Bourjois Healthy Mix

(Bourjois Healthy Mix in 51 light vanilla)

I didn't go too in depth when taking photos of this, because lets face it, everyone and their cat has seen or heard about this foundation. I was previously using two 17 foundations, one too pale & horribly cakey, and one too dark. I was in the market for a new one and was debating getting my first 'high end' foundation, but because i really don't have problematic skin, so there's never really been the need to splurge. Considering this is such a raved product, i thought I'd give it a go before skipping over to MAC and getting one for double the price. I don't have problematic skin at all, i have pretty normal skin verging on dry every now and again, oh and i love a matte finish and a heavy enough coverage to hide my rosy cheeks.

This is marketed to leave a 16 hour perfectly glowing complexion. The glowey "dewey" look on ME makes me want to vomit, so it was a risk when i bought this, but a risk worth taking ;-).I like a matte finish, and even with foundations branded to be matte i still feel the need for a setting powder (MAC MSFN) but with this, I'm good to go. Which is strange because its marketed to be 'glowey' but i can bare to be parted with my powder when using this. I really like the finish, i wouldn't completely call it matte, more satin. It is also a dream to apply, i use my fingers cos I'm a bokka, but it also smells DIVINE. Which is fine for me because i don't have sensitive skin, but if you do, be aware that it is perfumed. 

The shade is perfect for me, but with that said, its not a broad shade range. If you have darker skin tones then this really isn't for you, also if you're paler than me (hard but possible) then maybe not either. Also without sounding like a complete dork, i really like the packaging. Because of the way it is dispensed non of the product is wasted at the bottom of the bottle where the pump can't reach. But unless you've seen the bottle or a bottle like this, you wont have a fucking clue what I'm talking about.

Overall i really like this foundation and I'm going to stick with it for now. Until i get bored of it, because i have a serious tendency to do that with foundations...

HAUL ft River Island

Summer shopping always gets me excited, especially this time around due to the almost heatwave the other week. Which is pretty much a distant memory to us all in the UK now, considering when i brought these, it was snowing outside.
I went shopping with my grandma and brought quite a fair few things! We went to Fosse Park in Leicester as we always do. Its an outside complex with few yet large shops. My Grandma has an addiction to Monsoon quite similar to one on crack, Fosse park has a very large Monsoon. I'm not a fan, its aimed much more at the mature woman, so the only shops i tend to ever purchase anything from at Fosse park is New Look (on the odd occasion, it seems to have gone down a very steep hill) Accessorize and River Island.

Aztec print scarf [Accessorize]: This may as well just have 'Hannah' written on the label. Its aztec print AND its a snood. What more could i ask for in life? Its perfection, but the price tag isn't, at £18 i think its a tad excessive, but i will get my use out of it.

MTV t-shirt [River Island]: I've seen this top in my local River Island but in white and just thought 'meh'. Don't get me wrong, i love a good white t-shirt, but it just seemed a little too plain in white. However when i saw it in pink, it was a whole different ball game, which i wanted to play. I imagine it will look lovely over sized with a blazer or tucked into shorts or a skirt. £20, not bad, I've mentioned before that River Island have defiantly sorted their prices out.

Chelsea Girl lace dress [River Island]: I'm a massive fan of skater dresses, and I'm a massive fan of lace, but some of the lace skater dresses you see aren't anything special at the top and lack detail, and seen as though my top half is in my opinion my better half, I'd preffer all the detail to be there please. I love button at the front, it just gives it that more vintage feel, the sleeves are also perfect, I'm not a fan of my upper arms, and the frills flatter them nicely enough that i wouldn't feel i had to wear a cardigan or jacket with it. Its also cream and not white, which just makes it look nicer. £25.

Denim shorts [River Island]: My best friend recently got a pair of vintage Levi cut of shorts and she looked amazing in them, i tried to imagine them on myself in vomited. I have short fat legs, with an arse and hips, this is where me and jeans struggle, being the same material i stayed clear of shorts as well. I usually wear skirts or stick to leggings in the summer. I never thought i could pull off the whole 'cut off shorts' with tights that works so well for people with amazing legs. I admit these shorts look scary for someone of my size on the hanger, but i tried them on, cos unless you try then you'll never know, and they actually looked dead nice on, they didn't look as short as they did on the hanger, and me. I. Hannah with the short fat legs and the massive hips liked shorts with tights. Bingo. £25.

I also bought the Bourjois Healthy Mix and Benefit Hoola Bronzer. Original of me, i know. But if you would like a review of these, from the perspective of, well me, then do let me know :) x

Orly Gel Fx

Who'd have thought we would see the day I'd have gel nails again. Its safe to say my first experience of gel nails wasn't the best, I'll like the post here. The nails felt like nothing more than a bog standard polish i would use myself, you could see the stains of my actual nail through the polish, and they chipped after one day in my mums case. Not an experience that makes you think, oh yeah I'll have that done again, definitely.

Before i had a lady whom I'd never met before come to the house and do them, this time i went to a salon my my local village (hate that word.). I was apprehensive when i went to have them done and nearly opted out and told her to do acrylics, but every things worth a second chance eh. I straight away felt a little more at ease when i saw she was using Orly, i wasn't actually aware Orly did Gel nails, but its always comforting when you see a brand you know and trust i suppose. She showed me the colours on a sheet that they had in stock, and if you can't spot it already all you nail geeks, i chose "Rage". At the time i thought all of these colours were purely Gel colours, but I'm actually they are just Gel versions of Orly's normal line.

This time the Gel took around 30 - 45 minutes, as apposed to the hour and a half last time, I still can't get my head around that they're dry straight away. I'm really happy with them actually, i didn't think I'd like them as much as i have. They feel much thicker, much like i anticipated them to last time. Not thick in a fake way, but thick in a promising professional way. I've had no chipping and in direct sun light (top photo) they shine so much.

When i got home i was curious about Orly's Gel range and if it was readily available. The website confused me so of to eBay i went. All the colours, base and top coats seem to be around the £15, i started counting it up how much it would actually cost to get my own equipment and do them myself - I know haha, here we go! You can fart around with primers and cleansers, but from the looks of it and observing the lady who did mine, all you really need is the base coat (£15) colours (£15) and a top coat (£15) and obviously a UV lamp, ranging in price. So its around £50 to set up, but at £15 every time i go and have them done, that will soon pay off, momma agreed and i bought the base & top coat, and a colour in "rage" from this eBay seller.

Who'd have fucking thought. Until Saturday i hated Gel nails, now I've brought my own kit. Bipolar. I will do a post regarding how long they last, and if you'd like, a post/video on how my own DIY Orly kit goes.

Viva Glam Nicki

I think its pretty safe to say this is going to be a massive one within the Blogging and YouTube communities. I don't religiously follow MAC collections, nor do i usually care or go out of my way to get my hands on them. But a few weeks ago, i was casually browsing the MAC website, as we all do ;) and there was the advertisement for the Viva Glam Nicki Minaj. My jaw dropped in excitement, quite literally. I fucking love Nicki Minaj, and that is an understatement. Previous to this i didn't have my email set up with MAC for releases, because if theres anything i need, I'll usually read or see it around Blogs or YouTube, but i put my email down for this bad bitch. I was not going to miss out on this one after the Iris Apfel collection not long ago.

So Wednesday (22nd Feb) emails went round for the early release, i wasted no time and ordered it right away. I didn't even look at the colour or finish. I would never do this with any other collection, ever, but i thought Nicki deserved special treatment. All was well until delivery. All i have to say is fuck you Yodel.

I saw Vivianna from Vivianna Does Makeup and Cole from Coleyyyful had already got theirs on Friday (thought it was quite ironic actually pink Friday har har har), but I'd not had mine, i tracked my order and it was due to come on Friday too.. and then i went into panic when Liv from Icklelivzi tweeted saying Yodel had lost her order. And sure enough i got home and Yodel had delivered my order to a completely random street in my village with the same house number. What kind of company does that? SRSLY. So some random person whom I'd never met had signed for my parcel, and I, ME, had to go and retrieve it. MAC postal is quite sleek and interesting looking, someone intrigued or who knew MAC only had to open it and realise they had a lipstick that wasn't even out for another week yet. When i got there though she was an old lady and hadn't touched it, thanks Yodel, so thoughtful.

With that out of the way, to no surprise i love this lipstick so much. I'm quite pale, and have dark red natural pigmented lips, so baby pinks look like a chalky hideous mess on me, and i feared this would be like that, but it isn't at all. Vibrancy was to be expected, and it doesn't disappoint, but the Satin finish leaves it feeling creamy as well. And as for staying power, my momma went for a meal last night wearing it (yes) and it was still there when she arrived home. I wasn't actually aware of this until i bought a viva glam, but all the proceeds go to HIV and AIDS, which is an amazing thing for a huge company like MAC to do. Was i the only one who didn't know this?

I've mentioned before that i don't live near a MAC at all, other than Nottingham (which I've now found haha) and after this delivery, I'm not feeling amazing about ordering online again, meh. One last thing i will say is, my 4 month puppie loved licking this lipstick of my lips, he ended up with it all over his mouth, y he so cute.

Benefit Thrrrob.

I'll be the first to admit I'm a little late on the Benefit box powder band waggon, and i can't say my first impressions of benefit where impressive. I did both a post and video on my Christmas wish list, and i put the Benefit Powda Wowza on there, it seemed value for money, and a good way to get a taster of the Benefit infamous blushes. However Christmas came and went, and so did the majority of January, and it still hadn't turned up. I can't even put it down to ordering too close to Christmas, i ordered within the first week of December. And just to add to my disappointment, the compact is a seasonal purchase, that they mainly release for just Christmas. My babe of a Grandma ordered me a singular blush instead, if I'd have been able to choose which one, i probably would have asked for Coralista as it was the one i was most looking forward to trying in the Powda Wowza compact.

Benefit is loved so much, being a sucker for packaging i was also curious, but with the Christmas ordeal, i wasn't anticipating much. Thrrrob is actually the perfect colour for me. Its a very barbie pink with just the right amount of gold shimmer, but lacks in pigmentation. I find as a general rule, go light handed with blush, i have pale skin, so that's just life, but with this, i feel like I'm going back in with my brush for more. I tried to swatch the blush for the post, but what with my camera, and the lacking pigment, it just wasn't happening. On reading other reviews, just nosey for everyone else's opinion, I've noticed a recurring comment about it being chalky. I can see exactly how that would be if you were much more tan than me, but for my colouring, there is no problem.

The blush has made it to my everyday draw, and i do really like the effect it leaves. But the pigmentation is a really disappointment for the price tag. £23.50 are you being deadly serious? Natural Collection blushes are 10x the pigmentation, and are £1.99, you could get 11 of them, for the price of one of these. I probably would ask for another box powder for a birthday or Christmas, but never would i justify spending £23.50 on what is essentially a cardboard box, with a nice but crap pigment powder inside.