The Beauty of Louise MAC give away!

The wonderful Louise over at 'The Beauty of Louise' is having a very generous giveaway on her blog! All this MAC make up is up for grabs so enter now for a chance of winning!! Link is in my sidebar xxx

The coolest nails I've ever done! (so far ;D)

I just HAVE to share this with you!

I have my friend staying with me at the moment and she's going down to London this weekend for her friend's birthday. She wanted some statement nails so she painted them a purple colour and she asked me to cover her 3rd nail on each hand with gems... this was the result...

We thought they looked fab! Anyways she had had them done for a couple of days and none of the gems had fallen off... in fact they didn't look like they we're gonna budge at all!! So we decided to cover all her nails in gems - we were dying to see what it looked like!! It took me nearly an hour and a half but I got there eventually ....

What do you think??


Raphaelle xXx

March Wishlist!

Hey Everyone!!!

First of all I have to make a huuuuge apology as I haven't blogged in over a month!! *the shame*
I've had such a lot to contend with... My boyfriend and I moved into our new house a month ago tomorrow (yey!) so we have been settling in and sorting out all our stuff, and I have also broken my ankle (not so yey!) so I haven't been getting around very much and I'm under strict orders to rest it! I know they're not much of an excuse and I really do apologise but I'm back now!! With a new March wishlist (as I'm sat here on my bum all day so all I can do is window shop on the internet, naturally... as if I'm not depressed enough at the moment!)

YSL Silky Sensual Radiant Lipstick SPF15 in 107 Impetuous Beige - £23.50

Doesn't this lipstick just look divine?? From the colour (even though it doesn't look beige whatsoever?!) down to the deluxe packaging... I have £10 worth of points on my Debenhams Beauty Card so I really am contemplating treating myself to this as I'd only have to pay £13.50! Hmm....

River Island Cream Pussybow Blouse -£25.00

I am very much a blouse person I think they look so classy! And I'm still searching for a lovely cream blouse to go with my burgundy jeans... and I think this may be it! 

OPI Original Nail Envy £11.95

I have recently developed a new love for OPI and now have 6 colours. I'd really love to add this to my collection as my nails are so weak, and if the lacquers are anything to go buy this would be a really high quality strengthener!

MAC 187 Stipling Face Brush £32.50

I have been meaning to add this to my collection for ages, it's just so much to pay for a make up brush and I never seem to have the spare cash! Anyone know of any good quality cheaper alternatives??

Topshop SPECTOR Contrast Back Platforms £62.00

I am soooo in love with these shoes and I can imagine they go with almost anything as they're a nude colour. I think I deserve a new pair of heels to celebrate getting my cast taken off on 3rd April :) (Can't bloody wait!! I'm forced to wear a flat shoe on my good foot and a sock on the other! Attractive? I think not!!)

What's in your wishlist this month??

until next time....

Raphaelle xXx

More nails! :)

Hey guys!!

I haven't posted on my blog for what seems like aaaages as I've been so busy! But I'm back now yey :) Was in two minds what to write about today as I haven't done a make up post for a while and I'm kinda getting withdrawls, but I decided on nails as I have just done mine and am pretty damn pleased with them, plus I wanna share with you all my bargain of the month :) enjoy....

Ok so my mum and a couple of friends have been wanting me to do them a french manicure for a while now but I lost my french white polish :( so I thought to myself if I see one cheap I'll get it just until I can afford a good quality one. Anyways I was in my local Bodycare getting some toiletry essentials when I spotted a stand with these little beauties in...

There was a white and the transparent nudey colour that goes over the top. I thought they'd be ideal for now so I checked the price thinking they'd be about £1.99...... 29p they were!! I couldn't believe my luck! So I snapped up a couple and tested them out on my mam that evening. Here's the result...

I had to do a couple of coats because it is quite a thin polish but for a total of 58 pence I'm pretty pleased with that to be honest! I do love a french polish!

I also bought some fakes for myself as I'm missing my nails at the moment but can't afford them right now, so  I thought I could just about manage £1.99 to make me feel slightly more groomed :) I've had them on for 4 days now and the white tips were chipping slightly ( well what can you expect for £1.99??) so I thought I'd do a bit of DIY and paint them.... I have a thing for painting the ring finger gold at the moment (or silver, depending on what colour I use for the rest), not quite sure why :/ but I really do like the effect. So here's a couple of piccys of my nails and the colours I used...

I used Barry M Nail Paint in Mushroom, and Barry M Instant Nail Effects in Foil. I hope you all liked this post :)

Until next time,

Raphaelle xXx

Review - 17 BB Blemish Balm!!

Hey all!!

I've decided to do a review on 17's BB Blemish Balm 'All In One Magic Make-Up'. I was going to buy the BB cream fron No7 aswell and do a comparison but I have to share this with you now! I bought this from my local Boots store as I had heard a lot of good things about Blemish Balms and I thought I'd give this one a go. It is quite cheap at £6.99 so I wouldn't feel so bad if I wasn't keen on it, plus I'd heard a few good things about this particular BB cream anyway so I thought it can't be that bad.

The boots website says
 'Discover the new 17 BB Blemish Balm to reveal the magic of flawless skin with this all-in-one foundation plus skincare wonder product.'

I picked up the medium shade as, even though I have quite pale skin, the light shade looked a little too light for me. When I got home and checked my receipt I noticed that I'd only paid £4.99 for it so it must have been on offer which was a real bonus! (Something as small as that can always brighten my day :D)

Here's what the packaging looks like...

I really do like the packaging. 17 is a cheap, affordable brand and I love the way they've made it look a lot more expensive. I've just realised it looks a bit dodgy at the bottom but that's just because I haven't screwed the lid on properly :) You get 30ml, same as your average foundation and when I've been using it I've used the same amount as I would with my foundation.

The all important swatches (flash and no flash)

At first sight the cream seems a lovely consistency but you can tell it's not going to give you full coverage, not that I would expect it to - even though it claims to on the Boots website, the packaging says it is the ultimate 'no make-up make-up'... and that says to me 'light coverage'.

I was expecting to get a tinted moisturiser effect, but the finish is a lot more impressive than that let me tell you! I was honestly planning on wearing this underneath my foundation so I didn't have to use as much (as my foundation is quite expensive), but I would actually just wear this on its own with a touch of blusher for a daytime look as it does give me the coverage I need (this coming from a girl who never normally leaves the house without a full made up face!) I am so happy with this product, especially for only £4.99!! I'd even pay the full £6.99 if I were to buy it again.

Now I know I should have really done a before and after picture so you can see the difference but I can not STAND the thought of putting a picture up of me with a bare face for the world and his wife to see!
So here's as much as I could muster - a pic of me wearing just the BB cream (massive apologies for the state of my hair, don't even recall dragging a brush through it this morning :/)

I haven't exactly got problem skin, all in all its pretty smooth, but my complexion can be somewhat uneven in terms of colouring sometimes, so as you can see the cream has definitely evened out my colouring and it has the most amazing dewy finish to it (if you have oily skin this can easily be resolved with a light dusting of powder). All in all I think this is a wonder product and it has certainly exceeded my expectations :) Would definitely recommend!

Hope you all enjoyed this post! Do any of you use a BB cream that you would recommend?

Until next time...

Raphaelle xXx

Mini Clothes Haul/OOTN!!

Hey Guys!!

I thought I'd share with you a couple of bits I got today :) I went to town with my friend to get something to wear for Saturday (as we are hitting the town!) and we popped into New Look, well I say popped.. I think we dragged half the shop into the changing rooms with us!! ... I was avoiding River Island and Top Shop as they weren't in my price range today unfortunately. Boo :(

Anyways I ended up picking up these...

The blouse was £14.99 and the bracelets were £7.99 (Both from New Look) and I will be wearing these on Saturday along with a long plain black vest top I also bought (£7.99) and black leggings or possibly jeggings, along with these bad boys I got for Christmas off my amazing friend....

Just LOVE them!!!! (they're a burgandy colour, pic makes them look darker) think they may well be up there as some of my fave shoesies :D I might even do a post on some of my shoes... I'm almost as obsessed with shoes as I am with make up... Almost ;) Will most likely get some pics up of my outfit on the night and post them on here :) Don't know how to do my nails though... maybe gold with a little pearl on each nail?? What do you think??

I also got this beauts dress from New Look which was £19.99 and will probably be wearing this on my Birthday night out (My birthday's 9th Feb but we shall be tearing it up on the 11th - can't wait!!)

I totally love this dress!! You can't see it very well on the picture but it has brown and turquoise feathers on it and looks lovely on!! Will have to dress it up with some accessories... maybe some feather drop earrings...

Eeeek I love how much more excited you get for a night out when you have something new to wear!!

Anyway I'm off to get some beauty sleep, day of make up coursework and pampering (ready for Sat!) ahead of me tomorrow! And maybe a cheeky post... if you're lucky ;) Take care lovely ladies!!

Until next time....

Raphaelle xXx

Heart Kristel's MAC Giveaway

The lovely Heart Kristel is having a give away on her blog!

Check it out http://heartkristel.blogspot.com

Good luck girlies xXx

NOTD!!

Hey guys!!

Well it's not exactly nails of the day, more like nails of the past few days lol. Plus they're not all mine. It was my Mam's birthday on Sunday and we had lots of visitors all day so I asked if I could paint my cousins nails as I miss doing them and mine all broke :( so I'm currently in the process of regrowing them. Then just after I'd finished doing them my other little cousin came up to me and was like 'pleeeeaaase can you do my toenails now Raphy??' so I ended up doing hers as well :) here's a few pics... Sorry they're not great I know they're a bit blurry.... but here they are non the less....

For these nails I used No7 Stay Perfect nail colour in 'Totally Teal' and I stuck a diamante on each nail ( I have a MASSIVE thing about diamantes on nails recently I think it makes a simple nail look so much more detailed and pretty!)

And for these nails I used Barry M Nail Paint in the colours 119 'Baby Pink' and 264 'Pink Iridesent'. Then I put a fuschia heart diamante on each big toenail.

I did these on Sunday and before I started this post I thought I'd do my toenails too, just to add to the blog a bit (besides they needed doing anyways!)
So here's my toes...

For this I used Barry M Nail Paint in 308 'Berry' with a little purple flower diamante on each big toenail.

I just stick the diamantes on with nail glue and then brush on a top coat and they last for a good week or so.

Anyhow ladies I really hope you liked this post :)

Until next time...

Raphaelle xXx

Review - MAC Iced Delights Wintercool Lip Bag!

Hey all!

Ok so I wanted to do a little post for you on the MAC Iced Delights Wintercool Lip Bag. I must admit I've been so excited for this to arrive so when it showed up on my doorstep in all its cardboard box glory (along with MAC Mineralise Skinfinish in 'Soft and Gentle' and MAC Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing) I opened it and tested it out pretty much straight away :)

The first thing I noticed was that the bag was a lot larger than I expected, which is good as I will definitely find a use for it. I thought I'd end up discarding it with it being too small to store make up in.

The white packaging is stunning in my opinion, it makes the products look very luxurious and expensive. I actually think I prefer it to the black! (Whether that's just because it's a novelty or not I don't know??)

The swatch picture isn't very good as the products are so nude and sheer but in reality they look gorgeous!

I did a simple look with them to test them out and I really do love them when they're all used together...

I took this picture around 3 or 4 hours ago and the colour is still going strong :) Good old MAC!

Anyways hope you all enjoyed this post and let me know if anyone has any of the Glitter and Ice range :)

Until next time....

Raphaelle xXx

Benefit Cream Eyeshadow/Liner in 'Birthday Suit'


Oh my goodness I HAVE to share this product with you it is IMMENSE I just love it!

I came to buying this product because when I bought my Benefit Moon Beam at the counter in Debenhams, the lovely lass serving me asked if I would like a free makeover.... Well I'm never one to turn down anything that's free for a start... but I also thought that it would be beneficial with me being a trainee make up artist to see how others apply make up and their techniques etc. So off I went barefaced (nightmare!!) a couple of days later (which was, in fact, yesterday) to have my make up done at the Benefit counter. The girl who did my make up was delightful... so sweet! And it was nice to have my make up done by someone other than myself! (It's normally me who does everyone elses!) I asked for a smoky eye and nude lip; the end result was nice... it just wasn't to my particular taste, as there wasn't as much coverage as I would have liked and she took the dark eyeshadow slightly too high on the lid for my liking. I am by no means doubting her skills as an artist as she applied everything well and blended all the products nicely, and 2 products really stood out to me, this eyeshadow being one (she used it on the inner third of my lid and as a highlighter) and Benefit Ultra Shines Lip Gloss in 'Life on the A List' (which is also amazing, love the colour!)

Anyways the products looked absoloutely lovely and I needed them, naturally... So I purchased my items (£14 each) and was soooo chuffed with myself on my way home. I went out last night and so had a chance to test out my new eyeshadow, yey :) The consistency is so unbelievably creamy, it blended across my lid like a dream! The colour looks beautiful on it's own a and also acts as a perfect base for any other colours you'd like to use on top to create a unique look.

This is a look I created with the shadow and a couple of colours from the Urban Decay Naked Palette. The shadow is the light creamy/gold colour that you can see just above the liquid liner

I hope you all enjoyed this post and I really do recommend this colour. I'm looking forward to buying... well... pretty much every colour from this collection as they all look gorgeous!! Does anyone else have this product? Or any other Benefit product you recommend??

Take care guys!

Until next time...

Raphaelle xXx

Illamasqua haul!!

  Hey all!!

I'm so excited, my Illamasqua stuff came today!! So... naturally... I will share my buys with you :) I got this stuff to add to my professional make up kit and I must say I'm really pleased with it all :) It only took two days to arrive and was packaged really nicely :) They included a sample of their new perfume, 'Freak'.

I absoloutely LOVE the lip gloss shades )

In more detail...

Illamasqua lipstics...

Brick red colour - Encounter

Berry colour - Drench

Bronze colour - Utopia

Illamasqua Lipgloss

Nude - Absorb

Pink - Electrify

Powdered Metal

Colour - Erzule

Pencils for eyes, lips, face and body

Pink - Torment

Black - Eerie

Grey - Classic

Brown - Uncanny

Hope you can make out everything ok from the photos. The colours are all lovely, I've just swatched them so far but they look really nice.. especially the glosses and powdered metal! The liners are all matte and since I've swatched them I've blunted them slightly so they're suitable for use on the eyes and lips without being scratchy, and the colour glides on really nicely. Overall I am extremely happy with them as I got them all in the sale and they ranged from just £5 to £10 each (RRP was more than double on all of them!!) If anyone would like me to do a review on any of these products just let me know :)

Sale ends on Monday if anyone wants to pick up some bargains!

Hope everyone liked this post!! Take care :)

Until next time...

Raphaelle xXx

FOTN!!

Hey all!

Went out for a few drinkies tonight to watch the other half play darts (I don't usually go but I thought what the hell I'll go for a little tipple :P) and thought I'll share with you how I did my make up, just because I love seeing how other people do theirs :) Anyhow here we go....

Sorry if the images aren't great, my bedroom has the crappiest light in the history of the world, and I vow to do any more facial images during the day :) It wasn't a full on look as I was only going to our local pub for a couple of drinks so I left the falsies off...

Ok so I used...

Mac Studio Fix Fluid foundation NC30

Benifit Dandelion Blusher

Maybelline Dream Touch Blush in 02 

Gosh Eyebrow Kit (I think there's only one set of colours, I use the darkest one anyways)

Urban Decay Naked Palette - Half baked on the lid, Dark Horse in the crease and virgin to highlight.

No7 Gel liner, Black (was limited edition last summer which is a shame because I love it!)

Maybelline The Falsies Volume Express Mascara

Loreal Glam Shine Crystals in Coral Strass

Ok guys hope you all like this post I'm off to get some beauty sleep :) take care all!

Until next time...

Raphaelle xXx