Sephora Lip Cream Stain Review

So last week I went to Paris (read all about it here) and other than the usual touristy places I went to, been the make up addict I am I also really wanted to see if I could find a Sephora. Sephora, in case you didn't know is a massive make up store that is only in Europe and America which is so annoying because it stocks brands we can't get in England.

Although I loved going in and looking around most of the products I wanted they didn't have them and I came to the conclusion they they are probably only available in America. The only thing I managed to get is a Sephora cream lip stain which is like a liquid lipstick. I was inspired to get this as Lily Pebbles the You Tuber always raves about it and I had to try it! I actually didn't get the exact colour I wanted but I got a pretty pinky red which I love!

It actually looks more red in the tube but in certain light it looks more pink like the photo below

The product is so nice to apply and goes on smoothly. It also lasts a long time before you have to reapply but the stain remains and the colour is so opaque and dries matte. It did make my lips a little bit dry but its something I could put up with.

I paid 10.95 euros which is about £8. I think this is really affordable as this is probably what you pay in Boots for a liquid lipstick for example the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks. Overall a very good product and would definitely recommend if you ever come across a Sephora on your travels.

Mini Avon Haul

So last month I made an order to Avon. I very rarely buy Avon products but I have had a nail varnish before which was good (review here) and I wanted to try some more products. At the time I bought it there was an offer on where if you bought a lipstick you got a free gift which included a make up bag, a lip gloss and a nail varnish and was worth £17. It sounded like a good deal and the lipstick only cost £5.25 and there was a wide range of colours and finishes and you could even pick which colour of free gifts you wanted. 

I chose a lipstick called Oxford Wine which is a really deep purple, a lip gloss called Nude Muse and my nail varnish is called Naked truth which is a nude colour which I currently don't own anything like it. The make up bag is also really nice as it is a good size and is wipe-able material.

I really like my choices and can't wait to test them out.

Click here to go to Avon website

Birthday Wish List

My birthday is on Sunday and I will be turning 20, so today I thought I would do a post on the things I am thinking about buying with my birthday money. Any opinions on these products would be appreciated so please leave a comment.

1. Real Techniques Brushes - varied prices - I have decided I want a few more of these brushes to add to my collection regardless of the fact I know I am getting some of the Bold Metal ones as a birthday present. The ones I want are the buffing, setting and powder brushes.

2. Nars Creamy Concealer £22 - I have heard good things about this concealer and one of my friends keeps going on about how ggood it is so I would love to try it.

3. Stila Eyes are the window to the soul Eyeshadow palette £30 - I saw this in a You Tube video the other day and I fell in love with it! It is so pretty and I know the quality will be amazing as I recently bought the In the moment Stila palette.

4. Kiko Long Lasting Eye shadow stick in 37 £6.90 - I bought one of these last year in 05 which is a nice shimmery brown colour and I love it. They are so quick and easy to apply and 37 is a really nice burgandy shade.

5. Kiko Infinity Eye shadow 233 £5.90 - This is pretty much the same colour as the eye shadow stick I want but I just think its so nice and I don't have one in my collection like this.

My Time in Paris

This post is a bit different to what I usually write about but I wanted to tell you all about my trip to Paris! This time last week I would have been in Paris which is a bit sad because I really didn't want to come back! I went from the Monday to the Friday and I went with my university course as part as an 'educational trip' although I wouldn't have really called it that as we were allowed to do what we wanted, apart from meeting up to go to the Louis Vuitton store and exhibition and also Première Vision.

I really enjoyed the trip and had such a great time exploring the city and what made it even better I was with the people in my course which was so nice as we all get on so well and it meant we got to know everyone a bit better.

In this post I am just going to show a few photo and say a bit about what I got up to.

Monday

This day was mainly spent travelling there as we had to get on a coach to London St Pancras to get on the Eurostar. 

This was the view from our hotel which was the Ibis Paris La Villette Cite des Sciences. It was a decent hotel and worth the money as breakfast was included and the hotel had a restaurant where we went for a meal the first night.

Tuesday

On the Tuesday we went the the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs Elysée, inside the Louis Vuitton store with the rest of my course and then we walked to the Eiffel Tower which we all went up to look over the city. That night we ate at a really nice Italian restaurant near the Arc de Triomphe.

By far the best moment of the trip was going up the Eiffel Tower. It was such a touristy thing to do but such an amazing experience which I won't forget. I can't say I enjoyed the lift up but it was so worth it!

Wednesday

On the Wednesday we went to this went called Première Vision which is a trade show where the entire fashion industry meets to share ideas, do business, work and build their new collections. To be honest its not aimed at fashion students but it was good to look around and see what it was all about.
after that we went to the love lock bridge, to see The Lourve and the Notre Dame. That night we ate at another italian place, we really struggled to find places that weren't just pasta and pizza places!

Thursday

On our last full day we decided to go into The Lourve in the morning and then go back to the Champs Elysée to do some shopping. The Lourve was such an amazing building and I actually found out that the triangle you see is the roof and you go down into it to enter the buildings, I always thought it was a sculpture haha! 

The shopping in Paris is actually quite good I enjoyed looking and I did end up buying a few bits from the Mac store, Sephora and Forever 21. We also went to the House of Haagen Dazs for waffles which was so so good!!

For the last meal we had together we went to this restaurant down the Champs Elysée which we thought was going to be really nice but unfortunately 5 of us picked something that really could have been alot better but oh well we had wine so we were happy!

Friday

On the last day we didn't really much as we were waiting to go home but we did have a wander in the area where we were staying and then we got the metro back to the station to get the Eurostar back to London.

By far the best moment of the trip was going up the Eiffel Tower. It was such a touristy thing to do but such an amazing experience which I won't forget. I can't say I enjoyed the lift up but it was so worth it! I just really enjoyed walking around and taking in the sights, it is a very pretty city and it made me want to go back one day. I think I also enjoyed too because it was my first holiday in a while and it was nice to take a break somewhere different and chill out for a few days.

Benefit's Roller Lash Mascara Review

Now I know I am probably like the millionth blogger who had reviewed the new Roller Lash mascara from Benefit that came with Elle magazine last week but I going to do it anyway because its just so good! 

I am a big fan of Benefit products and when I saw on Elle magazine's instagram they had an exclusive sample of their new mascara I knew I had to got and get it. I have never tried a Benefit mascara before and so was really interested to know what they would be like and I was not disappointed!

The first time I put it on I fell in love with how amazing it made my lashes look! The Benefit website says ' The eye opening Hook and Roll brush grabs, separates, lifts and curls while the instant curve setting formula holds for 12 hours', and I can honestly tell you they are not lying! It gave them so much lift and both separation and volume all in one. My lashes looked so long and the curl holds all day! I was a bit worried about how easy it would be to remove but it came off quite easy with the Garnier micellar cleansing water I normally use for my make up removal.

The left is with mascara and the right is before mascara was applied and as you can see there is a huge difference!

I am loving it and I now can't wait to buy the full size version which comes out on the 27th of this month and is retailing for £19.50! 

Click here to go to the Benefit website

My favourite beauty treats from my 6 months of Birchbox

From July to December last year I had a 6 month subscription to the beauty box, Birchbox. You may know this if you have read my blog before but I wrote about it on a post (click here) and also did a few reviews for the boxes each month. Overall I really enjoyed getting this for a few months and really liked not knowing what beauty treats I would get. I was very happy with nearly all my items and today I thought I would share my favourites from over the 6 months...

Photos of sample sized products (some photos not my own)

 1.Protect & Detangle Beauty Protector - £14.00 -  This is a leave in conditioner that you use when you hair is wet and blow dry it in or leave to dry naturally and oh my gosh it makes your hair so soft and for me is sometimes a lazy way to conditioner my hair after washing, oh and it smells so good! 

2. Vasanti Brighten Up Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator - £26.00  - I had never used a face scrub before but when I tried this I really wish I had becuase this was amazing! It was a really fine scrub so it wasn't harsh on your face and my face felt really soft afterwards.

3. Montezuma Smooth Milk Chocolate - £2.99  -  I liked that Birchbox didn't just always put beauty treats in and I sometimes got a food sample and who doesn't like getting chocolate! I had never tried this brand before but I really liked it and I found that its not too sweet and just really good quality chocolate.

4. Benefit High Beam Highlighter - £19.50 - I had been wanting to try this for ages and when a sample came it my last box I was so happy! The sample size was so cute and the product was so good and now I really want to get a full size one.

5. Soigne Pomegranate Nail Lacquer - £11.00 -  I will admit that I am obsessed with nail polish and when I got this in my first box and it was full size I was so excited because it looked so fancy (that fancy I couldn't pronounce the name and had to look it up!) but it is definitely one of the best ones I own because it lasts for days without chipping and the colour is so pretty! I did a review on it a while ago (click here).

 The prices mentioned are for full size versions and they are available on the Birchbox online shop (click here)

Beauty and Clothing Wish List January 2015

Recently I have been wanting a few clothing and beauty items after looking in the sales on line and also items I have come across while shopping and watching you tube videos so I thought I would share them with you...

Kelly Brook Blue Lace trim Longline Bra - New Look - £16.99 -  I always look at the Kelly Brook range on the New Look website because I love them and I like to look at the new designs they have. I really like longline bras but it is really hard to find ones for the bigger bust so when I saw this I fell in love with it and now really want to get it!

Kelly Brook Blue Contrast Lace Overlay High Waisted Briefs - New Look - £7.99 - Obviously I want these so they match the bra as I'm really into wearing matching sets because they are so pretty and these high waisted ones are a bit different.

Real Techniques Bold Metals Ccollection Brushes - From £10 - £25 - As soon as I saw these were been released I wanted them, what make up obsessed girl wouldn't! They are so nice and I love the rose gold ones especially. I am going to get some of these for my birthday next month so I don't have long to wait now so excited!! 

MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder - Superdrug - £3 - I saw this last week when I went shopping with some friends. My friends had mentioned this to me before so I wanted to go and swatch it and its amazing! Its such a beautiful colour and I want to try it as I currently don't own a powder highlighter. I wish I had got it now but at the time I had spent to much for one day so I decided not to but I will definitely get it next time.

Benefit Rockateur Blush - Feel Unique - £23.50 -  I have been looking for a new blush and when I had seen this a few times on you tube it looks like such a nice colour just the kind of pink I was looking a for and also you can't beat benefit boxed blushers because the packaging is so nice.

Make Up Revolution Blush Palette in Hot Spice - £6 - When looking for blushers I had seen this mentioned quite a lot on the blogs I read and it also looked really pretty. I like that there is different colours in one palette so you have choice and if its anything like their other products I know it will be good.

Black Zip Side Block Heeled Ankle Boots -  New Look - £24.99 - I never have any going out shoes in autumn and winter so I really want some kind of black heeled boots. These ones I found on New Look are exactly what I'm looking for so I hope they are in store next time I go in.

Grey High Neck Long Sleeve Jumper - New Look - £14.99 - Recently while shopping I noticed there was a lot of polo necks and high necked garments. I especially liked the high neck jumpers not quite as high as a polo neck jumper I think they would be perfect for this weather and I really want to try one on next time I go shopping but I'm not sure they will look nice on me as I have quite a large bust and I feel like it will make me look even bigger but we will see. This one from New Look is really nice and I like the shade of grey it is.