Urban Decay Smoked Palette

I never really buy high-end makeup. I usually stick to the drugstore brands that I am used to and can afford. But, after receiving some money for my GCSE results, I wanted to treat myself. I had seen a lot of reviews about the Urban Decay ‘Smoked’ eyeshadow palette and after a little contemplation, I decided that I was going to buy it. Smokey eyes are probably my favourite eye look so I saw this palette as being a good investment for me.

The palette comes with a travel-sized primer potion, and a 24/7 glide-on eyeliner in the colour ‘Perversion,’ a deep black colour. I have no complaints with either of these: the primer keeps the eyeshadow on all day and makes the colours appear even more pigmented, and the eyeliner adds a brilliant finish and can either be worn subtly or built up for a more dramatic effect. There is also a booklet included which shows you different looks that you can create using the palette with step-by-step guides on how to do so; something which I have found very useful!

The eyeshadows themselves are range from pale nudes like ‘Kinky’ and ‘Freestyle’ to bright metallic shades such as ‘Rockstar,’ ‘Evidence’ and ‘Loaded.’ My favourite shades are the two silver/taupe shades, ‘Mushroom’ and ‘Asphalt.’ I think that these are great for blending together and creating the classic smoky eye.

Top Row (L-R): Kinky, Freestyle, Mushroom, Backdoor, Blackout
Bottom Row (L-R): Barlust, Rockstar, Evidence, Loaded, Asphalt

Overall, I am very impressed with this palette. I think that it will be great for experimenting with, as the range of colours, rather than just the classic dark shades, will provide a lot of interesting opportunities for different shades of smoky eye!

The palette is priced at £35, which I think is pretty standard for Urban Decay eyeshadow palettes, and also a fair price for what you are getting. I think that I will get a good amount out use out of it and I am very much looking forward to creating some different and adventurous smoky eyes!

Love from Amy x

OOTD- Buckingham Palace

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Buckingham Palace with my grandma to see the Diamond Collection; an exhibition displaying a number of The Queen’s personal jewels and diamonds from her private collection, including her coronation necklace and earrings that were created for Queen Victoria, the Girls of Great Britain tiara and the Diamond Diadem. As well as viewing the diamond exhibition, we got to look round some of the state rooms at Buckingham Palace, including the Throne Room, where the official photographs for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were taken.  Both myself and my grandma love the royal family, so we really enjoyed it!

Outside in the gardens at Buckingham Palace.

Me and my grandma :)

It was quite a hot day, so I wore my red scallop-edged top from Topshop with a black maxi-shirt from Primark.  

If you are interested, you can find out more about the exhibition here.

Love from Amy x

Holiday Haul!

Even though I came back off holiday about a month ago, I still wanted to do a post about what I bought while I was away! I went to Derbyshire which, if you don’t know, is a countryside place about an hour away from where I live. We stayed on a farm and I had a really good week! They have shops that are pretty similar to ones that you would find in my local shopping centre, so I didn’t have to look far before I found something to buy! I don’t have too many items to include in this post, but I thought I might as well do one anyway, as I love sharing with you all some of the things that I have been buying!

I bought these mint jeans from M&Co. M&Co isn’t a shop that I would normally go in and I went in with my mum as she likes it there, and as soon as I saw these jeans, I knew that I would have to get them. They are slightly too long for me but I can get them taken up so that they are the right length. I can’t wait to start wearing them! I can’t remember exactly how much they were but I think that they were round the £25 mark.

Everything else that I bought is from Dorothy Perkins. First, I bought a top which was in the sale for about £10. I really love the print on it and I think that it is perfect to wear in autumn. I also got some nude ballet pumps for £16- something that I have wanted to buy for a while. The bargains of the trip came in the form of sale jewellery. I got these two pairs of earrings and two rings all for £4! I particularly love the diamond and sapphire-look earrings. I love anything to do with the royal family, so I couldn’t resist buying these earrings!

That’s everything for what I bought while I was on holiday. Not too much of a long post but hopefully I will have more posts up in a few days. I plan on writing some more this afternoon, and posting them later on in the week, so you can look out for them!

Love from Amy x

August Favourites

I can’t believe that I am writing my August favourites, I know that I’ve probably said this before but this year really is flying by. I’m quite excited for September because it means that the weather will be getting colder and I can start wearing all my Autumn/Winter clothes- there’s nothing I love more than putting on a big jumper and snuggling up on the sofa all warm, knowing that it’s really cold outside. September also means that I am starting sixth form, so I’m not sure what this means in terms of blogging. I fully intend to keep on writing posts, but I just don’t know how often I will be able to, as I am expecting that a ton of homework and revision will be coming my way very soon!

Anyway, enough rambling. I don’t have many things to talk about because I haven’t really changed the products that I have been using. This month, I’ve been in more of a ‘rediscovery’ mood rather than a mood to be buying new products. The first product that I have rediscovered is my Paul Smith perfume. I got it for my birthday a couple of months ago and I wore it all the time when I first got it, but then for some reason I just stopped wearing it and went in a phase of not wearing perfume. During August however, it became my go-to scent and I will definitely be wearing it through into September as well.

Next are two nail varnishes, both from Topshop. The lilac one is ‘Parma Violet’ and the glittery one is ‘Razzmatazz.’ I’ve liked wearing them either with the lilac one as a base, and then using the glitter one as a top coat, or applying a clear base coat and then a couple of coats of ‘Razzmatazz’ to achieve a semi-sheer glitter nail.

Another beauty item that I have rediscovered is this lipstick from Natural Collection. I’m not really a big wearer of lipsticks. I do own a few but I just never really wear them that often, but I found this one amongst all the others and realised why I bought it. It is basically the same colour as my natural lip so you can’t really tell that I’m wearing it, but it adds a nice bit of definition to the lips, and looks great when topped with a lipgloss. It is in the colour ‘Rosebud.’

Finally is one item that I actually did buy during August. It’s a pair of earrings from Topshop. As you should know if you read my blog posts regularly, I LOVE crosses, so when I saw these earrings, I couldn’t resist. They’re great to wear either out to a party or just generally during the day- they match with any outfit and I will definitely be getting a lot more wear out of them throughout September, and most probably for the rest of the year too!

What products have you loved through August? If you have a YouTube video/blog post about your August favourites then be sure to leave the link in the comments, and I will check it out!

Love from Amy x

Review: Rimmel London Day 2 Night Mascara

I’ve been meaning to write a review post for the Rimmel London Day 2 Night mascara for a while now but I’ve only just got round to it. I’ve had the mascara for just over a month and I bought it after seeing other people’s positive reviews about it. I have to say, I completely agree with all the other reviews that I saw, and I would now say that it is probably one of the best mascaras that I have ever used.

I’ve always been a fan of mascaras from Rimmel London, so I had high hopes for this one. The idea is that it has two sections to it; one which aims to lengthen the eyelashes, and the other which aims to add volume. The lengthening part is supposed to be the day look, and the volume part either used alone, or layered on top of the lengthening one is supposed to be the night look. I like to use the lengthening part first as a base to quickly coat my eyelashes, and then thicken them with the volume part, and I wear this throughout the day as I personally like to have really full, thick lashes all day, rather than just as a night/going out look. I would say that both parts do what they claim- my eyelashes look longer after I’ve used the lengthening part, and they definitely have volume using that part.

The only negative thing that I would say is that the mascara isn’t waterproof, but that’s just because I prefer to use waterproof mascaras. I’m not sure if there is a waterproof version available (if there is then please let me know!) but if there isn’t then I hope that Rimmel bring one out soon because I would buy it straight away. I would recommend this mascara to anyone, so if you are on the market for a new mascara, then definitely check this one out!

Love from Amy x