Nars Laguna Bronzer

(The flash on my camera has made the colour look a little pinky, and although it is warm colour, note that it is a little darker in real life!)

Hey lovelies, hope you are well! Nars Laguna has to be one of the most raved about bronzers of all time. I rarely hear negative things about this bronzer, and although there are millions of reviews out there, I thought I would give my thoughts on it! I have recently been in a 'repurchasing products I love' phase, as I have been running out of some of my faves (haul post to come!). I ordered a new Nars Laguna from Asos, which cost £24, but with the 10% student discount I got it for £21.60. I decided to order from Asos as they offer free delivery, which usually arrives pretty quickly so is great value for money. There is something about Nars packaging which just looks and feels so luxurious (Although attracts dirt like nothing else!). Being a bronzer the packaging is a lot larger than that of a Nars blush/eyeshadow duo and with 8g of product, it does last ages which helps justify the price. The bronzer itself is such a perfect natural colour, the finish is matte enough to allow you to contour with it, but has teeny tiny flecks of shimmer, which are so finely milled that it gives you a lovely bronzed glow. I love the names of Nars products, although some can be a little cringey, 'Laguna' reminds me of Laguna Beach, where everyone is super gorgeous and tanned!
I have heard that this bronzer is prone to smashing with it being such a thin, wide pan, but I (fingers crossed) havn't had this problem, although I am pretty careful how I handle it. 
I used to apply Laguna with my Real Techniques Blush Brush, but recently have started using the Sigma F25 (Review post to follow), a combo which I have been loving!

Have you tried Laguna? What are your thoughts? Do you have a different favourite bronzer?

Mac 'Hue' Lipstick

  Eyes- Nars Cream Eyeshadow Camargue (Base) // Mac Scene (Outer corner) // Mac Cork (Blended through crease) // Mac Woodwinked (Outer two thirds) // Elf Black Gel Liner // Maybelline Volum' Express Mascara 

Hey girls! I went shopping the other day for an outfit for a girls night out and had set myself a realistic budget so that I didn't go mad buying everything in sight. At the end of the day I had picked up a whole outfit including a clutch for under my budget, so, feeling pretty impressed with myself, I decided to pop into Mac and buy myself a treat (Does anyone else do that!?)! I knew I wanted a lipstick but was torn between getting a nude or a coral to go with the outfit I'd bought. After swatching some potentials, I ended up getting 'Hue'. Hue is definitely a beauty blogger/ youtuber favourite and is hyped about a lot, and being a pinky nude, I knew I would get a lot of use out of it. The finish is a glaze, which means the staying power of Hue isn't amazing, but I don't mind reapplying if it means having a gorgeous lip colour. It is very glossy and moisturising on the lips which is perfect for me as I can have very dry lips which lipsticks can sometimes stick in to. This is definitely a colour I will get lots of use from and can be worn day and night as it is so natural on the lips! (Sorry about the annoying shadows across the last photos, it was late at night and hard to get good lighting!)

Have you tried Hue? Do you have a favourite Mac lipstick?

The Coral Lip

I am a huge fan of everything coral as a colour, I think it is great to add a pop of colour and looks lovely in the summer against a tan. I love wearing coral clothes and even incorporating it into my makeup.

I find as a cheek and lip colour, coral can be very flattering, and allow you to keep the eyes completely naked but still seem as though you look made up.

 

 

 When doing a coral look, on the cheek I like to wear a pale coral blush from the eyeshadow and blush 05 palette from Blink+Go. It adds a lovely subtle hint of colour to the cheek and though very pigmented, can be blended out well.

 

On the lip I like to wear Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in 'Coral Reef'. A lovely glossy bright coral, which you can either wear as a bold pop of colour or more sheerly for a more natural look.

Like I said, I love that wearing a bold pop of colour on the lips can allow you to leave the rest of the face fairly natural but still leave you feeling confident!

Do you ever wear a coral lip? Or do you have a different colour you love to wear?

x

Clinique Superbalanced Makeup

Just over a month ago, I decided it was time to switch up my foundations. I had been using Revlon Colourstay for a while and had been slowly falling out of love with it. I felt the coverage was too heavy and it didn't last on my skin as well as it had in previous months. I tried out a few samples of foundations and came across Clinique Superbalanced Makeup which I instantly fell in love with and ended up purchasing. I have been using it for a few weeks now and I still really love it. 

I have combination skin, my T zone tends to get quite oily while my eye lids and cheeks get quite dry which can cause problems when looking for a foundation. This foundation combats both those problems, it absorbs oil where needed whilst also providing moisture. 


What I love most about this foundation is the coverage. It provides medium coverage and covers any blemishes or redness, whilst leaving the skin looking flawlessly natural. WIN! I apply this foundation with my Real Techniques Stippling Brush and love the finish it gives.

I am in the colour 36 Beige Chiffon (which looks a little orangey in the photos, but I promise that is just my lighting!) This foundation is also water resistant, which makes it perfect if you are somebody who still likes to wear a bit of makeup when exercising or at the pool. 

                                                        Swatched Straight from bottle

                                                                        Blended


This will definitely be one of my staple items in my makeup bag this summer. What foundations do you love for summer? x

Summer Blush

Summer is fast approaching and we who love makeup have to work around this! Over winter, I was a real fan of the whole vamp look, with a dark rose cheek, but now Summer is almost here, I wanted to switch up for something a big more natural. After having a route through my collection, I picked up my Nars Deep Throat blush (which I had worn for months and absolutely loved last year) which had got pushed to the back of the pile. Now I have found it, I remember why I loved it so much!

It may have a bit of a rude name, but it really is the sweetest blush. It is a coral pinky shade with shimmer, and leaves a soft, natural glow to the cheek. I have been using it for both day and night time and think it works nicely both ways. In the day, a natural flush of colour on a nude face and at night compliments a brown smokey eye well. I have been applying it with both the Real Techniques Blush Brush to bring it from the cheek back towards the ear or the Smashbox Baby Buki to keep it on the apples of the cheek.

                                                            Nars 'Deep Throat'


Nars products can be expensive, so if you are looking for a more affordable dupe, Elf do a blush in the colour 'Tickled Pink' which is pretty similar in colour, though has a lot less shimmer.

                                                     
                                                              Elf 'Tickled Pink'

Left- Nars Deep Throat   Right- Elf Tickled Pink

I love this blush and it will definitely be my go to blush for the Summer! What Nars blushes do you love? x

Favourite Fake Tans

Over the past few months, the only times I have really bothered with fake tan is for a night out, but since the sunny weather we've been having, it's inspired me to get back into my tanning routine. I thought I would share some of my favourites fake tans with you!

So, in no particular order...

St Moriz- St Moriz gets a lot of coverage online, both positive and negative. It's plus points are that it is a fast drying mousse and a very quick fix, one over night application and you are good to go with a dark (the darkest of any I have used before) but natural tan. The negative side to this product is the fading process which can leave you looking patchy and 'speckely' for a number of days (which, I assume is the reasoning for the bargain price). If you are willing to invest your time and money into a descent exfoliator and a few showers worth of scrubbing, then  I do recommend this product as it does give great results and is my 'go to' tanner. As for the two bottles pictured above, the difference is that one is called 'dark', but to be honest, I think they both give pretty much the same result. St Moriz can be found online for around £2.99 and in Tesco for around £4.99.

Superdrug Solait Self Tan Foam- This product is Superdrug's own self tanning mousse and the colour I use is dark. I really like this mousse, its quick and easy to apply, although I would say to achieve a deep colour you do need to do a couple of applications of this and I find it takes to certain areas more than others. It does claim that once applied, the colour will intensify over 1-4 hours, but I do think an over night application is best. The plus points of this tanner, is how easy it is to de-tan. It comes away from the skin with a loofer and a body scrub with no need to scrub the skin raw. This mousse retails in Superdrug for £5.99.

St Tropez Everyday Gradual Tan Mousse- St Tropez is so well known and yes, is one of the best fake tan companys around.  This is a gradual tan, which means you have to apply the mousse over a number of days to achieve your desired colour. I love the application of the mousse and as it states, does give a very natural, streakless colour, but for me, could be darker. I think I would be more suited to the Self Tan Mousse rather than the gradual, but I do still really love this product. St Tropez Gradual Mousse is available from Debenhams for £20.43.

Makebelieve Gradual Self Tan and Tan Extender- This tan is the first lotion of the bunch, again, it is a gradual tan which you develope over a few days and this one claims to contain a tan extender to make your tan last even longer. This is the product I use if I want a light, natural tan and is perfect if you want a head start in the summer of don't feel comfortable showing your white winter legs to the world. The application is easy but does take a little while to dry. I find with lotions it is often best to apply them using your hands (if you are willing to run and wash your hands between each body part)  or latex gloves, as mitt tends to absorb a lot of the product. This retails in Boots for £19.50.

Soltan Beautiful Bronze Gel- (I have had this self tan for a while now, and I believe they have re done the packaging, so what they have in store, may not look exactly the same as what I have pictured!) This is Boots own brand of self tan, this one being the shimmer gel. When I first got this tan and began applying it, I was definitely sceptical of what it looked like, a gold gel containing ALOT of shimmer. When applying this to the skin, i became even more sceptical, as it left me looking like a gold statue! But I carried on, slept in the product and washed it off the next morning to reveal a really gorgeous deep tan with subtle shimmer. The shimmer did not over power like I expected it to, but instead left the skin looking healthy and naturally tanned. This tan will be really nice to use both for day time in the summer and for nights out. This gel retails in Boots for £5.99.

And there you have it, my current favourite fake tans :)