Haul & Swatches: MAC Magnetic Nudes

Sorry I've had such a break between posts, it's certainly not from a lack of things to write about. I just sometimes go through phases where I have loads of half finished posts (either needing written up or photos taken or photos editing or all of the above) and for some reason I hold back on completing them. Not sure why. I think I get so caught up in the mundane parts, that I forget how much fun the shoes or makeup or whatever I'm writing about is. Then I go through a guilt process of having been a naughty blogger and not updating frequently. Silly vicious circle. Anyway, here's some pretty MAC makeup to fill the gap for now and please bear with me, while I get my blogging brain back!
Now you'll have noticed a serious lack of MAC on my blog recently. They've had so many collections that either I wasn't too fussed with, didn't have money for, talked myself out of or sold out of the things I wanted. Add to that the fact that Rihanna seemed to endorse every second release which made it sell out in minutes, I just haven't been buying. Then along came Magnetic Nudes. Nudes....hmmm, think I might like this one! There's varying nude or nude-ish toned colour pieces and as usual the lipsticks caught my eye first. I also bought an eyeshadow because I thought it was rather lovely and is a shade I wear quite a lot, plus I qualified for a bonus 500 points on my Debenhams beauty card.
So starting with the lipsticks, both of which are Amplified finishes. The winter lighting was rather horrid when I took these photos so you'll be hard pushed to find a difference between the two colours. It's a little more obvious in the photos when they are side by side. Sensual Sparks is the darker one, which MAC describes as "dirty, cool caramel". I'd agree with the dirty caramel, but it looks warm to me, with an orangey hue behind it (again suggesting warmth). I think for darker skins this is the 'nude' we hoped to see from the Autumn Riri Hearts 'Nude' lipstick. This (the Riri one) was the one lipstick I wanted to try (but missed out on), but there was stories of some finding it too chalky, too muddy, even too green. Obviously I knew on my peely wally skin, it wasn't going to be 'nude', but I was hoping for a taupe brown. Anyway I think Sensual Sparks is worth trying as a 'true nude' on dark skins. On me, it's going to be brown, but pretty I'm hoping!
Close Contact is the lighter one, a creamy peach. Hmm, I'm not totally buying the peach vibe, I've certainly seen more peachy-nudes than this. I wore this on my lipstick challenge last week. I found it a little yellow for my skin, so counteracted that with a dusky medium pink lipliner underneath. It did the trick and turned it into a lovely nude. A nice gloss over the top enhanced it beautifully.
Here we have SS on top and CC on the bottom. I don't remember SS looking as chocolaty as this in the flesh, so I think that's just down to poor lighting.
SS is on the left and CC on the right. Then we have swatches, CC alone, then SS swatched to the right of it.
The eyeshadow in this collection are 'extra dimension', so come with this pretty swirly pattern, which makes for a pleasant change.  Silver Dawn is described as a dirty grey mauve.  I think they might have confused their 'mauve' with 'taupe' there!  It's a dirty bronzey taupe to me.  There's absolutely no purple in it whatsoever to justify that mauve title, not even when held in certain lights or an undertone or anything!  That said, I wasn't looking for a mauve, so was happy with the taupe.  It's very similar to another MAC shadow I have which I've just forgotten the name of, but I'd quite like to update this with a comparison swatch.  The swatches below were applied dry, over a primer.  You can also use this shadow wet and I'd imagine it would take on an almost foil effect with the metallic quality to it.   
So a little beauty haul to ease me back in!  Unfortunately we lost our internet this weekend, so this post was again sitting neglected, but we're back up and running today.  Have you bought any MAC lately or like anything here?  I've got a ton (and I mean that) of posts that I want to get up, so hopefully I'll settle into more of a routine this week.  Stay tuned!

What's in My (Travel) Bag: Makeup Edit

Last month I shared with you what was inside my travel bag, after I'd spent the weekend away. If you'd like to familiarise yourself with that post, click here (it'll open in a new window). That post included the skincare items I took and I'll be showing you the makeup in this one. Like I said before, I wanted to pack light, but didn't want to find myself without a necessary item. The annoying thing about your beauty bag is you need the same amount of stuff whether you're staying one night or two weeks! A lipstick is a lipstick, whether you apply it once or a hundred times, it'll stay the same size, so it wasn't as easy as my skincare edit where I packed almost entirely 'mini' items. I've tried where possible to choose lighter and smaller pieces and did a sneaky little multi-task trick that I'll tell you about later. Before I let you know exactly what was inside, here's a close-up of the bag itself.
This photo (above) is from April when I also spent a night away from home and I found the bag so handy that I took it again this time. It's actually a pencil case from Home Bargains and cost 99p. I kid you not! I'm not sure if they still have it, at the time they had notebooks, stickers and everything with these little ladies on them.  I love that it's pretty, but still functional. You can see through it, it zips shut and if anything were to spill, it wipes clean.  Plus it's not massive, so you can't over-pack!
1. Too Faced Glamour Gloss in Pillow Talk 
2. Lancome Teint Miracle Foundation in 005 Beige Ivoire 
3. Cosmetics bag containing Lancome foundation brush, Pout Blender brush and Airbrush and Dior backstage Blusher Brush (silver, sticking out). 
4. Dainty Doll Hot Pour Concealer in 001 and 002. 
5. Barry M Nail Paint in NP150 Red Glitter 
6. Shu Uemura eyelash curler 
7. Cotton buds 
8. Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in 03 Nude Shimmer 
9. Paul & Joe UV Pressed Powder in 003 Beach Baby 
10. Clarins Joli Rouge in 724 Simply Nude 
11. Paul & Joe Portable Face Colour Brush 
12. YSL Shocking Volume Mascara (mini) 
13. L'Oreal SuperLiner GelMatic in Ultra Black 
14. MAC Lip Liner in Test Pattern 
15. L'Oreal SuperLiner Perfect Slim 
16. Pout Plump (mini) 
17. Too Faced Shadow Insurance in Candlelight (mini) 
18. Lancome Blush Subtil Palette in 01 Rose Flush
So, my lipstick of the week was this Clarins one and I really loved wearing it, it's a fab colour.  I absolutely adore TF Glamour Gloss, it's got this cooling, plumping feeling and the mauvey-nude colour goes brilliantly over the lipstick.  The foundation was the most bulky item in my bag, but other than decanting it into a little tub or something (which I didn't have), there wasn't a way around it.  Instead, I happened to be running very low a few weeks before, so kept a little in the bottle and started using the new one at home (and took the empty-ish one with me).  So although it looked big and the bottle is glass, it was a little lighter than usual and I had plenty left in it for the one application I needed.  Obviously if you sit mid range, shade-wise in foundation then you could look out for sachets free in magazines and that would do you for an application or two.  However I allowed myself this 'extravagance' seeing as I'm super pale (samples are usually far too dark for me) and my base isn't something I'm willing to skip.  The powder if I recall correctly I carried in my handbag, because it has a mirror inside (I had a separate mirror for applying makeup which I explained in my original post) and pressed powder is more portable than loose.  The retractable P&J brush was a gift from someone in a swap years ago on MakeupAlley and was one of the sweetest extras anyone included for me.  It was so kind to send a brand new brush like that.  It seemed more travel friendly than my usual big ol' Urban Decay brush for using with the powder.  
The eyeliners I was using at the time were the twist up pencil GelMatic and for my flicks Perfect Slim.  I used these to refresh my evening makeup as well as needing them the next day.  The Pout Plump probably could've been left at home and I could've used my Glamour Gloss instead, but I'm a creature of habit and this is the gloss I wear in bed.  Yeah, no judging!  I have a truck load of glosses, especially squeezy tube ones and bought a ton of Pout Plump when Pout went bust.  However other than needing to get through it all, it's extremely moisturising and I just love the cooling effect (even in my bed)!  That said, I'm pretty sure 50% of it ended up on the bed covers, sorry hotel! MAC Test Pattern in the middle of the image above, is my most favourite lip liner EVER, so it was an easy pick to take with me.  I'm going to be so sad when this ends and I really ration it these days (as you see I don't have all that much left).  It's a mauvey-nude and warmed up the Clarins lippie.  MAC bring it back!   
I decided against taking eyeshadow and this is where I got crafty.  I took my Lancome palette, as it contains separate blush, contour and highlighter colours in the size of an ordinary blush palette.  So I didn't bring my usual bronzer for contouring and used the one in the palette instead (applying with the flat foundation brush, while my Pout Airbrush was used to blend it all).  I prefer not to use a powder highlighter, so I packed the lightest DD concealer for that.  Now I'd read somewhere that (I think it was) Rosie Huntington-Whiteley uses the shades in this blush palette around the eyes.  Seeing as I'd already applied my makeup for travelling and only needed an eyeshadow for the next day, I thought I'd try this too, to cut down on extra items.  So I took my blender brush with me and using the shimmering gold Shadow Insurance as a base colour, applied the contour powder in the crease and smudged it around my lower lashline.  I also used the highlight shade under the brow.  It was really pretty and I'd definitely use it for this again.  I took the nail polish in case of touch ups (but didn't need it), the Clarins balm because you know, I panic if I'm not within 2 metres of one and the cotton buds are great for smudging makeup under the eyes and also sorting out eyeliner or mascara mishaps.

For someone who is accustomed to having enough makeup for the entire world at her fingertips each day, I thought I whittled this down to quite a small amount.  Yes I probably could've dropped some of the lip products and left the eyelash curlers at home perhaps, but I like to have almost my 'normal' routine even when I'm away from home.  I'm glad I had a few 'travel' sized items and the palette proved to be a great multi-tasker.  Are you impressed I crammed all this into a pencil case?

Primark (Disney & Barbie) Haul

A couple of weeks before Christmas, my parents went through to Edinburgh for some Christmas shopping and a nosey at the festive markets. As always though, they were armed with a list from me, of things to look for in Primark. It's been months since I was last in Primark, but hopefully after the sales have calmed down, I can get back into shopping. Anyway the dress I wanted, they didn't get (they've already looked in Edinburgh once before and Dundee twice, so I think I've definitely missed my size), however they did come home with lots of other goodies and you'll be surprised to learn it was mostly socks and t-shirts. Yes, really!
Pearl first brought these super cute Bambi socks to my attention via Facebook and then I almost forgot about them entirely. I was browsing something else on eBay and it led me to finding out about most of these things and thus the list was compiled! I realised they also did Little Mermaid socks. Well you don't have to ask me twice to buy anything Ariel. Then I discovered the most beautiful Snow White pair along with these Cinderella comic strip ones. I also wanted Barbie which they didn't have.
The socks are silky feeling and the print stretches considerably across the foot, hence the vivid colours in most. I wasn't too sure I needed the Cinders pair, but my Mum really liked them, so got them. I hate going against my beloved Ariel, but actually *whispers* the Snow White pair are my favourite, I love all the woodland animals, so cute! They were £2.50 each.
Not sure what I'm going to wear them with yet, but hey ho! Mum then phoned me to say she'd seen all this Barbie stuff that wasn't on my list and did I want it? Silly question Ma! So first up is this 'Festive Friends' t-shirt £6, which I've already worn here.
She also said they had leggings!! Now I've paid 3 times as much for Miss Selfridge/Barbie leggings, these were £8! Seriously! They are black with a chain print (slightly chavvy but oh well) and Barbie dolls all over. Cuteness.
They also had a t-shirt in the same print but grey for £6. I have a hatred for high necks on me (don't worry, it's a mutual thing), so I cut my other Barbie one to better suit me. I'll be doing the same with this. It's a pity, you lose the proper neckline and end up with a raw edge, but it's jersey so doesn't fray and I can't be faffed trying to fold it back and sew it or some similar job!
I think Mum said there was a Barbie sweatshirt too, but I don't think I'd be able to pull that off. The t-shirt I did send them to buy though was this Snow White one. Similar to my Little Mermaid one (again I'll have to be crafty and cut the neck), £6. Like I said before check for voids in the pattern from creases or threads-it can easily happen when they're printed this way. Don't you just love her wee chubby, vintage face?!
There was a cardigan also on my list, which my Mum later got, so I haven't taken photos of that yet, but am sure I will wear it soon.  Have you seen any of these things in your Primark?