My Make-up & Storage

Hello Darlings. It's Saturday and I'm up early because my boyfriend had to get up to go to work so I thought I'd write this post. I have been off work this week and have managed to get a few things done including writing some posts and sorting through my things at home. I do love a good clear out as it makes me feel refreshed. I have been wanting to purchase some storage for my make-up for some time from Muji. You know the acrylic storage that so many of you lovely gals have. It looks great, keeps everything neat and tidy and is so good because you can see where everything is easily. Because of Xmas and having so many birthdays to buy for lately I have been holding off, but for now I thought why not make use of what I have. This is what I came up with.

I have made good use of my beauty boxes that I purchased from GlossyBox, Feelunique and Boudoir Prive/JolieBox. I think they look cute. I had to label them as I can not see what products are inside. That's why I need the Muji storage. The heart gem stickers are from Poundland. I wanted to make the boxes look a bit more girly and to make the label stickers look less boring. I have used a couple of glasses that we had in the kitchen to store make-up brushes and tattoo pens. I have my E.L.F. Studio Daily Brush Cleaner next to my make-up brushes to encourage me to keep them clean. I used my E.L.F. Studio Brush Shampoo to clean my make-up brushes a couple of days ago. I keep that in my bathroom. I have made use of the the box that my Fearne Perfect Polish collection came in. Please see my post including that collection here :) I needed a separate storage for these pigments because some of the ones I have are a bit messy when you open them as they escape from the containers. It's handy that it's partly transparent on top so I can see the products more easily and it has a pull out drawer just like the feelunique beauty boxes. This Baylis & Harding storage is great. I included this in my My Birthday Gifts post. Please find that here :)

 

 

 

I ran out of beauty boxes so I used some containers that I bought from Poundland. I got 8 tubs in a pack for £1.00. These are great because they are so cheap, but when you keep opening and closing them they do have a tendency to crack. To write on the boxes and tubs I have used Sharpie pens. I bought these ages ago. I think they were from Poundland too. I used the same Poundland heart gems that I used to decorate my beauty boxes. My glitter body art kit is shown here. I have never used it since I picked it up last year at Olympia Beauty (shame on me). I will definitely use it in some fun make-up looks this year. The vanity case includes Strictly Come Dancing make-up. My Mum bought me this set for my birthday in 2011. I love the sparkle on it.

I am really bad at making use of all my make-up palettes as I had them in a Soap & Glory 'hat style' box. I like that they are out on display now. I have a small fridge in my bedroom that my boyfriend bought for me years ago one Xmas. I keep drinks in it. This is what my make-up palettes are on top of.

These are my make-up brush cases/rolls. They are very handy for me as I travel between my house, my boyfriend's house and work all the time. The one on the left was from Asda about a year ago and the one on the right is a Hello Kitty Liberty set that I received as a gift for Xmas. Please see that post here :)

This is my Asda roll. I have a mixture of make-up brushes here from E.L.F., a Strictly Come Dancing Set, JolieBox, Crown Brush, No7, Royal & Langnickel and the rest came with the make-up roll itself from Asda.

This is my Hello Kitty Liberty make-up brush set.

I have just thrown away my make-up bag as it was getting too dirty and I wanted a bigger bag as I use more make-up products daily now. My old make-up bag was really good as it was clear so when you wanted to grab for a product you could see where it was in the bag rather then scrambling through lots of products. It was just a bag that I received as part of a gift toiletry set for either a birthday or a Xmas? This Hello Kitty Liberty bag I received as part of a gift set this Xmas which is shown in the same link above as the Hello Kitty Liberty Make-up brushes. These are the make-up products that I have with me today. I do have some products which I use every day, but there are some that I change over a lot as I get bored so easily and I like to experiment with different looks.

This is the Primark make-up/toiletry bag that I picked up recently and posted about in my January 2012 Sales Haul here. To make my life easier to carry all of these bits around I have put everything shown above in this to keep it all together.

I was thinking of going to Imats London on Sunday 5th February and it's still playing on my mind, but with the amount of make-up that I have I am trying to be a good girl and not buy any more for now. Also the ticket is £45.00. By the time I pay for my train ticket and food/drink on the day it works out pretty expensive. Obviously it's great for discounts though. I went to Imats London in 2011 and I loved it. I would recommend going if you are a make-up lover. 

I hope this post has given you some ideas for storing your make-up and making use of things you may already have. If you would like a more in depth look at products and brushes that I have please let me know. Also if you would like to know my most used/favourite specific items let me know that as well. By this I mean foundation, bronzer, mascara, highlighter etc. If you have any storage ideas that you think are useful then let me know in the comments below.

Are any of you lovelies going to Imats this year? I am really trying to hold back and not buy a ticket :)

Love to you all

NOTD: Half & Half

Hi you gorgeous loves. The weather is looking a little better today so that's cool. I hope you are all okay. I can't wait for payday next Tuesday. Bring it on! I was pleasantly surprised the other day when I received a package in the post from StarGazer out of the blue. I have some great things to try and although I have not been asked to review any of them I will for you beauties. Today I am going to review the nail polish that was sent to me by doing a NOTD post.

After applying one coat of my usual Rimmel base coat I applied two coats of Sleek MakeUP's Quick Drying Nailed Polish in the shade Champagne (30). I bought this ages ago and never used it because it got buried amongst my many nail polishes. This is gorgeous as a shade all by itself, but it's a great base shade too that I think would work well with almost any colour. It is a creamy, golden champagne shade that gives a nice coverage with two coats. One coat would be nice too if you prefer a more sheer look. It did dry fast as it claims. Here is a link to this nail polish that retails at £3.89 for 10.5g.

I then applied two coats of StarGazer Ultra Cover Nail Polish in the shade 303. I only applied this half way down the nails. I did not want this to be too neat as I wanted it to have a quite carefree look to it. I applied this just a little more thinly than I would normally apply my nail polish. This is a beautiful colour. It can sometimes look more blue or more purple in different lighting. It has a really fine shimmer to it as well. I would like to try other shades from this range. This retails at £2.50 for 14ml which is a fab price. Please see the link to this product here :)

Thank you so much to StarGazer for sending me this nail polish and the other goodies for free. I will get to reviewing those as well :)

This is a very simple NOTD, but sometimes simple can look good too. For those of you wanting to experiment with nail art remember there are no rules. Simple spots, stripes, crosses, squiggles or anything you desire can make your nails a little more fun and interesting. 

Have you come up with any nail designs recently? Are there any other StarGazer or Sleek MakeUP nail polishes that you recommend?

Love to you all

January 2012 Sales Haul

Hello again lovelies. I have done quite a bit of shopping throughout January so I thought it would be cool to show you the bargains I picked up in the sales.

Miso @ Republic

These are easy, pull on tube dresses in a deep wine red and black. They gather only slightly in the centre to give a nice shape around the bust. These were originally priced at £8.00 each, but I got them at the sale offer price of two for £12.00. They are 100% viscose and also come in bright green and white.

H&M

These two long sleeve, button through front crop tops were a bargain. They tie sweetly at the bottom. The colours I have are black and a terracotta shade. They did have two stripey versions as well, but I wasn't sure if I liked those. These are 100% viscose. They were originally £12.99 each, but I got them for £3.00 each. Yay :) These do come up slightly cropped which makes me a bit nervous, but I think I can almost get away with it. If you like these, but that puts you off then I'm sure they would still look great over a slim fitting vest.

Zara

This simple white vest was originally £9.99, but I managed to buy it for £5.99. I love that it will go with so many things. I will probably throw it on with skinny jeans, a long cardigan and ankle boots. I like the zip detail. This is 100% cotton.

Punky Fish

This was my first time shopping in Punky Fish and I found some real treats. These black leggings with diamante detailing are such good quality. They are made from cotton and elastane. These were £25.99 reduced to £10.00.

These cap sleeve, scoop neck t-shirts with a diamante edged Punky Fish logo are all the same design. I had to get on in every colour because they fit so well. That's my excuse anyway ;) The colours I have are black, Fuchia, Charcoal Grey & Wine. These feel lovely quality just like the leggings. They are 100% cotton. These were £25.00 each reduced to £12.50 each.

This white long sleeve 'Doggy Chihuahua' design top was just too cute to resist. It's made from polyester, cotton and elastane. This was originally £12.99, but it was reduced to £6.49.

These two grey cropped sweaters are great for a casual day. I like the sleeves rolled down or up. These are made from cotton, polyester and elastane. These were reduced from £20.00 down to £10.00 each.

Primark

This make-up bag was reduced from £3.00 to £1.00. It has the 'Queen' design on one side and the 'Princess' design on the other. It has a zip fastening and is hot pink on the inside. There was a smaller version of this design, but that was also reduced to £1.00?

Miss Madame @ Bank 

This set of three stud heart/wing diamante earrings were £8.00 reduced to £2.00.

I really like the variety of crosses amongst the chains in this bracelet. This was reduced from £6.00 down to £2.00.

River Island

You would not believe how chuffed I am to get these boots. I have been looking for a pair exactly like this for ages and I found them in Aldo while Xmas shopping. They were £160.00 at the time (gulp). I was in love with them though and gutted to leave them behind. Then in River Island I found this pair which are almost identical. These were reduced from £120.00 down to £50.00. I went round to Aldo to see if they had been reduced and they were from £160.00 to £104.99. Here is a link to the Aldo pair so you can compare, Link :) They are a different colour, but they do come in black. Mine fit better around the top as the Aldo ones were a little big. The River Island logo is on the zip of mine, but that's fine with me. My only gripe is with the bloody assistant that has put the sale tag through the material of the boot instead of the material of the zip. For a saving of £54.99 I will almost forgive this.

Marks & Spencer

I bought two of these Tess Daly Beauty Daly Spa Sexy Neck Tightening Spritz's because they were reduced from £12.00 to £3.00 each. I am not an old granny yet, but I like to try and stop things creasing and sagging wherever I can or at least slow it down. This product is meant to be sprayed onto the neck and swept upwards with your hands to underneath the chin. If it does work everything will be getting sprayed, ha ha ;)

This Hello Kitty London Rainbow Shimmer Set was originally £6.00, but I got this for £3.00. These roller ball shimmer sticks are meant to be used on the cheeks and eyelids. I would use all on the eyes, but probably only the two on the left for cheek highlights unless I was doing a dramatic make-up look. For the price I think they are a real bargain and will last ages.

If you reached the end of this post then well done to you. I am really pleased with everything that I picked up in the January sales. What bargains did you get?

Love to you all