An Ombre Blackstar Dupe

A dupe for one of the most sought after beauty products

I've become lazy with my makeup recently. I love sitting down to do my makeup every morning and experimenting with different ways to hide my horrible eye bags but sometimes, 30-45 minutes per day is a bit excessive. Therefore I set myself a mission to find a highstreet dupe to the By Terry Ombre Blackstar, a product that has been on my wishlist for such a long time due to the ease of applying it. Then I found these beauties - the No7 Shade & Define sticks that come it at a mere £8 each, meaning they're a complete steal.

One of the shades I have is called Cool Mink, a gorgeous shade for applying all over the lid. On an everyday basis I use Cool Mink as a base, then smudge Coffee Bean into the crease of my eye & on my lash line to give my eye some definition. The amazing things about these shadow sticks are the versatility - you can create a soft, blown-out look; a heavy dramatic smokey eye; use them to smudge liner; the possibilities are endless! They're also amazingly creamy and easy to blend, meaning you can get a lovely makeup look which would look like it took hours to create when it only took a matter of seconds!

What's your favourite eyeshadow?

Places to Find Free Stock Photos for Your Blog

A handful of sites for all of your stock photo dreams

Whether you're a beauty blogger or a design journalist, you're going to need stock photos at some point. For me, they come most useful when it's too late to take a photo (or you're too lazy) and the post needs to go up asap. Stock photos are pictures that you can use on your blog without tip-toeing around any licensed work, but only a handful are free. Here's a list of where I find my favourites.

KABOOM PICS
This is where I get 95% of my stock photos from as I find the site so easy to navigate around. The different categories are great for browsing and again, all are amazingly high quality.

ISOREPUBLIC
This is not a site that I take photos from personally as they're not my kinda thing, but I'm sure many of you will find some amazing photos on here! All photos are high quality.

DEATH TO THE STOCK PHOTO
DTTSF is different than the majority of other free stock photo libraries as it is not an online gallery, as such. You basically sign up to their subscription service and get sent free, non-spammy photos every month.

UNSPLASH
Here's another amazing website that is on my list of go-tos for finding a stock photo. Although the images on Unsplash tend to be more nature-related, you're bound to get use from them.

SNAPWIRE SNAPS
This is the newest addition to my list - an amazing place for gorgeous photos.

Where's your favourite place for finding stock photos?

MAC Shadow Starters

I've been collecting makeup for a long time and four years of collecting comes with a lot of money spent. Some of my favourite eye shadows that I've been using come from MAC - one of the first high-end brands that I rushed to buy with my pocket money. Since then I've made my own custom palette and have tried my hand at all finishes. Being a beginner in makeup or even being new to MAC can be overwhelming so I've picked out four of my basic favourites that are great to start off a palette with!

NYLON is the intense highlight that's shown in the bottom right of the photo. This is a staple for every beginner quad because it's so versatile. I use this to highlight my brow bone, inner corner and even cheek bones & due to the texture of it, it lasts a long time without fading. The highlight has a yellowish shade to it which makes it lovely for brow bone highlighting.

NAKED LUNCH is only a shade that I've been getting into recently and it's a great dupe for Sin from the original Naked palette. I originally found this hard to pick up any pigmentation but I've solved this by wetting the brush I apply it with slightly beforehand. It's a gorgeous pale pink shimmery shade that makes the eyes look bright when applied onto the lid.

OMEGA is one for the blonde haired girls - this will make your eyebrows look amazing! If you're not blonde you could also have a use for this that might surprise you... Contouring. I use this eye shadow on a small fluffy brush to contour my cheeks as the grey cool tones in it make sculpting cheeks much easier than orange tones!

ESPRESSO is the shade I used on my eyebrows when I first got into makeup and it looks gorgeous when used on brunettes. This is also amazing for deepening the crease for a more dramatic look and also great for packing along the lash line for a smudgy liner look. A definite staple in any MAC palette!

What's your favourite MAC shadow?

8 Simple Beauty Hacks

I'm all for saving time when it comes to beauty regimes because let's face it, we can't always do our Sunday pamper routines every night, no matter how much we'd like to. I've decided to compile a list of my favourite beauty hacks for lazy people like myself including products meant for different things or completely unexpected suprises. Enjoy!

01.  WANTING SOFTER LEGS?
An amazing tip I've found is to shave your legs with conditioner. Yep - real life hair-on-your-head conditioner works amazing when used to shave your legs and leaves them feeling super smooth.

02.  BABY HAIRS GONE!
Use a toothbrush sprayed with a tiny amount of hairspray to comb down any baby hairs.

03.  THE CUPID'S BOW CROSS
When applying lip liner, instead of going around the lips perfectly, draw a cross (extend the line into the lip) for a symmetrical and easier look.

04.  #EYELIDS
By far the most intriguing hack for me. By applying a darker eye shadow in a hashtag shape on the outside of your lid, blending is so much easier. A life-saver for the extra 5 minute lie-ins on a Monday morning!

05.  THE TRIANGLE WING
Winged liner can be one of the hardest makeup related thing to do. I've found the easiest way to do this is to follow your lower lash line and then pull the line back to your top lashes and fill in the triangle. Simple!

06.  SETTING LIPSTICK
If you're rather impatient or just in a rush, setting your lips can be so beneficial (and also reduces the risk of the bright pink smear all over your face!). Simply put a bit of tissue over the lips and apply some loose translucent over the top.

07.  DIY TINTED MOISTURISER
Adding a few drops of foundation to your morning moisturiser gives you a fresh, easy and DIY-ed tinted moisturiser. The coverage you'd like depends on how much foundation you add.

08.  RUNNING OUT OF MASCARA?
If you're running out of mascara, the best thing to get a few more uses is to add a few small drops of eye drops to the tube.

What's your best beauty hack?