Welcome to the Pleasuredome by Makeup Revolution

When I found out that Make Up Revolution was now in stock in a Superdrug in Sheffield, I pretty much made it my mission to go down and pick up a few things as I had never tried the brand before that - I already knew I was on to a winner as in the six months the brand has been around, they've already caused a frenzy in the blogger world for their amazing products, and I was definitely not disappointed. I think I spent a good half an hour in front of the stand, swatching products and trying to make up my mind which ones where to come home with me.

As soon as I found the Welcome To The Pleasuredome Palette - I knew it was one of the items that just had to come home with me. I know I made the right decision when I found myself using this palette every day! 

This palette contains 18 highly pigmented eyeshadows, that include 12 shimmer shades and 6 matte shades. The palette isn't huge but you do get alot of product which means they have used every bit of space avaliable to them which is brilliant as it doesn't use a lot of space - especially if like me, you don't have much space to store your ever expanding makeup collection, but they still give you a crazy amount of eyeshadows to play with. In the lid there is also a mirror taking up the whole space which means combined with the size, this mirror would be fine to carry in your bag and you can touch up your makeup or change it whilst on the go which always makes it a winner for me.

The Elysium Palette by MUA

When I first saw that MUA were bringing out the Elysium Palette, I knew I had to have it! The colours in this little palette looked incredible - all soft pinks with some shimmers, something that I think works gorgeously with us ladies that have pale skin! I recently was in Meadowhall doing a bit of shopping before my eyebrow appointment with Benefit, and I popping into Superdrug just to have a look around when I spotted one of these palettes left - I had no idea that they had already been released, so when I saw that there was only one left on the entire MUA stand, I grabbed it with both hands and swiftly made my way to the til point to make this baby mine.

One thing that I really liked with this palette as soon as I saw it was that MUA have finally listened to everyone and haven't included one of those foam applicator "brushes" that so many companies include with their palettes. Instead, they have included a double ended eyeliner with incredible pigmentation and staying power. On one end of the pencil there is a deep black and on the other end there is a peachy nude shade, which again stays put once applied. This is definitely a welcome change, and I am very impressed with the quality of them as well.

Hand Creams to Combat Winter

For a few weeks now, partly due to the colder weather we having been having and partly due to the horrendous Air Conditioning at work, plus having a very hands on job, I've had really dry hands - so I've been on a mission to get them feeling a bit more happy! So I thought I would share with you some of my favourite hand creams to help get them feeling a bit more soft and lovely feeling!

These are all the perfect sizes to keep in your handbag and all have a screw on lid which stays on firmly, making sure you can always have your favourite hand cream on the go for whenever your hands need a bit of love, but you can always be rest assured that your bag won't be covered in all kinds of creams by the end of the day - which is always a bonus, right?

L'Occitane Hand Cream for Dry Skin is the thickest cream out of the three and is the only one to contain 20% Shea Butter which makes it for me, the heavy duty stuff for when my hands are really suffering - for example on those bitter frosty mornings or when I've had long days at work. I was lucky enough to pick up this hand cream when it was a free gift in this months Marie Claire magazine, which is still available if you want to pick one up (there is four hand creams to chose from!), so if you are new to L'Occitane or want to try one of their hand creams before you treat yourself to something from the brand, this is the perfect way to treat yourself and try something out.

The #SheffieldBBloggers Meet Part 2

As I said in my previous post - Part 1 of the #SheffieldBBloggers Meet, I said about how fantastic the goody bags we were kindly given were. I also briefly went over the raffle and some of the generous prizes - so because there was so much, here is a post dedicate to it all and to say a massive thank you to all the companies that got involved with the event, whether it be kindly sending something in for the goody bags and putting something in the raffle - they went above and beyond! 

I was so surprised to see some of the brands that had gotten involved - I had been wanting to try Nanshy brushes and Crown brushes for a while now, and I'm so happy I've finally been given the chance after they kindly donated some brushes to go into goody bags! They were two of my favourite items that I found after digging around in my bag, which was kindly provided and personalised thanks to The Blogger Programme? They printed the hashtag we were using for the even on the front of it for us which made it feel even more special.

The #SheffieldBBlogger Meet - Part 1

This weekend I was lucky enough to attend the #SheffieldBBlogger meet up in Sheffield City Centre that was hosted by the lovely Georgina, Heather and Ashleigh. There was only a limited number of spaces avaliable and was on a first come first serve basis, I only found out about this meet up a few weeks before it was due to take place to I popped my name on the reserve list, You can guess how happy I was when a message appeared in my inbox saying someone had dropped out and that I was able to go. I checked to make sure I was off work as soon as possible and confirmed that I would be attending.

The meet was held at Maveli resturant on Glossop road, Sheffield which is just off West Street. Maveli is a Southern Indian Resturant that seemed like a cosy and intimate place - both for the meet and for dining in. The owners and staff were lovely and accomodating, not to mention served delicious food which gave us a good taste of what the resturant had to offer! I can see it being a lovely place to dine out at.

What is it like getting Foundation matched at MAC?

I got given a giftcard at by my Manager at work for our department winning a competition in the Company, so when we had our 10% off Beauty and Fragrance last month, I knew that it was the best time to spend my giftcard. I'm a bad beauty bloggers, as I had never tried or owned a MAC foundation before so I thought as I wasn't wasting money if I didn't like it, that it would be the perfect chance to buy one. So, I popped down to my work on my day off (!) and went to the MAC counter and was greeted by a lady who asked if I needed any help. I explained to her that I was looking to get a foundation but as I had never tried a MAC foundation before I had no idea what shade I was. She got me to sit at one of the chairs in front of a large mirror and grabbed a foundation, after we discussed what kind of finish I liked.

I was after an every day foundation and one that was medium to full coverage and that would last well as I was doing quite a few shifts that were quite long (last week I ended up doing a 14 hour shift!) so I would need my make-up to stay in place. I wasn't after a matte finish either, or a really dewey finish so she decided that MAC Studio Sculpt foundation was the best one for me. She then grabbed two shades and took my current foundation off with a face wipe, which I was suprised at, sure at a place like MAC they should take your make-up off with actual make-up remover and cotton wool? (such places like Benefit and Bobbi Brown take it off with that, so I would have thought somewhere like MAC would too?)

How to get Shiny and Healthy hair

Anyone who knows me, will know that I have a constant battle with my hair and that we have a love/hate relationship. During my teenage years, I pretty much dyed my hair every week (normally changing colours and styles every 3 - 4 weeks) to the point were it was so incredibly dry, short and unstyleable. At one point, I dyed it black before bleaching it TWICE and going pink in one night. Yes, 4 hairs inclduing 2 lots of bleach in one night, you can see in my hair tag just how much I dyed my hair over the years. It's taken me a good 4 to 5 years to get it to a stage where it's actually decent and starting to be healthy again so I thought I would share some tips that I have learnt along the way.

 

BEFORE                                                            AFTER

When trying to get your hair healthy again, it's important to remember it's not going to happen over night and depending on the damage you have done to your hair, it can take months - or in my case, years.

Updated Skincare Routine

Over the past six months, I will openly admit to having a very poor skincare routine. As in, I used to use face wipes and the odd face mask once a week and some moisturiser if I remembered. However, this made my skin horrible and as you can imagine, my make-up wasn't the best! Because I wasn't moisturising, after a few hours my foundation would go cakey. My full skincare routine kicked in when myself and Georgina from SheMightBeLoved went shopping and she helped to start updating my skincare.

She introduced me to Lush Skincare (previously to this, I always used to associate Lush with just bath bombs and never would have thought to go there for anything other than that). She explained to me about there natural ingredients and we picked out the best two products for my skin type - which is normal to combination.

Now, I have a good skincare routine and my skin loves me for it - my make-up sits better and lasts longer, and at the end of the day I no longer have cake face. I start with taking my make-up off using Ultrabland Facial Cleanser by Lush Cosmetics  I use this to remove my makeup, as the beeswax into the products helps break down the make-up before removing it with some cotton wool pads or a damp face cloth. I then use Eau Roma Water Toner Water by Lush Cosmetics Both of these products contain rose water which helps to calm any redness, which I have on my cheeks and I can definitely see an improvement! My skin always feels fresher and clean when I've used my toner water.