Hello Lovelies!

To follow up my London Baby! post I thought I would do a post on my time in New York (yes this is why I haven't posted in over a week :L *slaps self on the wrist). I was there for a competition in America called Empire Mock trial (here is their blog). We may not have won but as the only UK representatives I thought we held our own in an american court and most importantly enjoyed every minute!

However, I'm sure most of you won't enjoy reading me warble on about law and get on to the good stuff, NYC! if you follow my instagram you will have already seen me post a few photo's from my trip but I thought I would post a few photo's and what it was like to actually go there.

First is the empire state. People often ask, is it worth it? at $29 I would most definitely say it was worth it. I've heard there can be large queue's but when you go off peak you can go straight up and the view is 'BREATHTAKING' I really cannot describe it in any other way. I must say though it was very windy and hard to get a good photo. However, I did manage to get this one of me stood by the railings looking rather tired and windswept.

Blazer (New look) Top (Primark plain T

We then proceeded to ride in a limo on the way back (as you do).

Next up on our sight seeing was the cruise going past the Statue of Liberty and riding an actual school bus through New York. It was such a nice moment to see us ride past and rush up to the top deck to try to hurriedly change our camera's to night mode and get the best shot as well as coping with the temperamental wind >:(. Here are photo's of me and my friend Safae and my friend Evonne (Vonnie) doing our exited faces.

After two grueling days of competition to which we could not take photo's :(. We had a day of sightseeing! Our first stop was across Brooklyn Bridge towards Ground Zero. I must say I did not appreciate how emotional I would be upon visiting ground zero, the site of 9/11. They have created a memorial I didn't know existed that is lovely and is a essentially a waterfall with what looks like a bottomless pit where the names of the victims are written in bronze round the edges. It's a lovely memorial but when I got to one name that was followed by..and her unborn child I just balled and probably looked mental but I found it so sad.

Next we went on the subway to central park where we had a slight kerfuffle, which resulted in half our group being stuck behind the turnstile and unable to actually get onto the subway, so we laughed at them...and eventually helped them out.

 Now onto Central park! An absolutely beautiful garden in the centre of  New York that we were incredibly happy to explore on such a lovely blue sky day. We also walked past Bloomingdale's and pottery barn! (any friends fans out there?)

Jeans (New Look) Check Top (New Look) Bag (River Island) Coat (oasis)

Finally before leaving was time to go round time square and of course into Sephora and Macy's where I bought Russian Red by MAC and Hoola Bronzer by Benefit. Times Square was soo busy and crowded that although I liked it, I don't know whether I could cope for too long, it did leave me slightly anxious, but one day I really want to spend NYE there! because I think it would just be amazing.

I hope you've enjoyed this slightly different post! I will resume to beauty soon but felt like someone may be interested in my experience of New York, whether you are thinking of going of if you have been. I loved my experience so much and if you have the opportunity to be a part of a university or school's Bar/Empire mock trial team I would strongly suggest it as I have met so many amazing lovely people though doing it (genuinely haha I'm not being told to say this). I'd love to know if anyone reading has been to New York and what their thoughts are? also what are you're top places to visit? as I'm on a gap year I may as well make the most of it! Thank you for reading :)

Love Becky xxx

Autumn Favourites!

 Hello Lovelies!

Today's post has been inspired by the sudden change in weather and while most chose to complain about it, I have decided to accept that the colder months are upon us and to embrace the autumnal outfits and makeup as well as other bits and bobs that make me happy to accept that summer and my my tan has now faded. Side note, prepare for to write autumn a lot in this post ...

So here are my autumn favourites.

Sanctuary illuminating moisturiser

Retro satin mac lipstick

Flushed blush by sleek.

Real Techniques Blush Brush (Nic's Picks)

Bubblegum Lip Scrub

Naked Palette

Warm Drinks

The first is an illuminating moisturiser from sanctuary, which is an own brand from boots. The reason this is in my Autumn favourites in particular is because in the autumn when everything is just that little bit more dull as the weather starts to get greyer, I like to have a moisturiser which is bright and doesn't make my skin look grey and dull, almost to combat the dreary weather. This moisturiser is lovely for that, it has a lovely lemony smell that reminds me of a spa and makes my skin glow like no other that I've tried before. However, it does have a slight greasy texture to it that I don't particularly like but this is still a product that gets thoroughly used through autumn and winter.

The second in my autumn favourites is a mac lipstick in Retro (satin finish). This was in my New Mac Lipsticks Post! so a new addition to my collection. However, I absolutely love this colour for the season. For some reason I really cannot wear purpley, blue toned lipsticks as they just don't suit me and look rediculous, so when going for berry toned autumn lipsticks I have to go for the reddy, brown purple's. This may sound silly but that's exactly what this lipstick is a purple/berry lipstick with red and brown tones. 

Next is a blush by sleek in the colour flushed that I mentioned in my 'Sleek Blushes' blog post. This is a really berry toned blush, which does indeed make you look flushed (if you use too much) but when used sparingly can add a really nice pop of colour to your cheeks. If you've tried sleek blushes before you will know the pigmentation is great of these blushes and they have decent staying power, they arn't the easiest to blend but if you have a decent brush it's never a problem. This is why I have included a brush in my favorites. The real techniques blush brush is just the perfect size for application and feels so soft like all the real techniques brushes.

Next up is a Lush Lip Scrub in bubblegum. To be honest any of their lip scrubs could have been in my favourites, They all smell so good! You may be wondering why this is in my autumn favorites in particular, well it's because this is the time on year where my lips start to get really dry and chapped because of the cold, but also due to the berry toned lipsticks I'm wearing. So I need something that can really get rid of all the dead skin on my dry lips (sounds gross I know). These do the job so well whist tasting soo yummy..If you have not tried these yet I highly recommend.

Finally on the makeup front is the famous 'Naked Palette' from urban decay. We all know how much this palette and it's respective others is raved about but this is especially my favourite for autumn. The blue and brown toned colors are absolutely perfect.It includes one matte brown shade I belive that is called 'Buck' and this is just a loevly autumn shade to blend all over the lid for an everyday look. I don't think I need to rave about how good the quality of these are but if this palette is a little out of your price range, the undressed palette from MUA or Iconic 1 from Revolution are perfect cheap alternatives at £4 each I believe.

My final Favourite is not a product but just a general love of mine in Autumn. Whether it's a pumpkin spiced latte or honeycomb hot chocolate, I adore I nice warm drink on a cold autumn day to make me feel all cosy and warm even if it''s ust your bog standard PG Tips.

I hope you'v enjoyed reading about my autumn favourites, i'm definitely still mourning the loss of summer but am more than stocked up on my woolly socks, boots and coats  ready for the colder months. I'd love to know what your favorites of the month are? and whether you've tried anything I've included in my favourite's. Thank you for reading!

Love Becky xxx

Kylie Jenner Inspired Lips and My Favourite Lip Combo

Hello Lovelies!

So I'm sure that by now most people are sick to death of the Kardashian's and Kylie/Kendall inspired looks. However, I'd just like to give my penny's worth purely because Kylie's recent lip makeup is actually pretty similar to how I do my lips anyway and I haven't really seen people mention these products. As mentioned in the title of this is actually my favourite lip combination ever! it's only a simple liner and lipstick but it looks very glamorous and pretty I think..much like Kylie herself. However, this really is a look that can be worn by anyone in the day time or the evening, which would look so lovely on a range of skin tones.

The Lip Makeup I've tried to re-create.

Onto the products! The first is a lipstick my MAC (what else would it be) that is my absolute favourite, as in if I could have one lipstick and no others it would be this one. It's called velvet teddy, a lovely dark, browny nude with a slight pinkish tone. It's a matte lipstick which personally I prefer the look of anyway and is very in tune with what Kylie wears. Being a matte shade, it also means it will last a long time on the lips.

The Next Product is a Lip Liner from max factor in the colour...It is a kind of berry toned pink that is my lip colour but slightly darker. This makes your lips look bigger and can help the lasting power of your lipstick. So not only does it give you that Kylie pout, but a pout that lasts longer than just the time taken to take one of her famous instagram selfies. This lip liner has a really nice creamy consistency and lasts a pretty long time on the lips, it goes so well with velvet teddy (and creme de nude also) so is an overall great liner regardless of whether you're trying to re-create her look or not.

How I create the look is I do a thin layer on the lip liner on my bottom lip, then press my lips together, I then put the lipstick over and then line my top lip and do a really thin line on my bottom lip as my bottom lip is quite a bit bigger than my top so it would look too pouty and like I'd had extreme lip injections.. (not a good look).

Le duck pout

Le Fish Pout

Here's a few Selfie outtakes of mine where I got bored and was taking the mick out of myself pouting..

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my take on the famous Kylie Jenner Dark nude lips and hope this has given you some idea of how to re-create it. I'd love to know what other products people have used to re-create the look and if you have tried any of the two lip products yourself? Thanks for reading!

Love Becky xxx

25 Piece Barry M Collection With Swatches

  Hello Lovelies! 

Warning this blog post will be picture heavy. I don't think I've made it much of a secret on this blog that I loove Barry M nail varnish. They are so cheap (£1.99-£4.99), have a great colour and finish range, and last long on the nails (especially with a top coat). So I decided it was about bloody time I did a blog post on my collection, annoyingly I lost my nail wheel and favourite color pomegranate :( so have had to do the post without it and by swatching on paper but I hope you can excuse that..I tried haha.

So onto the nail varnishes, I've decided to sort them in finishes and collections instead of colours.

Aquamarine Collection:

This collection reminds me of a mermaids tail as it's so beautiful and shimmery. The green one has the tendency to look a bit mouldy on the nails and especially if you use it on your toe nails but the pink one looks so pretty on the nails as it's kind of a blend of shimmer, pink and yellow, which is really unique and would look lovely with the right outfit.I do like the blue one as well but it's not one I reach for as much but I do really like this colour on my toe nails, which sounds a bit weird but there are certain colours I just think are better for toes :).

The Glitters and Shimmers:

This isn't really a collection but more of just 3 of their glitter nail polishes. My absolute favourite is aqua glitter because it looks which you can view from my recent instagram post is a very pretty turquoisey blue glitter polish that reminds me of Elsa the disney queen in Frozen. I also love the other two and tend to put them either on their own or over plain colour's like white or black. These are so useful for making your nails look impressive and artsy when really all you've done it do a top coat of glitter. However, a cautionary tale is that the glitter sticks to your nails like no other an can be a right pain to get off so I suggest either getting a good nail varnish remover like the the pinks pots from Bourjois or just having patience.

The Shimmery Metallics:

I got these last xmas and had such a fun time holding the magnets over these and making these amazing patterns but they are soo much effort to do properly! holding the magnet over each individual nail as well as having to do a bottom coat is just that bit too much effort to me that I will only occasionally do when sat in front of the TV. Having said that the effect is so pretty and my crappy swatches really don't show them off at all.

The Pastels and Brights:

I did a little post on the ice-cream collection a while ago but basically these polishes are perfect for summer! Also I think a white nail varnish is really essential to any nail varnish collection, I know I know it can look a little like you've just tipexed your nails but it makes a lovely base for effect nail varnishes and glitters. I think in fact these all make really good bases for the glitter polishes and are so versatile in terms of creating patterns, such as doing a base of peach melba (The orangey one) and putting white stripes across it or pink dots. I always love to experiment with these whenever I'm feeling a bit creative. The only thing is that they tend to chip more than other Barry M nail Varnishes such as the effects polishes, so they need a top coat.

The Confetti Nails:

I'm not most keen on these if I'm being honest, I saw a blogpost when they were released sometime last year on ETCLLYMLRS and they did look lovely but I just don't find myself reaching for them. As the name would suggest, they are supposed to look like confetti and in that sense Barry M have done a really good job because I think they do remind me of confetti. Having said that I still don like them that much...  maybe it's the colour's I selected because I'm not really a fan of wearing green on my nails or maybe it's just the overall finish. I do still think that they are a really clever idea and can look lovely but I suppose they're just not my cup of tea really.

The Miscellaneous:

I didn't really know which category to put these in but their basically just a top coat (yes I felt the need to swatch a translucent nail varnish) it's an okay top coat, not the best but by no means bad. It prolongs your nail paint and makes them look finished and polished but I wouldn't use this if you're wanting matte nails because Barry M do a matte top coat instead. The next colour is kind of metallic blue that looks like is could belong with the aquamarine collection, a lovely colour but I find it is quite hard to wear because I don't have many outfits that would go with this sadly.

Finally The Effects Nails:

Barry M are well known for their famous effects nails. From textured to gelly there's so many effects it's difficult to think what effect they could do next. I won't harp on about them all but they all do what is said on the tin really the gelly paints look like jelly and are very glossy (such a nice finish!!) the Matte's are a very true matte that I love to wear, especially the black one, which although might be considered Gothic can actually look very edgy, sleek and simple. I do remember when the cracked nails were all the range and in a way i'm sad their not anymore because I used to love using the purple and black ones I have..maybe I'll start experimenting with the over different colour's again.

Swatches in full

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my collection. I'm not sure whether to be proud or ashamed but to be honest I just love collecting them and don't think I'll stop! Have you tried any of these nail varnishes? what's you're favourite nail varnish brand? and are there any fellow collectors out there to make me feel slightly less guilty for this excess? Thank you for reading!

Love Becky xxx