Upcoming Elf Haul

Hi everyone!

I have just made an order from Elf - also known as eyeslipsface.com and I thought I'd share with you what I'm expecting! I've been busy with it being the last couple of weeks before Easter at Uni so I haven't blogged much, or shopped much so I've had nothing to share!

So here's what I ordered. (Images are from Google so credit to whoever actually took them!)

The Smudge Eye sponge is only £1.50 so I thought I'd try it out as I love smudging out eyeliner and creating soft edges with my eyeshadow.

The Cream Eyeliner Duo in Black Licorice, this is also £1.50! Bargain! I prefer cream formulas, I think they look more pigmented and stay on longer. This will be great for a night time smokey eye look.

I've been searching for a nude polish for a while but didn't want to spend much as I can only wear nail polish when I'm not at work, so at £1.50 again this was a steal!

I always get pink toned blushers so as summer is fast approaching I wanted to try a more peachy toned blush as I'm loving the coral trend in make up at the moment! This is the Natural Radiance Blusher in Glow and was again £1.50.

Lastly I picked up the Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder in Sunkissed, as my Rimmel bronzer smashed in my suitcase when I went to visit my friend! This was also £1.50.

So with delivery charge this came to £10.25, what a bargain! I've ordered from Elf before and not been disappointed so I'm really excited for this to arrive! I'll be doing a post on it so stay tuned!

Hope you are all well

Love from Natalie xxx



Tag: Letter To My 16-Year-Old Self

Hello everyone!

I've seen this post on a few blogs recently and I also have a lovely book where lots of celebrities have written letters to their younger selves. Although I'm still only 19 now, there are a few things I would like to share with my 16-year-old self, so here goes!

Dear Natalie,

The sixteenth year of your life is, to put it lightly, eventful! When you turn 16 you are stressing about exams, about the prom, about actually getting into college! Don't worry! Your exams are going to be fine, and stop stressing about Maths! Have a little faith in yourself.
The prom isn't all it's cracked up to be (it's best you don't eat the chicken, the staff kind of forget to cook it through!) but you still have a great time and it's lovely to see everybody dressed up!

Then comes summer, and the start of some amazing new friendships. It's also the end of a very important friendship, and even though you still talk, sadly it is never the same again and probably never will be.
You have a short lived romance which is lovely, until it ends badly. You get your heart broken, in a big way, and I wish I could tell you it gets better quickly, but it doesn't. It hurts for a very long time, but you do, eventually, put it to rest.
You get your first job and I know it's daunting at first, but believe me, one day those wails of, "I want to leave!" will be replaced with the thought that if and when you do leave, you'll miss it and everyone you work with so, so much.
Keep your chin up and just grow. You'll make mistakes, but you're just learning. You're a thoughtful, nice girl, and you deserve better than you think!
I love you and I miss you,
Natalie xox

TAG: My Beauty Story

Hi everyone!

I've seen this tag on a few blogs and thought it would be a nice post to do, so here goes!

1. How old were you when you first started wearing makeup?

I remember my very first make up product! I was about five and I had a Barbie lipbalm that smelled (and tasted!) like strawberries. It was bright pink and the lid was in the shape of Barbie's upper body. I used to love it until I took it to dancing class and lost it!

As for wearing make up properly, it was about Year Nine of school. It wasn't the full package, usually just eyeliner, mascara and lipgloss, and the effect didn't really last through the whole school day!

It's quite recently that I've gotten the make up bug and started a little obsession with it!

2. How did you get into makeup?

I've always loved doing makeovers on myself and messing around with make up, but when I discovered beauty blogs and the Youtube beauty community, I started learning what was really good for me, what suited me and what I really liked!

3. What are your favourite brands?

MAC definitely! Bourjois is second, followed by Benefit, and I also love Gosh's nail polishes and a lot of stuff from Rimmel.

4. What does makeup mean to you?

It means being creative, feeling confident and experimenting! I just love the wide range of colours, textures, shades, how make up can totally transform a person. I think make up can inspire you.

5. If you could only wear 4 products on your face what would they be?

Foundation, blusher, mascara and lipgloss.

6. What is your favourite thing about makeup?

The different colours and textures and how everything does something different and can transform you!

7. What do you think of drugstore makeup vs high end?

I think you can get amazing products from drugstores. I hate the high end snobbery and although I love MAC the most, I don't for a minute think that cheaper brands are worse quality. Of course it always differs, but for example my Creme Cup lipstick from MAC totally melted once, and I know it's to do with the formula but I was still disappointed!

8. What is one tip of advice you would give to a beginner?

Just experiment, mess around until you find what you like and what suits you! Don't fall into the trap of buying things because magazines say they're the best: find what's best for you!

9. What is one makeup trend you never understood?

When girls put foundation on their lips and nothing else! It looks awful.

10. What do you think of the beauty blogging community?

I love it! I'm an avid reader and now I'm proud to have my own little blog! You get great reviews and find great products!

Hope you enjoyed reading!
Love from Natalie x

MAC Haul

Hi everyone!

Sorry for my lack of posts over the past week, I've been busy with university and work and then I had a mad moment when I thought I'd chucked my camera lead out, but thankfully I found it!

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was awaiting a few things from MAC, and to my delight they came just two days later! Well done MAC!

Here's what I got (please excuse the bad quality photos, my camera is very new and I can't work out how to stop it blurring):

First up is Snob lipstick. This has a Satin finish and is described by MAC as a 'ladylike mauve'.
I had always seen this on counters and been drawn to it, but shied away and stuck to my failsafe pinks like 'Angel' and 'Creme Cup'. However I finally picked this up and I am so, so glad I did!

The lipstick is wonderfully creamy and the colour pay off is amazing! I thought it would be hard to wear but it's a gorgeous, wearable colour and looks great both day and night time!

I thought it would be hard to overthrow 'Angel' as my number one MAC lipstick but I think 'Snob' has done it! Absolutely love this!

I also got two eyeshadows in Cork and Shroom.

These are my first MAC eyeshadows and I'm really glad I invested in them. 'Cork' is a satin finish and is described by MAC as a muted golden brown. It needs a little work to get a good colour pay off but it looks amazing on and is so wearable, I've just been using it on a daytime but it would be a great night time smokey eye too!

'Shroom' is also a satin and MAC describes it as a soft muted golden beige with opalescent shimmer. You can really notice the shimmer but in a lovely, subtle way. It is a brilliant highlight for the browbone and tear duct area, I just love it!

Oh dear, this is blurry! Never mind, I'm sure you've all seen pictures of this already!

This is the lipglass in Emancipation from the recent Wonder Woman collection. It's a great size but a big downside is that the brush is hard to pull out of the tube and you end up spattering the product everywhere!

However the colour is just gorgeous, described by MAC as a pale neutral pink, but I think it also has some slight peachy, corally tones. This is beautiful just on its own, and the texture is ever so slightly sticky, but just in the way that you feel it will stay on your lips for a long time, which it does!

So there's what I got from MAC! I'm a very happy bunny with those purchases!

Hope you are all well

Love from Natalie x



Random Questions Tag

Hello everyone!

Here's a random questions tag I found on my beautiful friend Hayley's blog, Dollymix962, go and check her out if for some reason you aren't following her!

I thought these questions would help you to get to know me better, and it's always a fun way to pass the time!

Where do you call home?

I live in South Shields, which some of you will know as the hometown of Joe McElderry who won the X Factor (and yes, I did meet him once, at a party, but it was when he was in the bootcamp phase!) and also the hometown of the Youtube make up guru, Lauren Luke, also known as Panacea81 (I haven't met Lauren but I would LOVE to as she is one of my favourite guru's ever and a true inspiration).
Now, enough name dropping! South Shields is a coastal town and we have a stunning beach. It's not the most well known or popular place but I love where I live and I'm proud to be a Geordie!

What is your most memorable holiday?

It definately has to be every time I've been to Florida, which is three times so far (fingers crossed I can go back again!)
It's cliche but Florida, and Disneyland in particular, is the most amazing experience and I know those of you who have been lucky enough to go too will understand.

Have you ever owned a pet?

I am the very proud owner of a gorgeous six-year-old Jack Russel named Jess. I am one of those mad pet owners who treat their pet like a real baby. Jess is so loving and is always snuggled on my lap, she's such a well behaved dog too. I love her to bits, and I just wish I had a photo to show you all. I will make a note to take one and do a little post to introduce her!

What is your favourite TV show?

It has to be 'Come Dine With Me'! I love everything about it. The commentator is hilarious and I love seeing what kind of dishes people come up with, the scheming votes, the strange guests and the often hilarious drunken taxi rides home when they make their comments about the night!

Whats the worst/most embarrassing CD/Album you've ever owned?

I once got my mam to buy me a CD from a band called Matchbook Romance, based on some of their lyrics I'd seen and found quite sweet. What I didn't know was that they were the kind of emo, throat-screaming band I hate, so that was the worst CD I ever (got) bought! (No offence to anybody that likes them, they just aren't my cup of tea).

What did you want to be when you were little?

It varied! I remember wanting to be a vet for a long time after a mad obsession with 'Animal Hospital 'but then I realised it wouldn't just be cute fluffy kittens and puppies I'd be bandaging up so that idea went down the drain!

What are you afraid of?

I have severe arachnophobia which I won't go into as even thinking about spiders makes me very uneasy. (I told you it was severe!)
I'm also very frightened of going to the dentist. I never used to be, this is only a recent fear and I don't know what triggered it but now I am really scared of the dentist! My poor dentist is a lovely man aswell and he always has to deal with me crying while he does a check-up!

What item can't you live without?

Definately my laptop, I'm 100% part of the social networking generation!

What is your day job?

I work for a supermarket as a till cashier and I also put out stock and stuff. It's quite routine but I'm lucky enough to work with amazing, lovely people and our shop feels like a big family. Cheesy but true!

Are you a 'morning' or 'night' person?

I'm so NOT a morning person that I even laughed at the question! Night, definately.

What is your favourite food?

Ooh this is hard. Probably curry, mmm!

What is your all time favourite film?

Without a doubt, Baz Luhrmann's 'Romeo + Juliet'. I must have watched this a hundred times and yet every time I still feel all the same emotions and I love it even more.

If you could visit any place in the world where would it be?

Florida, again! I'd also love to go to Rome, I've never been and it looks so beautiful and interesting.

What are you most looking forward to in 2011?

There's nothing I'm really expecting, so hopefully lots of great surprises! Just fun times with my friends and family and to continue to be happy and healthy.

 

What has been your highlight of 2010?

Seeing in the New Year in London. Technically the end of 2010 but it wasn't that great of a year (don't worry, nothing bad happened, it was just a so-so sort of year). Although, getting into University was an amazing feeling!

Well I hope that wasn't too boring, and that you got to know me a bit better!

I tag anyone to do this!

Love from Natalie x

Garnier 7 Day Intensive Moisturiser: Review

Hello everyone!

If you read my Superdrug haul post you'll have seen that I succumbed to the new moisturiser on offer from Garnier. After getting a sample of the shea butter formula in Cosmopolitan magazine, I was hooked and had to buy a bottle to try out.

Here's the bottle, although you've probably seen it already:

Now I know what you're probably thinking: it hasn't even been 7 days yet so why is she doing a review?
Well, although I can't say it's Holy Grail, I already LOVE this product!

I got the one with nourishing shea butter intended for dry to extra-dry skin which I suffer from. I am used to a moisturiser soaking into my skin then disappearing and not keeping me hydrated, but this moisturiser makes my skin feel soft and supple all day - not to mention it smells gorgeous!

The only downside for me is that the formula is quite runny where I expected it to be thick, but it actually works well and a little goes a long way!

I bought it for £2.99 but you can get a bigger bottle for £4.99.

If any of you have tried Garnier 7 Day Intensive or any of their other products I'd love to hear about it!

Love from  Natalie x



Saturday Night: Outfit of the Night

Hello everyone!

Thank you to all you lovely girls who have started following me since I started my blog on Friday, it's much appreciated and it makes me happy knowing I'm writing something that people want to read!

As you may have seen in my last post, it was my 19th birthday night out on Saturday and I tried in vain to take a good photo of my outfit, but I'm not used to my new camera so the only decent snap is this one below where I look quite moody (I wasn't, I assure you, just concentrating hard on not getting a blurry photo!).

Also excuse the carrier bag full of rubbish, it's my substitute bin until I buy a proper one for my new room!

The dress I wore is from AX Paris and I think it was about £25.00. It was the only one left in the shop and it had marks on the skirt but I liked it so much I bought it anyway and thankfully they came off after a wash!

My tights are the suspender ones from Henry Holland that I showed in my River Island Haul post. I stupidly wore a ring with a sharp edge and snagged them in the pub! Boo :(

My shoes are from good old Primarni and I got them that long ago I couldn't tell you the price. They didn't half pinch my feet and to top the night off I fell over in the and sprained my ankle! Apart from that it was a brilliant night though.

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!

Love from Natalie x



Five Things For Friday ♥

1) Yay, it's Friday! Normally this doesn't excite me because I'm always at work over the weekend, but this weekend I am off, so I can appreciate the pleasure of a lovely two days spare! Plus, I can have a lie in on Sunday instead of getting up at 9AM! Wahoo!

2) Tomorrow night I'm going out with all my nearest and dearest to celebrate my 19th birthday. I'm looking forward to a good drink and dance and catching up with my girls as we are never all together very often.

3) I'm awaiting a little haul from MAC to be delivered next week. I've bought the new Emancipation lipglass from the Wonder Woman collection, two eyeshadows in Cork and Shroom and a lipstick in Snob. I can't wait for it to come and I'll be sure to do a post when it does!

4) My mam was kind enough to buy me the new Jimmy Choo perfume for my birthday and I can safely say it's one of my favourites already! It smells gorgeous and is definately a night out scent so I'll look forward to spraying it on tomorrow.

 

5) This is a strange one but here goes! My hair is dyed brown but I haven't dyed it for ages so it been washing out and I thought it looked awful, with ginger tones, but this past week I've actually had a good few compliments on the colour and how it suits me, so maybe I'll be staying au naturel for a while!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Love, Natalie x



Superdrug Haul

Hello there!

Along with popping into River Island, I paid Superdrug a visit too as I was in need of a new kohl eyeliner.

Here's what I got:

Rimmel had a 3 for 2 offer on so I picked up their kohl eyeliner. I also got a Lasting Finish nail polish in 030 Double Decker Red. I love red nails and this looked like a lovely shade to try out. I'm a big fan of Rimmel nail polishes.
I also got a Moisture Renew lipstick in the shade 260 Amethyst Shimmer which I plan to do a review on soon so watch out for that!

I'm always on the hunt for a Holy Grail foundation. I've been using and loving Max Factor's Xperience foundation but it just isn't quite perfect. My friend recommended Bourjois' Healthy Mix foundation so I got it in the shade 51 which was the palest shade. Again I'll review this :)

I was drawn to the Gosh nail lacquers because I picked up a gorgeous orange one last time I was in Superdrug. I wasn't disappointed and found the stunning sparkly lacquer in 562 Magic Star. I think it will look great layered over other polishes.

I'm going on a night out tomorrow night in celebration of my 19th birthday so in order to look extra glam I got some Ardell falshes lashes in 101 Demi. They look thick and full but not over the top.

Last but not least I got a bottle of Garnier's new 7 Day Intensive moisturiser. I got the one with shea butter for very dry skin as that is definately my skin type, and I got a free sample of it in Cosmopolitan and loved the scent. I'll be trying this out every day so I'll update you on how it goes.

And that's it! Hope you enjoyed reading.

Love Natalie x

Welcome! & A River Island Haul

Hello there and welcome to my blog!

I'm Natalie, and I'm a self-confessed shopaholic from North East England. I'm always reading blogs and since I love writing I thought it was about time I started my own, so I really hope you will enjoy following me on my blogging journey!

To start things off, here's a little River Island Haul. I popped into my local shop today for a nosey because I luckily had £100 to spend, courtesy of passing a Mystery Shop at work :)

Here's what I bought:

I absolutely love River Island bags and I was in need of a new bag for University so I couldn't resist this gorgeous cream bag when I spotted it. The strap and top flap are a shiny, smooth patent material and the actual body of the bag is covered in lace detailing.

The bag currently retails at £39.99.

I was drawn to this top becuase of my ongoing Peter Pan collar obsession! It's not exactly a collar, the lace detailing is sown onto the top. I think this top is perfect for those sort of smart/casual drinks and outings when you want to look glam but still dressed down.

This top retails at £26.99.

Lastly I managed to find the Henry Holland suspender tights I have been searching for! I've seen quite a few girls wearing these lately and they look sexy without being slutty or over the top. I can't wait to wear them.

The tights retail at £12.00.

So that was what I picked up today from River Island and needless to say I was a very happy bunny with my purchases! I hope they give you a small insight into my sense of style too!

So there's my first post, and here's to many more to come!

Thanks for reading!

Love Natalie x