Bits From Beauty Bay

It's getting closer and closer to Christmas so I thought I should squeeze in a buy from Beauty Bay.
My mother has bought me a present from there, but I cannot show you until after Christmas. So I thought I would show you the two things that I purchased myself.

The two products that I purchased are from a brand called Morphe Brushes. I've only recently heard about their products from Instagram and Youtube. I bought one of the brush sets and an eyeshadow palette.

Morphe Brushes - 35N 35 Color Matte Palette - £15.95
This eyeshadow palette basically does what it says - matte eyeshadows. It has not got any shimmers or frosts in so it's nice to actually just have a palette with a range and selection. This palette is incredibly cheap and has amazing quality!

Morphe Brushes - R15 15 Piece Brush Set - £23.75
Collection contains:
Angle Contour
Oval Fluff
Angled Fluff
Chisel Fluff
Detailed
Soft Fan
Concealer
Angled Liner
Oval Lip
Pointed Liner
Spoolie
Flocked Sponge
Brow Groomer

A Trip to the Hairdressers

Day 15 of blogmas and if you can't already tell by the title, today, I went to the hairdressers. I've been way overdue a cut, but I've been doing it by myself for a while 9I would not advise).

As you can probably see by the photo, my roots were growing through so I also went for a dye - dark brown. I normally go brown, but it tends to fade to an auburn shade. I am trying to grow my layers out and I really needed a trim so it's slightly annoying as I'm only just starting to feel comfortable with the length of my hair.

I can never seem to find I hairdresser that makes me think 'WOW' or 'I actually like my hair' even three months after. So what I tend to do is, go to different salons every time. It is a massive risk because when I've said just a trim, once they chopped 2 inches off and I was gutted! Also, I love meeting new people so it's nice to talk to others and get to know them.

This time, the: dye, wash, cut and blow dry cost £65. Obviously, due to me travelling to different places, the price varies, but this is normally the average price.

The pictures do not really show any improvement, but basically, my hair was auburn and it's now dark brown. It also is super glossy and has a much better shape as I've had quite a bit cut off.

Dealing With Acne

It's day 12 of blogmas and this is a rather personal topic for me. I have to deal with a lot of break-outs - nearly one a week. They also nearly last around a week too. Therefore, I constantly have spots; I don't just mean blackheads.

I do drink between 2-3 litres of water a day and then additional drinks such as: Vimto, sparkling lemon & lime and soya milk. I also have what I'd call, a balanced diet. I normally just listen to what my belly is telling me - if I feel hungry, I eat and if I do not want something too big, I get a snack.

There are two products that I use to try to control my acne and those are: a prescription from the doctors called Zineryt and the Super Spot Remover by Origins.

Zineryt is erythromycin mixed with zinc acetate to produce a solution that can be used on any part of acne. I must admit, it has a very strong, potent smell that is not pleasant, but it does the job. I also stings like hell if you've squeezed the spot beforehand.

Origin's spot remover is a must have! You might think that £15 for a 10ml solution is expensive, however, the product lasts for such a long time. I am on my second one and the first one lasted me for just over a year! With the amount of spots I get, it sure is a great product getting rid of them.

The Best Bronzers

The 9th day of blogmas and if you can't already tell, I'm getting excited for Christmas! Carrying on with the products you apply after your base, I thought it was about time I talk about bronzer. The majority of the products that I own are High-End, but that's only because I believe that they would be worth the money - otherwise, they wouldn't be classed as 'High-End'. I have also not found any alternatives/dupes for these products so that is also something I'm looking out for.

You can look for/buy the following from: Selfridges and Debenhams.

Chanel - Soleil Tan De Chanel - £32
You might think that £32 for a bronzer is quite expensive, but Chanel, to me, is a luxury brand. Therefore, I don not feel guilt for purchasing something rather expensive every one and a while. Also, I have used this product for so long now and I can't even see any sign of a dint - there's so much product! The bronzer does not have any fall-out so the formulation is incredible. This is an all-roundeer product. I is long-lasting, gives a healthy/natural-looking finish and is totally worth the amount.

Naked - On The Run
This is a set that includes: 5 eyeshadows, a mascara, an eyeliner, a blush, a highlighter and a bronzer. The bronzer inside of this is half the size of what you'd get in the Flushed palette, however, this set is really good as it gives you a bit of everything that you need.

MAC - Mineralize Skinfinish Natural
I've had this product for 2 years now and it is amazing. I am no where near hinting pan and I use this product almost every day. This gives a natural finish and can work for contouring too.

bareMinerals -Warmth
Not the best out of all of the other products mentioned, but still does the job. This is a loose powder so as you can probably imagine, this job is not an easy one.

Charlotte Tilbury - Filmstar Bronze and Glow
One of my favourite palettes. The highlighter and bronzer that you get are just amazing. They total balance each other out and neither of them look ridiculous when applied. The bronzer is so perfect and it doesn't leave any fall-out. Definitely worth the value!

It's Powder Time

Day 8 of blogmas and I thought it'd be about time I do something a little bit different. I'm still trying to get back onto the theme of beauty, but it's about products I have never really mentioned before. Powder is the bane of my life. As I have quite an oily T-Zone, but am dry everywhere else, it's hard to find a good balancing foundation. Therefore, my alternative option is a powder. I will usually put the powder everywhere to set my makeup and then go over the places that are oil just to give it a matte-looking finish.

I don't think I've ever spoken about bareMinerals in any of my posts before. One reason being, I think that their products can be hit and miss. Sometimes, I am really satisfied withe the product and then other times, I'm confused as to why the products are sold at a particular price due to the quality not being great. On the other hand, if you've read some of my previous posts, you'll see how much I love all things MAC. I have two powders from each of these brands and in some respects, they're all similar.

bareMinerals - Medium Beige and bareMinerals - Mineral Veil  are both from the limited edition - Original Foundation Get Started Kit in Light. This basically gives you a kit with step-by-step instructions as to how to apply the makeup provided. It's handy, but I don't think that the brush quality is very good.

MAC. I literally love every product that I've ever bought from MAC. I think the quality of all the products are great, the prices are fair to the product and the quality is unreal. This brand is an all-rounder. DISCLAIMER: I have not been paid to talk to you about any of these products and they're just my own personal opinion. I do not know what I would do without MAC as they sell some of my favourite makeup. I'm so upset that they discontinued one of their mascaras because it was the only one that made me eyelashes look amazing. Anyway, onto their powders. The two that I own are: Studio Fix in the shade NW25 and the Pro Longwear Powder in the shade Light Plus. The Studio Fix powder only really suits my skin tone when I have fake tan on. The lady who colour matched me in the store matched me while I was on holiday and therefore, I was darker.

Try Not To ... Blush!

It's a week into blogmas and time feels like it's going so fast! I cannot believe that I started this blog nearly 12 months ago! This is my 51st post and if you didn't get the pun, it's one about blusher. I'm not the world's biggest fan of blusher, but I do like to add a bit of colour to the apples of my cheeks every now and again. I like quite natural-looking blushers so it doesn't look too heavy or fake. I have two single blushers to talk to you about and then there are a few in some sets. Let's get to it...

Okay, first up is an oldie. It's 'thrrrol' from Benefit, but unfortunately, it got discontinued! Boo... There's nothing worse than a product that you love being discontinued. Anyway, when first looking at the product, it looks incredibly light and almost too unrealistic. It has quite a lot of pigment is so it sort of acts like a highlighter too. However, when applying on top of a BB cream or foundation, it looks really nice - almost giving the face a healthy glow.

Next up is one of my all time favourite brands for blush - Nars. The single blush that I own is called Gilda and it's just SO amazing. It is rather pricy for a blush - £23 - however, it has lasted me for nearly two years now and I'm no where near hitting pan. It's a deep pink and you only need the slightest amount on your brush when applying. The good thing about Nars blushers are that they leave you with hardly any fall-out, if any. It's going straight in my basket!

So the previous Christmas, I was very lucky in the sense that my Mother was able to get her hands on the limited edition Nars - Virtual Domination palette. What a babe. She gave it to me as a Christmas present and I was just so shocked! The palette contains: 3 blushers - Sex Fantasy, Deep Throat and Final Cut (the names are rather... let's say... unusual, but the quality of product is incredible), a bronzer - Laguna and a highlighter - Miss Liberty. I think this palette was around the £50 and that's such a bargain! The bronze is full-sized and the blushers and highlighter is half the usual size of the separate products.

The blusher inside the Naked - On The Run palette is a bit to much for me, however, the palette itself is very good and handy.

Last, but by no means least, is the Urban Decay - Naked Flushed palette. This contains a bronzer, highlight and blush and the finish from the blush just completes the face.

A Tame Smokey Eye

It's day 6 of blogmas and I haven't really done much on makeup. I've decided to show you my go-to easy smokey eye look. When my eye makeup is not very heavy, I tend to wear a lipstick that is 'more in your face' - basically not nude. My base makeup is not really heavy either. There's a slight amount of contouring, but nothing too serious. I have highlighted underneath the arch of my brows as it not only makes them stand out, but it makes the eyeshadow from the crease seem more defined; not harsh. As you can see from the image, I am not wearing any eyeliner - shock horror! I love having really long, extended lashes and if you've got eyeliner on with a smokey eye, it can get a bit too much. Therefore, the lashes looked super long without eyeliner.

So to get this eye look, I used a range of different products that I built up on. These include: Illamasqua - Wolf, MAC - Wedge, MAC Embark and Zoeva - Pure (part of the Naturally Yours palette).

This four eyeshadows combined can give you a very build-able brown smokey eye. As all the colours are similar in terms of texture, they're easy to blend. They're completely matte so they have no pigmentation.

To start with, I prime my eyes with the Urban Decay - Primer Potion. This is a long-lasting eyeshadow base - it certainly holds it for a good 10 hours! Also, for those that have a Sephora near you, their primer works wonders! To follow, I applied the shade pure in the corner of my eyes. As this is the coolest and lightest shade that I used, I helps create a gradual blend. I then went on to doing my crease. I really didn't want this look to be dramatically heavy so I applied the tiniest amount of product on to a MAC 217 - Blending Brush and built it up. I used both Wolf and Embark to do this. To finish with, I applied Wedge all over the lid. Blending it into the crease and inner corner - next to the tear duct.

As I said before, I love my lashes to be super long so I used the mascaras: Chanel - Le Volume, MAC - Black Extreme and Clinque - Bottom Lash Mascara.

A MAC and KIKO Haul

Why does this year feel like it is going so fast? Ahhh... Anyway, it's the 3rd of December and the third post I have for you for blogmas. As I previously mentioned, I am still doing main posts on Thursdays and today, I'm showing you my most recent purchases from MAC and KIKO.

So for those of you who have already followed me on Instagram - jodiemoon__, or my Snapchat - jodielmoon, you'll have seen that I went to Manchester on Monday. This was to spend some of my birthday money and hint to some of the things that I would like for Christmas.

KIKO - I haven't been to KIKO since August and this was while I was in Portugal (I did a post on what I bought there - click here to view). The Trafford Centre have just opened a KIKO shop and when I saw it a literally was so shocked! I didn't know that there was one being put there so I was so happy! The quality is unreal and it's so cheap.

Things that I purchased from KIKO:

Mascara - £7.90
Nail Varnish - £4.90
Travel Jar (10ml) - £1.00 x2
Eyeshadow - 124 - £2.90
Eyeshadow - 134 - £2.90
Pencil Lip Gloss - £3.90
Long Lasting Stick - 04 - £6.90
Long Lasting Stick - 19 - £6.90


MAC - Never in a million years, at the age of 16, would I think that I'd have 16 MAC lipsticks. I'm so incredibly fortunate to be able to buy these products; it's such a luxury! Some of you may think that 16 is obsessive, but this is my only really big collection and I'm proud of it. The on that I've recently got was - High Strung. I did 'Back 2 MAC' - sending back 6 of your old packaging in replacement for a lipstick. The finish is Frost and it would go so well with a heavily pigmented eye. Not only that, but I think it suits every hair colour. I also repurchased the brush cleanser - better than any I've ever tried and the eye brow applicator in the shade Lingering. I really wanted an orange eyeshadow for the crease when creating a smoky eye. I've seen so many tutorials where people do this and it just makes the eye look perfect. I got the eyeshadow, the refill, in the shade Rule.

Things that I purchased in the MAC section of Selfridges:

Eye Brows - Lingering - £14.00
Eye Shadow - Rule - £10.00
Brush Cleanser - £12.00
Back 2 MAC lipstick - High Strung - Normally £15.50