NARS Matte Velvet Lip Pencil - Mysterious Red - Review

The Review...

Over the past few days I've bought and being trying out the NARS Matte Velvet Lip Pencils, after seeing the Nars Fall 2013 Ad campaign the evening before I was due to head into town shopping, the perfect pencil fast tracked it's way up to the top of my list, sod the makeup wipes!

With the 'limited edition' tag line looming in my mind as I shopped my way around town, I tried and failed at both Space NK and Selfridges. I even resorted to checking online during the walk towards each. With no such luck I decided to ask the lady on the NARS counter at Selfridges if there happened to be a similar colour, and of course there was... Cruella, obviously I marched straight to the till and whipped out my card.

Later that evening, sat back on the sofa, online shopping once again, my flatmate and fellow beauty blogger Sophie (The Beauty Room Blog) asked if i'd tried looking on ASOS, and da da da, to my joy, limited edition Mysterious Red was IN STOCK, never have I ever added to basket and pressed confirm before! And there still in stock for you too! ASOS . (Top tip, student discount of 10% can be used on beauty too!)

Up top: Cruella, Down low: Mysterious Red (Limited Ed)

Review:

When swatching the pencil, you'll notice the thick, smooth, velvet like finish of the pencil, once on your lips this feels even better. After application, the product almost 'dries' onto your lips, giving a great long wear application - there's nothing I love more! Today I applied my Mysterious Red at 11am and it's still going strong at 4.30pm.

The pencil like appearance of this product only heightens my love for NARS and this lipstick, being in pencil form it means that there's no need for a lip liner or a lip brush. Application is super quick and easy with only one coat needed.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this NARS pencil to anyone who'll listen and think it's a must buy for any lipstick lover out there...

Amy xxx

Mysterious Red

FOTD: Autumnal Eyes

Autumnal Eyes/Red Lip 

First up, apologies for the cray cray hair, we all have those bad hair days! Moving swiftly on to the main event, the makeup...

With my outfit for the day emitting a certain autumnal feel, I decided that my makeup look should reflect that too.

I went for a golden orange tone on my eyes, with the all important cat flick with gel black eyeliner, keeping the cheeks fairly simple with just bronzer and completely the look with a gorgeous matte red lip.

Hope you liked my face of the day, all products are pictures and listed below.

Product List

Foundation and Concealer: Rimmel Wake Me Up (Ivory)
Bronzer: Bourjois Bronzing Primer and NARS Laguna
Highlighter: MAC's Soft and Gentle MSF
Eyes: Bobbi Brown eyeshadow stick in Vanilla (Base), MAC's Woodwinked (bottom L), Cranberry (Top R) - on the large pallete, MAC's All that Glitters (small palette top R) and Nylon (bottom L) 
Lips: NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella

Amy xxx

Keeping the Oil at Bay

So today I thought I'd share some of my essential products to create a oil-free face!

First of all though, I thought I'd explain my skin and its very bad habits!

Skin Type: I'd say my skin is 'combination' however it does appear to have a mind of it's own, in the winter months especially I tend to get patches of dry skin around the outer edges of my face and right on the end of nose! But on the other hand, my t-zone area suffers from oiliness, therefore I have to use products to combat both these problems, I truly am combination in terms of skin type. 

MAC Oil Control Lotion 30ml Travel Size - £12.50  Having never really thought MAC as skincare, I was recommended this product by a friend and was then ultimately persuaded by Nicole Guerriero of YouTube fame to run to the MAC store and snap it up. The JOYS this product provides, oh my! Without this my skin/makeup would be in total utter chaos/meltdown (literally) one pea sized amount does this trick and seconds later, primer or foundation is good to be applied.

If your a primer kinda gal, insert your favorite here! I simply haven't found the perfect one just yet so can;t really recommend one. If you can recommend me one please do so in the comments box below!

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion - As I very inconveniently have super duper oily eyelids it's essential that I use the little tube of magic cream before applying any eye shadow, however saying that, recently I've been considering trying out the NARS version of this product, which has had great reviews on the blogosphere, so ill update you on that one!

Finally, once I've applied my mask of make-up I always, always, always apply a finishing powder or a finishing spray, some I have tried include, Rimmel's Stay Matte powder in Translucent, Mac's Blot Powder and I'm currently using Mac's Prep and Prime loose powder, of which I apply using a Real Techniques Powder brush, and I also occasionally apply Urban Decay's De-Slick Spray to keep the oil at a natural level throughout the day.