Monday Make-up beauty | benefit | blush | elf | eyes | face | fotd | maybelline | monday make-up | Naked 3 | NYX | urban decay | whenflowersfall

Happy first Monday of 2014!

I ended up taking a little break over the holidays, and even though it wasn't planned, I'm sure glad I did. I became rather ill over Christmas and all of my plans just flew right out of the window.  I really hope you all had an amazing couple of weeks.

Liam's back at work today, so I guess that means that I am too. I hoping to get straight back on my normal posting schedule, so you can expect to see a some more of me from now on. 

Today's face is my first play with the Naked 3 palette. Believe it or not, this is the first one I've actually owned. I had really high hopes for it and oh my, it did not let me down. 

I do own the MUA dupes for one and two, but after using this this morning, I'm really thinking I need to bite the bullet and purchase the real deals.

Used today...

Bourjois 123 Perfect Foundation - Light Vanilla

 NYX As If concealer - Fair

ELF Translucent Powder

NYX Blush - Stone

NYX Mosaic Powder - Plummy

ELF Baked Blush - Pinktastic

Benefit Browzings - Medium

Urban Decay Naked 3 - Strange, Dust, Limit, Nooner & Blackheart

Bourjois Liner Pinceau

Maybelline The Rocket Volum'

ELF Matte Lip Colour - Tea Rose

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Monday Make-up bblogger | benefit | blogger | copacabana | dainty doll | day | Dr Jart | face | fall | flowers | fotd | makeup | monday | monday make-up | NYX | of | the | wff | when | whenflowersfall

Hey beauties!

Yes, I finally have my mojo back. Since the move I've really struggled to find a new routine, but I am determined to make this work. 

I'm focussing this week on blog posts and videos, so if you have any requests or suggestions for either, please feel free to leave a comment below. 

Make-up wise, I've really started to enjoying playing around with different styles and colours again. Even though I'm not doing much today, and probably not even leaving the house, I really wanted a use a pop of colour and this bright blue is just perfect! No doubt it will be dripping off of my face within the next couple of hours, it seems we are actually having some sort of Summer?! But if I'm honest, I'd trade a face of make-up for some hot, sunny days anyday.

Today I'm wearing...

Dr. Jart BB Beauty Balm

Benefit Fake-up - Light

Benefit Browzings - Medium

Benefit Speed Brow

NYX Jumbo Eyeshow Pencil - Gold

BM Beauty Eyeshadow - Dusty Road

Dainty Doll Eyeshadow - Copacabana

No7 Extravagent Volume Macara

NYX Bronzer - Cafe

NYX Blush - Natural

NYX Round Lipstick - Vitamin

I hope you're all having a goof Monday so far. Enjoy the sun whilst it lasts!!

✌

Monday Make-up And A Little Catch Up. anxiety | benefit | blogging | body shop | catch up | colour tattoos | depression | fakeup | fotd | monday make-up | moods | sleek | videos | whenflowersfall | where have i been | youtube

Well, howdy doo my little beauties. 

I'm so sorry for the lack of posts and videos etc. Especially when I kept saying that it would be back to normal. 

I've spent a lot of time since turning 23 feeling pretty pants if I'm honest. Without trying to sound dramatic, I had a bit of a mini breakdown a few days ago. I was very much struggling with keeping my mood high, and after visiting family in the past couple of weeks, I felt I knew what I was really missing. 

At the end of the day, I know a lot of my low moods and 'feeling bad' days are down to my depression/anxiety, so I know that things will always be getting better. 

I'm at a stage now that I feel like I'm finally feeling somewhat 'normal', in a sense that I can now leave the house on my own, go to the shop, go to meet-ups etc. All things I wouldn't even have thought about this time two years ago. But, the biggest issue for me is still work. After being out of work for these past two years, I'm now feeling really frustrated that this is my only problem that hasn't really been helped by the medication I have been taking. I would love to get back to work, but deep down, in the pits of my stomach I know that I would still have huge issues to get up and go, that's if I did manage to get through interviews etc first. 

I've been looking online recently and I feel sick doing it, but I'm hoping that one day a job will pop up and my head will finally shout loud enough to be heard over the beating of my heart. If I'm going to push myself to get through this, I want it to be for a job that I'm passionate about, something that I know I will enjoy doing. Which, if I'm completely honest, I haven't had for a very long time. All jobs I've applied for before have been because I felt like I had to. Money pressures and such like. Those pressures are still very much there, but now the understanding of my issues is there too, it seems a lot easier to focus on what's important. 

So, after that very long winded catch up on me, I now want to get myself back to feeling good. I've spent these past couple of weeks feeling really cruddy and I've just let it happen. This week I am bringing back Friday Fitness, a new diet (I've fit my highest weight :S ), and hopefully regular videos. 

Blogging and Youtube is something that I love with all my heart and if it bought in pennies, I would make it my job, but that's really a longterm goal. Not exactly something that can happen over night. So, I'm now going to throw myself back into it, stop rambling and get on with today's actual post!

Well done to you if you managed to get through that lot! 

Please excuse the grainy iPad photo, the Mr stole my camera this weekend and it needs charging. 

I chose to keep today's face light, only using Benefit's Fakeup in Light and Medium as my base. If you're having a good skin day, it's amazing. 

On my eyes, I'm wearing maybelline colour tattoo in 'Light in purple' and 'Turquoise forever' on my top lid, and MUA single shadow in Shade 10 smudged on my lower lash line. I'm wearing Benefit Bad Gal Lash mascara and 'Guipure' from my Sleek blush by 3 palette on my cheeks. 

On my lips is just The Body Shop lipgloss in watermelon. 

As you can probably see, my eyebrows are in a somewhat appalling state at the minute and you will see a post on them coming up within the next week. 

I hope you've all been really well!

Sam

xoxo

Benefit Fake Up Leeds Event benefit | concealer | event | fake up | hotel | launch | leeds | lisa potter dixon | malmaison

Hey beauts!

Friday night I attended the Leeds event for Benefits launch of their new Fake Up concealer. 

The event was held in the beautiful Malmaison hotel. We arrived a little early, so sat in the lobby area until every thing was ready. 

We were welcomed into the room with a glass of Prosecco and huge smiles. There was also orange juice and water for the non drinkers, and trays of amazing canapes! 

The room was like a like Benefit heaven. Cushions with 'fake up' printed on them were dotted around the seating, and there was a dresser full of goodies to play with. 

We were introduced to Fake Up by the gorge Lisa Potter-Dixon, Benefits head make-up and trend artist (and brow expert). I could have listened to her talk for hours. 

Lisa demonstrated how to use Fake Up and even shared a way to use the darkest shade on lighter skin tones. We also had a little sneak peak at the new World Famous Neutrals palettes. It save to say they're now on my need list. 

So onto the reason for this amazing event...

Fake Up concealer is a new crease control, hydrating concealer. 

The concealer itself is surrounded by a ring of moisturising balm containing vitamin E and apple seed extract.

Available in three shades, there is something suitable for every skin tone. The formula is lightweight and feels super silky smooth. 

If you're a fan of a good contour, the deep shade is amazing for that. Just apply under the cheekbone and blend upwards. Using this under your foundation will create the most amazing Kim K make-up look. (I can vouch for this, I tried it for the FABB event the next day and it looked incredible!)

Like I said above, I've already given this product a good test run and I can confirm that I found no creasing at all, even after 8 hours wear. 

We were lucky enough to be given all three shades, as well as the Hello Flawless powder. 

A few lucky ducks even won some other products after answering some questions about Fake Up and Benefit in general. 

I'm never quick enough for that kind of thing! Haha. 

I had a great time, and I can't wait until the next time I can meet with the gorgeous Benebabes!

I vlogged the evening, so I'll leave the video below!

Monday Make-up again | benefit | face | fotd | look | makeup | maybelline | monday makeup | MUA | rimmel match perfection | sick | smooch cosmetics | undressed | whenflowersfall

Products Used

Rimmel Match perfection foundation - Ivory || Maybelline Dream lumi touch concealer - Ivory

MeMeMe Loose powder || Bourjois Chocolate Bronzer

Smooch Blush - Peachy* || Benefit Brow Zings

Benefit High Brow || Maybelline Colour tattoo - Pink Gold

MUA undressed palette || Smooch Eyeshadow Duo - Suede*

Smooch Black Lash Mascara* || Smooch Lip pencil - Nearly Naked*

Smooch Lipgloss - Persian Princess*

Hey beauties!

I feel a little bit like a fraud today, as this make-up is actually what I was wearing yesterday. 

I was filming my monthly favourites and empties videos, trying out a few new products I have recently been sent, felt a little sicky and figured I would take some snap shots in case I felt worse today. Which I do. 

I feel like I'm always ill at the moment, so I'm going to invest in some vitamins on pay day. 

I've not had my yearly dose of bad tonsillitis yet and I feel this may be the lovely beginnings of it. 

Oh joy!

But, I'm just going to let it runs its course and hopefully I will be feeling better in a few days. Rest and general silence usually works wonders. 

I will not be sick for the Leeds Fabb Event. It just will not happen!

I hope you are all well. 

This months Lily advertiser is Sarah of www.bowsandblushx.blogspot.co.uk

Maybelline The Rocket Volum' Express amazing | benefit | blogger | comparisson | fall | flowers | lashes | mascara | maybelline | rave | review | rocket volum express | they're real | when | whenflowersfall

A competitor for Benefit's They're Real? Maybe! 

If you read my recent post about the Benefit event that I attended on Saturday evening, you will already know that I left, craving to buy They're Real. I hadn't tried it until that night and I fell in love. 

The only thing that was putting me off, was the price tag.

February and March seem to be my most expensive months, with a ton of family and friends birthdays, so I was on the look out for something a little cheaper. 

I had seen adverts for this new mascara from Maybelline for a couple of weeks, and I even had to stop myself from buying a few days back. But, luckily I have a very nice mummy and she knew how much of a pants weekend I'd had, so she sent me my birthday money early so I could treat myself. 

I picked up the non waterproof version of this mascara in Black. I tend to cry a lot (yup, I'm an over emotional goose,) meaning waterproof or not, my eyes always run. 

I have been totally blown away by this product. The photos you see below are the result of only one coat of mascara, with no curling prior to application!
It is incredible! 

The plastic brush has what I can only describe as tiny 'brissles' in comparison to what I'm used to. I feel that it still picks up plenty of product and distributes it evenly, whilst curling your lashes and giving you tons of volume.

I found it stayed well on my lashes and was easy to remove when it came to the end of the day.

I may have only used this a couple of times so far, but I think I can already say that this is going to be a favourite for the month of February. 

You can currently purchase the new Rocket Volum' Mascara from Boots for only £5.99.

This months Lily advertiser is Sarah of www.bowsandblushx.blogspot.co.uk

Benefit Fine One One Leeds Launch bbloggers | benefit | bloggers | cakes | debenhams | event | eyebrows | fine one one | fine11 | fineoneone | launch | leeds | mapping | new | they're real

This Saturday saw the launch of Benefit's newest product, Fine One One. 

Fine One One is a sheer trio, created to revive dull cheeks and lips in seconds. 

The twist up stick has three shades, pink champagne, sheer watermelon and soft coral. They can be used in several different ways to create many different looks. For example,

- Sweep up the cheeks and blend for a natural glow. 

- Twist on the apple of your cheek and then zig zag up your cheek bone and blend for a more daring, structured look. 

- Glide over your lips to give them a pop of sheer colour, and don't forget to use the pink champagne on your cupids bow to create the perfect pout.

The thing to remember, is to not be scared of how bright this product looks. I promise you, it isn't as scary on the skin. 

The look I am wearing in the above photo was created using both Fine One One, using the twist and zigzag motion, and the Go TropiCoral kit. (Photo taken after getting stuck in the rain.)
I'd love to see how it works on my natural skin tone. 

I adore this new product, and it's now sitting happily at the top of my wishlist. 

Throughout the evening we were treated to a view at some of the other wonderful Benefit products, including the amazing They're Real Mascara. Yep, it's love right there. I need that mascara in my life. In the before and after photo above, believe it or not, the mascara was applied on top of what I was already wearing, and it still had an amazing effect on my lashes.  

Some of us also had our eyebrows mapped, which for me was a totally new experience. Looking at the photos, it's such a difference that I think I need to warm to it, but I do like the look of the more structured brow. 

As well as being surrounded by beautiful products, it was also a great opportunity to meet some new ladies and enjoy the wonderful cupcakes and sweets that had been laid out for us.
Sorry to any of the girlies I didn't get a chance to chat to, if you're reading this post, please leave your link in the comments, and thanks to Kirsty who arranged the whole thing. I enjoyed it so much.

This months Lily advertiser is Sarah of www.bowsandblushx.blogspot.co.uk

Don't Cover It Up. awareness | benefit | bruises | charity | domestic violence | get help | help | helpful number | lauren luke | phone number | plea | raise money | refuge | website | whenflowersfall | youtube

I recently came across this video and it really got to me. As someone whos ex used to pin her against a wall if he didn't get what he wanted, I felt I really needed to help spread the word. 

Did you know that one in four women will be effected by domestic violence at some point in their life? Domestic violence is ridiculously common and unfortunately, often hidden. Now is the time to spread awareness!

Recently Benefit ran the amazing amazing Mascarathon which has raised over £7000 for Refuge, and now is the turn of Youtubes Lauren Luke. Her provoking video is less than 2 minutes long but please if you don't do anything else today, please watch this. . If you or anyone you know if suffereing from domestic violence, please SPEAK UP, or at least help them get help. 

You can call REFUGE on 0808 2000 247

Further information can be found on www.refuge.org.uk/lauren

Psssst!!!!You can still donate to Mascarathon via texting BENE02 (and your amount) to 70070 


Thank you for taking the time to read this post!

Benefit - The POREfessional Sample balm | before or after makeup | benefit | large pores | porefessional | pores | primer | rave | reduces appearance of pores | review | the porefessional | thumbs up | whenflowersfall

Now, you all know what this is!
The thing is, I hadn't ever been able to splurge and buy the full size product. So when Glamour magazine offered a sample size, I jumped at the chance. They were also offering a sample of the 'Bad Gal Lash' mascara and a sample of the 'That gal', which I have ended up with as it made my friend break out.
The sample is only 7.5ml, but I have been able to get a good few uses out of it. The POREfessional claims to 'Quickly minimise the appearance of pores & fine lines for smoother-than-smooth skin', this it really does!
I've always had an issue with large pores on my nose and chin, yet this magic balm completely minimises the appearance of them and once I apply foundation on top, they are barely visible at all.
I love the fact that the product is smooth but not greasy and a little goes a very long way.
I am absolutely dying to get my hands on a full size, but unfortunately we have to move house within the next month so money is going to be incredibly tight for at least the next two.
I can only hope that a family member reads this, takes pity on me and decides to treat me to this £23.50 piece of beauty. Eh, who am I kidding?! I best start saving.
What do you guys think of the POREfessional? Do you love it as much as me?

Benefit Thrrrob benefit | benefit box | blair waldorf | box blush | cosmetics | gg | girl | gossip | gossip girl | review | thrrrob | when flowers fall | whenflowersfall | youtube

Hello Lovelies!

I do not know why I haven't purchased this before! 

I have to admit that this is also my very first Benefit Box Product! Yep! I have never purchased one before!

I thought I'd go with Thrrrob to start with as I've seen so, so many reviews and I love the soft pink colour. 

Being a blush addict I'm definitely going to be adding more, I'm lusting over Hervana right now so I think that may be a purchase I have to make soon!
I've used it in a couple of my recent videos and I can't say anything about it. If you'd like to see how it looks on, I'd recommend watching my Blair Waldorf Tutorial HERE.
If you guys have any recommendations for me, feel free to post in comments below!

W7 Africa Bronzer africa | africa bronzer | benefit | blush | box blush | bronzer | cosmetics | make up | make-up | review | w7 | when flowers fall | whenflowersfall

Hi Lovelies!

     This post has been a long time coming. I received this Africa by W7 bronzer at Christmas and I've loved it ever since. 

      Even though it is sold as a bronzer, I find it to be more of a blush as it gives a very slight pinky tone to your skin. It's very sheer and doesn't over power you. 

   As you can see from the photo below, it does have a slight shimmer, but I think that's nice in a bronzer/blush. I tend to use this product more when I'm creating a dramatic look, ie winged eye liner or red lips. 

  I will definitely be buying more of the W7 boxed products. They are a very cheap alternative to the benefit box blushes, which I am also very keen to get my hands on.