma M has too! We are both hooked so have started to build up a little collection together because sharing is caring or something like that! 

Anyway my latest addition  to the collection is the gorgeous Pink Pearl Pop! Which is a shade that I had not heard of before I stumbled across it at a MAC counter. This could be an incredibly popular colour that I'm just a bit slow to find out about or just one of those ones that you happen to stumble across. Either way I'm so glad I stumbled across this shade because I absolutely love it, infact it's probably my favourite lipstick at the moment especially as it's such a perfect colour for spring!

Pink Pearl Pop is a bright pink cremesheen lipstick which leaves a really pretty finish. When I first saw this I was a little bit put off by the colour as it is so bright, but once I swatched it I fell in love. As it is a cremesheen the brightness is not overpowering. It gives a warm pink sheen tint to the lips and doesn't look unnatural. I'm not very good at describing looks and colours so I do apologise. It's sort of your perfect barbie pink doll colour that once on your lips looks almost neutral pink (because it's a cremesheen). It's a really cute colour that works well with a number of different looks even a smokey eye and would be a great go to lipstick for a spring/summer makeup look. So if you are looking for a new lipstick to add to your spring makeup collection then I definitely recommend Pink Pearl Pop or if you just fancy a new lipstick then this one is worth checking out :)

What is your current favourite lipstick?

The Barney picture today is another one of him on one of our sunny walks this week! I love this photo as it looks like he is smiling! He is such a little cutie at times, he is also a great poser for the camera. He has enjoyed some lovely long walks this week in the sun, hopefully this lovely weather will continue. I'm just about to give him pilchards in tomato sauce for his dinner as a Sunday night treat as it's his favourite. 

Hope you are all well and jolly :) 

Anna-Louise

xx

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Beauty | Current Favourite Makeup Brushes

Helloooo there :) 

How is everyone today?! Hope all is fine and dandy as always if not turn that frown upside down it's nearly the weekend :) Yay I hear you shout! Have any of you got any nice plans this weekend? I'm travelling back from a super holiday in Wales and then working :)

Today I thought I would do yet another beauty post, I'm really enjoying doing beauty posts as it's something I'm really passionate about so I find them easy to write and the words just flow from my mouth to my laptop or something like that!

Since collecting makeup has become a hobby of mine I have also started to build a collection of makeup brushes because the right tools are key for easy application of makeup, and well like makeup you can never have too many brushes so I thought I would share with you my current favourite brushes as I don't know about you but I'm always on the look out for new ways to apply my makeup. I'm also always on the hunt for soft and fluffy brushes as they are the best as they are unbelievably nice on the face.

My current favourite brushes are all face and eye brushes not that you can really get many other ones, I have also said they are my current favourites as they are the ones that work best with my everyday makeup that I'm wearing at the moment as I have found that some makeup goes on better with some brushes than others do. Does anyone else find this? 

Real Techniques Stippling Brush: Now I can imagine most of you will have come across real techniques brushes, who  have been created by the lovely Sam and Nic Chapman who also have a super youtube channel called Pixiwoo where they upload lots of really helpful makeup tips and tricks. I've so far only got a couple of their brushes but I have my eye on their bold metals collection! The great thing about real techniques brushes is that they are high quality brushes at a reasonably affordable price so what's not to love about that?! Now my current favourite brush of theirs is the Stippling Brush. I cannot sing this brush's praises enough, I love it, in fact it's probably my all time favourite face brush too. I use it every day to either put on foundation or tinted moisturiser and it always helps to give me a flawless look finish. I have tried other brushes but always come back to this one, it just helps to blend in my makeup so nicely and easily.

Nanshy Blush Brush: Nanshy is a brand I came across in the summer after hearing some bloggers and vloggers rave about the brand, and I'm so glad I invested in some, I've been super impressed with them and they even rate higher than some of my more higher end brushes. I went for their masterful collection in pearlescent white (I thought the white was a really cute colour for a make up brush) as I wanted both face brushes and eye brushes and I have both their face brush set and eye brush set on my wish list. Their brushes are so soft and help to apply make up beautifully. One of my favourite brushes from the masterful collection and one of my current favourite brush for applying brush is the Nanshy Blush brush. It is a really nice shape for applying blusher and is also really soft, I have tried a number of blush brushes but this is my definite favourite.

Nanshy Powder Brush: Another Nanshy brush!! I just love all their brushes but their powder brush is currently one of my favourite brushes. Their brushes are almost magically soft and this particular one just makes applying powder super easy and almost an enjoyable experience. I'd be lost without this brush for applying my powder!

Zoeva 101 Luxe Face Definier: Now I'm sure most of you will have herd of Zoeva makeup brushes, maybe the rose gold collection in particular. My current favourite is not one from this collection, I'm afraid I don't really like rose gold! Sorry I'm a silver and white gold type of girl. This brush is a fairly new one to my collection but I'm already a big fan of it. I mainly use it for my bronzer or contouring as the shape of it makes it great for this. Like all Zoeva brushes it is super soft and high quality making it easy to apply my makeup with.

MAC 217: Now I can't rate this brush highly enough it has helped to teach me what blending is all about and well I'm grateful to MAC for bringing out a brush for this purpose. I don't think there are many other brushes out there they are as great for blending as the 217 is. I'm a big fan of blending, and this brush has just made the experience of blending eyeshadows enjoyable. If you're after a brush for blending eyeshadows I recommend this brush 100%.

Zoeva 221 Luxe Soft Crease: In my opinion you can never have enough eye brushes as the more you have the less often you have to clean them, but I'm just lazy! I really like blending out my eyeshadows so this brush is another one of my favourites for that purpose and it sure does it's job well.  It's super soft and big and fluffy which makes blending out really easy and you don't have to use much pressure for it to do it's job. I probably use blending brushes more than actual shading brushes as I just find them so easy to use and this is another one of them. I use both this and the 217 on an almost daily basis.

Nanshy Shader: Another Nanshy brush I know but I just love them so much like I've said further up the post! This Nanshy brush is a flat shader which makes it perfect for applying eyeshadow easily to your lid with almost one sweep. I love this brush because it is a flat shader which means I find it easy to apply a good coverage of eyeshadow without it going everywhere. It's hard to describe this brush really as once you try it for the first time the brush speaks for itself! It's such a good quality brush and next to my blender brushes is my most used eyeshadow brush which is why it's one of my favourites I guess. 

What are your favourite makeup brushes? Are any of them ones that I have mentioned? I really want to try a beauty blender as I have heard they are great for applying foundation, have any of you tried them? 

The Barney picture today is one of him the other day whilst we were on a walk where my dad made me climb a scary big hill. Barney didn't find it scary instead he thought it was great fun and raced up it. He is pretty much fully recovered from his swimmers tail now thankfully so he is a much happier chap again! 

Hope you are all well and jolly :) 

Anna-Louise 

xx

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Beauty // My travel makeup bag

Hello there!! 

How is everyone today! Hope all is well and that you are smiley and happy :) A smile a day keeps the doctor away! I was recently in a local hospital waiting for an x-ray and on a white board there was a sign saying smile and something along the lines of it's good for you and people benefit from it. Anyway the funny thing was the receptionist was the grumpiest and most unfriendly person I have ever seen, I had to try so hard to not say anything and point out the whiteboard behind her. It sure did make me and my gran chuckle. 

Little update I have decided to change the days that I post to a Sunday, Wednesday and Friday as it suits my week a little better as I tend to write my posts on a Tuesday and Thursday as that is when Mum is at work and I have the most free time. 

Anyway I'm off on a family holiday to Wales this weekend! I've personally never been to Wales so I'm excited to see what it's like! Have any of you been to Wales or do you even live in Wales? I've said Wales a lot of times so now I'm thinking of Whales as in the ones that live in the sea! Have any of you seen the film Free Willy? Sounds weird I know but it's about a whale and setting it free etc! Was one of my favourite films as a child, we had it on video which probably tells you how old the film was! I have gone completely off topic now I do apologise. 

Right so today's post is going to be my travel make up bag and what I take with me on holiday :) obviously this changes at different types of  the year though so I'm sure I will do similar posts in the future. I always love being nosy and seeing what different make up people use and what they take away with them so thought this would be a great post today so I hope you all enjoy it :)

I'm never a fan of packing to go away but that's usually because I always want to take everything I own with me! I'm not very good at picking what things to take, and I always feel sorry for the things I leave behind. So I've had the difficult decision of choosing what make up to take away with me for a week. I tried to think logically about what to take whilst I was packing so I tried to pick little things and brought an eye-shadow and blush palette so I have lots of choice and can still do different looks without taking everything.

Primer : Now I'm still trying to decide whether I like primer or I don't. I have a couple at home but I decided to take Benefit's Porefessional as it's slightly smaller than the other ones I have so thought it would be perfect to travel with!

Foundation: I've been trying out a couple of different foundations over the past few months and I can finally say I have found my holy grail foundation! It's one that has been talked about loads by bloggers and vloggers and has lots of positive reviews so I thought why not give it a try! My new holy grail foundation is.......Nars sheer glow of course! After hearing so many good things about it I was very excited when I finally got my hands on a bottle and the colour match was great, the foundation feels amazing on my skin and doesn't bring me out in spots, it also gives a nice healthy glow to the skin and as I have dry skin this is what I want from a foundation! I'm in love with this stuff and could talk about it all day but I don't want to bore you and I think I may do a review post on it at some point! Have any of you tried it? What do you think of it?! 

Powder: Now when I travel I always tend to take pressed powder rather than loose powder which I tend to use a fair bit at home! My pressed powder is also smaller and as it's pressed it's doesn't make much mess! So I decided to take my favourite powder with me which is the Rimmel Stay Matte. I love this powder I think it does the job well as the other great thing about it is the fact that it's a drugstore one so it's not too pricey :) 

Bronzer: Bronzer is definitely something that is a necessity in my travel make up bag so I decided to pack my all time favourite bronzer which is a KIKO one. If you haven't checked out KIKO cosmetics already I highly recommend that you do! I've been really impressed with everything I've purchased from there so far and they are high quality at an affordable price, what's not to love hey?!

Blush: I have a real thing for blush, I have so many of them so it's always hard to decide which one to pack so I want to take them all however there isn't always room for this. So this time I went away I found the perfect solution which was to take a blush palette, then you have a couple of different shades of blush for different make up looks and it's all together so it doesn't take up as much room well that's my theory  anyway. In my current travel make up bag I decided to take my hourglass Ambient Blush palette which ticks all the boxes for being a great one to travel with. 

Concealer: Now this is something I sometimes use when I'm away but it all depends on how much time I have and where I am and how much sleep I have. So I decided to pack one of my favourite concealer's which is a high coverage one so I have something if my bags under my eyes decided to be enormous one day or if my face decides it wants to have a breakout whilst I'm away. I decided to pack MAC's Pro Longwear concealer :)

Brows: Now I am obsessed with eyebrows, literally obsessed. I rarely ever go out the house without sorting out my brows first even if I have no other make up on I will have nice brows. So of course I have had to pack my daily brow products. I like to use Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wizz and then I use NO7 lash and brow perfecter and these two products never fail to let me know so they had to come for a trip. 

Eyeshadow: I always find the easiest way to pick what eyeshadows to take away is by taking an eyeshadow palette as you then have a variety of shades and a palette is much easier to travel with rather than lots of individual eyeshadows. For the current holiday that I was packing for I decided to take my Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette :)

Mascara: This is a beauty product they people take with them every where. Even if your not wearing any other make up mascara can make the world of difference, well it sure does to my eyes. The mascara that I have brought away with me this time is one that people have been talking about a lot recently in the blogging community and I can now see what the hype was all about! Of course it's Benefit's new Roller Lash Mascara and my goodness it sure does make your eyelashes look amazing! I'm in love with it. This was definitely a beauty product I was not going away without. The one I currently have is a tester one so it's a smaller one but that's great because it makes it the perfect colour to travel with. 

Lips: You always have to take some sort of lip product away with you, I tend to take some sort of lip product everywhere even in my handbag. Instead of taking a couple of different ones I made the brave decision to only take one lipstick and one lip gloss with me as it would then be less to pack and then I wouldn't be stuck for choice on what to wear on my lips when I was away. I tend to prefer nude and pink shades and these tend to go with most looks so I took my Urban Decay lipstick which is very pigmented and lasts a long while and my MAC lip gloss both of which are light pink shades. 

So this is everything I have taken away with me in my travel make up bag. Obviously it varies depending on where I go and what time of year it is, but as this was a holiday to Wales in February I have taken enough to do a full face of make up. I hope you have enjoyed this post, I love knowing what products other people use and what they take away with them so here is what I take with me! 

Where is your favourite place to go away to? What is your holy grail product that you take everywhere with you? 

The Barney picture today is one of him in the car the other day! Obviously it was too bright for him to have his eyes open! He is loving the canal next to where we are staying! He is in and out of the water all the time! I love watching him splash about in the water and have lots of fun!

Hope you are all well and jolly!

Anna-Louise

xx

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Beauty // pinky, nudeish mac lipsticks // and winter walks #2

Hellooo there :) 

How is everyone today?! Hope you are all okay! It's Friday tomorrow which means it's almost the weekend yay! The sun is currently shining through my bedroom window as I write this I love the sun it's such a happy thing. Whenever I think of the sun I always think about the teletubbies sun for some reason! Do you guys remember that programme? Not sure if it's still around or not! I've just remembered I've left my retainer downstairs, I should be wearing it but I'm too comfy and lazy to go downstairs and get it. Why are sofas so comfortable! I'm joined on the sofa today by the lovely Barney who is fast asleep! Must be such a nice life being a dog. 

Today I thought I would do a beauty post because why not. I love all things beauty, and am hopefully going to train to become a make up artist later on in the year which is exciting. We just have to find the right course for me and my needs because having aspergers has meant that college has never really worked for me, so it's important to find the right course as dropping out again would not be ideal! Although I have improved loads since I was at sixth form and then college so who knows what will happen! Can you imagine what it would be like if we could see into the future?! I'm not sure I would really want to would you? 

Anyway today I'm going to share with you my MAC lipsticks. I only have 3 at the moment and they are all pink and nude shades. I have a list of ones I would like to add to my collection though as you can never have too many MAC lipsticks. I love the idea of bold lipsticks but they are just not me! I prefer the more subtle colours as I like to blend in and go unnoticed when I go out and about so these colours are perfect for that!

The 3 shades that I have are:

Velvet Teddy
Viva Glam V
Creme Cup

Velvet Teddy, Viva Glam V, Creme Cup

Velvet Teddy has been incredibly popular recently espcially since it was released that Kylie Jenner used it. MAC lipsticks come in 7 different finishes with Velvet Teddy being one of their matte ones. As it is a matte finish the colour pay off is rather strong and its also a bit more drying of the lips. This doesn't bother me as personally I love this lipstick but if your not a fan of matte lipsticks then this one would not be for you. I love the name of this lipstick it just reminds me of cuddly teddy bears. One of the reasons I went for this lipstick was because I loved the name so much. I'm not very good at describing colours so I apologise now but it's sort of a light brown nude colour. Just a nice little addition to any collection really :) 

Viva Glam V is one of my favourite ever lipsticks. I just love it! The colour is a pure neutral pink which makes it a great subtle pretty lipstick and it has a Lustre finish. It's just a beautiful shade that you can wear with almost any look which I think is one of the reasons I love it so much. It's a great choice to go for if you have quite a heavy eye look going on as this is just very subtle shade to wear. As you can see this lipstick has a red and black packaging instead of the typical black and silver packaging the reason for this is because it is part of the Viva Glam collection and the full price of these lipsticks and lip glosses goes to the MAC Aid's fund which is a registered charity and the money then goes to helping people all over the world who are affected by HIV and Aids. 

Creme Cup is also one of my all time favourite lipsticks. It is a very popular shade and incredibly wearable. I also, like most girls, love pink so obviously a pink lipstick is a necessity. I pretty much always carry this shade with me in my handbag and if I'm in a rush and can't decide what lipstick to wear I always reach for this one. The finish of Creme Cup is cremesheen and has a really nice feel on the lips. If you don't already have a pink MAC lipstick I would definitely recommend this one as it's not to bright but not too light! Annoyingly the photo hasn't shown how lovely the colour really is! I do apologise.

Creme Cup, Viva Glam V, Velvet teddy

What are your favourite MAC lipsticks?

I stayed at my grans for a night this week as it was my Mum and Dad's 25th wedding anniversary! Congratulations to them :) So anyway they went and stayed in London for one night and I don't like being home alone so went to stay with my lovely grandparents. Barney, Ben (grandparents dog) and Katie (our other dog) went on icy walk with me and my Gran! Let me tell you it was freezing, I thought I was going to lose my hands. Barney had a lovely time, he loves the walks around my grandparents house so I thought I would share a couple of photos and obviously a Barney one like always.

This photo makes me chuckle as Ben was waiting for a treat thinking that my camera was a treat and it looks like he is smiling.

Ben was being more photogenic than Barney, again I think this was because he thought the camera was a treat silly thing. Katie doesn't sit still for long enough to get a photo and she was a little bit chilly as we forgot her coat so she kept on the move and was trying to catch mice. 

I hope you are all well and jolly 

Anna-Louise 

xx

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