Something a little different.

After reading Gem's post, I looked through my blog and realised how much it's changed recently. I've been blogging for 3 years now about beauty and make-up with some fashion and lifestyle thrown in. Apart from an awful first blogpost, I've never really introduced myself so here's a little 'about me'.

My name is Sophie, I am a trained make-up artist.

I love everything about Autumn and Winter - cold brisk walks with crunchy leaves, collecting conkers, cosy evenings wearing fluffy socks and reading blogs surrounded by candles and twinkling fairy lights. 

I love rainy days spent knitting and drinking hot chocolates, everything Harry Potter and Christmas. 

I am 27, 28 in November.

I live with my boyfriend Alex, we have been together for 6 years.

I'm a vegetarian. My favourite foods include pasta, sweet potato, butternut squash, cinnamon and chocolate.

I love list making and try to keep a gratitude list daily.




Tell me a little about yourself?

xx

APRIL BLUE FAVOURITES

These are my April Blue favourites, I thought blue would go nicely with rainy 'April's showers'!

Lomography superstar diana mini - With the sun shining and pretty flowers blossoming everywhere I've been taking my lomography camera out a lot more. I'll do a full post on my camera when I've filled up my film and developed the photos but I've loved having an analogue camera to take out with me so that I can fill up my photo albums.

Liz Earle Energising body wash* - This has been my morning saviour. It smells so fresh and invigorating and leaves my skin feeling soft and clean. As always with Liz Earle, the ingredients are good. It contains 9 pure essentials oils and leaves my skin feeling silky smooth.

Essie Nail Polish Aruba Blue - This is fast becoming one of my favourite nail polishes ever, it's the perfect shimmery sapphire colour and looks pretty with an accent nail or worn on its own.

Maybelline New York color tattoo turquoise forever - I love wearing this rubbed onto my lower lashes to give them a buildable hint of colour. It's a pretty look for the warmer weather and an easy way to add some colour to your make-up. See the look here.

Bumble and Bumble Sunday shampoo* - I've recently moved from a soft water area to a hard water area, Sunday shampoo is a clarifying shampoo that removes product build up, hard water minerals and pollutants. I've added this to my Sunday pampering routine and I love it. I only need to use a small amount for it to leave my hair feeling so clean and cleansed meaning less hair washes in the week!

Maybelline baby lips hydrate - Full review here. I use this in the morning under a lipstick or on its own. It contains shea butter, honey and has SPF20 leaving my lips feeling moisturised and protected by the SPF.


March's Mint Favourites
Februarys Orange Favourites
Januarys Pink Favourites

COOL TONED PINK LIPSTICKS

Top left - Revlon Showy, Top right Maybelline Fuchsia Flash, 

Bottom left - Revlon Sultry Samba, Bottom right Chanel La Diva

This is my favourite shade of pink lipstick, you can see in the swatches there are subtle differences between the shades on my lips but they are all cool toned fuchsia/magenta pink.

Revlon Showy is a matte cool toned pink, you need to prep your lips well before applying this as it shows up any imperfections/dryness. This lasts around 2-3 hours on my lips and is the lightest colour of the bunch.

Maybelline Fuchsia Flash is a bright fuchsia pink. It has a lovely creamy texture, feels hydrating and lasts well on the lips. I like to dab a bit on the middle of my lips and blend out to make it a bit more subtle as this is the only lipstick of the lot that isn't matte.

Revlon Sultry Samba is a slight shade darker and contains more purple than the rest, it is quite sheer when swatched making it more subtle but is buildable to a pretty matte pink/fuchsia. This is my second favourite of the bunch, it lasted well on my lips and is great for an everyday lipstick.

Chanel La Diva - My favourite. The perfect shade and formula, this lasted 5-6 hours on my lips and when it started to fade it left a pretty pink stain on my lips. I find brighter lipstick shades are easier to wear when matte, it seems to tone down the look and feels pretty and chic. 

xx

EASTER NAILS

Ciate Nail polish in Pillow Fight, Kiss chase, Ferris Wheel, Sugar Plum and Peppermint. 

(Mine are mini versions from the mini mani month calendar)

I couldn't resist doing another nails post for Easter. I love ciate nail polish, it lasts well on my nails and is opaque in 2 or 3 coats (3 for the lighter shades). I think any one of these colours would be pretty to wear over the easter holiday - or even all of them like I have!

I plan to spend my time over Easter baking, eating easter eggs and visiting family. I'll post pictures on my instagram if my baking turns out well!

THREE BLUES

I've been enjoying wearing blue nail varnish this month and these are three of my favourites. Perfect for Monday blues and April showers these all are opaque in two coats, last well on my nails and are such pretty shades of blue.

'The Sophisticated Blue' - Liz Earle Strengthening Nail colour Rhapsody in blue* is the perfect midnight blue colour. It contains avocado and borange oil which helps to keep the nails strong and moisturised. It looks lovely with gold midi rings and is great to wear for a glam night out.

'The Cobalt Blue' - Barry M's Cobalt Blue becomes opaque in two coats, it looks great with a tan and lot's of silver jewellery. 

'The Shimmery Blue' - Essie's Aruba blue is my all time favourite blue. This is my go to colour when I'm not sure what to wear, it seems to go with everything and looks great with Essie stroke of brilliance as an accent nail!

PRIMARK GEMS

Washbag and headband - Primark

Every now and then, I find a real gem in primark. This week I found two things that I absolutely love.

For £3 this cute little wash bag was too good to pass up, it has two zipped compartments which have the initial 'S' (or whichever initial you choose) as the zip. It's quite good quality and there were a lot of letters available to choose from.

I also bought this headband which again was only £3. It looks so pretty in the light and turns different shades of colour as you move. I'm planning on wearing this with my hair up in a low loose bun and kind of as a crown headband but it can be worn across the forehead, or if you don't mind the elastic slightly showing it's also really pretty as a necklace! 

xx

SPRING LIP PICKS

These are my most reached for colours this spring. If i'm feeling a bold lip (perfect to brighten gloomy, rainy days like today!) then I will go for Revlon colour burst Matte balm in Unapologetic which is a bright warm coral pink. It's quite a daring colour to wear, but looks so pretty with dewy highlighted skin and lot's of mascara. 

Revlon Tutti Frutti is the perfect orange for spring, great to throw in your bag as it's so easy to re-apply throughout the day and it gives a lovely sheer colour for something a bit more subtle.

For a pretty girly pink, Topshop Innocent is perfect for days when you want to go a bit heavier on the eye make up. Paired with winged liner or a smokey eye this pale pink lipstick helps to keep the look soft and pretty without washing out your lips. 

Lastly for everyday wear I've been loving Soap and Glory's a great kisser in Juicy Peach. This smells amazing and makes my lips so soft. The texture just seems to melt onto your lips and gives a subtle glossy look with a slight hint of colour!

What are your current go to lip colours for spring?