Festive Beauty 2022: Day 15

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Up until Christmas I'm blogging makeup products from Christmas collections, recent and older. At the bottom of each post there's an online offer and over on The Shoe Girl Diaries I'm sharing festive shoes from my Irregular Choice collection. Last time, I blogged the No7 Midnight Enchantment Blusher from 2011 and today I have something much more recent.

Flashback Beauty Friday 96: BeneFit Glamourette

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Last week I shared a now discontinued product by Australian brand, SugarBaby (Glamour Puss), if you missed that. I'm hoping to blog every day in the run up to Christmas with special 'Holiday' launches past and present, as I did last year. I realised I have absolutely loads of limited edition Christmas releases, so can definitely manage another year of it, so that will replace our Friday posts during December. Today, I have one of my most treasured makeup items, something that makes me feel very nostalgic as I wanted this so badly.

Flashback Beauty Friday 71: Lancome x Olympia Le Tan Cushion Highlighter

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After my very picture heavy post last week on the history of Dior's Rouge Dior Lipsticks, I decided against sharing this entire collection that I bought a few years back and just stuck to one item.  Me being me though, I still have a lot to say on one piece!

Flashback Beauty Friday 61: MAC Spring Bling High-Light Powder

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Welcome to another Flashback Beauty Friday post. I had hoped to get another blog post up this week, but unfortunately have been battling a 3-day migraine that meant I couldn't do anything. They seem to last 3 days with me now, which I'm really not enjoying. Anyway, we're not going back too far this week as the annual MAC Spring/blossom collection launched yesterday and I thought I'd share a piece from an older one. Last week I posted the flamingo 17 Miami Pop Lipgloss if you missed that.

Flashback Beauty Friday 55: Lunar New Year Special 3

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In the third of my special Flashback Beauty Friday posts leading up to Chinese New Year, I'm focusing on the 2021 Bobbi Brown collection. Here's my MAC, Moon Masterpiece post from last week if you missed it.  

Flashback Beauty Friday 54: Lunar New Year Special 2

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Throughout January I'm sharing some of my limited edition makeup items from past Lunar New Year collections for Flashback Beauty Friday. As I said last week, most beauty brands these days do something to celebrate and over the past few years, I've really loved these collections. Last week, I chose the marbled Givenchy lipstick and today I have the MAC release from last year.

Festive Beauty: Day 20

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Yesterday I went back to 2011 for the MAC Glitter & Ice Collection, today I have a beautiful highlighter from a brand I always rely on to come up with beautiful festive pieces. My Irregular Choice Festive Footwear post is up on The Shoe Girl Diaries and remember the discount code or treat at the bottom of each post.

Festive Beauty: Day 19

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I'm going to continue my Festive Beauty posts until the end of the month seeing as I intended to do 24 (until Christmas), but missed some last week. My last post was the Laneige skincare set from their 2021 Dream Land Collection and today I have an old MAC holiday launch. I think I told you about these photos previously, that I took them, then later that day thought the packaging seemed familiar in lipstick form (I'd only photographed glosses). I quickly found the lipstick and had to retake them to include that! Group shots of anything will be the death of me! My Irregular Choice Festive Footwear will be up later and I have my final advent calendar reveals too, which I'll hopefully get up here tomorrow.

Festive Beauty: Day 17

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I'm back with another Festive Beauty post, sorry for the long gap, I've been exhausted and needed a break. I've also been getting very frustrated as we haven't had daylight at all this week, not even an hour, so I can't take any photos. Anyway, my limited edition pieces today date back to 2010 and as always read to the bottom for an online treat. My Irregular Choice Festive Footwear post will be up later, but I did post a new one this morning of the original Santa heels (I was a day behind on there).

Festive Beauty: Day 16

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Apologies for the no-post yesterday, I was struggling to keep up and wanted to get that advent blog up. Today, I'm heading back to 2007, so it's a proper "Flashback Beauty Friday". My last Festive Beauty was of the beautiful new Dolce & Gabbana Christmas collection, so definitely check that out if you missed it. I'm behind with The Shoe Girl Diaries, Irregular Choice Festive Footwear, but I'll try to get done what I can.

Festive Beauty: Day 13

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We're more than halfway through my Festive Beauty series now and I'm almost ruing the day I decided to do it, almost! No, really I enjoy blogging and makeup and shoes are things I obviously like talking about, but I do wish I'd been more prepared, because I'm struggling to keep up every day. My own fault for not starting in October! I did want to alert you that I've updated the Paul & Joe cream eyeshadow swatch from the advent calendar post. I know I mentioned yesterday the other bits I also have to update, but it's been a one-thing-at-a-time kind of day. So that's done. If you missed my blog post here yesterday it was...ooh, the No7 star highlighter, very pretty. My Irregular Choice Festive Footwear I've yet to post, but yesterday was the new Chilly Chimney Clutch Bag. As always, a treat at the end of the post.

Festive Beauty: Day 12

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I've definitely bitten off more than I can chew with my post today and it's going to take more than a day to organise the photos, so I've abandoned that to bring you a quick one. Yesterday I shared my By Terry highlighter from 2020 and I managed to take swatches of that today, so will update that post soon. Likewise the cream eyeshadow in the advent calendar...and there was something else, oh the unused MAC Shiny Pretty Things, yep that'll get updated too.  My Irregular Choice Festive Footwear will be up later on The Shoe Girl Diaries and remember to read to the bottom of the post for a little treat.

Festive Beauty: Day 11

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You'll never guess what I found today? Photos of the highlighter and eyeshadows in my last post (MAC Shiny Pretty Things) before I used them! I knew I was well enough trained not to just dig into something without a photo first!! Typical I find it the day after though, much like my group shots when I forget something, which coincidentally I also did yesterday.  Not for that post, but anyway, I'll update the photos when I get time, but first I'm bringing you yet another flashback festive item.  This time, it's just from last year and let me tell you, this one is ALL about the packaging. Remember your treat at the bottom of the post and my Irregular Choice Festive Footwear will be up later tonight on The Shoe Girl Diaries.

Festive Beauty: Day 10

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Today I have some bits from an old MAC Holiday Collection to share and as always read to the bottom of the post for a little treat. I had a beautifully embossed Lancôme eyeshadow yesterday if you missed it and my Irregular Choice Festive Footwear is already up on The Shoe Girl Diaries.

Flashback Beauty Friday 45: Lancôme Golden Hat Illuminating Smooth Powder

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Last week I showed you a very tropical collection from No7 and this week, I have a different kind of 'holiday'. Something sparkly from a festive Lancôme collection.

Flashback Beauty Friday 21: No7 Vital Enlightening Highlighter Powder

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Another week gone by and I haven't published any new posts other than my weekly shoe review on The Shoe Girl Diaries. This week has just been ugh. From start to finish, if it could go wrong, it has. I'm honestly done with this week already! In fairness, I am working on a big post at the moment that is very picture heavy, so it's taking time. I've been really lacking in motivation this week to tackle to it though. However, here's our weekly trip down memory lane and I don't think I've featured No7 yet. Last week, was the beautiful carousel Paul & Joe lippie and case. Going through my makeup I've been surprised by the amount of No7 items I have to be truthful. I wasn't aware I bought all that much from them, but I guess I got sucked into every limited edition release and it was likely 3 for 2 (isn't it always?!) and I probably played that game where you use a £5 voucher for whatever you're buying, only to qualify for another, so buy something else to get another voucher and so on and so on. I remember actually having to ask them not to give me another voucher one time, because it was the last day of the promotion and I'd just about bought one of everything off the stand in separate transactions, it was ridiculous. Anyway, I digress.

Flashback Beauty Friday 5: Stila Sakura Face Powder

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Another beautiful piece for Flashback Beauty Friday this week, but I'd like to start by wishing you all a happy and healthy new year. "Lang may yer lum reek" and all that! Last week, I picked the fabulous and very tiny Lancôme Precious Carat, this week I have a very unusual Stila powder.

Compact Powders Storage

Last week I was hunting for more things to sell on eBay and in my usual fashion, got distracted (although technically it was for a good deed) and managed to find storage for my overspill of blush and highlighting powders.

I got this black sparkly Lancome vanity case last year and I realise as I'm writing this that I've still never actually shown you what was inside and the rest of the haul that went with it! I do still have the photos somewhere and will eventually get round to posting them! Anyway, I grabbed all my extra powders (I already have a shallow drawer with my blushes and a deep one with more blush and highlighters-which was getting too full to close). I also had some newer, homeless Lancome and MAC powders and amazingly, the entire overspill (and a good chunk of the 'deep drawer') fitted perfectly into this case, with the exception of two compacts which sit on top, but I'm mega excited at the neat little rows! Everything just slotted in perfectly.

I thought you may like a closer look...

The first row is all MAC, mainly Beauty Powders (I'm a sucker for a pretty compact if you can't already tell).

The next row are some of my MAC powder blushes.

I discovered 'Stark Naked' which is completely untouched and looks absolutely beautiful (a soft dusky pink with gold shimmer); so I'm definitely going to be trying this out next week.

The third row includes my 'too stunning to touch' LE Lancome blush/highlighters, Pout Shimmer Swirls and some No7 LE highlighters and blush.

Then the last row is a bit of a mix; with Too Faced 'Brightening Blush', The Balm-Hot Mama, one of my Pout Rouge compacts (Apricot Totty), a couple of my Playboy 'First Blush', Soap & Glory 'Glow All Out', Dainty Doll 'Blush & Contour' (Bloom), MAC/Hello Kitty 'Tippy' and some more LE No7 highlighters.

My only problem now is I don't actually have a place to put the box!  It's currently residing on the floor in my 'The Shoe Girl Dairies' foot-shot spot, so I've been moving it daily!  On a plus, I'm definitely getting more used to the new Photobucket editing system.  I managed this lot quite quickly and that included using text which I haven't used in any images since the change.  You can't choose a font size which is a bit annoying if you want the same-size lettering in every picture; it's just guess work, dragging the box to the size you wish.  After editing my first two images and wondering why there were so few fonts to choose from, I discovered actually there's tonnes and probably would've used something else had I know that!

My Makeup Stash and Storage

*This is a marathon post, but hopefully you'll enjoy it. I hope to provide more detailed images over time. Although some of these pictures were taken quite quickly, it still took ages to edit and put together so please do not steal them*
Ok, I promised stash pictures and have been meaning to do this for a long time, even before I started this blog. I've been a member of MUA for years and always figured at some point I would photograph my collection. However I've just been overwhelmed by the sheer size. Where do you start?

Years ago, when I was at University, I used to pretty much work out of a vanity case (a leaving pressie from the chemist I worked when I was at school). It went everywhere with me. My foundation, concealer, blusher, eyeliners, mascaras, brushes etc were all contained in there. When I think of it now, I can't understand quite how I managed that! Lip products (99% lipstick rather than gloss) were housed in a huge hat box. I used to get loads of freebies from work (old and new testers) and must have had around 200 lipsticks at that point (mainly Lancome, Clarins, Bourjois and Kanebo). When I moved back home (after Uni), my makeup addiction spiralled and I grew more and more frustrated at my makeup storage.

I like everything to be kept together and in some sort of order (you need it, when you have so much stuff). I had most things in makeup bags, but it was difficult remembering where and which one they were in. I bought these drawer units which are pretty ugly, but a complete godsend (although now, I do even have overflow from them). There is 3 shallow drawers and 3 deep in each tower. I sit in front of one (with a mirror on top) to do my makeup every day.

This tower contains (from top to bottom)

• blusher
• highlighters
• lipsticks/lipliners
• wand lipgloss/cream eyeshadow
• pink/red nail polish
• foundation/bronzer/concealer/base stuff

You've seen the foundation and nail polish drawers but here are pics of the others. Please click to see more detail. This is the majority of the blushers, however there are maybe another 20 bought recently that don't fit in. I once counted them thinking I had around 20-30 total, it turned out to be more than 80 (oops). Any palette blusher (i.e. Too Faced Quickie Chronicles) are obviously kept in a seperate drawer (more on them soon), this is purely single blushers.
Highlighters, some of the bigger puff type ones don't fit in or I have some compacts seperately and I must admit I haven't been using highlighter as much since my skin started playing up (which is a shame as I love sparkle and shine!).
Lipsticks, this is purely what I've bought in the past few years (not the aforementioned testers!). I had to put my Lancome CF seperately and I have a big Bobbypin case with L'Oreal, Bourjois and Rimmel lipsticks. I've also shown you before, my Soap & Glory case with MAC lipsticks (but I have overflow from that too!)
Wand lipgloss, I keep my MAC seperately and my Lancome CF, No7 and Pout lipglosses are in a clear makeup bag within the drawer (which you can see to the left of the picture). You kinda need that as this is a deep drawer and it can be difficult to find the lipgloss you need. You can also see a Pop makeup bag at the front with cream eyeshadows in it, which I use for an eye base.
My other tower is in a seperate part of my room. I tend to sit on my bed to apply my eyeshadow and just take out whichever drawer I need. The tower is as follows from top to bottom,

• pinks/nudes/golds/odd eyeshadow
• purple eyeshadows
• greens/turquoise eyeshadows
• squeezy tube lipgloss, jewellery lipgloss, lip stains etc
• backups/new things/odd things
• other nail polish (green, blue grey, purple etc)
• I have a huge BeneFit Bathina box on top of this unit with blue eyeshadows in it and

a Dior makeup bag with my silver/grey/black eyeshadows.

Now you may be looking at these images thinking my collection isn't actually that big. However, you'd be surprised at just how much these drawers hold, they are very deceiving. I've taken this tube lipgloss drawer as an example. I emptied out all the lipglosses, which take up 2 thirds of the capacity. I counted more than 120 tubes...but it really doesn't look like that until you lay them out, does it? Click pics to supersize.
I have loads of eye pencils and liquid eyeliner, some of which are kept within the corresponding eyeshadow boxes (pictured above). Off the top of my head I know my L'oreal Superliner and black pencils I use every day are on top of my other MU tower. My UD liquid eyeliners and glitter eyeliners from NYX are kept in various places. My Collection 2000 loose powder eyeshadows are all kept together on top of the BeneFit box. Also my mascaras are kept in a bag next to the unit I work from.
As I mentioned before I have another storage system for my palettes. I have a deep drawer unit, twice the width of these ones (which I bought for holding fabric and craft stuff), I have given over one drawer solely to palettes. It weighs a ton and is bursting full of amazing goodies. I'm a little lazy about using palettes though and tend to use my single blusher/eyeshadow/lip things more often. I haven't taken a pic of this drawer yet, but would like to and show you in some detail the palettes inside as there are some real gems.

This isn't everything. I still have recent hauls, most of which you've seen on this blog, that I haven't yet found room for. It's always a work in progress and I know these drawers aren't the prettiest way to store makeup, but they are practical (wipe clean) and do store almost (!) all my makeup.