AUGUST FUCHSIA FAVOURITES

I think that fuchsia is a great transitional colour from summer to autumn as although it has a bright pink summery feel to it, the purple tones hint at autumn making it great to wear at this time of the year. These are my August fuchsia favourites:

Revlon lip butter in lollipop: This is one of the most opaque lip butters that I own and such a pretty, bright fuchsia pink. I love wearing this as a really bold lip or for daytime wear I like to dab a small amount on my lips and rub it in to make a pretty stain.

Barry M Glitter Nail paint in Magneta: This is a lovely, girly fuchsia pink. I love wearing this colour on my toes so whenever I look down, my glittery/sparkly nails make me smile!

Revlon Wild Orchid: This is such a pretty lipstick. A fuchsia pink with a slightly purple/blue sheen it's very similar to MAC show orchid for half the price. I've been wearing this lipstick a lot, especially towards the end of August and It looks great with a high pony or messy side braid.

Hair ties: These last so much longer on me than regular hair bands, are less damaging and look so pretty in your hair or on your wrist! I got these fuchsia ones from H&M and I've got my eye on this set from forever 21 next!

Maxfactor False lash effect 24hr Mascara: This is an old favourite for me, it really seems to coat every lash well giving me great definition, volume and length, I haven't actually tested whether it lasts the full 24hrs but it certainly lasts the whole day on me!

(I also love my little fuchsia pink mini piggy bank from tiger!)


JULYS CORAL FAVOURITES/JUNES GREEN FAVOURITES/MAYS GOLD FAVOURITES/APRILS BLUE FAVOURITES/MARCH MINT FAVOURITES/FEBRUARYS ORANGE FAVOURITES/JANUARYS PINK FAVOURITES

ZARA FLATS

Having size 2 feet, It's sometimes quite hard to find shoes as theres not always a great selection in small shoe sizes. I saw these Zara shoes online and thought they were so cute that I had to try them on in store! 

I instantly fell in love with these when I tried them on, they actually go up to a size 5.5 so are available in adult sizes too. They're so cute and fit really well, the back is a bit stiff but hopefully that will loosen up in time. I'm so in love with these Zara shoes and I think they will be perfect to wear on crisp sunny autumn mornings combined with some blue jeans and a cosy grey jumper!

LIP CRAYONS

L-R Revlon Crush, Revlon Lovesick, Revlon Showy, Revlon unapologetic, Revlon Audacious, Revlon Honey, Jelly Pong Pong Cranberry, Clinique Chubby Stick Woppin Watermelon, Laqua & Co Menatour

Lip crayons have been spreading through the brands and with so many to choose from, it's hard to know the difference between them. I love lip crayons, they are perfect for easy application, great to throw in your bag and normally theres a good amount of product in them. I've swatched lots of the lip crayons that are available in boots and superdrug and these are the ones that I own.

You can see from the above photo that the majority of the lip crayons that I own are from Revlon. I'm always impressed by Revlon lip formulations and If I had to choose my favourite highstreet lipstick brand it would be revlon! 

I own three Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm stains and three colorburst matte balms, the lip stains are the ones I reach for the most as they are so long lasting on my lips, the colour selection is really pretty and they keep my lips feeling soft and subtle. I love that the Balm stains can be worn sheer or built up to be really pigmented. Both the stains and the matte balms have a light minty taste (which I'm not too fond of). 

Revlon Balm Stain in Crush is the darkest crayon colour that I own, a gorgeous berry that is perfect with copper eyes for Autumn. Revlon lovesick is a bright pink with a hint of purple and Revlon Honey is a my lips but better shade, a lovely mauve pink.

All of the Revlon Colorburst Matte balms that I own are all pretty bright. As with most matte lipsticks you need to prep your lips well before application as they do tend to show any dryness. Revlon Showy is a pretty cool toned pink, Revlon Unapologetic a bright warm pink and Revlon Audacious a bright coral orange. I have a more detailed review of the matte balms here. 

Jelly pong pong lip blush - Cranberry. This is my favourite everyday red and favourite lip crayon formulation that I own. The colour pay off is amazing, it's moisturising and long lasting on the lips. Jelly pong pong also make one other lip blush that looks lovely too, i'm hoping that they haven't discontinued this one as it's a staple in my make up bag. 

Laqa and Co in Menatour - Another minty lip balm, I actually prefer this pepperminty smell slightly to the Revlon lip balms. I wouldn't normally brave a purple lip but this is quite a pretty colour and reminds me slightly of MAC Goddess of the Sea lipstick from the alluring aquatic collection. 

Clinique Chubby Stick in Woppin Watermelon - I was going to buy this shade until I saw it free in glamour magazine last month. I'm pretty glad I didn't purchase the full size as the colour kind of gets lost on me. It's a really sheer subtle pink thats a bit too light for my lips. I think that it would be great if you wanted to look like you have naturally great lips as it really is very subtle. I might have to swatch a few more in store but at the moment I'm not too convinced. 

What are your favourite Lip crayons?

THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK #3

Monday: Receiving the best post. A personalised 'Sophie' Nutella label popped through my letterbox (I filled out this form to get mine but it's possibly ended now) and totally made my day.

Tuesday: Browsing all of the online shops for new Autumn/Winter pieces. H&M have some great bits in at the moment, I love this look from H&M and the new knitwear from Topshop.

Wednesday: Long bubble bath's and time spent planning the bank holiday weekend. Oh and Dancing around to Taylor Swift and Celestina Warbecks new songs!

Thursday: A crisp, cold morning spent sipping steaming hot tea and eating warm spiced porridge. Autumns on its way! 

Friday: Having a large cup of hot chocolate and Pumpkin spice dark choc chip flapjacks as an early morning breakfast. TGIF! 

What has made you happy this week?

SUMMER HIGHLIGHTERS

I tend to wear gold, bronze and peach shimmery highlighters throughout summer and these have been my favourites to wear this year. My favourite highlighter brushes to use are the Real Techniques setting brush and Royal & Langnickle fan brush

The Body Shop baked to last bronzer in warm glow - I originally bought this body shop bronzer as it reminded me of the limited edition Mac mineralized skin finishes, its a pretty light bronze with pink and gold tones running through it. Although it's marketed as a bronzer, I swirl my brush in the golden pink tones and apply to the tops of my cheeks and it gives such a pretty warm summery glow.

Topshop Highlighter in Sunbeam - I love Topshop make up, especially their highlighters. There's something quite ethereal about the colours, they give such an amazing glow and they are so pigmented, iridescent and long lasting. Topshop sunbeam is such a pretty gold highlighter that makes the skin look radiant and glowing.

Mac eyeshadow in Gleam - This lustre finish eyeshadow disappointed me when I wore it on my lids, the colour payoff wasn't great and it just left glitter particles on my eyes. It's such a pretty colour that I really wanted to make it work and so I tried using it as a highlighter instead. I've been loving using this mac eyeshadow as a golden peachy pink highlighter, it really brightens up my face giving me radiance and a lovely shimmery glow.

What have been your favourite highlighters to wear this summer?

WILDFLOWER SUMMER NAIL ART

I like to keep any nail art that I create quite simple and easy so that it looks pretty with minimal effort. I've been loving wearing this wildflower design on my nails for summer - it adds a pretty touch to white painted nails and i've had so many compliments whilst wearing it!

Paint the whole nail with a white nail polish - I used Barry M Matt White.

For the design:

Step 1 - For the grass/reeds effect I used Essie Mint Candy Apple. I wiped as much of the product off the brush as I could by wiping the brush on edges of the bottle and then just flicked up the nail.

Step 2 -I repeated this process with a darker green - No7 Totally Teal. This brush was easier to remove most of the product and gave a really good wispy grass effect so I applied this over and around the first grass colour.

Step 3 - Adding your wildflowers! I chose to use Rimmel sunshine as my main colour to make the flowers really stand out. I dotted roughly 10 flowers on each nail working from top to bottom to give that pretty wildflower look.

Step 4 - I then added pink flowers using Barry M Gelly nail paint in Grapefruit. I added less of these (around 7) and used a smaller dotting tool again to give it a sparse, wildflower effect.

Step 5 - You could skip this step and go straight on to the topcoat, or choose another flower colour but I thought a fuchsia glitter would look really pretty and brighten up the nails. I dotted Barry M Magenta glitter all around the grass/reeds to finish the design. 

I then added Sally Hansen Insta dri topcoat to finish the nails.

(I used these nail dotting tools from amazon, they are a great set for only 85p!). 

Tweet me a pic if you try this! - @sophiesmakeup

THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK #2

I thought I would continue on with my 'things that made me happy' post this week. I find that writing down all the things I'm grateful for in the week really helps me to keep positive and I just love making lists!

I posted the second picture on my instagram yesterday, it's pretty autumnal but it was so stormy and rainy and the little leaf blew right in my home whilst I was taking the picture!

Monday: Berry tones. I've been rooting through my make up and pulling out some berry and gold tones ready for autumn. Essie Bahama Mama is always a staple nail polish for me in autumn, Orly rage is a beautiful rose gold and I've just recently got MAC Rebel, which is the perfect shade of lipstick for autumn.

Tuesday: Restarting Harry Potter for the 10000053747 time.

Wednesday: Drooling over the amazing biscuits in Great British Bake off whilst consuming half a pack myself. 

Thursday: Tea tea and more tea. I've been really enjoying drinking cinnamon tea, peppermint and liquorice tea, chamomile tea and ginger tea especially whilst browsing the new Ikea catalogue.

Friday/Saturday: Me and Alex are planning to pop into town to run some errands, look at the new A/W pieces and possibly stop for a cheeky Wagamamas. Yasai Pad Thai or a Yasai Katsu Curry?! - decisions!

What has made you happy this week?