Christmas Party Makeup

The weeks over Christmas and New Year have always been my favourite for many reasons, but the most exciting one is due to all of the new makeup looks I can do! I've always found the holiday season to be the best for the exciting makeup looks and that's what I'm aiming to put out on my YouTube channel this month. The first look I made was a look perfect for a Christmas party, sporting a bold red Christmassy lip and neutral eyes.

The real stars of the show for this look were the lip products, for which I used the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Hot Pepper and the Revlon Colorburst Lacquer Balm in Provocateur. Both of these have been two of my favourite red lip products for such a long time that I needed to share them with you, via a tutorial! I'm loving uploading lately and have a few videos in the pipeline, ranging from a foundation routine to a dramatic smokey eye. I hope you enjoy!

If you'd like to see this video, click here. If you like my videos it'd mean a great deal to me if you could subscribe! If not, that's fine too :)

Top 5: Raspberry Nails

Raspberry nails are something that I tend to gravitate all-year round, not necessarily just in the Autumn/Winter time. Ever since I've been young  enough to paint my nails, they've been some sort of of berry shade (except for that time where I went through a phase of wearing only black nails - it didn't last long). Over the years I've collected my fair share of berry/burgundy shades and I thought it'd be a great start to this little 'Top 5' series that is kicking off today.

First up (and my favourite of the bunch) is Rimmel's Black Cherries. I bought this last Summer and has been one of my go-to nail shades ever since. This is more on the purple side as opposed to red, but I love how it looks slightly different every time I wear it. The formula is great, it doesn't chip and it has a wide brush, all I could ever ask for in a nail polish! I also have the Rimmel Metal Rush in Purple Reign which is similar to Black Cherries but with a holographic finish to it.

The Models Own nail polish in Garnet is on the redder side of raspberry shades but again, it's an amazing polish. Models Own were one of the first nail polish brands I ever bought and I always find myself coming back to them because the formulas are amazing for the price. I also find myself picking up Essie's Shearling Darling more and more now after mentioning that I wasn't too keen when I first picked it up. This shade is very similar to Barry M's Raspberry, a classic in my collection. If I remember correctly, this was my very first nail polish that I bought back when I was about 11 years old. Fast-forward 5 years and two bottles later, I'm still loving it!

What's your favourite nail polish?

Christmas Bedroom Decor

When it comes to bedroom decor or anything to do with Christmas, I'm all over it like a rash. It's gradually become more and more of a little obsession of mine to go to IKEA and have a nosey round, looking for inspiration and ideas that I can do to spruce up my room. I'm a perfectionist and get bored very easily so the basic features of my bedroom are white, and soft furnishings are red to get a bit of the Christmas spirit. The one thing I love about having white pieces is how easy they are to change. If I was to replace the red items in my room with another colour, the room would feel brand new.



On a recent trip to IKEA with my mum, I was instantly drawn to the reds and greys. I'm not a huge lover of colour (hence why my bedroom is mainly white!) but I think by adding a few red items such as candles, pillows and blankets, it makes the room have much more personality. One of the favourite things I picked up was this grey, red & white blanket that is one of the coziest blankets I have. Beneath that I lay my cream blanket, also from IKEA to pull out the creams in the pillows.

I also put a string of fairy lights around my DIY-ed headboard with warm lighting, again, to make it cosier for when I do my midnight blog-reading sprees. Because the lights were too long and I didn't like the look of them being double-wrapped, I put the extra lights in a glass bowl beside my bed. On my bedside table I also have my Liberty floral notebook & a vase of white flowers that I accessorized with a little red ribbon. I also put this ribbon on the twisty-thing of my blinds, my wardrobe handles and the little candle dish where I display some of my jewelry.

I decided that it was finally time to put the tree up - even though we're still 10 days off the 1st of December, I couldn't wait! Do you usually Christmas-ify your bedroom?

High-End Favourites

Today's post is yet another updating you on what's been happening over on my YouTube channel. This Wednesday's video is all about my favourites High-End Makeup Items so if you'd like to see that, featuring some items from NARS, Urban Decay, MAC and Chanel, just click here and you'll be taken over to my channel. If you have any video suggestions for me, please leave them in the comments below! I got a pretty little notebook a few days ago soley for YouTube-y things so I'd love to read some of your ideas. :)

I hope you enjoy the video!

The Only Palette You'll Ever Need

It's only recently dawned on me that out of the hundreds of eyeshadows I own, I could realistically get away with just one palette to use for the rest of my life. Urban Decay's Naked palette is all you will ever need (and more) in an everyday eye shadow palette and the only one I've been turning to in recent weeks. It contains a total of 12 eye shadows; 9 shimmery and three matte but if you're not keen on shimmery shadows, fear not! The three matte shades are all you'll need when it comes to the most basic look to the most intricate smokey eye - a white highlight shade, a muted beige and my favourite shade from the palette, Buck, a very warm mid-brown that looks amazing when blending out bolder colours.

The shadows from Urban Decay aren't comparable to any others I know and they beat MAC's infamous shadows by a long stretch! Unlike MAC, they're extremely pigmented and super easy to blend. The only downside? The amount of fall-out that you get with these, yet that's expected with bold & pigmented shadows. The fall out, however, is easy to clean up by simply applying concealer afterwards or applying eye makeup first, cleaning with remover and applying foundation.

Of course, we all know that the Naked line has been so successful that there's been another two palettes added but this is my favourite by far. Naked 2 would be for you if matte shades are important and Naked 3 contains rosier, pinker shades. I'm sure you've seen a million and one reviews on this over the past few years and if you've been debating on whether to buy it or not, this is your nudge - go for it! It's one of the best palettes out there!

DIY Falsies

I think it's typical of pretty much every girl to wish for long, strong and healthy nails that can be painted nicely, don't snap and don't have the problem when you bite them too short. Unfortunately not many girls can get that with natural nails. It's also a problem when the salons charge £25 for falsies and once you chose the colour, you're stuck with it. That's where DIY falsies come in.

Whilst I was in Boots I came across the Nailene stick on nails. When I was around 10 years old, me and my best friend would always come home from shopping trips with endless supplies of Claire's stick-on nails but the only problem was they never lasted long, so my gorgeously already-painted, long falsies were in the bin after I'd been in the bath. Nailene are an amazing false nail brand and it's the brand that my salon use to apply acrylics. Guess what? For 200 nails (over 20 different nail applications!), you pay just £8.50. Essentially, you get 200 nail applications for what should cost you around £400 in the salon. Crazy right? It gets even better - the nails are applied with the same glue as acrylics meaning they're not peeling off anywhere and you can paint them as many times as you like (even removing and re-applying colour onto the same set) without them chipping.

You can get two shapes - mine, Ovals or Squares. You aren't commited to length or shape as they're just there to give you a guide, meaning you can cut and file them to suit you. Plus, there are some amazing deals on VoucherCloud to help you have a bit of money. Have you ever tried DIY falsies?

Drugstore Favourites

Look at me - I'm on a roll with my videos lately! This week's video installment is telling you all about My Favourite Drugstore Makeup Items. I've been collecting makeup for years yet it only occured to me that I hadn't rounded up my favourite makeup items from Boots, ever! A few of the items featured are; Revlon Photoready Foundation and the amazing Bourjous Rouge Edition Velvets in Ole Flamingo!, Hot Pepper and Peach Club. Also, if you have any video suggestions for me please leave them in the comments below! I'll be uploading every Wednesday and Sunday from now on and although I have almost a month's worth pre-recorded, I'd love your suggestions!

I'll also be doing a high-end version of this next Wednesday so if you'd like to see that, I'd love if you could subscribe to my channel!

Favourites for Lips

Lips are, without a doubt, one of my favourite things to play around with colour-wise in the whole of makeup. I find it so much more interesting than everything else, from eyes and face to nails and skincare. I love how it completely transforms a look & I also love how coloured lipsticks really compliment my glasses - one of the very few bonuses about being a specs wearer! Recently I've been really enjoying lighter pink lips, something that is really different for me. I don't think that pinks suit me in general but there's a few that I can get away with, so I've been taking full advantage of my new finds!

The first one I've been loving is the Bourjois Rouge Coco Shine in Peach Club. Since buying Hot Pepper and Ole Flamingo! back a few months ago, I've been desperate to get my hands on another shade from the range. If you're looking for a matte, bold liquid lipstick, this is where you should be looking! The formula is impeccable - easy to apply, not drying whatsoever and let's not even discuss the staying power. Let's just say that I once fell asleep and after waking up of a full night's sleep whilst tossing & turning and rubbing the heck out of my face, it was still there. Amazing.

I also have been loving a combination lately - the Revlon matte balm in Elusive and the Revlon Papaya lip gloss. I'm not a fan of these individually but together they make a great team. I love this that much that I put it in last month's favourites! I love the shade underneath but am not a fan of the finish and it's the opposite with the lip gloss. I love wearing this duo! Lastly I have the Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Boy. I won't ramble too much about this because you're probably sick to death of me rambling on about it but it's stunning. To see the full review of this, just click here.

What lip products have you been loving lately?

Autumnal Makeup

It's not until I look back on my YouTube channel that I realized I hadn't uploaded a video since February. Where has the time gone? In that space of time I sat my exams, got my results, hit my blog's 2nd birthday and now it's almost Christmas! I made the decision to delete all of my old videos and start afresh. So, this is the first look on my new channel! I recreated one of my favourite looks of all time - a golden, simple eye (using the Naked palette) and a bold, berry lip. To watch this tutorial, click here. :)

I hope you enjoy my new videos and if you'd like, you can click through here to subscribe to my channel.

Franglais | 01

I'm sure I've mentioned that when I was in school, I dreaded French - that and P.E, but what girl really likes running, getting sweaty & pulling their hair from their lip gloss every 3 minutes anyway? I've always wanted to learn another language from a very young age but hated learning it in a school environment. Much like blogging I find that if I force myself to do it, I won't enjoy it. That's what happened in school. To pass my exam and get the qualification, it meant I needed to do at least two writing and two speaking assessments with my French teacher. Being painfully shy and embarrassed to try and make sure that I was speaking 'confidently', it was one of the worst experiences of my life.

When I left school and became home schooled it became one of my favourite subjects. Even though I needed to do work on time in order for me to pass my exam, I could still take it at my pace and wasn't rushed into keeping up-to-date with homeworks and the ability of the rest of the class. Duolingo became my best friend right up until my exam and I was completely obsessed with the thing, prioritizing French over any other subject because I thought it was so fun. I passed my exam with a B and haven't done anything French-related since. It's only recently that I've been starting to pick it back up again and this time around I'm hoping to learn how to speak more than, "Hi, I'm Elise, I'm sixteen and have a pet cat". Also, I know how to order tea and croissants, ask where the toilet it & describe my brother's hair colour. Oh the things you learn at school!

I'm hoping to introduce a new feature over here on the blog, documenting how I get on with what I like to call 'Franglais'. This is where I'm handing over to you - do you speak another language? How easy did you find it to learn?

Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner

I have a real addiction to liners, and since writing my post about The Low-Down of Liners I've somehow accumulated a whole tray of them in my makeup storage. The latest to my collection is the Maybelline Eye Studio Gel liner, something I picked up after my mum was looking for a brown gel liner that's a cheaper alternative to the Bobbi Brown one. The first thing that surprised me with this liner is the consistency; much more creamier and wetter than the gel liner from the likes of Bobbi Brown.

I actually prefer the wetter consistency as opposed to the thick gels which seem to dry up easily. This liner makes a great base for an intense smokey eye to get the blackest of the black eye makeup look. It's also much easier to create a nice, defined line & also clean up where you've made a mistake with a little cotton bud. This liner also comes with a brush which I haven't tried because I love the Real Techniques Silicone Liner brush with any gel liner. The brush doesn't necessarily look the best, I think the shape of it would be too big to create a nice thin line.

I've also heard that this is an amazing dupe for MAC's Fluidline Gel liner yet just a fraction of the price. It's smudge-proof & waterproof and once it's swatched on the back of your hand, it's going nowhere. The one gripe I have with this product is the colour. I'm either a soft brown or bold black liner kind of girl and this falls somewhere in between. When you first apply it, it looks amazing - a bold, intense black line but then fades to an off-black which I tend to re-line once it's dry to darken it.

November

Do you ever write a word that many times that it starts to lose it's meaning? That's what's happening with November at the minute. After spelling out the word with some gold sticky letters, I started to question whether I'd actually even spelt it right mid-photograph. It's one of my favourite seasons for a few reasons - Bonfire night (although I'm quite terrified of how Meenie will react to fireworks all night long!), my 2-year blog anniversary month and only one month to Christmas! I always feel like when Halloween is over, it's acceptable to talk about Christmas & do lots of present shopping. Socially, it probably isn't OK but I like to think it is! I went to a Halloween party last night with my dad & brother and dressed as a half-burnt person. It doesn't sound very exciting but it took so much effort - almost 2 hours sat at my desk, applying latex and fake blood to half of my face! If you wanted to see the result, it's on my Instagram. When I came home my mum told me that we'd had a grand total of 0 trick-or-treaters, so I jumped in bed and eat the sweets for myself.

Happy late-Halloween and happy November!