J'adore...Barry M Autumn/Winter Launches!

Hello all

I'm in the midst of a very busy week, including 3 interviews (!) Having applied to lots over the summer & hearing nothing, I had pretty much accepted that I hadn't succeeded. Yet this past week I've scheduled in three! Fingers crossed!

This 'J'adore...' post is about the new launches Barry M have later this month. Barry M are one of my favourite drugstore brands, in terms of cost & quality. I have lots of their products already, however when I received an emailing outlining the new products they are offering for AW'13, I couldn't wait to share it with you!

First of all their new nail polishes. Most of my nail polishes are from Barry M. This isn't an exaggeration. I would say over half of all my polishes are Barry M, from regular to the effects, I have a range of them. What I love about them is their colour range, which is extensive, but also their range of textures & finishes. Their first new launch is a collection of matte finish polishes. I love matte nails, & they were seen all over the catwalk for AW. In 5 winter appropriate shades, I am so excited to try these out! I already have a matte top coat, however it can be hard to ensure the entire nail is covered,which can result in shiny patches. Having a matte finish nail polish solves this! My favourite shades are Espresso, Crush & Vanilla.

Shades(left to right): ‘Espresso’ (Black MNP1), ‘Vanilla’ (Pink Nude MNP4), ‘Mocha’ (Medium Brown MNP5), ‘Caramel’ (Light Brown MNP3),‘Crush’ (Burgundy Red MNP2)   

Price: £3.99 each

 

The next product I'm excited for are the eye & cheek palettes. I recently reviewed the B. Smokey Eye Palette, which you can read here. However, I believe you can never have enough palettes! They are great if you travel a lot & you can create such a range of looks without carting your entire makeup collection with you. There are three palettes being launches later this month, 'Glamour Puss', 'Smokin Hot' & 'Natural Glow', however I will be focusing on the latter two. 

Natural Glow Eye & Cheek Palette

£6.49

With a range of natural, & from what I can see, matte shadows this is a lovely little eye shadow collection, paired with a light pink blush. I'm excited to try this out!

 Smokin Hot Eye & Cheek Palette

£6.49

Although I recently reviewed another smokey eye palette, it's a look that I really like so trying out new ones is always of interest to me. These 6 shades are a mix of matte and shimmer. I especially like the look of the third shade. The peachy blush may be too strong for me but I will have a try.

 

Both palettes come with a large mirror & 2 double ended eyeshadow applicators. This, along with 6 shadows & 1 blush, is really good for only £6.49!

 

These are my favourite picks of the launch, which will also include a new mascara & foundation line. These will hit Superdrug stores from September 25th & Boots stores from October 2nd! 

 

Are there any AW13 beauty launches you're excited about?

 

  

 

B. Smokey Eye Palette - Review & Swatch

Hello all

Recently my beautiful friend Lara treated me to this B. Smokey Eye Palette from Superdrug, available here. I have been on the look out for a really good grey smokey eye palette for a while, reading lots of reviews to see which would be best for me.

Unlike most beauty bloggers, I do not own the Naked or Naked 2 palettes. Shock horror! The reason for this is that I am not really a fan of brown based smokey eyes, or metallic/shimmery eyeshadows, both of which are present in the Naked palettes. I am aware that Naked Basics are all matte shades, however they too are brown based. 

I was toying with the Bourjois smokey eye palette, available here, as it is incredibly similar to the Chanel 'Les 4 Ombres' Smokey Eye palette due to the fact that Chanel & Bourjois are made in the same factory. 

However, I sent Shelley of 'The Shelley Diaries' this smokey eye palette from B. in Superdrug & thought it was really good. Having two matte shades & two shimmery shades, & at a really reasonable price, I thought it ticked all my boxes. Added to this, all B. products are not tested on animals.

 

 

 Swatches under flash

Swatches without flash

I was really pleased with the swatches. The shades are pigmented enough, with build-ability to create a softer or more dramatic look. I am impressed with the matte white as it even shows up on my pale skin! The silver shadow has just about the amount of shimmer I can handle, & is very pigmented. There is only a subtle difference between the darker shades, but it is noticeable. All in all, this palette is the perfect mix of four shades to create a grey toned smokey eye, as I did in the pictures below!

 

 

 All products used: MAC Haute & Naughty Mascara | B. Smokey Eye Palette | Seventeen High Drama Liquid Eyeliner

I created quite a soft smokey eye with this palette and the shades really blended well together. I used the matte white all over the lid, matte grey on the outer two thirds of the eye & dark grey shimmer shadow on the outer corner & slightly through the crease. I really loved this palette & will definitely be using it for more dramatic smokey eyes in the future!

I also hope to try more B. products, especially the Micellar Water. I'd also like to thank Lara for kindly buying this for me :)

Summer Series: Festival Fashion

Hello all

Welcome to the second of my Summer Series posts. You can read the first installment on Barcelona Beach here.  This time I've created a festival look. Unfortunately this year I'm not going to the festival I wanted, which was Download back in June. However I have created an outfit that I would have worn there! Unlike other festivals like Glasto or V, Download is different music, from rock to metal and indie, so the fashion too is very different. You probably wouldn't see the fashion forward looks you my see at more mainstream festivals (no neon here!), but because of this, the fashion is very much 'me', channeling my gothy teenage self!

So here is my 'Festival Fashion' outfit:

Clockwise from top left: Backpack- River Island | Dress- H&M | Bandeau's- TopShop | Maybelline- Eye Studio Master Smokey in Black | Boots- JuJu @ New Look

I actually picked this 'Thorn of a Rose' dress in the H&M sale this weekend and I love it! It is so easy to throw on and paired with a smokey eye, it really gives the effortless rock chick look. The back of the dress, as you can see, is very open with twisted straps. I hate when bras are on show, I think it's so tacky, so these lace long-line bandeau's from Topshop look great underneath. I couldn't decide which colour, nude or a pop of red so included both!

For a festival, you probably won't want to take too much makeup with you, so this eye pencil with smudging tool on the end is perfect to create the messy smokey eye that's almost essential at a rock festival.

Festivals are notoriously muddy, so a pair of wellies or cheap boots are very much necessary. Although a great pair of Doc Martens would look amazing with this outfit, I have made this mistake before and they were utterly ruined. So opting for a cheaper pair of biker boots is a great alternative to still look rocky, but no ruining £70 worth of shoes!

Finally, a studded backpack is perfect to carry all your daily musts into the festival as it keeps your hands free to dance or mosh to music, but is big enough to keep a jacket for the evening and definitely some sun block!

I hope you are enjoying my Summer Series as much as I am enjoying making them. I am thinking of doing a separate makeup series on what to pack in terms of beauty and skin products for different locations, so let me know if this is something you would want to read!