Sunday, 18 October 2015

BEAUTY || FACE OF THE DAY USING LUXURY AND DRUGSTORE PRODUCTS


Today I wanted to share with you my top beauty products for an every-day look. They are mostly high-end products, however, they can be easily replaced by more affordable alternatives on the high street.

I never thought that I'd find a primer that's nearly half as good as Benefit's Porefessional, however, the Clinique's colour correcting super primer is amazing. It glides onto my face making it look and feel velvet smooth and on top of that it tones down the redness of my cheeks. It's a perfect base for anyone who suffers from rosacea or any type of redness on their face.

The next product which I am obsessed with is the Esteé Lauder Double Wear Maximum Cover foundation in shade 'Creamy Vanilla'. The current price of this product is £29.50 from what I can remember, but I have actually bought it for just under £15 on feelunique.com back in March when it was on offer. It is very thick and creamy in consistency but very easy to blend. You also don't need a lot of product for your whole face which is always a plus as it will last you longer. The only downside of this product is that it doesn't come in a lot of shades and the one that I use is the lightest shade that I usually wear when I fake tan or mix it with another product.

MAC's Studio Fix seems to be everyone's favourite foundation, however, I am not the biggest fan of it myself. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good foundation and it is affordable as it can last up to a year for only £21.50 that's only £1.80 per month, however, I find it too mattifying and drying for my skin type. BUT when I mix it with my Esteé Lauder foundation to create a lighter shade it works perfectly well and gives my skin a flawless finish. This way my face doesn't appear dry nor oily. I use the shade NW10 which I find slightly too pale for myself, however last time I purchased the NW15 and that was too warm for my skin tone! Maybe next time I will try the NW13 or continue to mix two shades together.

After applying the base I set it with a Chanel loose powder for extra coverage and to make my make-up last longer. I swear by this product and it lasts forever, I have over half of it left and I've already had it for over a year. I'd love to recommend this product to you all but sadly it was a limited edition item and is no longer available to buy.

So, the next step I applied my Bourjois bronzer. Loads of people boast about this product saying how good it is - I won't disagree with them as I do really like it but I wouldn't call it my favourite just yet (I haven't found my favourite bronzer yet, so if you have any suggestions please note them in the comment section below!). I usually apply bronzer under my cheek bones to make them look slimmer and when I've acquired my desired look I then apply some bronzer to the sides of my forehead to further contour my face. I then apply my favourite highlighter to the apple of my cheeks for a nice natural glow.  The product I have used to highlight is by MUA and I think the shade is called 'Iridescent Glow'.

For my eye look, I used MAC's Brûlée, Era and Naked Lunch. Firstly, I applied Brûlée across my eyelid and under my brow, then I blended in Era in my crease to add a bit of colour to my eyes. Era is an earthy brown shade which makes blue eyes pop out more, hence why it's one of my favourite colours! After I've blended in Era with Brûlée in my crease, I applied Naked Lunch across the to give my shadow that extra shimmer and make it look more glamorous! This is definitely one of my favourite looks to do as it is super simple and only takes a couple of minutes.

Of course for my eyebrows, I used one of my favourite compacts from Benefit. I have been using this product for nearly two years now and I still have plenty left. It is one of the best beauty purchases I have made and I must say that Benefit have smashed it with this product! I have tried a few different types of brow powders, but this one is my ultimate favourite.

I received a sample of MAC's new mascara with my recent order and I am in love with it! It's the False Lash Mascara in Extreme Black (Sadly it is not discontinued). It covers my lashes perfectly well, and as most of you know I have really fair lashes so it makes my eyes look bigger and there's no need for falsies as you can actually see the definition on my real lashes which look super long and thick! When I went into MAC's pro store in Nottingham last week to pick up a few things, the full-size mascara was on my list and I was very upset to find out that it was out of stock! :( To add more volume I applied a coat of Zoom Lash (also by MAC) which I wasn't so keen on when I first got it but it's grown on me a bit now.

I don't really like this eyeliner but it was the only one I had at the time - it's the Loreal's Super Liner Blackbuster. The brush applicator is too thick to handle with ease, which makes it harder to draw flicks to suit my eye shape. However, it's a good product but not my favourite. It's long-lasting, so would be perfect if it had a slimmer applicator.

For my lips, I used MAC's Cremesheen lip liner in shade 80% (discontinued) and Brave lipstick on top for an ombré nude lip. This is my favourite lip look which I find looks really good with most eye looks. I recommend this combo to everyone who loves a 90's lip - a darker liner with a pale middle. 


Do you own any of these products? What is your daily go-to makeup look?

*This post contains affiliate links.

Lots of love,
Maya xo

Sunday, 11 October 2015

Recent Meals Out

Hey guys!

Due to being a super busy student I haven't had much time to eat proper meals at home so as a result I've been eating out quite often. My favourite place was propably Fat Cat in Nottingham City Centre.

 
I went out to Fat Cat twice in one week, the first time with my girl friends Evie and Ama
rah, and the second time with the boyfriend. The first night we ordered a round of never ending cocktails/mocktails and a platter of nachos with jalapeños, guacamole, sour cream and salsa. They were so delicious that the second time I went with Kieran we ordered some too!


Me and my lovely went for a pizza to share and nachos to start off with. Of course the food was delicious as always, and I am planning on returning there very soon!

Next up is one of my all time favourite restaurants - Zizi's. I love the food there, it is so rich and full of flavour and the staff always seem very friendly. I went there twice, once with my good friend Safina, and the second time with Kieran (we appreciate good grub). Me and Safina ordered a garlic bread platter which was to die for. The sweetness of the caramelised onions contrasted very well with the bitterness of the flat bread and garlic.
For our mains we chose a pizza each (obviously). It was crispy, full of toppings and it melted in our mouths with each bite.
                   
What other way to end our lunch date than to celebrate with a bottle of wine? 
When me and my other half went to Zizi's in the evening for a lovely meal I chose a chicken, parma ham and spinach calzone which was out of this world. It was so yummy that I will definitely recommend it to any pizza lover.
Kieran went for a bacon wrapped chicken kiev with roasted baby potatoes which according to him was also very delicious!!
Another one of my favourite restaurants is Bella Italia and that's where I usually end up with, with my best friend Jess. The started was very small. It was a selection of mushrooms covered in garlic with sour dough bread. There wasn't a lot of it however it was rather tasty.
On the other hand, the calzone I went for wasn't the best. It was soggy and didn't have a lot of filling on the inside, bearing in mind there was a piece of chicken stuck on the outside of the crust and some tomato puree poured on top of it which made it taste odd and even more soggy than without it.. I wasn't impressed with the food this time and am hoping for a big improvement on my next visit.
My most recent visit was to Chutney which is an Indian restaurant/takeaway. I chose the Tajj Mahal which was a mixture of beef, lamb and chicken with spicy potatoes. It was lovely, however I could not handle the spice for too long!
And here's a cute picture of me and Kieran promoting Chutney's charity event to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust in the name of Brian and Musa.

Have you guys been out anywhere nice recently? Any restaurant recommendations?

Lots of love,
Maya xo

Thursday, 10 September 2015

Review || Lush Cosmetics Butterball Bath Bomb

Evening my lovelies!

I recently purchased a new Lush bath bomb so thought I'd share what i thought of it with you. I picked up my all time favourite 'Think Pink' and a new addition 'Butterball'. So, from the name itself you can already tell that Butterball is a body butter in a form of a bath bomb, so the best time to use it is after having a shower and then hop in a warm bath with the bomb melted as it will soften your skin and make it smell amazing!


I didn't ask what this product was best for but I'm guessing it's mostly suitable for people with dry skin who need that extra moisture out of their body products!


The texture of the product was very crumbly and oily, which you would expect from a bath bomb and a body butter mixed together. The smell was amazing! I believe that it is honey scented and I love sweet  smells, especially when it comes to baths. 


You can see the butter chunks which are the yellowy shade. They melted in the hot water after a few minutes which made my bath smell amazing and body feel extra smooth. Once my body absorbed all the butter from the bomb it felt and smelt amazing for the rest of the day, I definitely recommend this product to people who like me, suffer from dry sin and are after that extra bit of glow for their dull skin, it's perfect to use before a date or a night out as it has bits of shimmer in it.

Have you tried this product? What did you think of it?

Lots of love,
Maya xo

Wednesday, 26 August 2015

2015 || July Favourites

Hey guys!

I'm currently roasting in sunny Crete and realised that I haven't done a July favourites post yet! I know, that's so naughty of me, sorry! As I'm sipping some ice cold lemonade (soon to turn into a magical cocktail), I decided to write this post on my iPhone blogger app so of the pictures aren't very clear and the font and style isn't the usual one then don't worry! I will sort it out as soon as I get onto a computer. 
I bought this hair dye from Poundwolrd and can't stress enough to you how much I love it! It is very pigmented and has made my hair feel very nourished rather than straggly or chewing gum-like. I have previously dyed my hair a beach blonde colour in order to lighten it up before my holiday and after disappointing results of it turning out bright yellow I had to take action and go to back to my successful grey hair colour.
This is what my hair looked like before I applied Mellor&Russell Simply Bright hair dye in Cool Silver. As you can see it's not a nice colour at all, especially for a beauty blogger! 
And this is the after picture of what my hair looked like once I washed off the hair dye. Not exactly silver, but a much nicer colour with no brassiness. I definitely recommend this hair dye if you're already blonde and want to go a few shades lighter without having to go through the 'yellow' stage. 

Another favourite of mine is not a product, but a job. I have landed myself a job at the Disney Store in July as a Cast Member (another word for customer service representative). I'm loving working over there, I wouldn't change it for any other job! I have grown to enjoy talking to kids even more than before and being around such lovely people as my colleagues makes the atmosphere even more magical than the job itself! 
Here's a little selfie of me on my first day working for the Disney Company! 

What have you been loving last month?

Lots of love,
Maya xo 

Wednesday, 19 August 2015

Review || Clipper Fruit Infusions Teas

Hey lovelies!
I am a massive tea freak, and when I found those two boxes of Clipper's tea on offer at Tesco for 37p each I picked up a few boxes! The flavours I chose were Cranberry&Raspberry Organic Infusions and Apple&Elderflower Organic Infusions. The packaging itself is magical, it is very funky and colourful which suits the brand itself as they like to mix up different flavours together even if it's something you wouldn't usually go for - they always get it just right.
 This is what the teabag looked like when I took it out the box. This is the Cranberry&Raspberry flavoured one and as you can see it has little fruits drawn on the wrapper. All teabags are individually wrapped as to keep in the scent and flavour locked inside rather than it evaporating into thin air. It is also helpful if you want to take it to work with you rather than having to bring the whole box and making sure your colleagues don't try and steal it!
 So this is what the teabag looks like out the wrapper. You can see the tea granules/leafs and also the small pieces of fruit. It smelled immense as soon as I opened the wrapper.
The hot water turned a dark red colour as soon as I dipped the teabag in. The smell was overwhelming it was so fruity. This tea tasted lovely and has become one of my favourites by the brand.

 This is the packaging of the Apple&Elderflower tea and it looks just as cute as the other one. You can see the cute apples and elderflowers on the wrapper so you can always distinguish which flavour of tea it is if you mix the different ones in a tin.
 This tea smelled like Spring - it was full of florals and Granny Apples. It was just too good to be true, and I was right...
It might look delicious but wasn't what I hoped for at all. It tasted a bit nutty and had a hint of cinnamon which I don't like in teas. Maybe it would have tasted better cold or with some fresh mint. Either way I will try and mix the two teas together and see what it would taste like then!

Have you tried Clipper Teas before? Click here to view their products.

Lots of love,
Maya xo
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