Review: Maybelline Brow Drama Brow Mascara

I'm constantly on a look out for something new, quick and easy for my brows. For school especially, my make up effort is minimal so i cant be bother to sculpt my brows to perfection every morning. This is why I bought Brow Drama by Maybelline to test out whether it was worth it.

The product itself comes in 3 colours in the UK; Dark Blonde, Light Brown & Dark Brown.

When i first opened the packaging i was not expecting the brush shape at all. As you can see from the photos the brush has a sphere shaped end with a mascara brush end. My first reactions were that the ball on the end of the brush was to large for my eyebrows and i thought it was going to go all over my skin. However as the brush bristles are so delicate and gentle that no product spreads on any of my skin but all the hairs are still caught and sculpted quickly and easily.

 To truly show the length of the wear of the product i took photos in the morning when i left home and when i got back, in the same area of my house for the fairest amount of lighting.

8am

5:30pm

The wear is the main thing I'm very happy about, it sticks and stays all day and as its a coloured mascara the colour doesn't move either like some powders can do. Its also met all my needs as it is so quick, easy and simple - perfect for school ! So for now, I'm loving it.

Follow on Bloglovin for more posts

Laura xo 

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How to wear a Messy Bun

Due to a recent art exam and up and coming exams I just want my hair out of my face. A pony tail for when i'm revising or doing an exam (when i'm looking down constantly) doesn't work because gravity will cause my hair to fall on my face. This is why i'm now confessing my love for messy buns. - So practical, up and out of the way.

Instagram  - Laurasianmurray

After basically the whole of last week, wearing a bun. I had a party at the end of the week, and also..wore a bun. I find it is so much more different compared to everyone else who was there. Everyone usually turns up with their hair down, straightened or curled after wearing their hair in a ponytail for a week. However i messed my bun up a little bit more, hairsprayed it a lot more and added hoop earrings. 

1) Earring make any outfit look like you've put more effort into it

2) My hair doesn't take me an hour to do = less stress

less effort less stress

Love how versatile a bun can be, any occasion. Just accessorise it right.

Laura xo

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Skin Saviour!

As an ordinary 18 year old girl, its normal to have problem skin. I don't have serious achene but i do get stages of break outs, which of course no one wants.

I have tried my fair share of blemish preventing products in my time and haven't come to a single product that my skin needs! I have combination type skin so sometimes finding products that tackle my oily t-zone but are still gentle on my dry areas can be tough...Until I made a break through...

I don't know if I'm just being really naive or are just late on the band waggon but i haven't seen this product in any blogger or youtubers skin routines..

Witch Hazel..or as i call it - life saviour. 

After trying a serious amount of drugstore and high street skin products such as clean and clear or Clearasil products, I went to a pharmacy knowing that they would truly understand my skin and would be able to give me a product which does what it says on the tin.

Witch Hazel is a liquid form which i use on a cotton pad instead of a liquid cleanser and wipe all over my face. Instantly, i found this automatically helped the healing process of my skin and prevented my skin from getting worse again. Once i finished my first bottle which lasted me about 2 -3 months, i experimented to see if the Witch Hazel was actually helping or it was just a coincidence that my skin was behaving and used another cleanser... My skin automatically deteriorated and went back to how it was.

Would defiantly recommend it to combination - oily skin type as it can be quiet drying if you have overall dry skin but as i have combination skin, it balances my oils out!

Here in the UK its sold in most Pharmacies or supermarkets as i have spotted it in my local large Asda and retails for about £2.50 -£3 depending on where you buy it.

I believe this stuff really is made by Witches because it is truly magic! 

Follow on bloglovin for more skin saviours and other recommendations, reviews and hauls!

Laura xo

♥

Review: Make Up Forever HD High Definition Foundation

Around the time of meeting Tanya Burr in late september last year, i was fully in love with her make up from that meet up - especially her foundation as her skin looked flawless. A couple of days after the meet up she did a blog post about the foundation she was wearing - Make Up Forever HD. I was in love. 

As soon as I could and had enough money I got my hands on it and since then it has not let me down. Due to the price of around £30 it is defiantly not a daily foundation i use. I tend to use it cautiously and use it only when i know i'm going to be in flash photography.

Here are a few examples...

As i have pretty fare skin I've always had flash back just because of my skin colour usually compared to my surroundings (dark parties, clubs etc...) Yet the results are truly amazing as it makes my skin look flawless yet natural WITH NO FLASH BACK!

The foundation itself is a sheer coverage which is easily buildable without caking up. I do find the coverage for blemishes are so great but that why we have concealer! It gives your skin a utter boost without even looking like make up, it is magic in a bottle.

I will treasure it forever!

Follow on Bloglovin for for more posts almost everyday! Speak then!

Laura xo 

♥

Spring Pictorial

Since it seems that my 'Fall day to night' pictorial seems to be one of my most popular blog posts why not do another one incorporating all my favourite spring make up from my Spring Beauty Picks blog. In spring I love simple but pretty brightening make up at the same time as using bright spring colours in my make up - so ill show you how i achieve that....

Products:

Brushes - Real Techniques;
Contour Brush
Duo Fibre Face Brush
Duo Fibre Contour Brush
Buffing Brush
Fan brush
Products - NYX lipstick Taupe
Rimmel True Match Foundation
Collection Concealer
MUA undress me highlighter
MAC mineralise natural skin finish
Topshop Cream Blush - Morning Dew

Brushes: MAC 217
Real Techniques Duo Fibre Eye Brush
Angled brush
Products: Mac Paintpot - Painterly
Mac Naked Lunch
NYX Suede
Maybeilline Gel Liner
Elf Brow Kit - Ash
Nude Rimmel Scandel Eyes Pencel

Face:

I firstly start with my face by applying my foundation with my Real Techniques buffing brush and Collection concealer with my finger underneath my eyes and on any imperfections. I also then contour with my NYX taupe lipstick (see previous post for instructions) followed by my Topshop cream blush on the apples of my cheek to add colour back into my face. Setting this all down with MAC nature minerailise skin finish Finally, the last touch of applying my MUA highlighter with my fan brush for a dewy finish.

Eyes:

Prepping my eyes to ensure that the eyeshadow stays on all day apply MAC painterly paintpot all over the lid and crease up until the brow bone.

I already filled in my brows with the Elf brow kit by using the gel colour to match my brows

1 - As for the eyes I apply NYX Suede with my Real Techniques eye brush into my crease for a subtle eye definition 

2 - With a MAC 217 i apply MAC naked lunch for a natural highlight and a shimmer shade in the inner half of the eye to make the eyes look bright and wide awake for the spring time.

3 - Apply Rimmel nude eye liner in the waterline

4 - Place Maybelline gel eyeliner and smudge with finger for a natural messy day time effect.

After the eye shadow apply any mascara of choice, i decided on L'oreal Miss Manga Mascara....

Lips:

For lips, i love bright colourful products just like spring flowers. My choices would either be Tanya Burr lipgloss in 'Exotic Island' or Rimmel Kate Moss lipstick in number 16.

Left - Kate Moss 16
Right - Tanya Burr Lipgloss 'Exotic Island'

Kate Moss 16 - Left
Tanya Burr Exotic Island - Right

I love both these colours because along with the simple eye look it pulls the whole make up look together!

Hope this was helpful for anyone looking for inspiration for spring looks or without the lipstick or lipgloss could be wearable for a school look.

Follow on bloglovin for most blog posts; Make Up Forever HD foundation review tomorrow, see you then!

Laura xo

♥

Contour with Lipstick?!

Yes, as the title of this suggests I DO use a lipstick to contour with! This wasn't planned at all, it was an accidental purchase. After the massive hype of NYX's Taupe powder being amazing to contour with i thought i would give it a shot and order it. However my order got mixed up and when it arrived i had been given the Taupe lipstick instead of the powder.

First, i was very disappointed as i don' wear any brown lipstick. But then I watched a youtuber who suggested a lipstick as a blusher and it looked really nice and natural. In the past, it has been really difficult to bronze or contour my skin because of my fare skin - everything always seem to look muddy or orange on me. Therefore the idea of using a colour which has no orange in it appealed to me. Along with that creams work so much better on my skin than powder.

To apply i pull that stupid duck face or fish pout!

 Then blend in with my Real Techniques Contour Brush!

This for my skin tone gives such a nice natural contour which doesn't look orange or muddy because of the slight pink undertones in the brown! Would defiantly recommend it to anyone out there with fare skin like me and can't contour properly!

Laura xo

♥

MAC make up birthday SURPRISE!

Tuesday 14th January came around and I turned 18! Here in the UK 18 is a massive age as the only thing you cant do is hire a van. So, that meant, drinking, gambolling and being a responsible adult was all legal! 

In my group of friends every birthday, one friend bakes a requested cake and we all sit around during break and watch the present opening. Every birthday leading up to this has been very normal, presents first then cake afterwards and everyone would look over the presents and all be very merry. For my birthday, did that happen? oh no of course it didn't.

Me and my rainbow birthday cake

I turned up to school very cheerful and prepared for my request rainbow cake and gifts. Break came around and i got given my bag of goodies and cake. Now, I'm not going to lie, if my friends knew me well enough they would have bought something make up related. Firstly I opened a Starbucks mug - IN LOVE! Then a candle and a very glamorous photo album and an envelope....

I was left in suspension for over a week but the 23rd came about and after school me and my friends got on a bus to the local large shopping centre and guided me through the shops. At one point, i was suddenly blindfolded and when i was able to see again i was in heaven on earth... otherwise known as MAC. Surrounded by about 5 make up artists and too much make up too take in. Turns out i was getting my make up done which i figured out after 5 minutes of utter shock!

Sat down for an hour and a full face of make up with a lovely make up artists. As a MAC policy, it costs £15 for a half an hour session or £30 for a hour session and after your allowed to either have a refund or spend that money in the shop. I had chosen to have lashes with my make up, so i had £20 left. With that i bought Naked Lunch eyeshadow which was in my last blog post and Russian Red lipstick which is a typical glam red colour. 

Loved every second of it and would highly recommend! I cant wait to go back and get my make up done for prom! Love all my friends so much!

Laura xo 

♥

Spring Beauty Picks

Spring has eventually sprung once again here in the UK, daffodils have popped out the ground and the is peaking around the clouds! It only feels like yesterday that it was spring 2012! Even though trends are changing every year, there are always the same type of products that always seem to come out and that I personally like to use every year and will carry on using until they get discontinued!

1. Topshop Cream blushes:

Firstly, can we all please take a moment to appreciate how cute the packaging is! The packaging is also surprisingly practical as the whole of the inner lid inside is covered by a mirror!

Cutest packaging EVER!

With a cream to powder finish the Topshop cream blushes are a perfect way to add a little colour to any look. I love to have more of a natural make up look once the sun decides to show itself around this time of year and these are a great way of achieving this. The formula blends really easily to give that natural flush that I look for around spring time.

Topshop change and swap all their cream blush colours so it may not be possible to get the same colours that i have and love. But anyway, the colours i own are called 'Head over Heels' and 'Morning Dew'.

Left - head over heels, Right - Morning Dew

Head over heels is a orange coral colour which compliments any pale or pink toned skin perfectly! Whereas 'Morning Dew' is a bright pink colour with slight plumy undertones which offers a natural flushed look.

2. MAC Mineralised Skin Finish

During hotter or warm season I also love the glowing dewy finish to my skin. As highlighter can sometimes look harsh, and unnatural the one product I've found and loved the finish of is MAC's Natural Mineralised Skin Finish.

This is a lovely light setting powder with a natural slight sheen through the colour. I find it sets my make up all day without looking too powder like. I have the colour medium which suits my skin tone perfectly. The product itself glides over my skin effortlessly and lasts ages! I use this product regularly and it shows no sign of running out anytime soon! Absolutely love! 



3. Tanya Burr lip gloss - Exotic Island

My next spring pick is a new product for 2014 and is one of the Tanya Burr lip glosses! When the youtuber and Beauty Blogger, Tanya Burr announced that she was launching her own range of lip glosses and nail varnish however I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit disappointed as I don't usually like lip gloss and don't really rate nail varnish as much as I do cosmetics. How I was proved wrong...

In order to step out of my usual zone I ordered a lip gloss once they were launched. I ordered the colour 'Exotic Island' which is a bright pink. Thought if i was going to order one I at least want it to be noticeable. I'm so happy to say that I was surprising happy with the colour and quality of the product.

Unlike other lip glosses Ive tried the Tanya Burr lip glosses are not sticky and don't feel like plastic on the lips. The smell of the product is so fruity and the colour pay off is the same as some lip sticks. The colour is really easy to wear subtly or to build up for a bright vibrant colour! These lip glosses are without a doubt my favourite lip glosses and I cannot wait to get some more in different colours!

4. MAC Eyeshadow - Naked Lunch

Finally my 4th spring pick is one of my current favourites. Just like my skin, around spring and summer time I like to use shimmery and champagne coloured eye shadows to make my eyes seem a lot larger and wide awake. 

However as I'm currently in full time education I do not want something too OTT or noticeable as I want to stick to the more natural look for school. My favourite product to achieve this look is MAC's Naked Lunch eye shadow. Its such as pretty shimmery eye shadow which allows me to get away with it in school due to some of the more natural peachy tones.

Hope this was helpful or insightful to anyone looking for spring make up inspirations!

Laura xo

♥

Maybelline New York - Baby Skin Review!

I'M BACK! Haven't blogged since last year! Missed it so much!

Over time, as one beauty obsessive does, Ive built up a collection of new make up which I'm extremely excited to try! So I thought why not start with a review of one of them!

Pretty recently here in the UK, around a month ago, Baby Skin primer was launched by Maybelline after the massive success of the Baby Lips and has become one of my favourite primers!

The product it self looks pretty matte when out of the packaging and glides onto the skin very well. It claims to be an 'instant pore eraser' however due to my reasonably young skin I don't have massive pores so do not notice a difference in the visibility of them. BUT, it does make my skin feel sooo soft, just like the title would suggest! 

Visibly Matte looking formula

When I use it, i find the best results are to apply it down my T-Zone in the areas that would get a bit oily throughout the day and have found it doesn't stop all shine but for a primer which doesn't actually claim to stop shine - it does pretty well. I have once or twice applied it all over the face but i found because the rest of my face is pretty dry, it just seems a waste to apply it everywhere so instead i choose to save product. So i would suggest that if you have mega oily skin and need to wear primer daily all over the skin, that this might not be best for you - because of the size and how well it stops shine. An idea for an alternative, would be to invest in a higher end product such as Smashbox which is really reliable for shine and keeping make up on and the product would last a lot longer

Currently in the UK, in the main drugstores Boots and Superdrug it prices at £7.99 which is a reasonable price. Its not impossible to find something better for cheaper. For instance, I would say that MUA's Fashionista Mattifying Primer defiantly does a similar job for a much cheaper price of £2 (on the MUA website), but doesn't give the same soft finish that Baby Skin does.

It all depends on which job you want your primer to do on your skin

Laura xo

♥

My Favorite Fall Trend

Recently in a lot of magazines, videos and on the cat walk I've noticed that there is a growing trend for the fall of heavy under eye make up. I really love this look, its so pretty and makes it possible to really show off the colour on the upper lid.

Its such an easy look which is possible with all colours of eye liner to match and extenuate any eye colour. So I gave it a shot.

To go along with the fall trend I chose to do a Gold eye look with a heavy black line under the bottom lash line. After a few experimental looks I found that this type of look is a lot easier with Gel liner instead of Pencil or Liquid. As pencil is, for me, quite harsh and insensitive for my lower lash line and liquid was too difficult to control between the skin and the bottom lashes on the lower lash line. Gel liner is also easier to blend than pencil or liquid so is easier to achieve a more smokey look.

Lining the waterline with a very black pencil will also bring the look together and give extra depth on the lower lash line.

I love this look. I love changing my make up look and stepping outside of the normal comfort zones that all my other friends seem to love to stay in. I am most defiantly going to be wearing this look out more regularly, I would defiantly recommend it!

Laura xo

♥

My teeny tiny M.A.C collection.

Even though, I'm a self proclaimed drugstore lover. I love make up and beauty. Full stop. So there is a point where my will power fails and I cave in and buy higher end products. Purely because of the fact that I want to see what's out there. 

MAC is obviously a well known brand which is famously good quality, so if I was to splash out now and again. It's going to be on MAC, but bare with. My collection is tinnnnyyy! 

1) My first product is the one, out of my 3 MAC products which I've had for agggeess!

My blush is Springsheen and is by far my favourite blush I own. I've had this blush since my 15th birthday. Now baring in mind I'm 18 in January, the fact that I've used this blush on a daily basis ever since I've had it and I still have a fair amount left. Is very impressive. 

Even though this product is currently around the £18 mark, and can be seen as quiet pricey. However it has lasted me every well because of the pigmentation, for every use on a brush you only need the slightest amount. I'm defiantly going to invest in another MAC blush as absolutely no drug store blush would ever last this long. 

Love love love this blush. It's such a pretty pink with subtle gold sparkles in it. Soooo nice. Defiantly recommend it. 

2) Now for my most recent purchases and one MAC's most famous products. Lipsticks.

My first lipstick is 'chatterbox', for a while there was a hype about this lipstick because of its easy wearability. I would describe it as a muted bright pink which is easily wearable for everyday make up. 

Chatterbox is an amplified creme lipstick so is a lovely moisturising formula. MAC lipsticks are obviously well known for the great pigmentation so it does take a while to wear down the whole lipstick. With a blue undertone the only downside is that on some people, it can emphasis yellow teeth, but for most people it is fine. 

3) Finally but defiantly not least is 'modesty'. As I have a bright-ish colour I really wanted a nude to add to my collection. There are so many famous nudes from MAC such as 'Hue' and 'Creme de Nude'. The colour 'Modesty' that I've been eyeing up for a while, the YouTuber/beauty blogger Beauty Crush has been raving about this colour all summer.

I would describe this colour as a deep Rosie colour. When I first bought it, I was very unsure because I thought it was brown, however with a closer look and on the lips there is more of a peachy:pink tone to it. Which makes it really nice and subtle to wear casually on a daily basis. A plus, with this lipstick is also that this is a yellow based tone lipstick which enhances the whiteness in teeth unlike 'Chatterbox'.

As 'Modesty' is a creme sheen and not an amplified creme it has more of a glossy finish but is still just as pigmented and moisturising as 'Chatterbox'. Yes, £15 for a lipstick is a steep price. But the way I saw it was that it's more like an investment which will give value and last where other lipsticks that are £1-£6 may not offer this. 

Go for it. Cave in. Purchase some MAC. Because even though it's pricey, there is reason behind the hype and if you are starting to get properly into make up and want to move up end. Then MAC is the way forward. 

My cat even took interest in my MAC. That says it all.

Laura xo

♥